Volume 2 Chapter 152 / Chapter 433: Sign the Contract, Girl!
"What are you guys doing…?"
Looking at the three girls squatting on the floor in a circle, Ning Chu couldn't figure out what was going on for a moment.
All three turned their heads toward her at once. Yan Xinya's eyes lit up and waved at her.
"Come look at what Lily picked up!"
"Picked up?"
Ning Chu casually shut the door and walked over curiously, craning her neck to look at the center of the circle.
On the floor was a small octopus crawling and wriggling about. It had jet-black, shiny eyes, a pair of ear-like fins on its head that looked like an elephant's, and pink, semi-translucent skin. It was smaller than a ping-pong ball, and so adorably derpy it looked like it had jumped straight out of a 2D anime.
She froze for a moment, then hesitantly dug up a memory from food livestreams she'd watched before.
"Dumbo octopus?"
This kind of octopus was supposedly kept as an ornamental pet by some people. She knew about it from mukbang videos… though it didn't seem quite the same. The Dumbo octopuses in those videos didn't have tentacles as long as this one's.
"What's that?"
Yan Xinya tilted her head. Seeing the little octopus trying to crawl toward her, she picked up a pair of disposable chopsticks and nudged it back.
"Uh, a really cute kind of octopus. Lots of people keep them."
"Lily picked it up!" the wolf girl said, hands on her knees as she stared down at the pink octopus thoughtfully. "Is it good to eat?"
"From the sky?"
Ning Chu's eyelid twitched.
"Maybe someone didn't want to keep it anymore and just tossed it?" Lin Li licked her lips, running her tongue around the corner of her mouth. "Do you think it'd be better as teppanyaki, or blanched and dipped in garlic soy sauce?"
"That sounds so tempting~ Teppanyaki?"
Yan Xinya and Lin Li, the two canines, immediately started discussing cooking methods.
Ning Chu, meanwhile, stared at the little octopus with growing unease. Could it really be that much of a coincidence?
In the book, the tentacle monsters she'd described were indeed octopus-like, complete with suckers—but no matter how she looked at it, they had nothing in common with this cute, pink little thing.
Those tentacle monsters were supposed to be dark, grotesque, dripping with viscous fluids—the sworn enemies of womankind. This octopus, on the other hand, was just cute and harmless.
"No."
Just as Yan Xinya was about to go heat up a frying pan, Lily suddenly grabbed the hem of her clothes and refused firmly.
"Why not?"
Ning Chu's heart skipped a beat.
Oh shit! Don't tell me this succubus actually plans to keep a tentacle monster as a toy for later?!
"Let it grow bigger first—it'll taste better," Lily said seriously. "It's too small right now. There's no meat."
"..."
"Then how do you raise it?" Yan Xinya squatted back down and continued poking the little octopus with her chopsticks.
Lin Li enthusiastically filled a transparent plastic cup with water and ran back. Using chopsticks, she picked up the octopus and dropped it into the cup.
"Isn't this enough? It'd look pretty cute sitting in the dorm!"
"True~"
The moment the octopus entered the chlorinated tap water, its tentacles twitched and spasmed. It struggled desperately to escape, only for Lin Li to press it back down with the lid, then screw it on tightly, twisting it a few extra times until it was completely sealed.
"..."
Ning Chu found herself increasingly at a loss for words.
She didn't know whether this octopus was a tentacle monster or not, but no matter how she looked at it, tap water really didn't seem suitable for raising an octopus.
"What does it eat?" Lily asked worriedly.
"They must sell octopus feed online!" Yan Xinya said energetically, opening a shopping app. "Once it grows bigger, we'll still make it teppanyaki, right? Something this cute has to be delicious."
"Blanching lets you taste the natural flavor!" Lin Li objected. "Teppanyaki's too heavy—doing that to seafood is a crime!"
After thinking for a moment, Lily suggested, "We can just cut it in half."
"I wonder how big it can grow… Will it even survive?"
"When it's about to die, we'll just cook it."
Ning Chu watched the octopus inside the transparent cup. After struggling violently at first, it had now sunk to the bottom, listless—looking as though it had completely given up on life.
But clearly, as food ingredients, no one cared about its condition.
Ning Chu took out her phone and sent a message to Xi Xi:
"Come by my place after you're done over there. Something came up."
She wanted Xi Xi to come and take a look—just to identify it properly. Otherwise, Lily might really end up raising a tentacle monster as a pet without realizing it.
It might look harmless now, but once it grew up, the entire girls' dorm would be doomed.
Once their initial curiosity about the octopus faded, the girls dispersed and went back to doing their own things.
Lily placed the cup with the octopus into a cubby of the bookshelf as a decoration. Only then did she turn her head to look at Ning Chu, her big eyes flickering with confusion—and a clear "just as I thought" expression.
You were saying there'd be tentacle monsters if I went out at night, yet you ran out yourself.
So you were just trying to scare people. Only that husky would actually believe you.
"There's kind of an emergency…" Ning Chu sat down next to Lily. Since she'd already hinted about tentacle monsters before, she leaned in and whispered, "There's a tentacle monster in the school. I really suspect it's the one in that cup."
Lily glanced up at the tiny octopus.
"Buy your own."
"No, I'm serious!"
Lily shot Ning Chu a disdainful look, even picking up the cup and stuffing it into a drawer.
"Mine."
"I'm not trying to steal it…"
"Ning Chu! You ran over in this heavy rain!" Yan Xinya bounced over and hooked an arm around Ning Chu's shoulders from behind. "Since you're here, you're not leaving tonight!"
"Staying over again?" Lin Li turned her head away with a look of disgust. "Shameless."
"This is Ning Chu's dorm too~ If you don't like it, go complain to Sister An!"
A light knock on the dorm door cut Lin Li off mid-argument. She swallowed the rest of her words, got up, and opened the door—only to find a strange red-haired girl with twin ponytails outside.
"You are…?"
"My friend! She's here to see the octopus!"
Ning Chu turned her head and explained, but Lin Li's attention was already locked onto the black cat on Xi Xi's shoulder, staring at it unblinkingly.
"Lily, bring the octopus. Let's talk on the balcony."
"???"
Completely baffled, Lily was dragged onto the balcony by Ning Chu, still holding the cup. She stared blankly at the two girls—and the cat.
The balcony door was casually shut behind them. Inside the room, Yan Xinya, who had been planning to eavesdrop, suddenly felt drowsy and yawned, slumping against the windowsill.
"Girl! Will you sign a contract with me and become a righteous magical girl who saves the world?!"
Before Ning Chu could ask anything, the black cat took the initiative to start its pitch.
"You can fulfill a simple wish, gain powerful strength to punish evil and uphold justice, and—"
Lily calmly shook her head. She didn't even show fear at the fact that the cat was talking.
Her legs, however, had gone weak. She slid down along the tiled wall and plopped onto the floor.
"No—first check whether this octopus is actually an evil entity!" Ning Chu cut the cat off, then squatted down to comfort Lily. "It's fine. They're not bad people… probably."
The black cat jumped down from Xi Xi's shoulder and padded over, its green eyes fixed intently on the octopus inside the transparent cup.
"I don't know~"
"Huh?"
"I haven't contracted a magical girl linked to that particular evil entity. How would I know?"
Ning Chu asked in shock, "Then what were you two doing searching the school?"
"Yeah, we did a carpet-style sweep and didn't find any evil entities," Xi Xi complained. "So what are you panicking for, dragging us out here?"
So you two are literally judging by eyesight?!
"Girl~ want to sign a contract with me?"
The black cat continued trying to sweet-talk Lily.
Ning Chu: "Don't listen to it!"
<+>
Link for character illustration:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IxOucqi87ss3bmqfO9zI2gYiM1Gy8Hz2
<+>
If you want to see more chapter of this story and don't mind spending $5 monthly to see till the latest chapter, please go to my Patreon[1]:
Latest Chapter in Patreon: Volume 2 Chapter 225 / Chapter 505: Class[2]
Link to the latest chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/158602322?collection=234094[3]
https://www.patreon.com/collection/234094?view=condensed[4]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/collection/234094?view=condensed
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/158602322?collection=234094
[3] https://www.patreon.com/posts/158602322?collection=234094
[4] https://www.patreon.com/collection/234094?view=condensed