“Rule-based horror story…?”
Hearing Iris utter such an unfamiliar term, the Magic Girls exchanged glances, each speechless.
“What’s that? It sounds rather ominous.” Lǜluó spoke up, asking.
“It’s not necessarily bad. If Xin Yuehu is really playing this game, then it’s actually a good thing for us,” Hyacinth said with certainty.
“After all, it saves us the trouble of investigating her Mindscape World,” Nightingale chimed in.
“In short, Xin Yuehu has set up certain 【rules】 that must be followed within this barrier. If we violate the rules she’s given, something very ominous will happen, and it could even be…”
Mid-sentence, Bai Lili, who was reading the flyer, suddenly froze, seemingly having thought of something terrifying.
“What exactly will happen?” Lǜluó pressed.
Hyacinth and the other two shook their heads in unison.
“We don’t know.”
“The Mindscape World is entirely controlled by Xin Yuehu. She can shape it however she wishes.”
“Every time we’re drawn into a Mindscape World, our first priority is to figure out what traps she’s set inside, and that’s the most difficult part.”
Mai Sui believed this deeply, nodding repeatedly in agreement.
She had been caught in the Magic Rat Adventure last time, and Xin Yuehu’s precise control over the Mindscape World made Mai Sui feel a huge disparity in strength, making her unable to even contemplate direct confrontation.
And this time, her game was in the form of a rule-based horror story…
“Is it really that mysterious?”
Edelweiss was deeply skeptical, especially upon seeing her former teammate Mai Sui’s serious expression, which made her waver slightly.
“In any case, we have too little information right now. Let’s hurry to the next place to investigate.”
Violet spoke up, flicking the zoo flyer in her hand. The panda enclosure’s location was marked with a large, eye-catching fox carrot symbol.
…
The panda enclosure was very spacious. The illusory tourists laughed boisterously around the viewing platform, and the giant pandas leisurely munched on bamboo while perched on toy frames, looking adorable and endearing.
Everyone couldn’t help but peer into the enclosure for a few glances.
“They’re quite cute.”
“It’s my first time seeing a panda.”
One of the more petite members of the Bai Lili Squad said with interest.
Siyecao, that was the codename of this dark green Magic Girl, the youngest member of the team, and a recent recruit.
She loved cute things and was very obedient to herself and the other team members, making her very likable, and Bai Lili herself was no exception.
“Don’t let their cuteness fool you; pandas are actually very strong in combat. Essentially, they’re still bears.”
“Oh… is that so…? Can even Magic Girls not defeat them?”
“Not necessarily, but ordinary people definitely can’t.”
Silent observation.
Hyacinth and her group seemed to have figured out some feasibility in the flyer’s rules. They split into two groups and began searching for clues at the flyer points and promotional directories near the panda enclosure. Bai Lili felt a bit idle at the moment, so she followed her junior and started observing the pandas.
But the more Bai Lili stared at the pandas, the more her eyes felt strained, and she couldn’t help but rub them.
“Captain, are your eyes uncomfortable?”
“Hmm… It’s probably just not being used to the magic concentration in Xin Yuehu’s Mindscape World. I am, after all, a Star Shadow, so I can’t fully blend in like you guys…”
Before she finished speaking, when Bai Lili reopened her eyes, the scene before her made her shiver with revulsion, trembling intensely a few times.
—What color are pandas?
Logically, they’re black and white, right? Plus the red of their mucous membranes, there definitely wouldn’t be any other colors, right?
…Would the color on a panda’s body be dark blue?
Bai Lili immediately pulled out the flyer from her pocket and focused her eyes on the few rules on the back.
【2. Please ensure that the appearance of the animal you are observing matches that on the exhibit board. If it differs from the appearance on the exhibit board, please stop observing the animal and immediately proceed to the nearest toy store to purchase at least one fox carrot pillow.】
Oh no! Just as I feared!
“Si-Siyecao, let’s go quickly. Look, there’s a souvenir shop over there with plush toys. Let’s go check it out.”
Bai Lili quickly cut off all thoughts, patted her junior’s shoulder, and directed her gaze to the souvenir shop not far away. The latter immediately happily moved towards it.
“Hello, Miss Siyecao~”
Standing in the souvenir shop was a smiling clerk, whose clothes were printed with the fox carrot logo. It was clear at a glance that this was a familiar specially arranged here by Xin Yuehu.
“Wow, you can actually talk to me? You’re not an illusion after all.”
Siyecao said in surprise, but she didn’t seem to hold any ill will towards Xin Yuehu, only a slight wariness.
After all, this junior of hers was still a child… Bai Lili thought to herself.
“Yes, I am. Miss Bai Lili is here too. Are you two looking to pick out some souvenirs? We can give you one for free.”
The familiar clerk said with a smile, taking two fox plush toys from the display stand behind her.
The plush toys were very soft and comfortable, and the golden fox design was very appealing. Siyecao immediately happily hugged one to her chest.
“This is so cute! Are you really giving it to me for free?”
“Yes, we hope you two have a pleasant day at Fox Fox Zoo~”
Bai Lili bid farewell to the familiar clerk in a daze, looking at the cute fox plush toy in her hand in a daze, yet she no longer dared to go near the panda enclosure fence to look.
…
“What? You saw a dark blue panda?”
Hyacinth and the other two saw Bai Lili and Siyecao rushing over, and then saw the fox plush toys in Bai Lili and Siyecao’s hands, and immediately understood something.
“Really! I really saw a dark blue panda!” Bai Lili said anxiously.
“A blue panda? But all I saw were black and white ones…” Siyecao interjected, puzzled, but she seemed to realize that something was amiss and began to ponder silently.
Hyacinth couldn’t quite understand what kind of game a rule-based horror story was, but Iris had a serious expression, looking directly at Bai Lili.
“Senior Bai Lili, did you notice anything unusual when you were at the tiger enclosure earlier?”
“No, at most I just… Ah!!”
Before she finished speaking, Bai Lili let out a scream, almost dropping the plush toy in her hand, and hurriedly hugged it tightly.
“I remember now! I just… just saw the white tiger’s eyes, they were… they were odd-colored, yellow and green!”
“Odd-colored… I remember the white tiger’s eyes I saw were red…”
Everyone exchanged glances, their expressions growing more solemn.
“So that’s it, I understand.”
Iris nodded and said,
“Senior Bai Lili, you just saw a white tiger that was different from the one on the exhibit board, and you didn’t go to the store to buy a fox carrot pillow as the rule stated, so you received punishment from some unknown entity.”
“But you can’t keep breaking the rules. What you saw at the tiger enclosure was just an abnormality in the eyes, but by the time you reached the panda enclosure, even the body color was problematic. Who knows what will happen next…”
“Th-th-then what should I do? Am I doomed?!” Bai Lili was scared out of her wits.
First her eyes, then her body color. She probably expected to see a complete Hellcat standing in the animal viewing area, grinning at her next.
It was terrifying!
“Don’t be afraid. Breaking the rules once or twice won’t cause too much trouble. Besides, didn’t the rules say that as long as you hug the fox plush toy tightly, nothing will happen? Don’t worry.”
Nightingale spoke to comfort her.
“What are you all talking about here?”
Suddenly, Mai Sui’s voice rang out. Everyone turned to look at her, only to see her approaching, holding a fox plush toy in her left hand and a tail pillow in her right, with a fox napping hat on her head. She was just short of wearing a Xin Yuehu-themed T-shirt.
“Do you really need to go that far? You haven’t even triggered the rule restrictions yet,” Hyacinth complained.
“Huh? Isn’t this preventing problems before they happen? Besides, these souvenirs are quite cute,” Mai Sui shrugged and said.
Hyacinth sighed, looked around, and suddenly noticed something was amiss.
…Where did Lǜluó and the others go?