Tick-tock— Tick-tock— Tick-tock—
The world seemed to be left only with the sound of the clock hands turning. Centered on Clockie Father, all time began to slow down infinitely, nearly to the point of time stop.
"Clockie Father, is this your doing?" Stelle asked incredulously.
"Of course, otherwise, do you think why Penacony specifically set up a statue for me?" Clockie Father bounced in place and said.
"Oh oh!"
Stelle nodded, then suddenly remembered something. She hurriedly stepped on the accelerator hard, wanting to seize the chance to win the race in one go. However, very unfortunately, her idea was a bit too optimistic. The flying car maintained a snail-like speed; even stepping on the accelerator to the bottom, it could only barely move a tiny bit.
"Friend, in the 'time slowdown' state, only the two of us are unaffected." Clockie Father casually brushed aside the shell shooting toward Stelle, "Time begins to return to normal!"
Tick-tock-tock—
Boom!
The explosion rang out, but the explosion point was far off from Stelle's team.
"What?"
Seeing this, Ratio's eyes narrowed slightly, "Is this your team's special ability? As expected, you all are not as simple as you appear on the surface."
"But unfortunately, in this exam, you and your companions are destined to get zero points!"
Ratio shouted loudly, her arms waving as fast as afterimages, like a Thousand-Armed Guanyin.
No... that was the real Thousand-Armed Guanyin!
Just like the famous scene in the movie "XXX Alliance 3," Ratio produced countless clones, and each clone held a handful of chalk tips.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
The next second, countless Ratio clones began throwing chalk. Massive explosion effects burst forth, completely burying the flying car where Stelle and Sparkle were sitting.
Under the enhancement of this enormous amount of debuffs, even if you were a genius, you had to obediently turn into a drooling cutie!
Moreover, this time's firepower coverage was extremely dense. Even if the opponent had some unknown special ability, Ratio was confident in hitting with quantity.
"Stelle (Stelle)!"
Seeing Stelle buried in explosion effects, March 7th and Firefly immediately jumped out of the car nervously, running over while shouting: "A-Xing don't be afraid, even if you turn silly, I will take good care of you!"
"Stelle, turning a bit silly is no problem, I got you."
"..."
"What do you want to do? (I know what you want to do.)" The two paused, then said in unison.
—"Hahahahaha."
Ratio stood on the roof of the car, chuckling lightly at the scene before her: "Success..."
"It's over."
"The Nameless Guest of the Astral Express is ultimately defeated by my chalk."
Ratio stretched her arms. On her fair arms, one could see muscles carved like knife strokes—this was the foundation of her power for launching chalk. As a scholar, she was well aware that a good physique was the foundation for further advancement.
Under the enhancement of this body's power, ordinary chalk could also be thrown with missile-like effects.
"A strong body."
"A scholar's wisdom."
"And... firepower coverage's power!"
Ratio laughed, laughing very happily, because she once again felt the power of her own strength—she could create enough fools with a raise of her hand and a throw of her foot; even Nameless Guests could not resist!
"Hahahahahahaha—"
"Hahahaha! This proves that no one can surpass me anymore, you stupid idiots, I will rule over you!"
"Kneel before my wisdom and power!"
"Now, I shall first claim victory in the race and take the laurel!"
With that, Ratio wanted to return to the car. However, it was at this moment that she was surprised to discover that her body seemed frozen in place. Even using all her strength, she could only move an insignificant tenth of a millimeter.
"What...?"
Ratio widened her eyes. The current situation, even with her wisdom, could not be figured out immediately.
"This, how could I not be able to move? How is this possible?"
"No... it's not that I can't move, it's that my actions are extremely sluggish. I've become sluggish? This is impossible."
"Hu—"
In this state, the whole world was so quiet that even the drop of a needle on the ground could be heard clearly. Ratio naturally could also detect the breathing sound coming from behind.
What?!
A thought surfaced in her mind, making her incredulous.
Could it be...
"Ratio, 11 seconds have already passed."
Stelle's figure appeared behind Ratio at some point. She pressed down on the top hat on her head with her hand. Behind her, Clockie Father had his arms crossed, the hands on his head spinning wildly.
"When you just used firepower coverage, I had already slowed down time."
"Then I spent 11 seconds... oh, 11 seconds to me, to walk behind you."
What?! Ratio tried to resist, but found that even her thinking was starting to slow down. If this continued, she would stop thinking and thoroughly become a doll at others' mercy!
"You... actually..." Her voice began to become intermittent.
"That's enough." Stelle shook her head helplessly and stretched out one finger.
"Although there is a foster father-foster mother bond between us, since it's a competition, I won't hold back."
"For the current me, to defeat you, not even one second is needed!"
"Drink up—"
Stelle lunged forward, hugging Ratio and rolling down from the roof of the car. The latter was now like a life-sized doll, completely without resistance.
This was also Stelle and Ratio's first close-contact encounter. Although the foster father of this world had gender-swapped, the mysophobia habit seemed unchanged. At such close distance, Stelle could even smell the shampoo scent on her body.
"Sorry!"
Stelle casually picked up a fallen gift box, found a red long rope from it, and nimbly tied Ratio up in a five-point bind. To ensure she couldn't break free, Stelle specially bound her hands behind her back and tied them together with her ankles.
In this way, Ratio could only lie prone on the ground.
"Hm... right, still need to be cautious."
Stelle pondered for a moment, then used the rope to seal Ratio's mouth as well. But this thing wasn't professional gag after all, so... a bit of drool was inevitable.
Although it wronged her foster mother a little, this was the most effective method Stelle could think of.
After doing all this, Stelle returned to the car and snapped her fingers: "Clockie Father, let time return to normal flow."
Tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock...
The clock gears turned, the world began to speed up, everything returned to normal. Stelle's team and March 7th's team seized the opportunity, the flying cars speeding away, leaving behind the already sleeping Aventurine and the five-point bound Ratio.
"Mmm mmm mmm—"
Ratio struggled desperately, but to no effect. The red rope left red marks on her fair skin, making her look especially pitiful.
Whoosh—
A car sped past without the slightest pause; that was Acheron.
"..."
Ratio gave up struggling. She knew she had lost.
Who would have thought... really unexpected.
Buzz—
However, at this moment, another engine starting sound approached. A flying car suddenly came from last place and stopped in front of Ratio.