Sapphire soon briefed Xu Wenxing on the training precautions and explained the duties required of the Support Staff.
Before leaving, Meteor lowered her head and timidly told the two of them her room number.
After quietly saying they were welcome to visit anytime, she returned to her room to continue studying.
Once Sapphire and the others left, Xu Wenxing’s body immediately relaxed.
He lay back in his chair, took a sip of the warm tea from his cup to moisten his throat, and took the initiative to speak to Lu Ren.
“Brother Ren, did you know? Just now, I felt my heart thumping, my breathing was difficult, my scalp was tingling… I felt like I was falling apart.”
“Oh? Did you fall in love with Meteor at first sight?” Lu Ren asked with a smile.
“Not at all. If it really were love at first sight, that would be great. At least I could savor what it feels like to have my heart race, rather than being as nervous as a child who did something wrong.”
Xu Wenxing waved his hand, dismissing Lu Ren’s theory.
Seeing his response, Lu Ren pondered for a moment before speaking.
“Actually, I’m a bit disappointed in you. When I let you become a Support Staff member with a rank higher than your interview evaluation, I hoped you would work hard and grow rapidly once you got in.”
“After all, the position of Support Staff isn’t just about getting things done. You need to have the ability for systematic thinking. You need to know where the value point of what you’re doing lies…”
Hearing this terrifying workplace jargon, Xu Wenxing immediately raised both hands in surrender and pleaded with Lu Ren.
“Stop, stop! I don’t want to relive that feeling again. I really can’t handle it!”
“You’re giving up already?” Lu Ren curled his lip. “Where’s that bravado from when you were choosing between Sapphire and Meteor? Did you feed it to the dogs?”
“That was the past Xu Wenxing speaking. It has nothing to do with the current Xu Wenxing! Besides, when did I ever say such a thing? Where is the evidence, the recording, the pictures? Don’t slander a Good Person.”
“Just keep playing dumb. You’re truly peerless for being able to completely forget your own words.”
Lu Ren criticized Xu Wenxing while picking up his Mobile Phone to browse the Forum and pass the time.
He didn’t know if the Monster Response Department’s security was just that good, or if Sapphire and the others were intentionally hiding his true identity, or perhaps it was because he had still been in his Blazing Flame state at the time.
In short, even though he had fought in a high-traffic area near the hospital and fallen unconscious, there wasn’t a single picture of his current self on the entire Forum.
This actually surprised him a bit.
However, by contrast, there were far too many pictures of Blazing Flame on the City A Forum right now.
Was it because everyone’s creative passion had increased, or were there just more rich fans?
Why were there so many suggestive pictures of her?
And those were just the ones on the Forum — the kind that were clothed and could pass censorship.
If he logged into certain other websites, he was certain that the racy photos in a different direction would absolutely explode in number.
‘Is this what Pandora meant, that a Magic Girl’s Transformation amplifies the Evil Thoughts and Desires of Ordinary People?’
‘The effect is certainly significant…’
‘But if it really works, why is this optimist in front of me completely unaffected?’
Lu Ren sized up Xu Wenxing suspiciously, trying to find something special about him.
Feeling Lu Ren’s gaze, Xu Wenxing merely looked up with a face full of confusion, met his eyes for a moment, and then went back to watching videos.
No matter how Lu Ren looked at him, he couldn’t see anything different about his Roommate.
It was truly strange.
Unable to figure it out, Lu Ren shook his head, sighed, and temporarily set those thoughts aside.
Information on these matters was still too scarce. No matter how much he thought about it, he wouldn’t find an Answer.
It was better to relax and face it with a calm mind.
Having reached this conclusion, Lu Ren stretched his body and went back to playing on his Mobile Phone.
What Lu Ren didn’t notice was that after Sapphire and Meteor left, Pandora, who had been in the room watching the News, had emerged at some point.
She watched Lu Ren and Xu Wenxing silently, her eyes filled with self-doubt and hesitation.
It was as if she were weighing something important, locked in an internal struggle with her own thoughts.
It wasn’t until Xu Wenxing stood up to boil some Hot Water for Tea that she scurried back into the room to continue watching her News.
……
Time slipped away minute by minute.
In the blink of an eye, night had fallen.
In a detached Villa in northern City A, Shadow Beast 003 sat in the head seat with his hands crossed. Looking at the increasingly empty seats on either side, he spoke slowly.
“Based on my senses and the reports from the Human Official channels, 042 is confirmed dead.”
“Does anyone have anything to say?”
Silence followed.
Even the Purple Dress Girl, who was usually the most active, couldn’t help but shake her head upon hearing the news of 042’s death, feeling a strong sense of regret.
This wasn’t just because a Numbered Shadow Beast in the top fifty had died at the hands of a Magic Girl for the first time, but also because of 042’s unique value.
As an Existence capable of collecting Black Remnant Souls and turning Souls into Shadow Beasts, as long as 042 was alive, they could easily create all sorts of mindless Shadow Beasts to collect negative emotions in the Human World.
But now that 042 was dead, creating more Shadow Beasts would become much more troublesome.
Even the process of converting suitable Humans into new Numbered Shadow Beasts would be several times more complicated.
It was a true pity.
Noticing the dejected mood of the various Numbered Shadow Beasts, 003 chuckled and spoke to break the heavy atmosphere.
“There is no need for concern. Master Night Lord has already notified me that his Day of Resurrection is approaching.”
“In other words, even if we all die at the hands of the Magic Girls, as long as the Night Lord does not perish, we can all meet again in the distant starry sky.”
“Furthermore, it is a good thing that the Magic Girls of City A could kill 042. This proves they are the very Sacrifices needed for the Night Lord’s resurrection.”
Hearing 003 mention the Night Lord, the young man to the side showed a look of endless fanaticism in his eyes.
He stood up, looked at 003 who was shrouded in a black robe, and said excitedly, “Master 003, do you mean that the Night Lord is about to return?!”
“You can understand it that way. The Night Lord has already recovered. He is merely waiting for the right vessel to appear, waiting for the day he sets the entire world ablaze.”
After receiving this confident assurance from the man in the black robe, No. 024 could no longer contain his excitement.
He dropped to one knee toward the other, performing a classical knightly salute, and said solemnly, “In that case! Please let me go and exterminate those three Magic Girls this time! I definitely won’t let you down!”
“Oh? You’re so impatient to stop the spread of the Holy Anthem?”
Just as No. 024 was swearing his loyalty, 009, who was sitting nearby, covered her mouth and giggled, her face full of mockery.
Mocked like this, the young man’s anger flared. He slammed the table and roared at the Purple Dress Girl, “009! I’ve tolerated you for a long time! If it weren’t for the fact that the Night Lord still has a use for you, you would have died countless times already!”
“Is that so? Why do I feel like that sentence applies to you just as well?” The Purple Dress Girl stood up and performed an elegant curtsy toward the man in the black robe. “Master 003, please allow me to duel No. 024, and then I shall carry out this hunt.”
“009! Are you trying to steal this opportunity from me?!”
“Steal? How can it be stealing when it belonged to me in the first place?” the Purple Dress Girl countered.
Watching the two of them look as if they were about to fight, the man in the black robe felt only irritation.
He crossed his arms and spoke in a low voice, interrupting their quarrel.
“Quiet. The candidate for this mission will be personally selected by the Night Lord. I have no authority to assign your actions.”
Upon hearing the name “Night Lord,” the previously fuming young man calmed down instantly, his eyes filled with longing as he looked at 003 sitting in the head seat.
The Purple Dress Girl gave a cold snort and returned to her seat, seemingly having already estimated who the candidate would be.
Seeing that both had quieted down, 003 cleared his throat and asked the girl in the black dress.
“009, how much longer do you need for the ‘Fireworks’ the Night Lord asked you to prepare?”
“Ordinary things like that could have been ignited eight months ago. Do you need me to set them off now?”
“No. What the Night Lord wants are more brilliant Fireworks.” The man in the black robe shook his head. “Tell me, how much longer until these more magnificent ‘Fireworks’ can be ignited?”
“It will probably take another two or three days.”
The Purple Dress Girl frowned slightly, speaking with a hint of displeasure.
She knew very well that the moment she gave this answer, she would be completely excluded from this hunting activity.
Dammit, she also wanted to interact with those three Magic Girls from City A and taste the despair and helplessness on their faces.
Tsk, how annoying!
To think she would have her favorite “food” snatched away by an idiot like No. 024 — could there be anything worse in this world?!
As expected, after the Purple Dress Girl gave her answer, the man in the black robe instantly turned his gaze to No. 024 and spoke slowly.
“No. 024, the Night Lord has already informed me.”
“He said that if the ‘Fireworks’ still require preparation, then let the celebratory songs and bloody battle serve as the beginning, raising the curtain on His resurrection.”
Hearing these precise instructions, the young man was overjoyed and quickly replied, “I thank the Night Lord! As His most loyal believer, I will go all out. I definitely won’t let the Night Lord down!”
“Very good. To have such a loyal believer, the Night Lord will surely be very pleased,” the man in the black robe chuckled and nodded.
“As long as I can be of help to the Night Lord, my loyalty is valuable…”
The young man stopped halfway through his sentence, suddenly realizing something, and asked the man in the black robe tentatively, “Master 003, you just mentioned a bloody battle. Could it be…?”
“Exactly. Just as you suspected. For this mission, No. 013 will accompany you.”
“Master 013 is coming too?!”
The young man cried out in surprise, looking at the middle-aged man who had been silent the entire time, his face full of shock.
The middle-aged man ignored the young man’s reaction.
He simply stood up, gave a slight nod to 003, and replied, “Since it is the Night Lord’s command, I will do my utmost to complete it.”
“I will let those Magic Girls know that only a world of survival of the fittest can give birth to the strongest warriors.”
Seeing the middle-aged man take the initiative to express his loyalty, the man in the black robe subtly sized up No. 013, then silently looked at No. 024.
Finally, he crossed his hands and said calmly, “The Night Lord told me that He does not wish for you to carry out a massacre, yet He hopes you can use your skills to bring Him a sufficient surprise.”
“You can do that, right?”
No. 024 and No. 013 looked at each other, both seeing the irrepressible heat and wild joy in each other’s eyes.
In that instant, they already understood they were thinking of the exact same thing.
So, they gave their answer in unison.
“Of course!”
“Of course!”
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