Girl in the Box: Please tell me why I was reincarnated as a mimic monster!

"I'm here." Xiao nodded, staring into Li's eyes.

“From here on, we’ll be going our separate ways,” Li pointed in a direction for Xiao. “You know how to get to that high platform in the center of Akihabara, right? Xia Ling is waiting for you there. She’ll help you with the rest of the work, so don’t worry. Once we’re done, she’ll bring you back to us.”

"Hmm." Xiao nodded, but her expression showed a hint of hesitation.

Li smiled knowingly, gently patted her head, and then walked past her. Ning followed behind Li and gently patted Xiao's head. Everyone encouraged Xiao in their own way, without saying much, but smiling and encouraging her before turning and leaving.

Xiao touched her head, making sure not to mess up her hair, feeling the lingering warmth from her strands. A sweet smile unconsciously curved her lips, captivating everyone around her. Xiao clenched her fist to encourage herself, then walked alone through the crowd towards the platform set up in the central square of Akihabara.

"Is Akatsuki alright...?" Kuroba asked worriedly as they walked.

"Don't worry about her," Li smiled and said, "Haven't you noticed we're missing someone?"

Someone is missing?

After hearing Li's words, everyone began to search for the missing person among them, besides Xiao.

“Zhou Dong followed him,” Ning said.

“Yeah, right. Although we don’t know how things went between you and Zhou Dong while we were away, we know him very well.” Li chuckled. “With him with Xiao, there won’t be any problems. We can just go and wait for Olitto.”

In fact, the fireworks display was organized by Olitto, who also paid for all the expenses. It was quite a rare opportunity, and everyone was curious to see what he was really up to. After walking for a while, the group arrived at the restaurant newly opened by the Borg Chamber of Commerce for this celebration.

A magnificent crystal chandelier cast a soft glow, lending the restaurant an elegant and tranquil atmosphere. Soft music filled the space, spreading like an invisible mist, slowly and steadily enveloping the soul. Unknown flowers emitted a delicate fragrance, neither overpowering nor overpowering, subtly altering complex emotions, leaving the heart as calm as a still mirror, without a ripple. Polite waiters stood by, awaiting their arrival.

"real or fake……"

Everyone was stunned. Olitzo, who only knew how to make money, had actually gone to such lengths to arrange such a banquet for them. A huge, magnificent crystal chandelier hung high in the air. The milky-white marble was smooth as a mirror, and rows of tables covered with red satin were neatly arranged with various delicacies. Round wooden tables covered with snow-white tablecloths throughout the venue were piled high with various champagnes and fine wines.

Li Du was completely stunned. The layout and design of the banquet were very traditional, which made her feel a little nervous. No wonder Olitto kept emphasizing that they should wear formal attire. They hadn't been in the restaurant for long when Olitto and the captain came out to greet them, arguing about something, followed by a helpless-looking Natsuki.

"Oh. You're here."

Olito, who had been arguing with the captain, immediately changed the subject.

“Olitzo…?” Alice asked incredulously, “You are…? Seriously?”

“Of course I’m serious,” Olito urged. “Hurry up and sit down. The world is almost here. Xia Ling told me that Xiao has arrived. The fireworks festival is about to start.”

"This is really unusual..."

Although everyone was skeptical, they still obediently sat down, because the fireworks festival was about to begin, and even if they didn't want to give Olito face, they had to give Akatsuki face. Through the huge glass wall, they could see the high platform erected in the center of Akihabara, where a fox-eared girl dressed in a red and white shrine maiden outfit stood—Akatsuki.

Boom, boom...

As the drums sounded, other musical instruments followed, signaling the start of the fireworks display.

A snow-white robe, as white as frost, with a bewitching crimson cloud pattern on the wide sleeves; long silver hair danced in the wind; a flawless face, exquisitely handsome; a pair of silver eyes like a river shimmering under the moonlight, clear and deep; a crescent moon mark between his brows added a touch of aloofness to his features. Just as Finoer had said, when Xiao put on this outfit, his entire demeanor would transform.

As the dance ended, the sound of fireworks rising into the sky replaced the music.

A red dot soared upwards, then scattered into a giant golden sphere. Before the sphere had even receded, several more bright spots shot up, exploding into a cluster of blooming chrysanthemums. A moment later, two or three points of light rose into the air, magically revealing several swimming fish that leisurely swam through the night sky. Just as everyone was marveling at this, a faint, loud bang was heard, and a halo rose straight into the night sky. At a height of several meters, the halo slowly rose, carrying a slightly eerie air. While people were still trying to decipher its pattern, a gigantic dragon, its claws outstretched, appeared suspended in the night sky.

"It's a dragon!" "It's a giant dragon!"

The viewers excitedly speculated about the patterns that appeared in the night sky.

Sometimes the sky is ablaze with jade trees and silver flowers, sometimes the heavens are like stars surrounding the moon, sometimes clusters of fireworks sway in the wind like willow branches, and sometimes clusters of fireworks move gracefully in the night. Riku was mesmerized; the scene was like the sound of fireworks and firecrackers echoing in her ears during the New Year. But the fireworks display in the miniature garden was quieter; everyone was captivated, as if admiring a work of art.

"It's so good...ah..."

"reason!?"

Reason's consciousness sank into darkness.

Chapter 37 Sleeping Beauty

"reason!?"

With Ning's startled cry, everyone's gaze and attention shifted to Li. They saw Li, unconscious, being held by Ning. Li's face was pale, and her breathing was erratic. Everyone was stunned, because no one had noticed, nor realized, that Li had fallen unconscious without warning. And what kind of situation was this?

"Give way!"

Whenever it came to treating and saving lives, Chu Chu became assertive. Her shout snapped everyone out of their daze, and they all made way for her. Chu Chu approached the two and immediately gave Li a quick examination.

Because it happened so suddenly, many people didn't understand why such a thing had happened to Ri. Ning tried her best to calm herself down and held Ri in her arms, gently adjusting her to make her more comfortable. Actually, Ning could understand Ri's current physical condition just by looking at her, but the transition between the two was just too abrupt.

"What happened?" Olitto asked anxiously.

“I’m not quite sure either.” Chu Chu shook her head. “I’ve never encountered anything like this before… Anyway, Li’s condition is terrible right now. His life force is weakening, his magic is depleted, his consciousness is blurred, and his body temperature is fluctuating… Ning, has Li shown any unusual behavior lately?”

“No,” Ning said firmly.

"Anyway, let's go back and rest first. Sorry, we'll have to go now."

"Ok."

Ning nodded, picked up Li, and quickly left. Although they could still continue with the planned banquet, who could concentrate on their business after something like this?

"Alright." To everyone's surprise, it was Olitto who spoke first. "Everyone, please go ahead. The captain and I will finish up here and then go together. Besides, Akane hasn't arrived yet, so we'll bring her along later."

“Alright then.” Alice didn’t stand on ceremony. “Let’s go, everyone. Let’s see how we can help.”

Led by Alice, the group left without hesitation, followed closely by Ning and Chuchu, who had gone ahead. Olitto waved goodbye, then slumped into a chair with a headache. Seeing him like this, the captain sat down beside him and began to mock him.

"I've never seen you this listless when you're arguing with me," the battalion commander said sarcastically.

"Hmph, can you compare to her?" Olito rolled his eyes at him. "She's many times more important than you."

“I do know that.” The commander pressed down on the brim of his hat with his hand. “What a pity…”

"Tsk, don't talk nonsense." Olitto kicked him. "Don't say such unlucky things."

"No, no, no, I wasn't talking about that girl." The captain pointed at Olito. "I was talking about you. It's rare for you to bleed so much, and I didn't expect things to turn out like this halfway through."

“Tch,” Olitto stood up. “There will be plenty of opportunities like this in the future. Xia Shu, go pick up Xia Ling and Xiao. We’ll head over first.”

"understood."

After receiving Olitzo's order, Natsuki immediately left the restaurant and headed towards the high platform. Olitzo's mood was complicated. He had gone to great lengths to stage this whole thing, hoping to change their opinion of him and perhaps reflect on the past, but things had gone wrong. He anxiously took out his pocket watch, its surface inlaid with a silver dragon scale.

"Please... Dragon King of Time... I need to borrow some of your luck..."

Olitto was conflicted. He didn't know who to pray to. Even Chu Chu and Ning hadn't figured out what was going on. Would praying to God even help? In his memory, that goddess had a terrible reputation among the people he knew. He couldn't think of anyone, so he could only pray to the Dragon King of Time, Raelfa.

…………

"Just leave it there and let Li rest for a bit."

After returning home, the two went straight into Li's room and put her back on the bed.

The emblem of the Dragon King appeared in the room, and a soft blue light enveloped the entire room, making it feel as if the room was now full of life.

"Ning, release your magic," Chu Chu commanded.

"Ok."

Ning silently released the magic power within her body, carefully controlling the release to prevent the surrounding area from becoming demonic. In this way, Li's body had both the life force and magic power it lacked; it was now up to Li to see how well she absorbed it. However, even after doing all this, Li's condition did not stabilize; in fact, it felt like it was getting worse.

"What exactly is this..." Chu Chu herself became confused.

As the most authoritative dragon king among living beings, Chu Chu had never encountered such a situation before. She could clearly feel that the life force and magic in the air were being constantly drawn away, as if the energy was greedily absorbing all the surrounding power like a black hole in the room.

“Power out of control…that doesn’t seem like it…” Chu Chu considered the issue of power.

Even if the power went out of control, the Time-Space Dragon King's emblem would definitely appear, but right now, apart from Chu Chu's own emblem, no other emblems have appeared. At this moment, Hei Yu pushed open the door and walked in with the Demon King Xuan Ze.

"What's the situation now?" Kuroba asked.

"It's still unclear," Chu Chu said. "All we can confirm right now is that Li is lacking in magic and life force. She's like a vortex, constantly attracting life force and magic force from the surrounding area."

"No wonder there was such a strong magical and life force as soon as I came in."

As Xuanze spoke, he closed the door and simultaneously sealed all openings in the room with magic, preventing any magic or life force from leaking out. Ning knelt anxiously by the window, holding Li's hand, using this method to connect their magic—a common magic replenishment technique, but…

"—?!"

After Ning's magic power connected with Li's magic power, Ning could clearly feel that her magic power was decreasing at an alarming rate, and the rate at which her magic power recovered could not even keep up with the rate at which it was consumed.

Li... what exactly happened to you?

Ning gripped Li's hand tightly. She didn't know what was happening to Li, but this was the only way she could support her. Even though it was just their speculation, it was better than doing nothing. Li's condition was still unstable, and Xuanze began releasing magic to fill the room with it.

"This is so strange." Kuroba pressed down on his hair, which was flowing with magical energy. "Can we awaken Rin now?"

“No,” Chu Chu said decisively, “Li’s consciousness is very blurred right now, it feels like her consciousness might not even be in her body. I guess we won’t be able to wake her up until she stabilizes.”

"Hey, hey, hey." Xuanze stared at Ning and asked, "Aren't you going to let go? Your magic power is almost completely drained."

"I won't let go," Ning said calmly.

"I suggest you let go immediately," Xuanze advised her. "I don't think you don't know how monsters are created, do you? The difference between a monster and a monster is the amount of magic power. Even you will turn back into a regular slime once you run out of magic power. What you're doing is reckless."

"Wait?" Kuroba panicked after hearing Xuanze's words. "Ning? You're replenishing Li's magic power this way? This is too reckless! Stop it right now!"

“I can’t do it,” Ning said calmly. “If I let go now, Li will absorb the magic power in the surrounding air. Do you think you have enough magic power?”

"—!"

No wonder so much magic in the air could be retained under such a strong attraction; it turns out that Ning was constantly replenishing Li with her own magic, barely managing to fill the gap.

"We all came up with the solution together. If you do this without saying anything, we won't know how to explain it to Li if it changes back."

At this moment, Elise also entered, accompanied by the Elf Queen and three other Dragon Kings.

“We’ve heard the details from outside.” A layer of icy light appeared on Fino’s body. “Although we may not be as powerful as Ning in terms of magic, we are still Dragon Kings, and our magic power is second to none in this world, so let us do our part.”

"Chuchu, you just need to focus on gathering your life force," Nieqi said. "We'll take care of the magic."

In an instant, the magic of the three dragon kings filled the room once again. The room must be glowing to those outside, as it is now filled with an unbelievable amount of magic and life force.

"Don't worry." Alice walked to Ning's side. "We can't leave everything to you and Chang Dan. We're reliable too, so... let go."

Ning glanced at Alice and the people around her, then looked worriedly at Li on the bed. She did indeed feel her magic output decreasing, but… after much consideration, Ning finally lowered her hand. At the same moment she released her hand, everyone in the room who was constantly releasing magic simultaneously felt a significant reduction in their magic power. Everyone was startled and immediately increased their magic output.

So, Ning was enduring this pressure to replenish Li's magic power?

Xuanze's smile vanished. He immediately sat down and used a skill that allowed his magic power to recover rapidly. Now was not the time for idle chatter; the dragon kings also frowned and increased their magic power output.

After letting go, Ning first felt her vision blur, then she lost her balance and fell sideways to the ground. Alice cried out and tried to reach out to grab her, but Ning stopped her, shook her head to indicate that she was fine, grabbed the edge of the bed with one hand, and sat up again.

"Why don't you go and rest for a bit?" Chu Chu said kindly. "You've used up all your magic power, so it would be best if you went to another room to rest."

"No need. I'll just rest here for a bit."

Ning stood up, retrieved the first-aid kit from Li's room, and then took out a bottle of potion emitting a pale blue light, drinking it in one gulp. After drinking the potion, Ning's magic power rapidly recovered, but the remaining magic power was still very low, less than one ten-thousandth of her usual level.

“The situation is not good now…” Kuroba said. “At this rate, even if all of us here use all our magic, we probably won’t be able to fill that bottomless vortex.”

“I have a way to do that,” Elise said. “If I remember correctly, this place is at the very top of the dragon vein, right? Chu, could you help draw out the magic power from the dragon vein?”

"...I can do it..." the Elf Queen said, perched on Elise's shoulder, "but give me some time, and your magic."

“Take it,” Alice said without hesitation. “Please.”

Alice continuously channeled her magic into the Elf Queen, who instantly returned to her youthful size and transformed into a wisp of magic, disappearing underground. However, this was too little, too late. After Ning stopped channeling magic for a while, everyone's magic began to wane. Without hesitation, Ning, during her rest, immediately handed them the potions that could restore magic before leaving the room.

"Sister Ning!" Xiao, who was downstairs, immediately stood up when she saw Ning leave her room.

Xiao's face was full of worry. She was still wearing the shrine maiden outfit she had been wearing since she left home. She was very worried about Ri-nee's situation in the room. When she saw Ning-nee come out, she hoped that she could hear something from Ning-nee.

"It's nothing..." Ning's voice sounded weak. "I'm sorry, could you please release all your magic power?"

Before Ning could finish speaking, a strong gravitational force emanated from the room, forcibly drawing the magic power from everyone's bodies. They initially tried to resist, but after hearing Ning's words, they allowed the magic power to flow out of their bodies, thus maintaining a temporary balance. Ning came down from the second floor and handed out bottles of medicine to everyone, while simultaneously releasing magic power to alleviate their stress.

Even with everyone's combined strength, they still couldn't fill the void within the body of the entity constantly devouring magic power, and their magic power was on the verge of exhaustion. Unable to do anything more, Zhou Dong suddenly stood up, turned, opened the door, and stepped outside. The leaves of light falling from the Perseus Tree suddenly coalesced into two figures. Zhou Dong said nothing, simply extending his hand silently.

The two figures transformed into a leaf of light radiating a soft glow, which floated down into Zhou Dong's hand.

"Thank you."

Zhou Dong expressed his gratitude to the empty void.

Zhou Dong watched as the leaf suddenly transformed into a beam of light and shot into Li's room. At this moment, the Perseus Tree also emitted an incomparably dazzling light, and even bloomed with flowers of light. The soul flowers planted around it also bloomed in full glory.

Inside the room, everyone was startled when they saw the light suddenly fly in from outside the window. Alice reached out to try to stop the light, but it passed through her hand and landed on Li's head.

"This is……"

Alice was stunned.

As the light passed through her hand, she felt two people gently holding it, and her previously agitated mood calmed down. She instinctively felt that the light meant her no harm. At the same time, the Perseus Tree outside the window emitted an incomparably dazzling light, and the Soul Flowers on the ground bloomed more profusely than ever before.

"…!" Kuroba exclaimed in surprise, "It's stabilized!!!"

Yes, things have stabilized.

The amount of magic flowing towards Ry gradually decreased, and the black hole inside Ry's body seemed to have finally calmed down as if it had been satiated. Her originally pale face gradually regained its color. Although Ry's body was still absorbing magic from the surroundings, it was no longer as frantic as before. This was simply a miracle.