In the dim room, the superior sat on the sofa, his finger, adorned with a golden ring, tapping rhythmically on the tabletop.
“Tap, tap, tap…”
The sound was regular and crisp, like a clock counting down.
As the sunlight shifted with the changing time, piercing through the broken window and casting light on his face, the sound ceased.
Now, the countdown was complete.
“No need to wait,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “Zhang Yan ‘voluntarily’ sacrificed himself to lure away the Tongxia Bureau’s hyenas, handing over the soul-bearing container to you before his death.”
“His death was great, glorious, noble, and at the same time…”, “the most insignificant.”
The man stood up, approaching the three shadowy figures huddled on the ground like obedient wild dogs. “But why?”
“Who among you can tell me?”
“Why?”
“Is there still one person who hasn’t returned?”
“Where did he go?”
Trampling on the shadows, the man suddenly erupted in anger, like a roaring lion, bringing a deep-seated tremor to the cowardly.
“My lost container…”
“WHERE! DID! IT! GO?!”
The roar twisted the man’s handsome features into a distorted mess.
However, no one could answer his question.
The three prostrate figures, upon hearing his furious roar, merely trembled like mice, lowering their heads and remaining silent.
Even their breathing became faint.
“Very well,” the man said, sitting back on the sofa.
“You were merely discards hastily chosen; I never expected any pleasure from you, only that you wouldn’t provoke my anger.”
“But discards are discards. Your worthless lives gained value because of me, and then lost value due to your own inferior nature.”
“Even I, who believed you could do well, have become inferior…”
The veins on his hand bulged as he crushed the wooden tabletop. “If it weren’t for the Arrow of Soul Patrol constantly hunting above, I wouldn’t be able to act freely; otherwise…”
“Hoo…” He took a deep breath to calm himself, then sighed as he looked at the trembling trio. “Go find it.”
“Go bring it back.”
“This is the thorn you bear.”
Upon learning they wouldn’t die for now, the trio also breathed a sigh of relief, but very quickly, the man’s next words plunged them into an ice-cold abyss.
“If you can’t bring it back…”
The man closed his eyes, his voice incredibly heavy. “I will show you the true world of a Transcenders.”
“Just how cruel it is.”
…
Though Mo Bai hated to admit it, he knew that following a girl secretly like this, with her completely unaware, and letting her lead him all the way to her destination—this kind of person, this kind of behavior, was generally called a stalker.
In short, a pervert.
But at the same time, Mo Bai also knew that just as not paying after prostitution isn’t prostitution, following someone halfway and then stopping isn’t stalking.
Aren’t there many such characters in anime? Following a female character for a long time, then at the very end, walking out with a wild laugh, looking at the protagonist’s surprised face and saying, “Didn’t expect that, did you?!”
It perfectly concealed his stalking behavior.
If you get caught stalking, just cover it up with a loud noise!
Mo Bai followed Shen Qiqi into the desolate building. In such a building, abandoned for various reasons, incredibly empty, and completely uninhabited, it was hard for him to conceal his stalking.
So, he planned to get ahead, imitating an anime villain by bursting out with a maniacal laugh.
The result…
“Hehehehehehehehe!!!”
The previously normal Shen Qiqi suddenly let out an incredibly bizarre and sharp laugh, echoing like a ghost throughout the empty building.
Inside the building, Mo Bai could hear all sorts of sounds.
Just as Mo Bai was thinking in shock about how many Soul Palace Elders she ate for a meal, Shen Qiqi, as if on nitrous, sprinted around the corner to where a cardboard box lay.
“Hehehehehehe, what can you do, little kitty? Can you escape from my grasp?”
“No, you can’t!”
“Mwah! Mwah!”
“Hehehehehehehehe!!!”
“Little kitties like you are born to be eaten by mommy!”
“Resistance is futile, hehehehehehe…”
“Mwah! Mwah!”
Watching Shen Qiqi passionately kissing the belly of a tabby cat, Mo Bai looked up in utter shock and checked her components again.
When he saw the purple 【Cat Slave】 component, things suddenly made sense again.
It was no longer strange.
So, he quietly took out his phone and started recording.
“Click.”
A strange, anomalous sound that shouldn’t have reached her ears made Shen Qiqi stop her overly perverted cat-sucking behavior.
She held the cat halfway up, her gaze blank as she looked at Mo Bai behind her. The flash from his phone’s camera was particularly dazzling.
“Yo, hello there,” Mo Bai said, smiling as he shook the phone in his hand. “The Magical Girl who ran away from my house.”
“Ah!!!” Shen Qiqi frantically held up the cat to cover her face. “No pictures! You can’t take pictures!”
“Delete it! Delete it now!”
Having her crazy behavior towards a cute cat seen by someone else was akin to streaking naked in the street for a girl. Under the overwhelming shame, her face was completely red.
“Don’t worry, I’ll blur it for you. It’d be a shame not to upload this material to the ‘Pa La Pa La Bizarre’ section. How about we split the profits 70-30?”
Calmly putting away his phone, Mo Bai walked up to Shen Qiqi, picked up the overly composed tabby cat, and stroked it. “Let’s talk.”
“About Magical Girls and monsters.”
He needed to get a clear answer from Shen Qiqi about that shadowy monster that trespassed into his house yesterday.
If there’s a first time, there will be a second, third, fourth…
His house wasn’t a public restroom where these monsters could come and go as they pleased.
He’d feed them all potato landmines.
“I have nothing to talk about with you,” Shen Qiqi said, her attitude firm. “I am a Magical Girl, a companion of justice, constantly fighting evil monsters and protecting this city.”
“That’s all I can tell you.”
“Don’t come near me again; you’ll become unlucky.”
Mo Bai frowned. “But I was attacked by a monster last night.”
Shen Qiqi blurted out, “Huh? You’re not dead?!”
Mo Bai: “?”
How can you, a companion of justice, curse someone to death?
“Of course, I’m perfectly fine.”
“Then you absolutely cannot have any connection with me!” Shen Qiqi stomped her foot in exasperation. “Monsters have already targeted you, and there will be more. You should quickly distance yourself from me…”
Mo Bai: “…”
Seeing that this self-important high schooler refused to communicate properly with him, Mo Bai sighed and pulled a fruit knife from his pocket.
“Hold on a moment. I ask you, you are a companion of justice, right?”
“You protect the safety of friendly citizens, right?”
Shen Qiqi nodded blankly. “Right.”
“Come, take a look. This is a photo of my sister. She’s very cute, right?”
Shen Qiqi looked at the photo of the beautiful white-haired girl sleeping with a shark pillow and nodded even more blankly. “She is indeed very cute.”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
“Hoo…” Mo Bai took a deep breath. “Then listen carefully. My name is Mo Bai, 21 years old. I live in the villa area northwest of Shimokitazawa. Unmarried. I work at a Maid Cafe. Before bed, I usually drink a cup of warm water and watch two hours of anime. I sleep until midnight, always leaving my fatigue and stress for the next day. Even doctors say I’m abnormal.”
“My mother went out to sea to be a pirate and hasn’t returned. My father died in childbirth. I raised my adorable sister by myself, and I’ve very smoothly and reasonably nurtured her into a sis-con.”
Shen Qiqi was dumbfounded. “What on earth are you talking about?!”
Mo Bai said word by word, “I’m saying that I am undoubtedly a kind, ordinary citizen, working honestly and taking care of my sister honestly.”
“Your justice is supposed to protect people like me.”
“If I die, my sister will be very sad, and something very terrifying will happen, so…”
In front of Shen Qiqi, Mo Bai held the fruit knife to his temple. “If you keep babbling on and don’t say anything useful…”
“I’ll die right in front of you!”
Faced with this scene, Shen Qiqi’s brain completely short-circuited. “Eh?”
“Eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh?!”