“May I ask, teacher, what inspired you to create the protagonist of this novel?”
Muxingge’s question immediately left Xiaoxi speechless. After a long silence, she stood up.
“Sorry, I’d like to chat more, but the signing time has started, and other authors will be coming soon. I really can’t stay…”
Given Muxingge’s personality, Xiaoxi had thought she wouldn’t give up so easily, but unexpectedly, Muxingge only nodded and left.
However, before leaving, she gave Xiaoxi several lingering looks from head to toe.
After watching Muxingge walk away, Xiaoxi breathed a sigh of relief, quickly packed up her things, and grabbed Ye Xinglan’s wrist.
“Xinglan, let’s go quickly!”
Since the signing time had just started, it was fine for Xiaoxi to leave early.
Ye Xinglan didn’t object either; she had already browsed to her satisfaction and bought everything she wanted.
After greeting the Editor, the Editor tilted her head curiously.
“Leaving so soon? Actually, you can stay a bit longer if you want.”
Xiaoxi gave a sheepish smile. “Well… I’m eager to get home and write, so I won’t stay.”
“Good for you, so driven! Go ahead then. By the way, you can take some surrounding merchandise from the booth back with you.”
After thanking the Editor, Xiaoxi immediately pulled Ye Xinglan toward the exit.
Although she didn’t understand why Muxingge didn’t keep pressing, this was the perfect chance to escape.
All Xiaoxi wanted now was to get away as fast as possible.
“How are we going back? Should we wait for the Miss to pick us up?”
“No need to wait. Aluan is still outside today; she didn’t leave.”
Xiaoxi was momentarily surprised. She hadn’t expected the Miss to care so much about Ye Xinglan. That was good, though—they could leave immediately once out.
“But Xiaoxi, I think someone’s following us.”
Even without Ye Xinglan’s reminder, Xiaoxi had felt it. She glanced sideways and saw a music note posted on a nearby booth. Xiaoxi instantly recognized it as Muxingge’s “eye.”
As a former teammate, she was very familiar with Muxingge’s abilities.
The higher the Magical Girl’s rank, the more unique their powers became.
An S-Class Magical Girl like Muxingge had long developed several exclusive abilities.
The floating music notes around Muxingge after transformation were all controllable “scouts,” and Xiaoxi recognized them immediately.
But how did Ye Xinglan sense someone following so quickly?
Xiaoxi frowned. Ye Xinglan was just an ordinary person; she couldn’t detect magical energy fluctuations or understand Muxingge’s abilities. How had she already noticed the tail?
However, the urgent matter now was to shake off Muxingge’s tracking. Xiaoxi pushed the thought aside for the moment.
“What do we do? The Bailing Songstress isn’t easy to deal with.”
“Hm… I have an idea. Xinglan, help me contact Jie Tianxin.”
The two of them quickly took a detour to the restroom, with Ye Xinglan waiting outside.
Not long after, Xiaoxi, now wearing a Mask, emerged from the restroom and grabbed Ye Xinglan’s hand to leave, the music notes still following them.
About ten minutes later, Xiaoxi sneaked into the underground parking lot and looked around carefully. She finally exhaled in relief.
Phew, good thing I’m clever enough. This should be enough to lose Muxingge, right?
For a moment, Xiaoxi felt like a genius for coming up with a Cat Swapping the Crown Prince trick.
After all, she had been wearing a Mask during the signing, and Muxingge didn’t know what she looked like.
Once Muxingge’s attention was drawn to Xinglan and Jie Tianxin, Xiaoxi could confidently take another route home.
Xiaoxi considered this Fake Death Escape tactic a peak of cunning—way more mind-boggling than Zhongli’s Fake Death!
But Xiaoxi didn’t realize Muxingge had already memorized her appearance perfectly.
Just as Xiaoxi couldn’t understand why Sirius was suspected by Muxingge, she had fallen victim to the information gap.
Xiaoxi had never joined The Association, so she was unfamiliar with its systems and didn’t know that Guardians had the authority to access all local Magical Girls’ personal data.
Miss L had intended to tell Xiaoxi this, but that night, Xiaoxi interrupted her before she could. In the end, it was self-inflicted.
Having taken only a few steps, Xiaoxi immediately sensed something was wrong.
The underground parking lot was eerily quiet—so quiet she could clearly hear footsteps behind her.
Xiaoxi glanced back with a grim expression—Muxingge was walking toward her without any attempt to hide, moving swiftly.
Wait, that’s odd! Shouldn’t Muxingge be chasing Ye Xinglan? How did she end up here?
There was no time to hesitate. Seeing that she was discovered, Muxingge stopped pretending and gave chase with a vicious glare.
“Don’t run! You really think I’m that easy to fool? Get over here!”
Only now did Xiaoxi realize that Muxingge must have deliberately let her slip into the parking lot.
The convention hall was crowded and chaotic, but here it was quiet and empty—perfect for Muxingge to deal with her without restraint.
Xiaoxi ran as fast as she could, heart pounding. Muxingge was fast, and Xiaoxi knew she couldn’t outrun her on foot, especially since she had no usable transformation form left.
Escaping as Eternal Star’s other forms or transforming into Sirius would only expose her in front of Muxingge!
Wait, Sirius… that’s right. Muxingge didn’t know she and Sirius were the same person!
After rounding a corner, Muxingge didn’t see Xiaoxi but instead spotted Sirius standing still. Sirius looked surprised upon seeing her.
“Senior Xingge, what a coincidence! You’re here too!”
Muxingge slammed on the brakes and smirked at Xiaoxi’s over-the-top act.
“What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I wasn’t planning to come, but Little Red Riding Hood called me, so I came to keep her company,” Xiaoxi lied, thinking of Xiao Keke, who she’d met earlier at the convention—perfect as an excuse.
“Are you chasing someone, Senior Xingge? You’re so fast! I just saw a girl running that way.”
Xiaoxi casually pointed in a direction. “That girl ran off recently; you should still be able to catch her. I’m going to find Little Red Riding Hood now…”
Muxingge was speechless.
Xiaoxi dropped the lines and started to slip away, but just after brushing past Muxingge, she felt her collar pulled sharply from behind.
“Do you think I’m stupid, Xiaoxi?”
Muxingge leaned in close, her eyes gleaming with a predatory light. Hearing her real name from Muxingge, Xiaoxi froze like a cat caught by the scruff of the neck.
I’m so doomed!
“You know, I wanted to handle this gently. I even thought maybe after getting along with the team better, you’d come to me voluntarily to talk. Now that I think about it, I was really foolish.”
“You writing my little emperor novel—I could let that slide. You signing books at the convention in front of me—I still let that go. You even deliberately wore a Mask of A Xing—I could tolerate that…”
Muxingge counted off the offenses on her fingers while tapping her Physical Holy Sword magic wand on the ground with a sharp “clang clang.”
“But I’ve chased you all the way here, and you still think I’m stupid? Do you think I should let this go?”
“However, I’m not a villain. I’ll give you one chance to answer me satisfactorily.”
Xiaoxi forced a smile full of survival instinct. “Senior Xingge, I’m not doing this on purpose. The signing just happened to overlap with your event… believe me?”
“…Then you might as well think about how you’re going to die.”
Muxingge was about to drag Xiaoxi away. Xiaoxi felt the faint outline of a giant “Death” hovering above her head. She knew too well what Muxingge was capable of when this angry.
She didn’t want to be cut into mince meat!
“Don’t go! Leave her for me!”
An unexpected shout rang out. Ye Xinglan stood a short distance away. Xiaoxi was stunned.
Hadn’t they agreed Ye Xinglan and Jie Tianxin would distract attention and leave by car? Why had she returned?
Ye Xinglan had indeed followed the plan but noticed the music notes trailing them had vanished right after leaving the convention hall.
Realizing something was wrong, she came back, accompanied by Jie Tianxin wearing an Eternal Star Mask.
“Eh, isn’t that Muxingge… and Xiaoxi!”
Jie Tianxin blinked in confusion after removing her Mask. Seeing a famous idol with her friend in such a strange place was hard to process.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Xiaoxi’s girlfriend! You can’t take her—leave her here!”
Ye Xinglan’s stance was fierce, showing no fear of Muxingge. Xiaoxi smiled silently. After all, Ye Xinglan was still publicly claiming to be her girlfriend.
“But your girlfriend writes my little emperor novel. I have to settle that score,” Muxingge smiled kindly. “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on her when I’m done.”
A strange tension crackled between the two, swords drawn without crossing, while Jie Tianxin took a moment longer and suddenly realized something.
“Wait, so Xiaoxi is Teacher Xiaoxiaoxiao?!”
“Oh! That explains everything! I get it now!”
No wonder Ye Xinglan managed to buy all the exclusive convention merchandise, and why she sat right next to Teacher Xiaoxiaoxiao during the signing!
The author she admired had been right beside her all along?
Jie Tianxin’s eyes sparkled as she looked around at the three.
Now she understood the situation—Xiaoxi had been taunting Muxingge face-to-face and was about to be beaten up! She had thought it was nothing serious… but wasn’t it actually a major problem?!