Chapter 398: “Dazzling Stage” Issue 9: Continuation

Time flew like a white horse passing by, gone in a flash.

A week had passed, and the attack on Sea City was still widely discussed throughout Daxia and even across the world.

But for ordinary people who didn’t know the full story, the official photos and videos allowed for public release felt like a narrative that started slow and then built up to something grand.

On many online platforms, the horrific scenes from that day and the terror could be seen. The World Python, captured by satellite, was as big as the entire Sea City—truly a mythical creature. Its mere fall from the atmosphere was enough to overturn a city and stir a natural disaster.

Not to mention the shadow of the Giant God symbolizing hell, Takeminakata who changed the celestial phenomena and triggered thunderstorms upon appearance, Seraph from the Old Testament Bible, and many other terrifying entities seemingly capable of destroying the world at any moment.

Before people could even panic, positive news spread everywhere, announcing the strategic victory in the battle for Sea City.

Fairy Witch, String Witch, Dragon Witch, and the greatest heroes—The Last Diva, Decorate Phantasm Witch, and the newly appointed Chief of Staff, the Lighthouse Holy Maiden—Charlotte.

These captain-level witches, along with other magical girls, were filmed fighting heroically, and the footage was spread online.

Among these, except for the battle between Little Yu and Beelzebub—which was excessively bloody, bordering on madness, slightly harming their public image—the other combat scenes were shared with minimal editing, conveying the fierce and brutal atmosphere of the conflict.

The conclusion featured The Last Diva singing aloud, her emotions flooding the entire Sea City and radiating to half of Daxia, emitting warm, blazing Shining Magic. Numerous Sea City citizens were shown listening to her song, being successfully saved, creating a shining and hopeful scene.

This united effort, turning the tide with hope and passion, was iconic enough to liken it to a new hero emerging among magical girls, boldly borrowing the spotlight from the entire world.

The official public relations team’s management of public opinion was outstanding. They not only greatly promoted the significance of “Dazzling Stage” and magical girls but also effectively dispelled the shadows of fear and boosted public morale.

At the same time, international news from Daxia, Donghong Federation, and the Sacred United Country announced the number of casualties during this event, stirring widespread discussion.

Sea City, as a top-tier metropolis covering an immense area and housing nearly one hundred million residents, suffered only a four-digit number of casualties after an assault capable of annihilating an entire nation, with the actual death toll even lower—only 389.

Conservative estimates suggested that the song Charlotte sang saved at least ten million lives.

Because to the Supreme Disaster Beast and the apostles, even at their weakest, half a minute was enough to cause casualties on such a scale.

Of course, this fact was not made public.

People only knew that despite facing such a desperate and terrifying attack, the magical girls fought desperately to protect the city, ultimately achieving victory and miraculously keeping casualties to a minimum.

Thanks to the manipulation of public opinion, this event did not cause social unrest or panic but significantly enhanced the government’s credibility and the public’s acceptance of magical girls.

Before this, even after the sprouting of the Calamity Seed and the outbreak of the Disaster Relief incident, most of the population remained unaware of the looming crisis.

Chu Yuanqing’s suppression of the four forbidden zones and her promotion to Chief of Staff was swallowed by the Void.

Therefore, online criticism and negative discussions toward magical girls persisted, and quite significantly so. Most voices believed that extraordinary individuals needed to be restrained and that magical girls were inherently unstable factors, fueling anxiety and panic.

However, under strict government control, such topics never gained traction or spread widely—especially after this event.

Following this battle, the government’s plan to station some magical girls in various cities to protect the populace received unprecedented support. Almost every local resident was tagging their city government, urging action and demanding the introduction of magical girls.

Suddenly, many short videos emerged on TikTok, leveraging current viral trends to promote and beautify their hometowns, pledging to make magical girls feel welcomed, and shouting “Pick me!” The comment sections became even more abstract and creative.

Meanwhile, many minor idols participating in the major “Dazzling Stage” competition were closely watched. Contestants like Xie Qingxuan, Kirimi Miyuki, and Tang Liuli—who had transformed publicly, thus confirming their identities as magical girls—were a focal point. On Weibo, numerous official accounts from local tourism and city governments appeared, reminiscent of teachers blocking the doors of universities to recruit top exam scorers.

Throughout the week, the Countermeasures Bureau disclosed the identities of more magical girls, generating waves of excitement while announcing the cities they would be deployed to.

It is worth mentioning that due to the “Dazzling Stage” project, the magical girls’ teams remained largely the same as their debut lineups. The decision to split them up and disperse them to different cities was a forced measure due to insufficient manpower.

To maintain each girl group’s cohesion, magical girls from the same team are usually stationed in adjacent cities.

From a long-term perspective, this policy involves large-scale considerations. It effectively creates a brand-new economic ecosystem, significantly impacting population flows. It is also difficult to balance fairly, which could easily provoke public dissatisfaction.

However, given that the “Pure White” system is on the verge of collapse and unlikely to last beyond a year or two, and with human civilization already in a wartime state, grievances driven by unfair distribution must be temporarily ignored and addressed later.

The world was changing every day, but “Dazzling Stage” was still being filmed intensively, continuing to progress.

After three performances in the Daxia division, it had been merged into one; there was no longer a Sea City or Kyoto division. Among the 60 contestants who advanced, seven chose to withdraw, and smaller idols ranked below replaced them, forming 10 girl groups together.

During Dream Weaver Rabbit’s live broadcast of “Dazzling Stage,” the latest rules were announced to the fans: these teams would operate independently and enter the chaotic battle stage of debut.

In short, within one month, they needed to complete internal role assignments, define their group concept, produce a debut song, carry out promotion, and then directly launch a nationwide tour.

During this process, the data from the debut songs, the audience numbers of subsequent tours, and the overall heat across various aspects would determine who could advance in the Daxia division and truly step onto the world stage to compete with contestants from other divisions. Given this, the level of competition could be imagined as extremely fierce.

Although Dream Weaver Rabbit said the contestants could fully manage their own time, trying to settle the group style, debut song, choreography, various promotions all within one month meant nonstop work, even with top teams behind them. It was far more exhausting and intense than the previous filming rounds.

The people of Daxia Country paid close attention to this.

At this stage, the most eye-catching was undoubtedly the team Galaxy Warship, which had won the performance championship and was composed entirely of magical girls.

Even ignoring their strength, after obtaining first place, according to “Dazzling Stage”‘s jungle rule approach, this team’s streaming, treatment, production funding, and resources would surpass those of other contestants.

However, intriguingly, a week had passed, and as other teams successively promoted themselves—revealing their group names to fans, taking official photos, appearing on magazine covers and trending searches, becoming remarkably active—the Little Sakura team ranked first still made no significant moves.

At this moment, in Sea City, on Dongyun Road, at Jindi Plaza.

This usually wide open area, often occupied by plaza dancing grandmas, was packed with dense crowds; media vehicles filled the nearby parking lot.

At the center stood several youthful, attractive idols. Their skin was luminous and clear, their features striking; even their lips appeared particularly tender. It was hard to find a dying angle offline. Each person’s expression control and detail handling were distinct and precise, clearly defining their individual characteristics while maintaining excellent recognizability.

“So beautiful, they must have become magical girls too, right?”

“Definitely! Wu Dongdong has always been a beauty, but her skin and vitality now are on a whole different level.”

“Lin Yuxia is also super cute.”

“What a wonderful stage, worthy of Kyoto’s reputation—simple pop music can be performed at this level.”

“Incredible, is this really the stage with [Heart Flow]? I’m getting more and more jealous of those who got tickets to the show.”

Pei Xiaotong held her milk tea, sipping it slowly like a hamster. She stood beside the open-air café near the mall, watching the crowded square below, just like many others who could not find a seat.

Though she couldn’t clearly see the specific movements and only caught some melodies and sounds, with the live stream on her phone from a passerby streaming simultaneously, comparing the two made her feel quite involved.

The young girl glanced back at Xu Ling, who was quietly sipping coffee beside her, and teased her,

“Honey Ling, don’t you think Miyuki and her friends have given up? Even if they haven’t produced the debut song, they should at least reveal the group name. They could copy Wu Dongdong and just pick something straightforward like ‘Four Seasons.’”

Just as she finished speaking, the young idols in the center of Jindi Plaza greeted their fans, quickly formed their Magic Armor, and sped away. They flawlessly resolved the typical dilemma of a star’s exit, leaving a group of “Muggles” watching their backs as they gradually disappeared.

“…Wow, that exit was so cool.”

Pei Xiaotong was deeply impressed. The route the idols took when leaving, the arcs of the magic energy particles flying around, even the formation of the Magic Armor, were all meticulously designed, appearing particularly elegant and stylish.

Even though she knew they were deliberately leveraging the magical girls’ fame dividend to gain more fans’ favor and greater popularity, which made it seem a bit pretentious,

for fans and passersby, it was enough that magical girls were willing to actively perform for the audience—what more could one ask for?

Arguments, scolding, and trash-talking…

Things frequently happening in talent shows were almost all suppressed at the root. Unlike idols—commoditized products easily labeled by others—everyone knew that magical girls were ultimately going to go to battle, and reckless insults would lead to police intervention even without lawsuits.

Therefore, fan conflicts were reduced to childish silliness, and even sarcastic remarks had to be cautious. Real fights looked no more than a bunch of elementary school kids scrapping.

Xu Ling rested her chin on her hand, watching the square slowly clear, and the paparazzi who missed the chance to interview pack up. She put down her coffee cup and sighed,

“I want to know too. I just feel like Miyuki’s enthusiasm isn’t very high; the update frequency on her accounts has dropped, and she’s not very active.”

That said, as someone who solely supported Little Sakura, Xu Ling did not believe that a girl who could shine even among underground idols, who always persevered and sweated on stage, would slack off just before her debut.

She was even more worried that Xie Qingxuan might be pushing herself too hard again, repeating the tragic stress fracture before going on stage, which had forced her to regretfully withdraw.

With this in mind, Xu Ling promptly went on Weibo and commented under Little Sakura’s latest post, “Please don’t overwork yourself,” before feeling reassured enough to watch the ninth episode of *Dazzling Stage* once more.

It had been updated last night.

Although she had watched the live performance once at the venue, caught the premiere again last night, and reviewed the edited footage countless times, watching a variety show felt very different without bullet comments. She usually waited until many people had watched it before scrolling through it roughly.

Yes, especially in *Dazzling Stage*, where every little idol’s charm was exceptionally overwhelming, the fans cultivated were often extremely pure, resulting in new wild moments and fresh perspectives appearing every time the bullet comments refreshed.

Xu Ling fast-forwarded directly to Little Sakura’s stage. The dense bullet comments blocked the girls’ radiant faces, and the screen was filled with all sorts of strange emojis and frantic ramblings.

In the bullet comments for the ninth episode, discussions about Xie Qingxuan kept rapidly increasing.

This was not because her Magic Armor—the black wedding dress—was particularly alluring.

Well, it was somewhat relevant.

But more importantly, this usually cold and strictly businesslike Great Devil had posted a very teasing Weibo to fans one week ago.

— “The person I like is missing. Please help me find them.”

Although it was a declarative sentence, and this was also what she truly meant,

To the fans, this was their idol finally pandering to them once, sparking joy and excitement. Some career fans were even tempted to fall into girlfriend fan territory, unable to suppress their excitement in the comment section, causing the scene to become extremely chaotic.

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Book Recommendation.

Summary: After transmigrating to the Star Rail, Southern Nan Zhu thought he could roam the starry sea with the help of the system.

Unexpectedly, the system’s first beginner task was as difficult as climbing a mountain and almost impossible to complete.

Task: [Assist Lan in cutting down the sacred tree].

But the sacred tree had been broken for five thousand years—how was he supposed to assist Lan?

Task: [Repel the cosmic bug plague].

But the cosmic bug plague had been gone for thousands of years—how could he repel it again?

Task: [Defeat the End Law Keeper and save the Earth].

Wait, why was Earth involved?

Was the system too early or was he late?

The system’s tasks seemed hopeless to complete, but Southern Nan Zhu accidentally discovered a brand-new way to accomplish them.

While Southern Nan Zhu was busy completing tasks and earning rewards, the fictional historian seemed to utter something astonishing.