With new leads in hand, the already pointless canvassing was promptly called off.
The Magical Girl Division’s assistance with the investigation naturally came to an end as well, and the entire division returned to their usual, idle days.
Moreover, the routine tasks that had been suspended hadn’t been reassigned, plunging the department into a state of complete inactivity.
Division Chief Xing Li seized the chance, gave a grand wave of her hand, and announced an early dismissal—a rare holiday for everyone.
It wasn’t convenient to ask Anpelin out during the day since she was afraid of sunlight, and Yuhua’s roommate, Wang Zeqi, had no mood for games out of worry for Liu Shixing.
With nothing to do for once, Yuhua actually felt a bit out of sorts, so he resorted to messaging Liu Jin for a bit of banter.
“Lin-ge, how’s Xiao Liu doing?”
Liu Jin replied in record time.
“After Xiao Liu was sent to the Ability Bureau, his degree of aberration deepened, but overall, he should be fine. His adaptation to abilities is pretty good too. He went through the whole process yesterday and applied to become a Hero this morning before leaving. By now, he should be at School.”
“Oh, that’s good.”
Yuhua let out a sigh of relief and added, “By the way, what’s his rank?”
“Not that high. Just B-class.”
Yuhua stared at the words “just B-class” on the screen, and half his face instantly darkened.
So after all that worrying, this guy actually profited from misfortune—his rating ended up even higher than Yuhua’s own.
All that anxiety for nothing.
“You say he should be here by now, but where is he? Haven’t seen him.”
“He ought to have arrived already. Maybe he’s embarrassed to face you guys? Probably needs a bit of psychological prep.”
“What’s there to be embarrassed about? He just bit Wang Zeqi, right? Have Wang Zeqi bite him back and call it even.”
Yuhua relaxed, turning to glance at Wang Zeqi, who still looked quite worried.
But Yuhua couldn’t exactly tell him that he’d gotten the inside scoop from Liu Jin that Liu Shixing was safe, so he could only let Wang Zeqi stew in his anxiety a while longer.
However, by evening, there was still no sign of Liu Shixing.
Yuhua kept his date with Anpelin until eight o’clock, but even after he returned, Liu Shixing was still nowhere to be seen.
Not until after nine, when even Lin Ling, who’d been busy all day, came back, was Liu Shixing’s seat still empty.
“Lin Ling, why isn’t Xiao Liu back yet? Do you think something happened?”
Yuhua was getting anxious, and the image of Liu Shixing being drained dry by a Disseminator flashed in his mind, making him more restless by the minute.
“No idea.”
“Maybe we should go to the Ability Bureau and ask around.”
Yuhua stood up and nudged Lin Ling, hinting he should hurry up and transform into Liu Jin to go check.
“Probably… not necessary?”
“It’s been a whole day and he still isn’t back. We should at least find out what’s going on, right?”
“Uh… I don’t think the Disseminator would be bold enough to make a move in broad daylight, right?”
Yuhua shook his head.
Lin Ling really had no sense of caution.
Just as he was trying to think up an excuse to sneak out and look for Liu Shixing himself, the dorm door creaked softly as someone gently pushed it open.
“Kids, I’m home.”
A figure slipped carefully through the door.
“And you are?”
Yuhua and Wang Zeqi both widened their eyes.
Standing at the door was a completely unfamiliar loli.
She had long, pale pink hair, bright red eyes, wore a child’s dress, and tiny leather shoes.
“I… I’m obviously Liu Shixing…” she explained in a clear, childish voice.
“I was supposed to be back this afternoon, but like this… I just couldn’t bring myself to walk right into the dorm building, so I waited until it was late and fewer people were around…”
As she spoke, she awkwardly slipped off her little shoes and put on a pair of oversized slippers, then sat down at Liu Shixing’s spot, under the dumbstruck gazes of the other two.
Now Yuhua understood why Lin Ling hadn’t been worried about Liu Shixing being so late.
If she herself had turned into Shui Hua and had to walk back to the dorm looking like that, it would definitely take a strong resolve.
“Xiao Liu?”
Yuhua, at least, was fairly experienced with weirdness and managed to keep a straight face.
Wang Zeqi, on the other hand, was utterly stunned, as if his uncle had woken up after decades in a coma and immediately started casting magic.
“Mm, it’s me.”
The pink-haired loli replied in her childish voice.
“You’re really Liu Shixing?”
Wang Zeqi twisted his head to stare at her.
“Why would I lie to you? What would I get out of it?”
Liu Shixing shot him a glare.
Though, with her current appearance, the gesture looked more like she was pouting.
The lounge chair Liu Shixing had bought was too low now—at her current height, she couldn’t even see the computer screen when sitting.
With no way to adjust it, she simply pushed the chair aside and stood to turn on the computer.
Watching her enter her password and skillfully open up all kinds of anime games to start multitasking through her daily quests, Wang Zeqi was finally convinced, sighing, “Xiao Liu, how did the Vampire Meme turn you into this? You don’t look like a Vampire Meme at all, more like a Loli Meme. Are you a loli-con or something?”
“I don’t know either.”
Liu Shixing played her games while speaking in an otaku’s tone, albeit with a childish voice.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with my Third Wife Krul or my Seventh Wife Nanakusa Nagi, right?”
“So it is related!”
Yuhua couldn’t help but tease.
Speaking of which, the form of Meme aberration really did depend on subconscious perception.
As for his own Magic Girl Meme, he still had no idea where that came from.
“What are you going to do now, looking like this? Won’t there be problems with your identity?”
Wang Zeqi was more worried about that.
“That’s not a big deal. Lots of people who get aberrated have changes in appearance. I’ve already reported it to the Ability Bureau—later I’ll just update my Identity Card, fingerprint, facial recognition and so on. No big deal.”
“But now that you’ve become a loli, you’ll have to move to another dorm, right? Honestly, I’ll miss you.”
Wang Zeqi immediately thought of that.
“I’ll miss you guys too. After all, we’ve been roommates for three years. Maybe I won’t have to move—let’s see what happens.”
“Yuhua, let’s squad up! I’ve been dying to play since last night and all day today.”
Seeing that their roommate was safe and had come back even cuter, Wang Zeqi finally relaxed and returned to his usual college student routine.
“Sure, let’s go.”
Yuhua had nothing else to do anyway and was ready to go at a moment’s notice.
“Hey, hey, why aren’t you inviting me? I finally made it back!”
The mention of gaming made Liu Shixing forget she’d become a loli and clamor to join in.
“You can’t even reach the keyboard sitting down, just forget it.”
Yuhua teased mercilessly.
“Yeah, this is a fight for grown-ups. Kids should stay out of it.”
Wang Zeqi, having worried for nothing, now had no qualms about ribbing her.