“I shouldn’t have worried about you!”
“Hmph, I’m someone who survived a major disaster! You think a little cricket and rain can make me sick? Please address me as the Legendary Survivor King, okay?”
“Alright, alright.”
Holding down Wen Yajuan, who was hopping up and down on the stairs, Jiang Lingwei was afraid this guy might accidentally fall from upstairs.
It seemed that earlier, when there were guests, Wen Yajuan’s shouting was somewhat restrained.
Now that the shop was closed and there were no customers, this guy was about to take off.
“Get to the point. What exactly happened with the ‘Extinction Light’?”
“Well… you’ll understand once you see it for yourself.”
At the third-floor doorway, Wen Yajuan said, “I suggest you transform first.”
“Okay.”
Without much thought—since Wen Yajuan had her reasons—Jiang Lingwei touched her transformation device.
Two seconds later—
“…Aurora! Reporting for duty!”
She withdrew her scissors hands and the smile from her face, adjusted her pose after transformation, and stood straight.
Magical Girl Aurora cleared her throat: “Ahem, alright, open the door now.”
“Mm.”
Wen Yajuan nodded, gripping the doorknob:
“I’m counting down, get ready. Three, two, one—”
Swish!
As the door opened, a light gray shadow shot out instantly.
“Woah—”
Jiang Lingwei nearly blurted out a word that would trigger the Magical Girl’s censorship, but she quickly reached out and, relying on her much more agile body after transformation, forcibly caught the flying cruciform scythe.
“What’s going on here?”
The scythe didn’t struggle much; it flashed a few more times before settling down again.
Jiang Lingwei held the scythe in her hand, feeling the familiar magical power of Yunxia surging within.
“How should I know?”
Wen Yajuan tilted her head: “Aren’t you the magical girl? Why ask me?”
“But you were a researcher back then, and now you’re a doctor.”
“Useless.”
Wen Yajuan led Jiang Lingwei inside, then sat down on the sofa and said:
“I can only use ordinary human methods to conduct experiments and try to understand magic.”
Her fingers drew circles in the air:
“You know magic doesn’t follow logic. If we really took it seriously, even those old professors at the research institutes would declare physics nonexistent.”
“Otherwise, why do we treat magical girls and fairies the way we do? Sure, there are treaties with the fairies, but more importantly, even if we showed magic to ordinary people, it’s hard for them to grasp.”
“That’s really how it is…”
Jiang Lingwei sat in the reclining chair opposite: “I used to think you made it look easy, didn’t realize there was so much behind it… Though I knew Sister Yajuan was strong, I didn’t expect you to be this strong.”
“Only ‘strong’? Ha, Hakivee… you little rascal.”
She sighed, leaning back on the sofa into a relaxed slouch:
“Putting aside my intelligence, I’m not without aptitude. I can sense a little. What did the old man say back then? Right—‘qualified, but not enough.’”
“Sometimes I think, if only some irresponsible fairy came along, maybe I could become a magical girl too.”
“Hey, hey—”
Jiang Lingwei hurriedly interrupted:
“Sister Yajuan, you can’t really try that. I think the old man had his reasons for saying that, and I trust his judgment.”
“Don’t worry.”
Wen Yajuan shifted her posture: “What do you take me for? Didn’t you say before that without the ‘heart,’ it’s impossible?”
“Besides, I have a family and career now. Even if I got the chance, I wouldn’t take it.”
After that, she stretched and said:
“This ‘Extinction’ suddenly started glowing and running around the house, so I thought of asking you to take a look. But as soon as you came, it calmed down. Seems like it still doesn’t respect me.”
“But you—I was going to persuade you to retire quietly like me, but then I remembered you’re still a seventeen-year-old girl. Not to mention your daughter is a magical girl too. With your personality, retirement isn’t likely.”
“…Why do you sound weird saying that?”
“Eh heh~.”
“Eh heh what?”
Having no way to argue with Wen Yajuan, Jiang Lingwei looked at the cruciform scythe in her hand, thought about the matter, and then voiced her guess:
“Do you think… it’s possible that the ‘Bright One’ is about to appear?”
“Hm?!”
Wen Yajuan immediately stood up:
“Explain!”
“Alright.”
Jiang Lingwei nodded and was about to speak when suddenly—
“Achoo!”
“You’re sneezing too?”
“…Maybe my daughter’s missing me.”
Holding the soft spot on her chest, Jiang Lingwei frowned slightly.
She wasn’t joking; she really felt it.
A feeling… that someone important was approaching.
For some reason, her heart started racing.
And at the same time, the Extinction in her hand began glowing again.
Elsewhere, at school.
“My bad, my bad.”
Jiang Yao grabbed Lin Yu, who was blushing and about to turn away, hurriedly trying to make amends:
“Why don’t you explain in detail? Most people would react like I did, you know…”
She thought for a moment and picked some commonly known points:
“Magical girls… the name itself means it has to be a ‘girl.’”
“As for Auntie… she does look young, but that’s because she takes good care of her appearance. You can still see signs of age—just to clarify, I’m not calling her old! I just mean, she doesn’t look like a magical girl at all.”
Since the two had met, Lin Yu’s notorious online handle was known, and Jiang Yao couldn’t help but know that Lin Yu’s mother was none other than Wen Yajuan.
As the head of a conglomerate, Wen Yajuan was somewhat a public figure. That info, including her age, was all on the encyclopedia; no deep digging needed, anyone could look it up.
Fairies like Xiaobai and the others apparently never made contracts with people in that age group. It was easy to see why that wouldn’t happen.
After hearing this, Lin Yu nodded seriously:
“I’ve considered all that too, but my mom… she acts way too strangely.”
Then Lin Yu told Jiang Yao many details she hadn’t shared before.
Like the fully equipped basement, clearly prepared to guard against something; how magical girls appeared when she left (of course, that was Jiang Yao herself); and Wen Yajuan’s tense attitude, repeatedly forbidding her from becoming a magical girl.
This caught Jiang Yao off guard.
What was once just a joke was now making her suspicious.
“Could it be…?”
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