The villainous magical girl's daily mission is to find fault.

Chapter 549 Revisiting the Gate of Fox Virtue

Nighttime, on the villain's rooftop.

Su Tianqing narrowed her eyes as she watched the text gradually appear on the secret manual's information page.

The fox's tail stopped behind it, and the entire fox was focused on the information in the secret manual in front of it, not wanting to miss any details.

Even after the last few lines of text appeared, Su Tianqing still managed a helpless, bitter smile, and even wondered if she was hallucinating.

[Secret Codex Information]

【Garuda, the Astral Beast】

[First discovered in the Andromeda Sector, it caused multiple acts of devastation during its wanderings in the celestial realm.]

According to eyewitness reports, it possesses the ability to invade dreams and inflict fatal harm on those affected within those dreams.

No more.

The golden-haired fox flipped through the secret manual's information pages, confirming that it contained only these few lines of text, and then uttered a line that sounded like it had already been read aloud by someone:

"That's it?"

While inwardly complaining that the secret manual was always unreliable at crucial moments, Su Tianqing closed the tattered book, and her fox tail began to wag again.

The villain was alone on the rooftop. Cat and Rabbit were scattered throughout Rongcheng, responding to the call of Chi Xue and the Hero Association to continuously monitor various parts of Rongcheng and guard against any possible attack by Garuda.

But as night approached, Garuda showed no sign of launching an attack. Instead, a strange and unremarkable attack occurred north of Rongcheng.

The strange man was instantly killed by Hyacinth's leaping attack the moment he showed his face, before he even had a chance to let out a howl. Fox felt sorry for him.

"Forget it, since the secret manual is unreliable, I'll just organize the information I have now myself," Su Tianqing thought to herself.

With a wave of her wand, the familiar carrying a whiteboard appeared before her, while the marker familiar flapped its wings and flew over, drawing a mind map according to the golden fox's wishes.

This is the intelligence gathering part that I excel at. When faced with challenging problems, organizing intelligence and brainstorming is a necessary step, not to mention that the secret manual has also instructed me to find a solution. So how can I push the progress forward?

Garuda, Sasha, the attack on Sparrow Village, the eye in the sky, a strange dream.

Staring at the limited information for a long time, Su Tianqing tried to connect the dots between these pieces of information, but no matter what she did, she couldn't find any connection between them.

Why is Garuda staring at Sasha? She's just an ordinary winged girl, so what's so special about her that Garuda hasn't noticed?

The more Su Tianqing thought, the more her fox brain overloaded. She drank two or three mouthfuls of cold water but couldn't cool it down, so she simply spread her tail and lay down on the spot, giving up.

I must be missing some crucial information. There are very few connections between all the known information, making it impossible to weave the net that leads to the correct answer.

Sasha... what other secrets do you still have that you haven't revealed...?

……

later.

"Splash splash splash..."

"Click".

The sound of water in the bathroom gradually subsided.

After a rustling sound, a girl in a nightgown emerged from the bathroom, gathering her wet hair with one hand and using the other hand to emit a shimmering magical light, removing all the remaining water droplets from her hair.

When she walked into the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bed, her hair was already dry and clean, and there was no indication that she had just rinsed herself under the shower several times.

"call……"

Hua Ling stopped using her quick-drying magic and lay helplessly on the bed. Her nightgown fluttered slightly in the wind before quickly falling back to the bedside, creating a gentle breeze.

"I'm tired," the girl thought.

Since becoming a magical girl, I have rarely encountered a situation as physically and mentally exhausted as today.

It had nothing to do with excessive magic consumption, nor with the physical education class during the day—although the class did have some influence—but the news that had truly made him feel mentally tense was the real culprit behind this fatigue:

[Garuda has entangled Sasha], [Sister Tianqing was attacked by Garuda in her dream].

If the former only made you feel nervous, the latter was terrifying news.

Hua Ling felt that if she heard that a friend was injured, she might bring a basket of fruit to visit her, or she might call to say hello and exchange pleasantries, in order to convey her heartfelt concern and worry.

But what if this friend is Sister Tianqing...?

"Snapped!"

She vaguely sensed that the deep darkness she had once overcome was beginning to resurface. Hua Ling quickly took a deep breath, raised her hands, and slapped her face. The loud slaps brought a stinging pain, completely banishing that thought from her mind.

After hearing Senior Chi Xue mention this matter, Nan Xiaofeng, who was beside her, almost wanted to point at the sky and curse on the spot. She wished she could drag Garuda out of the Star Plane and beat him up. Fortunately, Bai Ling pulled her back, which prevented her from really causing a scene.

Thanks to the mental world that Xin Yuehu hadn't had time to remove, which provided an extra layer of protection while blocking Garuda's gaze, a worse situation was avoided.

Hua Ling couldn't imagine what she would become if Tian Qing were injured or even seriously injured by Garuda's attack...

*Smack!*

Another slap, louder than the last.

"Ouch, it hurts..."

The last slap was a bit too hard. Hua Ling gasped, rubbed her stinging cheek, quickly threw off the covers and crawled into bed. She curled up in the warm blankets, trying to calm herself down.

...I need to protect Sister Tianqing. I also need to protect Sasha, because she is my friend.

I am the magical girl Iris, possessing powerful magical abilities, and I am confident that I can protect those I cherish.

must be able to!

The shout echoed in her mind, and Karin tried to strengthen her resolve with it, but the dual exhaustion of body and mind crept up the girl's body the moment her head touched the pillow, quickly spreading along the warm blankets—

Gradually, Hua Ling felt her eyelids begin to droop, and she could no longer open her closed eyes. Her vision gradually blurred and darkened, and she gradually drifted into sleep.

.

The girl opened her eyes in the thick fog.

Is this a dream?

Hua Ling stood in the world shrouded in thick fog, looking around at the still impenetrable fog.

What a strange dream... Although dreaming isn't uncommon, this dream was far too bizarre—there was no setting, no characters with profound meaning, nothing at all...

"Whoosh!"

The sound of strong winds rang in my ears.

Hua Ling instinctively tried to pinpoint the direction of the wind, but a sudden gust of wind, seemingly coming from nowhere, instantly dispersed the thick fog, revealing a clear view of everything around her.

The golden sunset casts its glow on the horizon, and the sound of waves crashing on the beach echoes in the distance. A towering giant stands in the center of the city, but it is broken in two, with the other half nowhere to be found.

Hua Ling recognized the tower—the Fox Tower of the Fox Virtue Gate. In the world of Xin Yuehu's mind, the golden-haired fox girl was the master of this mage tower. She and Feng Xinzi had also experienced an unforgettable adventure in the mage tower.

But now it has become dilapidated and decadent, with black vines climbing everywhere, and the square is surrounded by rubble. The entire Gate of Fox Virtue has been reduced to ruins. Looking around, there are hardly any intact houses, only dilapidated buildings, as if a fierce battle has just taken place.

"What...is this...?"

The girl muttered to herself, and just as she was about to take a step forward, she felt something was off about the touch on her body. She quickly looked down and her eyes widened in shock:

She wasn't wearing a nightgown or her usual clothes. Instead, she was wearing a fitted dress covered with various scrolls and books, with a white mage's robe draped over it, and a pointed mage's hat on her head—a very familiar outfit.

Isn't this exactly what I wore as the mage in the adventurer party in the Fox Gate? Why is this happening...?

"Click...crack..."

A low, clicking sound traveled with the wind to my ears.

Flower Bell—or rather, Iris Flower—quickly looked up in the direction from which the eerie clicking sound came. Before her appeared a thin, all-black shadow, surrounded by black mist that obscured most of its body details. Even under the glow of the setting sun, its true appearance was completely hidden.

The moment the shadowy figure met the iris's gaze, it abruptly raised its hands, and a mouth-like organ opened into a still-black maw on its head, emitting a sharp and piercing howl that instantly echoed throughout the dilapidated Fox Gate.

The setting sun shone on the broken mage tower, casting a deep shadow. With that shrill cry, more gaunt figures gradually emerged from the broad shadow, taking slow, heavy steps toward the iris.

"W-What's going on? What are these things...?"

Iris instinctively took a half step back, a bead of cold sweat trickling down her cheek, staring blankly at the approaching black shadows.

She gripped the slender staff tightly, her mind racing, trying to figure out exactly what was going on with her—

Is this a dream? Or is it a mental world created by Xin Yuehu?

If it was a dream, then this dream was far too real. I could feel the subtle touches coming from all parts of my body, and I could also sense the surge of magic power coming from the handle of the staff. It was definitely not an ordinary "dream".

But Senior Chi Xue had clearly reached an agreement with Xin Yuehu that she wouldn't cause any more trouble in Rongcheng for the time being, and she wasn't the kind of little fox who would break her word. So what was going on...?

Just as the iris was pondering and unable to make up her mind, the dark figure at the front made a dangerous move:

It lunged at the pure white mage before it, violating the principles of "turn-based combat TRPG" in the world of mind, with a terrifying appearance that seemed intent on tearing the young mage to shreds.

But what was stuffed into its mouth was a bright, scorching red light that shot out from the girl's hand, hitting its target precisely and exploding into a huge, dazzling fireball!

"Crack!!!"

A heatwave erupted, accompanied by a deafening roar. A massive fireball, several meters in diameter, instantly engulfed the leading group of dark figures, turning them into ashes and dissipating into nothingness.

[Third-tier spell, Anonymous - Fireball]

For some reason, the word popped into Iris's mind. She was so startled by the fireball spell she had unintentionally cast that she took several steps back and looked incredulously at her left hand, which had released the spell.

Even with such powerful spells suppressing them, the dark shadows did not stop advancing; in fact, they gathered in ever-growing numbers.

Iris took a few steps back again, and following the thought of casting a spell in her mind, she raised her left hand. More flaming orbs of light emerged from her palm as she warily watched the monsters closing in on her.

Explosions, roars, and waves of heat.

Above the ruins of the Gate of Fox Virtue, a pair of molten gold eyes slowly opened.

It gazed at the young mage who was fiercely battling the black shadows, its eyes devoid of joy or sorrow.