Listening to the mechanical voice continuously echoing in her mind, the Magical Girl who had been puffed up with pride just moments ago instantly wilted like a frost-bitten eggplant. Even the blue ribbon in her hair seemed to droop, and her entire aura weakened, much like a deflated balloon.
Just moments earlier, she had smugly believed she had finally become strong enough to overthrow Cat Sister's "ruthless rule" and achieve the great dream of "the serf finally singing after turning the tables," proudly holding her head high!
Unexpectedly, reality slapped her hard across the face. It turned out everything had simply been wishful thinking.
Meng Xingyao O(≧A≦)O: 'Seriously, this demigod Cat Girl... did she secretly enable cheats? Otherwise, how could she possibly be this strong?! She's completely overpowered!'
Cipher: (=ↀ⩊ↀ=)੭ﾞ
Looking at the instantly deflated Magical Girl before her, a playful smile curled across Cipher's lips as she habitually reached out and pinched the girl's cheeks.
"Looks like after getting stronger, the Little Princess's courage has grown quite a bit too, hasn't it?"
Just now, Cipher had clearly sensed an unfamiliar wave of energy sweep across her.
Combining the girl's reactions before and after with the Magical Girl instruction manual, she immediately guessed what the girl had been trying to do.
What a joke.
Trying to probe the identity of the Demigod of Deception?
If it were really that easy, it wouldn't be worthy of being called the Demigod of Deception.
Hearing those words, Meng Xingyao's annoyed expression froze, and panic flickered across her eyes.
Still, she stubbornly stiffened her neck and mumbled through her pinched cheeks,
"Wha... wha are ya talkin' 'bout... I dunno..."
A sly smile danced across Cipher's eyes as the force of her pinching quietly increased.
"Is that so?"
She suddenly leaned in close, her warm breath brushing lightly against Meng Xingyao's ear. Her voice was as soft as a feather, yet carried an unquestionable teasing tone.
"It seems the Little Princess still needs a bit more discipline. Just now... weren't you secretly plotting how to 'rebel'?"
Meng Xingyao (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄): ?!!
Cipher (ಡωಡ): "Oh my? You confessed before I even had to interrogate you?"
Seeing her true thoughts exposed, Meng Xingyao's face instantly turned bright red. She tightly shut her mouth, lowered her head, and immediately became an "ostrich."
Looking at her like that, Cipher couldn't help but chuckle.
She released the hand pinching the girl's cheeks and instead gently ruffled her blue hair, lightly stroking the top of her head with her fingertips.
After all, that set of magical equipment had been personally selected and gifted by her.
And after spending so much time together as master and servant, she understood Meng Xingyao's personality all too well.
Seeing the Little Princess become a little arrogant after her strength skyrocketed didn't make Cipher angry. Instead, she thought it was only natural.
It was perfectly normal to get a little carried away after suddenly obtaining such tremendous power.
Cipher flicked her Tail, her golden eyes brimming with smug satisfaction.
Unfortunately...
A casual display of her abilities was already the limit of this world.
With nothing more than that simple demonstration, this girl would undoubtedly behave herself from now on.
"Don't let there be a next time, Little Princess~"
Cipher lightly tapped the tip of Meng Xingyao's nose with a fingertip.
"You wouldn't want the kitty to punish you severely, would you?"
After saying that, she gently patted the girl's soft cheek before saying nothing more.
Meanwhile, Meng Xingyao's face had already become completely crimson.
Punishment...
With Sister Cipher's speed... from her perspective, wouldn't I be no different from those heroines in certain 'time-stop' stories...?
Meng Xingyao (/∇＼): '...I'd definitely be completely broken like that!'
Cipher (⸝⸝ ↀ ᯅ ↀ⸝⸝)?: 'Why is this girl blushing again, meow?'
Unable to figure out what Meng Xingyao was thinking, Cipher simply gave up trying. She turned around and began collecting the spoils from the few people lying on the ground.
She rummaged through their pockets and bags, her brows knitting tighter and tighter.
"Tsk, they're clearly so poor. Why did they even come out to rob people?"
After searching everyone, she found that everything combined wasn't even worth ten thousand yuan.
Meng Xingyao, whose face had only just cooled down a little, happened to hear the complaint and couldn't help twitching the corners of her mouth.
'Isn't it precisely because they're poor that they resorted to robbery?'
But after another thought...
Forget it.
She was a dignified Magical Girl of justice.
Looting bodies had absolutely nothing to do with her!
Only after Cipher had finished collecting everything did Meng Xingyao walk over and ask with a frown,
"So... what should we do with these five? Do we need to destroy the evidence?"
Cipher (⸝⸝ ↀ ᯅ ↀ⸝⸝): "Meow?!!"
Feeling Cipher's direct gaze, Meng Xingyao suddenly became uncomfortable all over and asked quietly,
"W-What's wrong?"
"It's nothing. I just never realized before that you, a Magical Girl, are actually quite sinister!"
Meng Xingyao (/∇＼): "Th-Then... what do you think we should do, Cat Sister?"
Cipher shrugged indifferently, the tip of her Tail flicking lightly.
"Send them to the Ability Bureau, of course. That Liu Yunshuang I saved before seems pretty reliable."
As she spoke, she suddenly rubbed her paws together excitedly, her blue eyes sparkling.
"Maybe we'll even find out what these guys were planning and collect a bounty while we're at it, meow!"
Hearing that, Meng Xingyao obediently nodded, the tips of her blue hair swaying gently.
Although she held the title of a Special Grade Esper, in reality, the number of missions she had actually participated in—and the amount of real combat experience she possessed—could be counted on both hands.
Previously, her actual strength had remained at around the Level Three Esper stage.
However, after equipping the magical gear specially crafted for her by the Stellaron Hunters, she estimated that her combat ability had already reached the Level One Esper level.
And that was while she still hadn't fully mastered her Specialized Weapon.
After all, this weapon had been personally commissioned by Cipher and designed by Silver Wolf according to the Little Princess's supernatural abilities.
Combined with the "Omnipotent" trait, Silver Wolf had casually stored a large number of weapon blueprints inside Little Hong's database. The Floating Turrets from earlier were merely one example.
As long as Meng Xingyao possessed sufficient ability, she could recreate those weapons one by one through her own Special Ability.
However, the design philosophy and technological level behind those weapons far surpassed the current era.
If not for Little Hong sharing the enormous computational burden through its full support, Meng Xingyao would never have been able to construct even this handful of weapons in such a short period of time.
Even then, the weapons she created were still incomplete prototypes and couldn't remain after she canceled her transformation.
Although both their quantity and power were significantly reduced because of that limitation, they were still more than enough to overwhelm the standards of the current era.
Cipher's only miscalculation was probably that she hadn't expected the weapon designs Silver Wolf had casually thrown together to end up being so ridiculously cool, far exceeding all expectations.
Thinking of this, Meng Xingyao's eyes sparkled.
She grabbed Cat Sister's arm and shook it excitedly, her voice filled with anticipation.
"Cat Sister, Cat Sister! After this is all over, can you introduce me to the Stellaron Hunters?"
She paused for a moment before patting her chest and declaring confidently,
"Don't worry! Anyone who understands Magical Girls this well couldn't possibly be a bad person! So I just want to thank them in person and meet this legendary genius with my own eyes. I definitely won't cause them any trouble!"
Hearing that, Cipher thought for a moment before readily agreeing.
They already knew each other anyway.
The only thing they didn't know was each other's true identities.
If it weren't for the strange game Silver Wolf and Liu Xiyue seemed to be playing together, she wouldn't have bothered hiding it in the first place.
But that meant...
Was Liu Xiyue now the only one still completely in the dark?
Thinking about it that way...
It actually seemed rather interesting.