Chapter 41: Writer’s Block, Meow?

A Sisterly Reunion

Later that evening at home, Ye Xinglan held Xiao Xi’s face, inspecting it closely for a long time. She even tugged at her cheeks before patting her head with relief.

“Alright, looks like this one’s the real deal.”

Xiao Keke, who had escorted Xiao Xi home, nodded. “The folks at the Magical Girl Association said my sister got attacked by a monster. After checking her info, they contacted me as her family to pick her up.”

“That was my first time at a place like the Magical Girl Association. It’s so fancy~”

Xiao Xi’s mouth twitched. This brat was pretty good at spinning lies herself, yet she had the nerve to call her out!

“I didn’t expect to be so unlucky,” Xiao Xi sighed. “I was rushing to work and took a shortcut through an alley. Next thing I knew, everything went black… and when I opened my eyes, I was in the Association’s medical room.”

Neither of the other two doubted her story. Although the Magical Girl Association had a magic detection department, they couldn’t monitor every corner of the city. Naturally, some monsters, freshly spawned from cocoons, slipped through the cracks.

Especially slimes—low-level monsters with barely any magical aura. Compared to high-level monsters, they evaded detection more easily.

“You call that unlucky? You’re just a weakling~”

Ye Xinglan patted Xiao Xi’s head like she was soothing a child. “A slime’s so pathetic even a regular grown man could take it down. But good thing you’re unharmed.”

Watching Ye Xinglan pull Xiao Xi’s head into her chest, Xiao Keke rolled her eyes and turned to leave. Her sister was safely home, and she had no interest in sticking around to watch this lovey-dovey nonsense.

Besides, Xiao Keke couldn’t shake the feeling that this couple seemed even closer than before. Apparently, living together really did spark feelings over time.

A Narrow Escape

Trapped in Ye Xinglan’s embrace, Xiao Xi heard the door close and let out a relieved breath. That was close. Thank goodness for Miss L’s help, or she wouldn’t have fooled anyone today.

But on second thought, why did that slime suddenly get so hyper and agitated?

When Xiao Xi subdued the slime, she noticed something odd. Its extreme excitement had caused it to lose its disguise entirely.

That was strange. Slimes were famously docile monsters. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be lab rats in the Association’s experiments. They shouldn’t get riled up so easily.

Did something trigger it? Xiao Xi recalled how the slime kept sniffing around Ye Xinglan.

Was it because of Ye Xinglan?

With that thought, Xiao Xi instinctively sniffed. Ye Xinglan’s smothering embrace made breathing tough, but a faint, pleasant scent lingered at her nose. Beyond that, she detected nothing unusual.

[Sisters, you smell so good.jpg]

But this wasn’t the first time. That magic-storing Poké Ball had also gone wild when Ye Xinglan entered the room. Could Ye Xinglan have some kind of physique that attracted monsters?

Xiao Xi didn’t get it. In all her years as a magical girl, she’d never heard of an ordinary person having such a trait.

Or… was Ye Xinglan not ordinary?

Still, Xiao Xi kept her doubts to herself. Ye Xinglan’s embrace muffled her so much she could barely speak.

“Stop rubbing! I need to cook dinner! Let me go!”

From Ye Xinglan’s arms came Xiao Xi’s slightly embarrassed, muffled voice.

Struggling with Words

After dinner, Xiao Xi sat in her room, typing away. She stared at the screen for ages before hesitantly tapping the keyboard.

“But she didn’t notice the tentacle monster’s other appendage lurking, seizing the moment to slither under her skirt.”

“She instinctively clamped her legs shut…”

Here, Xiao Xi paused. After a few seconds of hesitation, she furiously hit the delete key, erasing both sentences.

Sighing in frustration, Xiao Xi rubbed her temples. Writer’s block was torture!

However, her block wasn’t from a lack of ideas. Ever since she learned Mu Xingge had joined her reader group, she’d been too nervous to write freely.

As a result, her recent chapters leaned conservative. The comment section buzzed with complaints about her “boring” daily-life plots. But Xiao Xi was scared!

If Ye Xinglan hadn’t boosted her popularity with tons of site-wide gift notifications, Xiao Xi was sure her readership would’ve tanked by now.

Just then, her computer pinged with QQ notifications. Someone in the reader group had tagged her.

[EternalStar: “Author, your recent plots are so bland. All this daily-life stuff—where’s Mu Xingge’s defeat scenes? They’re barely there anymore.”]

Xiao Xi fumed, tempted to barge into Ye Xinglan’s room and elbow her. How many times had she told her not to mention Mu Xingge in the group? She never listened!

To play it safe, Xiao Xi sent a cosmic liability disclaimer to the group.

[Group Admin: “@EternalStar, darling, my protagonist just happens to resemble Mu Xingge a bit. She’s absolutely not related to her, okay?”]

After sending it, Xiao Xi closed the chat window to focus on writing. But soon, a barrage of “ding-ding-ding” notifications interrupted her again.

Opening the group chat, she groaned. Great. Ye Xinglan and Mu Xingge were bickering again.

With a headache brewing, Xiao Xi muted both for ten minutes and posted a group announcement banning fights.

She’d considered kicking them out, but Ye Xinglan had donated so many gifts. Booting her felt like disrespecting her biggest supporter.

As for Mu Xingge, Xiao Xi didn’t want to tip her off. She had to pretend she didn’t know the account belonged to Mu Xingge. If that hothead got mad and doxxed her, what then?

Xiao Xi had no doubt Mu Xingge was capable of that in a rage.

At this point, only one thought consumed her: Writing novels is so freaking hard!

An Unexpected Visit

The next afternoon, while Xiao Xi worked her usual shift at the café, a large group suddenly swarmed the entrance.

“Welcome to Nightingale Café~”

Xiao Xi greeted them with her usual smile, but upon recognizing the visitors, she froze slightly.

Leading the group were several people in Magical Girl Association uniforms, followed by two magical girls: [Little Red Riding Hood] Xiao Keke and [Nightingale Songstress] Mu Xingge.

Why would the Association show up here out of nowhere?

Nearby, Ye Xinglan stiffened in her seat. A sudden thought hit her—had her identity been exposed? Was the Association here to nab her?

Still, without knowing the truth, Ye Xinglan stayed put, her nerves steady as steel.

“We’re from the Magical Girl Association, here for a routine inspection.”

The leader flashed a badge at Xiao Xi. “Is the manager in?”