“Sirius? What are you doing here too?”
“I… just happened to be watching the stage play at the theater. Didn’t expect to see you here as well, Xiaohongmao.”
Xiaohongmao blinked. She clearly remembered Senior Muxingge saying that Sirius wasn’t interested in stage plays, yet here she was after all.
As Xiaohongmao pondered, three or four Puppet Monsters crawled out from behind the stage’s Background Board.
The two immediately assumed battle stances—this was clearly not going to be so simple!
“Don’t worry about me! I can handle these monsters. Sirius, you go help evacuate the crowd. The Safety Exit over there seems to be blocked!”
Xiaoxi could tell these Puppet Monsters weren’t much of a threat. Following Xiaohongmao’s direction, she spotted a large group of people crowding in front of a Safety Passage door.
Panic had robbed them of rational judgment—they were just blindly pushing forward.
Agilely, Xiaoxi vaulted over the railing, found a spot above the crowd, and leapt precisely into the mass. The crushing pressure of the crowd was nearly suffocating.
“Make way… I’m going to check the door.”
Fortunately, Sirius’s current form possessed great strength. Xiaoxi squeezed to the door and grabbed the handle, shaking it back and forth—locked? The theater’s safety measures really were terrible.
Without hesitation, Xiaoxi slammed her fist into the door with enough force to shatter bricks.
As the door flew open, she felt like she was being swept away by a flood, barely managing to keep her footing.
“Slow down— the monsters are far from here. They won’t harm you!”
Xiaoxi tried to maintain order, scanning the Audience area. Unexpectedly, she caught sight of a familiar figure—Ye Xinglan? Why had she come back again?
No, it was too dangerous inside the theater now. She had to get her out quickly!
Meanwhile, the Puppet Monsters were increasing in number inside the theater, not just on the stage but wandering in small groups throughout the venue.
Struggling to move against the crowd flow, Xiaoxi suddenly tripped over something.
At that moment, she felt a sharp shove from behind, instantly losing her balance.
Her eyes widened as she caught a glimpse of an arm tattooed with roses and thorns.
This was bad! Falling in such a densely packed crowd could have disastrous consequences!
……
Elsewhere, Ye Xinglan was searching inside the theater.
That Xiaoxi really was something—she disappeared the moment she ran out of the theater. As for Keke, she had no idea if she had gotten out or not…
Ye Xinglan looked around anxiously. She wasn’t worried about the monsters inside— the Blood Moon Witch naturally exerted a suppressive aura over such creatures.
Besides, the monsters in the theater were low-level. If those two were truly trapped by monsters, she could come to their rescue.
“Miss Ye… the Safety Exit is over there.”
Sirius appeared in front of her, but Ye Xinglan barely glanced at her and silently bypassed her to continue searching.
“I don’t need your help. My girlfriend and her sister aren’t out yet—I need to find them first.”
“That’s not possible, miss. It’s too dangerous inside the theater right now. You should leave first.”
Frowning in irritation, Ye Xinglan faced Sirius once more. Magical girls really did love to ruin her plans.
She almost wanted to drain this useless magical girl dry and toss her aside, to show her who the real threat here was.
As they spoke, Ye Xinglan detected a faint, sweet scent of blood. Looking down, she saw that the annoying magical girl had scraped her knee.
This magical girl’s blood smelled… strangely sweet.
Ye Xinglan licked her lips but chose to ignore Sirius. Starting a fight with the Association’s magical girls here was hardly wise.
The knee injury was from when Xiaoxi had fallen earlier.
At that moment, Xiaoxi had explosively unleashed a strength unbefitting a D-rank Magical Girl, using magic to push away everyone around her, narrowly avoiding being trampled.
D-rank Magical Girl Sirius naturally shouldn’t have displayed such power, but Xiaoxi had no time to care.
Besides, no one would think about whether a D-rank Magical Girl was misusing her abilities under those circumstances.
Ye Xinglan’s words stunned Xiaoxi. She hadn’t expected her to return looking for her. But what good would it do?
She was just an ordinary powerless person coming back to look for her— that was a death wish! Especially since Xiaoxi was standing right in front of her.
“Your companions might just have gotten separated from you. You should get out first. Even if they haven’t left yet, I’ll protect them— I promise you that.”
Ye Xinglan snorted coldly. Two D-rank Magical Girls in the theater were hardly enough to satisfy her appetite. And here they were, talking so arrogantly.
Magical girls really were annoying creatures— unlike their own Xiaoxi, who was cute and spoke nicely…
As they spoke, four or five Puppet Monsters noticed the commotion and surrounded them. Xiaoxi quickly shielded Ye Xinglan behind her.
“Don’t stray too far from me!”
Ye Xinglan wasn’t afraid but gave a helpless smirk. Suddenly, she noticed something on the annoying magical girl’s wrist.
“What’s that…”
Xiaoxi quickly pulled back her hand. She almost forgot she was still wearing the VIP Wristband from the VIP Section.
Fortunately, Ye Xinglan didn’t think much of it and guessed this magical girl must have been watching the stage play earlier, explaining how she arrived so quickly to assist.
That made sense— after all, magical girls probably all enjoyed watching the Eternal Star thrash the Blood Moon Witch’s story.
During a brief lull in the battle, Xiaoxi glanced at the stage. The two or three Puppet Monsters that had appeared earlier had already been dealt with by Xiaohongmao.
Still, something felt off. More monsters kept spawning from various corners. This was strange— there shouldn’t have been so many monsters hidden inside the theater.
Looking at the scattered Puppet Monster fragments, Xiaoxi suddenly realized something. She shouted towards Xiaohongmao on the stage.
“Xiaohongmao, these aren’t the monsters’ true forms— they’re just Monster Spawn! We need to find the real monster!”
Hearing Sirius’s shout from the Audience side, Xiaohongmao froze and also realized the problem—they had defeated so many monsters, yet none had dropped a Monster Cocoon!
There was only one possibility— some monsters used magic to create Spawn. These Spawn wouldn’t drop Monster Cocoons when defeated.
Only by defeating the monster’s true form could the threat be eliminated at its root!
Xiaohongmao’s gaze shifted to the Background Board on the stage.
Now that she thought about it, the first Puppet Monster had indeed emerged from there.