“I don’t have the ability to guess a sect’s techniques from just one or two moves. This isn’t a wuxia novel, and besides, I’m just a desk worker in terms of numbers.”
Miss L shrugged, while Muxingge kept squinting at her.
What Miss L said made sense, but they had been teammates for so many years that Muxingge could see the shadow of A Xing in Xiaohongmao’s fighting style.
She simply didn’t believe Miss L couldn’t see it too!
Xiaoxi never expected that such a tiny detail would reveal she was the one training Xiaohongmao. But honestly, there was no way around it.
Although Xiaoxi’s original intention was to use harsh training and belittling to discourage Xiao Keke, the official reason was still instruction.
She had to teach her something, more or less… Otherwise, she couldn’t just be torturing Xiao Keke, right?
“Enough about that. Don’t you think Xiaohongmao’s progress has been a bit too fast? Our Association’s regular training courses shouldn’t be this effective, right?”
“Maybe she’s just got a high aptitude? And Xiaohongmao is really hardworking. You know how many hours she spends in the training room every day.”
Seeing that Miss L was determined to dodge the issue, Muxingge couldn’t help but laugh in frustration.
“Fine, fine. Let’s put that aside for now. What about Sirius’s performance on the last Black Market mission? How do you explain that?”
“The monsters she and Xiaohongmao defeated back then weren’t just D-level strength, right? Did you deliberately list them as D-level in the investigation report to hide Sirius’s true power?”
Miss L rubbed her temples. She originally thought that getting A Xing to help would be a good deal… but she didn’t expect that helping to cover up A Xing’s identity would be such a headache.
“I want to see Sirius’s personal file. I’m a Guardian of the Magic Girl Association of Xiahai City, so logically, I have the right to review every Magic Girl’s personal file in Xiahai City!”
“Your excuse before was that Sirius’s file hadn’t been transferred over from North Blossom City yet. It’s been a while, so it should have arrived by now, right?”
Each city’s Association branch had a Magic Girl stationed as its Guardian.
The Guardian couldn’t leave the city at will and had to rush to the scene during major monster disasters.
This position was usually assigned to the branch’s strongest fighter.
That’s why Muxingge, a famous idol, couldn’t often perform or attend events in other cities.
The last time Black Rose had Scar-Eye stall Muxingge was for this very reason.
An A-level monster disaster happened in Xiahai City, yet the Bailing Songstress, who was supposed to be the Guardian, didn’t arrive in time.
The Magic Girl Association of Xiahai City took a lot of flak for that.
Seeing Muxingge even pull out the Guardian title, Miss L knew she couldn’t brush her off with a few words this time.
Muxingge was staring intently at the filing cabinet behind Miss L, clearly doubting she could produce Sirius’s file.
Miss L remained unfazed and pulled out Xiaoxi’s file. After Muxingge had asked for Sirius’s file last time, she had prepared a backup.
Xiaoxi wasn’t formally registered with the Association, but for Miss L, “forging” a genuine personal file wasn’t difficult.
Xiaoxi didn’t mind either — after all, if you’re going to put on a show, you might as well make it convincing.
Although this meant Xiaoxi’s personal information would be revealed to Muxingge, Miss L figured it didn’t matter.
Muxingge just wanted to see Sirius’s file; she wouldn’t connect Xiaoxi with Eternal Star for no reason.
Muxingge took the file and skimmed through it, finding nothing unusual. But when she saw Xiaoxi’s real name and photo, her eyes narrowed.
“Xiaoxi? I recognize this person.”
Miss L recalled that when investigating the Nightingale Café, Xiaoxi had unfortunately been taken to the Association for questioning.
But that was just a misunderstanding. She didn’t think Muxingge would remember Xiaoxi.
Of course, Miss L didn’t know why Muxingge had such a strong impression of Xiaoxi. Xiaoxi had never dared tell Miss L the truth before because of pride, so now she was reaping what she sowed.
“So it’s her…”
Muxingge muttered. It was because she suspected Xiaoxi was writing fanfiction about her that she asked Xiaoxi to come back for questioning. She never expected Xiaoxi to actually be Sirius.
Suddenly, Muxingge remembered the first mission she had done with Sirius. She had seen a fan group for her own fanfiction on Sirius’s phone.
At the time, Sirius had explained, and Muxingge hadn’t paid much attention. But now… some things were starting to make sense.
However, Muxingge kept quiet. She hadn’t expected such a surprise today. After a few more glances, she handed back Sirius’s file.
“Alright, seems there’s no problem.”
Muxingge turned to leave, already planning her next move. As she opened the office door, her eyes met Xiaoxi’s, who was about to knock.
“Good day, Senior Xingge. Minister L wants to see me.”
Muxingge stared at Xiaoxi, showing no intention of stepping aside.
“Um… Senior Xingge?”
“It’s fine. You did well on today’s evaluation test. Keep it up.”
Muxingge patted Xiaoxi’s shoulder and gave a sweet smile. When it came to managing expressions, an idol was in a league of her own. Xiaoxi couldn’t detect a single hint behind Muxingge’s smile.
As the office door closed, Muxingge’s smile vanished instantly.
She suddenly felt like she was failing as a team captain—after all this time, she hadn’t taken the chance to get to know her teammates better.
Looks like she needed to find an opportunity to have a proper talk with them.
Behind the door, Miss L was about to mention that Muxingge had just looked at the files when Xiaoxi cut in.
“I’ll say it again. I will not join the Association as Eternal Star. You don’t have to bring this up again, Miss L.”
Xiaoxi’s tone was serious and direct, clearly guessing what Miss L had in mind. Seeing this, Miss L could only get to the point.
“I’m not asking you to officially join the Association. All you have to do is make a public appearance as Eternal Star, pretend to join the Association for show.”
“You know how much the recent Blood Moon Witch prison break news has shaken the Association’s reputation. I really have no other choice.”
“Isn’t that the Association’s own fault?” Xiaoxi interrupted. “I warned them from the start about the drawbacks of training Magic Girls this way. Where was the leadership back then?”
“We have different principles. Now that something’s happened, the Association wants me to clean up the mess? No way.”
Xiaoxi refused bluntly. The Association obviously cared deeply about public approval—that was basically their lifeline now. But very few knew this little secret.
Xiaoxi knew the Association wanted to use news like “Eternal Star making a comeback and joining the Association” to suppress the recent negative reports.
But she was firmly against helping. In her eyes, the Association had only brought this on themselves.
Miss L raised her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, that’s the end of it. I’m just the messenger. If you won’t agree, then fine. Let those above deal with it.”
“But I have a personal favor—come with me to the Black Market tonight to meet an old friend. She’s more likely to listen with you around.”
Xiaoxi was stunned. An old friend in the Black Market… she immediately knew who Miss L meant.
She hadn’t expected that person to still dare to operate there. Looks like she hadn’t been beaten hard enough back then.
Xiaoxi didn’t mind helping Miss L, but thinking about how her writing time tonight would be cut short again, she couldn’t help but feel annoyed.
“Feels like you’ve learned how to exploit people ever since joining the Association… just this once! After the Divine Summon Order stuff is done, I won’t work for free again!”
With that, Xiaoxi slammed the door and left in a huff. Only then did Miss L realize she hadn’t told Xiaoxi about Muxingge looking at the files.
Well… Muxingge probably wouldn’t connect Xiaoxi with Eternal Star anyway, so whether or not she told Xiaoxi didn’t really matter.