Chapter 65: The After-Effects of Love’s Corruption

An irreversible after-effect?

Hearing that jarring phrase, a jolt ran through Ye Qing’s heart.

Though she had only met Liu Qingruo once, the brash red-haired girl often chatted about herself on illustration software.

Liu Qingruo was one of the earliest fans of Ye Qing’s artist account, Qingyu. Their connection began when Liu Qingruo, searching for inspiration, stumbled upon one of Ye Qing’s character designs.

Despite being a practice piece, not particularly refined, the girl in the painting was charming and cute: a hot-blooded, easily fooled hero with fiery red hair and eyes. Liu Qingruo felt as if she were looking into a mirror.

So innocent, so pure.

From then on, Liu Qingruo began actively chatting with Ye Qing. Sometimes it was for commissions, but more often, it was simply because she was prone to chatter.

Through these fragmented conversations, Ye Qing discerned that Liu Qingruo was an unlucky yet optimistic girl.

She would impolitely bombard Ye Qing with emojis and an overload of messages, then meekly apologize.

She was always sharing silly jokes that left her in stitches, yet she would inadvertently reveal her life’s disappointments.

Occasionally, Liu Qingruo would send parts of her drafts for evaluation, always struggling with indecision. Initially, her writing was utterly dreadful—dreadful in the pejorative sense, but also dreadful in its innocent artlessness.

Ye Qing didn’t want to dampen her enthusiasm, yet she found it difficult to give good feedback against her conscience. Leaving her on read would seem cold. So, most of the time, she would simply reply faintly:

“Boring. Not lewd enough.”

After a few such replies, Liu Qingruo finally had an epiphany.

“Teacher Qingyu, please impart the secrets of lewdness to me!”

Although Liu Qingruo’s plot weaving was nascent, her prose was not bad, and she possessed an abundance of energy and resources.

Ye Qing didn’t understand how to write novels, but she understood lewdness.

And so, a promising talent was thus nurtured astray by Ye Qing with the essence of lewdness.

From the first time Liu Qingruo shared her drafts with Ye Qing, her writing style increasingly aligned with Ye Qing’s preferences.

Ye Qing couldn’t say if this was a good thing or a bad thing. While she was confident in her own aesthetic, she was more concerned with Liu Qingruo’s opinion on these changes.

‘Was she becoming the person she disliked? After all, she used to be so pure…’

After receiving Unrivaled Love, the book Liu Qingruo had gifted her, Ye Qing grumbled about it, yet once she had leisure, she read it cover to cover.

‘It was well-written.’

Perhaps it wasn’t just Liu Qingruo who was changing; she herself had unconsciously been refined into a purer form.

Moreover, ‘this girl must have secretly learned a lot of naughtiness behind her back. Sometimes, reading alone can be quite helpless; one wrong turn, and you’re in bed…’

“So what exactly is this after-effect?”

Now, there was yet another reason to deal with Silver Moon.

An Yueying remained silent for a long moment, her gaze fixed on the ground, a frighteningly fierce glint reflected in her violet eyes.

“They will lose all emotions except love.”

Ye Qing’s pupils constricted sharply, and she tightened her grip on her phone.

“…So, it’s still not too late, right?”

“Yes.” An Yueying turned her head to look at the two eager girls behind her. “Don’t worry, we’ve already made preparations on our end.”

Receiving An Yueying’s affirmative reply, Ye Qing let out a soft breath of relief.

“Please thank them for me.”

“What about my share?”

“…Once it’s done, Silver Moon is yours.”

At these words, An Yueying’s eyes lit up, and she curved a bold, captivating smile.

‘Little Ye Qing is unexpectedly pragmatic… But this habit of saying one thing and meaning another needs to change. After all, I’d really like to hear some pleasant words from her.’

***

Within the Magical Girl Academy, the white-haired girl was contentedly commanding her masterpiece.

Chi was still under hypnosis, and her strength had greatly increased—the violent magic emanating from her offered a glimpse of this.

Crimson flame patterns diffused across her body: her slender, lotus-root arms, delicate collarbones, and smooth, agile thighs. They seared the retina while continuously radiating astonishing heat.

“Chi, tear up this idiotic book.”

She casually tossed *Unrivaled Love*, a gift from Chi, into the other girl’s hands. She knew Chi cared deeply for this book, which made it perfect for a test.

This girl had always been absent-minded during training at the academy, constantly scribbling and drawing on paper, just to fuss over these meaningless things. Yet, she cherished them as treasures.

This was the consequence of indulging and satisfying her—preferring to waste time traversing several streets to buy a few tattered books, giggling foolishly, rather than contemplating why she was so easily defeated by the evil cadre.

Feeling utterly disgraced, Silver Moon hadn’t allowed Chi to continue holding the book on the street; she had taken it from her.

Chi had then readily given the book to her, but looking at the red-haired girl’s crescent-moon shaped scarlet eyes, Silver Moon felt only repulsion.

‘Disgraceful, weak, incompetent… I didn’t bestow upon her the power of a Magical Girl for her to trample upon it like this. She must be responsible not only for herself but for all those who need protection.’

Silver Moon tossed the book high, and it traced a long arc in the air. Upon receiving the command, Chi’s vacant, dark-crimson eyes slowly fixed upon Unrivaled Love’s exquisite cover.

Immediately, a flicker of spirit briefly awakened within them.

She swiftly reached out, caught it precisely, and cradled it carefully against her chest, refusing to execute Silver Moon’s command. She turned her back to Silver Moon, presenting her rear in defiance, silently resisting.

Seeing this, a shadow of irritation settled across Silver Moon’s delicate, aloof features, stretching across the bridge of her nose.

“Tear it up.”

Under the stimulus of hypnosis, a sudden tremor ran through Chi’s silent form. From her trembling shoulders to her tightly clenched toes, every inch of her spoke of unease and resistance.

Unlike other Magical Girls, even though Silver Moon had done something terribly wrong to her, Chi still entrusted her with her trust.

However, this did not mean Silver Moon had the right to trample upon that trust with impunity.

Observing Chi’s anxious expression, bordering on collapse, Silver Moon suddenly recalled the night Gu Xuanyu had shredded the medium, and her heart involuntarily sank.

“Never mind, keep it.”

At these words, Chi collapsed to the ground as if a great burden had been lifted, whispering softly:

“That’s good…”

As a Magical Girl, she wouldn’t completely lose self-awareness. Even under hypnosis, it was difficult to force her to do something her heart resisted.

This gave Silver Moon a headache. What if, when facing Qing, Chi was similarly unable to act?

Silver Moon silently watched the red-haired girl kneeling on the ground. Her fiery long hair fanned out lavishly across the ground, like a scroll depicting a prairie fire.

Compared to this, her thin, hunched shoulders, however, seemed impossibly fragile.

‘How cowardly.’

Silver Moon coldly turned her gaze away, disdaining any attempt at comfort.

‘Why did I have to encounter you of all people?’

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