Is it only magical girls?

The photos in these albums...

They were all tattered photos, all of them couple photos of Aunt Yuehuai and Sister Hongshi. However, these photos were clearly cropped, and some were not even properly shaped. Looking at them, it became clear why that particular photo was in a frame; although cropped, it at least looked like a couple photo.

No way, no way, no way, surely no one doesn't have a photo of themselves with Sister Hong Shi? I have a ton of them on my phone.

Yuanxing looked towards Qianchan: "Senior, have you found any valuable information?"

Qian Chan nodded: "This place was originally used for research on magic chips, in order to make magic something that anyone could master. The reason it was built within the academy was to facilitate students' experiments with magic chips. After the experiments with magic chips were completed, this research institute was abandoned."

Tao Ying raised an eyebrow: "What about the incubation tanks outside?"

"The research institute must have been recently repurposed, and the experimental subjects outside were also started in recent years. But why are they being studied here?"

[Of course, it's so that all these demons can be released at once on the school anniversary, so that everyone can remember the terror of being ravaged by demons.]

This is the sound from the playback device...

Yuanxing recognized the voice of Aunt Yuehuai almost instantly. She made no attempt to conceal her voice and used her natural voice directly. She didn't bother with a voice changer or even a fake voice.

Qianchan's emotions surged instantly: "Mom! Why did you do such a thing!"

Why am I doing this? Because of a promise. Someone important to me made a promise to be a magical girl for life, and I'm just fulfilling that promise.

[I originally intended to present these demons as a gift to the academy on the school's founding day, but since you're here, I'll give you this gift as well.]

Who would want this as a gift?!

If a bunch of demons, who are even more dangerous than monsters, were to escape during the school anniversary celebration, the casualties would be enormous. Just thinking about it is worrying.

The thought of her classmates and friends possibly being in danger made Tao Ying's blood boil: "What do you take human life for?!"

Peach Blossom didn't expect an answer and stormed out after her outburst. All the incubation tanks inside the research institute were now open. These weren't just simple incubation tanks; they were more like cloning tanks, creating demons out of thin air at an extremely rapid pace.

"Don't misunderstand, I value ordinary people very much." Yuehuai said slowly, "In a magical girl story, there must be three types of characters: the magical girl who punishes evil, the wicked villain who acts recklessly, and the ordinary people who suffer from evil. Without ordinary people, the magical girl story cannot continue. You ask me what I consider people to be? The answer is NPCs."

Alright, good luck, magical girls! Don't let the demons win, don't let them escape, you must protect everyone!

The communication has probably ended. The other party spoke over the radio and is no longer speaking or pressuring her.

Yuanxing looked at Qianchan with considerable worry: "Senior..."

"Don't worry about me. Although it's Mom's voice, it might not be Mom herself. In the world of magic, even if you see a real person, it might not be the real person, let alone just a voice. Let's deal with those things outside first, so they don't escape from this research institute."

Qianchan's smile was slightly forced. Although she had some doubts, it was almost impossible for her to be completely unaffected. But Qianchan tried her best not to think about those things, and focused her attention entirely on the humanoid monsters being nurtured in the incubation tanks in front of her.

Qianchan ran out of the data room. At this moment, the already small research institute was crammed with demons, and new demons were constantly being born from the incubation tanks. Inside the research institute, there was a fiery path created by two walls of fire, which extended all the way to the exit. At the exit, Taoying waved a baseball bat, repelling any demons that dared to approach.

Seeing Qianchan come out of the data room, Taoying quickly reminded her, "Although these demons are small in size, their abilities are close to those of medium-sized demons."

Medium-sized demons were nothing to Qianchan. She leaped over the wall of flames and plunged into the demon horde, each swing of her sword precisely decapitating a group of demons and turning them into pure magical elements. Even among the numerous demons, she moved with ease, darting back and forth like a dance, as if she weren't in a battlefield but in a wheat field, where the demons were merely moving wheat to her.

"Please buy me a little time."

Yuanxing raised the wand, and six supports at the front of the wand shot out and into space, firmly fixing the wand in mid-air.

A month ago, or even a week ago, such a number of demons would have been a formidable enemy in Yuanxing's eyes. But after her master's instruction, enemies of this caliber were utterly insignificant. She only needed to fix her wand in place and then switch spells within it.

[Tracking] [Laser] [Multi-cast] [All-out attack] [High-speed charging] [Superior firepower] [Overpowering violence with force], the magic cannon takes a full nine seconds to charge, but with the help of Qianchan and Taoying, the nine seconds passed safely, and the whole process was as easy and pleasant as waiting for instant noodles.

"Three seconds to go! Friendly fire!"

As the magic cannon roared, the entire research institute was completely enveloped by its power. Demons, breeding tanks, and the institute itself were all reduced to ashes by the bombardment. Even the stadium above the institute began to tilt due to the power of the magic cannon. Naturally, there was no longer any need to worry about demons.

However, the allies are more worried about Yuanxing, wondering what will happen if her magic cannon accidentally brushes against them next time.

Chapter 63: You Let Go of My Hand

Under the attack of the magic cannon, everything vanished, leaving only ruins. Yuanxing popped her head out of the ruins, immediately locking onto Qianchan and running in that direction.

"Senior, let's go home."

Qianchan remained silent, simply turning her head away, but her rejection was quite obvious.

Yuanxing grabbed Qianchan's hand and held her firmly, giving her no chance to escape. She didn't ask why Qianchan wanted to leave; she didn't care about any of that. "Let's go home!"

"small star."

Qianchan slowly said, "Two paths lie before me: one is a broad, smooth road, and the other is a rugged, winding path—"

Yuanxing asserted, "Choose the first one and come home with me!"

Qianchan tried to free one hand, and seeing that Qianchan only intended to free one hand, Yuanxing loosened the restraint on one side.

Qianchan gently stroked Yuanxing's hair with her raised hand: "Of the two paths before me, I will choose the more difficult, more rugged, and more complicated one. A smooth road always leads to error. I don't want to lose, I don't want to miss any chance to win. I won't cry my eyes out, nor will I stay where I am. I will only face the challenge head-on. I will personally unravel this mystery and figure it out. Until then, wait for me to come back, okay?"

Yuanxing shook his head and hugged Qianchan tightly: "I'll go with you. No matter what, two people are better than one. One person can't do anything, but two people can. Two people are not afraid of anything and can overcome any difficulty."

Qianchan also hugged Yuanxing, and the two maintained this posture.

Tao Ying also freed herself from the rubble. Looking at Yuanxing and Qianchan embracing each other, she didn't say anything, but simply found a place to sit down and waited quietly.

After several minutes, Qianchan gave in: "Fine, if you want to come with me, then come with me."

"Ok!"

Qianchan changed from embracing to holding hands, and the two slowly moved forward, one in front of the other, searching for the path to the underground research institute. Qianchan was in front and Yuanxing was behind, just like many years ago. Yuanxing didn't feel there was anything wrong with it; on the contrary, he enjoyed this feeling. The few days of separation felt like years of torment.

Qianchan, who was walking ahead, said, "If you want to come with me, many things will not be the same as before. I need to explain this to you in advance."

"Okay! Senior, please tell me."

"If you come with me, you will no longer be yourself. Don't believe anything anymore, don't believe anyone anymore. Praise is irony, fakes are real gold, everything is an illusion."

"and many more--"

Yuanxing hesitated, no longer following Qianchan. She sensed that the road ahead was not a rugged or difficult one, but a dead end, where anyone who stepped onto it would surely fall to their death.

"Good is bad, wrong is right, true is false, inferior is superior, and all things are illusory."

Yuanxing wanted to stop; she was no longer content with simply not moving forward. She tried desperately to halt her steps, wanting Qianchan to stop with her. But Qianchan had no intention of stopping, nor did she intend to let go. She forcefully dragged Yuanxing forward with an overwhelming force, forcing Yuanxing, who wanted to stop, to continue.

"The photo on the desk is a picture of Mom and Sister Hongshi. Sister Hongshi is the important person Mom was talking about, right? Then it was Sister Hongshi who made Mom do that kind of thing. She might even be the mastermind behind it all—"

Yuanxing could no longer tolerate it. She suddenly exerted force and completely shook off Qianchan's hand: "I cannot accept you speaking of Master like that."

"Ok, I know."

Qian Chan was no longer as defiant as before: "I've been paying attention, I know what you're doing and how you're doing it. I don't mean to provoke you, I'm just telling you that this is the path I have to take. But..." She lowered her head, looking at her hand that had been shaken off: "This time, you're the one who let go of my hand..."

"no--"

Yuanxing's words failed to reach her; Qianchan's figure had already disappeared.

"Teleport?!"

Yuanxing stomped her feet angrily: "What the hell happened! We blocked their way to a dead end, how could they still get away!" She rubbed her head vigorously, letting her pink hair fly wildly: "Aaaaaah, I'm so useless! I'm so useless! What a piece of trash!!!"

Tao Ying, who had been following along, quickly comforted her, "This is something that was beyond your expectations. Nobody wanted it to happen. There's no need to blame yourself so much."

Yuanxing turned to Taoying, her little fists clenched, and she pounded her chest in frustration in front of Taoying: "We talked about it during the club discussion, and we said that senior might learn teleportation magic or something, and that we would cast a barrier spell on her next time we met! But I forgot, and I didn't perform well. I never perform well. Why can't I ever perform well?"

Tao Ying was both amused and exasperated. The little girl wasn't upset about Qian Chan's cleverness in having multiple escape routes, but rather that she herself hadn't performed well and hadn't been able to do something she could have done correctly. Tao Ying didn't know how to comfort her now, and could only tell her to try harder next time.

After venting for a while, Yuanxing calmed down: "Phew, next time I'll definitely use a barrier to trap her first before saying anything else. She was so obedient this time, she probably thought she had undergone gender reassignment surgery and was planning to come back so we could all work together."

"Want to sing?"

Tao Ying asked, "Singing is the best way to vent. Singing out all the frustrations in your heart will make you feel much better."

Want to sing karaoke?

"No, no, it's much better than that."

Confused and curious, Yuanxing followed Taoying to what she called a very impressive singing place. When she arrived, she found it was indeed impressive, as the singing venue was a stage in the academy square, where singing could be heard by everyone. Of course, it couldn't compare to a live broadcast from the moon, but it still had a considerable audience.

Momo. Ryuu Sakura seemed to have anticipated this, as she pulled a lyric sheet from her special attack uniform pocket: "How about singing this?"

Yuanxing glanced at the lyrics and felt dizzy: "Can this thing really be sung?"

“Sure, singing will really lift your spirits. I was planning to sing it myself, but now that you’re here, I’ll share it with you.”

Although the lyrics were strange, Yuanxing gritted her teeth and decided to sing them with Taoying. The instrument they played was a guitar, and Yuanxing was filled with anxiety until she got on stage, because the lyrics were beyond her imagination.

But as soon as Tao Ying opened her mouth, she let go, and nothing else mattered anymore.

I am clever and quick-witted, pure of heart, beautiful and generous, youthful and lively, unlike you, you old geezer!

[Stupid as a pig, dumb as a goose, a lapdog—I don't find you annoying, but you, crow, spout a whole bunch of nonsense!]

Can you please stop farting? Your farts are so smelly and loud, they could kill a ditch!

Yuanxing didn't even know what she was singing, but she just went for it and sang along with Taoying. She thought it was just too rock and roll!

Chapter 64 What does "sixty-four" mean? Does it mean a lifetime without retirement?

Yuanxing was in a bad mood because Qianchan's capture plan had failed, and she had been completely defeated in her debate with Qianchan, unable to utter a single word in response to Qianchan's words.

I'm so regretful! I really want to use the spirit to reverse time and go back to that time to fight again.

Farstar was in a good mood because the school anniversary celebration was a great success and had a wonderful time. She was one of the biggest contributors to the celebration, having thwarted the demons from the underground laboratory and brought the whole affair to a quiet close. While this kind of thing is very un-magical for a magical girl—magical girls should be glamorous and dazzling, with the spotlight on them—saving everyone unnoticed makes her an unsung hero.

An unsung hero! So cool!

But if I had to say whether I was in a good mood or a bad mood, I'd lean slightly towards a bad mood.

Tao Ying was still very busy. She seemed to be a member of some kind of rose, lily, or rose club, almost like a student council member, except that because the academy was a so-called student self-determination type, she was much busier than the students at her school.

Farstar returned to MoMoMo alone. On the way back, all her good mood was completely worn away, leaving only the frustration of failure and speechless despair. However, this low mood vanished the moment she entered MoMoMo, because she saw Crimson World dressed in a maid outfit!

"Welcome back, Master. Would you like some bitter tea or black coffee? Bitterness can enhance magical power, is it an essential drink for magical girls' training? You can't avoid it, you know?"

Yuanxing rushed over and hugged Hongshi tightly. She never thought she would actually see a maid outfit. After all, if Hongshi didn't want to wear it, there was nothing she could do to force her.

Tears are a weapon; once a worthy target is spotted, they are quickly loaded, and the tears are unleashed like a Gatling gun while sobbing.

Hongshi was stunned for a moment, but couldn't react. He waited until Yuanxing had vented enough before patting him and comforting him, "You don't have to cry like this just because you hate bitterness, do you? No, no, bitter things are bad, we won't drink them."

Yuanxing's tears came and went quickly; in the blink of an eye, she burst into laughter: "Are you teasing a child?"

"To me, you're just a child."

Hong Shi patted Yuan Xing's head, turned around and went behind the bar to make Yuan Xing a chocolate milk: "Drinking something sweet can make you feel better."

"Thank you."

Yuanxing took a sip of chocolate, the rich and mellow cocoa flavor filling her mouth, which calmed her down: "This afternoon, the golden snake told me that it sensed that Senior Qianchan was nearby, so I skipped school to go find her."

Hongshi quickly understood: "Didn't perform well again?"

"Ah!!! I'm so angry!"

Yuanxing screamed, venting her emotions slightly: "She told me she has two paths in front of her, and she wants to choose the difficult one because it will eventually lead to a smooth road, while the easy one will inevitably lead to a dead end. That's utter nonsense! How does she know which path is difficult? And what makes her say the easy one is a dead end and the rugged one is a smooth road? Does she have a GPS? I could also say that the fork in the road eventually leads to a cliff, and the smooth road eventually leads to a fully enclosed highway. The GPS for life should be divination, but she doesn't know divination, so how does she know where the smooth road is and where the cliff is? Besides, how does she know that the difference between the two paths is just a difference in road conditions, or perhaps it's about choosing different difficulty levels—the smooth road being the easy mode and the fork in the road being the difficult mode?"

"I really wish you could show this same way of talking to me to Qianchan, and then what? What did you say back then, Moon Chair (Seven) Neighbor Siqi Umbrella?"

Yuanxing said, "I told her I would go with her, and then she tried to scare me, saying all sorts of nonsense, and even—"

They even spoke ill of Sister Hongshi.

Yuanxing stopped abruptly. She didn't want to talk about that matter, as it could potentially harm Hongshi and Qianchan's relationship. Before she foolishly blurted it out, she realized that she didn't need to relay it completely.

"She even used teleportation to escape! I clearly said that I would use a barrier to trap her to make sure she wouldn't run away, but I completely forgot about it when the time came and didn't use my full strength."

Hongshi suggested, "Then next time, don't let her speak. Just attack her when you see her, beat her to near death first." Hongshi himself also felt that what he just said was problematic, so he added, "What I mean is to knock her unconscious, then imprison her, and slowly try to reason with her. In time, there will definitely be a good result."

Sister Hongshi casually uttered a bunch of terrifying words, and she only thought that the most terrifying word in her words was truly terrifying.

"I found my senior in the research institute, which Aunt Yuehuai used to create demons—"

Although she didn't know what demons were, Crimson World showed obvious annoyance: "Demons? What the hell? Can only magical girls be included? Why are you bringing out all this nonsense again?"

"So that magical girls would have even stronger enemies, and they said many things like ordinary people are NPCs."

"Moon Tree? Wasn't that what An Lian said?"

"Judging from the voice, it's Aunt Yuehuai."

“Even real people can change, let alone voices. The one speaking to you is An Lian. As for Yue Huai, she doesn’t talk much, she usually doesn’t speak, and when she does, she’ll definitely get angry. Of course, the research institute should belong to her. An Lian hacked into the research institute, although we don’t know why, but the one speaking to you is definitely An Lian.”

Senior, I can tell you with absolute certainty now that the smooth path is easy mode, and the wrong path is hard mode. I'll have the answer you're looking for in just a few hours. And it's completely effortless. When I asked Sister Hongshi, she said the difficulty of obtaining it was practically zero.

"Aunt Yuehuai has a photo of her and Sister Hongshi on her desk. Were you two close before? She also said that someone important to her told her that she wanted to be a magical girl for life. Does Sister Hongshi know who that is?"

"No, I didn't get along with any of my former colleagues. What kind of curse is it to be a magical girl for life? It's terrifying just thinking about it."

"That's so unfair! Being a magical girl is supposed to be fun!"

"Where are you happy?"