Warming Up for the Debut

International High School:

Mo Zhen went to his seat, put down his shoulder bag, and sat down with a yawn.

Then he took off his non-prescription glasses, put his head down, and went to sleep.

He had been running around all night and really hadn't gotten enough sleep.

Adam arrived rather late. As soon as he entered the classroom, he saw Mo Zhen with his head down and a single cowlick sticking up from his slightly messy hair.

Adam reached out instinctively and gave it a gentle flick.

Mo Zhen struggled to lift his head, giving him an unfriendly look. But when he saw it was Adam, the hostility gradually faded from his eyes.

Adam sat down in his own seat and casually asked, "Still sleepy? What were you doing last night?"

Mo Zhen put his head back down. "Nothing," he mumbled.

Adam didn't believe him for a second. If it were nothing, why would Mo Zhen have borrowed such a large sum of money from him? Something big had to be going on.

Out of respect for his friend, he wouldn't tell anyone else about it, and he wouldn't tell the big boss, "Red Owl," either.

He knew his boss's personality: Red Owl was the obsessive type who had to dig into the secrets of anyone around him.

For that very reason, everyone in Owl Squad knew that "Red Owl" was extremely hostile and guarded toward "Peacemaker."

But also out of concern for his friend, Adam decided that he would keep a close eye on Mo Zhen from now on and never let him do anything dangerous again.

Classes went on as usual.

When it was time for morning gym class, Adam woke Mo Zhen and dragged him through a four-hundred-meter run before they found a tree to rest under.

Mo Zhen leaned against the trunk, opened a bottle of mineral water, and drank nearly half of it.

Beside him, Adam took out his phone and read the latest paper published by Dr. Chen Xue in the field of cutting-edge nuclear physics theory.

Mo Zhen glanced at it and realized he couldn't make sense of the "English letters," so he gave up reading.

The world of geniuses really was different. Adam hadn't even graduated from high school yet, and he'd already been admitted to Taiping Prefecture National University without an entrance exam.

Unlike him. In his previous life, he'd struggled just to get into an undergraduate college. His biggest dream had been to make an indie game, earn some money, and make it easier to send his résumé to a major company, or else scam some money out of an angel investor.

"Hey, Adam, Mo Zhen."

At that moment, a handsome French guy standing 1.8 meters tall walked over. Mo Zhen looked up and recognized him as the person who had clashed with Mo Xiaochuan yesterday.

Green Reynolds: the young master of the Reynolds Group and the only heir born to Old Reynolds in his later years. The words "young master" might as well have been written on his face.

Not only was he young and wealthy, he was handsome too.

Adam asked in confusion, "What is it, Green?"

Green said, "Uh... nothing. I just wanted to thank you again. You did carry me to the infirmary yesterday, after all."

Adam shrugged. "It was nothing."

The two raised their hands and bumped fists.

They were friends, too, in a way. They had taken part in all sorts of competitions together. Though Green couldn't compare to Adam, he was a rare genius in his own right.

Green then looked at Mo Zhen. When his gaze fell on Mo Zhen's face, a flicker of admiration flashed in his eyes, and he held out his hand.

"Hello, Mo Zhen. I'm Green Reynolds. I'm a second-year, just like you."

"Hello."

Mo Zhen shook his hand, wondering what Green wanted with him. Was it because of Mo Xiaochuan?

Green said, "Here's the thing. This Saturday, the Reynolds Group is holding a new technology launch in Tianhe City."

He took out two invitations. "I hope you can come if you're free. There's also a dinner after the launch."

Mo Zhen accepted an invitation.

It was quite valuable. Media outlets and companies usually reserved them in advance, and ordinary people couldn't get their hands on one at all.

Adam readily accepted. He had always been interested in cutting-edge technology. "No problem. I'll definitely be there."

Green then turned to Mo Zhen with an expectant look.

Mo Zhen could only nod. "If I'm free, I'll go."

Green smiled. "Thank you."

He turned and left.

Mo Zhen put away the invitation. He wasn't particularly interested, but Green had been so sincere that it seemed a little discourteous not to go.

Adam, meanwhile, launched into a torrent of words. "Do you know about the new nuclear physics technology the Reynolds Group has been promoting lately? Apparently it's also related to Professor Chen Xue's new paper."

"They want to use a newly discovered metal to achieve controlled nuclear fusion. If they succeed, all of human civilization will enter a new era!"

"Let's see, that new metal seemed to be called..."

Adam scrolled to the bottom of the new paper.

"Nebula Alloy, a new metal discovered by Dr. Chen Xue. It's found only in small quantities in meteorites and is extremely scarce. Its load-bearing capacity is far greater than that of metals found on Earth."

Mo Zhen nodded repeatedly and kept the conversation going. "That's impressive."

Sunset.

Jinniu District, Colossus Group Building.

Tang Wenjie drank a triple espresso and watched the sun gradually sink outside the window. He summoned his secretary, Richard, and gave him an order.

"Start building the hype."

Richard perked up and nodded firmly.

"Yes, boss."

Soon, as people were getting off work and out of school, a question appeared across major social media platforms and quickly started trending on Instagram, Twitter, Weibo, and others.

#If a magical girl killed someone, would you still be her fan?#

It was an old topic of discussion, but this time, with Titan Capital's backing pushing it along, it was promoted to an unimaginable extent.

Almost everyone could come across it while scrolling through various platforms.

Netizens from the Pan-American Federation and the New Continental Europe Alliance said:

"Of course I'd still be a fan. It's no big deal. As long as she doesn't kill innocent ordinary people, do drugs, or sleep around, I don't care about anything else."

"The odds of a magical girl killing someone are probably lower than my odds of getting shot at school."

"If she kills immigrants of color and refugees forced to rob people to survive, she should be blacklisted the next day!"

"Who asked you? Where did anyone mention people of color or refugees? You stupid, oversensitive white liberal. I say kill them all-kill, kill, kill, kill! A bunch of stinking outsiders coming to my America to beg for handouts!"

"Shut up, you hick redneck! You extremist right-wing populist! I'm going to report you!"

"I support magical girls taking part in law enforcement. That way I can see more of them. Some special uniforms would be even better."

"I wouldn't be a fan! I've always hated magical girls. Why can't I become a magical girl when I identify as a woman? That's discrimination!"

Netizens from the Eastern Continent Alliance, meanwhile, said:

"If even magical girls kill people, I'll stop being a fan on the spot. Compared to those sanctimonious superhumans, magical girls are already the last moral bottom line..."

"Dame, dame. No matter what, magical girls shouldn't kill people. It violates the Ministry of Magic's taboo and will turn them into witches. It's also very unsettling, desu."

"How could magical girls possibly kill anyone? They're synonymous with kindness and justice. If a killing scandal came out, the Ministry of Magic would blacklist them the next day."

"Don't make your big sister witch laugh."

"If a magical girl killed someone who deserved it, I'd applaud."

"The law doesn't encourage that kind of behavior, but it doesn't say you can't do it either, does it?"

"I'm a law student at a Project 211 university. What the law doesn't prohibit is permitted. As long as the magical girl kills someone who's legally a criminal, there's no problem at all."

"Law my ass. Looks like studying has made you stupid. One day a magical girl will turn into a witch and kill your old Feng, and then you'll know you were wrong."

"↑ Triggered."

"Boring. I want to see rivers of blood."

Coming right at the end of the workday and around dinner time, the topic, old but always fresh, instantly set netizens across the major platforms ablaze.

The fiercest fighters were the students. They freely cited sources and references, racking up hundreds of replies almost instantly.

In the present world, although many people had accepted the existence of superhumans, many still expressed concern over their powers and how uncontrollable they were.

And magical girls happened to be the most controversial group among them, long regarded as a "faith" by many groups.

They wouldn't allow the purity of that faith to be sullied, so they charged into the comments to oppose it and denounce the heretics who supported killing.

Under the netizens' debate, the topic even gradually evolved into a philosophical argument: did they kill first and then become witches, or become witches first and then kill?

And all of this was within Tang Wenjie's team's expectations.

He sent Hell a message: "Have you looked at the material I sent you?"

Hell replied, "I've seen it. No problem. Let's go with that."

Tang Wenjie said, "OK."

He instructed Richard, "At nine tonight, release all the edited battle footage at once through our team's account. Set social media completely ablaze."

Richard took a deep breath, feeling his fingers tremble.

"Yes, boss."