At this moment on the commercial street, Jiang Lingwei naturally heard the arrogant declaration of that dark fairy, along with the alarm sounds from surrounding cities and the fearful cries of the people.
She immediately put down her scythe, raised her head, and said,
“No, I personally saw this guy’s conglomerate forcibly explode from within. Even if it had some defense, it couldn’t possibly recover this fast. At the very least, it should be starting from a severe injury.”
“Hmm.”
Wen Yajuan also looked up at the sky.
Even in just the brief moment that the dark fairy appeared, she had already noticed some signs.
“Its state isn’t stable. This current situation isn’t part of a calm, calculated plan.”
“Yeah.” Jiang Lingwei also realized: “It’s a bit unhinged.”
This kind of thing didn’t actually require much analysis or judgment; it was entirely clear from past experience.
Dark fairies possess minds highly similar to those of demons and even magical beasts—not in the sense that their intelligence is lacking, but that they are prone to bouts of madness.
Compared to the fairies who use and accept the more stable Light Magic, these dark fairies who practically want to fuse Dark Magic into their bodies have all been severely affected.
But even so, dark fairies are not truly foolish.
On the contrary, some individuals among them possess such cunning and experience that Jiang Lingwei and the others had suffered immensely at their hands before.
These fairies use madness as a facade to conceal their true schemes.
What is called madness is actually a disguise. If one only took this madness at face value as their true motive, they would be easily led by the nose. But if one ignores it completely, sometimes these fits of joy or sorrow do reveal their weaknesses.
This was truly a headache.
But now, besides knowing that many people in the city needed saving, Jiang Lingwei had also seen through the weakness beneath this dark fairy’s mad exterior.
Compared to those sly predecessors, this one’s methods were still too shallow.
“Yajuan, I need intelligence.”
“Okay.”
Without any unnecessary words, Wen Yajuan turned and quickly pulled a small earpiece from a drawer. After clicking its switch a few times, she handed it to Jiang Lingwei.
“Seems a bit different?”
Looking at the earpiece in her hand, Jiang Lingwei remarked.
“That’s right, the fourth generation.”
“Looks like I missed the middle two versions…” Jiang Lingwei smiled and asked a pointless question: “Can I use it directly now?”
“Haha.”
Wen Yajuan, sitting at her desk operating a computer, laughed as she replied, “I always believed you all would come back someday, so…”
“Always ready.”
With the press of the Enter key, the entire city’s map in both 2D and 3D appeared on two screens, followed by the internal networks of the Management Bureau and Police Department. At this moment, all alerts in Mudong City, dangerous zones, and suspected enemy locations were marked out.
After a slight movement of her hands, Wen Yajuan leaned forward a bit:
“Right now, without the old master’s early warning, we can’t intercept the enemy at their expected appearance points ahead of time. Magical Girl [Crystal] is on the other side of the city, so there really are no teammates. Your magic power status is also poor, constantly draining—it’s a really unfavorable situation.”
“But there’s good news too.”
Her right hand produced a staff while her left hand inserted the earpiece into her ear. After a night of rest, Jiang Lingwei’s magic power was once again abundant. She opened the window and stood at the edge of the windowsill.
“Yeah.”
Wen Yajuan tapped the keyboard, gradually plotting the most efficient route connecting all the alert points on the screen.
The two spoke in unison:
“The enemy chose the tactic we know best.”
“Step!”
With a light touch beneath her feet, the pink-clad magical girl, [Aurora], soared into the blue sky once again.
Looking down at the city below, Jiang Lingwei felt the gentle breeze by her ear, and Wen Yajuan’s voice came through the earpiece:
【Forward, to Central Avenue. There’s a rampaging gorilla there.】
“Gorilla?”
She had expected the city to become chaotic, but not this chaotic. Jiang Lingwei couldn’t help but say,
“No, the zoo isn’t on Central Avenue. How did a gorilla get here?”
【Let me check… Looks like someone bribed the zoo director to rent out a gorilla called Pompo for a commercial show, but it suddenly got corrupted by dark magic.】
“That’s just misleading, isn’t it?! If it’s a show, it should at least be a chimpanzee or something. What can a gorilla perform? Breaking big stones on its chest?”
Rushing toward the target location, Jiang Lingwei spoke into the earpiece:
“Yajuan, check the surveillance. There’s no way that dark fairy did this alone. It’s just a paper tiger now. There must be others. Send some reinforcements too. The more helpers, the better.”
But Wen Yajuan’s voice came immediately:
【No reinforcements available.】
In the room, Wen Yajuan, wearing the earpiece, stared at the red dots suddenly appearing in surrounding cities, her tone heavy:
“All surrounding cities—Huami City, Xionghuan City, Tange City, Yuanxue City… they’re all simultaneously under dark invasion.”
“Little Aurora, you woke up just in time. Looks like that dark fairy was merely the vanguard. No matter what it is, this is definitely a premeditated attack.”
After Wen Yajuan’s words fell, there was a long pause before a voice came from the other side of the earpiece:
【…Got it.】
In a rare moment, Wen Yajuan glanced at the school surveillance. She saw Lin Yu dragging Jiang Yao along with the crowd toward the shelter before focusing back, searching for cameras that could capture other demons or magical beasts.
“Refreshing…”
Feeling the fear permeating the city, An Shuiguan felt his injuries ease considerably and his dark magic recover a lot.
However, he knew clearly that while part of this feeling was real, most of it was an illusion caused by the active dark magic.
“Enough illusions already.”
Now, An Shuiguan needed this illusion to heal the pain in his body.
But in his heart, the humiliation of being defeated by a rookie magical girl who had just debuted not long ago could never be erased.
“Guan! What’s wrong with you? Why start the plan ahead of schedule?”
“You, no matter what, I you, I wasn’t ready at all, and now suddenly I have to start acting, I ***—”
“I need an explanation.”
“Starting now… is the timing really right… probably not… we weren’t ready to take these cities and find the ancient weapons in one go… it’s difficult…”
In front of An Shuiguan, several small light screens showed shadowy figures—some round like him, others vertical strips, some resembling certain animals.
Without exception, these were the instigators of chaos in the cities near Mudong.
“Shut up, all of you.”
An Shuiguan said forcefully,
“Humans already got the ancient weapons. If we don’t start acting immediately, how long do you intend to wait? I’m the strongest among us. Listen to me.”
“You all go create chaos, carve the runes. I’ll control Mudong City.”
After he finished, the dark fairy who had been cursing uncontrollably couldn’t help but shout:
“Guan! ***you try it yourself! I worked so hard to raise the troops, we’re already short-staffed, and you want to divide them to your city? What about you? The failures from a few days ago have already beaten your *** out?”
“You want to die?”
An Shuiguan’s eyes locked on that dark fairy, “I said it’s all part of the plan. I haven’t failed. The division of forces has my purpose. If you don’t want to die, then get to work.”
“…” The foul-mouthed fairy visibly shrank back, muttering something resentfully before cutting off the communication by closing the screen.
Seeing this, the other dark fairies also severed communication and went about their own business.
“Phew…”
An Shuiguan finally exhaled.
“Finally fooled them.”
The other dark fairies were unreliable. If he was discovered in his current weak state, even though they were technically allies searching for the ancient weapons, they’d just push him out. Besides, without completing the goal, going back meant certain death.
But he still had the knowledge learned during his past magical power cultivation.
He had to prepare two plans now. He couldn’t rely on the boss sent over to protect his current weak self out of kindness.
Pulling a light screen from the right, An Shuiguan looked at the figure still advancing on the blood-red wasteland and smiled evilly:
“As long as I change the city’s runes, the magic spell that summons the army will instead summon you.”
“Don’t disappoint me, ancient power. I’m helping you break free, so you must help me take revenge. If I become your little brother after succeeding, so be it.”
His words, of course, could not be heard on the other side of the screen.
The black figure said nothing, only continuing forward.
Invisible to the outside world, in the hand wrapped by layers of dark energy, a kunai glowed with unyielding light.