Back when Xiaoxi disappeared without a word, Muxingge held back her frustration.
She knew A Xing’s ideals clashed with those of the Association; maybe she just wanted to live a life of her own, in seclusion.
When Muxingge found out Xiaoxi was secretly guiding Xiaohongmao without even telling her, the team captain, she still kept quiet.
Perhaps A Xing didn’t want any connection to the Association, which was why she hadn’t even told an old teammate like her.
But when she discovered Xiaoxi was secretly gossiping about her behind her back… Screw holding back!
Was she being too kind? They hadn’t seen each other for years, had she forgotten what kind of temper Muxingge had?
Xiaoxi clearly hadn’t forgotten, because when Muxingge grabbed her by the shoulders, Xiaoxi immediately became cautious.
“Long time no see, Xingge. You’ve gotten even prettier after all this time… So, um, maybe calm down and hear me out first?”
Although Xiaoxi often met with Muxingge in her [Magic Girl Sirius] persona, from Muxingge’s perspective this was a reunion after a long time, so Xiaoxi put on a surprised expression.
“Cut the flattery. Tell me, did you write that ‘Little Emperor Wen’ thing or not?”
“…What? What are you talking about, Xingge? I don’t understand.”
Faced with Muxingge’s deadpan and direct questioning, Xiaoxi was startled—she hadn’t expected Muxingge to already suspect her… Isn’t this just the kind of deep understanding old teammates share?
“Fine, if you say it’s not you, then it’s not,” Muxingge patted Xiaoxi’s shoulder. “I’m not good at interrogations; A Xing, you know how I am.”
“After I finish my patrol, I’ll ask you again. If you can still keep that answer, then I’ll believe you.”
Muxingge flashed an idol-worthy sweet smile: “…Besides, didn’t you say you don’t like that I’m weak? Great, I really like how straightforward and honest you are.”
“No, I didn’t say bad things about you behind your back, Xingge. Please, just let me explain—”
Xiaoxi babbled excuses, but her feet already sought the perfect moment to bolt! She had zero intention of continuing the conversation.
Xiaoxi knew Muxingge’s temper all too well. During the chaos back then, whenever they caught monsters needing interrogation, Muxingge rarely wasted time arguing.
Her method was simple: ask a question once, no matter the answer, repeat it. If after several rounds the answer stayed the same, it was probably true.
This trick often worked wonders—who else interrogates like that?
Normally, those telling the truth would cry foul or complain when being punished, while liars wouldn’t last long before confessing, then wonder where their acting fell short.
Xiaoxi could tell Muxingge was in a red-hot temper. To avoid getting her skull hammered into the ground with a Magical Wand, running away was the best strategy, not explaining.
Mid-air, Xiaoxi shifted form—from [Venus] to the more agile [Morning Star].
But Muxingge wasn’t to be underestimated. She swung her wand, launching a volley of floating musical notes at Xiaoxi, covering a wide area with firepower.
In an instant, they clashed. Xiaohongmao, watching from nearby, had never seen such a spectacle and reluctantly kept her distance, shielding herself with a magic barrier.
Even the magical energy waves from their fight pressed heavily on her. So this was the true power of an S-Rank Magical Girl?
Xiaohongmao’s eyes widened. She’d been on missions with Muxingge before, and though Muxingge was always powerful and composed, it had never been this… terrifying.
If they weren’t inside a Magic Barrier, such a commotion would have attracted everyone in the park.
“Don’t run! Stop right there!”
Xiaoxi swung her Knight’s Longsword, cutting through the barrier and escaping, with Muxingge hot on her heels, wand in hand.
Xiaohongmao swallowed nervously. Since yesterday, she’d been excited about her progress, but now she had sobered up.
In this time, the senior had crushed her strength countless times in combat.
Seeing Xiaoxi cleave the barrier like that, Xiaohongmao couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if the senior fought her full out.
The alarm clock ringing snapped Xiaohongmao out of her thoughts. If she stayed dazed any longer, she’d be late for work!
…
Twenty minutes later, above the outskirts of Summersea City, Xiaoxi and Muxingge hovered in the air, panting.
Muxingge glared at Xiaoxi, who hovered some distance away.
They had chased each other nearly out of the city, but Xiaoxi was determined not to fight.
With both being S-Rank Magical Girls and evenly matched, if one was only trying to escape, the other couldn’t really give chase.
“Stop, stop chasing, Xingge. If you keep going, you’ll be late for work, right?”
“You actually know the Association’s schedule? Didn’t you say you wanted nothing to do with the Association?”
“Well… Xiaohongmao told me. Also, it was Miss L who asked me to train, not my idea, Xingge.”
Xiaoxi huffed, effortlessly shifting the blame onto Miss L.
Muxingge glanced at Xiaoxi, who was about a hundred meters away. Chasing further seemed pointless, but she still wasn’t ready to give up.
“Are you sure that ‘Little Emperor Wen’ isn’t yours?”
“Really not! I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Xiaoxi immediately denied it, knowing the best tactic against Muxingge’s interrogations was to stubbornly stick to one answer.
“Fine then. There’s someone else more suspicious anyway. I’ll trust you this once.”
Muxingge pouted, and Xiaoxi finally relaxed. Although she felt a bit guilty about the other person under suspicion, it seemed she had cleared herself this time.
What Xiaoxi didn’t know was that Muxingge’s other suspect was actually her too—jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
Muxingge also didn’t realize both suspects were the same person. From a certain angle, her intuition was actually pretty accurate.
“Even if you don’t like the Association, you don’t have to play disappearing act. At least check in with us once in a while.”
Muxingge snorted coldly. “Let’s go, you really will be late. You live in Summersea City, right? Next time I invite you out, if you dare refuse, you’re dead.”
With that, Muxingge turned and flew quickly toward the Association.
Xiaoxi waited patiently until Muxingge was completely out of sight before flying off herself… obviously, she was also running late!
When Magic Girl Sirius rushed into the Association, Muxingge had just arrived. Both of them were late today.
L Miss froze for a moment upon seeing Xiaoxi enter her office, then laughed.
“How interesting. I’ve never seen you two late before. I was going to find you both today, and you show up late together—I almost thought you were deliberately giving me attitude.”
“Sorry, ran into a sneaky rat on the way,” Muxingge explained coldly. “Chasing it wasted some time.”
She glanced back at Xiaoxi. She had never seen Sirius late before, but now they were late together—it was quite a coincidence.
“My phone died and the alarm didn’t go off. Sorry, Chief. Won’t happen again…” Xiaoxi offered the classic university excuse, shooting a look at Miss L to stop her from continuing.
“Ahem… Let’s get to business,” Miss L quickly changed the topic. “The higher-ups assigned a new member to your team, but you two were late for your first official meeting.”
Usually, a team in the Association had three to six Magical Girls, covering a broad range of attributes and abilities. Muxingge’s squad only had three now, so adding a newcomer made sense.
Before long, the newcomer was summoned to the office by Miss Shan. Xiaoxi’s eyes widened in surprise—it was none other than the Magic Girl Shandie, the one who had appeared during a recent test and whom her own sister had met.
Muxingge raised her eyebrows. Shandie also appeared in her transformed state.
What was up with these team members being so strict about hiding their true identities?
Right now, Muxingge was the only one not in transformation mode!
Still, Magical Girls had the right to conceal their identities.
Muxingge was just keeping her guard up, planning to use her Guardian privileges to check Shandie’s information when she had time.
“Shandie is a newly awakened Magic Girl from a recent Monster Attack Case,” Miss L explained. “She just joined the Association a few days ago. Since your team is short-handed, she was assigned here.”
After brief introductions, Xiaoxi didn’t think much of it. She noticed Shandie’s cold attitude, as if she had little interest in making new teammates.
The warmest one was Muxingge. After greetings, she suddenly suggested taking advantage of the new member joining to go out together during the next break.
“We’re teammates, so it’s only right to get to know each other better. What do you all think?”
Muxingge smiled sweetly, seemingly addressing everyone, but her eyes never left Xiaoxi.
She was clearly using this chance to bond with Magic Girl Sirius.
Xiaoxi felt conflicted. She naturally didn’t want to go—mostly because she didn’t want to interact too much with her former teammates and sister while in the Sirius identity.
Originally, Xiaoxi thought helping Miss Shan would only last a week or two.
That was why she had fabricated a story about transferring from Beihua City to Summersea City—so she could use returning as an excuse to disappear once done.
But now she was almost used to clocking in every morning at the Association and joining patrols!
Still, Xiaoxi was too shy to bring up her refusal first. She secretly watched the other two’s expressions. Shandie frowned, clearly reluctant to participate in socializing.
Xiaoxi’s heart lifted. If Shandie refused first, she could quickly chime in with a +1.
Bored—this was the first thought flashing through Shandie’s mind. She looked down on Magical Girls and had no interest in making friends with them.
If it weren’t for Black Rose telling her this was an unavoidable part of the plan, she wouldn’t even bother showing up.
However, Black Rose had asked her to gather information inside the Association as much as possible. Going out together was a good chance to spy.
After some inner struggle, Shandie sighed. “I have no objections.”
“Me neither! We’ve never really gone out for team-building,” Xiaohongmao said readily.
“Sirius, how about you?”
Muxingge smiled at Xiaoxi, her eyes probing.
“I… have no problem. If everyone else goes, I’ll go too.”
Xiaoxi lowered her head in resignation. She had expected Shandie to refuse, but being the only one to say no would be awkward. No choice.
Among the four, the most excited about this team-building was Muxingge……
Now that A Xing had so clearly stated that she didn’t write the ‘Little Emperor Wen’ thing this morning, Muxingge was very curious whether Sirius was also innocent.
Just before breaking up, Shandie suddenly noticed Xiaoxi staring at her… Did this Magic Girl suspect something?
Shandie recalled Black Rose’s special warning that this Magic Girl called Sirius was “very interesting,” making her a bit more wary.
But Xiaoxi was actually just looking at Shandie’s hair.
She remembered the faint flash of neon blue she had seen in the Black Market—that hair color really did stand out.
…
At Xiaoxi’s home.
Ye Xinglan wasn’t slouched on the sofa scrolling through her phone as usual.
Instead, she sat properly, hugging her knees, wearing the expression of a child who’d done something wrong.
In front of her, Mo Lan’er paced anxiously, making Ye Xinglan’s eyes dizzy.
“Miss, are you sure? You really like that guy?”
“There’s no fake about it… Ah Lan, don’t make me say it again. It’s embarrassing, okay?”
“But that guy is a Magic Girl!”
“I know, I… can ignore that. She’s not [Eternal Star], and not all Magical Girls are as hateful as [Eternal Star]…”
Mo Lan’er was clearly stunned. After a long pause, she covered her face and let out a wail that was part sobbing, part breakdown.
One month! She’d only been forced apart from Ye Xinglan for one month! How did her Miss suddenly turn into a lovesick fool?
Those were Magical Girls! Miss used to hate them the most! What kind of spell had that bastard Xiaoxi cast to make her so obsessed?
Mo Lan’er knew how low boundaries could drop once breached. If Miss could accept Magical Girls today, maybe tomorrow she’d accept Eternal Star too. But with Miss’s special status, others might not accept her.
Maybe she should find a way to engineer an accident and get rid of that Xiaoxi… Mo Lan’er’s murderous thoughts quietly took root in her heart.
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