Oh No, It's Chu Xuan! / Manaria's Close Friend

Regarding this...

"Hey, hey, hey, don't make it sound so scary!"

Upon hearing this, the man did not show any fear or apprehension; instead, his smile widened even more.

Even the black robe he wore trembled slightly from the laughter, revealing a silhouette-like body beneath.

"If I could, I'd rather you smash my heart open and pierce my brain with your fists! Hahaha!!"

As the man laughed maniacally, the woman said disdainfully, "We don't have hearts and brains... If you tell another lame joke, I really will kill you."

"Okay, okay!"

After being warned by the woman, the man immediately quieted down. Although he still had a smiling expression, he knew that she might actually be capable of such a thing.

"Oh..."

The woman, who had been sneering, paused for a moment before continuing, "What were the results of this experiment?"

Upon hearing this, the man immediately sneered twice, "Heh, as expected, these are rotten elemental prototype Monster. They have absolutely no possibility of fusion and evolution. They can't even be considered part of us."

The woman replied dismissively, sarcastically, "You do this too? You've certainly inherited quite a few of humanity's worst habits."

"Hmph! Outdated customs? Ridiculous!"

The man tossed the ring aside, gripping the mouse and copying and pasting a report, "These humans you speak of as having bad habits are actually the masters of the world—"

That point is undeniable, but...

"I hope that when you say 'humans,' you're including magical girls, otherwise I'm unwilling to admit it..."

As the woman spoke, she looked at another companion who was slowly walking in beside her... This companion's mask was not on her face.

Although it's a "mask," it's definitely not on the other person's "face."

It's on the back of the other person's hand.

A seemingly ordinary, plain mask, adorned with red tear stains... but crimson...

The tear stains are located at the corners of the mouth.

So it's probably... saliva?

Has the number of powerful allies increased?

Judging from the voice, the human silhouette belongs to a mature and reliable older man with a calm tone... his voice sounds like he's in his thirties or forties.

As for the companion who spoke from the back of her hand, the woman's voice was equally disdainful. "Hasn't the number of companions been increasing? It's just that the companions who weren't strong enough were all killed by you... You perverted serial killer."

The masked man couldn't refute the woman's accusations, but he still argued back. "But they're far too weak. Weak companions are useless... In the end, such weaklings don't deserve to be our companions at all."

"..." I can't take it anymore.

"You're all idiots."

The man chuckled at the woman's generalizations and personal attacks, saying, "Oh well, don't worry about it. Let's get on with the ceremony for the next companion right away."

The woman glanced at the man as he spoke and said, "You decided on the candidate so quickly this time? Or are you up to something again?"

Hearing the woman's displeased tone, the man clasped his hands together and said, "Haha, how could that be? It's just a bold hypothesis being carefully verified..."

"Wouldn't it be better to do more experiments? Can you really bear to watch our fellow human beings live their lives in a daze?"

The man shrugged easily and laughed heartily, while the woman merely snorted, tacitly agreeing with his words.

However, she still had some things to say.

"By the way, I think we should go somewhere else... I heard there are three 'Monster King' in Japan, that's really unusual."

Regarding this...

"Actually, it's five... Hahaha, you can't even use a computer, so don't treat hearsay like it's precious. You're hilarious."

Woman: Arminus!!

Chapter 158 Oh no, we've run into Chu Xuan!

"The fifth form of the Expedition System —Intertwined Defense: Anti-Army Barrier. The name doesn't matter, but its defensive power is very strong."

Shibasaki Kumari spoke, she demonstrated the principle of magic: [using a large amount of thin magic to condense the same thickness but consumes less magic, resulting in minimal decrease in defense].

During the lesson, Shibasaki Kumari finally drew her wand, saying, "However, because stability is required, this magic shield cannot be moved while in use; sometimes, this can actually be fatal."

From Shibasaki Kumari's words, Cong Yu understood...

Now it really is a Navy Sixth Style weapon; isn't it just a solid block of iron?

Thinking about this, Cong Yu couldn't help but recall that weirdo who caught Kuuga's nuclear blast kick with his chest... She felt like giving him a thumbs up.

Cong Yu wasn't the only one thinking this way; a magical girl trainee immediately raised her hand, asking like a well-behaved student, "Then why do we need to learn this spell? Wouldn't it be better for us to avoid the enemy's attacks?"

That's a very good question.

As we all know, defense is usually less valuable than percentage-based damage reduction. And if your evasion rate is 100%, and the enemy doesn't have any abilities that guarantee a hit or reduce evasion rate, then you are, of course, invincible.

Unfortunately, this is only from the perspective of the game.

"Because, sometimes, you have to stand in front of others... Behind you might be an innocent child, or your injured companion."

Shibasaki Kumari said something very reasonable, and then began to explain the key points of the technique to everyone present.

"..." Cong Yu listened listlessly, thinking that there was no need for her to learn it... She could summon the Jormungandr Train for defense when necessary.

If Yaochuan Guang, Lantian Zhu, and Xiao Cui encounter some powerful monster and are about to be beaten, he can summon a row of snakes to lie in front of them with a snap of his fingers.

Then the enemy can only watch helplessly.

Hmm? No, why should I protect them...?

Cong Yu pondered this, then remembered that he had promised to protect them five times... He had toyed with them for a while at Wind City High School, which brought the number to eight.

Yaochuan Guang and Lantian Zhu share these eight opportunities.

But now that Xiao Cui has joined... well, let's add seven more times then. I'll take a slight loss and protect the three of them a total of 15 times.

Hmm... well... ah...

For some reason, Cong Yu had a strange feeling that this number might increase in the future, perhaps...

Is it just my imagination?

"Cong Yu- chan! Look!"

Yaochuan Guang's voice pulled Cong Yu back from her thoughts. When she looked up, she saw a beautiful shield around her that refracted light like glass.

Like a semi-circular shield, it stood in front of Yaochuan Guang, protecting her body and heart.

Learned that fast?

But isn't this just another instance of waiting for me to praise her?

"Yes, Yaochuan Guang, that's awesome!"

Cong Yu praised her enthusiastically, clapping and patting Yaochuan Guang's head, saying, "So amazing! So amazing! So amazing!"

Enveloped in Cong Yu's sweet words, Yaochuan Guang squinted his eyes, grinning foolishly...

Cong Yu felt like he was about to turn into Pavlov the Dog.

Now that Yaochuan Guang has stuck out her butt, Cong Yu knows she's trying to get praise again, she wants...

I need to touch him... It feels like he's the one who's been trained.

Just like Pavlov, who wanted to feed the dog as soon as he heard the bell.

"Then that's settled, you can train slowly."

Seeing that everyone had almost mastered the technique, Shibasaki Kumari said, then called to Cong Yu, "Cong Yu- san, someone from the association headquarters is looking for you. Please come this way, I'll take you to her."

Has it arrived yet?

Thinking this, Cong Yu stood up and walked towards the building next to the training ground... He had already guessed it.

This training camp was like making dumplings for the sake of vinegar.

From the very beginning, the person who organized the training camp had Cong Yu as their target.

"Cong Yu- chan?"

As Yaochuan Guang tidied her hair, Cong Yu gave her a reassuring look and then walked through the door.

"..." Lantian Zhu remained silent, countless scenes of "the husband committing the crime in front of the victim" flashing through his mind in an instant, and looked up at the various windows of the building.

She wondered Cong Yu might be being threatened and forced to do something by a perverted magical girl in front of a window in the building where they could be seen.

That magical girl was a high-ranking member of an association, who used the excuse, "You don't want Lantian Zhu to do XXX, do you?" to force Cong Yu to comply.

That's way too easy to deduct... Ugh, that's going too far!

--

"We're here. They're inside."

Shibasaki Kumari spoke, she opened the office door and gestured for Cong Yu to go inside... Inside sat a young girl.

Since she's a magical girl, she's naturally a young girl.

The girl with purple hair, watching the training session outside, seemed unaware of Cong Yu's arrival.

But that's impossible. No one would fail to notice the Gate being opened, especially since the other party had called Cong Yu over.

Cong Yu didn't care, or rather... he had no reason to care.

If he's unhappy, he'll naturally turn on his temper and leave.

Cong Yu walked in simply, sat down naturally on the stool in front of the other person, and asked directly, "What do you want?"

This directness startled the magical girl.

After a moment, having been thoroughly influenced by Japan rules, she finally reacted and slowly said, "I just want to get to know you and make friends."

Cong Yu does like making friends, but he's certain the other person's purpose isn't simply to be friends... or at least not just to make friends.

"Let me put it more directly... What do you want from me? The Yuan'an family has already contacted me."

"The head of the Yuan'an family gave me a hard time and even played a childish game with me, 'who can lose their temper first,' so I just took my leave."

Cong Yu looked at the other person sincerely as she spoke, "So, if you want to do something, I think you should be more honest."

The magical girl awkwardly looked away, because she had actually played some "childish games" at the beginning.

However, she remained calm, handed an apple to Cong Yu, and after Cong Yu shook his head, she took a bite herself. "Then I'll be blunt. According to the information... you're the King of Wind City's experimental subject, right?"

Indeed, this has always been the Light Side.

"Hmm, perhaps?"

Cong Yu answered casually, blinking as he said, "Actually, I don't know anything about the experiment. My friend told me about it... I feel like I just took a nap."

As he said this, Cong Yu secretly felt pleased with himself. He actually remembered the self-imposed limitations he had set for himself back then... He might forget them after a while.

"However, I don't think that's the case."

The magical girl, staring intently into Cong Yu's eyes, asked, "When it comes to experimental subjects, what usually comes to mind?"

"Unstable, uncontrollable, experimental stage, even rejection reaction, but none of these things are reflected in you."

"This shouldn't be an 'experiment.' If it's a technology, then it should be a fully mature technology, so..."

"Your identity is not as simple as it appears in the file."

Chapter 159 Manaria's Friends

Previously, while at Wind City High School, Cong Yu patched up his identity as "human Cong Yu".

They just released a DLC.

Therefore, they recruited the eccentric from the 21st Group, Qili, her apprentice, Lantian Zhu, and Yaochuan Guang as actors to perform a play worth "saving you three more times".

If Cong Yu were to rate this scene, he would give it a nine out of ten.

It's definitely a 10-point system.

If it's out of 100, it's at least 94 points.

My acting was definitely flawless; the confusion after waking up and the astonishment upon discovering I had gained the power of a monster were both perfectly portrayed.

Even his apologetic expression, saying "Sorry, I seem to have become a weirdo," is quite in line with his persona.