Magical Girl Heavy Dependence

"Meow~ Meow~"

Dozens of fluffy cats of various colors surrounded the magical girl trio.

This turned out to be a cat cafe located inside a hotel. The three of them stood in the middle of cat trees of varying heights, with the cats rubbing against their feet and occasionally acting cute.

The man in the suit shooed away the approaching cat and slowly introduced himself: "I am 'Black Color', the external affairs manager of Black Cat Residence. I handle some business and liaison work for the master. Before the arrival of the evil master, we were actually prepared to welcome him at the first moment, but there was a small accident just now. Please forgive any negligence."

After saying that, he turned around and faced a giant cat house placed in the corner, shaped like a huge archway. He formed a hand seal and cast a spell.

"Now, please allow me to take you to the most central area of ​​this trade fair."

A dark gray curtain surged out from behind him like a living tide, wantonly swallowing the surrounding reality. The once cozy cat cafe walls, cat trees, and even the overhead lights were distorted and melted away under this force.

The immense magical fluctuations caused Du Lingyi and Zhong Ai's expressions to change slightly in unison. Just as they were about to uncontrollably transform, Cheng Chen reached out and stopped them from the left and right.

A gray sky completely enveloped the world. When visibility returned, the scene before my eyes was entirely different.

Zhong Ai looked up and saw a giant cat, dozens of meters tall and resembling a skyscraper, curiously lowering its head and sniffing them. Its exaggeratedly large face was almost right in front of them, and the purring from its throat was as loud as a war drum.

She recognized the cat; it had just been rubbing against her trouser leg.

Looking around, all that could be seen were cats bigger than mountains, playing, jumping, and chasing each other, making Zhong Ai feel as if she had stumbled into some kind of world of giant beasts.

The curious cat nudged its head close to Cheng Chen, sniffed some unknown scent, and then flew up like a spring.

thump.

As the giant cat landed heavily, the entire floor of the space trembled violently. The cat, which had leaped out, transformed into a flying, bristling spiny-backed dragon, hissing fiercely.

"go."

Dissatisfied, Xuanse casually waved his hand, and a gentle, invisible magic moved the giant cat away, tossing it onto the towering cat tree next to him.

Please come with me.

As he spoke, he smiled politely and extended his hand in invitation. Suddenly, the seemingly ordinary arched cat house door burst open, revealing a sight beyond imagination.

"This is...Yincheng?" Yan Xi, who was originally only there for decoration, promptly performed her proper function and showed a surprised expression.

"Miniature landscapes"

Xuanse led them inside, his tone tinged with humility, "We selected a representative section of the Tian'e District and used 3D printing to create a scaled-down model. Originally, it was just the head of the family's personal hobby, but later, because the trade fair needed a special venue to exhibit goods that couldn't be easily displayed outside, the head of the family used magic to recreate this place."

"A show of force, is that it?"

Cheng Chen remained calm as he surveyed his surroundings.

Xuan Se's words just now sounded like he was talking about something trivial. But any spellcaster with even a little experience could tell that it was a massive magical barrier.

The gigantic cats outside, and the enormous landscape identical to that of the cat cafe, are merely the perverse pleasure of the barrier's owner, creating the illusion for visitors that they have been shrunk. In reality, from the moment that gray curtain descended, they were already stripped from their original reality.

The fact that they have the ability to maintain a barrier of this scale is enough to show that the Black Cat Housekeeper mentioned by Xuanse is quite powerful.

"Your Majesty, you misunderstand. We have absolutely no such intentions."

Xuanse lowered his eyes respectfully and once again extended his hand to invite the group to continue forward.

The barrier city modeled after Yincheng was much more spacious and quiet than the surface trade fair. On the wide streets, the goods displayed in the shop windows finally had a bit of a villainous feel to them.

As they went deeper, Du Lingyi slowed down, and Zhong Ai, who was usually quiet, became increasingly solemn.

Yan Xi, who had been following at the back, almost bumped into Cheng Chen's back because she was distracted. Seeing the three of them stop, she asked dumbfoundedly, "Wh...what happened?"

"These are the things we sell," Zhong Ai said seriously.

"Very unusual," Du Lingyi added.

Yan Xi was slightly taken aback. She hadn't noticed anything amiss around her, and she had no idea how Xuan Se had cast the spell or what kind of magic he had used to bring them here.

It wasn't until this moment that her sluggish brain finally grasped the current situation.

First, Cheng Chen is leading the two of them to investigate something about a certain demonic organization.

This is actually quite common. The vast majority of magical girls who join the company continue to fulfill their duties as partners of justice outside of their work. That's why the company has specially set up special departments, including the intelligence analysis department and the tactical execution department.

Secondly, there is no place for her in the normal arrangement.

What she saw and heard today was completely beyond her ability to cope with; it was prepared for the two more mature magical girls, Zhong Ai and Du Lingyi, but she herself followed along like a little shadow.

Thinking of this, Yan Xi couldn't help but feel a little discouraged.

So Cheng Chen would arrange training like this, involving going out to investigate?

She looked around and saw demons exuding a dangerous aura everywhere she looked; she could feel a heavy sense of oppression just by looking at them.

Trade fairs, demon organizations, conspiracies and power struggles... these were all things she had never encountered when she was a trainee.

Am I really that worthless?

"The second stall from the left is selling a large-scale spellcasting model. The computing power of the model is beyond imagination. It must have used special magic to extract the magical girl's memories as a dataset, distilled it, and then recorded it into the model."

"No learning is required. Users can bypass the spell construction process and directly use the magic recorded in the spellbook simply by injecting magic into it." Zhong Ai tightened her face.

"Go forward, the fifth stall on the left, is full of monster eggs."

Du Lingyi glanced sideways and gestured, "Disaster beasts don't lay eggs; they're not oviparous. Apart from the 'Four Nightmares,' they can't even reproduce. Those things are definitely the product of refining disaster beasts using large-scale alchemy arrays. It's just unknown whether they'll hatch into mindless puppets or real disaster beasts."

"There are also shops that sell magical tools, made with standard 'Oath' lineage craftsmanship, and the suppliers are high-ranking magical girls."

"Look over there, someone is selling containers for the heart."

"It must be a poor imitation. I've heard people say that if you kill a magical girl and extract her Heart of Wish, and then imitate the structure of the 'Heart Vessel,' you can create a product that is inferior in function and efficacy. This means..."

The two spoke in hushed tones, both of them able to see the shock in each other's eyes.

The term "contraband" encompasses far more than they imagined.

Just then, the group arrived at a rustic wooden attic. The attic's architectural style was extremely elegant, standing out starkly against the backdrop of the modern city streets recreated by 3D printed miniature landscapes.

Xuanse stopped in front of the steps of the attic.

Passing by the ancient screen with its intricate patterns in front of the door, one sees beautiful young maids standing on either side, bowing respectfully.

One of the maids stepped forward to Cheng Chen and his group.

Zhong Ai was taken aback: "Magical Girl Yuanxi!?"

The maid turned her head, looked at Zhong Ai, and smiled gently: "You recognize me?"

"You...you're not a member of 'Fengxuan,' how come you're here..." She was so surprised she could hardly speak.

As a free-spirited magical girl who moves between various circles, she knows many like-minded people who are not affiliated with the association, including a rather powerful magical girl club called "Wind Whirl". She even met the captain of "Wind Whirl" about two weeks ago.

"It's just a part-time job."

Yuanxi gave a brief reply, gracefully curtsying before Cheng Chen, "The patriarch is waiting for you. Please follow me, sir."

Cheng Chen gladly accepted the invitation and followed Yuan Xi into the pavilion.

The trio wanted to follow, but Xuan Se stopped them: "Please rest outside for a while. If you feel bored, I can arrange a guide to take you around the trade fair and explain the products that interest you in detail."

Zhong Ai stopped, frowned slightly, nodded, and walked alone to the pavilion on the left side of the waterside pavilion where guests could rest.

Du Lingyi seemed to have other tasks assigned by the [Kaleidoscope Prison], and couldn't wait to turn around and continue browsing the trade fair.

Only Yan Xi stood there, bewildered and at a loss, subconsciously seeking Cheng Chen's opinion.

Cheng Chen, who had already reached the porch, turned around, nodded slightly to her, and said calmly, "Come with me."

Xuan hesitated for a moment, but before he could speak, Cheng Chen raised his hand: "It's okay."

So Xuanse naturally kept quiet, and Yanxi breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly chased after him.

Standing on the steps of the waterside pavilion, Zhong Ai unconsciously clenched her fingers. She felt a little regretful; she should have taken the initiative and asked Cheng Chen to take her with her. Now, it would seem a bit deliberate to speak up.

She bit her lower lip, her gaze fixed on the two figures as they walked away.

Does he favor that guy that much?

What's so great about that guy?

A certain emotion grew wildly in my heart like wildfire.

Zhong Ai looked around and caught sight of a restroom sign lit up at the end of the corridor not far away. After a moment's thought, she walked over.

"call……"

The cold water calmed the wildfire, and she breathed a long sigh of relief. Leaning against the edge of the sink, she slowly raised her head.

Someone in the mirror had silently appeared behind her, arms crossed, watching her intently.

Zhong Ai turned around abruptly, water droplets sliding down her hair: "Jingwei!?"

The magical girl Jingwei wore a crimson gown, her hairpin shaped like a pipa (a Chinese lute), and the hem of her skirt was delicate like bird feathers. Her expression was completely calm as she nodded indifferently to Zhong Ai, her voice as cold as the clash of jade stones:

"Well done, Azure."

……