“Xiaoxiao, lunch is ready!”

Li Xinghe had just finished making lunch and was already panting with exhaustion. His hands had become delicate and slender, as soft and fine-boned as a girl's, and the bones in them seemed smaller too. Chopping vegetables was still manageable, but when it came to stir-frying, he really couldn't match a man's strength.

Still, it wasn't much of a problem. Li Xinghe quickly came to terms with it. So what if his hands had grown much more slender? At least they looked a lot better than his old, slightly rough pair.

“Coming!”

A reply came from the third floor, followed by the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Bai Xiaoxiao had changed into the new skirt she bought today and tried a new hairstyle, too. When she reached the first floor, Li Xinghe—sitting in the cool air from the AC—was completely stunned.

Her big, glistening eyes drew the gaze like the stars of the universe. Her hair was tied up in a playful high ponytail, and her bangs swept to one side, giving her a youthful air. A slight smile graced her face, like a warm spring breeze. Was this what they meant by an invincible, youthful beauty?

The short skirt, mainly pink, showed off her flawless figure. Her full chest revealed a tempting expanse of pale skin, and the AC breeze brushed her cheek, stirring the loose strands of hair by her temples. The casual gesture of tucking her hair back was straight out of a TV drama heroine's playbook. If she were being scored out of a hundred, her upper half would easily get a ninety—and those smooth, pale legs deserved at least a hundred and twenty.

It was as if all the world's beauty had gathered in one person. Li Xinghe couldn't help sighing to himself: having an adorable little sister who was a trainee idol was just the best!

“Wow! You made so many dishes again, Big Brother.”

Hearing Bai Xiaoxiao praise him, Li Xinghe instantly felt that all the effort he'd put in, even if it had left him dog-tired, was worth it.

“I just threw a few things together. You can have more of the beef strips you like. I didn't add any chili.”

Over the past couple of days, Li Xinghe had gotten a rough idea of what kind of food Bai Xiaoxiao liked. Fried and stir-fried dishes were her favorites.

Things like fried eggplant sandwiches, crispy pork, beef strips, chicken breast, pork tenderloin, and sweet-and-sour ribs. As long as it was crispy and tender, she loved it.

As for vegetables, she seemed to eat cabbage and cauliflower, too. But Li Xinghe figured she'd definitely like baby bok choy and water spinach as well.

Bai Xiaoxiao happily picked up a tender piece of beef and popped it into her mouth. Its savory flavor burst across her tongue. The soft, tender strips rolled around her small tongue as she chewed, and the oil glistening at the corner of her mouth seemed fragrant, too. Paired with a mouthful of white rice, it was one of life's great pleasures.

“Slow down. There's no need to rush.”

Li Xinghe couldn't help reminding Bai Xiaoxiao, whose mouth was stuffed full. Realizing how messy she looked, Bai Xiaoxiao came to her senses. As a proper young lady, she had to eat with grace and poise. Ugh, it was all Big Brother's fault for making the food so delicious that she'd forgotten to be elegant!

After keeping up a slow, deliberate pace and polishing off two big bowls, Bai Xiaoxiao ended up sprawled on the sofa, full to bursting and enjoying the AC.

Li Xinghe even thoughtfully handed her a slice of watermelon he'd just taken out of the fridge.

Summer needs watermelon, AC, and Wi-Fi. That's the good life.

“Oh, right, Big Brother. My friend and I are going to Tianhai Zoo tomorrow morning. We made plans today.”

It didn't really have anything to do with him, but Li Xinghe could tell Bai Xiaoxiao was starting to treat him like family. She even let him know when she was going out, which gave him a sense of security.

Tianhai Zoo, huh? He remembered it was only around twenty kilometers away. Li Xinghe knew Bai Xiaoxiao had her own life, so he didn't ask any more questions.

“If you're short on money, I can give you some. Link this bank card to your account. The PIN is still the default, 123456—you can change it to whatever you like.”

Li Xinghe took out the bank card he'd prepared earlier and handed it to Bai Xiaoxiao. He'd gotten it a few days ago and put around five hundred thousand yuan in it. That should be enough to cover her everyday expenses.

Bai Xiaoxiao hesitated over whether to take the card. She still had more than 1.8 million yuan in her own account, and it didn't feel right to take a bank card from a brother she'd only been living with for two or three days, just like that.

“Um... Xiaoxiao still has money in her own account. I don't need your card, Big Brother...”

She hurriedly waved her hands to show she had money. Li Xinghe didn't force her to take it; he only said that if she really ran short, she should let him know.

After realizing her brother was only looking out for her, Bai Xiaoxiao nodded.

It seemed her new big brother really was good to her. Sure, he didn't have a job and was a shut-in, but Bai Xiaoxiao felt that having a shut-in big brother like him wasn't so bad.

He was handsome and rich, and he was a great cook. He didn't spend all day partying and making a bunch of shady friends, either. Most of the time, he just stayed in his room playing games, and she'd never even seen him touch cigarettes or alcohol.

Thinking it over, wasn't a man like that the kind every woman out there would line up to date?

But Big Brother was still single, wasn't he?

Could he have some kind of... special kink?

Bai Xiaoxiao found her thoughts wandering in a strange direction as she stared at Li Xinghe's face. Then she realized it was rude to make wild guesses about someone else's kinks, so she hurried back to her room to distract herself—and give her stuffed little stomach time to digest.

“Phew. Cai Mengmeng must've rubbed off on me. She loves reading stories about romance between guys. Yeah, that has to be it.”

After quietly pinning the blame on the veteran flirt Cai Mengmeng, Bai Xiaoxiao finally felt a little more at ease.

She pulled out her phone and scrolled through a few news stories. Then a breaking news alert from Tianhai City suddenly caught her attention.

The headline went for sensationalism, claiming that two people's fingers had inexplicably fallen off. Was it a terrorist attack or a supernatural incident?

Curious, Bai Xiaoxiao tapped to open it.

The footage seemed to be from a security camera mounted on a wall. Bai Xiaoxiao had seen the two familiar figures in the video just that morning.

They were the two guys with dyed blond hair who'd hit on her. They'd made such an impression that she'd even taught them a lesson, trapping them in an illusion where their roles were reversed: they became women being harassed, with something bad happening to them as well.

Bai Xiaoxiao had also specifically erased their memories of her.

The footage must have been recorded after she'd left. It showed the two of them on the ground, begging over and over while slapping themselves.

But a few seconds later, both of their right index fingers dropped to the ground in unison. Not a single drop of blood splashed out.

The footage was pixelated, but Bai Xiaoxiao recognized how it had been done at once.

Whoever did it had probably used magic to cut off their fingers with precision, then sealed the wounds shut so there'd be no chance of reattaching them.

But she hadn't done it. Besides, she hadn't even thought of cutting off their fingers as punishment.

A cold sweat broke out across Bai Xiaoxiao's back. The magical energy she'd sensed when leaving Haoyouduo Shopping Center couldn't have been her imagination.

She'd only just left the scene, and those two had already been attacked like this. Weren't Magical Girls supposed to protect people? Why would one attack ordinary people?

The other person had acted too quickly and hadn't used magic again afterward, which had thrown off her senses.

Could there be another Magical Girl hiding somewhere in Tianhai City?!

Thinking it over, this wasn't something the Silver Spear Battle Maiden—who only showed up to save people—would do. It seemed more like the kind of thing a demonic cultivator from a novel would do.

Her small fists clenched without her realizing it. Bai Xiaoxiao opened the chat with Captain Qu Mengting.