Su Tianqing sat happily on a warehouse shelf, playing with a Magic Girl-themed doll.
The doll in her hand looked somewhat familiar—its light yellow clothing and hair color resembled one of Nightingale's outfits.
"Hmm... there's even merchandise like this..." Golden Fox murmured to herself.
This was probably a limited edition doll from when Nightingale first debuted?
But this design didn't seem to sell as well as the formal dress she designed for her; look, it's been collecting dust in the warehouse.
After playing with the doll for a while, Golden Fox put it back in the box, recalling some past events.
Lin Muyao, also known as Magic Girl Nightingale, was currently making steady progress.
Even with both her companions displaying the Star Shadow form, she hadn't stopped trying, constantly attempting to improve her abilities, showing a vast improvement from the timid girl Su Tianqing first met.
…Or perhaps this was her true personality, and it was only because her aphasia made her lose the ability to communicate that she appeared so gloomy in the past?
This kind of steady, unyielding effort greatly pleased Ben Hu, even more than her concern for Hua Ling.
After all, Lin Muyao was the Magic Girl she had personally nurtured; both their acquaintance and her resolve to protect directly pointed to herself, making Su Tianqing very reluctant to trouble her.
What's more, she was also the moderator of the live stream, and Su Tianqing had always been enthusiastic towards her fans, and her performance today made her very satisfied:
Su Tianqing's gaze fell upon the magical light screen unfurled before her.
The camera familiar was live-streaming the BOSS battle in the underground garage; the scene was intense, with tracer rounds from magic bullets weaving into a dense pattern.
Hellcat, in her tactical gear, dodged and weaved, using the cover of reinforced concrete pillars, her shoulder-fired automatic rifle providing powerful suppressive fire, magic bullets whistling past Hyacinth's face and body, forcing the latter to only retaliate in the brief lulls of this fierce barrage.
As for Iris… her situation was even worse.
"Bang! Boom! Bang! Boom!"
"Hahahahaha! Hahahahahahaha! Again! Come on!"
"...!"
Terrifying, rhythmic gunshots, each loud boom reverberating through the garage with powerful sound waves, even making Hellcat's ears tremble and her brows furrow.
The source of these loud bangs was the terrifying weapon Cheshire Rabbit was firing from the hip: a KS23 shotgun.
The 23mm barrel unleashed artillery-grade terrifying firepower, shattering the pillars Iris was hiding behind, the girl cowering behind the pillar cover, trembling, unable to even counterattack.
"Crack! Boom!!"
"Oh, oh, oh, Rabbit forced Iris to change cover with a grenade! The sustained firepower of the shotgun is making Iris miserable!"
"Oh? Wait a moment, let's switch the camera to the other side."
Catching a glimpse of a light yellow figure flashing in the corner of her eye, Su Tianqing quickly switched the screen.
Magic Girl Nightingale, she wasn't suppressed by the firepower; she was currently sneaking along the battle line from a dark corner, heading towards the deepest part of the parking lot.
"With Hyacinth and Iris attracting the attention of Cat Cat and Rabbit, choosing to bypass the front line alone to ambush from the rear, an interesting tactic," Su Tianqing commented with a smile.
Nightingale's destination was the location of the barrier node in this underground garage, which, given their current magical power, should be easily dismantled.
Su Tianqing didn't mind her dismantling the barrier node, or rather, having them "dismantle" the barrier was her true objective.
The so-called "bomb barrier" covering the entire Hong Kong City actually didn't exist at all, and the barrier node in this parking lot wasn't left by Su Tianqing herself—
All the barriers were Inari's past works, sealing everything she had left in Hong Kong City, for unknown reasons.
Su Tianqing tried to find the reason Inari left these sealed barriers in the secret codex, but after flipping through it repeatedly, there were no clues, so she could only focus on the task at hand:
"Task: Inari Form"
"Collect exhibits from Inari Memorial Hall, 0/13"
This was the latest task she had received.
Su Tianqing felt that the secret codex had probably been playing some mysterious mobile game recently, which was why it had specifically designed this collection condition.
"Want to unlock a new form for the Xin Yue Magic Wand? I've scattered character fragments throughout Hong Kong City! Go collect them!"
—If the secret codex could speak, Su Tianqing felt it would most likely say something like this.
And if she had to diligently travel all over Hong Kong City by herself to dismantle barriers and retrieve items, it would be too boring; it would be better to make it into a passionate gunfight scene like today's police and gangster movie, and also collect a lot of interesting footage for the Fox Fox movie.
Everyone was having a lot of fun; look at the smile on Rabbit's face, it's truly wholesome.
"Rustle rustle..."
"...I'm in position. Should I engage Nightingale?"
A magical communication came through, and Su Tianqing tilted her head, casually connecting.
The communicator was the newly joined Gray Wolf Girl Fenrir, and Su Tianqing paused, then remembered the task she had assigned her:
To guard the barrier, pretend to block anyone who came, and then deliberately go easy on them to let them pass.
"Act according to the plan. Remember, don't make it too obvious that you're going easy; don't let her find out."
"Awoo... this is too difficult..."
Fenrir said hesitantly, but before she could say anything more, the communication was interrupted by a series of explosions, and Xin Yuehu immediately focused her attention on the main battleground.
"Oh, oh, oh! Rabbit is firing on all cylinders! All grenades thrown! Does she want to completely defeat Iris?!"
"..."
Gray Wolf Girl silently ended the communication, focusing her attention on the dimly lit corner of the parking lot ahead.
Calm down, Fei Yelan, calm down.
"Hiss... exhale..."
The girl took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and tightened her grip on the heavy automatic rifle in her hand.
SCAR-H, a heavy assault rifle.
Fei Yelan wasn't actually very interested in these firearms.
But when she followed Xin Yuehu to raid an underground bunker armory, everyone else in the team was enthusiastically choosing their weapons, and she didn't want to be a spoilsport, so she just went with the flow and picked this rather impressive rifle.
She wondered how she was going to put on a show in front of Nightingale later, a scene where she tried her best but couldn't win...
Should she just pretend to have a gunfight with her for a bit?
But how do you fire this gun! Do you just pull the trigger? Do you need to take off the safety?
"Click!"
A clear footsteps made Fenrir snap back to attention.
Gray Wolf Girl suddenly looked up, meeting the gaze of the light yellow-clad girl who had rushed around the corner.
"Whoa?!"
Nightingale was scared out of her wits, completely unprepared for someone hiding here, and immediately raised her Viktor submachine gun and fired!
A spray of magic bullets flew towards her, and Fenrir, unable to react in time, was hit in the forehead by a bullet, falling backward.
"...Huh? Hey! Are you, are you alright?!"
Seeing the girl in front of her get headshotted and fall, Nightingale's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly went forward to check.
Fenrir stared blankly at the dim ceiling of the parking lot.
It hurt.
Dull pain and sharp pain intertwined into a continuous sensation of pain, coming from various parts of her body where she had been hit by bullets, making the girl's nerves tremble slightly.
Ah...
This, this pain...
So direct, so vivid, so... intoxicating...
Fenrir's lips even curved into a slight smile, and when Nightingale approached with a worried expression, she quickly closed her eyes, feigning unconsciousness.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to hit your head! Are you okay?"
"Hello? Miss Gray Wolf, can you hear me?"
"...She's passed out?"
Nightingale looked around with considerable worry, unsure of what to do, so she simply picked up the assault rifle that had fallen nearby on the ground and continued towards the barrier node.
Leaving the Gray Wolf Girl alone on the ground, savoring the continuous sharp pain.