Magical Girls Exposed!

But it had to be said that this move was indeed effective. At the very least, the Demon in the sky was definitely dead beyond doubt. As for these vines...

"Wait... something's wrong! Xiao Qiu, why are the vines still growing?!"

Chen Xiaoxia looked at the vines and discovered that although the Demon was already dead, the vines were still continuously growing outward.

This proved that these vines were not the Demon's magic!

"Was it that person hiding somewhere?" Xiao Chun warily looked around.

If the person who had cast the vine magic was not the same person as the Demon, then it meant someone was still hiding in the shadows.

And that person could attack them at any moment!

But what Yu Muqiu and the others had not expected was that just as everyone vigilantly watched their surroundings, the ever-growing vines suddenly stopped growing in an instant and withered, falling to the ground.

The green vines were stained with the yellow of decay. In just a few breaths, all the vines turned into dry branches and leaves, scattering away with the wind.

The Magic Barrier dispersed at the same time, revealing the outside world before them.

The person hiding behind the scenes had left at some point, and the magic left behind here had lost its power and dissipated completely.

The magical girls were safe.

But the magical girls felt incredibly heavy-hearted, because they knew the matter had not truly been resolved.

The real mastermind had not been caught, which meant incidents like this would happen again.

That was what was truly worrying.

Dongdong and Black Rabbit

A dim alley.

A filthy ground.

A girl in worn-out clothes sat leaning against the wall of the alley, allowing the grime on the ground and walls to stain her clothes.

The girl had been sitting there for who knew how long before she finally regained some strength.

"This time... I was still a little too reckless..."

The girl hidden in the shadows murmured softly.

Beside her, a completely black creature with upright long ears, resembling a black rabbit, said to her:

"But there was no other choice."

"Yeah... there was no other choice..."

"The big screen in the sky is clearly speeding up. Judging by this pace, the so-called 'second season' plot will begin in seven days at the latest. By then... we won't be able to keep hiding anymore."

Black Rabbit spoke to the girl in a gentle voice.

The girl nodded. "I understand. It's just... I'm a little tired."

"You drained such an enormous amount of magic power all at once, so it's only natural that you'd be tired. But honestly, you gave me quite a scare, Dongdong. I never expected that, with the help of Nightmare Power, you could hold back four magical girls at the same time. As expected... you have great potential."

After saying this, Black Rabbit looked up at the curtain in the sky and added:

"...Perhaps you have even more potential than the so-called 'protagonist.'"

Even Yu Muqiu had not displayed such powerful strength after becoming a magical girl.

But the girl called Dongdong shook her head. "None of that matters. It's just... we failed."

"It's fine. That damned cat can't hide behind the magical girls forever. Besides, attacking her this time was only incidental. Our true objective... has already been achieved."

Black Rabbit let out a sinister laugh completely at odds with its gentle voice.

Dongdong fell silent as she listened. She suddenly raised a hand and stroked Black Rabbit's head, asking softly:

"After... after our plan succeeds, can we really..."

"We can."

Before Dongdong could finish, Black Rabbit nodded. "We definitely can. You have to believe in me, Dongdong."

"Mm. I believe you."

Dongdong hesitated for two seconds before slowly nodding.

Although she was still all alone, although nothing seemed to have gotten better, she believed Black Rabbit could definitely fulfill her dream.

Because Black Rabbit had helped her. When she was at her most desperate, it had descended before her and given her the power to take revenge and keep living.

So if Black Rabbit said it was possible, then it had to be possible.

Time passed second by second. The girl leaned against the alley wall and closed her eyes, as though she had fallen asleep.

Black Rabbit's red eyes reflected the girl's figure.

Her long black hair was somewhat messy, as though it had not been cared for in a long time. There were also a few smudges on her face, stains she had accidentally gotten while trying to corrupt Toy Bear a few nights ago.

The girl had never had the time or energy to clean herself up.

A pair of thick black-framed glasses sat on her nose, covering nearly half her face and concealing part of her appearance.

Even so, it was still apparent that she was rather pretty. It was only the faint yet lingering gloomy aura around her that detracted somewhat from her looks.

She wore an old school uniform. Clearly, she was only a first-year student, yet the uniform looked as though it had been patched many times.

Even the hem was coming undone in places.

No matter how one looked at her, the girl was practically synonymous with poverty.

Yet this inconspicuous poor girl possessed the formidable strength to fight four opponents alone, which often made Black Rabbit sigh at its own good fortune.

To encounter, immediately after arriving in this world, a girl whose heart was filled with both hope and despair was truly the height of luck.

But at the same time, Black Rabbit felt somewhat unfortunate.

The Sky Screen that had appeared overhead made Black Rabbit feel as though everything it did might be exposed at any moment.

So... it could not keep waiting.

Even if it had to drain Dongdong's potential, it had to complete its plan before the Sky Screen aired the plot of the second season!

Otherwise, once all the information was exposed, it would never again have a chance to complete its plan!

So hold on a little longer, Dongdong. My plan will succeed, and your dream will come true as well.

A world where no one would be hurt would arrive soon.

So hold on a little longer...

Black Rabbit was thinking this when it suddenly heard footsteps from the entrance of the alley.

Glancing slightly toward the alley entrance, Black Rabbit instantly burrowed into Dongdong's arms.

This movement woke Dongdong, who had been asleep, and she also noticed the person entering from outside the alley.

Someone was here?

Instinctively hiding Black Rabbit, the image of an open book flashed across the back of the girl's right hand before quickly fading away.

Then the girl heard the footsteps stop beside her. A bespectacled young man frowned as he looked at her sitting there.

"Miss, are you okay?"

The young man asked while taking out his phone.

The girl shrank back, braced herself against the wall, and barely managed to stand up. She raised her head to look at the young man, who was much taller than her, and shook her head.

"I... I'm fine..."

"Are you really okay? It's almost midnight. Why are you here alone? Where is your family? Do you need me to call the police?"

By the end, the young man seemed to be asking for the girl's opinion, but his finger had already opened the phone's call screen. The digits 110 had been entered, and he could place the call at any moment.

"...No!" Almost instinctively, Dongdong grabbed the young man's arm. Then she looked up into his eyes and pleaded:

"Don't call the police... I... I'm really fine. I was just... too tired, and I accidentally... fell asleep, that's all... I... I'm really fine..."

The girl emphasized it twice in a row before withdrawing her hand. She pressed her left hand over the back of her right hand and held it against her chest.

Then she lowered her head and said to the young man, "Thank you for your concern. I'll be going home soon. You don't need to call the police. Thank you."

Even as she thanked him, she kept emphasizing that he did not need to call the police.

As she spoke, a faint purple glow appeared on the back of her right hand. However, because it was covered by her left hand, the young man did not notice.

To be honest, the girl's reaction was suspicious to the extreme. But perhaps because the young man believed it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble, he put away his phone.

Then he asked:

"Do you need me to take you home?"

"..."

The girl only shook her head.

The young man continued, "All right, then. Sorry for disturbing you. Goodbye."

Only after confirming that the girl did not need help did the young man walk past her toward the other exit of the alley.

The girl hesitated for a long time, wondering whether she should transform and use hypnosis magic on the young man, until Black Rabbit sent her a message through Telepathy:

Don't act rashly, Dongdong!

This guy has magic power on him. No... his glasses have magic power that interferes with cognition. He should be someone connected to those magical girls, very likely the magical girls' cousin, Fang Ming. Attacking him will draw the magical girls' attention!

"..."

Only after hearing Black Rabbit say this did the girl abandon the thought of transforming and hypnotizing him.

She watched the young man leave. Only after confirming that he had left the alley did she turn and depart.

But the girl did not notice that not long after she left, the young man who had supposedly gone away took out his phone and made a call.

"Hello? Is this the Investigation Department? This is Fang Ming. I just found a rather suspicious girl. Could you investigate her?"

The young man, Fang Ming, spoke to the operator on the other end at the Investigation Department.

Although the girl seemed as though there was nothing wrong with her, her insistence on not calling the police alone was enough to prove that she was suspicious.

No matter whether there was truly anything wrong with the girl, it would not hurt to investigate her first.

The Fifth Magical Girl?

"Song Niandong, female, a first-year student at Spring City No. 1 Middle School. Her parents died of illness when she was young. Two months ago, her only remaining relative, the grandmother who raised her, also passed away from cancer. Since then, she has been all alone.

"At school, her performance is average, one could even say she's rather 'invisible,' and..."

In the reception room, the investigator introduced Fang Ming to the identity of the girl he had encountered yesterday.

As the investigator reached the end, she paused slightly, causing Fang Ming to press her:

"And what?"

The investigator sighed and said, "And... she has a long history of being bullied at school..."

Hearing this, Fang Ming could not help frowning. He looked again at the girl's file, his finger tapping twice on the character Dong in Song Niandong's name.

"Her name contains 'Dong,' right?" Fang Ming looked up at the investigator. "So she could also be Magical Girl Xiao Bai's... true identity?"

"That is possible, but we investigated. This girl looks nothing like Xiao Bai, does not have white hair, has a timid personality, and has shown no signs of magic power. So the chances of her being Xiao Bai are not high."

"...So you ignored her situation and allowed the bullying to happen??"

Fang Ming looked at the investigator in disbelief.

The investigator said awkwardly:

"Mr. Fang, while the appearance of magical girls has indeed given us... people in the Investigation Department a great deal of authority, our authority in matters unrelated to magical girls is not as great as you might imagine.

"As for what happened to Song Niandong, all we can do is report it to the education department. How they handle it... is the education department's responsibility."

"So you're passing the buck, huh!"

Unable to hold himself back, Fang Ming slapped his right hand onto the table. His voice rose as he questioned the investigator.

The commotion startled the investigator and also startled He Xuan, who had just entered through the door.

He Xuan stood blankly at the entrance, looking at the troubled investigator, then at Fang Ming. After thinking for a moment, she walked over with a smile and asked:

"Mr. Fang, why are you so angry?"

Realizing that he had gotten a little emotional, Fang Ming took a deep breath. Then he pointed at the file in front of him and said to He Xuan: