Chapter 100: The Past (Part Three)

“Other magical girls, huh… “

Aurora turned her head to the side, refusing to let Jiang Cheng see her expression. She paused to think, then spoke in a low, heavy tone.

“I suppose they’re busy with things I know nothing about.”

“But whatever they’re doing, I can’t be a part of it. Today’s probably the last job I’ll do as a magical girl.”

“I never imagined I’d be forced into retirement…” She said helplessly, “What rotten luck.”

“Last job?”

Jiang Cheng seemed to sense something, and quickly asked,

“Why do you say that? After this, you won’t be a magical girl anymore?”

“It’s not that I won’t…”

Scratching her head, Aurora shook off a bit of dust.

“It’s that I can’t. I… sigh, you wouldn’t understand.”

Before Jiang Cheng could say anything more, she continued right away, “Alright, alright, I still have work to do later. I need to rest. Brother, keep watch for me, just stand here and don’t move.”

“But stay alert—if you suddenly feel afraid or see anything strange, wake me up right away!”

Jiang Cheng nodded silently. He watched her back, trying his best not to notice the tremble in the girl’s voice, or the murky drops of muddy water splattered on the ground.

Just like that, in front of a stranger she’d only just met, Aurora climbed atop a pile of ruined buildings,

rested against a slab of hard stone, tucked her arm under her head, turned over, and fell peacefully asleep.

After standing still for a short while, Jiang Cheng soon realized he couldn’t move anymore.

No need to guess—he was in the “cutscene CG” state again.

“Mm.”

His past self let out a low, agreeing grunt.

“Alright, I promise you.”

“I’ll help you. I’ll watch over you.”

“Ssshhh….”

As he spoke, some black, sludge-like liquid began to seep in from who knows where, gradually covering the ground.

Even Jiang Cheng’s feet were swallowed up by the muck.

Thankfully, Aurora was sleeping on a ruined ledge, and the black sludge hadn’t reached her position right away.

Even so, Jiang Cheng was still deeply alarmed.

(This mud—it’s all filled with dark magic?)

(Why would it show up at a time like this!)

(Could there be another enemy?)

Even though it was useless, he couldn’t help but shout in his mind:

(Xiao Wei! Wake up!)

Yet in this real memory, inside the cutscene CG, his past self made not the slightest move—he simply stood there, expressionless, body almost wooden.

He just watched as the black sludge kept rising, until it brushed the hem of the girl’s lowered dress.

Suddenly, the “black sludge”—that dense, dark magic—began to riot. Sensing its target, several tentacles inscribed with spell-like markings rose up from the mud, encircling Aurora completely.

Plop.

As if obeying a silent command, a deep violet magical glow shone from the tentacles, forming a circular magic array. With a sticky sound, they bound her tightly—even though she still hadn’t awakened.

From now on, whether she woke or not was no longer up to her.

“Ga. Ga. Gu-ga…”

A quivering, insectile noise sounded from beneath the black sludge. About ten meters away from them, a giant black eyeball, at least four meters wide, rose from the dark magic.

That violet-black eye had almost no white at all. Looking closely, one could see a thin, withered stalk, like dead wood, trailing from beneath it—like a one-eyed snail hidden in the black sludge, poking out just one eye to observe the world.

“Jejejejejeje.”

Suddenly, from the brown, wrinkled skin at the middle of the eyestalk, a tiny cherry-sized mouth, filled with sharp teeth, snapped open. A most disturbing sound, the kind that would drive any ordinary person mad, poured from its lips like a purple sandstorm of magic:

“This is… the last… magical girl…”

It was speaking to Jiang Cheng. As it spoke, the mouth kept emitting sinister laughter: “The plan is going smoothly, jejejejejeje.”

“Those fairies would never guess—we snatched one right out from under them.”

“Oh King, my scheme really worked! Next, we…”

“Shut up.”

“Jiang Cheng” cut off the monster’s rambling with cold indifference.

Standing in the black sludge, he spoke slowly and curtly:

“First, I’m human. Second, you’re disgusting. I don’t know you.”

“King?”

The monster’s giant eye somehow opened twice as wide, like dough suddenly being stretched.

“What are you saying? We’re conquering this world… No, that’s not it, I see now.”

The monster’s eye bent into an “n” shape.

“Jejejejeje!!!”

Brimming with cunning, it suddenly burst into sharp laughter:

“I see! King, you’ve lost yourself! Jeje, then I’ll help myself! Die for me. Eh… th-this…”

The monster wanted to make a move.

But before it could actually do anything, “Jiang Cheng” simply reached out, and the black sludge started to gather toward the base of the eyestalk.

“This power…”

The eye monster paused, looking pleasantly surprised: “You’re giving it to me? Jejejeje, good, very good, I promise—I won’t hurt you afterward. This magical girl will be yours to command.”

But the Jiang Cheng observing inside his own body could easily tell that was just a blatant lie.

He was frantic:

(What was I doing back then? Since nothing bad happened after this, there’s no way that ugly thing really kept its word.)

While he thought about this, the cutscene CG kept playing.

“Jiang Cheng” not only sent the black sludge toward the eyestalk, but even wisps of black energy began to flow from his own body.

“Ahh… wonderful… This is power, thank you! Thank you!”

Gradually, the black sludge dried up, revealing the original ruined ground beneath, and only the black energy flowing from “Jiang Cheng” continued to pour out.

With the magical infusion, the eye monster’s eyestalk swelled from a thin rod to a thick pillar in seconds, and the big eye above nearly squinted from the pleasure. Yet, bit by bit, it started to show signs of distress.

Noticing this, the eye monster opened its eye wide and shouted:

“No, wait! King! King! Let me digest this first!”

“Jiang Cheng” said nothing, simply kept pouring in the magic.

“Stop! Stop!”

The monster’s eye opened in terror. At the base of the swollen stalk, two withered little claws struggled in panic. “It-it’s too much! I can’t take any more—too much, too much! Slow down, slow down, ahhhh!”

“King! I-I’m sorry! I submit! No, no! I’m going to explode, I’m going to explode, ahhhhhh!”

The monster wailed in agony, and the tentacles that had just bound Aurora shriveled and crumbled into dust in a flash.

“Jiang Cheng” noticed this from the corner of his eye, took a step to block the girl, and sent out a small burst of magic to form a brief barrier—isolating sound and shock so the pink-haired girl could rest peacefully.

“Sh—%!”

Unable to move even a muscle, the monster could only shout curses—garbled and filthy.

Even after all this, “Jiang Cheng” stayed as cold and unmoved as ever.

At last, when cursing and submission proved useless, the monster’s swelling eye bloodshot to the limit. All it could do was howl in pain:

“Oh King, my… my plan was so brilliant, why would you—”

CRACK!

Its body, like a lollipop, had swollen to the breaking point. The flow of dark magic from “Jiang Cheng” finally faded away.

Then, he raised his hand, and the monster was hurled skyward, wailing.

CRASH—

At the same time, high above, a black rift in the sky was forcefully torn open by the remaining power. The dark shadows inside had never expected this, but they reacted instantly, pre—

“…! Trash @%! Die! ¥! ¥ … Ahh @!” They rushed to escape through the unexpected portal.

Before they could emerge, an exploding packet hurled them right back in.

The blast sounded for just a moment before the black rift snapped shut, and the sky returned to normal.

As for what kind of terrifying, devastating punishment those shadows suffered inside—

That was no longer “Jiang Cheng”‘s concern.

Returning to where he had started, “Jiang Cheng” quietly sat back down, unmoving.

“Huh? Was that really me?”

As the CG state ended, Jiang Cheng rubbed his face—he could move again.

Before today, Jiang Cheng had vaguely sensed that maybe he hadn’t been born human. But he never imagined that his past self was so formidable.

He looked down at his hands in this memory.

So ordinary.

Yet with just that ordinary form, he had wielded enough power to overload and burst a magical beast that was anything but simple.

No matter what, after regaining control of his body this time, Jiang Cheng found he could feel so much more than he did last time.

For instance—his body.

Now, inside his body, two sensations coexisted: a “hollowness” from some power being drained away, and a “calmness.”

Freed from all that dark magic, Jiang Cheng could clearly feel the serenity inside himself back then.

And besides those two, there was one more emotion…

Love.

In this memory, he didn’t recall any so-called “plan,” nor did he know who that eye monster was, or why it called him “King.”

All he remembered was that he was human.

And, his love.

Love—something only a human could have, could feel.

Bowing his head, Jiang Cheng walked to Aurora’s side, and couldn’t help gently brushing the dust from her cheek.

Unexpectedly, doing so didn’t trigger a rewind.

He dared not do anything more.

Jiang Cheng simply sat by the girl’s side, sharing in this rare moment of peace.

He had always known he loved Jiang Lingwei.

But he hadn’t known where that “love” came from, or how it began.

Now, Jiang Cheng understood.

It turned out, from the moment he first met this hard-working magical girl, he had already gained human feelings.

No matter what he once was, now, as a human named Jiang Cheng, he was hopelessly in love with her.

The sky grew darker, thick clouds overhead.

The sun’s light gave no mercy to those suffering on the ground, blocked utterly behind the clouds.

The girl slept on, breath steady, eyes shut tight.

It wasn’t because she was lazy, or because she liked sleeping in the ruins.

She simply had no other choice.

Jiang Cheng understood—Aurora had reached her limit. Through the “feelings” from his body, he could sense it even more clearly now: the magical girl’s spirit attire had faded, her magical armor was gone, her body was utterly spent, every bit of magic exhausted.

If she rested now, it was true—some people might be injured, or even die, because she missed this precious chance.

But if she didn’t rest—without a drop of magic left, relying only on her own strength, forcing herself onward through exhaustion—then the only one to fall next would just be another magical girl.

He kept watch, staying at her side, until the sun outside the clouds had set, the dim day growing even darker. Jiang Cheng lit a fire for warmth, and only then did the girl slowly wake to the crackle of burning wood.

“Mm… “

Aurora slowly opened her eyes.

“Ah! North Wind!”

She sprang up, calling out a certain codename, yanking off the blanket Jiang Cheng had draped over her:

“I saw—” Standing up, the girl looked around at the ruins, fully awake from her dreams.

She stared blankly, her mouth twitching a few times, as if she couldn’t accept the cruel reality.

She must have felt truly sad.

But in the end, the girl didn’t cry. Her voice only trembled slightly as she said,

“Th-thank you, brother.

“I need to save people now.

“I am the magical girl [Aurora]. I will save you all.”