Magical Girls Exposed!

"Ah-choo!"

In a small apartment room, Fang Ming could not help sneezing.

He rubbed his nose and frowned. "...Who's cursing me?"

"No one's cursing you." Youyou, who was watching an anime on a tablet nearby, looked up at Fang Ming in surprise.

Fang Ming waved a hand. "It's nothing... Oh, right. I remember you said Xiao Bai uses a Demon Magic Source, right? Will that affect her in any way?"

"Nope."

Black Rabbit Youyou answered quickly.

Fang Ming asked in surprise, "No? Really?"

Youyou nodded, then suddenly looked up at Fang Ming with a smile. "Take a guess—where does Dongdong's Magic Source come from now?"

"...An Emotion Seed?"

"Half right. The correct answer is a Demon's... Emotion Seed."

"!!!"

Fang Ming abruptly turned to meet Youyou's gaze, then looked at Song Niandong, who was catching up on anime at the computer, before looking back at Youyou.

"From... a Demon?"

"Mm. For certain reasons, I've lost the power to activate Emotion Seeds, so I had to find another way. I used Demons' Nightmare Fragments to activate the Emotion Seed inside Dongdong.

"So although Dongdong, like those children around Nino, became a Magical Girl through an Emotion Seed, her actual source of magic is the same as Xiao Bai's. Strictly speaking, they're the real 'kindred spirits,' you know~"

Youyou explained in an unhurried tone, as if she were talking about something utterly ordinary.

Fang Ming recalled the Toy Bear that had appeared at the mall and the vines that had appeared during the lantern festival, and fell silent.

No wonder the Toy Bear and the vines both carried traces of a Demon's aura. If Song Niandong's Magic Source also came from Demons, then it all made sense.

Still, Fang Ming was somewhat different from Song Niandong.

At the very least, when he used magic, Nino could not sense any Demon-related aura from him. He did not know whether it was because there was none, or because Nino simply could not detect it.

"Wait." Fang Ming suddenly thought of something and asked Youyou again.

"You said you lost the ability to activate Emotion Seeds because of an accident? Can I ask what kind of accident it was?"

"Oh my, are you that curious? Asking a girl about her innermost feelings so suddenly is very rude, you know~"

The Black Rabbit twisted her body atop the table.

Fang Ming silently stared at her long rabbit ears, smooth, glossy fur, and the rabbit teeth that occasionally poked out...

...A girl?

He really did not understand magical creatures.

Fang Ming's silent response bored Black Rabbit Youyou. She stopped moving and spread her paws.

"Your reaction is no fun at all... Fine, it's not a big deal if I tell you. You should remember what Nino said on the Sky Screen, right?"

"Which line?"

"'My hometown was destroyed by Demons.'" After Chen Zhao nodded, the Black Rabbit added, "She was telling the truth. Our hometown really was destroyed, and... very few people escaped like she did."

At that, the Black Rabbit smiled again. "Then why don't you guess what Demons do to those 'Fairies' who failed to escape?"

"..." Fang Ming could not answer for a moment.

The Black Rabbit smiled. "The answer is 'modification.' Modification. I was one of the 'modified ones' who escaped."

The topic suddenly took a heavy turn.

Fang Ming was about to ask what had happened to those "modified ones," but Black Rabbit Youyou skipped over the subject. She turned back to her tablet and started swiping through it again.

"Alright, I've said enough. I'm going back to my anime... Your world may not have much magic, but your technology is pretty advanced, and you have plenty of entertainment too... Honestly, I'm starting to like this world."

Youyou did not intend to say any more, and Fang Ming did not press her further.

He sat on the couch, looking at Song Niandong at the computer and the Black Rabbit watching anime on the coffee table, then turned to gaze at the Sky Screen outside.

He did not know when the second season would air, but Fang Ming could not wait to learn the story between Black Rabbit and Song Niandong.

Perhaps only by truly understanding them could he find a way to untie the knot in Song Niandong's heart and make Black Rabbit Youyou abandon her plan.

To be honest, Fang Ming had thought Youyou was a villain too—the final boss of the second season. But now, it seemed that Youyou herself might have a chance at redemption.

After all, "modification" was a simple word to say, but only Black Rabbit Youyou herself knew what she had truly gone through.

"...Oh my?"

Fang Ming was still thinking when he suddenly heard Black Rabbit Youyou cry out.

Turning toward Youyou, who was fiddling with her tablet on the coffee table, he saw her raise it with both paws and display the comic she was reading before him.

"You humans... like this sort of thing?" Youyou asked, pointing at the picture in the comic.

Fang Ming glanced over absentmindedly at first, but the moment he saw the image, he sprang from the couch. Then, moving so fast that even Youyou could barely react, he snatched the tablet from her paws.

"Kids can't look at this!"

Fang Ming said to Youyou, then quickly looked at the comic displayed on the tablet.

It was in color, and the artwork was obviously high-quality. If it had been a normal comic, Fang Ming would not have reacted so strongly.

But the actual content...

Put simply, one of the protagonists was Xiao Bai, except her clothes were already in tatters.

The other protagonist... was a Fish Monster Demon.

Or rather, the Fish Monster Demon's tentacles.

Its tentacles wrapped tightly around Xiao Bai in the comic, and then...

"DAMN IT, MENG CHEN!!"

Seeing the 18X comic that absolutely should not have been on the tablet, along with the photo of a note on the final page that read, "A gift for my godfather. No need to thank me," Fang Ming's face turned as red as Guan Gong's.

Question: what was worse than seeing yourself appear in a fan comic?

Answer: appearing in an 18X comic—and being the one getting XXed...

Then he looked at the comic's title.

Xiao Bai's Tentacle Crisis. Then he looked at the other comics: Xiao Chun x Tentacles, Magical Girls' Physiology Class...

Fang Ming resisted the urge to crush the tablet, doing his utmost to steady his breathing before silently deleting every 18X comic from it.

Finally, he picked up a spare phone and called Meng Chen.

"Hello? Godfather! Did you get the gift? I even had it delivered locally—" Meng Chen began.

"Did you put those comics on the tablet?"

"Yeah! I'm telling you, those comics are super popular right now! I knew you liked that stuff, and I still have the site you gave me before..."

"Give me the comic site's address."

Fang Ming cut Meng Chen off and spoke calmly.

Meng Chen did not suspect anything. He edited the address into a text message and sent it to Fang Ming's phone.

Then Meng Chen said, "There are lots of comics about Magical Girls on that site too. The most popular one is probably that Xiao Bai series. The expression on that aloof Magical Girl's face under the tentacles is just..."

"Your remaining payment is gone."

Meng Chen: ???

Without waiting for Meng Chen to respond, Fang Ming decisively hung up and turned off his phone.

At the same time, he used the tablet to find the website Meng Chen had mentioned.

One difference between this world and his previous life was that its rating system was quite comprehensive, so "legitimate" 18X comic websites existed too.

Fang Ming had bookmarked quite a few such sites before, and he liked to browse them whenever he had nothing to do.

But now—

He found those Magical Girl comics, clicked report, entered the report reason, hit submit, and filed reports through the site's report pages as well.

Only after finishing all that did Fang Ming clear the browsing history and return the tablet to Black Rabbit Youyou.

He sat on the couch and let out a long breath—

Good. He had seen nothing today.

He did not know any comics, and he had never seen Xiao Bai getting messed around with by tentacles. Got it?

He had not seen it!

Thinking that, Fang Ming turned to look at the sky again and sighed inwardly.

Ah...

The sky was so blue today.

Chapter 59: Episode 10 Airs!

The next day, at the usual time.

The Sky Screen once again began playing Episode 10 on schedule.

Song Niandong did not sleep in today. She got up early and went with Fang Ming and the Black Rabbit to watch Episode 10.

Ever since she had "kidnapped" Fang Ming, Song Niandong seemed to have forgotten about her plan. Unlike before, she no longer tried to gather people's nightmare emotions and turn them into Demons.

Youyou did not urge Song Niandong either, as if they had already given up.

But Fang Ming knew that Youyou had not given up, and Song Niandong was even less likely to have given up.

The reason they had not acted immediately was probably because Fang Ming was staying here. But that would not last forever. One day, they would surely continue with their plan.

Before then, as long as they did not make any reckless moves, Fang Ming was willing to play this "sibling game" with them.

Just like now.

Under everyone's expectant gazes, the Sky Screen began playing Episode 10.

Yet instead of showing Xiao Bai, who had found the Songstress Witch last time, the scene opened on Yu Muqiu tying up her ponytail before a vanity mirror and psyching herself up.

["Great!"

After tying her ponytail, putting on her hairpin, and checking her outfit once more, Yu Muqiu left the mirror, walked out of her room, and met up with Chen Xiaoxia, who was waiting outside.

"Xiaoxia, let's go!" Yu Muqiu said to Chen Xiaoxia outside the door.

Chen Xiaoxia checked the time. "Okay. Xiao Chun should already be there."

"Mm! Huh?" Yu Muqiu suddenly noticed something. She looked around and asked in surprise, "Where's Brother Fang Ming? Isn't he coming with us today?"

"He went out to handle something. He left us a note saying he was going to talk to an editor about adapting something into animation...

"Anyway, I don't really get it. But it's good that he went out. Now we can investigate the Nightmare Seeds without worrying as much. Otherwise... we'd have to find some way to distract him again."

Chen Xiaoxia remained perfectly self-righteous.

The place they were going today was a small amusement park on the outskirts of Rock City. Yesterday, Nino had sensed the aura of a Nightmare Seed there, but it had been faint—almost fleeting.

That was why they had arranged to meet Xiao Chun at the amusement park today to investigate.

They had not even told Fang Ming about it. Otherwise, he would never have left to take care of business so worry-free.

Yu Muqiu blinked and asked, "Wouldn't it be bad for us to sneak out like this?"

"What's bad about it? As long as we get home before Brother Fang Ming comes back, he won't find out that we snuck out."

As an expert at sneaking out, Chen Xiaoxia had exceptionally rich experience in this area.

Xiao Chun had learned her bad habits from her.

Yu Muqiu was persuaded by Chen Xiaoxia. Besides, there were still six Nightmare Seeds outside. She was not comfortable leaving them out there unchecked.

No matter what, they had to find all the remaining Nightmare Seeds.

Also, of the cluster of three Nightmare Seeds Nino had sensed before, they had only found two so far. The last one was still missing, which worried Yu Muqiu as well.

So even without Chen Xiaoxia, Yu Muqiu would have snuck out herself. The only difference was whether she would do it nervously or with a clear conscience.