[Aren’t you going to fight monsters?]
[Why go, to be a spinning top for them?]
[What if?]
[Don’t make your Brother Bai laugh.]
Bai Qiuchen knew his own limits well.
Every battle since his debut, whether the opponent was strong or weak, he had fought with everything he had just to barely win——that was the true worth of his victories, not something those magical girls who one-shot enemies with casual moves could compare to.
Back then he thought he was in a fish pond.
Then he thought he had climbed the ranks.
In the end, he realized he was the fish in the pond.
Even fighting a roadside trash mob became a desperate struggle——that was his reality, not something those magical girls with maxed-out cheat abilities could match.
[He really knows himself well.]
[Who do you think is the strongest magical girl right now?]
[Probably He Xi, if we don’t count retired ones.]
[Xingqi, who’s about the same age as He Xi, might be up there too——her ability is also broken.]
“He Xi and Zhen Hong already handled it——as expected of those two.”
Nox murmured while watching the red dots disappear from the Fourth District on the app.
“I need to hurry up too.”
Nox tossed her phone into her shadow.
Her purple-black Gothic long dress blended perfectly into the night, and the Heart Stone fastening her black shawl flickered like a star in the sky.
The monsters in the Fifth District were swarms of small black figures.
They had completely blocked off an area of the Fifth District and were constantly expanding.
People trying to escape would get caught by them if they weren’t careful.
The creatures would quickly climb up their legs to their backs, then cling tightly to their spines.
The afflicted person would try to break free at first, but gradually, their movements became slower and slower——even slower than a sloth.
“These are monsters that slow people down?”
Nox extended a hand, and her shadow stabbed toward the back of the afflicted person.
The small black figure that was struck instantly dissolved into smoke and dust.
“It’s Nox! Nox is here!”
The rescued person quickly pulled out their phone, excitedly waving at Nox.
“Make sure to record my figure well!”
She gave the passerby a thumbs-up.
“Seems like these monsters should have a leader.”
Nox crouched down, both hands touching the ground.
She used her shadow to carve a chasm that kept extending until it formed a massive circle capable of trapping all the small black figures.
As everyone knew, monsters weren’t very intelligent——especially swarm-type monsters, whose intelligence was even worse.
They didn’t notice at all that they had been surrounded, still pouring out like ants from a nest, falling into the shadow trench in piles like a waterfall.
Nox sensed the changes within the circle, distinguishing the small black figures that fell in from normal humans.
She could have simply covered the entire circle in shadow and let all the small black figures drop in at once.
But she wasn’t confident she could still rescue the trapped people in that situation.
Going into the shadow one by one to fish them out afterward would be too troublesome——so she could only wait for the small black figures to deliver themselves.
As for the people pushed into the shadow trench by the small black figures, Nox caught them with her shadow mid-fall and lifted them out to the side.
The number of small black figures decreased exponentially within minutes, until only one remained in the circle——this must be the “queen ant.”
Nox dove into the shadow, appearing before the last small black figure in the blink of an eye.
The small black figure tried to flee, but no matter where it ran, the shadow behind it always followed.
Gradually, the small black figure slowed down——not because it was tired, since monsters had no sense of fatigue.
It was like a person sinking into quicksand: the more it tried to escape, the deeper it sank, until it was completely devoured by the shadow.
Nox jumped out of the shadow and let out a breath.
When it came to dealing with large-scale swarm monsters, she was at least top three among magical girls, if not first.
Nox rummaged around in the shadow for a moment, then pulled out a Calamity Heart.
“A Class II. Lucky~”
She tossed it in her hand, then threw it back into the shadow——she’d bring it back to the Association to exchange for money later.
Just then, people gathered around her.
“Can we take a photo? Can we take a photo!”
“Lady Nox, I’m your loyal fan!”
“Ahhhhhh! Baby, you’re such a sweet and soft little cake ahhhhhh!!!”
‘What a pain.’
“Of course——as if~”
“If you want a photo, become a subject of my Night Kingdom first.”
Nox made a funny face and dove straight into the shadow to escape, leaving her fans excited in place.
[How do you usually teach those monster-like juniors of yours?]
[Just normal teaching. They’re quite obedient too.]
[I just don’t understand why the other instructors say they’re hard to teach.]
[Is it because they like you, so they only listen to you?]
[Maybe. After all, someone as gentle, handsome, and refined as me——it’s only natural for girls to fall for me.]
[Are you charmed too?]
[(Vomiting.GIF) Shamelessness makes one invincible.]
[Oh, right. You don’t have a face.]
[Heh.]
[So what are your plans going forward——take good care of them?]
[I’ll give them meticulous care, become the most important big brother in their hearts, and just when their affection for me peaks, I’ll cosplay a sunny doll right at the Magic Association’s front door.]
[The suicide note I leave will pin all the blame on the Chairman——directly getting brutal revenge on that Lao Busi.]
[I haven’t even dated yet and he’s making me babysit.]
[I’ll let him know what I’m capable of sooner or later.]
[6.]
[Insane.]
Caili and Alice arrived above the Seventh District.
From below, one could only see a long black shadow weaving between the roads, moving so fast it was impossible to tell what it was.
Fortunately, it only ran along the main road, so people were safe hiding on the sidewalks.
“I’ll go stop it first~”
“Okay.”
Caili pulled up the hood of her orange-white short cape and drew a sword of light from the white dress lining——more precisely, from her chest.
The light spiraled from bottom to top, passing her cream-colored round-toed shoes, her white over-knee socks, and the puppy pendant around her neck——that was her Heart Stone——until it enveloped her entire body.
Caili vanished into the night sky.
The next second, a streak of light appeared beside the black shadow.
Caili, holding the sword of light, overtook the monster at even greater speed and struck its leg with a single slash.
The monster stumbled and fell, kicking up a cloud of dust.
When the dust settled, a closer look revealed a giant wolf-type monster.
The wolf monster let out a long howl and struggled to stand, wanting to run again.
But the leg struck by Caili’s sword of light was emitting light from the inside out, gradually covering its blackness——depriving it of that leg.
The light continued to erode its darkness.
If left alone, it would be destroyed in another moment.
Even so, the wolf monster still tried to run.
In midair, Alice removed the gear containing her Heart Stone from her Victorian Lolita dress decorated with machinery and gears.
The gear transformed, elongated, and curved in her hand, becoming an amber mechanical scythe.
Alice raised the scythe.
“Dang dang dang——”
A bell tolled from somewhere, and the world’s time seemed to pause.
The wolf monster that wanted to keep running froze instantly.
Alice descended from the sky, and the scythe precisely severed the wolf monster’s head.
Time flowed again.
After letting out a low “awoo~,” the armor-like blackness faded away, and the wolf monster became a small white dog.
This was the second form in which monsters appeared——possession——and also the more common form.
The Curse of Calamity, born from human negative emotions, would actively seek targets to possess.
The possessed could be a human, a dog, a cat——any living being could be possessed.
The possessed would transform into a similar monster——for example, a dog becoming a wolf.
But as long as the monster was defeated, the originally possessed creature could be saved.
The rescued individual would experience aftereffects of varying symptoms and severity, though usually just resting for a while was enough.
Like this dog, sprawled belly-up on all fours, entertaining all comers.
“So cute~~”
Caili crouched down and picked up the little dog, rubbing its belly and nuzzling it vigorously.
“Whine…”
The dog let out a whimper.
“Good boy, good boy~~”
Caili petted the dog the way Zhen Hong usually petted her.
“Woof!”
The dog quickly recovered its energy.
Caili smiled and set it down, then patted its head again.
Alice, having finished collecting the Calamity Heart, came over.
She noticed a dog tag hanging from the little dog’s neck.
“Go find your owner now——they must be worried about you.”
Alice also crouched down and patted its head.
“Woof!”
The dog barked happily, licked Alice’s hand, and ran off joyfully.
“So cute~ I want to keep one~”
“That would be nice, but I think cats are better.”
“Bai Qiuqiu must be a dog person~”
“Senior is a cat person too, of course.”
“That’s hard to say~”
Caili and Alice exchanged a smile, then rose and flew toward home.
Bai Qiuchen glanced at the time——it was already 2 AM.
Those magical girls had long since returned from fighting monsters and must be asleep by now.
After all, children’s sleep schedules were always so healthy——unlike adults who did whatever they wanted.
‘I should sleep too, or I’ll get nagged by Zhen Hong tomorrow.’
That’s what he thought.
People don’t like being nagged——whether it’s their parents doing the nagging, or a little loli half their age.
[Going to sleep.]
[Sleeping this early——cultivating immortality?]
[Then you keep cultivating. When you finally ascend, I’ll find a chance to sneak to your grave and devour all your offerings.]
He shut off his computer and lay down on the bed.
Just as he closed his eyes to sleep, his phone lit up with a message notification sound.
He glanced at it——it was from the Chairman again.
‘Old geezer, not sleeping in the middle of the night? Hurry up and ascend already.’
He picked up the phone and read:
[Remember to come to the meeting tomorrow. 10 AM, fourth-floor conference room.]
‘Am I getting a promotion?’
At the same time, “Magic Guild” also popped up a notification:
[Please come to the Magic Association’s fourth-floor conference room for a meeting at 10 AM tomorrow.]
This one was for Bai Qiu.
Looking at the two messages that appeared simultaneously, Bai Qiuchen let out a deep sigh, lamenting how fate played tricks on people.
He never expected the method meant for the little lolis would be used tomorrow.
He got out of bed and sat back down at the computer, returning to his chat interface with her.
[(Poke)]
[Bro, do me a favor.]
[Pay up.]
[Given that you just wanted to steal my offerings, the fee is now +40%.]
[byd, so greedy.]
In order to keep making money in the future… endure it!
Bai Qiuchen picked up his phone and scanned the payment code she sent.
His finger trembled as he completed the fingerprint verification, offering up the full eighty thousand yuan he had just earned yesterday, still warm from his pocket.