“Xiaoji… Xiaowei!”
It was noon, at the same familiar airport, but this time at the VIP exit. The elegant Wen Yaquan, exuding the air of a noblewoman, completely lost her composure the moment she stepped out onto the platform and rushed forward for a hug.
“Alright, alright—”
Unable to handle her clinginess, Jiang Lingwei gave her a brief hug before struggling to break free.
Though she complained, her face couldn’t hide the joy she felt.
As the only person who knew her entire past and was willing to support all her decisions unconditionally, Wen Yaquan was no longer just a friend to Jiang Lingwei, but more like family.
“Ah, your Chengzi is here too.”
Wen Yaquan greeted Jiang Cheng with a smile, striking an elegant pose like an opera performer: “Esteemed sir, thank you for taking care of Xiaowei.”
“My pleasure, madam.”
In response, Jiang Cheng placed a hand on his chest and gave a slight bow with a smile.
“Quite the gentleman, young man. I approve of you.”
One person acting out a chuunibyou moment can be embarrassing, but add another to play along, and not only is it not awkward, it can actually spark a resonance.
“What’s the point of your approval?”
Jiang Lingwei, standing behind Wen Yaquan, teased, “I don’t need your approval.”
“What are you saying?”
Taking advantage of Jiang Lingwei’s distraction, Wen Yaquan smoothly wrapped an arm around her neck.
“As your family, I must certainly evaluate your husband!”
“When did you become my family? And, he’s not my husband yet!”
Under her headlock, Jiang Lingwei struggled desperately.
(Huff… Huff… Xiaoquan-jie’s grip is still as ruthless as ever!)
“Not yet…?”
Catching onto something, Wen Yaquan let go of Jiang Lingwei, whose face was now red for reasons unknown. Leaning in, Wen Yaquan tried to whisper, but her voice was loud enough for everyone except the two children nearby to hear:
“It’s been so long and still not? When will it happen? How far have you two gotten? When are you going to have a child—”
“Hajiquan!”
Face flushed to the point of steaming, Jiang Lingwei lunged to grab her, but unfortunately, her attack missed.
“Hahaha~ If you want to catch me, you’re a million years too early, Hajiwei!”
Dodging nimbly, Wen Yaquan burst with energy unexpected for her age, taunting as she dashed away.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
The two, who looked like adults but were questionable in behavior, completely ignored their image and chased each other out of the parking lot.
Only Jiang Cheng and the two kids were left behind, hurrying to drag the suitcases and catch up.
Fortunately, the VIP area was less crowded; otherwise, such a scene would have attracted quite the audience.
“Yaoyao, are you saying that Jiguang came here too?”
Huddled with Jiang Yao, Lin Yu asked excitedly in a low voice.
A little away from Jiang Cheng, the two started talking about what happened yesterday.
For Jiang Yao, it didn’t matter much, but she wasn’t sure if Lin Yu had picked up on anything about Jiang Cheng.
To avoid trouble, she decided to just pretend Jiang Cheng was an ordinary person for now and tell her later.
“Yeah, she came to Canghai City too.”
Jiang Yao glanced at her mom, still trying to catch Wen Yaquan in the distance, and turned back to Lin Yu:
“How was the trip? Did anything happen?”
Lin Yu shook her head: “Since becoming a magical girl, except for that one battle in the city, I haven’t run into any more dark creatures.”
She spoke with a lighthearted tone:
“If anything has changed from before, it’s that daily life has gotten easier—I just have to pull with my ‘magic threads’ and whatever I want comes right over.”
“So convenient?”
Jiang Yao felt a bit envious.
Compared to Lin Yu’s, her own crystal-making magic was pretty much useless for daily life.
It was tough enough just to make a little accessory!
“Xiaoyu, you’re basically Spider-Man.”
“Haha, it’s not that amazing.”
Smiling, Lin Yu casually took Jiang Yao’s hand and said as they walked, “But I can’t use it all the time.”
She placed her other hand on her chest, and pointed discreetly toward Wen Yaquan.
Somehow, her mother had already nimbly climbed up a tree at the edge of the parking lot and was tossing caterpillars down, sending Jiang Yao’s mother fleeing with a scream.
“My mom seems to have installed some kind of detector at home.”
There was a bit of helplessness in Lin Yu’s voice:
“I don’t even know why she’s so nervous—she even wanted to build an underground shelter under the café.”
“There are hidden detectors everywhere in the house. Sometimes if I use too much magic in my room, she’ll get all flustered and search the place. Later, she even invited another magical girl over to thoroughly inspect everything before she could relax.”
“So now, I only dare to use magic for chores when she’s out.”
Recalling Wen Yaquan’s serious face, even Lin Yu felt a bit scared.
“I see…”
Jiang Yao suddenly had a guess:
“Do you think maybe Auntie experienced some magical event in the past… like those people who have been hurt before?”
“Doesn’t seem like it.”
Lin Yu shook her head: “The timeline doesn’t add up. During the Dark Catastrophe, I still remember, our whole family hid out in Mudong City and made it through together. She was with us the whole time.”
“And besides…”
She glanced over at them again and quickly looked away, exhausted at heart.
Because at this moment, her mother was tossing caterpillars from the tree, scaring Jiang Yao’s mom who was now ordering her dad to attack in defense.
By the way, Jiang Yao’s mom looked awfully young…
Not wanting to dwell on it, Lin Yu continued:
“Look at my mom—she doesn’t seem like someone who’s traumatized at all.”
“Aunt Wen really is… just a little too lively.”
“A little?”
Lin Yu guessed, “I think maybe it’s because she saw some terrifying dark creatures while attending meetings or something like that.”
“That’s why she’s so cautious about all things magic.”
“I’ve seen records of these things in the Bureau’s database too.”
Next, she briefly told Jiang Yao about the things she’d seen at the Bureau.
By now, as the magical girl [Opal], she was no longer a total rookie in that world.
Unlike Jiang Yao, who only went to the Bureau to hastily pick up some useful knowledge after realizing her mentor wasn’t reliable, Lin Yu had already been spending her free time in the Bureau’s archives for a while.
The more she read, the more she understood why her mom “disliked” magical girls.
Even under Huaguo’s strong suppression of the darkness, magical girls still suffered casualties every year.
These deaths rarely made it to public news, unless it was a city-destroying disaster that couldn’t be concealed—otherwise, they were simply buried.
So, when ordinary people saw news about magical girls, all they ever read was:
“Magical girl XX achieved a sweeping victory/tough win at so-and-so location.”
No one would ever know the hardships behind the scenes.
But Lin Yu was different; she actually had access to the failed cases.
Behind all those cold words were vibrant lives— not just humans, but even fairies sometimes met tragic ends.
Before Lin Yu was allowed to access these archives, she had to complete a survey, triple-confirming that she understood what she was about to see before she could continue.
Even so, she felt dazed after reading it all.
So many tragic endings, heartbreaking scenes, and the limits of human suffering were all recorded in the archives.
Moments after logging off, the psychological care team from Mudong City’s Magical Girl Management Bureau came running to check on her mental state.
Have to admit, the Bureau’s staff in Mudong City were indeed excellent.
It might be a small place, but the people were truly good.
Now Lin Yu believed that with Wen Yaquan’s status, she must have access to the same data she had—perhaps not as much since she was still a civilian, but at least enough to get a sense of things.
That would explain why she was so carefree in most matters, so unlike the meticulous dad, yet extremely strict when it came to magic.
She’d remind Lin Yu whenever she could not to become a magical girl.
By now, Lin Yu was already a magical girl—there was no turning back.
But there was no need to anyway; whether by nature or fate, back when she was asked by Xiaobai if she wanted to be a magical girl, even after seeing all that harsh reality in the archives, if she could go back to that moment, her answer would still be the same:
“Yes!”
She couldn’t accept standing by and doing nothing when someone else’s life was in danger, knowing she could help.
It was only natural that Wen Yaquan didn’t want her to be a magical girl—she must have known about the dangers early on.
But—
(Sorry, Mom.)
Looking over, she saw Wen Yaquan had jumped down from the tree, shoved Jiang Lingwei into Jiang Cheng’s arms, and was now laughing and calling the chauffeur she’d arranged in advance for Canghai City.
All Lin Yu could do was apologize quietly in her heart.
She could feel that Wen Yaquan had the same kindness and passion within her as herself.
Otherwise, Lin Yu wouldn’t have grown up to be who she was today.
Maybe, if she weren’t her daughter, Wen Yaquan would have been proud of her choice.
“Eh?”
After hearing all this, Jiang Yao was full of emotion.
She’d also seen some of the archive contents herself, but after running into all the forms and psychological evaluations needed to keep reading, she’d gotten lazy and given up.
Besides, it was all about failed disasters—no point in torturing herself.
She hadn’t expected Lin Yu to actually persevere and read it all.
It sounded like she hadn’t been affected mentally, so she must have just wanted to learn.
(Not bad, Xiaoyu.)
With that rigorous academic attitude, Lin Yu could probably become a forensic scientist and cut open corpses without batting an eye, even if she didn’t become a magical girl.
Now that she was done sharing, Jiang Yao also wanted to talk about her own recent experiences.
For example, the ugly creature she’d run into before dawn, and Professor Jiguang’s technique.
“Mana Compression Technique?”
Lin Yu was very interested.
“I remember seeing something similar in the Bureau’s files.”
“See, I told you… Eh?”
Jiang Yao blinked. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
Lin Yu recalled, “It’s about concentrating mana and releasing it. But the information was vague, like someone who couldn’t use magic just came up with a theory. Hardly anyone had looked at it.”
“Even such an obscure entry, and you read it?”
“Yeah, I just followed the index.”
Lin Yu pointed out something Jiang Yao hadn’t noticed:
“Magical girls are all trying to develop their own unique spells. Not many people really put effort into mastering general techniques like this.”
“I bet Senior Jiguang is a really powerful magical girl.”
“Of course.”
At this, Jiang Yao straightened her back, happier than if she were being praised herself: “Jiguang is the strongest!”
“I think so too.”
Nodding, Lin Yu added her thoughts: “I’ve got a bit of theory under my belt now, but I still lack real combat experience.”
“So far, I’ve only fought that big bug.”
“I heard you finished off that minor one outside the city in a few hits. Enemies of that level probably wouldn’t be a problem for me either.”
Her eyes shone with resolve:
“I actually look forward to facing something stronger…”
“Don’t!”
Jiang Yao turned pale and quickly interrupted:
“You must never have the thought that minor enemies are boring or hope for stronger ones.”
She recalled what happened the last time she had such thoughts, and earnestly said to Lin Yu:
“Honestly, just fighting minor enemies is a good life.”
“Huh?”
Lin Yu didn’t get her meaning and was about to ask more, but over there, they were already ready.
“Yaoyao! Xiaoyu!”
Jiang Lingwei waved at them: “Come on! Get in the car!”
“Coming!” x2