Money! More Money Than He Could Count!

The cheers continued inside the light rail car.

Passengers held up their phones, snapping photos of the huge hole blasted through the roof.

Su Bai tucked his hands into his hoodie pockets and slipped past the crowd.

He wandered over to the puddle of green Monster remains as if he had no particular destination in mind.

His gaze swept quickly over the foul-smelling slime covering the floor.

Once.

Twice.

Su Bai's brow furrowed, a chill entering his eyes.

Windburst had torn the Mutant Leech to pieces, but its core was nowhere to be found.

The most valuable part, its Abyssal Core, was gone.

Su Bai closed his eyes.

"Kabi, where did that Abyssal Core go?"

The plump, star-shaped spirit poked half its head out of the shadow at his feet.

"Master, it was turned in!"

Su Bai clenched his jaw.

"Who took it?"

"Mint turned it in herself!"

Kabi sounded delighted, as though the answer were obvious.

"She followed the supreme rule you laid down to the letter."

"After defeating a Monster, all spoils must be turned over to the Star Magical Girls' Public Fund Pool as a Special Appropriation for maintaining world peace!"

Su Bai stopped breathing for a second.

Inside his pocket, his hand curled sharply into a fist.

The Public Fund Pool?

A Special Appropriation for maintaining world peace?

That was an exceptionally pure Mutant Abyssal Core!

If he sold it himself, even with that profiteer Black Crow driving down the price, it would fetch at least a hundred thousand Federal Coins!

A hundred thousand.

Enough to cover a full year's rent and several semesters of Su Xiaoxiao's tuition and fees.

And now it had all become some imaginary fund.

Su Bai felt as though someone had driven a knife through his heart. He was devastated.

With a shriek of grinding metal, the light rail finally pulled into a Major Transit Hub three stops farther down the line.

The doors opened.

The shaken passengers poured out like a tide and sprinted toward the exit gates.

Su Bai had just stepped onto the first escalator with the crowd

when he saw a large contingent of fully armed Monster Hunting Bureau agents sealing off the exit.

Black riot shields formed a solid wall.

Dozens of agents stood ready with Abyssal-Energy Rifles.

Scarface Captain stood in front of the gates.

In his hand was a bulky, high-precision Magic Detection Device.

"Everyone, line up! Routine security check!"

The captain's voice echoed through the spacious concourse over a loudspeaker.

"Show your ID! Female civilians, form a separate line on the right!"

Standing midway down the line, Su Bai watched the commotion ahead with a cool gaze.

The authorities had reacted fast.

They were clearly looking for "Mint," who had appeared moments earlier.

The Monster Hunting Bureau subjected every passenger who matched the description of a young girl to an exceptionally strict search.

They demanded to inspect anything related to Monsters, suspicious jewelry, and even makeup mirrors.

A stifled sob suddenly came from the front of the line.

Two agents had stopped several schoolgirls in sailor uniforms.

The girls held Magical Girl wands they had just bought as merchandise at a downtown convention.

Their pink plastic shells looked cheap and shiny under the station's fluorescent lights.

"Officer, these really are just plastic toys from the convention."

The short-haired girl leading them had red-rimmed eyes, and her voice trembled.

"We have nothing to do with Monsters... We dream of becoming Magical Girls, but we really aren't..."

Scarface Captain looked at them without expression.

"Whether you're involved, and whether you are one... the detector will decide."

He rapped his knuckles against the metal railing beside him.

"Take your toys and recite all three hundred and sixty spells recorded in the Monster Hunter Transformation manual, right here in front of everyone."

"Do the matching poses, too."

"If the detector doesn't pick up any magical energy fluctuations, you can leave."

The schoolgirls looked at the hundreds of eyes fixed on them.

All color drained from their faces, which then flushed a deep, mortified red.

This was a public humiliation so brutal that facing a Monster would have been kinder.

"Hurry up! Don't hold up the people behind you!"

At the agent's sharp urging,

the short-haired girl raised her pink plastic wand through her tears.

"The... the embodiment of love and justice... magical... transformation..."

"O light... please fill this city once more... Light's Beauty Magical Girl Transformation..."

Her voice was barely audible. She was so embarrassed that even her neck had turned red.

The bystanders turned away, unable to watch.

Su Bai watched from farther back in the line.

The corner of his mouth twitched.

When it was Su Bai's turn at the gate,

he simply took out his Tianqiong University student card and ID and handed them over.

The agent checking him glanced once at the sex listed on his ID.

He did not even lift the Magic Detection Device.

"A boy. Go on. Get home, and don't wander around."

Su Bai took back his documents and walked steadily past the cordon.

He did not hesitate for an instant.

The best disguise for his Magical Girl identity was that he was a man through and through.

It was a blind spot the Monster Hunting Bureau would never reach, no matter how hard they thought.

After leaving the station, Su Bai checked the group notice his academic adviser had just sent.

"A major Monster attack has occurred in the West District's cross-river tunnel."

"Teacher Li, who was scheduled to teach this afternoon's practical combat class, was caught up in the incident while aboard the train and has been hospitalized."

"Today's practical combat class is canceled. The entire department has the day off. Please stay safe."

Heh.

At this rate, a few more Monster attacks and Su Bai would not have to attend class at all. He could have the whole year off.

Half an hour later,

Su Bai returned to Xingfuli Apartment.

A familiar figure sat on the living room's worn fabric sofa.

Xia Ning.

She wore a casual pale-green T-shirt, and instead of her usual twin ponytails, her hair hung loose around her shoulders.

She and Su Xiaoxiao were bent over a thick Exercise Book.

Hearing the door open, Xia Ning turned.

"Su Bai, you're back."

Her smile was sweet, her face full of the youthful innocence of a girl her age.

Su Bai paused halfway through changing his shoes.

"Mm."

His reply was flat.

Su Xiaoxiao looked up from the coffee table and waved excitedly.

"Hajige! Our school canceled afternoon classes too, so I invited Xia Ning over to do homework!"

Homework?

Su Bai glanced at the open Exercise Book.

A sheet of scratch paper covered in strange magic circles was tucked inside.

He changed into slippers at the entrance and went straight to the kitchen.

"You two carry on. I'll get some water."

He filled a glass with cooled boiled water.

Su Bai stood at the counter without going back out.

They had lowered their voices outside, but the cramped apartment made every word easy to hear.

"Xia Ning, did you really see that girl called Mint on the light rail today?"

Su Xiaoxiao's voice quivered with barely contained excitement.

"Of course I did."

There was a strange, rapt pride in Xia Ning's voice.

A blush rose on her fair cheeks.

"And Xiaoxiao, I have a secret to tell you."

She leaned close to Su Xiaoxiao's ear.

"When I went out this morning, I think... I heard the Call of the Wind."

Su Xiaoxiao gasped.

Then the two teenage girls huddled over the battered coffee table

and began gushing over the so-called "Star Magical Girl Organization."

They talked about how to be chosen by the Will of the World and how they could join that mysterious, exalted group.

Su Bai came out of the kitchen carrying two glasses of water.

He gently set them on the coffee table in front of the girls.

The glasses made a soft clink.

Both girls fell silent at once and picked up their pens, pretending to work in the Exercise Book.

Su Bai looked impassively at Xia Ning on the sofa.

Just an hour ago,

this gentle, well-behaved girl, now blushing over her fantastical daydreams,

had hefted a staff half as tall as a person and blasted a Monster into a shower of gore without batting an eye.

The world was utterly absurd.

Back in his bedroom, Su Bai locked the door.

Kabi immediately sprang from the shadows, its purple-and-gold glow circling the room in excitement.

"Master! Wonderful news! Absolutely wonderful news!"

Su Bai sat on the edge of the bed and stared coldly at Kabi.

"Cut to the chase. It had better have something to do with that hundred thousand."

Kabi stopped in midair and proudly puffed out a chest that did not exist.

"Of course it does!"

"After Xia Ning's flashy display on the light rail today, the name of the Star Organization is spreading across the internet like wildfire!"

"The organization's popularity and Faith Points are soaring exponentially!"

Kabi bobbed up and down with excitement.

"That means more and more young girls will soon desperately long to be chosen by the Will of the World."

"Once they awaken, they'll automatically join the ranks of the Star Magical Girls!"

Su Bai said nothing and listened.

"Just think about it, Master!"

Kabi floated close to Su Bai's face.

"All the Abyssal Cores dropped by the Monsters they defeat will be turned over to the system's Public Wallet under the rules!"

"And you'd be the undisputed leader of the entire organization!"

"That means you, as its leader, could withdraw and spend all the money it brings in!"

"You wouldn't have to lift a finger. You could lie in bed and watch the money roll in!"

The room was so quiet that only Su Bai's faint breathing could be heard.

After a brief silence,

Su Bai closed his eyes.

He could see the money pouring in without end.

But it also meant something far more terrifying.

For the rest of his life,

he would have to keep recruiting, managing, and even hoodwinking innocent girls whose heads weren't quite right.

He would also have to play the part of an inscrutable leader behind the scenes.

Every day, he would have to deal with hopeless cases of chuunibyou like Xia Ning and Su Xiaoxiao.

All for money.

Endless amounts of money!

Su Bai opened his bedroom door again.

He went to the kitchen, picked up a rag, and began wiping water off the counter.

In the living room,

Su Xiaoxiao and Xia Ning had put their heads together again.

Their voices drifted into the kitchen.

"Xia Ning, why don't we write a joint application to the Monster Hunting Bureau?"

"We could call ourselves the Xinghai City First Magical Girl Fan Support Club."

Xia Ning nodded eagerly.

"Great idea! Once I've truly mastered the power of wind, I'll ask Mint to be our honorary president!"

Su Bai stopped wiping.

He leaned against the greasy kitchen doorframe.

He listened to the two girls who had no idea what they were getting into...

No, one of them was an "award-winning actor," plotting how to muddy the waters even further.

He felt exhausted to his core.

"..."