“This frequency, I’m not just saying it.”
“What exactly does my little Mudong City have?”
Muttering to herself, Jiang Lingwei flew up to the coffee shop’s second floor and peered through the window. Inside, she saw Wen Yaquan and… who was that other young girl again?
Now she remembered—this person seemed familiar from last time, and this time she came with her daughter.
Could she be Wen Yaquan’s daughter?
From this angle, the two really did look alike, though Wen Yaquan’s daughter seemed much quieter than her mother.
In comparison, Sister Quan’s aura was a bit wild. She only softened after closing her eyes and falling asleep.
It felt like if Wen Yaquan hadn’t been born in the modern age but somewhere like the American West, she’d definitely be the wildest female cowboy gang leader.
It was hard to imagine this bandit disguised as a doctorate having such a quiet child.
Her husband must have contributed a lot.
(And me…)
(Ah, why do I always think about myself!)
She shook her head vigorously, then reached out her hand and released a small orb of light from the pink heart-shaped gem atop her staff, enveloping the two of them together.
Feeling the familiar depletion of her magic, Jiang Lingwei’s mind calmed slightly.
Judging by the orb’s energy consumption, she spent a few seconds calculating the situation in her head.
These rains, these black clouds—they were all caused by some large-scale magic field cast over the area.
(Since it’s a temporary release, the intensity isn’t that high.)
(If it’s not deliberately targeting ordinary people, it’s just causing unconsciousness. When they wake up, they’ll probably be weak. Hopefully, they won’t have nightmares.)
If that was the case, the number of people needing rescue dropped significantly, and her pressure eased accordingly.
The whole process took just over a minute.
From her vantage point, Jiang Lingwei watched her daughter, who had already completed her transformation and dashed out the door.
She didn’t go up to talk but deliberately changed to a sturdier building, leapt from its rooftop edge, and flew toward the distant building engulfed in flames.
She didn’t have extra magic or time to waste—even the small amount needed for flight was unacceptable to Jiang Lingwei.
Better to borrow any little force she could.
More important than taking down that big guy was what she had to do now.
Concealing her figure and weaving between buildings, Jiang Lingwei’s vision gradually cleared to reveal the full form of the enormous shadow.
Iron, steel—countless iron and steel objects formed this huge humanoid lump of metal, black energy surging inside it, fusing these mismatched iron scraps into one.
Calling it a robot was generous; it looked like a hideous hodgepodge of junk.
Jiang Lingwei even spotted many iron woks, kitchen knives, computer cases, and an unknown person’s life-sized wife figure inside, probably with an alloy skeleton.
That lithe and graceful shape moved with the metal, mouth agape as if screaming silently. That “wife” was quickly swallowed by the rolling torrent of steel.
The robot kept moving forward, now walking on a wide road.
Fortunately, it was already late, and the field’s activation likely took some time.
At this hour, with minimal traffic, most drivers who could escape had fled or hidden.
There were no visible injuries or deaths on the streets.
Condensing her magic in her eyes, Jiang Lingwei scanned the area.
Empty vehicles lay everywhere, their metal bodies crushed and absorbed by the giant iron mass with its colossal feet.
Without lingering, she used the shadows between buildings to approach the burning structure.
In many superhero movies, ordinary people seemed irrelevant—destined only to be trapped, die in numbers, and then be saved by the hero.
Most of the time, superheroes were too busy.
If you got noticed, fine, maybe you’d get saved; if not, you were just unlucky.
Moreover, sometimes a person works all day, then a sudden supervillain appears, leaving them stranded.
They watch helplessly as the Hulk picks up their newly paid-off car and tosses it—not at the villain but into their newly paid-off home.
Family, who understands that moment’s bittersweet salvation?
When the villain has appeared, traditional comics rarely show superheroes worrying about the many ordinary people dying while they fight.
It’s not exactly wrong—after all, the villain is right there, and if not dealt with first, more people will suffer later.
But Jiang Lingwei and her comrades were no superheroes.
They were magical girls.
At this moment, shielding her eyes from the rain, Jiang Lingwei looked up at the small building partially collapsed after the iron lump brushed against it.
A lingering scent of leaking gas revealed the fire’s origin.
“Gas explosion? In Mudong City? Tsk tsk.”
This scenario brought a nostalgic feeling, as if she had traveled back twenty years, or maybe just a month ago for her.
Trusted allies fighting while she saved ordinary people trapped in danger.
It was all back—everything was back.
The only difference was that she now had no surplus magic to waste and couldn’t shield herself.
She could only take a step back and then plunge into the fire.
As the flames burned her magical clothes and even skin, the smoke stung her eyes fiercely, but Jiang Lingwei laughed.
“Come on.”
Soon, she found two people collapsed on the ground.
Though unconscious and unable to hear the outside world, Jiang Lingwei still spoke to them:
“Come with me. You’ll be fine.”
“Trust me.”
Lifting them up one under each arm, she created a light barrier around them and flew backward.
Facing the locked entrance of a medium-sized supermarket across the street, she kicked open the obstructing glass wall and placed them inside.
Squatting beside them, she took a moment to examine their injuries.
They weren’t severe—mostly unconscious from the oppressive magic field, requiring no further magic healing.
A small blessing.
However, if left in the fire much longer, unconscious or not, they’d likely perish.
“How many are left inside?”
Looking back at the burning building, Jiang Lingwei pulled out her phone, hunched low in the pouring rain to try calling.
The phone’s waterproofing was good, but the fire department’s line was still unreachable.
“Boom!”
The ground trembled.
Looking up, she saw purple light piercing the darkness and rain, colliding with the giant black shadow.
“Good.” Jiang Lingwei muttered and charged into the flames.
“Two people, brave girl, hold on, I’m coming right away.”
Time passed, magic drained.
“Five, everyone will be safe.”
“Ten, I’m Magical Girl Aurora, here to protect you.”
“Twenty-five, hey, even wearing overalls—fate, huh?”
“Phew… fifty-three… no, sorry, he didn’t make it to me, fifty-two.”
Even though no one could hear her, the magical girl persisted in comforting each person.
When Jiang Lingwei reached the top floor, where the roof had been blown off and the room was littered with dirt and debris, only one man remained, covered in blood and lying on the ground.
Rain poured through the open ceiling, drumming on Jiang Lingwei and the man with a crackling sound.
“Seventy-three… looks like not many people were in this building. The last one.”
She stepped forward, reaching out to help the man up.
“Swish!”
Suddenly, a silver blade cut through the rain like a thunderclap in the night, aiming at the defenseless, magic-depleted magical girl.
“…Heh.”
Someone laughed softly in the rain.
Really defenseless?
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