Watching the two of them play around, Tang Nai smiled faintly.
She could feel a dense surge of Magic Power.
Clearly, Su Mu had achieved significant results from her first exploration.
If she maintained this level of efficiency, she would likely reach the threshold of B-rank in about several months.
However… after performing such a dangerous act, could she remain safe afterward?
This was, after all, something that invited public wrath.
Even back on the bridge, the Federal Army had been coordinating their efforts, determined to suppress her.
She feared that in the Dream World Border, Su Mu would be heavily targeted from now on.
Tang Nai could step in to protect her, but for Su Mu, encountering a bit of friction or trouble was not necessarily a bad thing.
If Tang Nai had to resolve everything herself, the “debts” Su Mu owed would unknowingly pile up to an excessive degree.
In fact, Su Mu had never been clear about exactly what she owed Tang Nai until the latter revealed it herself.
Whether it was minor financial assistance or quietly pausing the Combat Division’s surveillance so Su Mu could smoothly become a C-rank Strange Person, Su Mu only understood these things after Tang Nai mentioned them.
Furthermore, she had not yet noticed that her use of the Handheld Console in the future was actually an extension of Tang Nai’s authority.
That ability to decisively modify reality clearly did not belong to Su Mu herself.
At the time, Tang Nai had acted so nonchalantly that Su Mu had not realized it at all.
The reason she had shared a branch of her authority with Su Mu was that Su Mu was simply too weak as a Magical Girl.
After Irina and she were split in two, almost all of their abilities were inherited by Irina.
Su Mu was practically a blank slate—thin, empty, and unable to change the fact of her weakness even when saturated with Magic Power.
Thus, Tang Nai split off a portion of her authority to merge with Su Mu and pre-loaded the Handheld Console with the information Su Mu would need.
Tang Nai had never deliberately taught the novice Magical Girl anything because she had already handed over everything Su Mu needed to know.
When Su Mu ran into trouble, she would naturally use the Handheld Console to obtain the relevant information.
Without needing anyone to teach her, she would naturally learn a great deal.
Accessing information through the console without outside help required paying a corresponding price; this was the nature of Tang Nai’s authority.
However, these gifts were not entirely beneficial for Su Mu.
While she received Tang Nai’s bounty, she was also being severely eroded by the authority of Value.
Even if she intended to help others for free, it would inevitably lead to the invisible accumulation of “debt.”
Tang Nai was the “creditor,” and Su Mu was the “debtor.”
Tang Nai could at most suppress the authority to avoid charging Su Mu interest, but she could not prevent the creation of the debt itself.
If it continued to accumulate, her authority would uncontrollably perform “debt collection” on Su Mu, leading to grave consequences.
At that point, no matter the explanation, a rift would form between them.
The definition of “Value” within her authority was quite abstract.
It focused not only on the objective value of things but also on their subjective value.
For example, in its measurements, items like wedding rings or keepsakes might possess a value far exceeding their material worth.
The value of gold jewelry versus gold bars of the same weight could differ vastly.
If the authority of Value performed a debt collection on Su Mu, the result would be catastrophic.
In such a scenario, the debt Su Mu had accumulated would undoubtedly be astronomical, yet she had very little value of her own to be mined.
At that point, the authority would begin stripping away the things Su Mu held dear.
It was like a real debt collector — cold, ruthless, and prone to taking a hand or a foot, or threatening the family of those unable to pay.
If things truly reached that stage, Su Mu would likely grow to hate Tang Nai.
However, this definition also gave Tang Nai a loophole to exploit.
By using clever tricks, she could find ways to create value cheaply and efficiently to prevent the accumulation of debt on the other Magical Girls.
It was just that her specific method appeared quite… questionable to them.
It was simple.
Remember the massive collection of photos in Tang Nai’s possession?
The more help a senior Magical Girl received from Tang Nai, the more photos of them ended up in her hands.
This was certainly no coincidence.
On the day Su Mu first met Tang Nai, she had been tied up while Tang Nai snapped a set of rather provocative photos.
Poor Little Mouse Mu had held a grudge over that incident for a long time, but she didn’t know that it was that specific set of photos that had bought her the right to use the Handheld Console.
One shouldn’t think of this as a forced transaction; although the past Su Mu hadn’t agreed to it, the future Su Mu — Irina — had given the nod.
Irina didn’t actually want things to be this way.
If she could, she would have preferred to settle it for Su Mu, but Irina owed Tang Nai even more.
Besides, since they were both photos of the same person, did it really matter who was in them?
To imbue the photos with value, Tang Nai even had to disclose their existence to Su Mu.
As long as Su Mu felt ashamed of them, the photos gained a value far beyond their physical form.
This was also why Ye Wanqing’s collection was so vast.
That red-headed girl was somewhat shameless and couldn’t win with quality like Luo Jialan or Su Mu, so she had to satisfy the demand with sheer quantity instead.
If Su Mu were told the secret beforehand, the value of the photos would be significantly diminished.
The moment she understood the cause and effect, the photos would depreciate.
The only way to preserve their value was to reverse the creditor relationship.
If Su Mu was made to provide an excess of value first, becoming the creditor, Tang Nai could then “fill” that debt.
This way, the value in the photos would become a “bad debt” that could no longer be modified.
Therefore, Tang Nai never explained anything; she simply tied them up, took the photos, and dealt with it later.
In contrast, it was impossible for Irina to pay off her debts this way.
She could only scrape by by enslaving Witches, occasionally going into a Witch’s Secret Realm to “fish” and use Magic Power to deduct from her debt.
Her life was much harder than Su Mu’s.
Regardless, Tang Nai was destined to play the role of the villainess.
Fortunately, she didn’t feel this was a bad thing at all.
In other words, Tang Nai never considered herself a good person to begin with.
In a sense, she was just an evil scientist who particularly liked Magical Girls and had arbitrarily turned B City into an experimental field to cultivate her ideal types.
“Tea? Do you want to head out again? Or are you planning to go back and treat me to some milk tea?”
Hearing this, Su Mu’s lips twitched as she looked at Tang Nai, who had a faint smile.
“Who asks someone to treat them so boldly…?”
“Didn’t I just do it?”
Su Mu threw up her hands, counterattacking without showing weakness, “Just because you asked doesn’t mean I can’t refuse, right?”
“Then I’ll cut off the water and electricity to your house.”
“You! You’re ruthless.”
The pink-haired girl stomped her foot in anger and left the Dream World.
Tang Nai continued to stare at the spot where Su Mu had disappeared.
Beneath her gray eyes, a hint of a smile seemed to be hidden.
‘She always has such interesting reactions.’ —