A miscalculation, a terrible miscalculation.
Sha Chong knew that she was just like a character in a fighting game caught in a chain combo. She’d been able to retreat and maneuver at first, but now she was cornered against the wall, with nowhere left to run.
Unless she called for backup or transformed and flew away, there was no escape for her now.
But…
Backup was out of the question; she would have to rely on herself.
That left only one option: transformation.
No more hesitation!
Not wanting to have any contact with the magical girl in front of her, Sha Chong tensed her entire body, reached for her magic, and began the transformation process.
“Mm… mm…”
“What are you doing?”
Sha Chong’s silent, sudden pose-striking left Jiang Yao with a face full of question marks.
Before today, she thought the strangest magical girl she’d ever met was Magical Girl [Mingxin].
But after today, Sha Chong would definitely move up a rank, bumping Mingxin down.
This was truly the oddest magical girl she’d ever seen.
Mingxin might look a bit odd, and her hobbies might have been punished by the heavens, but at least her behavior made sense. At the very least, Jiang Yao could understand her.
Lin Yu and Qi Shi both fit her idea of normal people and normal magical girls.
But this Sha Chong…
Jiang Yao felt she wasn’t facing a magical girl, but trying to communicate with a Wallfacer preparing to fight against the Trisolarans.
She couldn’t make out Sha Chong’s intentions at all! What on earth was this person thinking?
The chase had started for no reason, and usually that meant someone wanted to run away.
Then, all of a sudden, Sha Chong ran into an obvious dead end in a small alley.
Was she playing around?
If you wanted to be caught, why did you run in the first place!
And now…
Now Sha Chong’s face was flushed red, teeth gritted, body half-squatting down.
What was she doing now?!
Seeing this, even the normally rational Jiang Yao couldn’t help but have an impossible suspicion in her heart.
Thinking back to Little Bai’s description of her as “a magical girl who suddenly went crazy,” Jiang Yao suddenly felt a hint of fear.
She couldn’t help but step half a pace back, her mouth hanging open in shock—maybe with a bit of terror.
(Could it be?!)
(Sha Chong… is she about to… do her business here?!)
That pose.
It looked like it, it really did.
Meanwhile, after holding it in for ages and achieving nothing but making herself even more breathless, Sha Chong finally gave up.
She resignedly pressed herself to the wall, as if using it to support her battered body, and slowly slid down to sit on the not-so-clean ground. For a moment, it was as if a gray filter had been cast over her entire being.
(Can’t… can’t transform.)
With a resigned, bitter smile on her lips, Sha Chong gave up.
Back then—though she’d gotten beaten up afterwards—she’d still managed to transform when facing the Shark King. She could clearly feel magic flowing within her, yet she simply couldn’t transform.
(If you’re not willing to help me, then just leave me alone…)
(You dangle me along but won’t let me transform into my magical girl state… Magic, what on earth are you doing.)
Exhausted from running, her spirit broken, and magic refusing to leave her even as it betrayed her completely.
The triple blow left Sha Chong collapsed on the ground.
Magical Girl [Sha Chong] was completely burned out, turned to white ash…
“Huff.”
On the other side, Jiang Yao finally breathed a sigh of relief.
(Thank goodness, it was all a misunderstanding.)
(At least she wasn’t about to… do that.)
She hurried over, reaching out to haul the limp Sha Chong up.
With the boost from her magic, she didn’t have to worry about lacking strength.
But the alley’s ground wasn’t clean; it must have rained in Canghai City before, and this place, being a small alley, got little sunlight.
There weren’t any obvious puddles, but it was damp and chilly, with patches of mud scattered about.
“Mm.”
Sha Chong’s eyes had turned to spirals, and she was clearly unconscious.
But Jiang Yao didn’t think she could just stand by and watch—she had to do something.
She didn’t know exactly why Sha Chong had gone through so much drama, but she had to admit that Sha Chong’s current sorry state did have something to do with her.
If Wen Yaqian were here, she’d definitely have an answer:
“Hey, magical girls—anything goes.”
Which meant magical girls could pull all kinds of crazy stunts.
But our Yao Yao was a responsible kid. She felt that regardless of what was discussed, at the very least, Sha Chong shouldn’t go back dressed in a mud-stained server’s uniform.
“What should I do…”
Washing was definitely out of the question, and Jiang Yao was even less likely to steal a new, identical uniform for her.
So all she could rely on was magic.
Jiang Yao frowned slightly, racking her brain over what her magic could do to help here.
Crystals, red crystal, blue crystal, purple crystal…
“Pa.”
After listing off crystals, Jiang Yao supported Sha Chong with one hand and slapped her own face with the other.
She wasn’t the kind of magical girl who could control water to do laundry. What could her crystal magic do in this situation? Sell them to buy clothes?
(Eh!)
Just as she slapped her forehead, inspiration struck Jiang Yao, as if her meridians had suddenly cleared.
“That’s right.”
She remembered the “Magical Girl Little Classroom” with Teacher Aurora in the early morning, and the knowledge she taught that day.
Back then, to be exact, Aurora didn’t just teach the [Magic Compression Technique], she also explained the principle behind another magic.
“Let me think…”
Jiang Yao first focused on the wall, marking a “point” there in her mind.
(First, designate a point.)
(Then, select the object to amplify, and draw it toward that point.)
If it had been before learning the Magic Compression Technique, Jiang Yao wouldn’t have had the confidence to try.
But after that experience, her control over magic had grown much stronger.
Combining that with her other skill—summoning magic to respond to her—when it came to simple magic usage, Jiang Yao was now better than many.
Everything went smoothly, until it was time to select the target object, and then Jiang Yao hesitated.
(H-How do I choose…)
She remembered Aurora said that this magic evolved from a spell that amplified a teammate’s attack, just like tweaking “parameters” in a program.
But now, there was a crucial problem before her.
What was the original magic, exactly?
How was she supposed to select the target?
This was reality, after all; even magic had to follow some basic logic. This wasn’t a game where you could just drag a mouse to select.
At this point, her left arm was still propping up the unconscious Sha Chong, her magic was as active as it could get without transforming, and her target spot was already chosen.
The arrow was nocked, and there was no turning back.
Everything was ready—except for the crucial last step.
After more and more thinking, she finally came up with a not-really-a-solution solution.
Jiang Yao awkwardly turned her head, looking toward Sha Chong’s upper torso—her chest area, to be exact.
Since she was supporting Sha Chong’s body, her field of vision was narrow; she could only see so much.
No time to be picky or adjust her posture, it was time to focus.
If magic is will, then let’s see what I can come up with!
She began to channel her light magic, gently wrapping Sha Chong in a thin layer, carefully sensing where the muddy spots were.
“Okay.”
She nodded with a quiet confirmation.
Those spots were now pinpointed.
Next up…
(Imagine!)
Imagine all the mud gathering at Sha Chong’s chest, and then flying together onto the wall!
“Mm…”
Like a qigong master, Jiang Yao opened her eyes wide, focusing with all her might.
(I think this can work, I think this can work…)
(It’s moving!)
She could feel something being drawn by her magic.
It was as if she’d suddenly grown several extra arms, gripping that something, ready to throw at any moment.
At the same time, in her mind’s eye, a translucent arrow pointed from the “origin”—Sha Chong’s chest—to the “destination” she’d set earlier.
Without a doubt, this meant she’d really done it!
Not daring to feel too excited, lest it disrupt her control, Jiang Yao quickly took a deep breath and shouted the name of the spell:
“[Sparkling Clean]!”
“Riiiip—”
“Ah!!!!”
With Sha Chong’s shrill scream, a pair of white bras burst from her clothes, shot toward the wall, and stuck there tight.
“Eh?”
Sha Chong clutched her chest and sobbed as tears streamed down her cheeks.
The sudden turn of events left Jiang Yao dumbfounded.
“Crystal! What are you doing…”
At this moment, Lin Yu—who hadn’t used any magic and wasn’t physically strong—finally followed Jiang Yao’s magical signature to the alley.
The moment she reached the entrance, she saw a scene beyond belief.
Lin Yu’s jaw almost dropped to the ground, the second half of her sentence trailing out with inertia, “…like this…”
In the depths of the dark alley, one girl was hugging another, who was crying hard and covering her chest, her whole body covered in mud.
She looked truly pitiful.
And on the wall behind them, a pair of white bras defied the laws of physics, “stuck” there and fluttering in the breeze.
From someone’s expression, Lin Yu immediately deduced who was responsible.
“What did you just do?!”
“I don’t know either!” Jiang Yao blurted in a panic.