Chapter 28: The Author Joins the Group, Meow?

A Shocking Discovery

Late at night, fresh from a shower, Xiao Xi dried her hair while checking her phone.

Earlier, she’d posted her reader group’s ID in her novel’s comments. Now, twenty or thirty people had joined.

It was a novel experience for Xiao Xi. She’d never directly interacted with her readers before, and seeing so many join made her happy, boosting her motivation to write.

Humming cheerfully, she scrolled through the group’s join requests, but her song stopped dead when she saw one account.

That familiar Hatsune Miku avatar and the username “Hope Work Less”… That was Mu Xingge’s personal QQ!

Three years ago, Xiao Xi had quietly deleted all her teammates’ contacts and switched to new phone numbers and accounts. But how could she forget Mu Xingge’s QQ?

Her eyes widened, her post-shower relaxation replaced by tension.

Mu Xingge joined her reader group? The group for her spicy fanfic modeled after Mu Xingge?!

Just to be sure, Xiao Xi checked the account’s profile. Yep, definitely Mu Xingge.

She wouldn’t track her down and kill her over the internet, would she?!

Xiao Xi never imagined Mu Xingge would find her secret fanfic. As she panicked, a notification popped up, tagging her.

“@GroupOwner, can the author update more? Not enough to read.”

“@GroupOwner, the writing’s great, but the post-defeat scenes are kinda dull. Can you write Mu Xingge getting crushed by the Blood Moon Witch? That’d be awesome.”

Stop talking! Please, stop!

Xiao Xi’s heart raced. She opened the group chat to see who was setting her up… She only wrote a character like Mu Xingge, not Mu Xingge herself!

Seeing the tagger’s username, “Where’s Eternal Star At?”, Xiao Xi slapped her forehead. That was Ye Xinglan’s QQ!

What the hell! Were they all ganging up to expose her?

“@GroupOwner, why’s the author quiet? I tipped you—can you update more?”

Ye Xinglan clearly wanted more chapters, but Xiao Xi thought she was missing the point.

Who cared about how magical girls got defeated? Readers loved the aftermath. Only Ye Xinglan was obsessed with the defeat itself!

Staring at the group chat, Xiao Xi hesitated. Should she warn Ye Xinglan to watch her words? Mu Xingge might see.

But how could she explain knowing Mu Xingge’s account? After today’s identity scare, Xiao Xi didn’t want to slip up again.

Hope Work Less: “@Where’s Eternal Star At, you love seeing magical girls lose to villains that much? [Smirking Yellow Face]”

Where’s Eternal Star At: “What I love is none of your business. If you don’t like it, why join the group?”

Hope Work Less: “I love it. The author writes so realistically, so detailed. I’d love to have a good chat with them. [Smirking Yellow Face]”

Xiao Xi was sweating bullets now.

A Guilty Conscience

In Ye Xinglan’s room, she rolled over on her bed after replying in the group chat. Who did this person think they were, meddling? She’d read Eternal Star defeat fanfic if she wanted—none of their business!

She opened her photo album, planning to delete today’s pictures. Since Xiao Xi wasn’t Eternal Star, there was no need to keep the “blackmail” material.

But looking at the cozy selfies of them together, Ye Xinglan hesitated, her finger hovering over the delete button.

Xiao Xi looked… kinda cute in these. Maybe she’d keep them.

A loud knock startled her. Ye Xinglan hopped off the bed, opening the door to find Xiao Xi, wrapped in a bath towel, hair still damp.

Ye Xinglan’s face flushed slightly. “What’s up, Xiao Xi?”

“It’s about the novel…”

“What, you posted it, and now I can’t read it?”

“No, that’s not it,” Xiao Xi said with a strained smile. “Just… try not to argue in the group. It doesn’t look good.”

Good thing Ye Xinglan lived with her—she could stop her in person. Otherwise, Xiao Xi feared Mu Xingge might lose it and track them down.

She should’ve picked another teammate to base her story on… Ahem, no, if she’d known she’d get exposed, she might as well have been a total creep and written herself!

Eternal Star’s popularity wasn’t any lower than Mu Xingge’s [Skylark Diva]!

Xiao Xi knew Mu Xingge seemed like a gentle, sunny idol on the surface, but her temper was explosive in private.

This reader group… it wouldn’t cause trouble, would it? Xiao Xi worried.

A Suspicious Teammate

The next day, in Miss L’s office, Mu Xingge sat on the couch, legs crossed. Miss L spread her hands.

“It’s not that I don’t want to show you, Xingge. That kid’s file… it’s not in my hands.”

Mu Xingge had come to check Sirius’s file, curious about her performance in their last mission.

“Sirius was transferred from… Beihua City. Her file’s not in Xiahai.”

“Don’t worry, Xingge. I arranged her myself—how could there be an issue?”

Mu Xingge shrugged, dropping the subject, and started scrolling through group chat messages on her phone.

Miss L could tell Mu Xingge was in a bad mood, but her gut said it wasn’t about Sirius’s file.

“What’s wrong, Xingge?”

“Nothing. Just found a novel written about me, you know?”

Miss L got it instantly. Those kinds of stories were common, and she knew exactly what Mu Xingge meant.

The Association usually turned a blind eye. The stories didn’t name Mu Xingge directly—just adaptations. Hard to sue for that.

Miss L was curious why Mu Xingge was so heated this time. These things had been around forever, hadn’t they?

“It’s not the content that bothers me,” Mu Xingge said, slamming her phone shut. “It’s that it’s too real!”

She didn’t care about made-up fanfic, but this one was eerily accurate—not just the events, but the character reactions.

Mu Xingge had even considered: if she faced the novel’s scenarios, she might react exactly as written.

That’s what pissed her off. It was like how only the guilty get defensive when accused of cheating. No one gets mad over baseless lies—only when the truth hits.

This wasn’t a coincidence. The author had to be someone she knew!