"Good. Very good. Couldn't be better!" Li Xuan nearly coughed up blood at Tang Xi's irresponsible remark. He grabbed Tang Xi and summoned mana-draining tentacles to bind her tightly around the waist.
"To commend your achievements, I've decided to reward you with a little dark room. Start writing again from the chapter where the protagonist didn't die. You'll stay in there until the story is finished!"
After saying that, Li Xuan stormed out of the wine cellar.
"Master! Don't! You can't be so heartless! I don't want to work—I want to slack off, aaah!" Tang Xi's wail came from the wine cellar, but Li Xuan pretended not to hear it.
By then, Li Xuan had already expended far too much enthusiasm on Tang Xi, and his mind had regained its rationality.
Looking at the dim yellow sky outside, he suddenly remembered the enormous mess of monsters he had left unattended in Flower River City. Mian Yin had not come looking for him again either. He had no idea whether she had escaped amid the chaos or simply could not enter his little world.
It was time to go outside and take a look.
So Li Xuan called Wu Yan over in his mind and instructed her to take care of Tang Xi's daily life while checking her writing progress every day. If she caught Tang Xi slacking off, she was to use the tickling technique he had taught her before.
Wu Yan was terrified of being tickled, but the moment she heard that she could tickle someone else, she became interested. She eagerly swiped a power bank and two bags of chips from Alulu before going to visit her little prisoner.
Once he had arranged everything for Tang Xi, Li Xuan felt completely refreshed. He opened a passageway and stepped back into the outside world.
After Li Xuan's departure, Flower River City had long since fallen into panic. Lilika had gathered every magical girl she could summon from the surrounding area and surrounded the hotel where the monsters had gathered, yet no one dared make a rash move.
The evacuation had already been completed. Lilika was frantic. When the monsters had appeared in large numbers, she had followed Li Xuan's instructions and kept every magical girl from approaching them. After evacuating the civilians, they had merely stood watch from a distance.
Not long after the monsters appeared, the auras of the two magical girls and Li Xuan vanished one after another, never to reappear.
Lilika tightly gripped her phone and called Li Xuan again and again, but every call showed that he was outside the service area. She had the magical girls cautiously shrink the perimeter, yet she still did not dare launch an attack on the monsters.
After all, Flower River City's elite had already followed the bishop on campaign. Those left behind were all Grade C or even Grade D rookies. Although there seemed to be quite a few of them, they were at an absolute disadvantage compared to the monster army before them. It was hard to say who was really surrounding whom.
Lilika stared at the monsters, her nerves stretched taut. Li Xuan had said that the monsters would not act without his orders, but a massive horde capable of trampling a city gathered there in grim silence was even more oppressive.
If anything went wrong, she could not bear the responsibility!
Second by second, Lilika began to entertain a terrible thought. Could Li Xuan have perished together with the two magical girls from Guardian Abbey?
The more she thought about it, the more possible both scenarios seemed. If magical girls died while transformed, they turned into light and dissipated from the world. This kind of death was called "Light Dissolution." Monsters likewise left no trace after dying. If they had perished together, she would not even be able to find their bodies.
Or perhaps the two magical girls had killed Li Xuan, then canceled their transformations and left as ordinary people. There would be no way for her to notice.
Lilika grew increasingly uneasy. She knew that anyone Guardian Abbey had sent out would not be ordinary. The fact that they had operated in Flower River City for so long without being discovered by the Church proved that well enough. Li Xuan looked extremely confident, but could he really ensure that nothing went wrong?
The thought frightened her. She was worried not only about her daughter's fate, but also about Li Xuan's safety.
Although they had not known each other long, and he was still the kidnapper she hated to the bone, the tenderness they had shared in bed was an undeniable fact. Li Xuan had indeed allowed her to feel the happiness of being a woman again after so long, melting the years of ice in her heart into a gentle warmth like flowing water.
Especially after learning from her daughter's letter that she had not been treated harshly and was even living quite well, those feelings quietly sank deeper into her heart.
Normally, she had not noticed those subtle changes in herself. But when life and death hung in the balance, Lilika, who had once cursed Li Xuan daily to be sent flying by a passing truck, now desperately wished for him to return alive to her side.
The Advancing Valkyrie
By then, the sun had gradually risen to the center of the sky, and the surrounding air heated up just like her anxious heart.
Lilika finally decided that she could not wait any longer. She called over several steadier Grade C magical girls and instructed them, "Stand guard here for a while. Before I return, do not make any rash moves!"
After giving her instructions, Lilika flew toward Autumn Mountain Park in her Valkyrie form.
As a Battle Type magical girl, her perception was weak. She could only infer that the fiercest fighting had occurred in that direction. If something had happened to Li Xuan, that was where it most likely happened.
"You bastard, nothing had better happen to you! Please, come back quickly. A lap pillow, anything—I'll give you whatever you want!"
Lilika gripped her phone tightly. Her trembling little hand contrasted sharply with the enormous screen. She no longer held much hope that Li Xuan's number would connect, but she kept calling it over and over out of habit.
"Are you really that worried about me?" Li Xuan's voice suddenly sounded beside Lilika's ear.
"Huh?" Lilika stared at her phone in shock and saw that the call had not connected. Then the voice had come from—
The next second, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her from behind.
"Let go of me! You stinking pervert! Creepy lolicon! Disgusting monster who wouldn't even spare an old auntie! Why didn't you just die?! How could you still know to come back?!" Lilika cursed as she struggled desperately, but Li Xuan remained unmoved and simply held her tightly.
After raging at him for a while, Lilika's voice gradually turned tearful. She threw away her sword and shield, turned around, and threw herself into Li Xuan's arms, crying bitterly. As she cried, she pounded his chest with all her strength, occasionally taking a bite out of him with her sharp little canine teeth. It was as though all the grievances she had suffered over the years had become tears at that moment.
Even Li Xuan had not expected guarded Lilika to harbor such intense feelings for him. He could only let her curse him and hit him. When she had finally vented her emotions and lay against his chest, sobbing softly, he whispered lightly into her ear, "Don't be afraid. I'm here."
That gentle sentence made Lilika feel incomparably safe. She wrapped her arms around Li Xuan and clung to him like a real little girl, acting spoiled.
Only after clinging to him for several full minutes did Lilika suddenly realize how undignified her behavior had been. She hurriedly pushed Li Xuan away, wiped her tears, and said seriously, "I did as you said. I didn't let the magical girls stationed here cause trouble for you. But it's too dangerous to leave so many monsters piled up in the city center. Hurry up and figure out how to deal with them."
Li Xuan approvingly stroked Lilika's golden hair, which she had rubbed into a mess against him. Although the magical girls stationed here were weak, there were many of them. If they truly fought to the death, they would still give him some trouble.
Besides, if he started fighting them, the Church would definitely learn about his movements. That would be extremely unfriendly to his strategy of lying low and developing slowly.
From that perspective, Lilika had truly done a great deal for him this time.
Then he ought to reward her.
"Listen, Lilika. I'll return to the monster horde and have some weaker monsters attempt a breakout. Your job is to fight while retreating, drawing everyone as far away as possible. Then I can quietly take the monsters away without attracting attention. When that happens, the credit for this battle will be yours," Li Xuan said softly.
"Hmph. As if I'd believe you'd be that kind?" Lilika said, puffing out her not-so-generous chest.
"Relax. I don't need tricks to deal with a bunch of Grade C small fry. Help yourself establish a foothold in the Church so you can provide me with more intelligence. Once this is over, return to your hotel room and wait patiently. After I finish things here, I'll take you to see your precious little treasure." Li Xuan confidently reassured Lilika, completely forgetting that not long ago, he himself had only been Grade C "small fry."
The moment she heard she could see her daughter, Lilika instantly switched from tsundere loli mode to loving mother mode. She eagerly agreed, "Then let's start now. You have to come pick me up quickly."
"Sure, sure. I'll come get you the moment this is settled." Li Xuan smiled, opened a portal, and returned to the middle of the monster army.
The silent monster army immediately turned to face its creator upon seeing him, as though waiting for his command.
"Fallen Blood monster unit. All those below Grade C, step forward!" Li Xuan ordered.
A large batch of weak monsters stepped out. Many of them were byproducts created when Fallen Blood made powerful monsters, failed products, or simply portions that had split off from powerful monsters. Many did not even have complete limbs, and their combat ability was pitiful.
Li Xuan looked at the malformed bunch before him. Their combined combat ability probably could not even beat the three little ones from Clear Lotus City. Keeping them would only waste space, so he might as well give them to Lilika to pad her record. After waiting a little while and estimating that Lilika had returned to the front line, he gave the order for all the weaker monsters to attack toward Autumn Mountain Park.
This ragtag army rushed out in an instant, charging toward the magical girls' formation. Though weak, they were numerous enough to look imposing. Many Grade D magical girls who had only recently entered the profession had never seen anything like this and immediately backed away in fright.
"Don't panic! Everyone gather here and fight while retreating! The monsters aren't strong. Pull the battle line farther back and spread out their density!" Lilika took the lead, swinging her longsword to cut down several monsters before using her shield to block an attack for a trembling Grade D rookie beside her.
Seeing Lilika remain so calm, the girls found their courage and began fighting as well. Magical girls who had come to reinforce them from other directions of the encirclement also joined the battle. Following Lilika's rhythm, everyone fought while retreating, leaving countless monster corpses in their wake without a single magical girl dying.
After a round of clumsy fighting, the magical girls quickly realized that the enemy truly was not strong. Their morale soared. After holding out for a while, they stabilized their formation and no longer needed to retreat to disperse the monsters' assault.
The monster side was now clearly declining. Lilika climbed to a higher spot and looked toward the hotel, only to find that almost no monster auras remained there. Knowing Li Xuan had already transferred them away, she pointed her longsword forward. "Injured sisters, fall back! Everyone else, charge with me!"
After giving the order, Lilika still led from the front. The magical girls charged forward together and soon scattered the monsters, pushing them all the way back beneath the hotel.
Once they reached the location, Lilika discovered in surprise that a massive monster was hiding there. It looked like an enormous Rafflesia and continuously spewed new monsters from its flower core.
The aura emanating from the Rafflesia suggested that its Evil Energy level had nearly reached Grade B.
"What the hell is he doing?" Lilika frowned, unable to understand why Li Xuan had left behind such a powerful monster. Had he deceived her again? Did he actually intend to capture all the magical girls in one sweep?
Alice's New Home
Lilika had yet to understand Li Xuan's intentions, but the magical girls, whose blood was already up, could not wait for her orders. They formed a formation on their own and attacked the Rafflesia. With things having reached this point, Lilika could only grit her teeth and join the battle.
The fight was neither especially difficult nor particularly easy. The high-spirited magical girls worked together, shouting about friendship, bonds, and all sorts of things while magic filled the sky. In the end, they destroyed the Rafflesia down to its roots without suffering a single casualty.
After the battle ended, several Grade C magical girls still stained with monster blood ran over and bowed to Lilika in apology. "Senior Lilika, we completely defeated the enemy's final boss this time, all thanks to your leadership! We used to question whether someone who had just been transferred in could truly take such an important command position. We're really sorry."
Lilika froze for a moment before finally understanding Li Xuan's intention. Defeating a powerful monster would dispel the magical girls' doubts and make them believe they had destroyed the culprit. It also made the battle more difficult, raising the value of her "Flower River City Defense War" by another level.
"This was the result of everyone's hard work. Clean up the aftermath properly. I'm tired, so I'll return to rest first." Lilika understood the true nature of this "great victory," so naturally she did not feel as accomplished as everyone else. Besides, her daughter was still on her mind. She casually offered them a few words of encouragement before returning to the hotel alone.
If a cameraman had pulled the lens farther and farther back, all the way to the rooftop of the neighboring building, he would have captured many black butterflies dancing in the air. The patterns on their wings were maddening fractal geometry, endlessly extending and changing. Even the butterflies themselves seemed dreamlike and illusory. At times, they drifted down like scraps of paper; at other times, they passed straight through the middle of railings, as if they had no interaction whatsoever with matter in this world.
Yet those hallucination-like butterflies could rest upon only one person: a golden-haired girl in a black dress.
The girl sat lightly on the rooftop railing amid a cluster of butterflies, silently watching Lilika's monster-slaying campaign. Her calves, clad in black pantyhose, swung back and forth through the gaps in the railing. She twirled an unknown wildflower between her fingers, with only her bottom precariously perched on the railing. It looked extremely dangerous.
Yet the girl seemed not to know what danger was. The swing of her legs grew wider and wider, drawing her entire body into motion, as though she might fall from the towering rooftop at any moment.
"So I finally found you, Mianyin Alice." Li Xuan slowly climbed onto the roof. In truth, he had noticed Mian Yin here long ago. To avoid the magical girls' perception, he had canceled his transformation after sending the monsters to the Delusive Badlands and waited nearby. Only after they left did he reveal himself and come here.
"Cousin, how did you know I was here?" Mian Yin twisted her head from above at an angle no human could achieve and looked at Li Xuan.
"These butterflies led me here." Li Xuan reached out to touch one, but it passed through his palm, and he felt no sensation of touching anything.
Mian Yin swung her legs over the railing and changed to a sitting position facing Li Xuan, her head returning to a normal angle. "After the pursuers disappeared, I wanted to find you, but all traces of you vanished without a shadow. Even Mian Yin couldn't find you."
"Looks like your dreams don't lead everywhere after all." Li Xuan smiled.
"I waited and waited, waited and waited, and finally you came back. But you were busy. Mian Yin was good, so I sat here and waited. Cousin, running and running all the time is exhausting. I want to live in your dream. I don't eat much. Just a tiny bit of dream residue every day is enough." Mian Yin spoke with an adorably pitiful expression.
"Sorry, but I'm afraid that won't work. I lack even a basic understanding of you. Of course, you can tell me more about yourself. Then perhaps we can get along more pleasantly." Li Xuan did not move closer, stopping more than ten meters away from Mian Yin.
The girl before him was far too mysterious, forcing him to remain wary. Although they had worked together before, it had only been a temporary arrangement to deal with their common enemy, the magical girls. If he rashly agreed to let her enter his dream, who knew what consequences it might bring?
"What does cousin want to know about Mian Yin?" Mian Yin asked as she swung her legs.
"For instance, why Guardian Abbey is hunting you. Your identity. Your name. All of it is a mystery to me," Li Xuan gave as examples.
"Mian Yin doesn't know. Mian Yin only knows about human matters from the dreams she eats. The things cousin wants to ask aren't included in them." Mian Yin looked at Li Xuan with blank eyes.
Li Xuan recalled the scheming side she had shown when facing Bing Rui. For a moment, he could not tell whether she was deliberately playing dumb or genuinely knew nothing.
"So boring. Humans all look about the same, and they all taste about the same. No one wants to dream about anything interesting." Seeing Li Xuan fall silent, Mian Yin extended a hand and allowed a butterfly to land on the back of it.
Li Xuan was about to say something when Mian Yin's petite bottom suddenly jerked backward. She lost her balance and fell headfirst off the roof.
"Mian Yin!" Seeing the emergency, Li Xuan hurriedly extended a tentacle to catch her. But Mian Yin fell much faster than a normal object, and because Li Xuan had not expected her to jump off the building, he grabbed at empty air. He could only watch helplessly as her body crashed into the ground.
Yet Mian Yin did not make a sound when she touched the ground. Instead, she turned into countless black butterflies, which fluttered back up to the rooftop and gathered into Mian Yin's body once more.
"Cousin really does worry about Mian Yin. Just confirming that is enough." Mian Yin sweetly leaned against Li Xuan, looping both hands around his arm with the intimacy of a girlfriend acting spoiled.
"You scared me to death just now. Stop doing such pointless tests in the future." Li Xuan frowned.
"Sorry. Mian Yin didn't want to cause cousin trouble, but confirming Mian Yin's place in your heart is really important. If you wouldn't save Mian Yin, then Mian Yin wouldn't dare stay here. Those bad people will come looking for me again sooner or later." Mian Yin spoke shyly.
"Don't worry. I can't let you live in my dream for now, but I can provide the safe house I promised you before." Li Xuan extended a hand and opened a portal to the Delusive Badlands.
"Inside is a place even the laws of the world cannot interfere with. Some cute magical girls live there. I'll allow you to move into that world and feed on the magical girls' dreams. But you must behave yourself and not harm them in any way. Otherwise, I won't even need to deal with you personally. Your two mortal enemies, Tang Xi and Bing Rui, both live inside."
At the mention of Tang Xi and Bing Rui, Mian Yin immediately shuddered, and her voice became solemn. "Understood. Mian Yin will behave."
"Good. Also, don't let the magical girls know you exist for now. If there's an emergency and you need to find me, tell the red-haired one." Li Xuan thought that one thing truly did restrain another. It seemed Guardian Abbey had not sent those two to capture Mian Yin without reason.
"Yes. Mian Yin will be good." Mian Yin was inevitably a little frightened at the thought of living with her two enemies, but living outside in constant wandering was worse. So she obediently slipped inside.
"Whew. In the end, I still know nothing about that girl... Forget it for now. Next, it seems I should go pick up Ms. Lilika." Li Xuan checked the time, turned around, and headed toward the hotel where Lilika was staying.
Master Isn't Home Today
As Li Xuan set out to pick up Ms. Lilika, the twelfth floor of the Stone Tower had already become a sea of noise and joy.
Near the walls, two arcade cabinets had somehow been moved in. The three little ones from Clear Lotus City were playing games like mad with Alulu, just short of hanging up a banner that read, "Master Isn't Home Today."
"Damn, damn, damn! Xu Rou, why did you eat my drumstick again? Weren't you already at full health?!" Wu Yan furiously spun the joystick as though she would not stop until sparks flew from it.
"You get points for eating it at full health. Besides, who says it's yours just because you knocked it out? Everyone relies on their own skills." Xu Rou said smugly.
"Xu Rou, maybe you should pay attention to teamwork? The guide says the next boss is very difficult..." Qi Mo quietly reminded her.
"Waaah, how can all of you pull off skills?" Alulu, who had to stand on a small stool because she was too short, was playing this sort of game for the first time and was still unfamiliar with the controls.
The next boss really was difficult. Wu Yan's character had already been at low health, and a single screen-wide attack killed her on the spot. Because the boss had an unfair healing mechanic, the remaining three players died one after another as well. The screen displayed a huge continue animation: the scantily clad heroine was tied to a wooden horse while the stage boss slowly approached with a lecherous grin.
"We died! It's all your fault!" Wu Yan complained as she shot Xu Rou a glare, then took a coin from the box and ran over to Tan Xiang. "Tan Xiang! Save us! Please! Show them how it's done!"
"O-Okay... If I don't play well, don't laugh at me." Tan Xiang was a little stage-shy and had not wanted to join them. But watching them clumsily fight had made her hands itch, and she and Wu Yan had both suffered from the Holy Mark, so they shared some sympathy. After hesitating for a while, she took the coin and walked to the arcade cabinet.
"Don't worry. Just play. If anyone dares laugh at you, your big sis will be the first to kick her butt!" Wu Yan said, patting her chest.
"Then I'm starting..." Tan Xiang said. At the final second, she inserted the coin into the continue slot, instantly picked a character, and, the moment she landed, used a bug that caused infinite stun-lock to pin the boss in the corner and slash it to death.
Wu Yan had only asked Tan Xiang to try because she had seen how skilled she was at handheld games. She had also harbored the thought that she should not be the only one suffering, wanting her good sister to get beaten up too.
But she had not expected Tan Xiang to dominate the moment she touched the controls. Not only did she not need to continue, she even cleared every stage in one go without taking any damage. Her speed was so astounding that everyone stared in disbelief.
"Not bad. It's rare to see a girl this skilled at arcade games. Looks like you play quite a lot." Li Xuan, who had somehow joined the crowd to watch, smiled approvingly.
"Ah, Master's here!" The magical girls scattered like birds and beasts upon seeing Li Xuan. Alulu in particular hid behind Qi Mo and timidly peeked out.
"Why are you all hiding? It's not like I ban you from playing games—though where did these come from?" Li Xuan asked curiously.
"They're from Alulu's house. She said her family used to run an arcade, and there's still a batch of machines in storage, so I swiped two to play with," Wu Yan answered.
"As long as it doesn't affect your homework progress, I don't mind. But why are you all acting so strange around me? It's not like I'd eat you." Li Xuan glanced around at their unnatural expressions, then noticed that the handheld console he had given Alulu had somehow snapped in half. It had been carefully placed on the table.
With trembling hands, Li Xuan picked up the handheld console, now sporting the same look as Gojo Satoru with only two and a half pieces left, and asked sorrowfully, "Who did this? This was the newest limited-edition collaboration handheld!"
Before you continue