Around 5 PM, inside Miss L’s office.
“Are you saying your teammates are a little afraid of you?”
“Yeah,” Mu Xingge sighed, “L, I think I’m pretty approachable, right? After all, I’m an idol. It’s not like I’d scare people that much.”
Miss L suddenly felt like laughing. It was understandable that Little Red Riding Hood, this rookie, was a bit scared of Mu Xingge. But what was there to be afraid of? She hadn’t done anything to upset Mu Xingge.
Maybe she was deliberately acting that way after being reminded by herself. Unexpectedly, A Xing actually had some talent for acting. If she’d known earlier, she might have sent her to debut trials.
On the other side, Xia Keke was still working out intensely in the Association’s gym when she heard a notification and picked up her phone. It was a friend request from Sirius.
Sirius had said in the morning that she forgot her account password and would add her and senior Mu Xingge once she got back. But now, she only just added them.
Curious, Xia Keke browsed through Sirius’s profile but found it completely empty—nothing at all.
Of course, Xia Keke didn’t know this account was hastily purchased by Xiao Xi after returning home. She specifically bought a QQ account with a high level so no one would suspect anything.
Speaking of which, her teammate called Sirius was pretty mysterious. It seemed like no one had ever seen her true appearance outside of her transformed state.
The Association allowed magical girls to hide their identities in front of unnecessary personnel as a form of protection. Not everyone, like Mu Xingge, used their real names online.
Xia Keke also preferred to keep her identity hidden, mainly worried about her older sister and mother finding out someday.
Oh, and one more thing…
Xia Keke suddenly remembered that when they talked about Xiao Huangwen in the morning, Sirius seemed just as nervous as she was.
She was nervous because of her sister. So why did Sirius look just as uneasy?
While Xia Keke was pondering, her phone buzzed again. This time, it was a message from Miss L.
Minister L: “@All members, recent daily patrols will change from two teams to three. It’s a special period lately, thank you all for your hard work.”
Increasing patrol strength? Xia Keke was stunned for a moment, then realized it was probably because of the Wild Wolf Gang incident. To prevent similar monster attacks from happening again, they must have made this arrangement.
Three days later, West Avenue in Xianghai City.
The long street was in chaos. A gigantic monster resembling a scorpion charged straight at Little Red Riding Hood, who stood in its way.
This time, Little Red Riding Hood was no longer panicked like the first time she encountered a monster. The standard-issue magic wand in her hand flickered with light, conjuring a magical barrier that blocked the two huge pincers’ strikes.
However, she overlooked the scorpion-like monster’s twitching tail. Taking advantage of the moment when Little Red Riding Hood was immobilized maintaining the barrier, the scorpion tail stealthily struck at her unprotected back!
“Watch your back!”
At the critical moment, Xiao Xi, who was escorting civilians to safety, finally arrived. Like an arrow released from a bow, she rushed forward and narrowly blocked the attack aimed at Little Red Riding Hood, quickly pulling her out of the monster’s reach.
The next second, a beam of magic light shaped like musical notes descended from the sky, piercing the monster. Mu Xingge slowly landed from midair, and after confirming the monster’s defeat, she sent a comm to Miss L.
“All five monster locations have been completely eliminated. The crisis is over.”
It turned out Miss L’s guess was correct. Even though the Association had already dismantled the Wild Wolf Gang, monster attacks still recurred.
But unlike last time, there were only five attack points this time, and these points were far apart, with all monsters at high levels!
The eight monsters last time were mostly D-level or barely C-level grunts. This time, three of the five attack locations hosted B-level monsters, and the other two had C-level monsters, both at C+ standards.
That was why Mu Xingge didn’t act alongside her two teammates this time. Being the only S-level magical girl in Xianghai City, she rushed to three places one after another and swiftly eliminated the monsters, preventing the situation from spiraling out of control.
Arranging five distant attack points, all high-level monsters, seemed like a deliberate test of Xianghai City’s defense limits.
Xiao Xi frowned. She knew Mu Xingge was strong enough to handle all the monsters alone, but having monsters scattered in different locations was troublesome. Even if all magical girls in Xianghai City were deployed, there was a limit to how many places could be handled simultaneously.
“Are you two okay?”
While Xiao Xi was thinking, Mu Xingge was already walking toward them. Little Red Riding Hood shook her head, still shaken.
“I’m fine, thanks to Sirius saving me just now… Ah, your arm is injured!”
Little Red Riding Hood let out a small cry. Only then did Xiao Xi notice the scratch on her arm from the scorpion monster’s tail earlier.
“I’ll take you to get it treated. Sorry, it’s all because you protected me…”
Little Red Riding Hood felt guilty. Although she and Sirius were both D-level rookie magical girls, in every fight it was always the other party protecting her.
“No need, it’s just a small wound,” Xiao Xi forced a smile, “I have something urgent to deal with…”
“Getting hurt fighting monsters isn’t a small matter,” Mu Xingge said seriously, “If the wound gets infected with magic power, it could lead to Mana Syndrome.”
“I know, senior. I… I’ll take care of it properly when I get back! But right now, I have something urgent, so I really have to go.”
Xiao Xi was indeed in a rush… because she was almost late for work.
What kind of β monster is this? Always shows up at the worst time, right when she’s about to go to work! Worried about Xia Keke too, she bit back her anxiety and rushed off to the site to deal with the monster.
The West Avenue where the monster appeared was quite far from her workplace. If she delayed any longer, she would definitely be late today.
“I’m off! Sorry for leaving the rest to you!”
Xiao Xi didn’t give Little Red Riding Hood a chance to stop her, leaving with those words at lightning speed. As for the injury? She didn’t care about such a minor wound at all.
She had been injured many times before in battles. In her eyes, this kind of small scratch wasn’t even an injury. She might as well get hurt worse just from a casual fight with the Blood Moon Witch.
Normally, Xiao Xi wouldn’t get hurt fighting monsters at this level. But to avoid revealing her identity, she had to fight this C-level monster with D-level magical girl strength, which is why she got hurt protecting Little Red Riding Hood just now.
As for mana infection? That was nonsense.
If the Eternal Star herself could get mana infection from a C-level monster, she might as well quit. Besides, she already had Mana Syndrome!
Moreover, if it weren’t for Mana Syndrome, Xiao Xi didn’t think she’d have had the chance to find a job that only girls could get—as a maid service worker.