“Next time, let her wear this grass outfit! See if she still dares to laugh!”
The first thing Shen Ning heard when she snapped back to her senses was this line. Who said it?
No doubt about it, it wasn’t hard to guess.
Judging from the tone, clearly the one who had been dazed just now wasn’t just the young girl.
Broken Shadow didn’t say anything, but one look at her nearly tearful eyes made it clear she was lost in memories again.
The school bus shuttled them all the way to the City Sports Arena, the largest venue in Center City.
Mayor Lü had been busy these past few days participating in the internal security department’s investigation, so he didn’t come in person. But he left someone to greet them—a man who looked to be just thirty, dressed in a sharp suit, with a beaming smile.
“Miss Xu, and Miss Shen, welcome to your visit. The Mayor instructed us to reserve the best seats for you both. By the way, just call me Xiao Zhang.”
Through the introduction, they learned that Xiao Zhang wasn’t a government official, but rather a staff member at the sports arena, responsible for venue operations. He didn’t know the identities of the two girls in front of him—he was just here to chat and introduce the concert.
“The Puppet Girl Band has gotten really popular lately. Their company is heavily promoting them. Every show has been sold out, tickets are hard to get. Even though the pre-sale for this concert was short, all the tickets were gone in just a few days.”
“Puppet Girl 2?” Xu Chuyao asked curiously, “Do they wear masks when they sing on stage?”
Xiao Zhang chuckled, “Of course not, why would serious singers wear masks on stage?”
He took care of them very thoughtfully, first leading them into the venue, finding their seats in the VIP section, helping adjust their chairs, and finally handing them a small button. He explained that if they needed anything—food, drinks, or other services—they could just press it to call for a staff member.
“Alright, got it. Go take care of your own work.”
Xu Chuyao waved her little hand to shoo him away, then turned to ask Shen Ning, “Have you ever been to a concert before?”
The girl nodded, then shook her head, “I have, but never with so many people.”
She’d also never been to one where you had to pay for tickets. Back on the mining sites, the bosses would book out the whole place, and the performers were either unknowns or has-beens—just for the liveliness of it.
“Then you just listen carefully,” Xu Chuyao said expectantly, “This is real music.”
“As if,” Sexually Repressed Shadow muttered quietly, “Chuyao is just a relic from the pre-spirit ascension era. In a bit, she’ll definitely say it’s just so-so, not as good as the music from the 2000s.”
Since there was still some time before the show started, Xu Chuyao ordered some snacks. Eating and drinking, the time passed quickly, the venue finally filled up, and the performance began at last.
The Puppet Girl Band—just from the name, it was obvious all the members were girls. Several girls in idol performance outfits walked onto the stage, set up their instruments, and started interacting with the audience.
The audience seemed to be shouting their names, the atmosphere was electric. Xu Chuyao wanted to join in, but didn’t know what to yell, so she just mumbled along, pretending to be a loyal fan.
It didn’t matter, because the first song was starting.
“Dun-ts dun! Dun-ts hey! Dun-ts boom!”
After waving her glow stick for a while, halfway through the song, Thunder Girl got tired and sat back down, sighing:
“Not bad, but still not as good as the 2000s.”
Shen Ning’s mouth twitched.
These Shadows really were too experienced.
Chuyao thought it was alright, but the other audience members were much more enthusiastic. When the first song ended, the whole place erupted in thunderous applause, the energy soaring.
During intermission—
Backstage.
This concert was specially planned by Mayor Lü. At first, to prevent the Clown Gang from causing trouble, he’d requested top-level security from the safety department. The Clown Gang’s destruction yesterday had happened so suddenly, but the department itself was still in the middle of an internal review, everyone was busy, and they’d forgotten to cancel the security plan—so the team still came as scheduled.
“Hey, bro, did you know?” The captain of Security Team One said to a backstage staff member, “With the ongoing investigation, all our direct supervisors got removed today. But I checked—according to the on-site chain of command, there’s actually someone in the audience who can direct us.”
The supervisors being removed had just happened that morning. The captain had only just brought his team over to carry out the Mayor’s security arrangements, checked his phone, and was immediately stunned by the notification.
Because of the Clown Gang incident, the department had started a full investigation these days, which of course the captain knew about. With a thorough check, it was only natural for the underperforming middle managers to be dismissed.
But the problem was, there was still a mission today. What if something happened? Who were they supposed to listen to?
So he asked around and really got an answer: there was someone in the audience with the same official rank as his supervisor, and because of local jurisdiction—his supervisor’s authority was limited to this area, but that girl’s wasn’t, so she actually outranked them by half a level.
The staff member listening backstage perked up, “Who is it, that impressive?”
The captain pointed, “There, that girl in the white dress in the VIP seats. Not the one with white hair, the one with the big chest.”
The staff member naturally pointed his equipment that way, and in the next second, Xu Chuyao and Shen Ning’s faces appeared on the big screen.
One looked sweet and cute, the other cold and aloof. When the latter realized this, she became a little nervous.
“Wait, why are we on the screen?”
Xu Chuyao and Shen Ning were both stunned, as were the tens of thousands of people in the audience, and even the band about to start their second song.
“What the hell, bro!” The security captain was about to lose it, “You’re the director!”
“What the hell, bro!” The staff member lost it too, “I am the director!”
In their panic, they even forgot how to switch the feed back.
Xu Chuyao looked at her own cute face on the big screen, and the nervous Shen Ning beside her, and suddenly understood.
“I get it! I’ve seen this before during live sports broadcasts. When the director catches a couple on camera, they want them to kiss.”
Yeah 2
Xu Chuyao stood up, grabbed Shen Ning’s small shoulders with both hands, and quickly leaned in.
mua~
Soft little jelly lips, a dragonfly’s touch.
“Ehh ohhhhhhhhhh! 1 1 7”
Shen Ning’s mind went blank, her brain a total void. The cheers of tens of thousands of people at the venue sounded so unreal in her ears, as if she were drifting in a dream.
At the same time, at Shengling Academy, Third Year Class One—
“That’s Xu Chuyao and Shen Ning!”
“Oh my god, they kissed!”
“Never thought the goddess Chuyao was already taken. Sigh, what’s the point of life anymore.”
“Look, the Demon Queen is blushing!”
Meanwhile, backstage, the director got a phone call:
“What are you doing, why are you showing the audience on the big screen? This is a concert, not an e-sports match!”
“Sorry, boss, I got it.”
The director finally remembered how to switch the feed and hurriedly cut back to the stage.
Xu Chuyao sat back down and smacked her little lips, “That director’s not bad, knows how to stir up the crowd. Shen Ning, don’t you think so?… But come to think of it, kissing you just now was risky. If your chest was as big as mine, we wouldn’t have been able to kiss, our faces wouldn’t fit.”
“She’s saying you’re flat-chested, can you stand that?” Sexually Repressed Shadow fumed, “Fight back! Grab her and kiss her again!”
Shen Ning ignored the Shadow. Her mind was still blank, she couldn’t hear anything else. The cheers of tens of thousands of people seemed to linger in her ears, like white noise in a torrential downpour.
Broken Shadow closed her eyes and opened her mouth:
“There’s a simple question: what is love? Is it a kind of morality, or is it gravity? Since the day of my first love, it was sweet at first, then it became exhausting, and then the storms always came—”
She wasn’t singing because she felt the girls’ emotions.
It was because it was now midnight.
Splash, splash, splash, splash.
“Thank you, everyone, thank you so much.”
Amid thunderous applause, the members of the Puppet Girl Band began to bow. First, the lead singer and captain stepped forward, her voice choked with emotion:
“Center City is a great city. I’ve met so many sincere and warm-hearted people here, and I’ve felt everyone’s enthusiasm on this stage. I really, really love you all.”
She sounded so genuine, as if she really had lived here, but in fact, she’d only arrived last night.
Then, the other members came forward one after another to take their bows:
“I’ve felt everyone’s deepest passion here, felt the boundless charm of this city…”
“With all you lovely people here, I’ll really miss this place…”
“I hope I can come back many, many more times…”
Finally, the youngest member, urged on by the others, walked hesitantly to the front, picked up the microphone, and took a deep breath:
“Thank you all so, so much, but while I have the chance, I want to say something. I come from Xiangshi Town, a very remote place, but it’s beautiful. But some bad things have happened there—some people have disappeared for no reason, adults and children alike…”
The audience, who had just been about to clap politely, paused, sensing something was off.
“What’s she saying up there? Get her off, security, now!”
Some people rushed onto the stage, pulled up the curtain to block her, and the other band members hurried forward to snatch away the microphone.
“What are you doing, Xiaohua? Why are you saying this during the performance?”
“This isn’t the time for that!”
The commotion on stage was hidden by the curtain, so the audience below couldn’t see. The synchronized cheers and applause turned into countless whispers, merging into a sea of indistinct murmurs.
It was Shen Ning, who had been spaced out for a long time, that snapped back to reality at those words.
“Missing persons cases in remote areas…”
She almost instantly thought of her good friend, Xiao Si Nuo, who had a niche hobby for hidden gems, and who had been obsessed with this for a long time.
But with the curtain drawn and so many people rushing up, that band girl seemed to have lost the right to say any more.
“Xu Chuyao.” The girl tugged her girlfriend’s strap, “Can you ask someone to say something? I have a friend who’s really interested in what that girl just said.”
She didn’t know much, but she was aware her girlfriend had a lot of influence these days.
“Don’t pull, don’t pull, the strap’s coming off!”
“Sorry.”
So that’s why there was a strap on her dress—it was a spaghetti-strap dress.
“Clumsy girl, your little hands are never clean.”
Xu Chuyao pouted, but didn’t refuse her girlfriend’s request. She raised her little hand and pressed the call button.