Magical Girls Exposed! Chapter 36

When Fang Ming looked at her like that, Song Niandong immediately lowered her head guiltily. She turned away, refusing to look at him, and said coldly,

"...F-for the sake of you buying me food, I'll let you off today. You can go!"

Slap.

Black Rabbit smacked her own face again.

Fang Ming laughed instead. "All right, so I've been kidnapped by Miss Song now?"

"?"

Song Niandong was completely bewildered.

No, hadn't he heard her clearly? She was letting him go!

Ignoring Song Niandong's confusion, Fang Ming continued,

"Since I've been kidnapped by Miss Song, it's only reasonable for me to pay Miss Song a ransom, right?"

Song Niandong nodded blankly.

Fang Ming continued, "Then it's only reasonable for me to provide Miss Song with a place to stay, right?"

...Something seemed off, but Song Niandong still nodded instinctively.

"So, Miss Song, are you coming with me or not? At the very least... I can give you somewhere to live."

She hesitated... and kept hesitating.

Song Niandong thought for a long while before finally being persuaded by Fang Ming. She followed behind him toward the "place to stay" he had mentioned.

Floating beside Song Niandong, Black Rabbit's eyes and expression conveyed a single emotion.

Speechlessness.

Looking at Fang Ming and Song Niandong's positions now, as well as who was walking in front and behind,

No matter how she looked at it, it seemed like Fang Ming had kidnapped Song Niandong.

So who exactly had kidnapped whom??

For the first time, Black Rabbit doubted whether making a contract with Song Niandong had been the right choice.

Infinite Tsukuyomi, Huh?

Fang Ming had disappeared.

By the time they realized it, it was nearly time for the Sky Screen's daily broadcast.

Fang Ming, who appeared every morning without fail and waited in front of the Sky Screen, had not left his room today. The moment they noticed this, the bodyguards responsible for protecting him immediately opened his door.

Then they discovered that Fang Ming, who should have been inside, was gone.

And on the desk in his room, they found a letter.

The contents of the letter were simple, consisting of only a few sentences.

--If you don't want anything to happen to him, then do nothing. Don't stop me!

The handwriting was neat and elegant, clearly belonging to a girl.

And after comparing the handwriting, the Investigation Department confirmed that the letter had been written by Song Niandong.

"So... Fang Ming... was kidnapped?"

Inside the Investigation Department, when Xiao Chun learned the news, her vision went dark and her mind went blank.

Yu Muqiu looked at the letter, biting her lip. "Fang Ming... he was taken because of us..."

"Bastard!!" Chen Xiaoxia slammed her hand against the table and shouted, "If she has the guts, she should come for us! What kind of person kidnaps an ordinary civilian?!"

Seeing the reactions of the magical girls, He Xuan remained silent for a long while before saying,

"Perhaps it was precisely because he was an ordinary person that Song Niandong kidnapped him."

Fang Ming was an ordinary person, and he was connected to all three magical girls. Kidnapping him was far more worthwhile than kidnapping the relatives of three magical girls.

So it was not strange for Song Niandong to make such a decision.

The only strange thing was how Song Niandong had learned where Fang Ming lived and accurately located his residence to kidnap him.

Could it be that when they had arranged Fang Ming's housing that day, Song Niandong had actually been following them?

As He Xuan pondered this, Yu Muqiu suddenly stood up.

"I'm going to save Fang Ming!"

"That's right! Since Fang Ming was kidnapped because of us, we have the obligation and responsibility to rescue him!"

Chen Xiaoxia chimed in.

The magical rune on the back of her hand lit up. She was already prepared to transform into a magical girl.

But He Xuan used only one sentence to extinguish the flames about to ignite within them.

"Do you know where he and Song Niandong are?"

"..."

They did not.

Yu Muqiu and Chen Xiaoxia exchanged glances, both feeling a little awkward.

When Song Niandong kidnapped Fang Ming, she had not left behind any clues or address. She had merely warned the magical girls not to stop her.

So as long as they obediently listened and turned a blind eye to what happened next, Fang Ming would be safe.

But how could that be possible?

The magical girls would never stand by and watch Demons harm others. They had to fight the Demons, and they had to save Fang Ming!

But the problem now was that they did not know where Fang Ming was.

"Maybe..." Xiao Chun took a deep breath and said, "Maybe I know where Fang Ming is."

"?!" Chen Xiaoxia abruptly turned toward Xiao Chun. "You know?! Then what are we waiting for? Let's go save him!"

Unlike Chen Xiaoxia's urgency, He Xuan remained much calmer. She asked Xiao Chun,

"...Miss Murong, why would you know Fang Ming's location?"

"Because... I once gave Fang Ming a pair of glasses. There's magic on them, so as long as I can sense the magic power on them..."

Xiao Chun said hesitantly.

She had not wanted to reveal this.

Casting tracking magic on a gift given to someone else made Xiao Chun feel as though she were some kind of pervert.

But now that Fang Ming's safety was involved, she had no choice but to say it.

Fortunately, no one present cared why Xiao Chun had placed tracking magic on Fang Ming's glasses. They were only glad that she had kept something in reserve. Otherwise, they truly would have had no clues at all.

Sure enough, Xiao Chun was Xiao Chun—the reliable one among the three.

Still, though they had relaxed somewhat, He Xuan asked just in case,

"Can you sense Fang Ming's location right now?"

"I'll try..."

Xiao Chun closed her eyes. The rune on the back of her hand lit up, and magical fluctuations only magical girls could perceive spread outward.

Even without transforming, magical girls could use a certain amount of magic. They simply were not as powerful as they were in transformed states.

Therefore, Xiao Chun could sense Fang Ming's location without transforming.

But to everyone's surprise, after only a dozen seconds or so, Xiao Chun opened her eyes in confusion and said,

"...I... I can't sense it anymore... The magic on them... has been removed!"

When everyone heard that, the atmosphere that had just begun to ease became heavy once more.

Well, sometimes the reliable one... might not be quite so reliable.

After tossing the magic-infused glasses to Black Rabbit for disposal, Fang Ming sat in a chair at the Anonymous Hotel and turned to look at Song Niandong, who was sleeping soundly beside him.

At this moment, Fang Ming had already been "kidnapped" by Song Niandong.

Of course, that was only what they called it. If Fang Ming wanted to leave, Song Niandong certainly could not stop him.

But Fang Ming had no reason to leave. Song Niandong truly needed a guardian by her side right now.

Black Rabbit did not count as a qualified guardian. She normally could not appear before others, and even if she did, no one would think a pet posed much of a threat.

If someone truly wanted to harm Song Niandong, then aside from using magic, there was nothing she could do.

Therefore, even for Song Niandong's safety alone, Fang Ming had to stay with her.

Besides, he needed to figure out what Song Niandong intended to do.

"What exactly are you planning?"

Fang Ming asked Black Rabbit... Youyou.

Youyou was Black Rabbit's real name. According to her, she had been one of the more outstanding students at the former Magical Creature Academy and could form magical contracts with five girls at once.

But for certain unspeakable reasons, Black Rabbit could now only form a contract with one person, and that person was Song Niandong.

The magical girl who possessed the Heart of Resolve.

Fang Ming could not ask about those unspeakable reasons. Even if he did, Youyou would not answer.

But he had to get a clear answer about Song Niandong's plan.

Song Niandong was a good girl. After spending a day with her, Fang Ming was certain of that.

He did not want a good girl to go down the wrong path.

"For a hostage, you're awfully impolite."

Youyou sat on the table in front of Fang Ming and looked up at him as she spoke.

Fang Ming replied softly,

"Though I'm a hostage, I came with you willingly, didn't I? So we can barely be considered 'accomplices.' What can't you tell an accomplice?"

"'Accomplices,' huh... You really dare to say that. I don't think one more ordinary person can help us with anything, but since you want to know, there's nothing I can't tell you."

Perhaps because she did not consider Fang Ming a threat, Black Rabbit, Youyou, grinned.

"Our plan is simple: to create a world where no one will ever be hurt again, and everyone can smile."

"..."

What nonsense!

That was Fang Ming's first reaction.

The plan sounded wonderful, but anyone familiar with anime would know that people with plans like this often carried them out in ways completely contrary to their own wishes.

Like a certain Madara. Like a certain Kiritsugu.

Black Rabbit said she wanted to create a world where no one would be hurt and everyone would smile... The only things Fang Ming could think of were making everyone enter a dream, or simply killing everyone.

After all, once people were dead, they naturally could not be hurt. As for "smiling"... if no one cried and no one wailed, it was not much different from smiling.

Fang Ming knew his thoughts might be somewhat dark, but he truly did not believe Black Rabbit sincerely intended to do this.

"...Dongdong believed you?" Fang Ming asked, staring deeply at Youyou.

Youyou nodded. "Yes. She wants to see her grandmother and her parents, so she believed me."

"..."

"Don't look at me like that. It's scary... What, you don't believe me?"

"...Then how are you going to carry out this plan?"

Fang Ming looked away and calmly asked Youyou.

Youyou smiled. "It's simple. The Nightmare Seed."

As she spoke, she took out a Nightmare Seed she had somehow acquired and said with a smile,

"As long as we use the Nightmare Seed to completely awaken the magic power inside it, this world will change according to Dongdong's wishes. How about it? Convenient, isn't it?"