“Miss Phil…” Monica murmured in shock, looking around.

At the edge of the rooftop, a bird hung frozen mid-flight, its wings half-extended, every feather perfectly visible.

On the street below, pedestrians under streetlights remained frozen mid-stride, their umbrellas only half-opened.

By a roadside shop, a cat was frozen mid-leap from an awning, suspended in mid-air.

Even the flashing lights on distant billboards were frozen in place.

The entire world had fallen into an eerie stillness.

“Miss Phil, did you do this?”

“What? Not impressed with my timely rescue?” Phil tilted her head slightly, glancing at the raindrops suspended in mid-air. Her tone was nonchalant. “You were about to get drenched like a drowned rat. If you’re not satisfied with my dramatic entrance, I can let you get soaked right now.”

Monica immediately shook her head frantically.

“No, no, no! I’m very impressed! Super impressed!”

She looked around again, the shock still etched on her face. The feeling of being the only one moving in a frozen world was so surreal that her voice trembled slightly.

“But what exactly is happening? Did you stop time?”

“Just a little parlor trick. After all, if I were just your daily chat buddy, wouldn’t that tarnish my image? A Devil’s mystique is crucial, you know.”

Monica listened, stunned.

“B-but… but…”

She stammered, unable to articulate her thoughts.

After all, if Miss Phil was truly this powerful, what need was there for Contractors?

Miss Phil could probably shatter the world with a single punch.

Seeing Monica’s bewildered expression, Phil finally chuckled softly.

“Alright, I’m just teasing you.”

She extended a finger and gently tapped a raindrop suspended in mid-air.

The raindrop shattered at her touch, transforming into shimmering particles that scattered like stardust.

“This is all an illusion.”

“An illusion?”

“Exactly, an illusion.”

Phil explained:

“Time hasn’t stopped. The rain isn’t actually frozen in place.”

“I’ve merely altered your perception, accelerating your thought processes many times over.”

“In your perception, the outside world appears frozen. But in reality, you can’t truly affect the real world right now.”

“But that’s still incredible!” Monica exclaimed. “Directly manipulating someone’s perception? That’s an absurdly powerful ability!”

Though she thought this inwardly, Phil maintained an air of nonchalance, her expression calm and composed, as if this were merely a trivial trick.

Originally, she had only wanted to test the limits of what she could achieve after activating the Enhanced Illusion skill.

The results far exceeded her expectations, perhaps with the Mermaid’s Tear accessory playing a role as well.

So she hadn’t lied to Monica, it truly was just an illusion.

“Speaking of which, if I ever need to learn something in the future, could Miss Phil help me speed things up…?”

Phil cut off Monica’s daydreaming with a dismissive glare. “Creating this illusion is incredibly taxing on me, you know? Maintaining this illusionary world at a thousandfold time dilation only lasts about a second in reality.”

One second in reality translated to roughly fifteen minutes within the illusionary world.

This meant that in a real battle, using this technique at full power could freeze an opponent for a fleeting moment.

In high-intensity combat, a single second could change everything.

Of course, Phil sensed that the technique’s effectiveness would be significantly reduced against those with high mental resistance or those who strongly resisted her influence. Still, it remained a god-tier skill.

“Moreover, frequently accelerating your thoughts would place a severe strain on your brain.”

“Strain? What would happen then?” Monica asked blankly.

“I don’t know, I haven’t had any experimental subjects,” Phil shrugged. “Maybe it makes you dumber? Though I suppose that wouldn’t make much of a difference for you, would it?”

“Miss Phil!”

Monica huffed indignantly, but there was little she could do against the incorporeal Phil. She could only stomp her foot in frustration.

Watching Monica’s reaction, Phil smiled.

“You’re more spirited than I expected. When I saw you looking like you were about to cry earlier, I thought I’d have to spend ages comforting you again.”

“Ugh…”

A crimson blush spread across Monica’s cheeks. The thought of Miss Phil witnessing her earlier embarrassment made her want to crawl into a hole and disappear.

But had she really become more spirited…?

Feeling her heart pounding in her chest, Monica realized her mood had unexpectedly brightened, as if the gloom from just minutes ago had vanished completely.

And the one responsible for this transformation was obvious.

With a flushed face and lowered gaze, Monica murmured softly, “Maybe… it’s because I saw Miss Phil…”

Phil remained silent for a moment.

Though the words were barely audible, she certainly hadn’t missed them.

Monica’s bluntness caught Phil completely off guard, momentarily scrambling her thoughts. She instinctively turned her head away.

“R-really?”

“Mm-hmm. Because seeing Miss Phil makes me so happy.”

Perhaps feeling she had nothing to lose now that she’d already spoken, Monica pressed on relentlessly.

“You know, I’ve been wanting to see Miss Phil all day.”

Monica took a step toward Phil, whose eyes widened as she instinctively retreated.

Phil watched Monica’s relentless advance, panic rising within her.

Just as Phil was about to run out of options, Monica suddenly stopped, puffed out her cheeks, and said in a sulky tone, “But Miss Phil doesn’t seem to want to see me. You didn’t come looking for me all day.”

Phil’s eye twitched.

“…Are you sulking?”

Monica stared at Phil with the wounded gaze of an abandoned puppy.

In truth, she wasn’t usually so clingy, nor one to make a fuss over every minor grievance.

For some reason, she suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to act this way in front of Miss Phil.

Phil sighed.

“Let’s get this straight: I haven’t broken my promise to look after you. I know X City isn’t offering any assistance.”

As if her face had transformed, the aggrieved expression vanished from Monica’s face in an instant. She leaned in close to Phil, her eyes gleaming.

“So, Miss Phil, does that mean you’ve been watching over me all day?”

Phil hesitated, unsure how to explain.

After stammering for a moment, Phil could only offer a vague reply:

“I know everything you’ve been through today.”

“Really?!”

“Of course.”

Seeing that Monica believed her, Phil regained her confidence and flashed a mysterious smile.

“Don’t underestimate the Devil’s intelligence network.”

Monica suddenly frowned, stroking her chin.

“But I barely interacted with anyone today…”

“Huh?”

Phil froze, caught off guard.

She had just been making a casual remark, not thinking it through.

She was about to say something to cover her tracks, but Monica had already launched into her own deductions—

“In other words, someone we met today told Miss Phil everything.”

Completely ignoring Phil’s stunned expression, Monica charged headlong toward her “truth,” she had never felt so brilliant before!

And as expected, Monica’s runaway deduction spiraled toward a bizarre conclusion:

“I’ve got it!”

Monica slammed her right fist into her left palm, her eyes gleaming with conviction.

“Mr. Lin Han is actually Miss Phil’s mole inside SAVE!”

“I finally understand everything!”