“Um, is that Xiao Yu?”
The voice on the other end of the line made Sakuragawa Iku’s pupils shrink.
She sat up abruptly, her two hands cradling the phone with extreme care.
“Hello?” Lin Xiaojue was confused.
“It’s me, Predecessor.”
Sakuragawa Iku pursed her lips, squeezing a response out of her throat.
“It has been a long time. Everyone was going crazy looking for you. Where are you now?”
Lin Xiaojue spoke in a gentle, soft voice, sounding slightly reproachful.
Sakuragawa Iku covered her mouth, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably.
“Xiao Yu? Xiao Yu? Why aren’t you speaking?”
“Um, tomorrow night, I plan to go to Xiao’an’s house to stream together. You should come too.”
“It’s a promise, then! Tomorrow night, don’t stand everyone up again.”
*Beep — beep —*
The conversation with her predecessor was very brief. Even after the hang-up tone ended, Sakuragawa Iku remained in the same position, holding the phone.
The rain outside grew heavier, and pale flashes of lightning occasionally illuminated the empty, dim room amidst the crashing sound of the downpour.
*Rumble!*
After a long time, Sakuragawa Iku lowered her phone, her arms hanging weakly toward the floor.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
“Xiao Yu! It’s time to pay the rent!”
The Landlord Auntie shouted loudly from outside the door.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
The knocking was heavier than before. Only after a long while did color return to Sakuragawa Iku’s hollow eyes.
She stood up flustered and opened the door to welcome the Landlord Auntie inside. She was a short, stout woman with a fierce expression in her narrow eyes and permed, curly hair.
“Why did it take you so long to open the door?”
The Landlord Auntie’s tone was anything but polite. She walked into the room, her head — resembling that of a pufferfish — darting around as she inspected the place.
After scanning the area, she returned to the door and looked down at Sakuragawa Iku, who stood with her head bowed in silence.
“Still can’t pay?”
Sakuragawa Iku nodded slightly.
“Still can’t pay?! How many months has it been now?!”
The Landlord Auntie was about to launch into a tirade, but she managed to restrain her temper just in time.
Her phone rang.
With a grim expression, she pulled her phone out of the pocket of her bulky cotton pants. She looked down to check a message, then raised her eyes and stared at Sakuragawa Iku without making a sound.
Her narrow eyes flickered back and forth between the phone screen and Sakuragawa Iku. Finally, she put her phone away with a strange look on her face.
She squinted her tiny eyes into thin slits. “Little sister, if you can’t pay, then forget it. Don’t force yourself. Just remember to pay next month.”
“The rain is so heavy outside. Look at me, still coming to nag you on a day like this.”
Having said that, she picked up the umbrella by the door. This umbrella was massive; Sakuragawa Iku remembered that only the sunshades at the snack stalls were that large.
The Landlord Auntie waddled away under the umbrella, her bloated figure disappearing into the iron staircase.
Sakuragawa Iku stood frozen at the door, looking down through the railing. The Landlord Auntie drove away in her SUV.
Rain hit the railing with a *patter* sound. Sakuragawa Iku closed the door and returned to the quiet room.
‘What just happened?’
Sakuragawa Iku didn’t understand. She had spent all her savings from her performances to treat her father’s illness.
She had been reckless while spying on her predecessor, but her mind had only cooled down once Su Yaqing confiscated her transformation device.
Perhaps it was because she had returned to a life of poverty.
Having lost her magical girl power, she had no way to engage in her previous high-intensity band activities, and her health had suddenly collapsed.
Sakuragawa Iku bit her nails, wondering who had helped her, but she couldn’t come up with an answer.
She had been prepared to be kicked out onto the street by the Landlord Auntie today.
But given the weather, she probably would have frozen to death outside.
Sakuragawa Iku leaned against the windowsill, watching the sleet outside gradually pick up.
Biting her index finger, she took a bag of instant noodles from the snack box on the floor, then picked up the kettle to get water from the kitchen.
“Mhm, Xiao Yu is going too.”
Lin Xiaojue hung up the phone and drew a charming pink-haired icon in her notebook.
Above it were a blonde icon, a black-haired icon, a red-haired icon, and a purple-haired icon.
“Murong Qiuyu, Yaqing, Xiao Xia, An Yuxi…” Lin Xiaojue tapped her pen against her chin, her dark brows furrowing slightly.
Only Gu Xue was left.
Lin Xiaojue looked at the unanswered call in her contacts. Gu Xue hadn’t picked up, and she hadn’t replied to any messages.
It had already been 2 hours since the last message was sent.
Lin Xiaojue remembered that after the final battle ended, Gu Xue had been active as an author. She went everywhere to gather material, saying she wanted to write a true story about magical girls.
‘It’s probably an autobiography.’
But if she was a writer, she shouldn’t be this busy, right?
Lin Xiaojue rubbed her chin. Over the past 2 hours, she had searched for quite a bit of information regarding writers.
The mainstream nowadays consisted of webnovel authors, while the survival space for traditional writers was very small. Most of the videos she found were either selling courses or predicting the industry’s downfall.
**[Daily Disenchantment of a Profession: Webnovel Author]**
**[Wrote Webnovels for 4 Years, 8,000,000 Words, Only Earned 200 Yuan!]**
**[There’s No Difference Between a Webnovel Writer and a Beggar.]**
Most of the videos were like that. Just from the titles, Lin Xiaojue could tell that being a webnovel author was a difficult industry to make a living in.
But she remembered that Gu Xue had the power of telepathy. Even if she didn’t write novels, it should be easy for her to do something else.
In the past, she and Gu Xue had even fantasized about it — with such a powerful ability, wouldn’t she be invincible in a business war?
*Click.*
Just then, the sound of the shower stopped. Lin Xiaojue heard Su Yaqing let out a confused “Huh?” and then saw her walk out of the bathroom with a strange expression.
“What’s wrong?”
Lin Xiaojue turned her head toward Su Yaqing, who was wrapped in a bath towel.
“Someone is making a scene at the entrance of our company. It’s being handled now. Honestly, who would be so bold?” Su Yaqing said irritably.
‘Making a scene?’
Lin Xiaojue got off the bed and went to the window to look at the crowd below.
“Give Tianyu back to us!”
“Someone is holding Magical Girl Tianyu captive!”
Below, a group of people held up eye-catching banners with red text on a white background. Their deafening voices echoed through the rain.
Lin Xiaojue: O.o
‘What on earth is going on?!’
“Huh?”
Lin Xiaojue raised an eyebrow. Wait, when did anyone find out she was here?
And what was this about being held captive? Wasn’t she perfectly fine right here?
Just as she was thinking, the crowd suddenly receded like a tide.
They formed a square formation and held up a massive poster of Magical Girl Tianyu, which was labeled: **[Big Sale Tonight at 8:00 PM!]**
Lin Xiaojue: 6.
Soon, under the obstruction of the Su Group security guards, the group carried the giant posters back to the street.
‘A protest march?!’
Lin Xiaojue felt her brain vibrating.
By the time the sound of sirens pierced the air, it was already night.
These people had been holding their signs from morning until night without showing any signs of exhaustion.
It wasn’t until several people were taken into police cars that the crowd finally dispersed.
*Buzz — buzz —*
After staring blankly for a few minutes, Lin Xiaojue’s phone suddenly rang. She picked it up.
“Hello? Is this Miss Lin?”
“Mhm?”
Lin Xiaojue pulled the phone away and looked at the screen.
It was the Police.
“Yes, hello.”
She felt a bit anxious.
“Um, did my partner, Miss Su, commit embezzlement?” Lin Xiaojue asked cautiously.
“What… Oh, no, no.”
The phone went quiet for a bit, as if the officer was speaking to someone else.
“Are you acquainted with Murong Qiuyu? She says you are her guardian. We checked the household registration and confirmed it’s true. Could you please come down here?”