Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

Xiangzi raised his head, his golden eyes reflecting the colors of the outside lights.

She wants Miaomeng to repay everything she owes her.

Miaomeng's assessment of money was very accurate. These golden armors were very much in line with the familiar strength that a Hard-level witch should have. It was almost impossible for a single person to hunt them down. But at least Xiangzi knew that Miaomeng was keeping witches as pets. As long as he reported this information, that woman would be finished.

After the footsteps outside completely disappeared, Xiangzi pushed open the ventilation duct grille, peeked out and looked around. After confirming that there were no patrolling familiars, he quietly climbed out and returned along the same route he had taken.

Unlike Meow Dream, who specializes in intelligence, Xiangzi's stealth skills are particularly poor, and deceiving the familiars inside the barrier is not as easy as he imagined.

She had only taken a couple of steps after coming out when she heard footsteps not far away.

Click, click, click.

The golden armor with the Japanese yen head arrived at the corridor filled with the corpses of its kind. One of its kind, who had been shot but was not completely dead, was still struggling to get up.

It reached out its hand to its patrolling companion, as if pleading for help.

The patrolling officer in golden armor looked down at his half-crippled companion, raised his spear, and thrust it down.

With a soft "poof," black magic surged from the familiar's body and vanished into thin air. The familiar, which hadn't quite died yet, was now completely dead.

No, the wanted target, continue the search.

The familiar spoke to its kind behind it in witch script.

Money was commanding them to find Xiangzi, but inside the empty brain of the familiar, Xiangzi looked exactly like all the moving creatures in the barrier.

So the obedient familiars will kill all the moving "creatures" in this corridor.

Xiangzi lay prone beneath the corpse of a familiar, the one about to finish her off getting closer and closer, its massive golden armor shielding it from view, and she dared not utter a sound.

The familiar that was finishing her off was getting closer and closer, and she could hear the screams of those familiars who were on the verge of death.

She could handle a few patrolling familiars, but she couldn't guarantee they wouldn't set off the alarm. If the alarm went off, it would be the same as her death.

Xiangzi wanted to live; she had to gamble on her survival.

The sound is getting closer.

Xiangzi's heart was beating faster and faster.

brush----!

The golden eyes reflected the tip of a golden spear, which pierced through the helmet of the golden armor, less than five millimeters from Xiangzi's eyeballs.

My heart was about to stop.

When the spear was drawn, the distance between the blade and the glass body changed from five millimeters to negative one millimeter.

Xiangzi's eyes were slashed open.

My vision on the right side was momentarily blurred by blood, and then disappeared.

"Well--!"

pain.

it hurts.

It hurts so much! It hurts so much! It hurts so much!

Xiangzi endured 100% of the pain, biting his lip tightly, his fingers drawing bloody marks on the ground.

You must not make a sound, you must not make a sound, you must not make a sound.

Don't let them find you.

Endure the excruciating pain, even suppress the trembling caused by the pain.

If you move even slightly, you're dead. You absolutely cannot move.

【That's not it.】

The familiar pulled out its long spear, not noticing the faint bloodstain on the spear tip.

His muscles tensed up, and his heartbeat accelerated uncontrollably to a dangerous level. Xiangzi even fainted briefly.

She wanted to scream, but she couldn't.

She felt nauseous, but couldn't vomit.

She kept repeating one sentence in her heart: You can't die, someone is still waiting for you.

Therefore, she absolutely cannot die.

......

The sound of finishing blows continued; the patrolmen had missed their chance to truly kill Xiangzi, and the rest was destined to be futile.

Xiangzi only pushed away the corpse that was pressing down on him after he heard the patrolmen leave and their footsteps gradually disappear.

"Cough cough... Ha... Ha..." She leaned against the wall, clutching her wildly beating heart, and took steps toward the exit.

Blood streamed down his tightly closed right eye, like tears.

Lamp, I've come to find you.

Xiangzi pushed open the ten-meter-high gate and disappeared into the witch's barrier.

=========

"Huff...huff...huff...ugh—!"

Xiangzi returned to that deserted alley, clutched his knees, and frantically vomited out his fear.

She vomited for a long time before she could catch her breath.

My eyes are slowly recovering and should be fine in two or three days. I even have one Sorrow Seed left over from this trip, so it's not a complete loss. I'll report the money and Meow Dream information later; I think I can make a small profit then.

Xiangzi took out his phone and checked the time; it was already past eight o'clock.

"I hope she's still waiting for me..."

Xiangzi pursed his lips, a bittersweet smile curving his face, and shook his head.

"She's definitely still waiting for me."

Let's go.

Xiangzi thought.

So she took a step, her body shimmering with light, and her clothes changed back to her usual inexpensive white dress.

But just as she stepped out of the alley...

"Um... are you a magical girl from Reed Plains?"

Xiangzi heard someone calling him from behind.

Xiangzi turned around.

Before him stood a pink-haired girl of similar age.

=========

P.S.: I recommend a friend's book, which is a very rare F1x horse girl story: *F1 Horse Girls: Not Stepping onto the Track, But Entering the Paddock*.

The Tale of Nirvana: Where Did You Sleep Last Night: Chapter 17 Better to Burn Calmly

Xiangzi opened his left eye and looked at her.

"Did I...did I say something wrong?"

Xiangzi turned her head slightly to the side, the streetlights only illuminating half of her face. The shadows temporarily covered her temporarily blind eye, and her injuries were also covered by her clothes. However, her expressionless face still left the pink-haired girl somewhat at a loss.

"Out-of-towner?" Xiangzi asked.

"No, I'm a local." The pink-haired girl shook her head. "But I studied abroad before, and that's where I signed the contract with Kyubey..."

Kyubey emerged from the shadows and jumped onto the pink-haired girl's shoulder.

"She's still a newcomer, she only recently returned to China, so please take good care of her."

"Yeah, that's it."

The pink-haired girl grinned foolishly, and her little tiger teeth made her silly smile look... kind of cute.

"Oh." Xiangzi nodded indifferently.

Another one jumping into the fire pit.

"If you're a newbie, you can go to the nearest magical girl gathering to find out more. Someone will be there to guide you." Xiangzi pointed in two directions, "RiNG is that way, and Galaxy is that way. Just search for it on Google Maps."

Xiangzi didn't say that it was actually CiRCLE who was closest to her, because she had a feeling that if she said it, she would be pestered all the way.

After giving directions, Xiangzi turned around and prepared to leave.

"Um...wait a minute!" the pink-haired girl called out to Xiangzi. "Excuse me, can you team up with me, Magical Girl Band!"

Xiangzi stopped walking.

"band?"

"Sorry~ I might have said that a bit too suddenly." The pink-haired girl clasped her hands together in apology. "My name is Chihaya Aine... I just got back recently and I'm still not quite used to the environment in Reed Plains. I heard that the magical girls in Reed Plains all operate in teams, which surprised me, so I was thinking about forming my own. I'm currently looking for teammates. Oh, by the way, in magical girl formations, I'll be the main attacker, and in a band, I'll be the lead guitarist and lead vocalist..."

"No, thank you." Xiangzi shook his head gently.

"Huh?" Ai Yin blinked. "Do you already have a band? Sorry for being so abrupt..."

"No. It's none of your business. I'm a loner."

Xiangzi turned to look at Aiyin and gave her a smile as friendly as possible.

"I have to go. There's a very powerful witch's barrier around here, so you should leave as soon as possible."

"...would be appropriate?"

That's the kind of polite language only rich young ladies would use... but her clothes look so cheap.

As Ai watched Xiangzi walk further and further away, she felt as if she could see a very... tired look on her face.

“It would be more efficient to act in pairs.” Cupid squatted down next to Aine. “Can’t you understand why there are still lone wolves when the environment has become all about teamwork?”

"Hmm...a strange person."

Aine nodded, frowned, opened her phone, and logged into her account, 【Reed Plains Magical Girl Gathering】, which she had registered that morning.

She was originally there to complete a mission, and it just so happened that she ran into Xiangzi.

[Intelligence Request]

Witch's name: Money

Information available: None.

Mission Rewards: Points and intelligence credits will be awarded based on the importance of the intelligence.

Posted by (anonymous): Anonymous

"Gathering intelligence, that's what beginner quests are all about," Aine muttered to herself. "That's how it is with Monster Hunters, you have to find footprints first before you can accept a quest... I should be able to do this kind of quest, I'll earn some extra money first, I have to take it one step at a time."

Aiyin cheered herself up and turned to walk into the alley.

It seems she has completely forgotten Xiangzi's reminder.

========

"She will die, Toyokawa Shoko."

Qubi caught up with Xiangzi's pace.

"she?"

"Chihaya Aine, the newcomer you just met."

"What did she do?"

"She entered the witch's barrier of money."

"Tsk." Xiangzi clicked his tongue. "I already told her not to go."

"Perhaps you didn't explain it clearly enough, and she didn't understand."

“Is it fun to pretend to know everything now, you incubator?” Xiangzi raised his foot and stepped on Qiu Bi’s head. “Since you knew she was going to her death, why didn’t you stop her? Aren’t you all about efficiency? If she died, how would she become a witch and provide you with energy?”

Kyubey's head was flattened into a pancake shape on the ground, but Kyubey always spoke directly in their minds without needing to open his mouth.