Chapter 30: Is genetic

“This… how did you manage this…?”

Stepping inside, Jiang Lingwei’s eyes didn’t know where to rest.

The space was vast. Apart from sofas and other furniture, a round table stood in the center, and at each seat around the table, small symbols belonging to each of them were carved.

Stars, wind, clouds, moon… and so on.

Unable to resist, she hurried forward and touched the edge of the round table, which was pressed against the wall. There was a small carved notch there.

【Keep moving forward, it will clear up sooner or later.】

Ah… she remembered.

No, how could she ever forget?

That was their first failure, their first encounter with a demon. The others managed to return and recuperate, but the magical girl 【Solar Flare】 never came back.

Solar Flare was a senior a year above Jiang Lingwei. Just like her codename, to friends she was like the sun—warm and radiant. To enemies, she made sure those pests knew what a blazing, scorching sun meant.

But in that sudden and unexpected mission, they were ambushed by a well-prepared demon, losing a precious comrade. Countless civilians were killed or injured.

Everyone realized, this was the true world of magical girls.

That was also when they first truly understood what it meant for a magical girl to die.

That day, everyone was dejected. No matter how hard Jiang Lingwei tried to encourage them, they remained silent. Some locked themselves in their rooms for days, others ignored their nearly exhausted magical energy to rush out and fight desperately against the demons who were occupying the Electronic City, preparing to turn it into a frontline stronghold.

At that time, the team was still in its infancy. She had just joined as Aurora not long ago. Such a blow left everyone unsure what to do next.

Even the old man remained silent, his beard drooping, lost in thought.

Only North Wind was still frowning, analyzing the demon’s weaknesses, sketching and writing in her notebook.

It was at that moment.

Jiang Lingwei leaned against the edge of the table, and her hand unconsciously brushed against something rough.

Then, she discovered the message Solar Flare had left behind.

Even now, Jiang Lingwei didn’t know when Solar Flare had carved it. Had she foreseen today’s events long ago? Or was it just a random moment, leaving these words on the round table they had specially bought for meetings when everyone was suffering from their chuunibyou phase?

No one knew, and no one ever would.

When Jiang Lingwei gathered everyone and showed them what she found, North Wind, who had been frowning over battle plans, finally spoke:

“Yes, we are the ones who make the weather clear.”

“Everyone, rest for twenty more minutes, then prepare for the next operation.”

That day, the demon and a shadowy dark fairy behind it were thoroughly defeated.

“That’s right, this place is a replica of the original base, and all the items here were brought by me afterward.”

“Let me think… that was probably the seventh attack I experienced…”

Wen Yaqian knew what Jiang Lingwei was thinking. She quietly approached the lost-in-thought Jiang Lingwei, who was still stroking the table.

“Although Solar Flare never met me, she saved my life. Her image is deeply imprinted in my mind.” She added, “Meeting an unprecedented enemy for the first time, I believe your subsequent actions did not disappoint her efforts.”

“…You remember her vividly because, during those ten times, every time you charged forward shouting things like ‘The Dark Dragon will devour her enemies,’ right?”

“Ha Jiwei~”

Skillfully dodging Wen Yaqian’s hand trying to pat her head, Jiang Lingwei snapped out of the melancholy memory and quickly said, “Enough nostalgia. Tell me straight—have you found any clues about everyone over the years?”

“No.”

Wen Yaqian shook her head without hesitation.

“Not a single trace.”

She leaned against the table, looking into Jiang Lingwei’s eyes.

“No one remembers you. There’s no video evidence proving your existence. Except for the things left in the base, you’re like ghosts that never truly existed in this world.”

She laughed bitterly.

“But with someone like me, who’s actually seen ghosts before, your group of ghosts won’t vanish so easily.”

“I never expected things to turn out like this, and now this ghost of mine even has a daughter.” Jiang Lingwei said helplessly. “I still can’t find any news about them, but I did find a post once, saying someone had seen them fifteen years ago.”

“I already saw that,” Wen Yaqian obviously knew more. “I could never find out what happened to that person later. They left no trace on the internet either. I guess they’re probably dead.”

“…”

Jiang Lingwei was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly said,

“By the way, do you remember what I said on the phone about my daughter being able to use dark magic?”

“Of course. After all, it was during that intimate moment between you and your husband that an unexpected phone call interrupted. How could I forget?”

“Umm… sorry.”

Unexpectedly, Wen Yaqian said that so matter-of-factly. Jiang Lingwei’s cheeks flushed and she turned her head.

“Oh, oh, oh~” Seeing her reaction, Wen Yaqian, dressed in a white lab coat, leaned her finger against her waist on the table, lightly covering her mouth, teasing, “You’re a mother now; you still get shy about this?”

“Huh?!”

Jiang Lingwei’s face reddened further, heat rising. She stammered defensively, “I… I haven’t even experienced the process, okay!”

“What process? The entire process? Say it in detail.”

“Nonsense! Why so detailed?” Jiang Lingwei reached to grab the fleeing Wen Yaqian but missed.

“You little spirit of the small Chu girl!” Wen Yaqian laughed while backing away.

“I’m not a little Chu girl! I’m—” Jiang Lingwei stopped mid-sentence, thinking about her rather ridiculous and complicated situation, her throat tightening.

“What is it?”

Wen Yaqian squinted, smiling like a fox.

“Y-you—you have no business asking!”

Seeing Jiang Lingwei completely flushed, Wen Yaqian dropped the teasing tone, grabbed a thermos cup from the table, and habitually slipped one hand into her lab coat pocket, waving to Jiang Lingwei:

“Alright, enough teasing. Come to the lab. I need to figure out what’s going on with your daughter.”

“Ah.”

Jiang Lingwei nodded and stood. Since the structure was the same as the old base, she didn’t need Wen Yaqian to guide her; she could find the spacious lab on her own.

“It really is exactly the same. Sister Quan, you’re still amazing.”

Once inside, she couldn’t help but sigh sincerely again.

Apart from the formalin jars filled with biological corpses and organs that Fulan had stored, and some small personal trinkets of other magical girls missing, the basic equipment was exactly the same as before.

Whether it was excavating such a huge underground space or arranging everything to mirror the old base, this was not something that could be explained by money alone. It was hard to imagine how much effort Wen Yaqian had invested.

“Many things were just moved here directly,” Wen Yaqian said casually as she pushed over a wheelchair and handed Jiang Lingwei a glass of water. “You know, I’m just too rich.”

“Alright, alright.”

Jiang Lingwei didn’t pursue the topic further and sat down, getting to the point, recounting everything that had happened that day.

“I roughly understand. To sum up, your daughter is a magical girl who can use dark magic, and can also fight against enemies on the dark side… quite a special kind of magical girl.”

After listening, Wen Yaqian sat behind her experimental desk, writing and drawing on paper.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on magical girls over the years. Nowadays, magical girls have all sorts of talents, but I’ve never heard of anything like this.”

She sighed, looked up, and said to Jiang Lingwei,

“I’ve thought about many possible reasons that could cause this situation. But first, I want to ask—have you considered one possibility?”

“What?”

Jiang Lingwei picked up the water cup from the table and took a sip.

“Genetic reasons.”

“Pfft!”