โIโm heading out, Mom. Today Iโll just wander around nearby and get familiar with the surroundings. If I really canโt find my way, Iโll use the phoneโs navigation.โ
Early morning, Jiang Yao waved to Jiang Lingwei at the doorway, her backpack on her back.
โOkay, go ahead, be careful on the way~ Uh, Iโm going to buy some groceries today, so from tonight you can eat the meals I cook.โ
โMm-hmm!โ
Jiang Yao smiled brightly. โSounds good!โ
Through the window of the house, Jiang Lingwei watched the girl with the backpack leave.
She couldnโt help but feel a surge of emotion in her heart. Time really fliesโit seemed like in the blink of an eye, her daughter had grown so big and was able to go to school on her own.
No, it wasnโt โseemed like.โ ๐ฐ
At that moment, Jiang Lingwei suddenly thought:
(Oh right, I just remembered, could it be that this kid is getting bullied at schoolโฆ She mentioned before that someone said some really hurtful things.)
She had wanted to ask, but Jiang Yao was already out the door, so Jiang Lingwei had no choice but to drop the matter for now.
If things got bad, she could always switch to her transformed state, dress in regular clothes instead of the spirit suit, and visit her daughterโs school. With her transformed appearance and a quick change of hair color, it would be easy enough to blend in.
Jiang Lingwei powered on the old phone Jiang Yao had given her, inserted her daughterโs SIM card, and after a quick familiarization, she opened the Wandu Maps app.
Although it was an old phone, its performance was much better than what she remembered.
As she browsed, Jiang Lingwei furrowed her brow.
โโฆSo this is what she meant about moving from their old hometownโฆโ
The city they had lived in before was the more inland Songji City, and now they were in Mudong City, further south.
She hadnโt even heard of this city before. It sounded like a newly established place.
It gave off the kind of feeling where a gas explosion could happen any minute.
She opened a webpage and searched for โSongji City.โ
What greeted her was the two large characters: ใForbidden Zoneใ.
โโฆ.โ
Without realizing it, her breathing became rapid.
She opened related pages filled with reports about the โFirst Generation.โ
Most were blurry photos, with no real information about them.
Connected to this was the Dark Catastrophe from ten years ago.
The official name was ใOtherworldly Malicious Magical Creature Invasion Incidentใ.
Looking at it this way, Jiang Yaoโs โlarge-scale appearanceโ was really a euphemism.
Even after ten years, the shadow of the Dark Catastrophe was still etched deeply into the hearts of its victims.
Jiang Lingwei was not surprised by this.
These dark, evil scum were experts at destroying the will of ordinary people.
The fear and despair experienced by the victims was the best nourishment for these despicable maggots.
The reason magical girls spent so much time and effort erasing victimsโ memories was largely because of this.
She didnโt find much concrete newsโmost of what was circulating online were vague rumors.
The main label connected with Songji City now was: โthe source of the Dark Catastrophe.โ
There was also the governmentโs complete lockdown, designating it a forbidden zone.
Every year, many reckless young people were caught by โUncle Hatsโ trying to enter Songji City for adventures, while many others slipped through and disappeared completely.
From the information she found online, the magical surge invasion that broke out ten years ago erupted in an instant with Songji City as the center, quickly sweeping through surrounding cities.
Physical weapons were practically useless against those magical and corrupted creatures. Meanwhile, the dark minions unleashed new portals en masse, and in a very short time, the whole world was struck by disaster.
โTen years agoโฆโ
That was what happened ten years ago, and she herself had been sent to the cityโs Therapy Institution eleven years ago.
One year earlier? Was there some connection?
Her fingers scrolled on as Jiang Lingwei continued to search the web for any clues about all of this.
Finally, she found something earlierโsomeone posting on a forum.
ใMy friend and I encountered a giant spider monster in the park, then were saved by a black beam of light, but my friend doesnโt remember anything that happened that day afterward.ใ
ใIโve been having nightmares every day since then; Iโm going crazy.ใ
ใHas anyone else experienced anything like this? If this is a nightmare Iโm having, itโs way too real.ใ
ใPlease, whoever you are, just tell me this isnโt real!ใ
The post was from fifteen years ago.
This news hit Jiang Lingweiโs heart like a heavy hammer, stirring her emotions.
Memory deletionโtypical โGeneration Zeroโ style! This person might have passed out or for some other reason slipped through the cracks of memory erasure.
In other words, the one who saved them was very likelyโno, definitelyโone of her comrades!
Jiang Lingwei wanted to reply excitedly, but immediately realized she didnโt have a forum account, so she gave up for now.
This wasnโt urgent; once Jiang Yao found her ID, she could register an account herself.
(Iโve waited so many years; thereโs no rush now.)
Jiang Lingwei told herself.
Still, she had a small doubt.
(Why was it a black beam? I donโt remember any magic that could emit black energy, O.o Maybe this person was mistaken.)
After rifling through the wardrobe for a while, Jiang Lingwei changed into a somewhat formal white shirt suit.
She walked straight along the street, and after leaving the residential area, clumsily tried using an app to hail a ride.
Soon, an unmanned taxi stopped at the roadside.
Having lost count of how many times she marveled at the convenience of future tech, Jiang Lingwei opened the door and got in.
Her destination was a bustling commercial street.
Places like this usually had plenty of job opportunities that didnโt require high qualifications or a particular educational background.
Sadly, although her academic record was always excellent, she probably hadnโt finished school, so she was considered as having only a middle school level education. Good jobs were definitely out of reach.
Not to mention she still had no official identity.
In todayโs society, the government gave preferential treatment to magical girls, which was one way to make money.
But she couldnโt just go up and say, โYes, Iโm the real First Generation magical girl, please give me money~โ
Having spent so long protecting ordinary people from the shadows of the city, Jiang Lingwei wasnโt keen on letting everyone know about these things.
Especially when it came to not erasing memories for those who had experienced it firsthand.
She had found many survivor cases online, and even now, many hadnโt walked out of the shadows.
There were institutions offering psychological therapy for them, but results were minimal, even with many magical girls helping out.
Jiang Lingwei couldnโt understand it at all. If โhumanitarianismโ was the reason to avoid erasing memories, wasnโt that putting the cart before the horse?
Out of caution and disagreement, she didnโt want to deal with official matters for now.
So her only option was to find a job herself.
Once she earned her first pot of gold, sheโd return the bank card to Jiang Yao.
The money from that man sheโd never metโit was better not to use it.
Before long, the taxi stopped, and Jiang Lingwei looked at the bustling commercial street ahead. She surprisingly felt a faint sense of familiarity.
No matter the era, a thriving pedestrian street was always like thisโpeople coming and going, handsome young men and beautiful women walking together, chatting and laughing.
She started looking for coffee shops and the like, as these places often posted job openings on signs near the door.
(I wonder if in twenty years people will still do it this way.)
She had once worked part-time in a cafรฉ, so she had experience. The older the skill, the stronger it was. Brewing coffee by hand was hardly something that could be replaced.
Thinking this to herself, she walked and paused, observing this world like a child while searching for the information she needed.
Such a beautiful woman appearing on a commercial street naturally attracted many gazes.
Fortunately, no rich young masters came over to force conversation, sparing Jiang Lingwei a lot of trouble.
That kind of scene was still standard fare in the novels from her era!
Then, her eyes accidentally scanned over a place and immediately couldnโt look away. Her steps slowed, and eventually, Jiang Lingwei stopped in front of a coffee shop.
โYao Guang Cafรฉโฆโ
She looked up and softly spoke the cafรฉโs name, her fingers tightening slightly.
She saw on the cafรฉโs signboard, next to the words, a small comet symbol.
Jiang Lingwei remembered the name, remembered the signboard.
In a daze, she seemed to see several girlsโ phantomsโlaughing and chatting as they entered the cafรฉ ahead of her.
It was like an echo from the past, a cry sent forth into the new era.