Something’s not right. Recently, nine out of ten things about Xiaoxi have seemed off.
Following behind Xiaoxi, Ye Xinglan narrowed her eyes slightly. Lately, whenever she spent time with Xiaoxi, she felt Xiaoxi occasionally acted a little strange.
Clearly, the way the two interacted hadn’t changed from before, but sometimes, when they got close, even the most ordinary and casual movement on her part would make Xiaoxi instinctively flinch away.
Ye Xinglan just couldn’t figure it out.
She even went online to look it up, and found that only people who’ve suffered long-term domestic violence would develop such fear in response to small actions from someone else…
The result nearly made Ye Xinglan smash her phone in anger right then and there.
At worst, sometimes at night she just pushed a little harder… just a little! How could that possibly count as domestic violence? Other than that, when had she ever treated Xiaoxi badly?
Later, Ye Xinglan realized that Xiaoxi seemed to only react to her tentacles, so she paid special attention just now.
Before leaving, when Xiaoxi talked to her, her attitude was the same as usual.
But just as she secretly stretched out a tentacle to help Xiaoxi retrieve her lip balm, Xiaoxi’s hand really did instinctively shrink away!
Why? Normally, Xiaoxi didn’t seem afraid of her at all—why such a big reaction to just her tentacles? Was it guilt from writing too many tentacle-themed stories?
After all, as the saying goes, if you do nothing wrong, you don’t fear ghosts knocking at your door.
At this thought, Ye Xinglan quickened her pace, suddenly darted to Xiaoxi’s side, and shouted “Boo!”
Xiaoxi wasn’t scared at all, and instead, Ye Xinglan herself got a karate chop to the head.
“You’re not a little kid anymore, stop messing around. We’re on a mission today, you know—not just out to play.”
“What! Why do you keep hitting me on the head lately? Domestic violence! I’m going to expose you on Xiaohongshu!”
“Ever heard the saying, ‘Spare the rod, spoil the child’? I’m your Guardian now—can’t I show a little parental authority in front of you?”
Ye Xinglan curled her lip. With Xiaoxi’s height, every time she wanted to karate chop her, she had to fully stretch her arm just to reach Xiaoxi’s head. Authority? What authority?
The two soon arrived at the largest Commercial Plaza on Peony Street to meet Qiuli.
This shopping district was very close to the City Center, and two of the missing persons cases had happened here.
Upon meeting, Qiuli handed each of them a small, flat, round device, motioning for them to hide it under their clothes and wear it close to the body.
“This is The Association’s Locator Device. It can also monitor the wearer’s physical condition at all times. That way, whether you go missing or something else happens, others from The Association can detect it immediately.”
Qiuli paused and added, “I heard these are usually issued to some unstable Monsters for monitoring.”
Xiaoxi snorted coldly to herself. Back then, The Association wanted to install something similar on Ye Xinglan, right?
With this, they’d have no privacy in front of The Association at all. The Association’s desire for control was really something else.
After a simple explanation, Qiuli waved and turned to leave—clearly not at all interested in acting with Xiaoxi and Ye Xinglan.
“Hey, aren’t we in the same group? Why so eager to slack off?” Xiaoxi casually blocked Qiuli’s path.
“At least do a little work before slacking, right? And we helped you out just yesterday—at least come hang out with us for a bit as a formality before you go.”
Qiuli fell silent. The Association’s task for them was just to stroll around normally.
Others would be monitoring these “bait” anyway, so she really didn’t want to act together with anyone else.
“Don’t be so stiff. Since we’re supposed to be pretending to hang out, let’s act the part a bit more. Come on, where should we go first?”
Xiaoxi shot a look at Ye Xinglan. The two of them pinned Qiuli in the middle, one on each side, making it look as if three close friends were out having fun.
Qiuli sighed helplessly, and gave a neutral answer: “Whatever.”
It was just about noon. The three of them went to a restaurant where one of the missing persons cases had happened.
Unexpectedly, Qiuli took the initiative to pull out a Membership Card for that restaurant.
“You actually have a membership here? Sorry, I just thought you weren’t the type who likes going out shopping.”
“I’m not, really. I got this card when Song of Parting dragged me out to have fun. She signed me up for memberships at a bunch of stores, saying it would motivate me to go out more.”
Chatting as they took their seats, the three of them deliberately sat at the spot where the Monster had disappeared.
It was in a corner of the restaurant, with a Surveillance Camera directly above—but that made this very spot a blind spot for the cameras.
At that time, the Monster entered the restaurant at three in the afternoon.
There were very few customers—he was the only one. He walked right under the camera and sat in this blind spot, and then… nothing.
The camera never caught him leaving his seat. There were no other customers who saw him, either. So after he sat down, he just mysteriously vanished from the mall.
Xiaoxi looked around, though honestly there wasn’t much to see—standard tables and chairs, wall decorations, some hanging paintings, bookshelves, and a small mirror. Other than that, nothing.
Even when Xiaoxi secretly tried to sense the area, she couldn’t detect any magical energy. It was hard to imagine how someone could just vanish from here.
“So it sounds like you’re pretty close with [Judgment Scales]. Mind if I ask how you see her? I’m just curious what she’s like around people she’s close to.”
“[Judgment Scales] is a pretty famous Magic Girl, after all. I’m guessing her public persona and private side are really different?”
Xiaoxi circled back to the previous topic. [Judgment Scales] seemed to be widely promoted by the Tianqi Church in Beihua City.
With her S-Class strength, she probably enjoyed public recognition just like Muxingge.
“She’s a very kind person.”
Xiaoxi felt a twinge of regret. Qiuli’s expression was as blank as a white wall—there was nothing to read from her face at all.
“That sounds a little like a polite answer. If I went and asked random people on the street, six or seven out of ten would probably say the same thing, right?”
“That’s because Song of Parting is really true to herself. If she weren’t truly kind… she wouldn’t have befriended someone like me.”
“Oh? Because you used to be the ‘Corpse Collector’ among the Bounty Hunters?”
The moment Xiaoxi said this, the atmosphere—which had been passably peaceful—turned cold. Qiuli looked at her in surprise.
“You investigated me?”
“No, it’s just that other Magic Girls in The Association told me and Xinglan. Plenty of people want to approach Xinglan, you know, and all those Magic Girls who’ve spent time with you have definitely checked your background in private, right?”
Xiaoxi smiled and gave a perfectly reasonable answer.
Actually, she didn’t want to be this blunt, but given Qiuli’s personality, who knew how long it would take to probe gently—might as well just ask directly.