"Hua Ling."
"Hm?"
"I've come to understand something. In the continuous process of confronting Xin Yuehu, I've finally understood."
"The more we try to confront Xin Yuehu head-on, the more we fall into her trap, unless... we can surpass Xin Yuehu."
"...Xiaofeng, what exactly are you trying to say?"
"I've decided—to scout ahead!"
The next morning, Nan Xiaofeng, sitting on the way to Suicheng Wild Animal Park, said to the people beside her.
Hua Ling looked deeply at her companion and sighed.
Just last night, her group went to Suicheng Tower to intercept Xin Yuehu's attack. The opponent thoroughly beat up the three of them, and then declared that she would attack Suicheng Wild Animal Park today.
"What do you think she'll do at the animal park?" Nan Xiaofeng asked.
"Kexin, you know a lot about Suicheng Animal Park, don't you? Is there anything special about it?"
Li Kexin, sitting in the front seat, froze for a moment, turned to look at the three in the back row, and shook her head.
"Although I'm a local of Sui City, I've never been to the animal park. Sorry."
"But I heard that this wild animal park in Sui City ranks among the best in the country in terms of scale; the park is super large."
"Is that so..."
Nan Xiaofeng said thoughtfully, her gaze cast out the car window, looking at the distant undulating shallow hills and the several cable cars on the mountains.
Xin Yuehu's movements were always unpredictable.
Sometimes Nan Xiaofeng would have the idea of putting herself in her shoes: If she were Xin Yuehu, as a villainous Magic Girl, where would she primarily attack?
It would probably be mainly densely populated commercial areas, but then the evacuation of personnel would become a problem...
...No, why must a villain evacuate the public? A villain like Xin Yuehu, who specifically evacuates the public, is the abnormal one!
"In any case, our destination for today is the Wild Animal Park!"
Putting aside the distracting thoughts in her mind, as the captain of the Hyacinth Squad, Nan Xiaofeng made today's arrangements.
"We need to scout ahead, set up defenses, and deploy defensive measures in advance where Xin Yuehu might launch an attack, to help with the evening's operation!"
Li Kexin didn't speak, only sighed silently.
"Oh... I say, Xiaofeng."
"Hm? Kexin, do you have a better suggestion?"
"It's not a better suggestion... I mean, why are you so sure that Xin Yuehu will attack the animal park today? What if she doesn't come?"
"But Xin Yuehu made a declaration of battle, and she has always..."
Nan Xiaofeng fell silent after speaking, herself feeling that it wasn't very reliable.
The three looked at each other, speechless. Hua Ling wanted to say something, but then understood the meaning behind her senior's words, which only confused her.
"...Kexin, she has a point."
Lin Muyao, however, spoke her mind directly,
"Xiaofeng, think about it. Although Xin Yuehu has never gone back on her word, we can't put all our bets on this."
"Mm... Mm-hmm..."
The girl pinched her chin, racking her brain, but ultimately found no better method.
"In short, let's just explore the animal park today. If Xin Yuehu changes her mind and goes somewhere else, then it'll just be like we came out to play today!"
...
"Suicheng Wild Animal Park welcomes your arrival."
"Please, all visitors, present your QR codes and tickets in time, and queue orderly for the cable car..."
The animal park was very lively.
It was winter vacation, and a rare sunny day. The surroundings were full of visitors, mostly children, but also groups of adults.
Su Tianqing glanced at the queue for the cable car not far away, then looked towards the two people lying on the viewing platform in the panda area.
The weather in Sui City was very warm today. The Cat Girl, Nan Jiayu, had already changed out of her winter clothes from Rong City. Shorts, plus a pair of fluffy tights and a shirt-knit sweater, was her entire outfit—perhaps also a thin jacket she had taken off temporarily because she felt hot.
Beside her, the Pink-haired Rabbit Girl, Xia Taotao, was dressed as always in a denim overall dress and a pink top, with two braided pigtails, her rabbit ears sticking high out of the hole in her sun hat, as if collecting the sounds made by the pandas.
Beasts visiting a zoo sounds like a strange proposition, but in this world, there was nothing unusual about it: Beasts and beast-people were two completely different species, with no similarities other than appearance. This was what Su Tianqing had concluded after months of reading cutting-edge papers.
Perhaps this was the power of magic, Su Tianqing thought.
"Jia Yu, Tao Tao, what are you two looking at!"
The Golden Fox bounded between the two, and three small heads simultaneously looked at the lush trees in the panda enclosure and the fluffy big creatures.
"I didn't expect to see pandas here too," Xia Taotao whispered.
"Yeah, after seeing so many pandas in Rong City, I feel like they're just... that," Su Tianqing interjected, her fox tail swaying left and right.
Sichuan Province, where Rong City is located, has the largest panda base, and the panda enclosure is a must-have in its zoos, which led the three people from Rong City to lose interest in the panda species altogether.
But the people around them were quite different; children excitedly waved at the pandas, and adults also greeted them or took photos, having a great time.
"Speaking of which, Tianqing, you said we came here to scout ahead and get familiar with the environment, but we can't just be familiarizing ourselves, can we?"
Nan Jiayu suddenly thought of something and spoke up.
The Golden Fox grinned.
"Hehe... Of course, it can't just be familiarization. I have a super awesome grand plan, you know."
After speaking, the Fox Girl quietly pulled out a small, unknown tool from her magic space and, with the help of cognitive concealment, secretly threw it into the grass of the panda enclosure.
"What is that?" Xia Taotao asked curiously.
The small tool quickly merged into the soil and disappeared, without any magical fluctuations, and in the blink of an eye, it was nowhere to be found.
"Oh, that's a clever little fox tool that Ben Hu will use tonight."
"Oh, look, the panda is waving at us."
Su Tianqing looked up and met the gaze of a panda. Whether it was sensing the magic of the three of them or just being in high spirits, the fluffy panda waved its paws a few times towards them, looking exactly like it was greeting them.
The Golden Fox waved her tail and small hands back, attracting many tourists' attention.
Indeed, a cute Fox Fox is cute wherever she goes, Nan Jiayu thought.
While setting up her carefully prepared clever tools in the panda enclosure, Su Tianqing had her familiar check the Magic Girl Compass.
Sure enough, the Hyacinth group was in this park.
Receiving the location guidance from the compass via her familiar, Su Tianqing grinned slightly.
Do they think Ben Hu won't go back on her word, so they plan to come here to stake out early?
What a pity, what a pity... All your actions are being watched by Ben Hu, aren't they? Isn't this just helping Ben Hu's plan?
"Jia Yu, Tao Tao."
"When you think of unusual incidents happening in a zoo, what's the first thing that comes to your mind?" Su Tianqing looked at her companions, who were strolling through the flamingo area, and asked.
The three exchanged glances.
"Unusual incidents... Monster attacks or something? Or animals receiving Star Realm Magic and starting to cause destruction?"
Nan Jiayu's imagination was rather limited, so she honestly said.
Xia Taotao, however, thought for a few seconds and softly replied:
"Speaking of which, I heard about something very interesting a while ago, it was something like... 【Zoo Rules Weird Tales】..."
"Exactly, that's it!"
Su Tianqing immediately gave a thumbs up, wagging her tail in praise.
Nan Jiayu's eyebrows lifted, and her cat tail also perked up, as if she had heard something very interesting.
The three villains immediately put their heads together and began to discuss animatedly.
In the distance, Nan Xiaofeng, sitting on the cable car, suddenly felt a chill down her spine and shivered violently.