Magical Girl? There's No Going Back Now!

"Awooo!" The burly man cried out in pain, clutching his crotch as he collapsed and rolled around. As he rolled, he suddenly splashed into the lake.

Luckily, the burly man could swim. He quickly crawled back out, dripping wet, bent over with one hand over his crotch and the other pointing at Li Xuan as he roared, "Get him! Tie that brat up and throw him into the lake to feed the fish!"

The men on shore heard him, fetched weapons from the cars, and rushed forward together. Li Xuan was startled to see gleaming machetes and long batons in their hands. He realized he had provoked people from the underworld.

Although he could take care of them with one finger if he used the abilities granted by the system, members of the Witch Band were right beside him. If he used even a trace of Evil Energy, she would immediately notice his identity.

Although Black Cat looked obedient and adorable at the moment, magical creatures and magical girls were sworn enemies. There was no guarantee she would not turn hostile on the spot if she learned who he was.

That left only one solution.

"Give it some gas!" Li Xuan abandoned the bucket of plump mackerel, scooped Black Cat into his arms, and ran.

"Hahahaha, Big Brother runs, bad guys chase! This is so much fun!" Black Cat threw open her arms and laughed merrily in Li Xuan's embrace, as if she were having the time of her life.

"If we don't run, we're finished!" Li Xuan ran until he was gasping for breath. Fortunately, he had trained in long-distance running and knew the roads around here well, allowing him to escape the Life-Release Society's pursuit even while carrying a little girl.

After escaping danger, Li Xuan set Black Cat aside and plopped down on the curb, panting heavily.

"Hahahaha! That was so fun! Big Brother, you're such an interesting person! I've decided that from now on, I'll allow you to call me Black Cat!" Black Cat said, dancing excitedly.

"Black Cat, you really are... completely unaware of danger." Li Xuan spoke between breaths.

"Not dangerous, not dangerous. Big Brother is here." Black Cat spread her arms and spun around happily.

After resting for a while, Li Xuan was about to call Lilika and ask her to come pick up Black Cat. But the moment he took out his phone, bright headlights blinded him.

"Don't let that brat get away! He kicked our boss in the balls!"

Several black sedans came speeding over with their horns blaring. Ignoring whether there was road or grass ahead, they circled around and trapped Li Xuan in the middle.

"Fuck, you think you can run after offending our boss? Not a chance! Kill him! Kill him!" More than a dozen bare-chested men climbed out of the cars.

The middle-aged woman also got out and stood behind the crowd, pointing at Li Xuan as she screeched, "Get him! Send him to hell! Make him suffer retribution! A scum like him who disrespects living beings doesn't deserve to live!"

Li Xuan watched the weapon-wielding burly men close in around him, momentarily at a loss. Without Evil Energy, he would probably fall into their hands today. But if he used Evil Energy, Black Cat would immediately discover his identity. Even if he escaped afterward, she already knew of his connection to Lilika. She might even drag Lilika into trouble.

Had he escaped the Witch Band only to be driven into a corner by these petty thugs? That was truly unacceptable...

Wait, perhaps this was not a dead end after all! Li Xuan suddenly remembered that he still had Mind Interference. Like opening a passage to the Delusive Badlands, it consumed only mental power and required no Evil Energy.

If he used it to make them fight among themselves, perhaps he could fool Black Cat while resolving this crisis!

"Stop! You bad people!"

Just as Li Xuan was about to use Mental Domination to make the burly men slaughter one another, Black Cat unexpectedly stepped forward and spread her arms in front of him.

"There's a little one too? Boss, what do we do?"

Because Black Cat was wearing black hooded pajamas, the burly men had only now noticed the inconspicuous little girl beside Li Xuan.

"She was with that guy. The brothers who went to release those animals saw her too. Take her out as well! Don't leave any witnesses," said the man called Boss as he hobbled out painfully, hunched over.

"Wait, this little girl is fair and clean-looking. She's got a pretty nice figure too! Boss, kill the guy, but let us have some fun with the girl first..." A burly man shone his flashlight on Black Cat's face and gave a lecherous grin.

"Do whatever you want. Just not in front of the old lady..." the boss muttered, covering his balls.

Li Xuan frowned. He had not expected these people to be so brazen. Judging by their tone, this did not seem to be their first time doing something like this.

"Black Cat, get behind me and close your eyes. I'll handle them." Li Xuan had already made up his mind. Even if it exposed him, he would deal with these scum. But when he reached out to shield Black Cat behind him, she stubbornly shook him off.

"Big Brother gave me fish to eat. Big Brother good! You're trying to catch Big Brother. You're bad!" Black Cat said, staring at the approaching burly men with her vertical pupils beneath the flashlight beam.

"We can give you fish too, little sister~" A bald burly man swaggered forward lecherously. He seemed not to take Li Xuan seriously at all as he reached for Black Cat's arm.

"Awaken! Cat Tale!" Black Cat gave a sharp cry. Boundless magic power immediately erupted from her body, spreading over a vast surrounding area. The already dim night sky grew darker, as though heaven and earth had been covered with frosted glass.

Her appearance changed drastically as well. Her cat pajamas vanished, replaced by a black one-piece short dress. She wore a pair of long stockings patterned with cat paws, one black and one white, with the colors of the paw prints completely reversed as well.

But what interested Li Xuan most was that fluffy cat ears had miraculously appeared atop Black Cat's head, while a black cat tail swayed beneath her skirt.

"Yes! A catgirl!"

After his brief excitement, Li Xuan suddenly felt lingering fear. He was glad he had not tried anything against Black Cat. Even without using magic, that overwhelming magic power alone would have been enough to crush him to death.

The burly men were also in an uproar. Ordinary people could not feel the oppressive force of magic power, but they could clearly sense that the surroundings had grown darker.

"Why did it suddenly get so dark? Did we mess with something unclean?" the burly man who had intended to grab Black Cat asked blankly as he looked up at the sky.

"Dark my ass! Get moving!" the boss behind him urged impatiently.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes!" The burly man hurriedly reached for Black Cat, but his hand fell just short. He took a few more steps forward and reached again, but he was still a few centimeters away.

"What the hell? She's right in front of me, so why can't I grab her?" Confused, the burly man ran one step forward and slammed headfirst into a tree.

"Er Lai! Why the fuck are you walking toward the lake? That sweet little girl is right ahead of you!" Another burly man cursed at him and stepped forward himself, only to trip over something. When he opened his eyes, he found his upper body lying on a car roof while his lower body hung from a roadside tree.

"What is going on?" Li Xuan was stunned. Even seeing it with his own eyes, he could not understand what had happened. Neither Tang Xi's awakening nor Wu Yan's awakening could achieve such a horrifying effect.

"Big Brother, don't move. Don't take even one step. Hold tightly onto me like this. Only beside me is it safe." Black Cat stared wide-eyed at the helpless crowd before her.

Admiration and Joy

"Okay, I'll hold on tight. But can you tell me what exactly is happening? I'm a little scared."

Feigning fear, Li Xuan wrapped his arms around Black Cat's waist from behind. Only when he held her did he realize that her figure was much better than he had imagined. Her waist and hips formed an exceptionally beautiful curve, merely hidden before by her loose pajamas.

"Don't ask. You'll forget soon anyway, along with me." Black Cat turned back, and deep loneliness lay hidden in her eyes as she looked at Li Xuan.

"I won't forget you," Li Xuan said softly.

By then, the burly men around them had fallen into complete chaos. They had no idea what was happening and instinctively tried to flee, only to find themselves unable to run in the direction they intended. Every time, they would collide with something or trip after only a short distance. Some suffered split heads and bleeding; others were torn to pieces.

Black Cat kept her vertical pupils open, staring fixedly at them. More than ten minutes later, the burly men had almost been wiped out. Only the middle-aged woman remained, sitting on the ground because terror had left her unable to move.

"She isn't moving either. What should we do?" Li Xuan asked.

"Big Sister Felia won't let me kill people, so you kill her," Black Cat said.

"Me? Kill someone?" Li Xuan deliberately made his tone sound shocked.

"It's okay. No one will know." Black Cat spoke with remarkable clarity now, nothing like the dazed and ignorant girl she had been when they first met.

"But if I walk away, won't I end up broken to pieces like them?" Li Xuan asked nervously.

"It's okay. Hold Black Cat's hand. The area around Black Cat is safe." As she spoke, Black Cat extended a delicate hand painted with black nail polish to Li Xuan.

"Okay! I'll do it!" Holding Black Cat's hand, Li Xuan walked toward the middle-aged woman while pretending to tremble.

"What are you doing? Don't come any closer! If you dare hurt me, you'll all go to hell!" The middle-aged woman was terrified limp, but she still did not forget to mutter curses.

"Whether you ascend to paradise or descend to hell is Buddha's business. My job is to send you to see Buddha." Li Xuan approached with a cold smile.

"Great merciful Bodhisattva! Buddha! Arhat! Come save me! I've donated so much incense money! Released so many living creatures! You... you can't take my money and refuse to do your jobs!!!" The woman sensed a chill from Li Xuan's smile. Tears streamed down her face as she hurriedly pressed her palms together and began chanting.

"Black Cat, can you take me to the lakeside? I just thought of something interesting." Looking at the woman's ridiculous appearance, Li Xuan suddenly turned and asked.

"I can, but you can't leave Black Cat for even one step! You have to keep holding my hand too," Black Cat reminded him.

"No problem." Li Xuan nodded. He stripped off the woman's coat and tied her up, then dragged her with one hand while holding Black Cat's hand with the other, heading to the spot where he had been fishing earlier.

The night was murky, and Black Cat's awakening made it even darker. Li Xuan took out the powerful flashlight he used for fishing and shone it across the lake. There, a broad patch of pale dead fish floated on the water.

"Ah! All the fish are dead!" Black Cat said in surprise.

Li Xuan looked at the dead fish drifting across the lake and could not help growing furious. As an angler, he often spent an entire day without catching even one fish. Yet now there was such a massive patch of dead fish on the lake! What a waste! What an outrageous waste!

Furiously, Li Xuan grabbed the middle-aged woman and forced her head toward the lake.

"Open your eyes and look! You old hag! Those fish are all dead because of you! I don't know whether releasing animals earns merit, but releasing them like this earns you absolutely none! It should count against you instead!"

"How could that be? How could that be? You must have used poisoned bait when you were fishing! How could I have killed fish?!" The middle-aged woman trembled from head to toe, but still pushed all the blame onto Li Xuan.

"Bullshit! Who the hell uses poisoned bait for fishing? Fish won't even eat it! I told you, these are saltwater fish. They can't survive in a lake at all! You released them blindly without finding out first. I think you're the one who deserves retribution!" Li Xuan berated her.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! How could fish die in water? You're lying! You must be lying! Even if I made a mistake, I meant well! I absolutely didn't kill them!" the middle-aged woman shrieked.

"Big Brother, stop wasting time. I still need to go back and find Mama." Black Cat covered her ears.

"Okay, I'll listen to you." Li Xuan first stuffed a clump of dirt into the woman's mouth, then placed a suitably weighted stone inside her coat. Finally, he tied the coat tightly around her feet.

"Old hag, I'm releasing you too now. I don't know whether you can survive in the water, but I definitely mean well. I'm absolutely not trying to hurt you on purpose~" With that, Li Xuan kicked the middle-aged woman into the lake.

After a burst of bubbles, the woman quickly sank beneath the water.

"Admiration and joy!" Li Xuan pressed his palms together, imitating the woman.

"Glub glub~~~" Black Cat expressionlessly imitated the sound of the woman drowning, seemingly utterly indifferent to death. At the same time, she dispelled her awakened transformation and returned to her lazy appearance in cat pajamas.

Li Xuan felt much more refreshed as well. He picked up the fishing bucket and prepared to leave, but then suddenly heard a somewhat familiar voice coming from afar.

"Black Cat! Where are you? Stop playing hide-and-seek! I can sense your magic power! If you don't come back, Felia is going to get mad! We won't be able to perform the new song either!"

Li Xuan thought back and quickly realized it was the delinquent girl who had slashed him that day. He did not know whether she would remember his face. If she discovered him, he would be in serious trouble.

"Black Cat, it seems your companions have come looking for you. Hurry and go back with them! Big Brother is going home to eat fish~" Li Xuan hurriedly coaxed her.

"Okay! Goodbye, Big Brother. Even though you'll forget soon, I was really happy today!" Black Cat said as she skipped toward the source of the voice.

Watching Black Cat's departing back, Li Xuan let out a long breath. This encounter had been rather unexpected. He had failed to kidnap a band member as he had hoped, but it had not been entirely fruitless. At the very least, he had seen Black Cat's awakening ability. Though he did not understand its principles, he could at least guard against it.

More importantly, as Black Cat left, Li Xuan had quietly placed a Hunting Mark on her. Although he had simultaneously opened a passage to the Delusive Badlands in preparation to flee, she did not seem to notice anything.

It appeared that even her perception abilities could not detect the marking function of Hunting Radar. As expected of a basic skill provided by the system from the start—it was simple and practical.

Li Xuan secretly rejoiced.

Food and a Date

Early the next morning, Li Xuan carried his fishing bucket to the entrance of Clear Lotus University. To keep the mackerel fresh, he had stuffed plenty of ice packs into the bucket.

This was Li Xuan's first time at Clear Lotus University. Although its name sounded ordinary enough, it was one of the nation's top ten institutions of higher learning, an ivory tower people traveled thousands of miles to attend and an ideal peak beyond the reach of countless others.

Clear Lotus University's architecture truly matched its status in the education world. Every building in sight had its own distinctive style and clearly had been carefully designed, giving the place an especially sacred atmosphere.

For a moment, Li Xuan regretted not dressing more formally.

But seeing the sun climbing higher, he could not be bothered going back to change. The weather was simply too hot. He had no intention of sacrificing comfort for appearances. Besides, he was here to eat, not on a blind date.

Most areas of Clear Lotus University were open to the public, so Li Xuan easily entered the campus. Standing beneath the shade of a tree, he called Li Sijie.

The call was answered as soon as it connected. Li Xuan asked, "Hello? I'm at your school entrance now. This place is huge. Where am I supposed to find you?"

Li Sijie's deliberately lowered voice soon came through the phone. "You really came to see me?"

"Didn't you say you were going to cook fish for me? Of course I came for our appointment."

"Hehe, I thought you'd surely be too busy to get away right now. I can't talk anymore, I'm in class. I won't be out until around noon. Wait for me on the second floor of Canteen Five. If you get bored, you can wander around."

"Okay, but if I wait too long, the fish won't be fresh anymore..." Li Xuan checked the time. It was only a little after nine. He had indeed arrived too early. He could hardly interrupt her classes just for his own appetite, so he asked for directions all the way to the Canteen Five Li Sijie had mentioned.

The second floor of the canteen was bright and clean. Since it was past mealtime, there were few students inside. The staff at the food stalls sat absorbed in their phones, and no one noticed Li Xuan's arrival.

Waiting was always especially boring. Li Xuan took out his phone and asked whether Lilika and her mother were doing well. After receiving a reply that everything was safe, along with a merciless complaint from Lilika, he turned off the screen again.

Lilika clearly did not know Black Cat had come by. She thought he had simply left without saying goodbye afterward. But that was probably for the best. For a woman who valued her dignity so highly, having that happen to her would likely have been an intensely humiliating experience.

After putting down his phone, Li Xuan looked through the window at the gentle sunlight outside. Although the view from here was lovely, that quiet and peaceful atmosphere instead gave him a vague sense of oppression.

Those two encounters had made Li Xuan deeply aware of the power of Grade A magical girls. Black Cat had demonstrated her awakening ability before him and even explicitly stated the safe zone, yet he still had no confidence that he could counter it.

Not to mention that Black Cat certainly would not hold back against magical creatures as she did against humans. Even if she merely activated her awakening and stood still, he had no way to approach her.

He desperately wanted to do something to change the situation, yet there was nothing he could do. Anxiety kept washing over Li Xuan, to the point that he had even lost interest in appreciating the female college students passing outside the window.

Just then, something soft struck the back of his head. Although it came in fiercely, it was as soft as an airbag and easily absorbed the force. The impact was perfectly converted into deformation, burying Li Xuan's head deep in a gentle cushion of flesh.

Before he could savor that overwhelming softness, the light before his eyes vanished. A pair of warm, soft hands covered his eyes from behind, leaving him able to see only faint light through her fingers.

"Guess who I am?" the person behind him asked in a gruff voice.

"First, I can rule out Li Sijie from the photography department," Li Xuan thought. You've already pressed those huge headlights against my head. If I still can't recognize you, I might as well castrate myself on the spot and start practicing the Sunflower Manual.

He grabbed Li Sijie's wrists and turned around, only to have his vision immediately obscured by her chest—and his right to breathe taken away as well.

"Correct! Your reward is a delicious meal~" Li Sijie said, taking half a step back to avoid creating a horrifying campus death-by-cleavage case.

With his vision restored, Li Xuan looked Li Sijie up and down. Her style on campus today was completely different from usual.

She wore a loose T-shirt on top. Perhaps because she was afraid of the heat, she had not tucked the hem into her skirt. Instead, she had tied it at the side of her waist, turning it into a cropped, midriff-baring top.

Below, she wore a blue floral skirt of moderate length. Beneath its hem were her rounded calves and white ankle socks tucked into sneakers. Both her expression and clothes suited her student-like air.

"Didn't you still have class? Why are you here already?" After admiring Li Sijie's outfit for the day, Li Xuan asked curiously.