Chapter 150: Magical Girl Squad

Is "Magical Girl" a suitable theme for entertainment creation?

Around this topic, the material world's creative and publishing industries engaged in a decades-long debate, and this debate still has no clear resolution to this day.

In the past material world, roughly tracing back fifty years, entertainment creations related to "Magical Girl" were always a popular theme. People harbored all sorts of imaginations about the mysterious Magical Girls, attempting to project their diverse fantasies onto these enigmatic guardians.

Some of these imaginations were beautiful, filled with praise and longing for heroes; some were critical, questioning the origins and purposes of Magical Girls; and of course, many were too shameful to speak of, often unfit for respectable discourse.

This creative boom lasted a long time; "Magical Girl" had clearly evolved from a precisely defined term into a symbol of entertainment merchandise. Eventually, even real Magical Girls were imbued with idol and entertainment attributes, with some fans spontaneously organizing to support their favorite Magical Girls in various ways.

But anything taken too far becomes excessive.

When works related to Magical Girls became rampant, naturally some malicious individuals infiltrated the scene—either seizing discourse power for personal gain or spreading rumors to smear rivals. The public, swept up by public opinion, could no longer distinguish truth from falsehood, and the term "Magical Girl" gradually began to warp in public discourse.

Faced with these troubling rumors, most Magical Girls could only choose to ignore them or endure silently. After all, their voices were far too weak against public opinion; no matter how they spoke out, they could not avoid further distortion.

Yet even among Magical Girls, there were those with vastly different personalities. Faced with increasingly absurd rumors and entertainment works, a few strong-willed Magical Girls were provoked into anger.

"I can't control most people's mouths, but can't I deal with those unscrupulous paparazzi?"

This was the exact quote, about forty years ago, when this conflict erupted, from a retired Magical Girl from the Siro Region who revealed her identity in an interview.

Thus, starting from the Siro Region, Magical Girls and retired Magical Girls began direct public confrontations with the publishing and distribution circles. This confrontation gradually spread to the eastern regions, eventually descending into a chaotic mess where no side gained an advantage. Yet on the surface, it seemed the Magical Girls had won.

Because the Magic Kingdom issued a statement to city governments across all regions, directly terminating the dispute.

Works that distorted, fabricated, or maliciously speculated about Magical Girls would no longer be permitted for publication or distribution. In the subsequent forty years, commercial works themed around "Magical Girl" gradually faded from the market, leaving only animated series aimed at young children.

Of course, works portraying Magical Girls as positive figures still existed and still had considerable audiences, but they were no longer a topic of general public concern.

By the present day, forty years later, people's perception of Magical Girls seemed to have returned to the past: in reality, Magical Girls are heroes who protect the city; in the virtual realm, they are cartoons for children.

Against this backdrop, several years ago, a mobile game titled "Magical Girl Squad" quietly launched on the intercity network of the Nihon Region.

This game followed the extremely popular gacha and cultivation model, and its content was truly unremarkable: players assembled and nurtured their own Magical Girl squad, displayed in the system as ordinary cultivation and turn-based combat. The visuals were far from impressive—the Magical Girl illustrations were cute, simplistic sketches like those in children's picture books, and in-game battle units were pixelated two-head-tall sprites, utterly failing to spark any desire to try it.

According to later interviews with the game's developer, he said this was exactly the Magical Girl he envisioned.

Unfortunately, his "Magical Girl as he envisioned it" failed to gain market recognition. Such bland, even utterly unremarkable presentation, coupled with an incredibly plain name, naturally garnered no meaningful feedback. Within months of launch, the game was already operating at a loss.

This is standard in the material world's gaming market—too many games vanish like stones dropped into the sea after release or server launch, never again noticed. This game was no exception; even if it vanished forever from now on, no one would spare it a second glance.

But this game did not end its operational life—it miraculously survived.

The turning point occurred two years ago.

At that time, "Magical Girl Squad" had fallen into complete operational crisis; as a small company's experimental title, the game had pushed its developers to the brink of bankruptcy. Then, for reasons unknown—whether the company was acquired or new investors emerged—the game inexplicably revived.

The game received a 2.0 update, retaining its original picture-book art style and cultivation mechanics, but its visual presentation underwent massive evolution. Moreover, the developers added detailed worldbuilding and narrative to a game that previously had almost no background or plot.

In the new setting, players assume the role of a creature called a "Fairy," searching for Magical Girls in a fictional city, collecting and nurturing them to build their own Magical Girl squad.

The game introduced limited management and strategy mechanics, and refined its original turn-based combat, transforming a previously unenjoyable game into one that was finally fun.

But this still wasn't enough to make "Magical Girl Squad" a hit.

Many high-quality games exist; whether stunning visuals or engaging gameplay cannot guarantee a game becomes a blockbuster. Moreover, "Magical Girl Squad" was merely a small studio's production, long-running and nearly devoid of buzz—a "dead game"—and even the update failed to attract many new players.

What truly made this game explode was a social media blog post containing only a few words:

—"Could this be me?"

Below the blog was an image: the cultivation interface of "Magical Girl Squad."

The blog's author was none other than Lan Xing, the reigning "Strongest Magical Girl," famed throughout the material world.

As the captain of the Tian City Magical Girl team and the nominal Strongest Magical Girl, Lan Xing's social media account had countless followers, with countless people daily leaving support beneath her sparse posts.

Lan Xing updating her blog was already an extremely rare event; for her to post a game screenshot naturally drove her massive fanbase to download the game. That day, "Magical Girl Squad"'s servers crashed outright.

Later, as some players delved deeper into the game, they gradually uncovered a shocking truth—the game's many settings were disturbingly accurate.

Leaving aside the urban legend of "Fairies," long associated with Magical Girls, the game's depictions of Magical Girl abilities and combat were excessively detailed. Some self-proclaimed retired Magical Girls even claimed online that the person who designed the 2.0 version was likely a retired Magical Girl themselves, because the settings were too authentic.

But even if that were true, it wouldn't be particularly significant. There aren't many retired Magical Girls in the material world, but there are certainly not few; someone entering the gaming industry isn't especially unusual.

The situation further escalated because people discovered in this mobile game numerous characters modeled after real Magical Girls. These characters bore varying degrees of resemblance to their real-life prototypes, and certain details revealed astonishingly precise information—details even the Magical Girls' own fans had never heard.

Take the character whose screenshot Lan Xing posted on social media: though the character's appearance wasn't particularly similar to Lan Xing, her combat abilities and personal profile details matched Lan Xing exactly—even including information Lan Xing had never publicly disclosed.

That's precisely why Lan Xing used a question mark—she herself was deeply confused.

If this were a privacy leak, the game never explicitly named anyone; if this were defamation, the game's portrayal of Magical Girls was entirely positive.

In short, "Magical Girl Squad" completely bypassed all previous restrictions on Magical Girl works, relying solely on its "authenticity" to carve out a path that wouldn't be banned but still satisfied people's gossip cravings.

From then on, this game truly began to spread among Magical Girl fan circles, and from that base, gradually attracted a large number of casual players.

Two years passed, and "Magical Girl Squad" 2.0 continued thriving—until recently, it finally reached its original target audience: teenage girls.

Not just Jiang Yuan—just in Class 3, Grade 2 of Xizhao Middle School, several girls were discussing the game during breaks.

Lin Xiaolu, a girl uninterested in games who preferred lying on the sofa watching Magical Girl cartoons, downloaded this game due to the "Magical Girl" theme, at Jiang Yuan's strong recommendation.

After a brief patrol around the Luoming District after school, Lin Xiaolu returned first to the secret base, lay on the sofa, and opened "Magical Girl Squad."

With a blank expression, she watched the opening animation, snacking as she waited for the game's hot update. But due to the massive data size, even after finishing a whole bag of snacks, the update still hadn't completed, gradually making her impatient.

Playing games is such a hassle. Maybe I should just watch TV instead?

She couldn't help but think this.

Yet her interest in the "Magical Girl" theme ultimately outweighed her impatience, and she waited until the update finished.

Entering the game, she read a confusing opening plot, endured a series of yawn-inducing tutorials, and finally gained control to experience the gameplay herself.

Holding her phone, she began with a blank expression, then furrowed her brows, then suddenly sat upright, baring her tiger-like fangs and shouting: "Ah! So boring! I'm done!"

She had assumed that, given its "Magical Girl" branding and huge commercial success, this game must be some peculiar masterpiece. But once she actually entered, the sluggish turn-based combat and complex skill data instantly drained all her interest.

She tossed the phone aside, picked up the remote, and switched to her favorite cartoon channel—only to find today's broadcast was a show she didn't like, making her feel even more bored.

Helplessly, she picked up the phone again, face sour, and continued her game progress.

After controlling her basic team through the tutorial stage and enduring yet another uninspiring plot segment, the system finally notified Lin Xiaolu: she could now discover new Magical Girls.

Though called "recruiting team members," the game's mechanism was simply gacha—a standard industry norm—so Lin Xiaolu had no qualms and followed the prompt to enter the gacha pool.

Then, her gaze was immediately drawn to the cover of the latest gacha pool.

The cover of the summon pool depicted a magical girl in a purple-pink bubble skirt, her expression slightly cowed yet strangely resolute.

Clutched in the magical girl's hand was a weapon resembling a notebook; according to the game's explanation, this was called a "Spirit Gear," seemingly corresponding to the magical armor of magical girls in reality.

This appeared to be a newly implemented character; the summon pool was named "Weight of Longing Reappearing," the magical girl on the cover bore the codename "Tanabata," and beside the cover image, tiny text bore the message: "Blooming magic, used to protect unfulfilled longing."

For some reason, Lin Xiaolu felt this magical girl possessed a strange sense of familiarity; though she was clearly not someone she knew and appeared merely as a common picture-book cartoon figure, Lin Xiaolu felt she had seen her somewhere before.

Yet this sense of familiarity was fleeting, vanishing without a trace in short order; looking again at the magical girl on the cover, the strange feeling had already left her heart.

Since she was merely playing a game, Lin Xiaolu dismissed these thoughts as her own illusions, quickly setting the matter aside, and followed the guidance of the new player tutorial to proceed to the summon pool reserved for new players.

Then, with a strangely excited heart, she pressed the "Summon Team" button.

(End of this chapter)