I'm in Morioh, just joined a chat group for cute girls.

"cough!"

Irisviel was taken aback by her daughter's outspoken remark, and she quickly put on a stern face and warned, "That's true, but you need to tone it down a bit! Don't make a mess of the house!"

"Know it--"

Ilya nodded obediently, but her eyes sparkled with excitement.

"That... that..."

Sera and Lyselle, who had been silent all along, exchanged a glance, blushed, and asked in barely audible voices.

"When... will it be our turn?"

Irisviel smiled as she looked at their shy yet expectant expressions.

She walked between the two women, put her arm around each of them, and whispered in their ears in a voice only they could hear:

"Let's wait and see. Since you've already decided to stay, you definitely can't run away."

"It's a... very, very fast and friendly experience. You'll absolutely love it."

Just then, a faint, unusual noise came from inside the tightly closed door.

That wasn't the sound of talking, nor was it the sound of things colliding.

"Well……"

Almost instantly, everyone outside the door held their breath.

Ilya and Kitagawa Kaimu, like two curious cats, were the first to react, tiptoeing to the door and pressing their ears against it.

Irisviel shook her head helplessly, but did not stop them.

She simply leaned against the wall, arms crossed, a look of anticipation on her face.

Sera and Lizzie blushed, their hands nervously gripping the edges of their aprons, wanting to listen but afraid to, looking extremely uneasy.

Medea, however, has long since disappeared.

She was comfortably sitting in a chair in her workshop, enjoying the high-definition, live broadcast with sound in the water mirror.

In the room, Gu Ye and Medusa sat side by side on the edge of the bed.

An awkward and ambiguous atmosphere filled the air.

"that……"

Gu Ye broke the silence first, "Medea, she..."

"I see."

Medusa interrupted him, her head still bowed, her long purple hair obscuring her expression. "This is... my own choice."

The two fell into silence again.

After a long while, Medusa spoke again, her voice very soft, as if she were talking to herself.

"I...I already knew."

"Ok?"

"I know about Sakura's situation."

She said, "I sensed it when we were in Fuyuki. There's a deep connection between you two. I envy her."

Gu Ye didn't speak, but listened quietly.

"After arriving here, I saw Miss Haimeng and Ilya again... You were very happy together."

Medusa's voice trembled slightly, "I... I envy them too."

“They can stand openly beside you, laugh with you, and joke around with you... while I can only hide in a corner like a monster.”

She raised her head, and for the first time in front of Gu Ye, her beautiful eyes filled with tears.

"I like you, Gu Ye."

She finally said those words.

"I don't want to be a bystander anymore. So... please let me be yours. Even if it's just a shadow, a weapon, that's fine. I want to... protect you from behind."

Gu Ye looked at her, at this goddess who had always disguised herself with coldness and silence.

He reached out and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"You are neither a thing nor a shadow."

He pulled her into his arms.

"You are Medusa. From this day forward, you are my Medusa."

The body in his arms completely relaxed at that moment.

Outside the door, Ilya and Kitagawa Kaimu were hugging each other tightly, their faces flushed red as if they were about to bleed, and their bodies trembling slightly with excitement.

Irisviel leaned against the wall, her eyes closed, a satisfied smile on her lips, as if she were savoring some wonderful experience.

Sera and Lizzie snuggled together, their faces flushed.

This night was very long.

The door didn't open until around midnight.

Gu Ye was stunned when he opened the door.

Under the corridor lights, Illya, Kitagawa Kaimu, Irisviel, and even Sera and Lyselite sat on the cold floor.

He had clearly been eavesdropping for half the night and was so engrossed in listening that he couldn't contain himself.

Upon seeing Gu Ye emerge, they froze, like startled deer.

But the next second, the focus shifted back to Gu Ye, and... flames ignited.

They didn't pounce on us like hungry wolves.

Instead, they helped each other to their feet and, step by step, forced Gu Ye, who was holding Medusa and had nowhere to retreat, back into the room.

"boom."

The door was closed again.

Chapter 158 Toyokawa Shoko's Online Transmigration!

The moment the performance ended, the electrifying atmosphere seemed to have been ripped out, leaving only a suffocating silence in the backstage dressing room.

The pale light of the fluorescent lamps shone on everyone's delicate yet tired faces. The air was thick with the smell of sweat, hairspray, and a subtle sense of alienation.

Yutenji Wakana—or rather, "Nyanmu-chan"—was scrolling through her phone screen in frustration, looking at the almost stagnant data after her performance on her PosTube channel, and unconsciously curled her lips into a smirk.

Tsk, what is Xiangzi doing? He won't let us take off our masks, he can't even do the most basic thing like attracting traffic, what's the point of this band?

Her mind was racing with calculations, but the sweet smile on her face could no longer be maintained.

"Disbandment is inevitable."

As Hachiman Kairin wiped the fingerprints off her bass guitar with a towel, she spoke in her usual emotionless voice.

She seemed to be stating an objective fact, but her words were like a needle, precisely piercing the already fragile balance in the room.

"Hai, Hailing...!"

Mikasa looked at Toyokawa Shoko instinctively, her eyes filled with worry.

"Did I said wrong thing?"

Hailing raised her eyes and calmly swept her gaze across the crowd. "The purpose of our band formation no longer exists. Continuing is just a waste of time."

"How could it be a waste of time? Wasn't it an unprecedented success?"

Miaom immediately retorted, even though she knew in her heart that this kind of "success" and the "popularity" she wanted were completely different things.

Ruo Yemu simply sat quietly in the corner, holding her guitar, her eyes lowered, as if everything around her was irrelevant to her.

But her slightly clenched fingers betrayed her inner unease.

"All right."

Toyokawa Shoko's voice wasn't loud, but it instantly silenced all the arguments.

She stood up, still wearing her gorgeous gothic dress, making her look like the unattainable Oblivionis on stage.

"Today I'm treating everyone to celebrate the success of the performance."

Her words carried an undeniable decisiveness, as if all discordant voices would vanish the moment she opened her mouth.

She knew that since she no longer needed to rely on the band to make money, the relationship, which was maintained simply for the sake of "maintaining" it, had become thinner than paper.

She bound everyone with new contracts and exorbitant penalties for breach of contract, but she couldn't bind people's hearts.

No one objected to the suggestion of a dinner party, nor did anyone agree to it.

With silent consent, the five people packed their things and left the Livehouse.

The brightly lit streets and bustling traffic at night contrasted sharply with their desolate state of mind.

Xiangzi, who was walking at the front, was still rapidly calculating in his mind how to operate that astronomical sum of money and how to truly and once and for all firmly control all the unsettling factors.

Just as they walked together onto the pedestrian crossing, preparing to cross the road, an indescribable, blinding white light, capable of swallowing everything, suddenly erupted without warning.

The light did not belong to any mode of transportation; it was as if a hole had been torn open in the entire world.

Everyone's consciousness was instantly overwhelmed by this pure light, and they lost consciousness.

When Toyokawa Shoko opened her eyes again, the first thing that rushed into her nostrils was a pungent smell mixed with rust, dust and some unknown chemical substance.

She sat up abruptly and found herself lying on a cold, cracked surface of concrete.

The familiar Tokyo night view was no longer there, but an endless expanse of gray ruins.

The dilapidated high-rise buildings crumbled like the skeleton of a giant beast, with jagged edges of reinforced concrete piercing the sky.

The sky was an eerie, dusky yellow, with a few wisps of dark purple clouds floating by.

In the distance, some black, crystalline substances emerged from the earth, emitting an ominous glow.

A chilling silence filled the air, broken only by the ghostly howling of the wind as it passed through the ruins.

"……This is where?"

Miaomu's voice was trembling with tears as she looked in horror at her meticulously styled purple short hair, now covered in dust, and her brand-new stage costume, which had been torn. "My phone... has no signal! Not a single signal!"

"Everyone calm down, stay together, and don't get separated."

Hailing's voice was unusually calm. She had already stood up quickly, holding her bass bag in front of her, and was warily observing her surroundings. Her posture was not like that of a high school student, but more like that of an experienced mercenary.

Chu Hua rushed to Xiangzi's side immediately, nervously grasping her hand; her palm was icy cold.

"Xiao Xiang, are you okay?"

Mu stood up silently, head down, and walked to Xiangzi's other side without saying a word, her small body tense.

Xiangzi took a deep breath of the cold air, forcing himself to calm down.

Kidnapping? Or some kind of... attack by a superpowered being? Her brain raced, immediately ruling out the former.

No kidnapper would go to such lengths.

She took out her phone, and sure enough, the screen displayed "No Service." This place was far removed from the world they knew.

"Don't panic."

Xiangzi spoke, his voice a little strained, but he still maintained the authority of a leader, "I'll think of a way."

She had the others form a circle, leaning against a broken wall, while she sat back on the ground, seemingly operating her phone, but in reality, her consciousness had sunk into that mysterious group chat that connected different dimensions.

【Oblivionis】: @WeatherForecast, Gu Ye, are you there? Something's happened.

As soon as Xiangzi sent his message, the previously quiet group chat immediately became lively.

[Devil Muscle Rin]: Hey, Xiangzi? Aren't you busy being your band producer? How come you have time to pop up?

【Marin】: Xiangzi-chan! Tomorrow is the team building event! How are your preparations going?

[American Scythe]: Tsk, what a troublesome woman.

Xiangzi ignored the teasing from others and her fingers flew across the virtual keyboard.