Chapter 51: Letter from Wen Yaquan

If there was any flaw in her soul, Jiang Lingwei believed she had none.

Thinking of her comrades, Sister Corona had used her life to teach everyone that when facing danger, or even the death of a companion, it was okay to be angry or sad—but despair was forbidden.

Even though she had left them forever, that sunlight symbolizing “awakening” would always shine on the path forward for every one of them.

Looking back now, the final battle must have ended in failure; otherwise, there wouldn’t have been such a dark catastrophe.

But Jiang Lingwei only felt regret, not deep remorse or anything like that.

She and her comrades had given their all. If even that couldn’t succeed, then nothing better could be done.

Besides, there was a gap of time before the dark disaster, so it wasn’t impossible that they had held it back for a while.

Now, with everyone’s fate uncertain, the only person she could contact was Wen Yaquan, a non-combatant stationed at the base, who hadn’t been able to uncover any good news all these years.

Given the situation, Jiang Lingwei felt lost, but she didn’t believe this was a crack in her soul.

The breaking of the magic core was something no one had ever imagined before. Fulan had once asked the Old Master what to do if the magic core was lost.

The Old Master’s answer was:

“Lost? If it’s an emergency, then you can only rely on a temporary transformation to run away first. Don’t be foolish and fight head-on. If it’s just missing in normal times… well, generally it won’t be lost.”

“Anyway, you don’t need to treat it too seriously. Unless an enemy comes, it’s not a big deal. Come to me and I’ll perform the ritual again to replace it.”

“By the way, you girls… you lot… hmm… anyway—one box of potato chips each time.”

Why did Jiang Lingwei remember this so clearly?

Because when the Old Master said the last sentence, he hesitated slightly, then looked at her together with Beifeng!

It made her panic terribly at the time.

What was worse was later realizing the Old Master had done it on purpose, saying: “You brat take too many advantages; I’m jealous. Can’t let you live too comfortably.”

What’s there to envy about a fairy! Is this the kind of mean trick a Light Fairy would play?!

In short, from all these events, it seemed the magic core wasn’t some uniquely precious treasure.

From past experiences, the Old Master had expressed several clear views:

First, Earth’s physical methods had little effect on higher-level magic creatures, so it was necessary to:

“Use magic to defeat magic.”

And also:

“The magic core isn’t important, the magical girl is what matters.”

Now, lying on her bed, Jiang Lingwei sighed deeply.

She really wanted the Old Master to come over and tell him about the world twenty years later, about transformation times like Ultraman, then look at this magic core full of cracks, and say:

“Magic cores are important too. Why did you treat it like a worthless stone back then?”

The Old Master’s magic core was indeed powerful—excellent magic, ample mana, strong attributes, plenty of skills, and never a weak link. It was really satisfying to use. The team’s little Aurora couldn’t do without it.

Now, even with these cracks, it was still usable. But if it broke again, who would fix the magic she was lacking?

If there truly was a crack in her soul causing the magic core to become like this, then the only possibility Jiang Lingwei could think of was the years her memories had disappeared.

What on earth happened during that time?!

Half her life spent away from home, leaving behind such a promising magical girl… sniffle…

“Ding dong.”

Suddenly, her phone chimed.

“Little Aurora! Hurry to the store!”

“Huh?”

Jiang Lingwei found it odd. Why would Wen Yaquan message her at a time like this?

Because of the damage caused at the commercial street last night, the area was still under repair, and apparently they had even called in a civil engineering-type magical girl.

Although Jiang Lingwei never really understood why magical girls were divided into so many “types” like university majors—she only had a vague understanding from Wen Yaquan’s explanations.

The current magical girls were definitely different from the ones she remembered.

But just hearing “civil engineering-type magical girl” made her feel an inexplicable sense of hardship…

Back to the point, most shops there were closed for renovation, also cleaning up the remains of that composite entity, and Wen Yaquan didn’t have to work.

She had confirmed with Wen Yaquan yesterday, who seemed totally fine and even bragged about how as a dark dragon user, she defeated strong enemies in front of a group of magical girls.

Nothing to worry about.

“Huh?! I have to get up and see this!”

Originally still a bit lazy, Jiang Lingwei jumped up from the bed the moment she saw the following message and attached photo from Wen Yaquan, pulled straight at her crooked camisole, and scrambled to get dressed.

The message on the phone was brief:

【Little Aurora! That extinguishing blade suddenly started glowing! Hurry and come see what’s going on!】

“Phew, that one.”

At school, Jiang Yao was lying on her desk, typing on her phone.

【Glad it’s nothing serious… thanks for your hard work…】

It was lunchtime break, and she was sending a message via the internal app to the Bureau staff, just checking on Little White’s situation.

After all, she’d left it there for days, and to avoid nagging from Little White, she had directly contacted the branch chief.

—After all, Mudong City wasn’t big enough for a bureau chief to be stationed permanently.

It turned out Little White hadn’t been affected at all. The staff said it spent its days watching movies or playing games, occasionally helping with experiments, drinking potato chips and soda to its heart’s content, living better than at home.

“I really need to get it back soon.”

Jiang Yao muttered to herself, “I’m here stuck in boring classes, still fighting dark fairies, while it’s living the good life? Is that fair?”

She needed to hurry and bring Little White home, to help take care of her mother and provide timely updates if anything happened.

Besides, the dog food she ordered online had arrived these days too o(￣▽￣)d

(Hehehehehe.)

In her heart, she made a sound completely unlike a magical girl, with a small smile tugging at her lips.

“Yao Yao?”

“Eh!”

She shoved her phone back into the desk drawer and flinched, raising her head to see Lin Yu standing beside her holding a piece of bread.

“Aren’t you afraid the teacher will catch you with your phone?”

“Well…” Jiang Yao smiled awkwardly. Thinking about it, she really wasn’t afraid of the teacher but said anyway, “…I’m just trying to be a little restrained, can’t be too disrespectful.”

“That’s great!”

Lin Yu said happily, “Yao Yao, you finally understand. Work harder—at your level, you can get into Bei…”

“Not studying, not studying.”

Jiang Yao pouted and leaned sideways on the desk.

“Don’t talk about me. How come you came back so early today? Didn’t you eat at the cafeteria?”

“You wouldn’t go…” Lin Yu whispered, then suddenly raised her voice: “No, I mean, something very important happened to me today. I’ve thought it over and really want to talk to you.”

“You’re in love?”

“Wha—”

Lin Yu blushed deeply. “No, no way! Be serious!”

“Ahem.”

Jiang Yao cleared her throat, sat upright, and saluted:

“Command from the Wild Young Master. This humble lady must obey. Please give your orders!”

“Don’t call me that!”

Lin Yu huffed angrily. “It’s really serious.”

She glanced around—the classroom was mostly empty, with most students gone to the cafeteria, and the remaining ones keeping their distance.

Once sure, Lin Yu leaned in and lowered her voice:

“I suspect… someone very close to me… is a magical girl.”

“Ah?!”

Jiang Yao’s heart skipped a beat.