Magical Girls Exposed!

The official organization reacted quickly.

Or rather, they thought quickly.

Upon learning that another Demon had appeared, and had done so openly, they did not bother figuring out what exactly this Demon was before swiftly reaching the conclusion that the mysterious magical girl would also arrive.

So, while notifying Xiao Qiu and the others, they also assembled personnel. The moment they discovered the fourth magical girl, they would surround her and prevent her from escaping.

They might not have known who was behind the Toy Bear, and they might have guessed that Xiao Bai was likely just taking the blame for some unknown entity.

But either way, Magical Girl Xiao Bai appearing at the scene was entirely possible.

What they needed to do was find a way to keep this fourth magical girl there, learn her identity, and then either protect or control her.

But whether it would ultimately be protection or control depended on the choice this fourth magical girl made.

"Nice to meet you. I'm He Xuan, deputy director of the Supernatural Incident Investigation Department."

After meeting the fourth magical girl, a young woman in a suit and gold-rimmed glasses appeared among the special police officers holding tranquilizer guns.

The woman wore little makeup, had her hair pinned up, and did not wear any gold or silver jewelry. At a glance, she looked like a government official.

With a solemn expression and a hint of seriousness in her eyes, she bowed to Xiao Bai before saying,

"I apologize for meeting you in this manner, but please understand. We truly had no way of finding any information about you, so we could only seize every opportunity where you might appear to meet with you."

He Xuan maintained her manners and addressed Xiao Bai respectfully, doing her best not to provoke the fourth magical girl.

Magical girls were, after all, a group of people who wielded supernatural power.

Take that Toy Bear from earlier, for example. He Xuan had tried shooting it, but the gun in her hand had seemed more like a toy in front of the Toy Bear.

The bullets she fired had actually bounced off the Toy Bear. If they had not veered off course on the way back, He Xuan might have been injured.

This proved that ordinary firearms were completely ineffective against magical creatures.

And after learning that it was merely a Toy Bear formed from magic rather than a Demon, He Xuan and those above her became even more serious and cautious in their treatment of magical girls.

Magical girls were only children, yet they possessed power capable of turning the world upside down.

They could not ignore that.

That was why they had to find this fourth magical girl, no matter what.

They feared that this fourth magical girl might be exploited by bad people, which was why today's operation had taken place.

Of course, they knew this might make the fourth magical girl unhappy, but they had no other choice.

Magical Girl Xiao Bai had completely vanished after appearing on the Sky Screen. No one knew where she was or what she was doing.

Today was their best chance to meet Xiao Bai, perhaps even their only chance. They could not let it slip away.

Xiao Bai looked coldly at the special police officers and He Xuan. Her gaze shifted to the helicopter in the distance before returning to He Xuan as she said,

"You really brought out quite the force just to meet me."

"My apologies again, but... we had no other choice... Please understand."

"Mm, I understand. But I won't accept it. I know what you're worried about, and I know why you surrounded me, but that doesn't mean I'll go with you."

Xiao Bai spoke coldly as her Magical Armament, a scythe, appeared in her hand.

Her movement made the surrounding special police tense up. They gripped their guns more tightly, ready to fire together at a single command from He Xuan.

But He Xuan did not issue such an order. She merely took a deep breath and said,

"...May I ask what I should call you?"

"Hmph. Just use the name you people gave me."

"Then... for now, we'll call you Miss Bai. Miss Bai, I know you may not trust the government very much, but we are sincerely inviting you to join us..."

"Sorry, I have no intention of joining you."

Before He Xuan could finish, Xiao Bai interrupted her. Instead of looking at He Xuan, her gaze turned to the side.

At some point, the three magical girls had already arrived. Like the others, they surrounded Xiao Bai at the very center.

Xiao Bai's gaze settled on Yu Muqiu in the middle, and she asked,

"What about you? Are you planning to force me to stay, just like them?"

"I... We only... only wanted to invite you..."

For some reason, Yu Muqiu seemed very weak in front of Xiao Bai. She did not dare raise her voice at Xiao Bai, making it seem to outsiders as though she were a step beneath her.

Chen Xiaoxia did not care about any of that. She asked bluntly,

"Forget about joining or not joining us. Tell us first, what was with that Toy Bear? Did you make it?"

"Wouldn't you find out later by watching the Sky Screen? Or have you already decided that I'm the culprit, so you want to fight me?"

Xiao Bai's voice was calm. The scythe in her hand rested at an angle against the ground, and the chain at its end made a faint clinking sound with her movements.

That action made Yu Muqiu and the other two tense as well. Yu Muqiu quickly said,

"No! Of course I know Xiao Bai definitely didn't do it! But... Uncle Xu said that it would be dangerous for you to be out there alone, and that you needed our..."

"Help? Sorry, I don't need it. I'm doing just fine on my own."

As Xiao Bai spoke, she raised her scythe and planted it on the ground. "As long as you don't come bother me, I won't bother you either. Now... I'll ask you just one thing. Are you moving aside or not?"

"..."

The atmosphere was razor-sharp.

The three little magical girls each tightened their grips on their weapons. Just as a battle was about to break out, He Xuan suddenly spoke after apparently receiving some information.

"...Let her go."

"!?"

Chen Xiaoxia looked at He Xuan in disbelief. "Aunt He!? This..."

"Director Xu's order. Let her go."

Director Xu was the head director of the Supernatural Incident Investigation Department, as well as the superior of these magical girls, including He Xuan.

Xiao Bai was instead rather surprised to hear that Director Xu was letting her go.

They had gone to such great lengths to stop her, yet they were letting her leave without even fighting?

What exactly was Director Xu planning?

But since Director Xu was willing to let her go, Xiao Bai had no reason to remain.

She merely gave Yu Muqiu and the others one last look, withdrew her scythe, then leaped into the air without another word and vanished into the distance.

Because Director Xu had spoken, no one stopped Xiao Bai. They could only watch as she left.

After circling through the air several times and temporarily raising a Magic Barrier to block the satellites overhead from investigating, Fang Ming quietly emerged from the branch office restroom.

"I didn't expect the government to move this quickly... Looks like I'll need to be more careful when making appearances from now on."

As he washed his hands at the sink, Fang Ming stared at his reflection in the mirror and pondered.

Fang Ming knew that the government cared about him, the fourth magical girl.

But he had not expected them to care so much. They had noticed only the slightest sign that he might arrive at the scene, yet they had immediately deployed people to surround the area.

The government acted quickly, so those who harbored ill intentions toward magical girls might not be much slower.

But compared to the appearance of the Toy Bear, all of that was minor.

What Fang Ming cared about more now was where the Toy Bear had come from.

If his guess was correct, the appearance of the Toy Bear should have involved the plot of a possible second season of Magical Girl Xiao Qiu.

But the problem was that the first season had only reached its halfway point. At this pace, even if the second season began immediately after the first ended,

it would still be at least two months away.

They would have to wait two months to see the second season, yet its plot was already unfolding in reality.

That meant they could not use the plot to identify the mastermind behind the Toy Bear Incident in advance.

Now that the Sky Screen had exposed the strengths and abilities of several magical girls, that mastermind... was most likely impossible to find.

Who knew what that person might do over the next two months.

"Tch, looks like I'll have to work overtime these next few days and make a trip to Spring City to see if I can find the person behind this."

After washing his hands, Fang Ming made up his mind. He planned to head to Spring City and search for the mastermind.

But even Fang Ming himself had not expected this.

Whether because of the Toy Bear's appearance or for some other reason,

only one day later, at ten in the morning as usual, the Sky Screen lit up again.

And this time, it was showing

the sixth episode of Magical Girl Xiao Qiu!

There had been no week-long gap. Only one day had passed, and episode six had appeared on the Sky Screen!

Demons in the Scenic Area

The appearance of episode six on the Sky Screen truly caught everyone by surprise.

Even Fang Ming had not expected episode six to follow immediately after episode five.

This was clearly not a normal production schedule for an animated series.

Of course, it was still uncertain whether the "animated series" playing on the Sky Screen had actually been made by anyone.

But now that people had grown accustomed to seeing only one episode a week, the sudden appearance of episode six sent more or less the same signal.

The plot... was about to speed up.

Thinking of the doll that had suddenly appeared yesterday, Fang Ming could not help wondering whether the Toy Bear's appearance had disrupted the original fate, forcing the Sky Screen to accelerate the plot.

A guess was only a guess, and there was no answer for now.

But regardless, episode six had begun.

(I saw it! I saw it!)

(Episode six! Wahahaha, no need to wait a week!!)

(Why did episode six appear directly? Can any experts explain?)

(Don't know, don't understand, no clue. Just watch!)

The first few comments of episode six were all like that, while its opening took place in the guest room of Fang Ming's home.

[Yu Muqiu was telling Chen Xiaoxia and the others about meeting Magical Girl Xiao Bai, which prompted an annoyed voice from Chen Xiaoxia.

"What's with that, talking like some adult lecturing a child..."

Compared to Chen Xiaoxia's dissatisfaction, Xiao Chun was focused on something else.

"She said this place is her territory?"

"Mm... Xiao Bai... did say that." Yu Muqiu nodded.

"...?" Chen Xiaoxia paused, then looked up at Yu Muqiu. "'Xiao Bai'? Is Bai her surname?"

"No, it's... She didn't tell me her name, and I thought we needed something to call her... Plus, she has silver hair, so..."

Yu Muqiu explained.

For some reason, those words struck a nerve with Chen Xiaoxia. She suddenly burst into laughter and patted Yu Muqiu on the shoulder.

"Hahahaha, Xiao Qiu, I didn't realize you were such a little schemer!"

"?"

Yu Muqiu looked at Chen Xiaoxia in confusion.

Chen Xiaoxia laughed so hard that she bent over. "Xiao Bai... Xiao Bai, pfft, that sounds like the name of my aunt's pet dog..."

"Ah..." Only then did Yu Muqiu realize something. She blinked at her two companions. "...Was it rude for me to call her that?"

"No! It was very polite! Since she didn't plan on telling us her name, we can call her whatever we want! It's her fault for not telling us her name first!"