Although monsters and Magical Girls are different, and monsters aren’t affected by online ratings, at least this could curb his rising popularity. Justice definitely won’t sit back and do nothing. As long as he takes action, he’ll reveal a flaw. But what if his strength has already surpassed what we can control? Right now, I’m only D Rank, after all.’
‘Maybe it’s time to access the remaining Memory Points and reach C-Rank as soon as possible. Then B-rank. Lando is still waiting for me in S City.’
As these thoughts raced through her mind, Su Mu finished editing the post.
With a light tap, she sent out this carefully prepared trap.
***
“Another round of praising the so-called online sage of the new era? Give it a rest already.”
As expected, within just a few hours, Su Mu’s private messages were once again flooded.
From the very start, her target wasn’t Justice himself; nearly the entire post was aimed at jabbing his followers.
“Anyone who enjoys that kind of live stream is basically a potential murderer. Watching such inhuman torture with relish—if you tried it yourself, you’d probably get off waving your own flag.”
“A bunch of trash, social dregs, violence junkies, necrophiles—doesn’t it make your chest swell with pride, thinking your vote counts in the ‘verdict’? That’s enough already.”
Worried that overly harsh language might get her banned, Su Mu held back a lot.
In fact, she had even more vicious curses left unsent, but this was more than enough to stab right through those fans’ fragile nerves.
‘Get angry, lash out at me, let your rage spill over elsewhere. Ideally, let everyone see.’
In time, Justice’s fans were bound to leak information about the live stream; Su Mu was simply accelerating the process.
Besides the main post—the real battleground—she used a side account to post things like “Who’s greater, Justice or Light Yagami?” stirring up strife between unrelated fan groups.
In just one day, she almost achieved her goal.
Now, there were still 10 minutes before Justice’s live broadcast started, but already more than three million people were online.
The comment section was a war zone.
This chaos would seriously disrupt Justice’s ability to harvest Dark Magic Power.
So, what will he do?
Su Mu loosened her stiff arm, and the tension finally faded from her delicate face, replaced by a hint of satisfaction, ‘Now, just wait for the stream to start—the real show was about to begin.’
***
Yet, the instant that blood-red countdown ticked toward zero, a powerful sense of foreboding crawled down Su Mu’s spine, as if something evil was watching her.
The screen went black; even the scrolling comments disappeared.
Su Mu wondered if her computer had crashed, when suddenly, a flickering candle flame burst forth from the darkness—just enough to illuminate a single cheek pressed close behind it.
It was a slightly delicate, soft-looking face.
In her trembling, ink-black pupils, the candle’s flame swelled, almost licking her messy black hair, but at the last instant, it froze in place—making viewers subconsciously break out in a cold sweat.
It’d be a shame if that pretty face got burned.
Previously, the victims had all been “Fushouer-type,” but this was clearly the other extreme—a pure white flower bound by brambles in the mud.
“Good evening, everyone. Sorry to keep you waiting. With a face like this, you’re probably all a little confused, right?”
“I thought I clicked into the wrong stream! If you hadn’t spoken, I’d swear this was some borderline channel. Honestly, isn’t it a bit much to grab such a little loli?”
“Hey, as if it wasn’t ‘too much’ every other time.”
“True. Punishing those the law can’t touch is itself a challenge to the rotten Law of Decay, isn’t it?”
Justice’s long, bony fingers stroked the girl’s cheek, as if soothing a fish on the chopping board.
The girl struggled harder, but her slender, pale wrists were shackled to the chair by blood-stained manacles.
The more she moved, the more the iron bands scraped her skin, leaving ugly scars.
“After all, our little lady is quite dazzling and lovely—but sadly, she doesn’t have a truly pure heart inside.”
A chilling, hoarse voice exploded through the mic, scraping at the listeners’ nerves like nails on a chalkboard.
Su Mu’s pupils trembled uncontrollably.
“Maybe another name would sound more familiar to you. Right, Miss Mixian Shirt?”
“?? ?”
“Did I hear that right? Mixian Shirt? This little loli? Am I dreaming?”
“This hits me almost as hard as the time I learned Irina wasn’t some burly guy, but actually a real Magical Girl. The world is full of surprises… So is she really that guilty? Honestly, wasn’t she just a troll?”
“‘Just’? Dude, you’ve never seen how vicious her words can get. She never holds back! But to think she’s a loli? I can’t picture that mouth saying those things. It’d probably sound adorable. It has to.”
“I’ve decided to forgive Miss Mixian Shirt, and from now on, I’ll be her dog.”
For a while, bizarre comments flooded the screen.
Now that they’d seen the notorious Mixian Shirt account was actually a delicate black-haired girl, everyone seemed to drop their previous resentment—after all, she hadn’t really done anything, had she?
“Heh heh, your reactions are pretty entertaining. Maybe this will be the only innocent one in my judgment.”
“Clearly, you’re the guilty one here.” Su Mu gritted her teeth, quickly typing out that line, then immediately called Lu Shan, but there was no answer.
‘Damn, Mixian’s at her weakest right now—she can’t use her powers to escape, and he’s caught her but Mixian never really did much, nor is she that popular. Why go out of his way to grab her? What is he planning?’
‘Is this a warning to me?’
“Since that’s the case, let’s get to the point. Guilty or not guilty—please cast your vote.”
Su Mu saw the two buttons pop up, and decisively clicked the white one for Not Guilty.
The results shot up fast; Not Guilty’s numbers quickly left Guilty far behind.
It’s a bit sad, but if Lu Shan weren’t so pretty, she probably wouldn’t get so much support.
Still, a blessing in misfortune.
Even if she gets out, she’ll probably never return to normal life.
Her personal info will be exposed because of her looks, and she’ll have a hard time gaining Dark Magic Power online anymore.
When the vote ended, Justice stared at the obvious result in silence.
Su Mu finally let out a breath but before she could feel relieved, Justice’s next words plunged her back into the icy abyss.
“I never said the verdict was yours to decide. After all, I’m the one who carries it out.”