“Cheers!! Happy New Year!!”
At the dining table, everyone happily clinked their glasses.
Nan Xiaofeng sipped the carbonated drink bubbling in her cup, exhaled a long breath, picked up a piece of meat from the dipping sauce in front of her with her chopsticks, and carefully chewed it.
Su Tianqing was gnawing on a chicken wing, sitting next to Nan Jiayu, who was delicately eating crab sticks, and occasionally passed food to her mouth.
“Jia Yu, ah——”
“Ah wu… Mm, is this cod? It tastes really good.”
“Hehe~ Cod is this restaurant’s signature dish~”
“It’s a little spicy though, I’ll go get some drinks.”
“I want a glass of coconut milk——”
This was a popular hotpot restaurant.
Aurora sat calmly beside the Double-boiled hot pot , watching the genuine Rong City natives in front of her feast on the spicy red broth, while she quietly ate the meat and vegetables in her own bowl.
As for Fei Yelan, the person from Mountain City…
“The taste at this place is really authentic, pretty much the same as what I’ve had in Mountain City,” Gray Wolf Girl said with interest.
“I heard the owner came here from Mountain City to do business, so it really must be authentic,” Lin Muyao across the table chimed in.
Aurora remained silent, simply eating her meal.
【Task Completed】
【Daily Task 1: New Year’s Loafing Time, Completed】
The secret codex thoughtfully deposited the New Year’s reward, allowing Su Tianqing to enjoy the pleasant dinging sound of an Alipay notification even during the happy gathering.
Since it was New Year, Ben Hu decided to let Hyacinth and Qiugui off the hook for now. She would find some fun after everyone had comfortably celebrated the holiday~
And she could fully replenish her cat energy!
The Fox Girl picked up another peeled shrimp for the Cat Girl, thoroughly enjoying the limited-time activity of feeding the cat.
The group sat in the private room of the hotpot restaurant, excitedly discussing Qiugui’s concert today.
“Today’s performance was as wonderful as ever!” Nan Xiaofeng said.
“Yeah, I really loved today’s opening song,” Rabbit Girl Xia Taotao happily interjected. The only topic on which she didn't suffer from social anxiety was discussing Magic Girls.
“Tao Tao Jie likes the opening song too?” Lin Muyao asked, tilting her head.
“Of course! I even collected a complete set of Qiugui and their old-model replica album cassettes and vinyl records!”
“Oh, oh, oh, oh, those are super rare! I remember they were released in a limited edition of ten thousand sets last year, right?”
“I haven’t bought the latest vinyl records, but I did collect a set of affordable cassettes.”
“To collect cassettes and vinyl records… that feels so impressive…” Hua Ling exclaimed with awe in her eyes, facing the fervent Magic Girl fans.
To an uninformed person, this private room was just a New Year’s gathering of student friends.
But to Su Tianqing, who knew both sides well, this gathering of Magic Girls was truly fascinating.
What? You mean Aurora’s forced transformation near evening?
Hmph hmph hmph, Ben Hu had already thought of that. She had already dispelled Aurora’s transformation for the day on the villain’s rooftop before the gathering!
Watching Xia Taotao discuss Magic Girl merchandise collection with Nan Xiaofeng and Lin Muyao, Su Tianqing smiled and ate another hotpot meatball.
For Rabbit, having someone with similar interests to chat with about her hobbies was already enough.
Although Ben Hu could chat with her for a while, in terms of Magic Girl merchandise, Ben Hu's knowledge was severely lacking and couldn't compare to Rabbit’s information-rich state.
And currently, the only people who could really chat with Rabbit were probably the very excited Nan Xiaofeng and Lin Muyao.
All three were avid fans. Rabbit was currently showing them photos of merchandise on her phone.
Although Su Tianqing didn’t know much about the Magic Girl merchandise community, judging by the occasional exclamations from the other two, Rabbit must have shown them some pretty exciting merchandise.
“These, and this one, are limited edition merchandise I bought a long time ago in Shanghai.”
“There’s even Red Rose and Purple Lilac’s…”
“I know this one! Purple Lilac’s limited handmade plastic flower arrangement! Last time I even saw someone selling it on a forum for tens of thousands!”
“Tao Tao Jie, will you sell it?”
“I could never bear to sell it! I got this a long time ago at a Purple Lilac fan meeting!”
“Oh, oh, oh——”
.
It wasn't until everyone had finished eating and left that Nan Xiaofeng reluctantly bid farewell to Xia Taotao.
Sitting on the subway ride home, Nan Xiaofeng said excitedly:
“Jiayu Jie! Tianqing Jie! Are you really classmates with Tao Tao Jie?”
“Of course! And we met outside a merchandise store, you know,” Su Tianqing replied seriously.
“Tao Tao Jie is so amazing! She has so much super cool merchandise!”
Nan Xiaofeng’s excitement was evident.
“If I get the chance, I’d love to see her collection room. What about you, Mu Yao? You must want to go too, right?”
“Needless to say, just the Red Rose debut postcard is already a relic-level treasure,” Lin Muyao nodded in response.
Nan Jiayu sighed helplessly.
Her sister, Xiaofeng, finding a fellow enthusiast for her hobby of collecting merchandise should make her happy as an older sister, but what was this feeling of helplessness?
Was it because she knew about Xia Taotao’s strange condition?
Exchanging glances with the Fox Girl beside her, the Cat and Fox Girls shrugged simultaneously, a wry smile on their faces.
Recalling their companion Xia Taotao, even Su Tianqing found her very tricky to deal with.
First, several people in the villain team were very unique.
Cat was a battle maniac; fighting and combat brought her joy. Doggy hadn't shown what she liked yet, but she seemed to enjoy getting beaten up.
Aurora was interested in everything. After solving the trouble the Ripper brought her, Su Tianqing felt she could let Aurora choose her own fun.
But Rabbit was different.
Rabbit was a very pure person; her joy lay in the Magic Girl itself.
That's right, the Magic Girl itself was Rabbit’s greatest source of joy.
Whether it was her usual appearance, or her appearance when bound by Monster slime tentacles, or her terrified appearance after being defeated on the ground,
All of these could immerse Rabbit, and all of them could make her feel happy.
…
“Well then…”
Later, on the villain's rooftop.
Magic Girl Xinyue Hu stood at the edge of the rooftop, looking down at the city immersed in the New Year's atmosphere, and whispered softly,
“It’s time for us to discuss the issues we are currently facing.”
“First, Alice!”
The Fox Girl turned and looked at the live broadcast lounge behind her.
Alice was sitting on the sofa watching an animation. Hearing Su Tianqing’s voice, she quickly looked up.
Like a startled, nervous cat, Su Tianqing thought.
“Tomorrow we will face the Ripper’s attack again. This time I want to do some experiments, and I hope you can cooperate.”
“It’s coming.” “Fox Fox’s mysterious experiment…” “What will it be like this time?”
The Cat, Rabbit, and Wolf Girls quietly complained.
Su Tianqing herself wasn't very confident.
The last time she did an experiment was at the Rong City bus station, which was when she first met Jia Yu.
At that time, she confidently used actual combat to test the slime Monster’s splitting ability, but she underestimated Hyacinth’s resilience and almost failed on the spot.
“This time it’s different! Don’t worry!”
Golden Fox cried out,
“And I’m doing this experiment to solve that Ripper once and for all!”
“You don’t want to gather every other day and beat up that guy who’s covered in blades, do you?”
“Fox Fox is right, I really don’t have any desire to fight that guy,” even the battle-crazed Cat admitted frankly.
“Alice, I’ll trouble you to cooperate with Fox Fox’s experiment!”
The blonde girl nodded seriously, hugging the plush toy in her arms, her expression solemn and earnest.
“Ah, so, what exactly is the content of the experiment?”
The Fox Girl took a deep breath and said mysteriously,
“Tomorrow night we will meet in the suburbs.”
“——Alice, you, alone, will take down that Ripper.”