“Everyone, say ‘Brother Lin is awesome’ one by one.”
Yuhua slapped the table and started the chant.
“Brother Lin is awesome.”
The other two echoed in perfect sync.
“What’s so awesome about it…”
Liu Jin—or rather, now she could also be called Lin Ling.
She could now only exist in her Magical Girl Liu Jin form, and was holding her forehead, muttering in confusion.
Her original body was indeed already cold, and she could only remain here thanks to her Magical Girl form.
The price was that, from now on, she could only stay in this form.
But compared to being alive, this didn’t seem like such a big deal after all.
Now, with Liu Shixing turned into a pink-haired loli, and Lin Ling turned into a Magical Girl, two of the four boys in the dorm had become girls.
It was an unexpected taste of mixed dorm life.
“Everything about it is awesome.”
Yuhua, who’d been carrying the weight of the world these past few days, finally found an outlet for his pent-up emotions.
“Do you know what I’ve been through these days? Anpelin ended up like that, you disappeared, I was running around for your mom, and the memorial was about to start—then you suddenly transformed and sat up out of the coffin! Isn’t that awesome?”
The more he spoke, the more worked up he got, even starting to spill secrets:
“Honestly, I’ve known for ages that Brother Lin was Magical Girl Liu Jin. I’ve been keeping that secret all this time. Finally, I can say it out loud. You know, our Brother Lin looks like a King of Study on the surface, but behind the scenes, she’s an S-Class Hero earning twenty million a year. And she still said she wanted to quit and go into academia. Have you ever seen anyone like that?”
Lin Ling was so embarrassed by his words her face turned crimson, nearly burying her head in her rice bowl.
All she could do was poke hard at her rice with her chopsticks.
“Speaking of which…”
She finally found a chance to change the subject, raising her head to ask, “After I collapsed… how was the Disseminator taken care of?”
“It was Anpelin,” Yuhua sighed, his tone dropping, “She risked her life to protect us… In the end, she managed to subdue the Disseminator, but she herself was even further corrupted. She’s still in the hospital, memories a mess, the medication isn’t working, so I’m just staying by her side, hoping she’ll remember something.”
Yuhua glanced at Liu Shixing and Wang Zeqi. Lin Ling’s body had been cold when she missed his transformation, and when Lin Ling was revived, Yuhua was the first to flee the scene, making sure she didn’t see it.
But these two had witnessed the whole process, and as Yuhua had saved their lives, they agreed to keep it a secret at his request.
“Yeah, yeah, exactly.”
Liu Shixing and Wang Zeqi nodded quickly in agreement.
“It’s all my fault…”
Lin Ling’s eyes dimmed, her fingers tightening.
“If only I’d been more vigilant and set up an Alert Array in the dorm…”
“You can’t guard against everything.”
Yuhua interrupted her self-blame.
“If you’d set up an array in the dorm, what if Xiao Liu left the room? You can’t protect her twenty-four seven, can you? She can’t just stay inside forever, right?”
“Actu-actually… for a shut-in like me, I really can stay inside for a long time…”
Liu Shixing weakly raised her hand.
“You still have to go home, work, or go to the hospital, right?”
Yuhua rolled his eyes.
“The enemy’s in the shadows and we’re in the light, how can you defend against thieves for a thousand days? Stop with the hindsight.”
“You do have a point.”
Lin Ling answered softly.
“But speaking of which, Brother Lin, didn’t you mess up in that fight? If you’d just bound her waist with your threads, you’d have won. At worst, bind her legs—without legs, even if she could stop time, she couldn’t do much, and you’d have had room to maneuver. How could your combat IQ be so bad?”
Yuhua’s personality was always like this—if you blamed yourself, he’d point out all the things you’d already done right, saying you were unlucky or got caught off guard, helping you find excuses.
But if you really believed it, he’d immediately pick out a thousand flaws.
“Yeah, I really did mess up that time.”
Lin Ling could only nod honestly.
After Yuhua had worried about Lin Ling so much, naturally, she treated everyone to this meal.
As they stepped out of the restaurant, the cool evening breeze brushed their faces.
With Lin Ling’s miraculous return, Yuhua’s daily life was finally returning to normal.
“Lin Ling, are you heading back to the dorm today? By the way, when we cleared out your things after your… passing, your spot got a bit messy. You’ll have to tidy up.”
“Yeah, I’m going back.”
Lin Ling nodded, a bit nostalgic in her gaze.
“It’s been a while since I was back.”
“You’re going back at this hour?”
Liu Shixing pointed at the darkening sky.
“The hallways will be full of people. With the way we look now…”
She twirled her pink hair with a finger, then pointed at Lin Ling.
“How are we supposed to explain it if someone sees us?”
“It’s fine, we can use Presence Reduction Magic.”
“Magic, pretty amazing, huh?”
Yuhua joked, folding his arms on the side.
Liu Jin acted, casting Presence Reduction Magic on the two of them.
A thin magical membrane instantly enveloped the two conspicuous girls.
The passersby around them really seemed to ignore these two attention-grabbers.
“Magic really is amazing. I don’t have to endure people staring anymore.”
For a shut-in like Liu Shixing, every time she went out, she drew a ton of stares.
For someone as socially anxious as her, it felt like torture.
“Don’t get too excited. This just makes you as inconspicuous as any passerby, but if you interact with people directly, the effect will wear off.”
Lin Ling kindly reminded her.
“Oh, I see.”
Liu Shixing immediately huddled back into the middle of the group.
Taking the subway and returning to school, they made it to their dorm room without drawing any attention, which made things much easier for everyone.
Lin Ling, long-missed, sat down at her desk by the window.
She could see that her books and things were much messier than she remembered, and there were clear signs of searching.
She immediately began tidying up.
“By the way, we can’t just rely on Presence Reduction Magic, right? For roll calls and final exams, you have to be noticed. What’s your plan? You’re a celebrity now.”
“It’s fine, I can change my hair length.”
Lin Ling said, brushing her fingertips through her hair.
A golden magical glow swept through her short hair, and the strands grew visibly, reaching her waist in the blink of an eye.
She grabbed her hair in both hands, tying it up into Shui Hua’s signature Double Ponytail.
“Like this… they probably won’t recognize me, right?”
Maybe because the Transformation Device was broken, Liu Jin’s powers had dropped dramatically, and her height had gone from a statuesque 1.75 meters to the average 1.6 meters of a girl.
With the Double Ponytail and that slightly bewildered expression, all traces of the dashing, heroic figure from before were gone; what sat there was the very picture of a sweet, girl-next-door.
Yuhua stared at her for a few seconds before muttering, “You’re right… it’s completely unrecognizable.”