Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

Page 438

The Arab man in military uniform.

“North Africa has been in turmoil in recent years. Religious, regional, and resource disputes have been entangled in this region. The man in the photo is Ahmed Hassan Salado, a brigadier general.”

Xiangzi glanced at the man's biography hastily.

Qi'er Sano Temple Wife Deletion & Si is probably an ordinary person who gained real power in the civil war of a small religious country, wanted to change the country, but ended up getting worse and worse, even causing new wars and massacres...

She simply couldn't understand what this had to do with Medine and the eulogists.

Miao Meng stood up, made a swipe gesture towards Xiangzi to turn to the next page, then stretched and slowly strolled to the side.

Xiangzi was eager to know what role Medine played in all of this, but she patiently listened to Miaomeng continue.

This is, after all, a field I've never been exposed to before.

The adult world? It's much more than that.

She was about to step into a world engulfed in war, where most magical girls' despair and pain would not even make a ripple.

Xiangzi swallowed hard.

What exactly awaits them on that continent?

Miao Meng crossed her arms and paced around the lounge, explaining the information on her tablet in detail.

“I know Xiangzi, you’re saying this guy has nothing to do with us, but—even though he’s a brigadier general, he was a pacifist a year ago.”

"There must be quite a few people who are soldiers but pacifists."

To be honest, Xiangzi didn't really care about these international affairs. She felt that caring about things that were far beyond her reach was unnecessary and would only disturb her peace of mind.

There's a saying, "The farther you travel, the bigger your world becomes." Like the shadows on a game map, Xiangzi thinks this is quite true.

The "outside world" we learn about from news and social networks is actually not much different from the backgrounds in movies.

"Well, judging from your expression, you don't seem very keen to listen, but please bear with me, Xiangzi." Miaomeng rarely showed any emotion. "Do you know that this country has fallen into civil war within a month, launching a large-scale factional purge, which is a massacre—targeting its own compatriots."

“This matter hasn’t even reached the country. Not to mention the country, not many people even know about it internationally. Do you know why? Because nobody cares about this nobody in this remote area. Everyone is busy scrolling through short videos, having afternoon tea, and spending their time on things that are ‘closer to them’.” Miao Meng shrugged. “Of course, no one is in the mood to pay attention to this kind of ‘overflowing’ news.”

The description of Miaomeng is "overflowing".

Information is overflowing in this era; the ocean of information is too vast and noisy, and everyone's attention is inevitably limited. These focused gazes are like the silk spun by a silkworm when it spins its pupa, encircling itself in circles and eventually forming an information cocoon.

News from remote areas undoubtedly exists outside the cocoons of 99.999% of the population. Even with the internet, these messages cannot penetrate others' cocoons, and their cries of despair are like a drop in the ocean—too insignificant to be heard. "Save me, save me," many cried out, perishing in silence, without anyone turning back to look at them.

"..." Xiangzi lowered his head with some guilt.

"Do you know what they were like last year? Ahmed had just seized real power, independently reclaiming weapons, rebuilding the police and schools, establishing courts and administrative agencies, and trying to pull himself out of the chaos."

"Despite the bumpy road, the poverty, the hunger, we have an unwavering belief," was their slogan at the time. During that year, Ahmed's government enjoyed widespread popular support, and the entire country began to show signs of recovery.

"It seems that the entire nation was acutely aware of this during that period. Children went to classrooms to learn to read. Pickups equipped with machine guns no longer roamed the streets, and everyone in the country could sleep peacefully."

Miaomeng paused meaningfully at this point.

Okay, actually she was thirsty.

She turned around, grabbed two drinks from the buffet counter, then walked to the bar counter, ordered a cocktail from the bartender, and returned to where she started.

Miaomeng placed a cup of hot black tea in front of Xiangzi.

"And then, a new civil war, a massacre—how did they fall to this state in just one month?" Xiangzi picked up his teacup, took a sip, and asked, "What happened in between?"

“That makes no sense,” Miaomeng said. “You’d like to say that too, wouldn’t you?”

Xiangzi nodded.

"Although it might seem like I was shooting the arrow before drawing the target, I only noticed this country because of the clues you gave me." Miao Meng smiled helplessly. "A small country that emerged from internal strife, with little oil, minerals, or agricultural products to export, wants to reverse the negative impression the world has given it due to long-term internal turmoil, prove that it's a worthwhile investment destination, has educated and hardworking civilized people, decent natural scenery, and a rich religious culture, and is a good place for tourism. How does it do that?"

"Public relations and publicity? Buy traffic, run ads, let the world know about you. After all, even the best wine needs advertising." Xiangzi answered this question almost without hesitation.

Public relations, whether in the entertainment industry or international relations, is essential, and in this era, it is even dominant.

“Yes, public relations.” Miao Meng snapped her fingers. “An individual, even a large group of individuals, has a social image and reputation that largely depends on the operation of public relations—to put it bluntly, ‘traffic.’ Ahmed is a highly educated man, and he knows this very well.”

One book calls this "the army of hope." It's easy to pledge allegiance to it, but difficult in practice; otherwise, everyone could simply spend money on advertising.

In order for the "military force of hope" to actually operate, the world must know about them, politicians must know about them, online journalists must know about them, and then those "lobbyists," that is, professional public relations companies, must be mobilized.

Holding press conferences at the United Nations; advertising on social media; having certain well-known politicians put on a show; "playing the victim"; "promoting"; "buying traffic"; "internet trolls"; "red and black lists"; "trending topics"... Only when all of these are in operation can "hope" truly become "military force".

"In short, in order to let the world know everything about this little-known country and to build it into a tourism-dependent region like the Maldives, the Ahmed government hired a senior consultant from an international public relations firm as its cultural promotion advisor."

Miaomeng paused slightly after saying this.

"Then why haven't they come into the international spotlight? That's quite intriguing."

Xiangzi's pupils suddenly contracted.

She remembered.

The search results for Medine that I found on search engines before clearly stated:

Median Hermes, a Greek who has lived in Britain for many years, holds dual doctorates in sociology and linguistics from Oxford University... and most importantly, she is a senior consultant at an international public relations firm.

“Medion,” Mu said, unusually speaking.

He succinctly revealed the name that everyone was holding in their hearts.

“That’s right~ Muko only ever uses keywords.” Miaomeng gave Muko a flirty wink. “Do I need to emphasize what the country became after Medien took over? The whole country instantly returned to a state of chaos. People were divided into two factions: those who kill and those who are killed. And then—people lay there like skinned pigs, cows, and chickens in a slaughterhouse.”

"No need to say anything more," Xiangzi interrupted Miaomeng's description.

The lounge was enveloped in a somber silence.

"It's already very clear."

"No, no, no, that's not all."

Miaomeng stretched out her finger and swiped randomly on the tablet in Xiangzi's hand.

One, two, three, four...

"This, this, this, and this, the war between country A and country B, the civil war in country C, and... and many, many places and regions, in less than a year, have all entered a state of war, either civil war or new conflicts."

Now everything is clear.

This man was not a strange tourist wandering around the civil war zone, but a massacre perpetrator who released some kind of "spark" across the world.

Every country she set foot in seemed to fall into chaos for some reason.

Wherever she set foot, for some unknown reason, it would lead to a chaotic end.

“These were all discovered little by little through ordinary means,” Miao Meng said. “She didn’t leave any traces related to magical girls or witches at all. I don’t believe it.”

Miaomeng showed a defiant expression:

"How could anyone do such a thing? Even during the Witch's Night landing, not so many people died."

"..." Xiangzi lowered his head in silence, seemingly lost in thought.

“The eulogists of Kamibama,” Mu suddenly said. “Sho.”

"What do you mean?" Miao Meng raised her eyebrows, looking at the two of them with a puzzled expression.

"The magical girls who appeared in Kamibhama, the ones who started killing each other, also began to do so under some unknown force." Xiangzi raised her head and looked at Miaomeng. "It's exactly the same as what you're saying."

"Really?" Miaomeng said in disbelief.

"Really." Xiangzi nodded.

She recalled the bewildered and confused look Mami unintentionally revealed when she faced her, as well as Mami's cruel methods and her destructive desires.

How much of this has to do with Medine?

Xiangzi couldn't imagine it.

If what Miaomeng said is true, then this Medien is definitely not an ordinary person; she must have used some method to hide the traces of magic.

"Delete." Xiangzi lowered his eyes and rubbed the ring on his middle finger.

"Do you want to ask me whether Medion used magic or not?"

What's your opinion?

“No.” Delete shook his head decisively. “The Kaminari Ode Faction was not affected by mental magic, let alone Witch’s Kiss.”

Delete patted Xiangzi on the shoulder with its tail.

"The only way to find out is to ask her directly."

The Tale of Reincarnation: The Path of Fall, the Road of No Return: Chapter 573 Nightmare

Xiangzi had a nightmare for the first time in a long time, the kind of dream that seemed to foreshadow something that was about to happen.

In her dream, she saw many corpses.

The nuclear explosion tore a huge gash in the ground, resembling a giant cauldron.

It should have been empty inside; nothing could have survived the fireball's radius without being vaporized, especially people.

But the "pot" was full of people, charred black, packed together like beans, filling the crater to the brim.

The smell in the dream was also very real. Xiangzi didn't remember smelling that smell before, but she definitely smelled it. Compared to other mammals, humans have thicker subcutaneous fat. If this big pot were heated properly, human skin would become crispy and give off the aroma of roasted meat.

Actually, the smell was pungent and unpleasant because, in addition to meat and fat, there were also clothes, shoes, cell phones, hair, and other miscellaneous items. If it weren't for these, roasted human flesh would probably smell no different from other animals—fragrant, juicy, and delicious.

That's really scary.

Xiangzi squatted down along the edge of the pit, looking down at the dead bodies in the crater, which resembled a giant cauldron.

Is this a dream?

Xiangzi realized that he was dreaming.

If it wasn't a dream, it's hard to explain why I would see such a scene.

At this moment, a corpse raised its charred and brittle eyelids. Its skull, skin, and muscles were all burned and shrunken, making it look as if Nosferatu from the famous German vampire movie was looking at it with his big eyes.

Xiangzi stared at the corpse for a few seconds.

"I'm cooked," the corpse said, its charred cheeks cracking as the muscles moved, like old, peeling paint.

No matter how you describe it, a charred corpse moving is terrifying.

"Wow—!" Xiangzi was so startled that he fell to the ground with a thud.

The ground in the dream felt very real, scalding hot. But compared to the scalding ground, the moving corpse was even more terrifying.

"You you you you you—!" Xiangzi pointed at the corpse that had crawled out of the pile of dead bodies.

She remembered a horror movie she watched when she was a child. She couldn't remember what it was, but it must have had similar scenes.

The crawling corpse triggered her memories of horror movies. Even though she had witnessed many scenes caused by witches, this fear still lingered due to the influence of her memories.

The corpse opened its mouth wide, making a hoarse sound, staring at Xiangzi with a pair of bright golden eyes. The whites of its eyes were exaggeratedly white against the contrast of its charred skin.

“Ahhhh————”

It let out a hoarse, broken roar, with the sound of bellows, and crawled on the ground toward Xiangzi.

"Don't come any closer!" Xiangzi scrambled backward on all fours.

"Ahhhh——!"

Thin streaks of flesh color appeared on the charred skin, and the corpse's hoarse voice slowly began to become clearer.

"Don't run away!"

Finally, the black scorch marks on the body fell off with the movement of the humanoid object, revealing tender skin, and a face exactly like Xiangzi's appeared from under the fallen scorch marks.

"Hey, it's me!" Oblivionis stood in front of Xiangzi, frowning and with his hands on his hips. "Why are you making such a fuss?"

"Ah—!" Xiangzi felt like she almost couldn't catch her breath. "Who knew you'd make such a terrifying entrance!"

——“Puff.”

A soft laugh sounded beside me.

Xiangzi turned his head and saw a familiar figure with short gray hair, a girl, hugging her knees and squatting beside him.

"A lamp?" Xiangzi blinked.

“It’s Somniorum.” Somniorum gave a peace sign. “You don’t need to think of me as her anymore.”

“Ah…” Xiangzi blinked again, “Somniorum…Oblivionis…”