After their conversation, Lu Ren returned to the dormitory in silence.
He sat blankly in front of his computer screen, listening to the news anchor dressed in a suit recite the daily news without any emotion, his mind completely empty.
Meanwhile, Pandora lay on the desk, intently watching the news program, paying no attention to the lost Lu Ren.
“Brother Ren, why aren’t you eating? No appetite?” Xu Wenxing, using a bamboo skewer to pick at his pancake, came up behind Lu Ren. “Why are you watching the news again? You always show that magic fairy this stuff. Why not show her something more interesting?”
“She likes watching it, what can I do?”
Hearing Xu Wenxing’s voice, Lu Ren came back to his senses and exhaled. His right hand casually stroked Pandora’s furry body.
“Ah? There really are magic fairies who like watching this kind of stuff? The world is really strange.” Xu Wenxing took another bite of his pancake and chewed thoughtfully. “By the way, Brother Ren, have you seen the recent news?”
“News? What news?” Lu Ren turned his head to look at Xu Wenxing.
“The news about people going missing lately. You haven’t seen it, have you?”
Xu Wenxing looked puzzled.
Lu Ren paused, recalling the news he had browsed recently. It seemed he hadn’t come across any reports of disappearances as Xu Wenxing mentioned.
“Where is this news from? A City?” Lu Ren asked.
“Of course it’s from A City, or else I wouldn’t be bringing it up to you.” Xu Wenxing replied. “I don’t pay attention to things happening outside the city.”
“So it really is from A City…”
Lu Ren frowned, then clicked the “X” at the top right corner to close the news page playing on the screen.
“Hey! Just five minutes left! Let me finish watching!” Pandora complained angrily, baring her claws at Lu Ren.
“Watch it later. I have something important to do.” Lu Ren replied casually. “Xu Wenxing, tell me the keywords. I’ll search.”
“Uh, try A City, southern satellite region, multiple disappearances, and add today’s date,” Xu Wenxing suggested.
“Alright, I’ll give it a shot.”
Lu Ren nodded and entered the keywords into the search engine, then pressed Enter.
After a brief wait, the search results appeared clearly in front of him.
Lu Ren clicked on one of the pages and found that as of yesterday, the cumulative number of missing people in A City had reached twelve.
In this day and age, that was already a top-tier major incident.
If this kept escalating, people might even lose sleep out of fear of being replaced by someone else.
“Brother Ren, you found it? Let me see… Yeah, this is it. Twelve people have gone missing in the southern satellite region of A City. Anyone with information leading to their whereabouts will receive a cash reward.”
Xu Wenxing leaned forward toward the computer screen, reading aloud the headline.
Sitting in front of the computer, Xu Wenxing looked at the portraits of the missing and the locations where they were last seen, falling into a brief contemplation.
Surveillance failed? Why hasn’t the official side found anyone by now?
Or are the criminals’ methods so advanced that no one has detected any anomalies?
“Hey, Brother Ren, do you think it’s possible that monsters took these people away?” Xu Wenxing voiced his thought. “It’s so stealthy—twelve people gone without a trace. That’s too unreasonable. I think only monsters could pull off something like this.”
“You’re overthinking it. It’s definitely not monsters,” Lu Ren rejected firmly.
“Why not? Monsters should be able to do this, right?” Xu Wenxing asked curiously.
“They could, but if monsters were involved, they’d have to use their own magic,” Lu Ren said as he pulled out his Dormitory Key, tracing the cold star-shaped pendant on it. “If monsters were behind this, I’d have already stormed their lair.”
“Right, Brother Ren, you have a Magical Outfit—I forgot about that.” Xu Wenxing slapped his forehead. “Then what is it? It’s not monsters, and no one’s found the missing people. It’s so strange. Could it be haunted?”
“You’re talking nonsense again. Why do you always jump to supernatural explanations? I think it’s more like a premeditated crime.”
Though Lu Ren refuted Xu Wenxing’s unrealistic ideas, he himself couldn’t find a reasonable explanation for the case.
There were just too many strange elements in this case, leaving Lu Ren unsure where to start logically.
“…Why don’t you go help out, Lu Ren? I’ve been wanting to go out with you anyway.”
Pandora suddenly spoke from the desk, looking at Lu Ren with eyes full of expectation.
“Me? Are you kidding?”
Lu Ren pointed at himself, confused.
He was just an ordinary college student—was he qualified to solve a major case like this?
Seriously, was he supposed to be a detective now?
Maybe Pandora should find someone more capable; he really didn’t have the ability.
“I’m not joking. I’m sincerely suggesting you go help,” Pandora waved her paw and repeated.
“But how could I be of any help…”
“Transform into a Magic Girl, then you’ll be able to help.”
Before Lu Ren finished his sentence, Pandora interrupted him.
“If you can’t find any clues in human form, why not try visiting the scene as a Magic Girl? Maybe you’ll discover something new,” Pandora offered her opinion.
“…You do have a point,” Lu Ren frowned. “But with my situation, are you sure I won’t get hurt?”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Since there’s no magic at the scene, it means no monsters will be there either,” Pandora explained. “With the power and speed of a Magic Girl, no human could harm you.”
“That makes sense,” Lu Ren nodded in agreement.
“Besides, I want you to go out for your own good.”
“For my own good?”
Lu Ren frowned, looking at Pandora in confusion.
Wasn’t he doing this for free, just to do a good deed? How could it be “for his own good”?
No way—was she about to tell him something like “spiritual fulfillment” or what?
“As long as you successfully rescue those missing people, they will deeply remember you in their minds because it was your help that saved their lives.”
“And if someone can firmly remember your existence, the power you gain from that will increase.”
“You’ll be happy, and the rescued people will be happy too. It’s a win-win situation, isn’t it?”
Pandora licked her paw and offered her rational analysis to Lu Ren.
So the price and the power is tied to existence, so if she gets the entire world or city to firmly remember, then what level of power would she reach then…?