Jiang Lingwei’s eyes were filled with confusion.
She didn’t even know why she was crying.
She had absolutely no memory of the crying girl before her.
“Did you… mistake me for someone else?”
Jiang Lingwei asked cautiously.
“I… I…”
The girl’s expression stiffened, as if she couldn’t believe what she had just heard.
Lowering her head, where Jiang Lingwei couldn’t see, the light in the girl’s eyes dimmed.
“Mom… you, you don’t remember Xiao Yao?”
“I…”
Jiang Lingwei didn’t know how to explain. The situation before her was completely incomprehensible.
From both an age perspective and her true gender, there was no way she could have such a grown daughter.
Yes, the magical girl transformation form, if not using magical armor or spiritual clothes, didn’t actually consume much mana; if she really wanted, she could maintain it indefinitely, even for a lifetime.
But judging by this girl’s age, she had to be at least fifteen or sixteen.
She was only seventeen herself! Was she supposed to have been pregnant since she was two years old, still a little boy? That was just too twisted.
“I… I’m a little confused… what exactly is going on right now?”
“Ah, Mom, you just woke up, right?”
The girl panicked, hastily wiping away her tears and scrambling to her feet:
“I, I’m going to get the doctor.”
She rushed out of the room, leaving Jiang Lingwei lying on the bed completely bewildered.
“Ah, this…”
After watching the girl dash out, Jiang Lingwei got out of bed, slipped on the slippers beside it, and went to the door to double-lock it before heading to the wardrobe in the corner to take out a brand-new set of white clothes still in its packaging.
“…Huh?”
Looking down, Jiang Lingwei felt something strange.
Having been a magical girl for two years, female bodies no longer held any mysteries for her.
To be honest, shortly after gaining her transformation ability, she couldn’t help but explore herself a little.
So, she knew her own body well. The transformation form definitely wasn’t this large.
Though not small, her transformed form was a pink-haired girl, with height and development at a normal level.
But now… this was a bit obscene to think about—wasn’t it a little too big?
Feeling carefully, it wasn’t just the two pale mounds below her field of vision that were more prominent, with her center of gravity shifted forward; even her height seemed noticeably taller.
Jiang Lingwei shamelessly pinched her own buttocks in front of the wardrobe.
Good, her hips seemed larger too.
If before she was a pure magical “girl,” then now this figure was definitely on the level of a mature woman!
“No, no, no, this can’t be right. Even if the magical girl form can grow, it’s only been a few days. There’s no way I could have grown like this.”
She instinctively reached for her neck.
“My transformation device?”
Jiang Lingwei suddenly realized that her transformation device was missing.
Closing her eyes to sense, there was no response at all, meaning the device was nowhere near her.
That was strange.
Even if a magical girl could maintain a transformation indefinitely, there was one premise: the device couldn’t be too far from the body.
Her transformation device was a necklace with a pink heart-shaped gem—the mana core.
But now the device was gone, and she was still in transformed form. Did she transform unconsciously while unconscious?
That was possible. Although a magical girl’s power greatly diminishes without the device, it doesn’t mean they are completely defenseless.
Transformation could still happen, but the damage to the body and the duration of activity would be significant issues.
“Alright.”
Holding the clothes and pants, Jiang Lingwei took a deep breath:
“Transformation, deactivate.”
“…”
“Transformation, deactivate!”
“…”
“Transformation, deactivate!!!”
No response, her body remained the same.
Jiang Lingwei panicked.
Not only could she not deactivate the transformation, she couldn’t feel any mana flowing through her body.
True, her mana was completely drained during battle, but she’d been unconscious for so long and had been moved to a safe place. She should have regained some mana by now.
She couldn’t even deactivate the transformation?
No, no, she had to find the Elder and ask. He was a fairy—this kind of thing he’d understand.
She hastily put on the pants and shirt, buttoned up, then leaned over the bed searching around for her phone.
Just as she was busy, she heard the doorknob turn. Then, the person outside noticed the door was double-locked and knocked several times.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
And the voice of the girl from before:
“Mom! Please open the door!”
“Uh…”
Jiang Lingwei adjusted her clothes and, after making sure she was dressed properly, walked over and unlocked the door.
“Mom!”
The moment the door opened, the girl with tear stains on her cheeks flew into Jiang Lingwei’s arms like a fledgling bird returning home, holding her tightly and refusing to let go.
Instinctively embracing the girl, Jiang Lingwei looked up and saw a man in a white coat standing at the doorway, dressed like a doctor, and asked:
“You are…? Can someone please explain what’s happening?”
The man gave her a slightly pitying look and spoke gently:
“I’m the doctor in charge of this rehabilitation area. My surname is Xia.”
Jiang Lingwei saw his name tag, which read “Xia Wenqi.”
“Ms. Jiang, may I ask if you are feeling any discomfort in your body right now?”
“No.”
Jiang Lingwei answered, “I feel perfectly fine.”
“Okay.”
Doctor Xia jotted something down in his notebook. Jiang Lingwei couldn’t see it, but even if she could, she probably wouldn’t understand doctors’ handwriting.
“I have a personal hypothesis that your memory appears to have some… gaps?”
“No, that can’t be.”
Jiang Lingwei felt a little nervous. The battle before she lost consciousness, learning, training, and daily life with her companions—all still clear in her mind, nothing seemed off.
“May I ask what is the most recent event you can recall?”
“The most recent event…”
Jiang Lingwei hesitated.
For ordinary people, magical girl affairs were best kept secret. If her companions successfully resolved the recent dark invasion and erased the memories…
After thinking it over, she chose a deliberately ambiguous answer:
“A major accident happened in the city a few days ago?”
“…Ah, that was my oversight. Let me rephrase.”
Doctor Xia took a deep breath:
“Ms. Jiang, what year do you think it is now?”
“What year?”
Jiang Lingwei felt a bad premonition and replied nervously:
“Isn’t it 2012?”
“No.”
Doctor Xia shook his head. “It’s 2032.”
“According to your admission records, you entered our hospital for rehabilitation in 2021. You have been unconscious for at least eleven years.”
“From what we can see now, your brain may have suffered some damage during this period, causing loss of many memories. But please believe me.”
Doctor Xia pointed to the girl curled in her arms, equally lost in the situation:
“This young lady, Jiang Yao, is indeed your daughter.”
Boom!
Like a thunderclap from a clear sky, it exploded in Jiang Lingwei’s heart, shattering her mind into a mess.
2012, 2032—twenty years apart.
But she quickly calmed down.
She reevaluated everything before her.
The crying girl in her arms, the suddenly arrived doctor, the rehabilitation hospital…
Now, suspicion arose in Jiang Lingwei’s heart.
Suspicion that all this was an illusion, a trap created by some phantasm demon.
Those damn creatures always liked to do this kind of thing.
They think they can fool her? She was a magical girl! An experienced magical girl!
(Hmph.)
She sneered inwardly and said to Doctor Xia:
“Doctor Xia, may I borrow your phone for a moment?”
“Ah, of course.”
Doctor Xia nodded. “If you can contact some reliable people, that would be even better.”
(Haha.)
Jiang Lingwei looked at Doctor Xia.
She knew this “Doctor Xia” wouldn’t just hand over his phone.
And this illusion would soon be exposed.
Phantasm demons couldn’t create; no matter how elaborate the illusions, they were based on the victim’s own thoughts. That meant they couldn’t create anything the victim had never seen.
They could form faces from the victim’s forgotten subconscious and learn behavior patterns from memories.
But technology? That was something they absolutely couldn’t fabricate.
If twenty years had truly passed, she remembered, back then the banana phone was only on its fifth generation… how could it possibly…
Doctor Xia pulled out his phone, lit up the screen, and handed it to her.
Jiang Lingwei froze completely, unable to believe as she took the black device.
Completely different from the old phones—a thinner body, larger screen, multiple cameras, and much clearer display.
Awkwardly and incredulously, she compared the size to the phone in her memories—it was wider.
She looked up at Doctor Xia.
He nodded.
Jiang Lingwei felt her heart race. She swiped the screen, her fingers pressing the numbers harder out of habit.
“Beep… The number you have dialed is not in service.”
This was a friend’s number.
One after another, she dialed familiar numbers.
Next, also no answer. Next, a rough male voice answered, saying wrong number. The next was disconnected…
From hope, to expectation, to numb, mechanical action.
“Mom.”
Jiang Yao tugged Jiang Lingwei’s arm, stopping her from the futile cycle, and whispered pleadingly:
“Let’s go home.”
“…”
Jiang Lingwei felt parched, as if she had lost the ability to speak.
She looked up, returned the phone to Doctor Xia, and asked on impulse:
“Where… where is my husband?”
“I don’t have that information.”
Doctor Xia pocketed his phone in his white coat and gestured politely:
“If you want to be discharged, I suggest a thorough physical examination first.”
“Okay… okay…”
Jiang Lingwei absentmindedly patted Jiang Yao’s shoulder.
She already…
Had no idea what to do next.