Chương 6: The Great Crisis of Self-Awareness

A sudden gust of wind appeared and then quickly disappeared, and Xing Shuang's figure landed lightly on the lawn of her villa.

The next moment, she squatted down on the ground, buried her face in her arms, and let out a suppressed sob.

"Aa...

"What have I even done...?"

Of course, she controlled the sound she made perfectly, without even disturbing the falling leaves that were right next to her.

A moment later, she slowly stood up, expressionlessly patted non-existent grass clippings off her skirt, and mentally asked the system, "How can I turn back?"

Press and hold the diamond-shaped gem "Tear of the Star" located on the chest and silently recite "Transform" again.

[By the way, what was the host doing just now?]

"Just calm yourself down." As instructed by the system, Xing Shuang crossed her hands and placed them on the iridescent gem.

"Don't underestimate the ability of a mature adult to regulate their emotions."

A flash of pinkish-gold light disappeared in an instant, and Lin Che's body gradually emerged from the halo.

He took out his phone from his pocket, turned on the camera, and saw his younger self on the screen. He breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, and opened the door. The sound of the key turning the lock was particularly crisp in the quiet night.

"Xiao Che, you're back? I just saw the notification from the Bureau of Extraterrestrial Affairs saying that a Level II virtual realm infiltration occurred in the southern suburbs. Did something happen to you? I sent you a message but you didn't reply."

The living room lights suddenly turned on, and Lin Chen, hearing the door open, came out of his room and asked.

"What could possibly happen to me? I'm perfectly fine. Not replying to messages simply means I didn't see them." Lin Che waved his phone.

"That's good. I'm going to sleep. You don't even know to be considerate of me and come back early. I'm not like a young person like you who can stay up all night." Lin Chen yawned.

Lin Che said with a forced smile, "Next time you can just go to sleep, why do you have to wait for me to come back?"

"Who would feel at ease? You're still so young... Never mind, I'll only annoy you if I say more. It's good that you understand the principle." Lin Chen took off the coat he was already wearing and tossed it onto the sofa. He then turned and walked towards the bedroom.

"Okay, you should get some rest. I'm going to sleep in a bit too."

"Don't stay up too late. You're still growing, and staying up late is bad for your health." Lin Chen yawned again.

"And don't forget about tomorrow. I need to get to the company early. Figure out your own breakfast."

"I remember everything, goodnight, Dad." Lin Che watched Lin Chen walk into the bedroom and close the door before walking towards his own room.

"Virtual beasts, infiltration of the virtual world, magical girls, the Bureau of Extraordinary Events... the changes in this world go far beyond just Dad choosing to come to Jiangchuan City."

Lin Che lay on his back on his bed and began to look up information about these things on his phone.

After some time, he began to summarize the intelligence he had gathered: The so-called virtual realm is a pseudo-plane that occasionally overlaps with the real plane in terms of coordinates, and a phenomenon called virtual realm penetration occurs where the coordinates overlap.

This phenomenon is invisible to ordinary people without magic; only the Bureau of Extraordinary Events, equipped with special monitoring devices, can detect fluctuations in the energy magnetic field and issue warnings.

Void Beasts are native creatures of the Void Realm and also serve as anchors for the infiltration process. If you enter an area where infiltration occurs and eliminate a Void Beast, the infiltration process will stop. However, if you do not kill a Void Beast within a certain time, it will come to the real world.

In this form, the Void Beast can be observed by ordinary humans and can also have a material and energy impact on reality. However, all material weapons in the real world cannot harm the Void Beast; only magical girls can fight against it.

"This is basically all the information available online. It seems that some information has been deliberately hidden, such as the most important fact: the origin of the magical girl, which is completely unknown."

Lin Che tossed his phone aside, put his hands behind his head, closed his eyes tightly, and looked as if he were asleep, but in reality, he was calling out to the system in his mind.

Is there a problem?

"Let's have an open and honest talk. What is your purpose?"

[Help the host become a reliable magical girl senior]

"Is it the same old excuse...? Then let me ask you a different question: Why did you choose me?"

[Because the host possesses exceptional talent as a magical girl]

"Me? Exceptional talent? You're not kidding, are you?" Lin Che pointed a finger at his nose, finding it somewhat amusing.

[Perhaps the host hasn't noticed, but on your second flight alone, you've mastered the techniques of takeoff and landing. This is something an ordinary magical girl couldn't do.] The truth is, with only the skills and power you gained in your first transformation, no matter what method you used, that void beast couldn't withstand a single attack.

"But I'm a man."

Essentially, a magical girl's body is constructed from magic, and her innate talents are unrelated to her original gender.

"Then can't we build the kind of body I want? Let's not even talk about the Giant of Light, how about Kamen Rider? The belt transformation is pretty cool too."

No, transforming into a magical girl is a low-level code.

"You son of a bitch!" Lin Che couldn't help but curse.

"You didn't care about the underlying code when you tricked me into transforming with the Spark Lens, did you? It's clearly from another movie."

[I'm not lying about the fact that Magical Girl Starfrost's transformation item is indeed called the Spark Lens.]

"Say whatever you want. From now on, I'd be a coward if I believed a single word you said." Lin Che rolled over in bed.

"I'm going to sleep. Don't bother me."

"Wait, what's bothering me?" Lin Che frowned and reached into his coat, then pulled out the "Light Stick" from his pocket.

Compared to when I first got it, it has clearly changed its style now. Although the overall shape remains the same, the whole thing has turned pink and gold.

"When I transformed back, the wand in my hand disappeared. I thought it was gone." Lin Che looked at the transformation device in his hand, recalling those humiliating experiences, and became angrier the more he thought about it.

[Note: The host cannot discard the transformation device.]

"Who wants this thing?" Lin Che threw the transformation device on the ground without hesitation, making a crisp cracking sound.

"I'd like to ask you something. You tricked me into transforming the first time, and now that I've thrown away the transformation device, how do you plan to make me transform and complete those so-called missions?" Lin Che asked with a provocative expression.

There are quite a few methods.

When Lin Che saw this line of text, he had a vague sense of unease, but before he could react, the transformation device that he had thrown to the ground earlier suddenly floated in front of him, emitting a dazzling light.

"No way... no!" Lin Che only had time to utter a cry of surprise before he was swallowed up by the light.

A fleeting pinkish-gold iridescence appeared, and in the darkened room, Starfrost stood frozen in place, still trying to swat the transformation device away.

For example, like this.

"You..." Xing Shuang gritted her teeth, her eyes filled with a palpable rage.

[Before you make any excessive noise, this system would like to remind you that you are currently in your own home.] There is a 98% chance that your father will be woken up, and a 100% chance that he will go here to check on him after waking up. We hope you will choose carefully.

The sound stopped abruptly. The roar that had reached her throat was swallowed back by Xing Shuang. She covered her mouth tightly with both hands and slowly knelt down on the spot, her face flushed red.

A moment later, the girl, who had recovered, pressed her hand tightly against the prismatic gem on her chest that was flashing at an extremely fast speed, and desperately chanted "transformation" in her mind.

But when she opened her eyes, all she saw were her hands with pearl-white gloves and her pink skirt adorned with stars and moons.

"What's going on?!" Xing Shuang asked, enunciating each word clearly.

"Why can't I change back after suddenly transforming? If you could do this from the beginning, why did you use that method to trick myself into transforming?"

This is a punishment for the host who voluntarily discarded the transformation device. The punishment is that the host is forced to transform for a certain period of time and cannot return to their original form.

[By the way, there will be similar penalties if you fail to complete the task.] Xing Shuang stared defiantly at the air in front of her, her face showing a stubborn expression, like a small animal with its fur standing on end.

So, what is the host's decision?

A moment later, Xing Shuang suddenly slumped her head as if deflated, her pink spiral curls drooping listlessly over her shoulders. She buried her face between her knees and curled up into a small ball.

Then, a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz came from that group: "I know, I'll do my job to complete those tasks."

Congratulations, host, for making a wise choice.

"Can you turn me back now?" Xing Shuang cautiously raised her head to look up and then asked.

Sorry, the punitive measures cannot be terminated.

"Why is this happening..." She buried her head back down, her expression aggrieved as if she was about to cry. The action was performed smoothly, and when she realized something was wrong, she found herself unconsciously rubbing her cheek against the lace trim of her over-the-knee socks.

The next moment, Xing Shuang stood up with a horrified expression: "... Wait! Is this the line I should be saying? It doesn't fit the style at all."

She suddenly realized that this body was instinctively making "cute" reactions—curled toes, reddened eyes, teeth biting the lower lip, cute lines—and she was somewhat unable to control them!

"What did you do?!" She angrily ripped off the bow hair ornament and threw it into the air, but the silk ribbon floated lightly to the ground. Why didn't even her body react...?

[During the punishment period, the host's way of thinking and personality will also be affected, and the longer the punishment lasts, the greater the impact will be.] To prevent any negative impact on the host's self-perception, this system recommends that the host strive to complete each task.

Xingshuang's expression froze in a quantum superposition state of "wanting to kill" and "wanting to cry." She suddenly raised her hand, and a magical barrier enveloped the entire room like a transparent eggshell—this high-level magic was cast more naturally than breathing.

Looking down blankly at her hands covered by pearl-white gloves, Xing Shuang forced a smile through twitching lips.

Just now, with a slight thought, magic was precisely transformed into a magical barrier covering the entire room under my control, blocking all sounds from reaching the outside. This process was as natural as breathing.

The system says she has exceptional talent, and it seems to be true, but why can't she be happy at all?

The next second, her humiliated and indignant scream echoed within the soundproof barrier:

"System! I'm absolutely going to tear this piece of junk apart!!!"