“Let’s get serious. Looking at everything now, it all boils down to one problem.”
Wen Yaqian pointed to her own head:
“You have a large chunk of memory missing. Also, I’ve investigated that sanatorium.”
“That place is officially listed but not open to the public. It’s a secret facility only for high-level internal personnel’s families, directly connected to the upper echelons.”
She gestured toward the ceiling.
“The fact that after you woke up, your body wasn’t harmed and you bounced out of the hospital full of energy—enough to even fight those Earth Demons with an ordinary human body—can’t just be because you used to be a magical girl. Their top-tier care is probably part of the reason.”
“Your husband… alright, alright…”
Seeing Jiang Lingwei’s face darken instantly, Wen Yaqian waved her hand helplessly.
“You always get riled up when I bring him up. Fine, fine, I won’t mention him. But hey, don’t glare at me like that—I need to have a way to refer to him.”
“Just call him ‘that person.’”
Jiang Lingwei’s expression remained blank. If she praised him, she wouldn’t be satisfied; but if she insulted him, it would feel even worse, like admitting how terrible her situation was for having had his child. So it was better not to mention him at all.
This frustrating feeling left her no choice but to use “that person” as a stand-in, making her sound like some kind of Voldemort.
“In short, ‘that person’ actually has such abilities that the sanatorium has been supporting you free of charge until now. You can’t explain this just by saying your daughter is a magical girl.”
“I checked. A few months ago, roughly before your daughter became a magical girl, your file was classified as top secret. Only after your daughter was officially registered with the Bureau did your status change to ‘family of a magical girl,’ as part of the benefits for magical girl families.”
“This kind of situation,” Wen Yaqian inhaled sharply, “I’ve only seen with the most mysterious ‘First Generation’.”
“Huh?”
Jiang Lingwei leaned forward. “You can’t find anything either?”
“Nope.”
Wen Yaqian shook her head with a hint of disdain in her tone. “The so-called ‘First Generation’—their information doesn’t actually belong to our side. I guess it’s stored with a select few fairies.”
“Then… let’s go back to my memory problem.”
Jiang Lingwei knew well that her timeline just missed the ‘First Generation’ by a hair; it was unlikely they had any direct connection.
Still, the timing of her admission was way too suspicious, making it hard not to draw unnecessary conclusions.
She sat back down and said,
“As long as I can find a way to recover my lost memories, everything else will be easy.”
“That’s actually easy.”
Wen Yaqian tilted her head. “You all often ‘delete’ others’ memories yourselves, don’t you? But later, we learned that kind of ‘deletion’ magic doesn’t really erase memories—it ‘seals’ them, right?”
“Have you ever thought your situation might be caused by memory deletion?”
“If that’s true, you just have to unlock it yourself. If worse comes to worst, like my situation back then, use it on yourself multiple times, raise your normal magic level, and you’ll eventually break free.”
“….”
Jiang Lingwei stared blankly at Wen Yaqian.
After five seconds—
“Oh right!”
She jumped up immediately.
“How did I not think this could be memory deletion magic?”
“I’ll try it now…”
Her hand reached for her transformation device, then touched her neck. After a long pause, Jiang Lingwei sat down again, hesitating before saying,
“No, I can’t use magic right now.”
“Hm?”
Wen Yaqian’s eyes widened. “Why not? You don’t have to transform to use magic.”
“That’s true…” Jiang Lingwei took off her transformation device, looking at the cracked gem embedded in it.
“But I have no mana inside my body right now, so I can’t use magic on myself… and then…”
Wen Yaqian couldn’t help but finish the thought: “And the memory deletion magic can’t affect magical girls—it only works on ordinary people. What the hell, why do you have no mana in your body? What happened to you?”
“Don’t say it like that.”
Jiang Lingwei didn’t know how to explain either. Even when the Old Master taught them this magic, he was unreliable—otherwise, they wouldn’t have discovered after the tenth time that they couldn’t delete anymore.
“I won’t talk about my case for now. This problem with the magic shouldn’t be a big deal. I just need another magical girl to unlock it for me.”
Jiang Lingwei didn’t think this was a difficult problem. There were plenty of magical girls around, all out in the open. With Wen Yaqian’s insider info, finding someone willing to help wouldn’t be hard.
“They won’t do it.”
Wen Yaqian said calmly.
“Why not?”
Jiang Lingwei was puzzled. This magic wasn’t complicated, and most magical girls generally had good personalities. They should be willing to help.
“I said they ‘won’t,’” Wen Yaqian emphasized the word. “They literally won’t do it.”
“But I can teach them.”
Jiang Lingwei understood and retorted, “If they don’t know how, I can just teach them.”
“No, Little Aurora, you don’t understand.”
Wen Yaqian stood up and activated a machine that looked like a cryo-chamber.
“The times have changed. It’s 2032 now.”
“….”
In Jiang Lingwei’s silence, Wen Yaqian typed parameters and toggled controls on the panel, speaking as she worked:
“The Old Master taught me magic knowledge too. I can’t use it anymore, but it’s still in my mind.”
“Before this, I tried to teach some magical girls, but no luck. Their nature is different from past magical girls, and the fairies’ contract magic has changed a lot.”
“Magical girls today aren’t the same as before.”
Hearing this, Jiang Lingwei couldn’t help but stand. “But how is that possible?”
“You know every magical girl has certain talents, right?”
“Mm.” Jiang Lingwei nodded. “That’s true.”
“Modern magical girls do have talents too, but one thing I must clarify: these ‘talents’ are completely different from the old kind.”
“What do you think your talent is?”
Asked this, Jiang Lingwei answered without hesitation:
“Healing, affinity with light magic, support amplification.”
“Exactly. You and those from our era, the real—” Wen Yaqian’s voice darkened, “the real First Generation magical girls were like this.”
“But now, magical girls’ talents can be described as some kind of ‘ability’ or ‘skill.’”
After adjusting the machine, Wen Yaqian put her hands into her lab coat pockets, a trace of melancholy in her eyes.
“We’re old-timers. The kids these days are not like us.”
“Hmm…”
Jiang Lingwei frowned, thinking carefully before cautiously saying,
“I don’t get it.”
“Slap.”
Wen Yaqian smacked her own forehead and said irritably, “You just killed the mood! I knew I couldn’t count on you. Let me put it simply.”
“Here’s an analogy: if you want to repair something, what do you do?”
“Use repair magic.” Jiang Lingwei shrugged. “But I definitely can’t repair something like the Twin Towers.”
“That’s the difference. Modern magical girls can’t even learn repair magic. If such a situation happens, the Bureau will directly send a magical girl with repair talent to handle it.”
“That’s the reality of this era, which is why magical girls have to be public—even though there are all kinds of bad side effects.”
“It’s not really magic anymore, but more like some superpower under the influence of magic. Just think of it that way.”
Wen Yaqian opened the machine’s lid. “Anyway, you’ll understand eventually. For now, get in and lie down. I’ll check if your body is normal. Honestly, Little Aurora, why didn’t you say your normal state also has problems?”
“Mm hmm.”
Jiang Lingwei obediently leaned against the machine and took off her shoes. She hadn’t seen this thing before and didn’t know its function, but since Wen Yaqian said so, she just went along.
“Now that you mention it, I do feel something’s off.”
Before the lid closed, Jiang Lingwei suddenly looked at Wen Yaqian and said.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s those demons… they’re too weak.”
“…Hm?”
Seeing Jiang Lingwei’s completely serious face with no hint of pretense, Wen Yaqian’s expression turned to surprise.