Homura Akemi was not aware of the situation on Fang Zheng's side. After that, she left the library and returned to her home.

But what Homura Akemi didn't expect was that there was a guy whom she hated, waiting for her there.

"The time traveler, Homura Akemi."

"...QB."

Looking at the white animal standing in front of her, Homura Akemi stared at it fiercely.

"What are you doing here? There is no need for me to have any conversation with you."

"I just wanted to observe your presence."

Even though Homura Akemi responded so coldly, QB's tone remained unchanged.

"In order to switch the possibilities of the past, I traveled through countless parallel worlds, and repeated this process over and over again within this month in order to get the ending you were looking for. And your existence finally answered one of my questions."

“…”

Facing QB's words, Homura Akemi just looked at it coldly without saying a word.

"I have always wondered why Kaname Madoka possesses such extraordinary qualities as a magical girl. Now I can establish an acceptable hypothesis."

At this point, QB shook his tail, and his bright red eyes looked at Homura without blinking. Homura frowned when she heard what QB said, but still didn't say anything. However, QB didn't seem to care about such a small matter, and just continued talking.

"The potential to become a magical girl is determined by the amount of causal relationships she carries. If she were the queen of a country or the savior of the world, it would be understandable, but it is impossible to explain why Madoka, who lives an ordinary life, has such a large number of causal relationships. However... now we can come up with a hypothesis."

QB's tone remained unchanged, but Homura felt the air around her was a little cold for some reason.

Stop talking... I don't want to listen, I don't want to listen at all!

However, QB's voice ignored Homura Akemi's resistance and still came through clearly.

"Maybe Madoka, because you repeat the same time every time, you will become a more powerful magical girl."

"Stop talking!"

Hearing this, Homura finally stood up and took out her pistol and aimed at QB. But QB remained motionless, looking like he didn't care at all.

"As expected, the reason lies with you. To be more precise, it should be the side effect of your magic. When you rewind time many times, you twisted countless parallel worlds into a spiral. With Kaname Madoka's existence as the central axis, the causal lines of parallel worlds that were originally impossible to be entangled are all connected to Madoka on this timeline."

At this point, QB revealed a smug smile.

"You have done a great job, Homura. You helped me train Madoka to be the strongest witch."

"So what!?"

Homura Akemi clutched her skirt tightly and glared at QB.

"This time, it's different from before. Madoka will not sign the contract and become a magical girl! She has seen the consequences of becoming a magical girl with her own eyes, and she will never do what you wish!"

"Will it really be so?"

However, QB did not give up. Instead, it jumped onto the sofa and stared at Homura Akemi.

"I admit that the appearance of these visitors from another world was beyond our expectations, but do you really believe that they can defeat Witch Night?"

“…”

This time, Homura Akemi did not answer immediately, but seeing this, QB continued speaking.

"You should know what Witch Night is like, right? So, are you really that confident?"

Hearing this, Homura Akemi lowered her hands, bit her lips tightly, and didn't know what to say for a moment.

"You should know that there is actually only one way..."

However, before QB could finish his words, another voice suddenly appeared and interrupted him.

"That may not be the case."

Along with the voice, Fang Zheng walked out from the shadows on the other side, and seeing Fang Zheng's appearance, Homura Akemi was surprised.

"Mr. Fang Zheng."

"Hey, you don't look that good."

After greeting Homura Akemi, Fang Zheng looked at QB again.

"Finally I see you, QB. I thought you were hiding from me."

"I'm just very interested in you guys."

"I'm interested in you guys, too."

Hearing QB's answer, Fang Zheng narrowed his eyes. QB also stared at him, his seemingly brisk tone not wavering at all.

"I've always been curious, man from another world, what is your motive?"

"To end this sad cycle of magical girls, of course."

"But do you know the consequences of doing so?"

QB looked at Fang Zheng again.

"The sacrifice of magical girls is necessary. In order to stop the increase of entropy, avoid the arrival of heat death and the destruction of the entire universe, we must collect enough energy in this way. By sacrificing a few magical girls, we can save the entire universe. Isn't this a very valuable act?"

After hearing this, Homura Akemi was speechless, however, Fang Zheng was not moved at all.

"So what?"

"……?"

"Yes, I ask you, so what?"

Fang Zheng held out his hand and looked at QB with contempt.

"By the way, you said that heat death will come and the entire universe will be destroyed. When will that happen? Will it be 50,000 years? 500,000 years? 5 million years? Or 500 million years?"

“…”

However, this time, facing Fang Zheng's question, QB did not answer.

However, Fang Zheng opened his mouth and revealed a ferocious smile.

"I'm so sorry. We humans have only been around for a few thousand years since we started eating raw meat and drinking blood. Maybe we will still be alive in 50,000 years, or maybe we will have already died out. So why should we care about the end of the universe after we die?"

"Then, according to what you said, since you humans don't care about the destruction of the universe, and may even destroy yourselves before the destruction of the universe, then it's not strange that we use a small group of you to continue the existence of the entire universe."

"On the other hand, since we don't care about the destruction of the universe, we naturally have the right to reject all of this."

Having said that, Fang Zheng's face darkened slightly.

"If you care so much about the world, why don't you sacrifice yourself?"

"In our civilization, emotions are only a rare mental illness, so we were shocked when we discovered them in humans. It is simply unimaginable that all individuals can coexist with their own emotions."

In response to QB's remarks, Fang Zheng sneered.

“That’s a lie.”

"What evidence do you have?"

"Because your testimony is full of contradictions."

Fang Zheng stretched out his hand and pointed at QB.

"You just said that you chose to do this in order to prevent the arrival of heat death and save the universe, right?"

"That's right."

"What, then, is your motive?"

“…”

"Emotions are the foundation of all intelligent life. Fear of death leads to desire for survival, and fear of extinction leads to growth. Civilization thrives because of the desire to express its existence. If your civilization really has no emotions, why would you prevent the arrival of heat death? Life and death, destruction and rebirth, all of these are part of the universe. If you really have no emotions, then you should obediently accept the fact that the universe is about to perish, and wait for the arrival of extinction."

Fang Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly.

"But... you didn't do that, and chose to 'save' the universe. So tell me, Incubator, what kind of emotions made you do this irrational behavior? Why didn't you want to accept this inevitable destruction, but wanted to resist? It's really interesting. You have no emotions, but you 'desire' to survive?"

“…”

This time, QB said nothing, and the whole room fell into a long silence.

Finally, after an unknown amount of time, QB's voice sounded again.

"I don't need to explain it to you, just like you humans don't explain it to livestock when you eat them."

Hearing this, Fang Zheng smiled brightly.

"So, your fox tail is finally showing."

"I don't think we did anything wrong. Besides, we didn't treat humans as livestock after all. Instead, we have been making concessions to you. After all, we are negotiating with you on the basis of recognizing that you are intelligent life forms."

"Arrogance... The stench of Zentraedi arrogance is overwhelming. It seems that you think we can't cause any harm to your civilization, so you don't care about our thoughts at all?"

“I still very much hope that we can reach a consensus.”

"But unfortunately, we can't reach a consensus."

Having said that, Fang Zheng stretched out his hand and pointed at the Incubator.

"I now officially declare, Hatcher, that you and your civilization have caused very serious harm and threats to humanity, and have attempted to exterminate human civilization. Therefore, your civilization will be regarded as the most dangerous threat by our Tiandao Palace. After dealing with Witch Night, we will launch an attack on you and your civilization."

"Is this a declaration of war?"

"Yes, this is a declaration of war, Incubator."

Fang Zheng's expression didn't change at all.

"It seems that you have been leisurely and comfortable in the universe for too long. Someone must come to tell you that this universe has never been decided by a certain civilization."

"In that case, there is nothing more to talk about between us."

At this point, QB also jumped off the sofa.

"Well, please do your best from now on. After all... Witch Night is not as simple as you think."

With these words, QB disappeared into the shadows again.