Chapter 7: The Failed Masked Technique.

Dissecting disaster beasts was a grueling task.

Tonight, Xia Xiaocheng received a very vivid lesson. She personally reached into the still-warm flesh of the disaster beast, her fingers groping through the hot meat mixed with secretions until they touched the hard core. Then, enduring the pungent fishy smell, she pulled it out.

At that moment, her hand no longer felt like her own. She even had the urge to throw it away.

“Ugh! Bleh!”

Facing the sink, Xia Xiaocheng dry-heaved for a long time. No matter how much hand soap she rubbed on her arms, the moment she brought them close to her nose, she immediately felt nauseous and wanted to vomit.

“Can’t handle it already? Xia Xiaocheng, why don’t you just quit being a magical girl? You’re still young with a bright future ahead. There’s no need to stubbornly insist on this line of work.”

Alice stood with her arms crossed, watching with an interested smile. She had deliberately given her sister this lesson so she would remember it. It was better to learn from one fall than to never grow wiser.

“Thank you for letting me use the bathroom, Senior Alice. But I said I would become a magical girl, so I absolutely won’t go back on my word!”

Xia Xiaocheng clenched her fist to cheer herself up. At the same time, she secretly observed the interior layout with her peripheral vision. This was indeed the live-streaming room she had mistaken for Magic Uncle’s hiding spot earlier. Alice had brought her back here.

The clean interior showed almost no signs of daily living. Apart from shoe prints near the sink and the path to the room, the only things on the table were some documents and a power strip.

“Is there something here that interests you?” Alice asked with a calm expression.

“There is, actually. As expected, I can’t hide anything from Senior.” Xia Xiaocheng scratched her head, her face turning a little shy and embarrassed. “Um… Senior Alice, do you live here alone?”

“No, I have a family.” Alice saw no reason to deny it and admitted straightforwardly.

“Eh, but I didn’t see them. Senior Alice’s home… feels more like a workspace.”

“It’s not a workspace.” Alice thought for a moment before answering.

“Then Senior Alice, why were you sitting in that chair? Also, I was so angry this afternoon! I didn’t manage to catch that Magic Uncle! He kept sharply criticizing me during his live stream!”

Xia Xiaocheng expressed her dissatisfaction to the senior, even boldly placing her hands on her hips to show her indignation.

So my honest commentary counts as sharp criticism, huh? You stupid little sister. Barging into someone else’s house like that.

Alice frowned slightly. This small expression was quickly caught by Xia Xiaocheng, who immediately spoke up familiarly.

“Senior, you don’t know, but that Magic Uncle streams every day under the banner of reviewing magical girls! He’s roasted so many magical girls and even ranks them as medium cup, large cup, super large cup. I got so mad today that I used my phone to locate him, and then I ended up…”

Xia Xiaocheng trailed off, then gave Alice a silly smile.

“I ended up offending Senior.”

“You’ve got quite the nerve. Who gave you the courage to confront someone offline in real life? Your brother?”

Alice asked back in annoyance, glaring at Xia Xiaocheng. In her heart she thought, ‘This stinky little sister, always causing trouble for her brother!’

“Um! I’m sorry, Senior! I really didn’t expect to get the wrong person. Next time Magic Uncle goes live, I definitely won’t get the wrong floor again! I’ll catch him for sure next time!”

Xia Xiaocheng spoke with full confidence, her eyes shining with determination.

“Don’t cause trouble for ordinary civilians. Barging into someone’s residence without permission can get you charged with a crime.”

“Um… I… I know.”

“You knew and still did it anyway? What exactly did you want to do after finding Magic Uncle? Beat him up using your power as a magical girl?”

For a moment, Alice wondered if her sister lacked proper discipline and was turning into a societal troublemaker.

“No! I absolutely didn’t have that kind of idea! I just wanted to vent the resentment in my heart to Magic Uncle!”

Xia Xiaocheng waved her hands quickly while explaining her motive.

“Senior, you know, the first thing I said when I entered was questioning why Magic Uncle kept criticizing our work on stream. Fighting disaster beasts is so hard. Why can he hide behind the screen and casually comment? I just couldn’t accept it!”

“Mm… Then what did you hope he would do?”

Alice listened seriously, her attitude softening considerably. At least her sister had barged in intending to reason with him.

“I wanted him to apologize to magical girls! And stop using terms like medium cup to mock those with weaker strength. I know I’m far behind amazing seniors like you, but I can improve! People can make progress!”

Xia Xiaocheng expressed her thoughts urgently, looking straight at Alice’s calm face.

“Mm, anything else?”

“Also… I think that’s it.”

After venting all her grievances, Xia Xiaocheng realized her tone earlier had been a bit aggressive, especially toward Alice. She hurriedly explained.

“Senior, please don’t misunderstand! I didn’t mean to direct my complaints at you! I was really only targeting Magic Uncle!”

“It’s fine. I can pass the message to him for you.”

Alice nodded and made the promise. She wasn’t angry or annoyed. Instead, she showed a rather steady patience.

“Senior knows Magic Uncle? Of course, since Senior could even find out about me, it must be the 【Emerald】 intelligence network at work.”

Xia Xiaocheng quickly pieced it together, her expression relaxing noticeably.

More than just knowing him — the person herself is right here. Your brother, Magic Uncle, and Magical Girl Alice are all one and the same.

Alice felt extremely awkward inside. She hadn’t expected her sister to see the live stream, let alone track her down and nearly catch her. As expected, fame brings trouble. Luckily she had transformed in time and avoided disaster.

“Ah! I was so busy talking to you that I didn’t notice how late it is! Senior Alice, I’ll leave the disaster beast cores with you. I’ll come find you tomorrow. My brother might come home early tonight, so I need to go make him a late-night snack!”

Xia Xiaocheng glanced at the time on her phone and hurriedly said she had to leave.

“Mm, go ahead.”

“Okay! See you later, Senior!”

Xia Xiaocheng quickly slipped away. When she reached the door, she noticed the shoe cabinet by the entrance.

There were only a few pairs of men’s leather shoes and no women’s shoes at all. This meant the owner of the house should be a man, not Alice.

Combined with the live-streaming equipment in the room, Magic Uncle should logically be here.

Xia Xiaocheng’s mind spun rapidly, and an answer quickly popped up.

It must be that Senior Alice arrived first and already arrested Magic Uncle! She just didn’t want me to get involved in an adult criminal matter, so she said ‘I’ll pass the message to him’!

“Yes! It must be like that. Senior is really so gentle!”

Walking along the night path in the residential complex and watching the flying insects under the streetlights, Xia Xiaocheng felt much better. Whether it was being mocked as a medium cup by Magic Uncle, surviving the disaster beast encounter, or even the disgusting scene of dissecting the beasts — everything tonight seemed to have been healed by Senior Alice’s care.

Senior is like an angel who descended beside me, the cool-on-the-outside but warm-on-the-inside type! I can’t wait for tomorrow to come soon! I want to see her again!

Filled with anticipation, Xia Xiaocheng walked with light steps and quickly disappeared from Alice’s view.

“Finally gone. Looks like I need to be more careful with my streams in the future, or I’ll really get tracked down.”

Sitting sideways on the kitchen counter and leaning against the window, Alice stretched her legs down to the floor, intending to adjust her “mask” and return to Xia Hui’s appearance.

But suddenly, she discovered a problem.

Pressing her hand against her chest, the “mask” spell that was originally planted in her body had, for some unknown reason, stopped working!

She could no longer transform back into Xia Hui.