CHAPTER 1198: CHAPTER 1197: PRACTICE IS THE ONLY CRITERION FOR TESTING TRUTH

At this point, Fang Zheng could almost guess what was going on.

It was obvious that the Magical Girls within this "backside world" had a set of cruel survival rules, and that creature called QB lured them into signing a contract to become Magical Girls by fulfilling their wishes, however...

"After all, they’re just young girls. You can tell from hearing about it that things won’t end well."

Fang Zheng shook his head helplessly and then sighed.

"Eh? Teacher, how do you know?"

Hearing Fang Zheng’s lament, Little Sakura couldn’t help but ask curiously, and Fang Zheng shrugged.

"Although I don’t have a good impression of that thing called QB, I admit it does have one point right: equivalent exchange. It helps those girls fulfill their wishes, so those girls inevitably have to accept the consequences. But young girls are still young girls, and anyone with even a bit of maturity would be cautious about granting any wish like that."

"Why is that, Teacher?"

This time, Shisei also raised her own question out of curiosity.

"It’s simple."

Fang Zheng sighed.

"You might not know this, but in other worlds, fulfilling wishes isn’t such a difficult thing. For example, in my world, Mages and Magicians can learn spells like ’Limited Wish Technique’ or ’Wish Spell.’ And in Little Hei and Illya’s world, there’s a ’Holy Grail’ that can fulfill any wish."

"Huh? There are such things?!"

Upon hearing this, the girls were stunned, and even the usually silent Akemi Homura cast a look of surprise.

"But do you think that’s actually a good thing?"

At this moment, Little Hei spoke up with a cold laugh.

"In reality, anyone who pursues such results ends up with a tragic ending."

"Why?"

"It’s simple."

Fang Zheng snapped his fingers.

"Because when you make a wish, you only think of the result, not the process."

"......What does that mean?"

At this time, Akemi Homura, who had been standing silently in the corner, suddenly asked, and Fang Zheng glanced at her before continuing.

"There’s a record of a Mage who cast a ’Limited Wish Spell’ and wished to become the wealthiest person in the world. How do you think that wish was fulfilled?"

"Hmm........."

Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s query, the girls frowned, lost in thought, then Nanoha spoke.

"Maybe, like in fairy tales, his pockets would always be filled with gold and silver treasure, and he’d never run out?"

Then Little Sakura also offered her suggestion.

"Maybe a mountain of gold would suddenly appear in front of him?"

"Those are all possibilities, but the actual outcome tells us there was another result."

At this, Fang Zheng slightly smiled.

"He was teleported to a world filled with gold and silver treasure. How about that, it fulfills his wish, right?"

"Hmm......And then? What happened to the Mage?"

At this time, Shisei also curiously looked at Fang Zheng and asked, to which Fang Zheng slightly chuckled.

"He died."

"Eh......?"

Upon hearing this answer, the girls were all dumbfounded.

"Wha, why?"

"Because there was nothing there but gold and silver treasure, and the Mage starved to death clutching the gold."

"This........."

"That’s right, because when he made the wish, he only thought of money. He didn’t consider that besides money, he needed other things—food, resources—these are fundamental to survival. Without these, no matter how much money you have, it’s meaningless."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng hummed lightly and glanced at Illya and Little Hei.

"And in their world, someone once tried to use the Holy Grail to realize the wish for world peace, with no more conflicts or wars. But do you know how the Holy Grail intended to fulfill that wish?"

"......?"

"Kill everyone."

Fang Zheng spread his hands once again.

"If all the people in the world are killed, then naturally there wouldn’t be any more conflicts or wars among humans."

"Hiss———!"

Hearing Fang Zheng’s response, everyone collectively took a sharp breath.

"Fortunately, it was stopped in time, so the world didn’t get its so-called peace. But all these tell us one truth: Any goal is something you have to strive for on your own. Most of the time, you have to remember that if you rely on external forces to realize your wishes, the situation might turn out very different from what you imagined."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng glanced once more at Akemi Homura.

"Because the hands that grant the wish, in the end, are not your own, so naturally they won’t grant it as you wish."

"............"

This time, the girls fell silent, without saying anything further.

"Alright."

Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit heavy, Fang Zheng clapped his hands and stood up.

"We have a general understanding of the situation now, but this is just information we’ve heard. We need to verify through practice to determine what’s actually going on."

"What should we do, big brother?"

Little Hei raised her hand curiously, hopping as she asked.

"First, the most crucial point."

Faced with Little Hei’s question, Fang Zheng raised one finger.

"That QB said all Witches were transformed from Magical Girls. Although this seems to be the case right now, we must see it to believe it. So what we need to do next is find a Witch and see if she indeed transformed from a Magical Girl."

"You don’t mean to say you’re planning to communicate with the Witch, do you?"

Upon hearing this, Akemi Homura couldn’t help but speak.

"Those Witches can’t communicate with us at all, they’re only filled with despair and anger, so it’s impossible to talk to them!"

"I have my ways."

Fang Zheng obviously would not change his mind because of a few words from Akemi Homura. Of course, even if the Witch can’t communicate through language, this wasn’t a big problem for Fang Zheng, however......

Thinking this, Fang Zheng glanced once more at the bracelet in his inventory.

Forget it, forget it, the weather will do as it wants, women will marry when they please, it’s all fate.

"I want to go too!"

However, to Fang Zheng’s surprise, at this moment, a strange voice suddenly came from the other side. Turning his head, he saw Mami Tomoe had woken up when he wasn’t noticing, was supporting herself against the wall to stand up, and looked as though she had been severely ill, her face pale and devoid of color. Yet, even so, Mami Tomoe still carried a determined and persistent gaze, looking at Fang Zheng.

"Please take me with you. I’m familiar with this place, I know where Witches are!"

"Alright."

Faced with Mami Tomoe’s request, Fang Zheng nodded without care.

"In that case, let’s go together."

"Wait!"

However, just as Fang Zheng had finished speaking, the door suddenly opened. Next, they saw Sakurazawa Kyoko stick her head out from outside, biting on a chocolate stick.

"You all seem to be talking about something interesting, how about letting me join too?"