Chapter 11: The Genesis of an Online Vendetta

The two exchanged glances.

Su Qianyu remained silent, and the other person offered no further words.

The latter simply observed her, their gaze as detached as if she were a mere object.

“So, is that acceptable?”

The mechanical voice echoed in her ears once more, leaving Su Qianyu visibly flustered.

She cast her gaze towards Illo again, who responded with a nod.

Illo had no objections.

With Illo’s assent, Su Qianyu decided to simply go along with it.

After all, it was just a tail rub; surely no harm would come of it, right?

‘That’s what Su Qianyu reasoned.’

‘For all intents and purposes, the other person was just an ordinary girl; surely she wouldn’t unleash something disastrous, would she?’

Yet, the moment the girl took hold of her tail, Su Qianyu had a fleeting realization that she had gravely misjudged the situation.

Su Qianyu’s tail let out a pained whimper, mirroring its owner’s distress.

A sharp *crack* echoed.

‘My tail… my tail… it feels like it’s broken.’

She stared incredulously at the girl before her, whose face remained utterly devoid of expression.

‘What, are you a jock too?!’

‘It hurts, it hurts so much!’

Suppressing a torrent of complaints, Su Qianyu clutched the chair, her grip leaving several deep indentations in its surface.

It wasn’t until Illo approached that the girl finally, reluctantly, released her hold.

“Alright, Class Monitor, stop teasing her.”

“I still need to take her out later.”

The girl, addressed as Class Monitor, gave a slight nod, then shifted her gaze back to Su Qianyu.

“It felt quite nice, thank you.”

Turning back in stunned disbelief, Su Qianyu only then realized that these two actually knew each other.

‘Rain falls for the rich, and for the poor.’

‘It falls for the righteous, and for the unrighteous.’

Su Qianyu felt as though she had been utterly swindled.

‘No, not *as though*; it *was* a scam.’

****

“So, how is she doing?”

Having been carried up to the rooftop, Illo casually closed the door, observing Su Qianyu with an amused glint in her eyes.

Was it a testament to this body’s incredible regenerative capabilities, or merely a display of Illo’s formidable power?

Her tail, which had felt undeniably broken just moments ago, was now completely restored, without even the faintest twinge of pain.

Su Qianyu thoughtfully replayed the morning’s events in her mind, tilting her head slightly.

“She felt… pretty average?”

Tentatively, Su Qianyu spoke her mind, albeit with a hint of resentment.

“Aside from being a bit too strong, she didn’t seem particularly special.”

‘After all, having only interacted for a single morning, it would be strange to discern anything profound.’

Illo, however, simply lifted her gaze to the distant horizon and chuckled softly.

“Indeed, quite average.”

‘After all, she had never imagined that someone so unremarkable could have pulled such a fast one on her before.’

More precisely, it was the machinations of the family backing her.

Observing Su Qianyu still tenderly rubbing her tail, Illo crouched down.

“Wh-what’s the matter?”

Cradling her tail protectively, Su Qianyu felt a surge of apprehension.

‘This is what getting PTSD (TL Note: Post-traumatic stress disorder) feels like.’

Illo merely cast a brief glance, then, with a hint of disdain, rose to her feet.

“Isn’t your tail better? Why are you still rubbing it?”

“Can’t I just be doing it out of habit!?”

Su Qianyu retorted instinctively, turning her head away.

Watching Illo pick up her phone again, seemingly engrossed in searching for information, Su Qianyu was suddenly struck by a brilliant idea.

‘If she couldn’t get revenge on her in person, why not take it online?’

‘True, she might not be able to beat Illo in a fight, but surely she could out-insult her?’

Even though Illo had already given Su Qianyu a taste of reality, it certainly didn’t stop her from becoming a dedicated hater.

Pulling out her Android phone, she tapped open the Android Little Blue Book (TL Note: A fictional social media app, likely a parody of Xiaohongshu, a popular Chinese social media and e-commerce platform.)

Search, type!

She quickly located the anti-magical girl posts within, and as Su Qianyu had anticipated, they were exactly what she was looking for.

Glancing around, Su Qianyu casually clicked on one, finding it filled with endless complaints about various magical girls.

‘Well, since things have come to this, I’ll start with a +3😋.’

After her daily ritual (TL Note: Likely a humorous reference to a common online phrase, implying a routine action or a casual acknowledgment before proceeding), Su Qianyu successfully located the sub-moderator.

To ensure her plan wouldn’t fail due to the sub-moderator’s insufficient animosity towards Illo, she took extra precautions.

She had specifically chosen the sub-moderator whose avatar was an image of Illo in her transformed state.

‘Typically, in an anti-X forum, the more intensely someone uses a particular image as their avatar, the more intensely they despise the person depicted in that avatar.’

Without a moment’s hesitation, Su Qianyu laid out her trump card.

“I have firsthand dirt on a magical girl!”

‘She couldn’t post it herself, but others certainly could.’

‘What magical girl hater could possibly resist exclusive dirt on a magical girl?’

To bolster her credibility, Su Qianyu also sent along the surveillance footage that captured Illo assaulting her.

[Magical Girl Brutality!]

Before long, as the “unread” notification in the chat box changed to “read,” Su Qianyu felt as though she had glimpsed the first rays of victory.

‘She would drown that despicable villain in a flood of netizens’ scorn!’

The sub-moderator’s reply came swiftly, and Su Qianyu soon received their message.

However, upon seeing the sub-moderator’s query about the origin of the surveillance footage, Su Qianyu paused in thought.

After a brief moment spent organizing her thoughts, Su Qianyu meticulously spun her unfortunate encounter into a compelling narrative.

‘It made sense; the AI in this world was incredibly versatile, capable of crafting fakes so convincing they were indistinguishable from reality.’

‘To ensure the authenticity of the evidence, such scrutiny was entirely understandable!’

Naturally, she conveniently omitted the parts where she, Su Qianyu, had instigated trouble or hurled insults.

‘After all, Su Qianyu never fought a losing battle!’

In between typing, to guard against any sudden attacks, Su Qianyu stole quick glances at Illo.

Seeing Illo still maintaining her posture, her hands continuously tapping keys on her phone, the fox-girl sitting on the ground felt a significant wave of relief.

‘Heh heh, she hasn’t noticed!’

Su Qianyu smacked her lips, her gaze once again fixed on the app.

‘Oh, Illo, Illo, just keep staring at your pathetic phone and playing your games!’

‘You won’t even know what hit you until you’re swarmed by cyber-bullies!’

[So, do you have any more information?]

[This is truly appalling; I never imagined a magical girl would stoop to such actions.]

[However, these incidents alone aren’t enough for us to dismantle the entire magical girl collective!]

[Therefore, could you please provide us with more details?]

A moment later, the sub-moderator’s messages rapidly popped up on her phone screen.

Yet, these few short lines of text rekindled a spark of hope within Su Qianyu.

‘She knew it; there were still good people in this world!’

‘It was true, not everyone adored magical girls!’

‘Illo? She was nothing more than a stepping stone for a transmigrator like herself!’

‘With her experience, nothing was insurmountable!’

“What were you just doing?”

Su Qianyu’s moment of triumph was short-lived as Illo’s voice, like a harbinger of doom, echoed in her ears once more.

Instinctively, Su Qianyu, already feeling cornered, immediately logged out of the app on her phone.

“N-nothing at all!”

“Hmm…?”

Illo’s tone slowly climbed, yet her movement ultimately halted mid-air.

“Never mind. I’ll let you off the hook this time.”

“Come on, let’s go eat first.”

With that, Su Qianyu took a few quick steps forward and opened the door, ready to leave.

Wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead, Su Qianyu thought, ‘That b*tch magical girl nearly scared the living daylights out of me.’

‘She’d actually thought the woman had discovered her secretly slandering her online.’

‘It’s good that she didn’t find out!’

GazING at the unread, unanswered message on her phone, Su Qianyu suddenly felt that even her most desperate days now held a glimmer of hope.

‘To dare to transform her into this state, and then to physically pin her down…’

‘This grudge, she was absolutely determined to repay!’

‘If she didn’t get her revenge, she’d write her name backward!’