Magical Girl Heavy Dependence

Chapter 76, The Right Thing?

"Lulu, what happened?"

Yan Xi released Shen Caihua and breathed a sigh of relief.

"...There was someone down there just now, we almost got caught," she replied in a low voice.

Shen Caihua immediately shrank her neck, not daring to even breathe loudly.

Yan Xi peeked towards the stage and saw that Chu Junzhuo was already seated at the piano, focused on his performance. She then added, "It's alright now."

"That scared me to death!" Shen Caihua complained, still shaken. "Luckily, Lulu, you reacted quickly. If we had actually been caught, we would have been given a real dressing down." She then looked disappointed and exclaimed softly, "Ah! My idol's performance!"

She ignored Yan Xi beside her and quickly took out her phone to record the stage.

Yan Xi didn't say anything more, but slowly slid down the wall and sat in a dusty corner.

What exactly did Chu Junzhuo mean by what he just said?

Is the magical girl who wanted to kill his mother Cang Qing? Does Cang Qing have a grudge against Fei Peng?

Moreover, she was a traitor, a spy planted by Nightingale's House next to the producer...

She was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information she received.

Yan Xi shook her head vigorously. Cang Qing, that guy, really had ill intentions from the very beginning when he approached the producer! What she had just heard was only one side of the story and there was no substantial evidence, but it was enough to confirm her previous suspicions.

In short, we need to tell the producer about this as soon as possible, whether he believes it or not.

Thinking this, Yan Xi didn't disturb Shen Caihua, who was immersed in the music. She quietly stood up, crouched down, and made her way from the side staircase of the maintenance passage to the outer aisle of the audience seats.

She vaguely remembered Cheng Chen's location, but the light was too dim to make out, and she didn't want to attract unnecessary attention.

Which row was the producer sitting in?

……

"When I first met Shen Lianjing, she was still 'Magical Girl Fei Peng', and I was less than ten years old at the time."

Zhong Ai lowered her eyelids, clasped her hands together, and spoke very softly.

On stage, the melodious sound of a piano had already begun. Chu Junzhuo was playing, while Shen Lianjing wiped her eyes with a handkerchief, sobbing as she returned to the front row of the audience, next to Chu Kai.

The position was now diagonally in front of the two people, within easy reach.

Cheng Chen flicked her finger, and a concealment array enveloped the two of them, allowing her to finish her sentence without any worries.

"Brother has never met my mother, has he?" Zhong Ai pursed her lips. "She was killed by 'Fei Peng'."

"You've never mentioned it." Cheng Chen shook his head slightly.

"Your father never told you either," Chung Ai said calmly. "None of us have mentioned it to anyone. This is a memory our family doesn't want to talk about."

Cheng Chen nodded, indicating his understanding.

"My mother was a stage actress in a theater troupe. She and my father met on the set of a performance. It was a story of a male fan falling in love with a female actress, pursuing her relentlessly, and eventually winning her heart. In the first half of his life, marrying my mother was the honor he was most proud of."

"When I was little, he would take me to the theater troupe to watch my mother perform every day. I even had a cameo role as a child actor, playing a little fairy in a play."

Zhong Ai was lost in memories, a faint smile appearing on her face.

Memories I haven't touched in a long time, when reread now, still bring back a long-lost sense of happiness.

"She died later."

With a change in tone, Zhong Ai spoke, and there was hardly any sadness left.

"My father never went back to the theater troupe, and I never played any role again. Since then, we have never mentioned her again."

Cheng Chen listened quietly, then asked at the opportune moment, "Why did 'Fei Peng' kill people?"

"She just..."

Chung Ai pondered for a moment but couldn't find the right words to describe it, so she started from the beginning, "At that time, a demon broke into the theater troupe. My mother and several other colleagues were rehearsing on stage, and my father and I were watching from below the stage as her little audience."

"The demon is being chased by Fei Peng and is at his wit's end. He doesn't even have the strength to escape and only wants to perish together with others. He rushes onto the stage and takes everyone he can grab hostage, trying to buy some time so that he can prepare for the 'contract collapse'."

She explained it in great detail.

At that time, the young Zhong Ai might not have been able to discern these details from the magician's spellcasting movements, but now she is an excellent magical girl and can piece together more detailed information from her memories.

The so-called "contract collapse" is the demon's last resort.

It requires the demon and the contracted monster to be of one mind, with both willingly sacrificing themselves in exchange for a brief burst of magical power.

"Faced with that quasi-demon, Fei Peng... she didn't save her mother or anyone else, nor did she try to save anyone on the stage. She simply used a high-level spell from the 'Holy Hymn' lineage to blast them and the demon into ashes." Zhong Ai glanced at Cheng Chen. "At that time, she was right in front of me, with her back to me."

"So now, do you want revenge?"

"I have no idea."

"have no idea?"

Zhong Ai's long eyelashes drooped, and after a long while, she said, "Fei Peng killed my mother, but he also saved my father and me. Without her, we might have all died back then."

"If she hadn't been chasing after that demon, none of you would have gotten into trouble," Cheng Chen said.

"No." Zhong Ai shook her head firmly. "She is a magical girl. Fighting demons and eliminating calamities is her duty. We cannot blame her for her initial choice to fulfill her duty just because a bad outcome occurred in the end."

Cheng Chen raised an eyebrow and stared straight at her.

Under that gaze, she lowered her head again: "I don't know... just take it as nonsense... I'm sorry."

"It's none of your business."

Cheng Chen reached out, imagining patting Yan Xi's head as he usually did.

However, he withdrew his hand halfway through: "In my opinion, you are trying to exonerate 'Fei Peng,' constantly telling yourself that she did nothing wrong, that she just made a difficult choice, to make yourself feel better."

Zhong Ai stared at him blankly.

"Being a partner of justice isn't easy," Cheng Chen shook his head. "To start a conflict and then be unable to stop it before the impact escalates is incompetence... We shouldn't blame the choice for the outcome, but those who make the choice should bear the consequences."

Magical girls are those kinds of creatures.

When they gained their powers, they were too naive and innocent, always thinking that by putting on magical girl dresses they could become saviors, and thus they acted recklessly, turning everything upside down.

"Did she say anything else?" Cheng Chen asked.

"She said that if you hate her, you can go find her anytime and kill her to take revenge," Zhong Ai replied.

"Then why are you hesitating?"

Zhong Ai fell silent.

revenge?

I've had those thoughts before.

From the very first day she gained her power, from the very first day she saw Shen Lianjing again at the school anniversary celebration, this thought had been burning fiercely within her.

But when she looked back and suddenly realized that she had also become a so-called "magical girl," and that if she were to face the same situation one day, she might make the exact same choice as Fei Peng back then, then the hatred disappeared.

Instead, chaos and fear prevailed.

Magical girls, do they have to hurt others in order to do the "right thing"?

Zhong Ai even found it difficult to breathe.

She finally realized that she was doing the same thing.

Isn't the magical girl Azure also hurting her brother, who truly cares about her and is tolerant of her, all in order to do the right thing of "eliminating the elements of calamity"?

She suddenly felt an urge to tell everyone what she was doing.

"Brother, it's me—!"

Cheng Chen looked at her patiently and nodded: "What's wrong? Just say what you want to say."

Two lines of wet tears slid down Zhong Ai's pale cheeks without warning. She opened her mouth, but found herself unable to speak, unwilling to speak.

"I...no...no...I just..."

She frantically wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, trying to explain incoherently.

Cheng Chen suddenly moved closer, opened his arms, and gently embraced her.

Caught off guard, Zhong Ai found herself in this warm embrace. In an instant, all the chaos, struggle, and self-blame in her mind came to an abrupt end.

"It's okay." Cheng Chen lowered his head and whispered in her ear, his warm breath brushing against her skin. His voice was deep and gentle. "I'm your brother, and I'll always be on your side."

I don't know how much time passed.

Zhong Ai slowly raised her hands and climbed over his broad back.

She buried her tear-streaked face in the crook of his neck, rested her head on his shoulder, and closed her eyes.

"Um."

……

"The producer, the producer, the producer... where did they go...?"

Yan Xi repeated it to herself.

"Ah! Found it!"

Yan Xi was about to quicken her pace, preparing to get closer.

Yan Xi saw Cheng Chen embrace Zhong Ai, holding her tightly and gently in his broad arms.

Yan Xi stood there, stunned.

Yan Xi was stunned, as if he were a wooden chicken.

……