Chapter 206

Chu Yuanqing turned off her phone and lay on the soft bed, her mind wandering.

Since Qingxuan, who is suspected to be a former comrade-in-arms, can recover some memories of the old era.

Then... why can't Charlotte do it?

Volume 1: 197. Episode 5, Liuli's Speculation, Yayoi's Changes.

The night was deep, adorned with countless stars.

The opera house across from the hotel is brightly lit, resembling a golden palace from afar. The neon lights here are not diverse, but rather seem to burn with soft and gorgeous lights everywhere, making the bustling streets look especially beautiful.

It's 7 p. m., and the girls, who should have had a good sleep on the plane, have all found their own places to be alone after the excitement of arriving at the hotel, and have unanimously canceled the group activities.

During this time, Chen Xiaoxiao knocked on the door to ask if they wanted to go out for dinner together or bring some food back, but the Little Idol politely declined, saying they would experience Vienna's cuisine the next day.

It's obvious that although everyone is pretending to be fine, they are all intricately connected to a certain Doomsday Diva, and their hearts are still a bit chaotic, requiring them to sort things out.

Tang Liuli idly fiddled with the music arrangement for a while, then couldn't contain herself any longer and searched for all the information about Charlotte.

Unfortunately, after searching through everything, my mind was still a complete mess.

The girl sighed deeply and murmured:

"Charlotte, she is indeed a very capable person."

"But it is precisely because of this that I can confirm I have never seen her before."

"If I had to pinpoint a connection, our only link is that we were both contestants on Flashdance, so... those scenes shouldn't have anything to do with her."

Unlike a certain foolish and easily fooled Golden Haired Doggy, Tang Liuli is sensitive and suspicious. She was almost given a hereditary mental illness by her own mother, so she has to be careful about the clear images that flash through her mind.

First, those images are hidden in past dreams, but they are forgotten by the brain after waking up.

In other words, the singing in the square merely touched upon and awakened those memories all at once, thus creating a series of images like a revolving lantern in an instant.

Therefore, tracing back to the source, those dreams are the reason for the flashback phenomenon. The real core question is, why do we have such clear, vivid, and emotionally charged dreams?

Wait a minute, if we carefully consider the timeline, it seems that those dreams only occurred after she reunited with Xiao Qing during the battle for teammates and started taking turns Magic Replenishment?

She thought for a moment but couldn't find a connection.

Green Eyed Cat simply abandoned normal logic. With a serious expression, she lay on the soft bed, looked at the velvet-textured wooden ceiling, and decided to use her Sherlock Holmes-like deductive abilities and supernatural intuition to find the answer to this supernatural phenomenon.

At this moment, the extraordinary wisdom hidden in her mind began to sublimate. She applied the professionalism of an actress to the thinking of a detective, and mixed in her unrestrained imagination, allowing infinite inspiration to collide wildly, and in a daze, she captured a few key words.

--Magical Girl.

--Talent of empathy.

--Mana Magic Replenishment ritual.

Tang Liuli's adorable face seemed to say, "I'm gradually understanding everything," and her emerald eyes sparkled with wisdom. She suddenly sat up and said confidently:

"I understand now. Those images weren't my memories, they were Xiao Qing's memories!"

The reason is simple: she possesses an incredible talent for empathy, enabling her to empathize with the other person's emotions, touch, pain, pleasure, and even a range of subtle senses through sight or other media.

At the same time, Chu Yuanqing is special.

Before the Second Evaluation, when she went to bring food to the other party, she felt an intense emotion like the ocean, almost bathing her in holy light and being forcibly converted, instantly becoming a Buddha.

Tang Liuli believes that this is the unique radiance of Magical Girl, which carries great weight in her empathy system, and the mysterious ritual of Magic Replenishment provides the best conditions for empathy.

Under these circumstances, it makes perfect sense that she could obtain some of Chu Yuanqing's memories through a dream.

Moreover, if we stand still and show any unusual behavior today, the first one to waver will be Xiao Qing herself!

Therefore, it's normal for Charlotte's song to evoke related memories.

As for the City of Doomsday that the person in my memory mentioned, it can be interpreted as a magical fairy castle, a magical kingdom, or a Magical Girl academy—the kind of setting that makes perfect sense.

Haha, I'm a genius!

The Green Eyed Cat was smug, but her smugness didn't last long. She belatedly realized that if the memories in her head were Xiao Qing's, then weren't the emotions that filled her chest at that time also Xiao Qing's?

Damn, could it be that the voice in her memory is the White Moonlight that Xiao Qing can't forget to this day?

At this moment, the sorrow in my heart flowed like a river.

Tang Liuli was deeply shocked. She had clearly discovered the truth (though this was questionable), and she had clearly proven her talent, so why did this encounter produce such a self-reliant and aesthetically pleasing artistic beauty?

Waaaaah, it's fake! I don't believe it! What "White Moonlight"?! It must have been a fake death to forcibly elevate her to a higher level!

The Green Eyed Cat grew increasingly upset. Little did she know that her evaluation was a boomerang that would inevitably return. She grabbed her pillow and began to roll around on the bed in anger until she embarrassingly rolled off the bed. Only then did she tearfully get up and angrily prepare to go to sleep.

The next room.

Xie Qingxuan walked out of the bathroom. She had just finished showering and took off her bathrobe, wearing only a black lace lingerie. Her skin was so pink and tender that it seemed to be steaming. She was wiping her damp platinum hair with a towel, and her beautiful face had a blank expression.

The girl glanced at the mirror in front of the vanity. The scene inside was like piled-up spring snow. Perhaps because she wasn't wearing a sports bra, her full bust was particularly prominent. Her gaze moved down to her waist and abdomen, which were as slender and supple as twigs, showing off her abs, before she looked away.

After confirming that she didn't have any extra fat, Xie Qingxuan sat on the sofa draped with a fluffy blanket. She hugged her knees like a small animal, her legs pressed against the soft fabric, and stared blankly at the silver hourglass on the bedside table, muttering to herself:

"The dream isn't over yet."

According to the original plan, she was supposed to launch a night raid.

However, Chu Yuanqing's strange behavior today made the unexpectedly perceptive Golden Haired Doggy change its mind, deciding to give the other person, and itself, some space to be alone.

"Does the concept of a past life truly exist?"

Xie Qingxuan was the first person to see scenes of the old era in her dreams, and naturally, she also benefited the most from today's stimulation. Those hazy, misty images, as if seen through a layer of glass, were transmitted to her real senses in a daze, making the gap between dreams and reality increasingly blurred.

However, her unique dullness and clarity, as well as the bird's-eye view brought by [Meditation State], allowed her to quickly pull herself out of the chaos and look at those fragmented memories from a rational perspective.

Xie Qingxuan pondered for a long time, then whispered:

"Unimportant."

This was her answer to herself.

Because whether it's true or false, the things I need to do right now, the people I like, the things I love, and the goals I'm pursuing won't change.

With this thought in mind, Xie Qingxuan put an end to her thoughts. She hugged her knees, gently adjusting her breathing as her nostrils flared, and began her usual meditation. She quickly entered a deep state of meditation, immersing herself in tranquility and peace, and adjusting her mind to the purest and most unified state.

Strangely, the [Cocoon of the Heart] and the [Goddess Skirt] placed on the table resonated slowly, as if gradually opening the path to becoming Magical Girl, following the progress of meditation.

On the other side, the table was piled high with origami cranes made of colored paper.

"999."

Kiriwake Yayoi once, Kirimi Yayoi was in no hurry to finish folding the last one. Her mind was not at peace, and the paper cranes folded in this state would tend towards formalism and lose their original blessing.

The girl picked up the origami cranes and put them into the glass bottle. The pencil on the table swayed, and several sheets of rice paper that had been hidden by the origami cranes were revealed. They were covered with different scenes drawn in pencil, some of which were lifelike mythical beasts, and others were design drawings of machinery and swords.

Kiriwake Yayoi studied painting for a while. When she was forced to leave the group, she was kicked out of the dormitory by the company. In order to participate in the audition for "Flashdance" in Tokyo, she had to rent an apartment in Tokyo. During this period, her only source of income, besides part-time jobs, was taking on some odd jobs online.

However, East Flow Island is very stingy in this regard; even with good painting skills, they don't earn much money.

Little Sakura's drawing skills are only average, not up to the standard of commercial orders; they're just dabbling. The scene on the paper is at a level she could never have drawn before.

The mane and eyeballs of those monsters, the stark white bones of their torsos, and the realistic details of them tearing human cavities apart with their claws, causing blood and flesh to splatter, are all presented on the paper, like a long page that a cartoonist has spent several hours meticulously crafting.

The same is true of the other design drawings, some of which even have an extremely rigorous professional feel. The handling of all aspects is too realistic, far surpassing the style of the past and exceeding the imagination of our understanding.

She drew these seven or eight pictures in just 40 minutes while in a state of "Flow State," making her as good as a human printer.

Kiriwake Yayoi pursed her lips, looking down at her slender hand, feeling lost.

If it weren't for the soreness in my hand joints, the slight pain in my wrist, and even the signs of spasms when I stretched, it would be hard to imagine that I could have painted these pictures myself.

This is unusual, and surreal.

Humans cannot imagine things they have never seen, let alone make sudden leaps in skill in a certain area.

"My hand has become steady."

Kiriwake Yayoi noticed this detail.

The girl picked up the guitar and tried playing half a song. The pitch and rhythm were the same as before, and there was no effect from the exhaustion of her fingers. It was as if... these hands had gone through countless trials and tribulations, and such fatigue could not affect the accuracy of her work at all.

Little Sakura was confused. After thinking for a moment, she tried to draw other things, and then realized that her skill level had not changed. At most, her hands were faster and steadyer. Only the things in her memory could be barely reconstructed.

"Could it be...?"

"What Stand have I awakened?"

Kiriwake Yayoi shook off this abstract thought, feeling something was very wrong. How could she encounter such strange things on her very first day in Vienna? Had that monster from last time done something to her?

Now, when she thinks of the nightmare, her first reaction isn't fear or worry, but rather to forge the weapon from the blueprints and use it to slash the monster a few times.

Little Sakura was worried for a while, but then she thought it was a good thing, so she cheered up and murmured:

"It's not scientific, but it's magical."

"Let's ask Xiao Qing tomorrow; she might know something."

After speaking, Kiriwake Yayoi wanted to put all the papers away, but she couldn't help but look at them for a while. She was so focused when she was drawing that when she looked at them again, they felt somewhat unfamiliar to her, which made it unexpectedly interesting.

As for the design drawings, she actually prefers those with a mythological style, such as the Futsu-no-Mitama, Ama-no-Habakiri, and Ame-no- Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi from East Flow Island, because these all seem to be just a display of imagination, and it would be more normal to draw them herself.

"This is the first one that was drawn."

The girl's eyes were tinged with cherry blossom pink. She ran her fingertips over the lead print on the paper, causing the misty lines beside the blade to blaze and transform into clear, leaping flames as her fingers moved.

Finally, the lead stains on the skin, and the name at the very end, blurred most of it.

--Laevatain.

At this very moment, while a certain retired Savior, like a young widow, was listless, his eyes dim, his brows furrowed, lost in thought, the sun rose over the Great Xia, amplifying the momentum of the newly released fifth episode.

The first elimination, Third Performance, a series of outstanding stages, fierce competition between various contestants, and a large number of individual fancams that were subsequently released.

The anticipation built up by these factors made the audience extremely enthusiastic for the fifth episode. Many people stayed up all the time to watch the latest episode, trying to be among the first to see it, and were very active in sending comments.

After all, talent shows are different from regular programs; each contestant has their own "spiritual shareholders," which are their fans.

Although the live stream by Dream Weaver Rabbit announced the list of those who advanced, making it clear who would win and who would lose, fans are often the most emotional creatures. If they were supporting Little Idol who was destined to be eliminated, they would naturally be even more unwilling to miss that idol's last stage.

Elimination means shattered dreams.

Flash Dance amplifies this characteristic of talent shows, making each contestant seem fragile and pitiful. The harder they work in the early episodes, and the more amazing their talent and dance are, the more regrettable it is when they are eliminated and their brilliance is taken away.

This despair, imbued with a realistic and tragic beauty, gives the dazzling performances on stage a unique flavor.

Simply put, how can you highlight the preciousness and dazzling purity of dreams without stuffing your mouth full of shards of glass and overflowing with the bitterness of reality?

The show's live chat was full of complaints:

"That damn red-eyed rabbit! Elimination is one thing, but why include so much footage from the farewell party in the show? Ha! You think you can get me? No way!"

"Waaaaah, Daddy Flash, do they really not want to dance on stage anymore???"

"Don't cry, Dream Weaver Rabbit put all their dreams into [Shine Front]. It's a rhythm game where you can beat the game to the end even with an initial rating of E and through skillful micro-management."

"Seeing this comment made me cry even louder. Are you sure this is healing, or just a more painful boomerang???"

Subsequently, a group of gamers arrived at the scene and began analyzing how fun [Shine Front] was. Even here, a bunch of lucky players showing off their cards appeared.

"Hehehe, I saw Qing Bao in the encyclopedia! Although I can't unlock it, I can still admire it every day. The anime version of Qing Bao is so cute, isn't it???"

"I'm furious! I really want to catch Qing Bao and get her character card! Has anyone been lucky enough to catch Qing Bao yet?"

"Yes, just look at Xie Qingxuan, Tang Liuli, and Kiriwake Yayoi's latest Weibo, they're all showing off their credit cards???"

"Mom, is this how it works? So you're taking advantage of being close to the source, huh? Envy, jealousy, and hatred! A bunch of scheming bastards???"

"Hilarious! Qing Bao also posted a picture of a gift card on Weibo, but it was Yue Bao's card. Did the other teammates mistakenly receive the wrong card?"

The popularity of [Shine Front] is clearly complementary to the show, with many contestants interested in playing the game to add some fun to their performance.

Of course, Chu Yuanqing was different; this old-fashioned man who had never seen the world genuinely enjoyed playing [Shine Front].

It's worth mentioning that, due to the inclusion of idol audition elements, some people ended up drawing character cards from their rivals, creating a hilarious and absurd scene on social media.

Xu Ling didn't care about this. Neither of the two Little Idol she was following were in the gacha pool. Her current attention was entirely focused on Chu Yuanqing's stage performance. Various fan groups were also discussing the true appearance of the Pure White Witch, with everyone demanding that this effect/styling be fixed.