This seemingly ordinary family dinner quietly drew to a close.
The Ira Black Beef ribs on the plates were wiped out completely.
Even the bits stuck in the bones were painstakingly picked out by Chi Zaozao.
Li Guang could clearly feel a gentle, steady energy flowing through her body, mending the subtle fatigue from last night’s patrol.
Even her mana core seemed brighter and more vibrant.
“Phew— That was so good!” Chi Zaozao slumped in her chair without a shred of grace, patting her slightly puffed belly in satisfaction.
“Chi Bro, can I come mooch off your meals more often? I’ll pay for the food!”
“Come whenever you want. It’s just adding an extra pair of chopsticks.”
Li Chi replied with a smile as he cleared the dishes.
From the corner of his eye, he saw the two Contracted Beasts, bellies round and full, contentedly sprawled on their hosts’ shoulders or heads, looking like they were about to melt into blankets.
Li Guang helped with the plates, her doubts weighing heavier in her mind.
The appearance of Red Meat was too abrupt. Its pure magical energy content was way beyond what you’d find in market goods.
Using the sound of running water as cover while washing dishes, she lowered her voice to a whisper only the two of them could hear and asked Chi Zaozao:
“Zaozao, do you think… my brother is really just an ordinary person?”
Chi Zaozao was wiping the table with a cloth. Her hand paused at the words. She blinked her red eyes and leaned in closer.
“What do you mean? You suspect Xiao Guang’s brother is in the circle too?”
“Red Meat,” Li Guang gestured with her eyes at the now-empty grill pan.
“An ingredient with this level of magical power is a hot commodity even within mage families. And my brother says he bought it at the market… Luck that good?”
“Hmm…” Chi Zaozao tilted her head, thinking seriously.
She glanced at Li Chi’s tall, straight back, then recalled his usual gentle, cheerful image as a skilled home-cook big brother.
Suddenly, an utterly absurd yet strangely plausible idea struck her like lightning.
“Xiao Guang!” Chi Zaozao grabbed her friend’s wrist, eyes wide as saucers. Her voice trembled slightly from excitement and the thrill of uncovering a “world-shaking secret.”
“What if… there’s a chance your brother is actually… a magical girl?!”
Then Chi Zaozao got three big eye-rolls again.
“What nonsense are you spouting!” Li Guang’s cheeks flushed an unnatural red—half from embarrassment, half from the ridiculous guess leaving her torn between laughter and tears.
“The prerequisite for a magical girl is being a girl! My brother’s a guy! A guy!”
“Aw, rules are rigid, but Contracted Beasts are flexible!”
Chi Zaozao, however, seemed to have opened the door to a new world.
Her thoughts veered further off track, even taking on a scholarly tone.
“Look, when Contracted Beasts choose hosts, the standards are ‘young’ and ‘pure-hearted.’ Your brother is young, right? And his heart… seeing how good he is to you, how great his cooking is, he must be kind and pure too! As for gender…”
She lowered her voice, looking all mysterious. “Isn’t there that legend? In extremely rare cases, a Contracted Beast might contract with a male whose heart is especially compatible. Then… um, to fit the magical girl rules, there might be some… small, temporary, physiological… adaptive adjustments?”
She spoke softer and softer, but her eyes grew brighter. She even sneaked a glance toward Li Chi’s crotch area.
“Chi! Zao! Zao!” Li Guang nearly jumped up in rage. She clamped a hand over her friend’s mouth, her face red enough to bleed.
“What kind of messed-up stuff are you thinking?! How can you believe those urban legends! And anyway, my brother shows no signs of anything weird at all! How could he be a magical girl!”
Their commotion was small, but Li Chi’s super senses were sharp. Their “whispered” conversation—especially Chi Zaozao’s earth-shattering guess—reached his ears word for word.
Li Chi’s hand, holding the dish sponge, stiffened imperceptibly for a second.
Magical girl?
Me?
Physiological adaptive adjustments?
That’s just sterilization, isn’t it?! Why dress it up so nicely?!
He continued washing the plates with a straight face, but his mind was in turmoil. Too many things to roast—didn’t know where to start. This girl’s imagination… had her Contracted Beast twisted it?
At that moment, the two Contracted Beasts, who’d eavesdropped on the whole thing, finally couldn’t hold back.
“Pfft—!”
The red pony was the first to crack, nearly tumbling off Chi Zaozao’s head from laughter.
It hurriedly covered its mouth with a wing and sent a telepathic message to her mind, voice cracking with giggles.
“Xiao Guang’s brother a magical girl? How to put it… it’s technically possible… Uh, there might be one or two unverifiable extreme cases in history, but the odds are smaller than the universe collapsing and exploding again! And just sense it—does Xiao Guang’s brother have even a hint of mana fluctuation? Any whiff of a magical girl’s aura? No! Not a trace! He’s a through-and-through, 100% pure ordinary human!”
The panda plush Xiao Qi also covered its face with its paws, sighing helplessly in Li Guang’s mind.
“Xiao Guang, Zaozao’s mind… is a bit too lively. Don’t worry. Your brother has no power fluctuations matching ours. The magical girl contract is a soul-level resonance and mark, like a beacon in the night. Your brother’s soul is very calm and pure, purely human, with no traces of being transformed by ‘hope’ or ‘miracle’ power.”
Hearing the authoritative denial from her own Contracted Beast, Li Guang finally relaxed. She shot Chi Zaozao a fierce glare.
“Hear that? Little Pony and Xiao Qi both said it’s impossible! Stop guessing wildly! Guess again and I’ll hit you!”
Chi Zaozao, shot down by both beasts, just smiled awkwardly. She touched her chin thoughtfully.
“Even if not a magical girl, could he be a mage or magic user? Some powerful mages are really good at hiding their presence.”
This guess was more reasonable. Li Guang looked back at Li Chi’s back. Her brother… sometimes did give her an indescribable sense of security, and he was always so steady when things happened.
“A mage, huh…” Li Guang murmured to herself.
In the kitchen, Li Chi turned off the faucet, dried his hands, and turned around with his usual gentle smile.
“What are you two whispering about? Dishes are done. Go hang out in Xiao Guang’s room for a bit.”
His smile was clean and bright, eyes clear.
No traces of mana or abnormal energy flowed around him—at least, not in the perception of Li Guang, Chi Zaozao, or their Contracted Beasts.
“Okay, Xiao Guang’s bro.”
Chi Zaozao didn’t treat herself as a guest at all. She gave Li Guang a look, then grabbed her hand to leave the kitchen.
Li Guang immediately got her bestie’s meaning.
“Oh, right, brother. Zaozao is staying over at our place tonight.”
Li Guang mentioned it as they left.
“Of course, no problem. What do you want to eat tonight? I’ll prep it in advance.”
“We’ll decide later. We just finished lunch.”
“Got it.”
The two girls and their two Contracted Beasts hurried out, leaving Li Chi alone in the kitchen.
He looked at the closed kitchen door and sighed.
“These little girls are getting harder and harder to fool,” Li Chi opened the fridge, staring somewhat helplessly at the remaining Red Meat inside. “Sigh… Tsk, looks like I can’t bring this stuff home anymore. Man, I was hoping to share this deliciousness with the family. From now on, I’ll have to enjoy it all by myself.”
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