Chapter 418: A Ray of Starlight, a Star

Behind the food cart,

Pure White Succubus sat on a small stool, looking down at her phone. Her small, delicate face was covered by a mask, revealing only her striking mismatched eyes—one golden like melted gold, the other silver like shining metal. The golden eye looked like a frozen, broken lake with spreading ripples, while the silver eye was clear, cold, and lifeless.

These eyes were very unique, but what caught attention most was the edge of her eyes, where cracks like fiery porcelain appeared, as if it was a strange makeup. Combined with her calm and distant air, she had an ancient charm and a strange kind of beauty.

So, with her pure white hair, Xu Ling, who deeply loved fan culture, recognized Chu Yuanqing from far away at once.

Pei Xiaotong admired this a lot. She had seen the other person’s food cart yesterday but hadn’t recognized Honey Lin earlier than her own cousin sister.

It had to be said, this kind of quick recognition was almost “disgustingly” fast.

Pei Xiaotong stared at Xu Ling with suspicion. Wasn’t this person just a simple fan of Little Sakura? Why did she seem less excited than when watching Pure White’s live stage performance?

This was beyond normal fandom; it was more like suddenly seeing a lost first love after many years, then falling into deep regret.

The young girl was lost in wild thoughts, having already forgotten her earlier worries about the country.

Chu Yuanqing looked up at the funny pair, her eyes showing a little surprise. She remembered the little fan who always had a camera, but Sea City was so big, she did not expect to see them again.

Pure White Witch picked up the shaker and began making the base while quietly asking,

“Ten cups of milk tea, can you two finish them? Don’t waste any.”

Xu Ling nodded many times, looking very well-behaved as she promised,

“We will definitely finish them! We have plenty of experience!”

Pei Xiaotong nodded seriously.

Indeed, when they went to the milk tea shop to buy special items, they always ended up with seven or eight extra cups they couldn’t finish. Almost every time, they gave them to street cleaners by the roadside. How could they not have experience?

The shrine maiden watched the two with curiosity. She was also sitting in the small food cart. Although it was small and a bit crowded, since it was Nostalgia, it did not affect Honey Qing’s daily work.

“Little Qing, they came all this way to help take care of your business. How sweet!”

If Xu Ling knew that she was called cute by the shrine maiden version of Little Sakura, she probably wouldn’t be able to stop herself from buying 20 more cups of milk tea.

Of course, if she knew the truth, her first reaction would probably be, “Meet You in the Mist is real!” She would get excited and start fangirling right there, but halfway through, she would realize it might have a sad ending and then start crying over little pearls.

Under the Pure White Witch mask, her pink lips curled into a smile. She didn’t answer the shrine maiden, but calmly prepared the materials exactly as the customers wished.

Then, she turned up the heat on the sausage grill a little, took out two sausages sprinkled with pepper, handed them to the two people, and gently asked what flavor of milk tea they wanted to try first before continuing to make the drinks.

It was clear that after a few days of practice, she had become very skilled at it.

The shrine maiden was holding a magazine, goofing off nearby, sneaking glances over here and smiling quietly.

At first, the other person just thought since there was a sausage grill in the fan’s package, she shouldn’t waste it, so she went out to buy sausages to grill for her own snack.

After eating, she started persuading Honey Qing to sell grilled sausages on the street, saying it was better than performing on the street for money.

Hmm, it was definitely not because it was fun.

In short, whether or not any money was made on the first day doesn’t matter, but by some strange twist of fate, a passerby gave her a food cart filled with milk tea ingredients.

Later, Honey Qing glanced at the milk tea recipes left inside the cart, tried making a few cups to taste, and, after leaving a good review, ended up selling them along with grilled sausages in a bit of confusion.

By now, the original milk tea ingredients in the cart were long sold out, the new batch was almost gone too, and the two were about to say goodbye to the little food cart, so in a way, this old fan showed up at just the right time.

Xu Ling stood excited and nervous in front of the little food cart, her back straightening without her noticing. She quietly watched Pure White Witch’s face, her gaze sometimes drifting to the beautiful hands wrapped in black material, clear in shape and bone structure, watching how she handled the shaker, measuring cup, muddler, and fruit knife…

For a moment, her mind filled with strange imaginations, and she helplessly described this smooth, graceful milk tea-making process like a dance, calling it both tempting and tangy, even pulling out her phone to record it.

If her expression control hadn’t been quite good, this behavior, filled with colorful thoughts, would definitely have made Pei Xiaotong beside her look scared and disgusted.

Unlike Xu Ling, Pei Xiaotong wasn’t watching the boss but the food cart itself. Though the cart was painted pink, it was almost covered with pictures of little idols. Except for The Last Diva, who had recently saved Sea City, all the photos were of members from the Pure White group.

So, in a way, this was a kind of “decorated car.”

The girl asked curiously, “Boss, are you a fan of Pure White?”

Chu Yuanqing smiled slightly and answered seriously, “Yes, they are all very cute.”

Pei Xiaotong nodded, thinking that many people liked Charlotte and Pure White. Although Honey Lin was as pretty as a magical girl, liking her didn’t have to be connected to them, which made sense.

“So, who is your favorite? Liuli? Little Sakura? Great Devil? Or Honey Moon? Oh, and Charlotte too, right?”

Without thinking, Chu Yuanqing answered, “For me, they are all very important, but if I had to choose one, it would be Little Moon.”

The shrine maiden immediately understood the hidden meaning.

Yes, because only daughters are chosen, others wouldn’t feel jealous.

Xu Ling felt sad that they were not sharing the same burden, but she used the chance to join the conversation and started chatting quietly now and then.

Sadly, happy times always passed quickly. About ten minutes later, Chu Yuanqing packed the leftover milk tea and sausages and handed them over as they looked at each other unwilling to part.

Xu Ling held the milk tea and sausages and walked away slowly, looking back three times. She felt she still had something unsaid in her heart. She hesitated many times about turning back but could never remember what she wanted to say.

If Honey Tong beside her had not kept urging her to leave quickly, she might have just stood there, lost in thought.

Chu Yuanqing took off her mask and gloves. She looked at their backs thoughtfully, touched the air with her fingertips, and a faint pure white light glowed softly, like a shooting star that flew into the little dinosaur backpack and into Xu Ling’s heart, slowly spreading.

The shrine maiden said in surprise, “Little Qing, you really spoil your fans.”

That white light was not magic or a spell. It was just a faint spiritual will, neither here nor there, and would fade away eventually.

But even so, the faint glow of a savior was enough to drive away disaster beasts and disaster auras, keeping people safe and well for a while.

And even more important was…

“The [Pure White] has begun to break, carrying a trace of your scent. Those reversed streams overflow and randomly select many blessings for suitable people. One of them will surely choose her.”

In other words, what Chu Yuanqing sent out was a blessing trap. With the world changing, it was hard for ordinary people to measure this by normal standards.

Chu Yuanqing tidied the food cart, ready to close, and said quietly, “No matter how many blessings are attracted, if she’s not a good match, she still won’t stay.”

“Besides, she’s a good child, pure in heart and soul. If she were a little younger, she might have a chance to become a magical girl.”

Age is a hidden limit for magical girls.

Usually, girls under 18 have the best chance. Girls between 18 and 22 can also awaken magic. For those with great talent, age doesn’t matter much. But after 22, like youth slowly fading, the chance of connecting with the lantern drops straight down.

Right now, the Countermeasures Bureau’s records show the oldest age a magical girl has awakened magic is 24.

So, in the first audition of “Dazzling Stage,” age was a very important factor. Almost everyone over 24 was eliminated in the first round.

In the current Pure White group,

Liuli was the youngest, not even an adult yet.

Chu Wang Shu had just turned 18, full of youth.

Xie Qingxuan was also young, only 19 years old.

Kirimi Miyuki was just a few months older than her, still able to cosplay as a high school girl.

This is why Honey Qing felt a bit guilty when she first got close to them; the girls around her were all younger and very fresh, which was tough for her.

The main reason was that, to build a magical girl system with the strength of many stars, many rules had to be added. Age and gender were limits that came from this.

The shrine maiden put down her magazine, helped clean the counter, and said:

“The child says she is in her third year of university. Unless specially chosen by Stellar Will, or practicing the Meditation Method to double her soul strength, there is really little hope of becoming a magical girl.”

“But there is no other way. Blessings are gifts from the Sea of Truth, and the foundation of magical girls comes from Stellar Will. Even though the foundation expands step by step when entering infinite dimensions, the total number that can be born now still has limits.”

“The ‘Dazzling Stage’ plan is slowly filling up this number. After a while, if there are no sacrifices, there will be no new magical girls born.”

Chu Yuanqing nodded silently. At the moment her future dream fully returned, she understood many questions that were unclear before.

For example, the Pure White Witch.

This was indeed the crown given to her by Stellar Will.

Without the curse, she would fit all magic types. She started by controlling Etheric Substance and was fully blossomed upon awakening. She could automatically master all magical spells known to magical girls, like the emperor of the witch race.

So, the Pure White Witch held more importance in the system than one hundred thousand newborn magical girls.

Now, Stellar Will had forgotten her. Magical girls had suddenly lost their emperor, and the power and share belonging to the “king” would also be taken back.

Chu Yuanqing could still use magic now because the Void was making the stars forget her, while also keeping her existence separate. It’s like a special shield that stops her from touching the stars or being touched by them.

Now, the powers “Eternal Intertwined Fate” and “End of Utopia,” which woke up again, were quiet and forgotten by the stars, so they couldn’t be used.

“Mercury Blood,” based on the magic inside her body, was not affected. It would last until her magic ran out.

The first magic she awakened, “Patronus Magic,” including “Echoes of the Past,” “Broken Golden Cup,” and “Annihilated Massacre,” was partly blocked.

She could use the magic, but she must break free from the Void first to use its full power.

As for the blessing of “Pure White” slowly fading…

It could only be said that her soul had reached its limit and was about to break, causing this backward flow to happen. Even if her current body tried to hold it, it wouldn’t help.

So, Chu Yuanqing was really weak now. If her magic halved again, she might not even beat Xie Qing Yu.

Luckily, even if “Pure White Ode” lost its past glory and power, she could still use her true self, which had not changed, to fight disasters with terrifying strength. This helped her travel the world, clear disaster auras, and kill disaster beasts without using too much magic.

Chu Yuanqing closed the dining car door, took off her apron, and walked down carrying her guitar case on her back. She carefully adjusted her presence and quietly packed the pink pain car into the guitar case.

After that, bathed in the afternoon sunlight, she walked slowly down the street full of cat advertisements and chatted with the shrine maiden.

“I wonder how many blessings Little Shu has received now.”

The shrine maiden thought for a moment and said:

“It should be a few hundred, but before the civilization-level blessing is passed down, she probably won’t notice anything different.”

Civilization-level blessing.

For this level of blessing, many main cities in the first playthrough had different names. Some called it the Flame, others called it the Holy Spirit, or simply called it a god.

The savior team mostly consisted of players of this level.

Even the simple-looking Tempering of the Heart, if it reached a bigger stage, might one day forge stars like raw materials and create Divine Artifacts.

And when the first wave of civilized blessings flowed backward inside the Pure White High Wall, it would officially mark the collapse of its structure and framework, and surely some forbidden zones would break free from control.

Chu Yuanqing felt a little hopeful.

If what she gave to her fan was a spark of starlight, then what she gave to Little Moon was a whole shining star.

The blessings that spilled out from the Pure White, as long as they were not tied by chains of fate and destiny, ninety-nine times out of a hundred would return to Chu Wang Shu, the one granted the permission.

Normally, only heroes like shrine maidens, Demon Kings, or Awakened Ones—those who had done great deeds, were recognized by the stars, and remembered in the Akashic records—had their blessings guided back to them by fate’s chains, pointed by the stars.

So, her plan failed in the end, and her daughter did not have enough time to consume the rest of the Calamity Gods. Yet, with the blessing of the Pure White, the other side could still become the savior of the new era, protecting those she loved.

Besides…

“When that time comes, the stars will probably let her succeed to the power of the Pure White Witch, right?”

“What a reassuring child.”

Chu Yuanqing’s thoughts settled down. She chewed on broken memories, glanced back at a corner of Sea City, her pink lips curved up, and said with a smile:

“Spend all the money.”

“Then, we will go to the Crimson Polar Realm.”