It wasn’t that Luo Jialan was cheating; it was Su Mu herself who slipped up.
Originally, Luo Jialan found it hard to detect Su Mu’s location because the aura masked beneath her school uniform was too ordinary—indistinguishable from that of the other students.
But now that Su Mu had broken away from the group, Luo Jialan realized there was a lone student outside the school’s crowd.
The result was predictable.
“Not good, she’s coming.”
Su Mu felt Luo Jialan sweep past like a fierce wind across a dream, as if she would arrive in an instant.
Her heart tightened.
How was she supposed to stop her now?
She couldn’t really drag things into a physical showdown, could she?
During the QTE phase, she’d be utterly ravaged by Luo Jialan!
Then she’d just have to wait to be constantly unlocked, unlocked…
‘No, there was still time—think fast, find a solution.’
There was one way—create another illusion to mislead Luo Jialan, to make her think what she sensed was just a phantom.
But Su Mu was in the rental apartment, with only one illusion—her own self relying on the keyboard, cross-dressing to survive by harvesting Dark Magic Power.
Just imagining Luo Jialan witnessing all of that made Su Mu choke.
Her dry lips couldn’t utter a sound, and her body trembled involuntarily.
She wanted to suppress the impulse, but memories of resistance kept surfacing in her mind.
‘I hate myself.’
This wasn’t a new feeling.
In fact, it had been with Su Mu for a long time, ever since she registered the Genius Girl Irina account.
Though she called herself an outstanding freak, Su Mu knew she was at best an E-class freak, almost no different from a normal person—neither accepted by others nor recognized by freaks.
This contradiction tangled her tightly.
Stirring things up online was to survive, but such an unnoticed life brought her pain…
The only relief was the moment she absorbed Dark Magic Power, but after the bliss came emptiness and the crushing “sage time.”
That was why she fell so easily into an emotional entanglement with Luo Jialan, why she was so close to Ye Wanqing, and why she shared all her skills without reservation with Mi Xian.
Because someone who had never felt warmth, once bathed in sunlight, would inevitably sink into it.
But what Luo Jialan liked was Su Mu who was now a Magical Girl.
Ye Wanqing didn’t know this part of Su Mu’s past.
It was laughable—perhaps the only person in the Magical Girl circle who truly understood her was that annoying brat.
Tang Nai seemed only to be toying with everyone here to please herself.
She clearly knew Su Mu’s background but dragged her into becoming a Magical Girl without a word, seemingly indifferent.
Su Mu didn’t understand what Tang Nai was thinking behind that smile and could only blame it on her unpleasant bad taste.
At least that silver-haired villain’s seemingly casual decision gave her a decent life.
Wrapped in Luo Jialan’s honeyed love, accompanied by the eccentric yet endearing Ye Wanqing, everything in life went surprisingly smoothly.
At least now she could breathe freely outdoors without worrying about being scorched by the blazing sun.
After becoming a Magical Girl, Su Mu started to be favored by luck.
But she knew this luck was built on firmly burying her past—if those around her found out, everything so far could collapse.
She didn’t want anyone to know that awful past.
‘Maintaining the status quo was enough. The present me is different from before, right? I no longer need Dark Magic Power, no longer have reasons to be hated, I just need to keep embracing this life.’
“Hey, don’t overthink it. Like I said, you can create a fake illusion. Imagine a perfect self—a form Luo Jialan would definitely be fascinated by. Let those past things be forgotten.”
Irina spoke softly, her voice loosening Su Mu’s stiff body and helping her breathe through the suffocation.
“Is that so?”
“Exactly. Overthinking only causes headaches. It only tortures yourself with no meaning. Do what you want, refuse what you don’t want. It’s not that complicated.”
Seeing Su Mu seemingly take her words to heart, a trace of relief appeared in Irina’s eyes, but more than that, there was exhaustion.
Her silver-gray pupils, like Luo Jialan’s, no longer reflected light.
They looked empty now—like a night sky covered by thick clouds.
To embrace the future, one should bid farewell to the past.
That’s the truth, but somehow, this outcome felt somewhat disappointing.
‘It’s all Tang Nai’s fault for giving me this lousy idea. If things really go wrong later, I’ll blame her.’
“Come on, Luo Jialan is almost here. You don’t want her to catch you looking so embarrassing in your room, do you? Let’s make a beautiful girl illusion, make a—”
“No, I don’t even believe it myself.”
Su Mu suddenly spoke, leaving Irina momentarily stunned.
“I’m starting to understand why Magical Girls get tired. Although I’m kind of incompetent, always trying to play some ideal role is really exhausting. I hate myself for selling cyber hooks because of Dark Magic Power, but I’m not ready to deny it yet.”
“That sounds so bad—selling cyber hooks? You’re at most a Cyber Ratman.”
“It’s all the same. Do you think Luo Jialan would like that?”
“… That’s why I told you to beautify it.”
“Forget it, let her see the real thing.”
Feeling Luo Jialan less than a hundred meters from the door, Su Mu inexplicably perked up and rolled out from under the bed.
“Not changing it at all? Even if she finds out you’re a guy?”
“I don’t care. Whatever!”
Su Mu looked like a cornered rat unafraid of boiling water, hands on hips, tossing aside all her previous gloom.
Meanwhile, an illusion began to take shape in front of the computer desk.
Irina was right—there weren’t that many dilemmas.
At most, Luo Jialan would be repelled by me because of it.
So what?
She’s also lost control because of desire, doing whatever she wants now, right?
“What if she sees your illusion and takes off…”
“No, no, no, that won’t do!”
Irina watched Su Mu carefully edit the illusion, scrutinizing every corner as if afraid of mistakes, and couldn’t help but chuckle.
‘Well, this is pretty good, too.’
“Wait, where’s my brother? My brother’s missing, Irina!”
“What do you mean your brother’s missing? Don’t tell me you mean—”
“Exactly what you’re thinking. Why is the illusion also a girl?”
Su Mu tearfully pulled aside the loose sleep pants of the finished illusion, tugging hard at the elastic band.
Staring into that deep abyss, she was utterly baffled.
‘What is going on?!’