The moment the three of them met, there were clearly more important things to attend to than introductions.
Yan Xi took a step forward to shield Cangyu behind her. “I’ll explain the details later,” she said, before shifting her gaze to Rosetta. By now, Rosetta had put on her usual smile. She leaned on her parasol, standing at the other end of the passage in a relaxed posture.
“Are you all cockroaches? The moment I poke the nest, you all come crawling out.” It seemed she only noticed Gan Ling’s presence mid-sentence, her eyes widening slightly for a brief moment. “? That face… a Doll actually hanging around with Magical Girls? How interesting.”
Rosetta recognized Gan Ling’s identity immediately, though Gan Ling was not surprised. ‘She really does recognize my face.’ As she thought this, she recalled the battle at the Logistics Port, where one of Rosetta’s Windows had been involved. Furthermore, there were elements in the current battle scene that were very similar to that time: lime powder scattered across the floor and familiar fragments of sacks… ‘Isn’t this the exact same kind I used back then!’
Gan Ling suddenly realized that Rosetta must have taken those items from the Logistics Port and was now using them against the Magical Girls. Beside her, Yan Xi raised her War Hammer, standing ready. she shouted at Rosetta, “Do you still want to fight?”
Rosetta let out an exaggerated sigh upon hearing this. She shook her head and replied to Yan Xi, “You have a lot of nerve asking that. Don’t you think a three-on-one is a bit despicable? Even on my home turf, this is quite difficult to handle.”
Before she could even finish her sentence, a door leading to the void appeared on the wall to her left. “So, my dear Magical Girls, I’ll see you next time~” Rosetta waved goodbye to the group as she stepped into the portal.
Seeing this, Cangyu immediately shouted at the top of her lungs, “Wait! You’re the one being despicable — don’t you dare run!” She dashed toward Rosetta immediately.
“Cangyu, wait! …” Yan Xi tried to stop her, but not only did Cangyu fail to turn back, even Gan Ling’s figure suddenly blurred past her.
Unfortunately, even though Cangyu was fast enough, she was still one step too late. Rosetta’s Window was already on the verge of closing while she was still some distance away. However, being one step too late for Cangyu was just right for Gan Ling. Her Iron Thorn flew past Cangyu and hooked onto the outer edge of the Window. Using the speed provided by the pulling force, she leaped past Cangyu and reached the front of the Window.
Instead of showing any signs of panic at Gan Ling’s approach, Rosetta opened her arms wide as she fell back into the Window, as if welcoming her arrival. Then, the Window closed, and the two of them vanished into the void together, leaving behind only Cangyu, who had just reached the spot where the portal had been. She pressed her hand against the wall, confirming that the Window had truly disappeared.
“Gan Ling! … Dammit!” Yan Xi cried out Gan Ling’s name as she ran to Cangyu’s side in a panic.
Cangyu turned to her and asked, “Now… what do we do?”
“The distance one can travel through a Window at a single time isn’t very far,” she told Cangyu. “We need to go after them right now!”
“Oh… okay, let’s go, Senior!” Although Cangyu still had many questions, she immediately clenched one of her fists to psych herself up upon hearing Yan Xi’s instructions.
The two of them left the Underground Passage together to search for Gan Ling and Rosetta. One of them flew while the other relied on Body Enhancement to quickly check every corner that couldn’t be seen from the air.
After some time, Yan Xi finally spotted a silver-haired figure wearing a Maid Outfit in a small alley. She was standing still, staring blankly into the depths of the alley.
Yan Xi hurriedly landed beside her and shouted, “Hey! Are you okay?”
Gan Ling hesitated for a moment before looking back at her. “I’m fine, but… I’m sorry. I let her get away.” After saying that, she looked back toward the direction she had been staring; it seemed that was where Rosetta had escaped.
Yan Xi let out a sigh of relief and deactivated her transformation.
“Listen, Gan Ling.” She grabbed Gan Ling’s shoulders and turned the girl to face her, speaking in a stern tone. “Since you have a face like that, try to act a bit more like it. I already have one junior who loves acting recklessly.” As she spoke, she leaned her face very close to Gan Ling’s. Combined with her sharp, piercing gaze, the pressure was overwhelming.
“Mm… I understand.” Gan Ling nodded toward Yan Xi in a panic, and only then did the older girl let go.
Yan Xi then took out her phone to notify Cangyu to come and meet them. When Cangyu arrived, she stared at Gan Ling from head to toe as if observing a rare animal, finally realizing the issue.
“Senior… is this person from that time?” She seemed to remember Gan Ling’s features. When Gan Ling had first escaped from the Train, she had indeed been at the scene.
“That’s right.” Yan Xi confirmed her question before adding, “But let’s not talk about that. Back then… it was a bit of a misunderstanding. In short, she’s our ally now.”
“… I see! Since Senior said so, then there’s definitely no problem.” She turned toward Gan Ling and said, “I am the Magical Girl Cangyu, but the name I usually go by is Qing Huai. As allies, let’s get along well from now on!” The girl identifying herself as Qing Huai wore a bright smile as she extended a hand toward Gan Ling.
‘The moment Yan Xi spoke, she just accepted the result without even asking for the process… Is this person really okay?’
Despite her thoughts, Gan Ling gripped the hand in response. However…
“Ow!” Gan Ling cried out and jerked her hand back. The palm she had used for the handshake had already turned red.
Since Cangyu had not yet deactivated her Body Enhancement magic, her strength was much greater than usual. Cangyu realized this immediately and hurriedly let go of Gan Ling’s hand to apologize. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! I-I should probably undo my transformation first!”
She did so immediately after speaking, turning back into an ordinary girl in casual clothes in the blink of an eye. Unlike Yan Xi, her appearance did not change much from her transformed state. Her hair was still blue and her eyes were blue-purple; the only difference was that her hair color was more vibrant when transformed, and the blue in her pupils was purer.
She extended her hand toward Gan Ling again with an uneasy expression. This time, Gan Ling did not hesitate to smack the back of her hand with a loud *slap*.
Qing Huai pitifully clutched the back of her hand and repeated, “I said I was sorry!”
But Gan Ling simply crossed her arms and turned her head away, completely ignoring the apology.
Yan Xi stepped into the conversation between the two. “Alright, next we need to go clean up the Seed left by that Witch.”
“Fine, fine,” Gan Ling responded weakly, her shoulders slumped.
Seeing this, Yan Xi told Gan Ling, “Of course, I won’t ask you to work for free. Considering the cake you didn’t get to eat earlier, I’ll treat you to something else as well.”
Gan Ling immediately straightened her posture and silently gave Yan Xi a thumbs-up, as if to say, “OK!”
“Is there a share for me?” Qing Huai chimed in to ask.
“If you want to eat, pay for it yourself,” Yan Xi dropped those cold words and turned to leave with Gan Ling.
Qing Huai could only follow behind them, letting out a lament of, “How could you…”
***