I Need to Know He's Okay

A word of forgiveness for them.

"... But shouldn't whether Dongdong forgives him or not depend on Dongdong's own feelings?"

He Xuan suddenly said that for some reason.

Xu Chen suddenly looked up at He Xuan. After a moment of eye contact, He Xuan realized what she had said and lowered her head to say:

"... I'm sorry, I let my personal feelings get in the way."

"..." Xu Chen looked at He Xuan for a long time, then slowly exhaled and said, "Forget it, you're the one in charge of looking after these Magical Girls, so it's not a bad thing to have some personal feelings. Besides, you're right, we don't have the right to make choices for Song Niandong, but... no matter what Song Niandong chooses, we have to find her."

"Xiaoxia and the others are already searching, but there are no leads yet."

"Where's Xiao Bai? Any leads on her?"

"... No."

Two Magical Girls, Song Niandong and Xiao Bai, who are currently outside the Investigation Department, are missing and their whereabouts are unknown.

Xu Chen tapped his fingers lightly on the table, as if trying to ease his anxiety. After a short while, he said to He Xuan:

"Song Niandong needs to be found, and so does Xiao Bai, especially Xiao Bai. I have some things I'd like to ask her for a favor."

"What's wrong?" He Xuan asked, then added, "I need to explain the reason to Xiaoxia and the others, otherwise they won't help."

Xu Chen sighed, "Don't you think the 'Magical Girl Division' needs a real Magical Girls to be in charge?"

After a moment's thought, He Xuan immediately understood why Xu Chen had called Xiao Bai over, and looked at him with a face full of surprise.

Xu Chen calmly said, "Since some people refuse to face reality, let's bring in people who can make them see reality clearly. I believe Xiao Bai... should be able to make them 'recognize reality'."

Within the magical barrier, the giant treant swung its branches, attacking the Xiao Bai before it.

Xiao Bai weaved through the treant's fluttering branches, nimbly dodging all the attacks aimed at it.

When she finally landed behind the tree spirit and grabbed Song Niandong's true form, she said:

"Okay, you can stop now."

"Oh."

Song Niandong nodded obediently, flipped through the book in her hand, and the tree spirit in front of her was put into her magic book. One of the pages had a picture of the tree spirit printed on it.

This is Song Niandong's magic, the Book of Friends.

Xiao Bai was also surprised that Song Niandong, who looked like a witch, actually used summoning magic!

Song Niandong's magic has two types.

One method is to demonize any object she considers a 'friend'.

Like Toy Bear, like mechanical dolls, like the vines that attacked Xiao Bai and her friends at the lantern festival.

The strength of the 'friend' after being corrupted is affected by Song Niandong's total magic power and the amount of attention she receives.

Generally speaking, the more magic power Song Niandong gained from the demonization, the more she loved her 'friend', and the stronger her 'friend' became.

The second type of magic is to collect the demonized 'friends' into the magic book in Song Niandong's hands.

The power of the demonized items that are included will be frozen, and these demonized items will be summoned when Song Niandong opens the book again.

During this time... Song Niandong will not consume the power used to maintain the demonization, and can even continue to infuse magic into the demonized 'friends' in the book to strengthen them.

The vines that appeared at the lantern festival last time... were actually a potted plant... which was the result of Song Niandong continuously infusing magic power into it for several days, hence its strength.

But this also has limitations.

The stronger the friend, the more difficult it is for Song Niandong to control. If he eventually loses control, the 'friend' is likely to go berserk.

Currently, Song Niandong only has a few friends mentioned in his books.

One is Robot Robert with some physical defects, and the other is Doll Mary.

And then there's the tree-man who just turned the nearby trees into 'friends'.

Song Niandong hasn't named it yet.

Robot Robert and Doll Mary have been infused with magic by Song Niandong, and they possess strength approaching that of Mid-Tier Demon.

The tree-man had just been corrupted by Song Niandong, so it only had the strength of Lesser Demons, which was only slightly stronger than the Demons that Yu Muqiu first encountered.

"... So, Dongdong's Emotion Seed is 'friendship'?" Xiao Bai turned to Youyou and asked.

Youyou twitched her ears and said, "It's closer to 'fantasy,' I suppose. She just wanted to have a few friends she could talk to, which is why she awakened this kind of magic."

"..."

Hearing Youyou say that, Xiao Bai's expression remained unchanged, appearing cold and aloof.

But his hands had already unconsciously wrapped around Song Niandong, gently stroking her long purple hair.

Because of being bullied at school, Song Niandong didn't even have a single friend she could talk to.

After her grandmother passed away, Song Niandong, who was all alone, longed even more to have family and friends.

That's why this kind of magic awakened.

They also picked up Robot Robert who had also been abandoned, and Doll Mary.

Based on the plot of the second season, she will probably pick up even more 'toys' and turn them into her friends.

Unfortunately, these 'friends' also lack their own thoughts and self-awareness.

They couldn't understand Song Niandong and couldn't talk to her. It was precisely because they knew this that Xiao Bai felt even more pity for this truly destitute girl.

Little Xiao Bai didn't notice that Song Niandong's cheeks flushed slightly after she hugged her.

Because of the height difference, Song Niandong's cheek was close to Xiao Bai's chest.

Based on height, Fang Ming was 1.82 meters tall before the transformation, but after transforming and wearing his own boots with built-in height-increasing soles, Xiao Bai barely reached 1.7 meters.

Even so, Xiao Bai is still the tallest among the Magical Girls, about the same height as Chen Xiaoxia.

Xiao Qiu is in the second tier, while Xiao Chun is a little shorter.

Song Niandong, who looked to be only about 1.5 meters tall, naturally rested her head on Xiao Bai's chest while being Xiao Bai in his arms.

Incidentally, among the Magical Girls, Xiao Bai's figure is second only to Xiao Chun's.

Xiao Chun has the best figure among the Magical Girls.

Therefore... Song Niandong's reaction is understandable now.

However, Xiao Bai didn't notice these things, or rather, even if he did Xiao Bai didn't care.

As she thought about Song Niandong's "Dongdong's Friends Ledger," several plans came to mind.

While pondering his plan, Xiao Bai also broke the Magic Barrier.

She already had a general idea of Song Niandong's strength and magic; now it was time to go back and make a plan.

However--

"Xiao Bai? What are you doing here... Wait— Song Niandong!"

Just as the barrier was lifted, the two people and the rabbit encountered Murong Xiaochun, who seemed to be looking for something.

After making eye contact with Song Niandong, Murong Xiaochun transformed almost instantly and decisively!

Battle is about to break out!

Chapter 87 I need to know he's alright

About ten minutes ago.

Investigation Department.

"I'm sorry, we've been trying our best to find Mr. Fang Ming, but... so far, we still haven't found any leads."

When Xiao Chun inquired about Song Niandong and Fang Ming's whereabouts, the investigators asked Xiao Chun this question.

"No clues today either?" Xiao Chun asked, her eyes filled with worry.

The investigators said helplessly, "You, and the 'one' who has been hiding all along, are both Magical Girls. Even with the enhancement items given to us by Miss Chen, we still can't find them immediately."

"Besides, enhanced items also have time limits."

After testing, it was found that Chen Xiaoxia's Enhancement Magic could indeed work on ordinary objects. Small items such as cameras or glasses that had been enhanced by Chen Xiaoxia were able to detect traces of magic.

However, this is subject to time restrictions.

Within 24 hours of being enhanced, the enhanced item can still detect magical energy, but after this time, the effect of the enhancement will quickly fade.

The enhancement will become completely ineffective within three minutes at the latest, and within one minute at the earliest.

However, Chen Xiaoxia couldn't really be a 'reinforcement worker' who did nothing all day but Enhancement Magic items for these people.

Therefore, the daily search by the Investigation Department is limited, and the scope of the search is also limited. With Song Niandong actively hiding, they simply cannot find any trace of Song Niandong and Fang Ming.

"Okay... thank you for your hard work."

Xiao Chun politely said goodbye to the investigators and then left the Investigation Department alone.

Standing at the entrance of the Investigation Department, Xiao Chun looked up at the Sky Screen.

When Xiao Chun learned that Youyou was likely Magical Creatures from the Demons side, her worries reached their peak.

At that moment, I didn't even feel like watching anymore. I went straight to the investigators and urged them to find Fang Ming's whereabouts.

Unfortunately, ordinary people can never find Magical Girls who possess extraordinary powers.

Fang Ming, who was 'kidnapped' by Song Niandong, naturally could not be found by the Investigation Department.

Although Xiao Chun knew that, judging from Song Niandong's performance on the Sky Screen, she might not actually Fang Ming, and perhaps Fang Ming was not seriously injured at the moment.

But... reality and the Sky Screen are two different things.

After discovering that everything being projected on the Sky Screen was actually a timeline from the time before the Sky Screen existed, everything in this world became different from what was shown on the Sky Screen.

Everything above should be taken as a reference only and not taken as fact.

Perhaps Song Niandong, who is in the Sky Screen, will consider that Fang Ming once saved her and will not attack Fang Ming.

But what about Song Niandong in real life?

Is she really not going to take action against Fang Ming?

What exactly are she and Youyou planning?

Xiao Chun grew increasingly worried, and with that thought, she decided to go find Fang Ming herself.

After sensing the protective personnel around her with her magic, Xiao Chun fell silent for a moment.

Song Niandong didn't want to meet with the authorities, and neither did Xiao Bai. Yet, to protect these Magical Girls from being ambushed by malicious individuals in the real world, they were surrounded by a group of protectors.

These protectors don't usually show themselves in the open, but Xiaochun can sense their presence whenever Xiao Chun uses her magic.

Perhaps it was the existence of this group that prevented Xiao Chun and her friends from finding Song Niandong.

"... Sorry, I might have to be a little impulsive."

Xiao Chun hesitated for a moment, but finally made a decision.

She whispered an apology to her protectors, then instantly transformed, soaring into the sky and disappearing into the horizon in the blink of an eye.

Faced with the flying Magical Girls, the hidden protectors were dumbfounded, and after a few seconds they fell silent.

This...

How are they going to catch up?

Xiao Chun's decision to distance herself from her protectors was not made on a whim.

This is something Chen Xiaoxia would do; Xiao Chun wouldn't be so reckless.

She seriously considered it. With these official protection personnel around her, not to mention whether they could find Song Niandong, even Xiao Bai, who had a good relationship with them and often helped them, probably wouldn't show up.

Whether she goes to Song Niandong or asks Xiao Bai for help, Xiao Chun must maintain her 'alone' state.

Even if Xiao Bai scolds her for doing this, Xiao Chun has to do it.

She was really worried about Fang Ming; she didn't want anything to happen to Fang Ming's brother.

Therefore, she had to find every possible way to locate Fang Ming, or at least confirm his safety!