Yes, I did all of this!

"Leviathan—that's really well thought out."

“Your strength is already quite formidable, so I have to be careful, lest I provoke you into unleashing your full power.”

"Yes, yes, yes~" Cang Yuan tilted his head, completely ignoring it: "Whatever your reason is, as long as you protected those people, that's enough. Good luck."

"I'm no great hero..." Duanmu Mo found it amusing and casually tossed away the branch he had been poking at the strange man.

"Forget it, whatever you think. But don't worry too much about their lives. People who can accumulate so much negative emotion in a short time and explode into monsters are mostly dark-hearted. I've also investigated this person thoroughly, and legally, he'll be sentenced to life imprisonment. Most of the people who might become monsters later are this type, so if you can't get over it even a little bit, just consider them as deserving of it."

"...If it were Yuzhi or Yin, they would definitely refute your statement." Cangyuan muttered, "They would most likely say something like 'weirdos have no right to judge humans'."

Duanmu Mo raised an eyebrow and asked, "You don't like what they said?"

"I didn't say that~" Cang Yuan replied with a smile, "And you? Have I even uttered a single complaint? Have I been so protective of them?"

"...How come you've become so clever? Huh?"

Duanmu Mo was speechless, then reached out and scratched Cangyuan's head, trying to mess up her hair.

Cang Yuan laughed and dodged, and the two started playfully fighting, completely ignoring the strange man who was growling and struggling nearby, creating a bizarre yet harmonious scene.

Chapter 913: Communications

After playing around for a while, Duanmu Mo stopped. Cang Yuan's smooth hair became messy and disheveled, as if he had been sleeping in an unseemly position for a long time, making him look much cuter.

"Hmm...you really don't hold back."

Cang Yuan shook his head, and without even needing to comb it, his hair fell down smoothly again, its natural texture smoother than any advertisement could describe.

Such smooth hair is why Duanmu Mo always likes to play with it.

Even so, Cang Yuan was still worried. He combed his hair with his fingers again and looked at Duanmu Mo, saying:

"—So, you were ready? Before sealing the monster here, you must have been prepared to fight us magical girls in the open, right?"

"Prepare?" Duanmu Mo smiled. "You're the ones who should be preparing, right? It's just that if the monster breaks free from this tree, the ordinary people inside will never be able to turn back. After all, he needs my card to keep him alive."

If the magical girls were to intervene now, the issue wouldn't be how to rescue them from the tree, but rather that the ordinary people among the monsters are already dependent on the soothing power of Leviathan.

Once separated, the ordinary people among the monsters will become completely corrupted and irreversibly turned into monsters, something the magical girls do not want to see.

"Isn't this a bit too much?" Cang Yuan asked, tilting his head.

"There's no other way. The magical girls' strength has increased significantly. If we don't use such an extreme method, they will probably be able to break through it easily."

Faced with Duanmu Mo's explanation, Cang Yuan knew that there was nothing that could be done. If they used any kind of bomb, it would be useless to them—Huang Yi had already demonstrated that from the start of the explosion to the end of the rescue, it was all done before the human brain could even react, and he even doubted that it was just an illusion.

"That's true, but I'm still a little worried." Cang Yuan sighed and continued to ask:

"I asked them directly, 'Will they die because of this?'"

"will not."

"Then I'm all set."

Duanmu Mo spoke directly, and Cang Yuan also thought decisively. Since Duanmu Mo said there was no problem, then there was no problem.

"Speaking of which," Duanmu Mo looked at Cang Yuan and asked, "You're asking if I'm prepared for what I'm going to do?"

"Because Xia Yan arrived very quickly." Cang Yuan said calmly, "Didn't Ling send the battle situation to the group? Xia Yan probably wanted to look for traces of the monster, so she took action."

Duanmu Mo understood upon hearing this, and then looked at the strange man in front of him. Although he was much weaker due to the strange man's energy being drained, the magical girl could still vaguely sense it.

"I see, I understand. Just try not to say anything then."

"You've already come up with another excuse so quickly?" Cang Yuan looked at him with some surprise, leaning forward to see his face clearly, and said in an amazed tone, "I deliberately delayed reminding you for a long time."

"You really are..." Duanmu Mo couldn't help but roll his eyes, reaching out to scratch Cang Yuan's head again. Cang Yuan offered a meaningless resistance and continued to play around.

Soon, a figure flew over from a distance and stopped not far from the two.

Xi Ri glanced at the strange man, then looked at Duanmu Mo and Cang Yuan, a look of disbelief on her face:

"What are you two doing here?"

"Oh, Xia Yan."

Duanmu Mo then stopped what he was doing and looked at Xi Ri: "Are you here to find the strange man?"

As the sun set, Duanmu Mo came to the other side, sat on a tree branch, and stared at the strange man: "Yes, what are you doing here?"

"After dropping Yuzhi and Ling off at school, I ran into Cangyuan. When I talked to her about the strange person Ling posted in our group, she discovered the location of that strange person and brought me here to take a look."

Duanmu Mo made up a simple reason, not in much detail, but it was enough for her to believe it.

"So, Cangyuan discovered it first." Xi Ri stared at the strange man, frowning slightly. "Then what do we say now? Since you've been staying here without making any moves, isn't it because there's some risk involved?"

"Hmm, Cangyuan sensed it and said there was a very familiar aura here, the power of Leviathan."

"Leviathan? It must be Neville's doing again." Yuhi looked at the vine absorbing the monster's energy, flew to the monster's head, grasped it, and sensed the energy fluctuations within.

"Hmm...it's not harmful at all, it actually feels comforting..."

She looked down at the struggling monster below, grabbed its head, and began to sense its presence: "...Hmm? The person inside is very unstable mentally. Could it be...?"

"It's exactly what you think," Duanmu Mo explained slowly.

"Based on Cang Yuan's intuition, if we rashly remove the monsters from this world tree, the ordinary people among the monsters will not be able to turn back."

"So, we have to keep the weirdo looking like this, right?" Yuhi showed displeasure: "What a twisted sense of humor. Does Neville want to hang these weirdos all over the tree? His taste is disgusting."

"..."

"Besides, what exactly does he need all this weirdo energy for? Even if he just wants to collect energy cards, there shouldn't be such a big fuss about it, right?"

"Who knows?" Duanmu Mo said slowly, "Perhaps he used up all his energy cards while dealing with the Apocalypse Monster?"

"He better be like that." Xi Ri snorted, flew back to sit next to Duanmu Mo, and looked at Duanmu Mo again: "--As for you, you were able to fight with Cang Yuan while facing that weirdo. You've got some nerve."

"Anyway, it can't touch me, so what's there to be afraid of?"

“You…” Xi Ri was speechless. In her memory, Duanmu Mo had always been this bold, as if he didn’t know what strange people and danger were.

She sighed and took out her phone: "...Well, let's leave it at that. Let's talk to other people and see how to solve it. It would be best if we could remove it harmlessly. If not, we'll just have to leave it hanging like this."

The pocket vibrated, and Duanmu Mo took out his phone to look at the messages in the group chat between them and Duanmu Mo himself, a group of seven.

Yanxia: "We found that weirdo. He's hanging from the World Tree like a hanged ghost, having his monster energy extracted. Right now, the ordinary people among the monsters are on the verge of becoming monsters themselves, but they were calmed down by Neville's card and haven't fallen further, so we can't force it. Any ideas?"

Yanxia: "By the way, Duanmu Mo and Cangyuan are here too."

Singing to the wind: "Even the power of the abyss can't separate them?"

—Cang Yuan leaned closer, looked at the conversation on Duanmu Mo's phone, and then took out his own phone, awkwardly typing with one finger:

Sakaban whale: "Tried it, but it didn't work."

Cangyi: "So, is there any news about Neville's next plans?"

Duanmu Mo tapped on his phone screen and quickly sent a message:

Duanmu Agency, through a private message: "Never heard of him. He left before we arrived, but it seems he was planning to hang the World Tree full of hanged ghosts."

Huangyi: "If this continues, isn't he going to use the entire world as his energy source? Is there any way to stop him?"

Zero System: "I've analyzed it, and I think he probably won't do that, because the power to soothe the mind is also very taxing on him. If the number is too large to soothe, then there's no point in him doing it. Therefore, I think Neville will only keep the number of those monsters within a certain range."

Huangyi: "So we choose to ignore it?"

Zero System: "Well, whatever he wants to do, his main goal is still to reclaim Earth. If doing so can increase his strength, it's best to turn a blind eye. Besides, that person isn't a good person either; he's the kind of person who should be sentenced under the law."

Huangyi: "I can't accept that weirdos have no right to do anything on behalf of the law, and I still can't get over the fact that they are allowed to attack ordinary people."

Seeing this, Duanmu Mo couldn't help but sigh, turning to look at Cang Yuan. Cang Yuan shrugged innocently, and Duanmu Mo lowered his head to look at the screen.

Duanmu Agency, through a private message: "I support you too. Since that's the case, there's only one way. Yuzhi, when you see Neville next time, don't waste words with him. Just fight him first."

Huangyi: "Thank you, Mr. Duanmu. But what about Neville's power?"

Seeing this, Duanmu Mo couldn't help but laugh again. The magical girls were currently torn between not allowing Neville to do anything bad, and needing Neville's power.

Of course, this conflict was deliberately created by Duanmu Mo and deliberately presented to the magical girls. He wanted the magical girls to be at a loss, which would make his actions easier.

Xia Yan and Ling didn't really care about this. They made a clear distinction: their duty as magical girls was to fight monsters, and whether or not to attack Neville, who was probably a monster, was entirely up to them.

However, Yuzhi and Oto are different. As magical girls, they should take it upon themselves to protect the world. What Neville did undoubtedly goes against what they believe in.

But they still underestimated the problem:

Duanmu Agency, through a private message: "That's something Neville should be thinking about, right? You just need to fulfill your duties as magical girls, and let Neville worry about the rest."

Huangyi: "Is that so?"

After a while, Yuzhi seemed to realize what was happening and sent another message:

Huangyi: "Thank you, I know what to do."

Duanmu Agency sent a private message to the client: "Just so you know. Focus on your studies and stop secretly playing on your phone."

Huang Yi: "Okay, see you this afternoon."

Looking at the screen, Duanmu Mo smiled, then turned off his phone after the screen went black.

Chapter 914: The Encounter

Seeing Duanmu Mo's skillful discussion, Xi Ri couldn't help but marvel:

"You're really something, you can win a girl's heart so easily."

Duanmu Mo smiled and said, "Thank you for the compliment."

"Who praised you? Really..."

The sun rolled its eyes, looked up at the lush foliage of the World Tree, and let out a long sigh:

"Ugh—the thought of this tree soon being covered in hanged ghosts makes me sick... Forget it, I don't want to think about it!"

Xi Ri turned her head and suddenly looked at Cang Yuan with a serious expression:

"Since we're both free right now, Cangyuan, this is the perfect opportunity, let's have a fight!"

"Oh?"

Faced with Xi Ri's sudden challenge, Cang Yuan was somewhat surprised and blinked: