As they were talking, the sound of a car came from outside.
“Ah.”
Wen Yaquan looked up and didn’t continue the conversation about dividing up the rooms, saying as she walked toward the door, “It should be that Magical Girl arriving. Xiao Wei, explain to everyone, I’ll go take a look.”
“Ah, okay.”
Using her palm as a fan to cool herself off, Jiang Lingwei briefly explained to the children and Jiang Cheng what Wen Yaquan had said—that a Magical Girl would be coming by.
At the same time, to avoid unnecessary trouble, the now fully recovered, round and chubby Xiao Bai, who was gnawing on a chew stick with potato chips, was told to hide inside for a bit. After that, everyone went out together.
“Ah.”
The timing was perfect. As they stepped outside, a military jeep pulled up on the road outside the manor gates with a screech of brakes.
“Ka.”
The passenger door was pushed open, and down came a young girl dressed all in night gear.
She had a red, gleaming scarf covering the lower half of her face, leaving only her nose and eyes visible.
This outfit would look strange to an ordinary person.
But with her aura, the scarf fluttering on its own, and her special attire, it was clear she was in her transformed state as a Magical Girl.
Still, it was a bit puzzling—there weren’t any enemies now, so why was she transformed?
“Ah, you must be the Magical Girl [Shadow Lily].”
Already knowing her code name in advance, Wen Yaquan put on a standard polite smile and spoke.
But she didn’t step forward, only standing in place and waiting for her to approach.
This was her way of expressing some displeasure.
Wen Yaquan herself didn’t want the Bureau to interfere, but unfortunately, Old Lin was involved in an important project at the moment, so the people from Canghai City insisted on coming over to protect her.
The reason was perfectly justified and in accordance with regulations.
Since it didn’t really conflict with her, she didn’t refuse.
At least the Bureau really was sending a Magical Girl, ensuring purity of intent.
And it wasn’t even close protection—just an introduction so the Magical Girl could get to know her and her companions, confirm the protection target, and hand her an emergency contact device.
If it were more than that, Wen Yaquan’s displeasure wouldn’t be so simple.
Wen Yaquan had her reasons to show her displeasure toward this Magical Girl.
As far as she knew, this Magical Girl was part of the Bureau—a formal member, with an actual position.
Unlike most Magical Girls, who were led mainly by fairies.
Her arrival represented the will of the Bureau.
Upon hearing Wen Yaquan call out her code name, the Magical Girl called “Shadow Lily” nodded slightly, quickly walked over, and gave a bow as she said,
“Yaquan-san?”
Her voice was pleasant, but there was something odd about it.
Just from the content, it had a hint of Eastern flavor, making one suspect she was an Eastern Magical Girl.
But the rhythm and intonation didn’t match the usual accent of someone from the East speaking Chinese.
What kind of grammar was that?
“Yes.”
Although it felt strange in her heart, Wen Yaquan showed nothing on her face and maintained her polite smile as she nodded.
There were plenty of Magical Girls in this world, all kinds of people—this kind of thing wasn’t enough to shake her.
Once she received confirmation, Shadow Lily visibly relaxed and nodded,
“domo, ninja desu.”
Then, she stretched out a gloved hand with the fingertips exposed.
“Shake hands.”
Wen Yaquan paused for half a second but reacted quickly, also reaching out her hand and copying her tone, “Shake hands.”
Their hands clasped together, and Shadow Lily nodded, “Shake hands, shake hands both hands.”
She then politely raised her head and gestured with her palm at the people behind Wen Yaquan—Jiang Lingwei and the others—shooting Wen Yaquan a questioning look.
“Mm, everyone is here,” Wen Yaquan nodded. “Go ahead.”
“Okay han.”
Answering with a strange breathy sound, Shadow Lily walked up to Jiang Lingwei and the others, extending her hand to each of them.
“Shake hands.”
“Oh, uh…”
Jiang Lingwei was the first, watching the earlier interaction and tentatively reaching out, “Shake hands?”
“Shake hands, shake hands both hands,” Shadow Lily nodded in reply.
The second was Jiang Cheng; there was nothing special, the process was exactly the same.
When it came to Lin Yu and Jiang Yao, Shadow Lily’s hand clearly trembled during the handshake.
There seemed to be a change in her expression, but with the red scarf covering her face, nothing could really be seen.
After the handshakes, Shadow Lily quickly walked back to Wen Yaquan, nodded, handed her a small device that looked like a walkie-talkie, and then hurried back to the car and left.
“What’s that about?”
Watching the jeep drive away, Jiang Lingwei craned her neck.
“No idea,” Wen Yaquan spread her small hands. “It’s a Magical Girl, after all. Maybe that’s just her personality.”
“Alright.”
Clapping her hands, Wen Yaquan continued, “I’m getting a bit hungry, and we’re done with things here anyway. Let’s go eat.”
In the jeep gradually driving off, Shadow Lily dispelled her transformation.
However, her appearance hadn’t changed much; she was still in night gear with a red scarf, only now without the effects of her transformation—the self-floating scarf and light-absorbing clothes were gone.
The fact that she wore the same outfit as usual showed that her normal clothes were basically the same as her magical costume.
She picked up a tablet, logged into the Bureau system and did some checking, then picked up her communicator and started contacting other Bureau members.
This time, her voice sounded much more normal as she reported to the others over the communicator:
“Wen Yaquan’s lead is also cut off. She’s with Magical Girl [Crystal].”
“And there’s a couple, friends of Wen Yaquan, both ordinary people, definitely unrelated to ‘Generation Zero.'”
“Their trip to Canghai City is probably just because this place is less likely to have dark incidents.”
Thinking back to the two bursts of magic she sensed earlier, Shadow Lily felt a bit complicated.
“I think, maybe there’s not much need to worry about Wen Yaquan’s safety.”
“Just checked, it’s not only Magical Girl [Crystal], but Magical Girl [Opal] is also with her.”
In such a small city, traveling with two Magical Girls—what could possibly go wrong?
Luckily, she hadn’t really cared much about Wen Yaquan’s security issue in the first place. If not for the higher-ups assigning her to the secret mission codenamed [Generation Zero] and expressing some doubts, she’d only have given Wen Yaquan regular Level 2 security at best.
Compared to her, her husband Lin Hongbo was far more important.
As for that young couple, after sensing that neither of them had any magical reaction in their bodies, Shadow Lily didn’t pay them any further mind.
With ordinary people like this, there really was no need for a deep investigation, especially since one was obviously not a girl by physique, and the other was clearly a man—there was no way they could have any connection to Generation Zero.
She needed to focus her main attention on those suspected of being Generation Zero.