Lian Ge had clearly done her homework after going back yesterday.
She opened her little notebook, which was densely filled with the names, addresses, and main product categories of all companies involved in magic product production within Haicheng.
She was about to drag Feng Ling along to visit them one by one.
Just a glance made Feng Ling’s eyes ache.
Was Lian Ge’s efficiency a bit too ridiculous?
But then Feng Ling thought about it—back when she was live streaming, she had been just as intense.
They just put their efforts in different directions.
Still, it was the same spirit in the end.
Feng Ling leaned in for a closer look.
Notably, the name “Magic Infusion Technology Company” appeared in Lian Ge’s notes with an abnormally high frequency.
It wasn’t just the factory they had visited last time; several other factories were also under that company’s name.
The products they produced were diverse, not like a typical single-company operation.
A guess gradually formed in Feng Ling’s mind…
Could this company really have set up a separate production chain for each Magical Girl they recruited?
Feng Ling silently marked Magic Infusion Technology in her mind.
From now on, she really needed to keep a closer eye on that company.
But today’s main task was still to notify them to stop sales.
The top priority was the factory that produced Momo Ointment, which they had visited before.
Lian Ge and Feng Ling flew side by side, and soon arrived at the factory they had visited last time.
They landed side by side at the main entrance of the factory, just like last time.
The security guard poked his head out of his booth, spotted the two Magical Girls, and picked up the phone to make a call.
Before long, the workshop director who had received them last time came trotting over from the factory building.
The only difference was that Zhi Jin was also following behind the workshop director, still dressed in a pure white nurse outfit.
Her face still bore that sweet smile when she saw Feng Ling and Lian Ge, exactly like last time.
But Feng Ling noticed that aside from Zhi Jin, the expressions of the other accompanying staff were not great.
Clearly, they already knew about yesterday’s events—that the news of the Magical Girls’ promotion suspension had spread far and wide.
They also knew that the two Magical Girls returning today would not bring any good news.
As Lian Ge followed them into the factory, she spoke in her usual leadership tone:
“According to our discussions with the Association, we need to manage magic products now. You are required to stop selling and promoting Momo Ointment. Wait until a formal oversight mechanism is established, and then we will gradually resume.”
The manager still wore that worried expression.
“How long will this waiting period be? Our warehouse capacity is limited. If it drags on for too long, we’ll have to stop production. That would be tough on our operations…”
Lian Ge nodded seriously.
“I’ll try to speed things up as much as possible. This sales suspension is only temporary. The goal is to establish quality control and oversight mechanisms simultaneously. Please be patient for a while longer.”
As she said this, Lian Ge actually had a further solution in mind.
She turned to look at Feng Ling.
“Feng Ling, what if we first help the factory inspect their inventory using spot checks? Like how the food industry does random sampling, we can randomly pick samples and test their magic power. Once confirmed safe, the batch can be released.”
“This way, we can help the factory relieve some of their inventory pressure, and also gather practical experience for the future formal oversight mechanism.”
Zhi Jin, walking behind the two, slowed down when she heard the word “spot check.”
Her gaze shifted to Lian Ge, and she became alert.
“Uh… but I’m the only one who can separate magic power, right? What about later? You can’t expect me to come running every time. There are so many factories in Haicheng—even if I wore my legs down to stumps, I couldn’t handle it.”
Feng Ling was extremely unwilling, of course.
If she got chained to this repetitive labor every day, how would she make money?
Lian Ge didn’t pay attention to Feng Ling’s reluctance, but instead seriously followed up on her words:
“How about we set up a dedicated department for magic product spot-checking in the future, and you take charge of it? After all, Magical Girls don’t have many daily missions anyway. Since you have the ability, it’s only right to do more.”
Feng Ling quickly waved her hands and scrambled for an excuse:
“No, no, no. This needs more discussion. A regulatory mechanism definitely can’t rely on just one specific person.”
“Think about it, Lian Ge. What if one day I get bribed? I take some kickbacks and mark everything as ‘qualified’ in the report. Then all these illegal products would flow into the market unimpeded. A regulatory system that can be swayed by one person is no different from having no regulation at all.”
“I trust you.”
“It’s not about whether you trust me or not… Ugh, even if I do a perfect job, I’ll retire someday, right? What if there’s no one to take over? We can’t just wait until then to figure it out.”
Feng Ling quickly pushed the responsibility away.
On the surface, she said they couldn’t rely on any single person, but what she really thought was: anyone will do, as long as it’s not me.
“That does make sense,” Lian Ge tilted her head in thought, and nodded. “But for now, just do it for these few days. Before we figure out a proper method, we need to help the factories relieve their inventory pressure first.”
“Fine, fine.”
With things pushed to this point, Feng Ling could only accept her fate and sigh.
The manager and workshop director visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
At least for now, the inventory situation could be dealt with, whatever the future held.
But Zhi Jin’s expression had turned dark in a place no one noticed.
The manager led the two through the production workshop to the factory’s warehouse.
The warehouse was stacked with finished Momo Ointment products, packed in cardboard boxes and arranged on shelves from floor to near ceiling height.
Feng Ling casually opened a sealed box; inside were neatly arranged Momo Ointment jars.
There was a large backlog of unsold Momo Ointment.
Probably because of yesterday’s impact, the Momo Ointment that Chi Yun and Feng Ling were supposed to promote hadn’t sold a single jar, leading to this accumulation.
Feng Ling carried down an entire box—several dozen jars of Momo Ointment inside.
Time for the spot check.
“How should we do the spot check?”
“Well… let’s just follow the same rules as other industries.”
Lian Ge searched and found a method called Acceptable Quality Limit (AQL).
She pulled Feng Ling over to look at the sampling rules together.
“There are several standards. Which one should we use?”
“Let’s go with the strictest one. After all, the harm magic power can cause to ordinary people is immeasurable. Before a formal industry standard is issued, let’s use the strictest.”
That meant, according to the standard Lian Ge chose, if more than one defective item was found during the spot check, the entire batch would be deemed unqualified and needed to be destroyed.
Feng Ling casually picked out a jar of Momo Ointment from the box.
Unscrewing the lid and reaching in would be the simplest method, but she thought it was better not to damage it, so she chose to try to manipulate the magic power inside through the bottle.
Feng Ling held the Momo Ointment in her palm and closed her eyes.
Cyan “Flow” magic emanated from her fingertips.
That layer of magic quickly wrapped around the bottle, seeped in, and touched the emerald green Healing magic inside.
Under Feng Ling’s guidance, the magic began to rotate slowly, faster and faster, forming a miniature magic vortex inside the bottle, performing a centrifugal process.
Soon, impurities were extracted in this process.
Although she couldn’t see the state through the bottle, Feng Ling could vaguely sense that there was still “Jealousy” magic present inside.
“Hey? The very first one I picked turned out to be defective.”
Feng Ling raised the jar of Momo Ointment in her hand, raising her voice so everyone could hear.
“Lian Ge, this one has a problem.”
The moment she heard those words, Zhi Jin locked her gaze entirely on Feng Ling.
She slowly straightened up from the doorframe, uncrossed her arms, and the last trace of a smile vanished from her eyes beneath her pink bangs.
Lian Ge walked straight over and took the defective product from Feng Ling’s hand to keep as a record.
“If we find one more defective, does that mean this whole batch needs to be destroyed?”
“That’s right.”
Feng Ling felt around in the box and randomly picked another jar, clutching it in her palm to continue testing.
The cyan magic flowed across the surface of the Momo Ointment, gradually affecting the interior through the bottle.
The green Healing magic inside began to flow again, impurities gradually condensing in the centrifugal process…
But then, the next moment, a foot kicked Feng Ling in the waist.
Feng Ling was still completely focused on the bottle in her hand, with zero defense against such an attack.
Feng Ling’s entire body was knocked sideways like a shuttlecock, folding as she crashed into the shelves, passing through one shelf after another like a cannonball, finally stuck in the last shelf against the wall.
The shelves she passed through collapsed like dominoes.
The Momo Ointment bottles on them crashed to the ground, ointment splashing from broken containers, burying Feng Ling under the mess.
Only one ankle with a bell on it was still visible.
Even that exposed leg hung limp, temporarily unable to move.
Lian Ge hadn’t anticipated this at all.
Her body had already turned halfway before her mind could react, facing the person who had just slowly retracted her leg and was now standing at the warehouse entrance, hands on her hips, looking straight at her.
Zhi Jin tilted her head, a smile returning to her face.
“So you finally found out.”
Lian Ge shouted through gritted teeth, “What do you think you’re doing?!”
Before her question had fully left her mouth, her body was already moving.
The image of Feng Ling being kicked away was still replaying in Lian Ge’s mind.
She had only one thought now: subdue Zhi Jin first, whether she was a Magical Girl or not, whatever her reasons.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Zhi Jin’s tilted head snapped back to upright, and her smile turned even more sinister.
“I’m going to take care of the two of you Magical Girls.”
Lian Ge reached with her right hand toward Zhi Jin’s wrist, not with killing intent.
Her goal was to lock the joints and temporarily disable her, then restrain her.
But Lian Ge’s hand was forcefully blocked mid-air.
Zhi Jin slapped Lian Ge’s outstretched palm with both hands, actually pushing Lian Ge’s hand back.
Not to mention that Lian Ge was a rare Dual-Concept Magical Girl—even just in terms of base stats, she far surpassed a large number of Magical Girls.
Yet this unknown Magical Girl had actually knocked her hand away.
Lian Ge was utterly astonished.
But Lian Ge still closed in and engaged in close combat with Zhi Jin.
First, she hadn’t used her full strength just now, so there was still a chance to suppress Zhi Jin in close combat and prevent her from escaping before Lian Ge’s magic activated.
Second, she wanted to probe the enemy’s actual strength.
Lian Ge’s Magical Girl outfit was an ancient Greek-style white robe, but her close-combat skills were just a few martial arts lessons she had taken as a child at a youth center.
Fights between Magical Girls were mostly decided by magic; close combat was just a transitional means to buy time.
There was no need for fancy martial arts—just enough to give herself time to activate her magic.
Lian Ge hadn’t specifically trained, so what she used was just muscle memory.
Without any flashy setup, she threw a straight punch straight at Zhi Jin’s face, showing no mercy.
Zhi Jin, however, met the attack head-on, throwing a straight punch of her own that collided with Lian Ge’s fist.
She… was actually going to exchange blows with her?
That was something Lian Ge hadn’t expected.
Even demon beasts would usually avoid such an exchange by instinct, given the stat disparity.
But Lian Ge was only slightly puzzled.
She didn’t hesitate—she was confident she wouldn’t lose.
The two fists collided in mid-air, bones knocking together.
The air at the point of impact was compressed by the tremendous force, producing a sharp explosive sound.
Zhi Jin, who had confidently traded blows with Lian Ge, did have some real strength.
Though she was unsteady on her feet, she hadn’t sustained any critical injury.
She stumbled back a few steps and sat on the ground, holding her numbed shoulder and breathing in short gasps.
Lian Ge remained standing, in much better condition than Zhi Jin.
Lian Ge’s punching form was more orthodox, and her center of gravity was more stable during the strike.
But the fact that she hadn’t won through sheer overwhelming force already spoke volumes.
Moreover, Lian Ge’s hand was gradually overtaken by a tingling, electric numbness.
Her entire arm was still numb from the impact.
When Lian Ge raised her hand to look, her palm had lost all color, while her fingers were so red they looked like they might drip blood.
‘So strong…’ flashed through Lian Ge’s mind.
Close combat was getting her nowhere.
She could only think of another way to win, such as returning to the basics of a Magical Girl—magic.
Magic power emerged from Lian Ge’s uninjured arm, enveloping it in a fluorescent blue glow.
Now came the magical showdown.