"How's Magical Girl Ruri?"

"Didn't her brother join the Witch Association? She must be devastated now."

"This is smearing Magical Girl Ruri's name."

"Having a brother like that is just bad luck. How tormented Ruri must be."

"Being a brother isn't something you do randomly. He owes apologies to all of Ruri's fans."

"Anyway, I'm not going to hate Magical Girl Ruri because of him. Cut ties with her brother..."

Ever since Big Brother was put on the wanted list, voices like these hadn't stopped.

In just half a day, whether in online comments or in the surrounding conversations, everyone was talking.

Her brother and she are not on the same side, they must be considered separately. From now on, Jiang Si is no longer her brother, he's an enemy.

Keke, of course, snorted at that.

She didn't think Big Brother was a villain, and she certainly didn't believe she and Big Brother were no longer family.

But no matter how Keke protested, other people's opinions seemed fixed and unchangeable.

"I won't give up on my brother, and I won't cut ties with him. We're family! Whatever wrongs my brother did, I share them!"

Even though she declared that, few people actually cared.

Staff at the Disaster Control Bureau silently sighed behind their hands; in the injured parties' chat groups, people were moved and sympathetic to their own hearts' content.

"What a good sister. Even so, she won't abandon her brother."

"Sigh, good people don't get rewarded. Magical Girls' families are always so twisted..."

"Miss Ruri is so pitiful. Makes you want to protect her. The Magical Girl Ruri Support Club will do everything it can to help!"

Keke felt a bit helpless.

When she tried to correct those mistaken impressions, she realized how much of their 'fans' spoke for themselves.

No matter how she explained, no matter how she took her brother's guilt onto herself, nobody cared or believed her.

In the end, outsiders could only see Magical Girl Ruri.

They couldn't see Jiang Si's sister, Keke.

Walking out of the ruined wasteland on Beihai's outskirts,

Keke raised her head and looked toward the reefs by the distant sea.

She knew a big fight had happened here earlier — Iris had confronted Big Brother and the Azure Cloud Sect's true-transmission disciples here, and in the end let Big Brother escape.

No wonder it's my brother; he managed to flee even under those circumstances.

Although that thought came first, Keke still felt some regret.

If they had captured Jiang Si, she could have protected him better.

Staring at the reef off Beihai, Keke took a deep breath.

He should have gone this way.

"Keke, when are we going back?"

Silver Lotus, the only one willing to stay at her side, complained weakly, "This kind of searching leads nowhere."

Inside the Bureau, after Keke had been hit by Shuangye's Unclear Confusion, it was Silver Lotus who carried her out.

Since Silver Lotus advanced to Blooming, she had been developing her magical abilities.

From when she first became a Magical Girl she had been good at illusion and magic interference.

Later, after learning about Shuangye's abilities from Peony and communicating with the Central Bureau, Silver Lotus could barely match Shuangye.

Of course she could only help Keke escape; if Shuangye noticed them, it would be over.

"Not going home for now."

Keke's solemn declaration left Silver Lotus a little speechless.

After thinking, she comforted her, "Don't worry too much, and don't take what others say to heart. Let's go back to the Bureau first."

Following Keke toward the sea, waves crashed on the shore in rhythmic bursts; the tide sounded crisp and fragmentary, evaporating the aggravating dampness.

"I said I'm darkened, I'm not going back."

Silver Lotus hugged Keke and laughed helplessly.

"Where's this darkness you're talking about, may I ask?"

Keke walked on the beach, touched her somewhat sharp, cool hairstyle and the black, edgy leather jacket she wore.

She felt she had gone fully darkened, so why couldn't Yiyi sense it?

Her friend began to scold her.

"You gathered the courage to ask the director for formal status, and after a long time they finally gave you double pay — you were an intern Magical Girl, and double pay during internship equals normal staff salary. Once promoted you act so full of yourself. Maybe you would've been the same without darkening?"

"But, but earlier before I darkened, the director wouldn't promote me and change to double pay at all."

Keke immediately spoke righteously, "I'm so scary already, how could I not be darkened?"

"Alright, alright. My dark Ruri won't even help elderly cross the street now, she'll just say, 'Old thing, run on your own.'"

"I—I haven't been that mean yet..."

Silver Lotus rolled her eyes and pinched Keke's cheek, "I thought your darkening would have you squatting on the roadside, lighting a cigarette, but you're squatting with a lollipop. Who are you scaring like that?"

"Darkening shouldn't harm your body," Keke muttered. "I'm still a minor. My parents will be mad. If I smoke or drink, Big Brother will beat me."

Silver Lotus listened and felt powerless, "Fine, darken while you want, but buy your own lollipop."

"Go buy it yourself."

"Wow, treating your friend who'll accompany your fall like that? I misjudged you, Keke!"

"You still owe me that ice cream!"

Laughing and chatting, the two darkened Magical Girls played around.

After a while, Keke pulled Silver Lotus to the reefs.

"Big Brother must have disappeared around here."

"How do you know?"

Keke pointed. Red flames burned on the rock, "My magic residue clings to him. I can sense it. My sensing was cut off here."

"Hmm, don't be impatient. Search slowly."

Silver Lotus said while helping Keke sit on the rock. "But, Keke, if you're going to search for your brother, why darken?"

"Because," Keke whispered, "everyone separates me from my brother because he's with the Witch Association."

"So I have to darken so they know I'm the same as my brother."

"Not family, not in the same household."

"Yes, exactly." Keke nodded rapidly. "Then people won't say my brother is dragging me down. Everyone thinks I've always been the one causing him trouble..."

"Well... it's not wholly wrong." Sitting on the reef, Silver Lotus hugged Keke and rubbed her cheek in the sea breeze, "But does that mean you won't be a Magical Girl anymore? Keke, join the Witch Association with your brother?"

"If that's the case." Keke asked quietly, "Yiyi will turn against me?"

"How could she? I'll join the Witch Association too. I'll darken with you!" Silver Lotus said cheerfully. "I have no family anymore. I'll go wherever you go, Keke. Besides, I'm Jiang Si's sister now too; darkening to be with your brother is normal..."

"No way."

Keke immediately said sternly, "Big Brother only has me as his sister. You can only be his girlfriend."

"Wow, so petty..." Silver Lotus didn't take it to heart, just looked at the sun by the sea and asked seriously, "You really won't be a Magical Girl?"

Because when her sister left, Silver Lotus had seriously considered quitting being a Magical Girl, she cared a lot about this.

"Let me bring Big Brother back first."

Keke stood and spoke gravely, "If Big Brother hurt people, I'll share his responsibility, share his punishment. After everything is finished, if people can accept me, then I'll continue being a Magical Girl."

Silver Lotus smiled and held her friend's hand. "You're greedy, Keke. Refusing to give up either side is hard. But whatever you decide, I'll be with you. We'll rescue Big Brother, then be Magical Girls together!"

"He's my brother! Not yours!"

"It's the same. If you think it's unfair, you can be my sister instead of his, and that'll even things out..."

"No!"

The two girls chased after Jiang Si's trail and kept walking.

Following behind, Four Leaf and Six Leaf finally peeked out.

Six Leaf picked up a seashell and tried to bite it; after chipping a tooth she tearfully clung to her older sister.

Four Leaf angrily twisted her ear, "I told you not to eat random things."

Then she looked toward Keke and Silver Lotus as they left and couldn't help biting her thumbnail.

"Report to Lady Bingtang, found Keke and Silver Lotus. Should we bring them back?"

"No hurry. Keep following, as long as there's no danger."

"Received."

......

Old world, Mirror Kingdom

Sharp alarms echoed through the Mirror Kingdom as many Alices surged into the palace.

In the hall, glass tables shattered, and the girl whose forehead was pressed into a pool of blood exploded like water into countless bats with a "swoosh!"

Amazing magic erupted from all the Alices; gray-white threads wove a net within the palace, capturing the dense swarm of bats.

Jiang Si, covered in blood, wore an icy expression. His face and clothes were marked with wounds as if cut by a thousand knives.

The captured bats reassembled into that vampire-like Magical Girl. The special snow-screen effect around her body flared, rupturing Alice's network entirely.

[Analyzing abilities...]

The system began collecting and disassembling those snow-screens immediately.

Wiping a bloody streak from his eye with his thumb, Jiang Si stepped forward to charge again when the Prince grabbed his hand.

"Let Alice handle it."

Those blood-red eyes were full of pain and worry. "You must go heal right now!"

"Don't be in the way."

Jiang Si coldly replied, "Are you looking down on me?"

To the Prince, such blatant defiance of her would be intolerable under normal circumstances.

Especially in her own Mirror Kingdom palace — her dignity and pride would not allow someone to oppose her there.

But she made an exception for Jiang Si.

After all, if you're the Mirror Queen's lover, you should have that courage to stand up to her.

Who would want a timid youth?

Moreover, she could see Jiang Si wanted to perform for her.

Being captured earlier was probably humiliating in front of his lover; he wanted to regain face and prove himself.

Even without the ability to transform into the Golden Calamity Dragon King, Jiang Si's proud bones wouldn't accept being a man who leeches off his lover.

Thinking this made the Prince moved and even more affectionate. "Alright."

She gently wiped the blood from his face and placed a hand in his. "Be careful."

She looked like a wife worrying as her husband set off on a journey.

Jiang Si was a little stunned by her reaction. He had intended his behavior to lower her goodwill toward him.

Though hope was slim, he still tried to build an argument for breaking the engagement.

But his actions only strengthened her resolve to marry him.

Not caring to think further, already annoyed, Jiang Si stared at the bat girl above and launched himself like a projectile!

His fierce right leg exploded with a sonic boom, striking the bat girl's skull like a steel whip!

The surrounding snow-screen first tore into Jiang Si's thigh muscle.

Blood splashed over the Alices below; only the Prince's space was isolated from the stain.

Even with the snow-screen, the bat girl's massive inertia hurled her toward the ceiling!

Her body smashed into the thick glass panes of a beam, and before she could retaliate,

Jiang Si drove a heavy knee strike into her skull!

In that instant the snow-screen shredded skin and bone, the knee's white kneecap clearly visible.

But the youth seemed unaware of injury and pain, pressing his weight relentlessly onto her head!

The skull nearly deformed under the crushing collisions; white bone pierced cheeks, and then, with her skull, she was forced through the ceiling!

That ceiling, reinforced by Mirror Kingdom tech to be shell-proof, now shattered like an eggshell, exploding into webbed fragments that rained dust and glass down.

Other Mirror Kingdom citizens looked up, chattering curiously and puzzled at the sudden incident.

Only when Jiang Si slammed through the northern capital's glass tower like a meteor and the tower collapsed with a terrifying groan did screams erupt.

After Jiang Si climbed out of the tower's wreckage and leapt skyward again, the destroyed tower restored itself the next second as if time reversed.

Holding glass shards, Jiang Si thrust one into the bat girl's right eye with blinding speed!

The bat girl trembled in shock. She hadn't expected a supposedly untransformable Simo Tu to be so terrifying...

She had assumed an untransforming Simo Tu posed no threat and thus attacked — miscalculation.

"I am Sonora!"

Jiang Si merely pushed the glass shard further in, "Unknown to me."

"So you're a traitor!"

With the bat girl's scream, Jiang Si was proven right.

"The President sent you undercover, but you got cozy with the Prince, sent wedding invites to the President and Xilan's hands!"

"I came to help you, and you struck me down. The President misjudged you! I can't believe you'd be like this! Scumbag!"

Jiang Si had no interest in arguing.

She struck first; he defended himself. No need for explanations.

When the glass shard pushed into her eye, the snow-screen shattered the shard to pieces.

In reality, till now there had been no way to touch her.

The bat girl casually removed a tiny bat wing from her headband and blew on it.

Blood began to rush involuntarily toward her hand!

Scales quickly covered her wounds.

She seized the other's hair so hard the headband almost came off, and with a brutal knee strike!

This time she didn't let go, gripping hair while repeatedly smashing her knee into the other's skull!

Although the bat girl kept backing and was nearly pressed to the Mirror Kingdom's sky edge with no retreat left,

in truth the snow-screen had protected her from serious wounds.

Until...

[Analysis complete. Snow-screen spatial ability application: preliminary determination — multiple layers of spatial scrambling interlaced and overlaid, adapting via a chaotic gradient cooperative optimization algorithm, difficult to parse. A conforming model has been constructed and is being initiated for the user.]

[Launch successful.]

The next second, Jiang Si's knee passed through the snow-screen and truly struck the bat girl's face!

Her skull burst, scattering into bats, which immediately spun and fled toward the Mirror Kingdom's exterior!

Jiang Si gave them no pause to breathe or flee and chased after them without hesitation, roaring, "How dare you bully my weak!"

"System, boost stats!!"

The bracelet flashed with light:

[Ding — Congratulations, host has bound: Deep Blue Stat-Boosting System, Martial Arts Infusion System, Tycoon System, Longevity System, Losing-Money System, Prince Romance System, Faith System, Invincibility System, Check-in System, Fishing System, Simulator System, World Modulator!]

[Congratulations on unlocking Deep Blue newcomer pack: gained Freedom Attribute Points 0.001!]

[Congratulations on unlocking Tycoon newcomer pack: gained initial funds 'New World Currency' 0.001 cent!]

[Congratulations on unlocking Martial Arts Infusion newcomer pack: current martial art 'Demon-Slaying Blade Technique,' can infuse life span. Current life span...]

Jiang Si was startled, "You really know how to do it?"

[Has deeply learned all 1,623 web novels by Bai Family's Third Sister.]

"Okay okay okay okay okay." Jiang Si repeated five times, eyes fixed on the fleeing bats.

Although they scattered as bats and were annoying, he sensed that each time they transformed the opponent's mana and presence dropped significantly.

This was not a good escape skill — akin to "Myriad-Fathoms Line": costly and with heavy drawback, and —

[Would you like to infuse life span into 'Demon-Slaying Blade Technique'?]

They transform into blood-sucking bats — what kind of Magical Girl is that? A shapeshifting bat fiend!

Jiang Si swung his hand grandly with heroic spirit:

"Yes, Demon-Slaying Blade Technique. Fill it up, please."

"Thank you."

[Your life span balance is insufficient. Please recharge promptly.]

Jiang Si froze, "You..."

[Ding — Detected host facing life-and-death crisis. Special support activated. All systems temporarily auto-boost complete! Limited time: 30 minutes!]

Layers of mirror channels opened ahead, rapidly passing through. Jiang Si immediately felt his wounds begin to heal; the light reflected from countless mirrors swept his body, and his strength, speed, and physical toughness rose substantially.

Polluted magic flowed from the bracelet for him to use!

Jiang Si's face lit with joy, "This system really makes me happy!"

[Sorry, you are the Mirror Queen's lover. I cannot reciprocate your affection. I won't betray the Mirror Queen.]

"Deep Blue, let me see your limits!" Jiang Si focused on the bat girl who had recomposed. She raised a hand and laid out layers of snow-screens, then fled without looking back.

[Sorry, this system is not named Deep Blue. You may call me Simo Tu II.]

Hearing the system suddenly speak in his voice, Jiang Si's eye twitched.

[Ding — The Mirror Kingdom's best sword is in position. Weak points in the enemy's defenses have been marked.]

Colorful bars appeared on each layer of the snow-screen.

Jiang Si snorted coldly and drew the system's long sword. Polluted magic fused with three layers of Blooming magic infusing the blade, exuding a terrifying aura of destruction.

Then, he cut.

"Fatal strike, quadruple!"

Mu's spatial Dao Seed split through the scrambled patterns, aiming at each snow-screen's weak point. The single slash fractured into several sword lights.

As if every layer of defense did not exist, they casually sliced across the colorful bars and the bat girl!

Boom!

The bat girl's skull burst again; the scattered bats no longer resisted and fled frantically.

Only then did the many snow-screens blocking Jiang Si explode!

Amid the thunderous magical storm, the bat girl's figure vanished. The system's voice sounded in his hand.

[Bat girl's position and movement route locked.]

A residue image of the bat girl appeared ahead, directly reconstructing her escape footage.

Is this what having a system feels like?

No wonder everyone who transmigrates wants a "System"; this crutch is something every user knows...

Following Sonora's residue through the Mirror Kingdom's spatial turbulence, Jiang Si rushed into the New World.

He stomped on Sonora's face again mid-flight; the rushing Magical Girl fell and tumbled on the ground.

When she picked herself up, light rapidly locked onto the two girls in the distance.

Although not transformed, the surging mana made Sonora immediately recognize Magical Girls!

She ran toward the two girls in panic and excitement, stumbling and shouting, "Help me! Magical Girls! I'm attacked by Witch Association bad guys!"

The two girls gave a slight bow, surprised that a Magical Girl would call for help.

They looked up at the approaching youth and fell silent.

Then they pulled out their magic wands and aimed at Sonora.

Boom!

A pink-and-red magical cannon surged like a flood straight at her astonished face!

Sonora slid and knelt, barely dodging the magical blast which scraped past and left a long streak in the sand. "I—I'm also a Magical Girl!"

One of the girls holding a red magic wand and wearing a black jacket, looking cool, raised her head and gasped at the approaching Simo Tu, calling out in a pant.

"Brother."

Sonora's eyes went black.