“Crystal.”
Jiang Lingwei covered her face with one hand while pressing down on Jiang Yao’s shoulder with the other.
They always said Wen Yanquan’s daughter inherited the crazy gene, but looking at her own child, something seemed off as well.
It must be because of the kid’s father.
I’m not responsible for that part of the genes!
(No, no, I’m not responsible for any of it!)
(Wait, that’s not right either—I’m responsible for Yao Yao’s part.)
(Nope… no, forget it!)
For some reason, every time she thought about these things, her mind just went blank.
>
So she resorted to her ultimate technique: “Not my problem.”
“You’re misunderstanding.”
Jiang Lingwei said in the calmest tone she could muster:
“I’m not Opal’s mother either.”
“Huh?”
The girl wore an expression of complete disbelief. “Then who is her mother?”
“Phew…”
Jiang Lingwei took a deep breath.
(Why are you stuck on this anyway!)
(Don’t get worked up, don’t get worked up. She’s her real mother, she’s her real mother. Calm down, calm down.)
Jiang Lingwei patiently delivered a somewhat profound statement:
“Of course her mother is her mother.”
“Um… then, where’s my mom…?”
Meanwhile, Lin Yu also joined the conversation.
“…She must already be in the shelter.”
Just as they were about to say more, Jiang Lingwei quickly cut off Lin Yu’s little ‘looking for mom’ drama:
“Alright, alright, I don’t know what you’ve misunderstood, but the enemy definitely has some plan. The citywide emergency was just resolved, yet the main enemy hasn’t appeared. There might be more plots ahead, so don’t relax just yet. Let’s focus on the matter at hand.”
“Okay.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Seeing the two magical girls nodding in agreement, Jiang Lingwei finally exhaled.
If this topic continued any longer, it would never end.
She had actually considered telling Wen Yanquan about Lin Yu’s situation, but it couldn’t be done like that.
Magical girls have their own special circumstances. If she arbitrarily made decisions for Lin Yu, how would Lin Yu handle it later?
Whether in terms of personality or behavioral changes, it all comes down to the magical girls’ “hearts” being externalized through magic.
It’s best to let them follow their own wishes in their own affairs.
Take Jiang Lingwei herself as an example; she still hadn’t found her own “mother” role, nor did she know if she should be like other mothers, or maybe even buy a book like How to Be a Mother.
But she wasn’t too troubled by it.
Everything should just follow her heart. Jiang Yao was the best daughter in the world, and she was willing to do anything for her—that was enough.
Making breakfast every day, caring about her health, listening to her talk about daily school life—these things brought Jiang Lingwei a quiet kind of happiness.
If it weren’t for all the dark enemies scheming and causing trouble—especially recently, when things were as chaotic as during some past special periods—Jiang Lingwei would happily continue this daily routine.
Then, when the kid’s father showed up, she’d give him a slap to the face.
After all, who else would just abandon a mother and daughter like that? Once they met, she’d beat him up!
From a mother’s perspective, she really was failing—leaving her daughter to live on her own all this time, while she just lay in bed.
But what had already happened couldn’t be helped; she herself had lost half her memories and wasn’t doing it on purpose. She didn’t even feel that much guilt towards Jiang Yao.
Still, that didn’t mean Jiang Lingwei thought everything was fine or didn’t matter. On the contrary, she decided to shoulder that responsibility seriously.
She never dwelled on the past, so she was slowly coming to terms with her identity.
If she were really stubborn and refused to accept reality, she would have run away a long time ago.
Besides, her well-behaved daughter was really cute.
The clumsy look was adorable, the way she carried her schoolbag to class was cute, the sweet way she called “Mom” while eating was adorable, and her fighting stance was both cool and cute—though it would be even better if that dark form that gave her bad feelings didn’t exist.
Speaking of which, Jiang Lingwei felt a little uneasy thinking about the kid’s father…
After chatting with Wen Yanquan before, Jiang Lingwei had gone over everything—from magical beasts to demons to dark fairies—and by midnight she was shivering just from the thought.
At this point, she couldn’t expect much, but at least he had to be human.
If she found out he was some long-dead tentacle monster or something, she felt like the sky itself would collapse.
“Aurora, look!”
At that moment, Qishi pointed toward the distant horizon, breaking the silence:
“There! Over there!”
“Hm?”
Everyone looked up to see a floating figure in the sky. It was too far away and too small for the naked eye to make out details.
However, none of them were ordinary people, and combined with the hostile aura from their magic sensing, they all roughly understood what it was.
Among them, Xiao Bai’s reaction was the most intense; its entire little round body stretched as it stood on Jiang Yao’s shoulder, shouting fiercely:
“Ribbit! It’s a Heretic Fang! A great dark enemy! You dark fairy! Just wait, I’m coming to deal with you right now!”
“Enough already.”
Next to it, Jiang Yao said helplessly:
“Stop shouting, stop shouting. You’re making my ears hurt. If you’re so arrogant, why don’t you go up there and fight?”
“Well… hehe…”
Xiao Bai’s momentum deflated, and it said a little embarrassedly:
“I just don’t have much magic left to use.”
Except for Lin Yu, who was new and still unclear about the situation, including Wen Yanquan on the other side of the city communicating through headphones, everyone’s hearts turned cold.
The dark orb in the sky was obviously deliberately appearing in front of them—it was undoubtedly an enemy.
Foolish.
The enemy might be arrogant or reckless, but it definitely wouldn’t be experienced.
Jiang Lingwei immediately began to act, speaking to Wen Yanquan as she did:
“Quen, check if there are any other enemies around. The city’s underground is shaking.”
At the same time, she released magic to start searching.
“Do you think you’ve won?”
Seeing no one answer, An Shui Guan moved a little closer.
After spotting Xiao Bai on Jiang Yao’s shoulder, it said in disdain:
“Magical girls are disgusting enough, and now you even brought along a Light Fairy.”
“Oh, I didn’t look carefully before, but now that I do, it’s such a useless Light Fairy. How did your kingdom let you out? Have you already started dumping trash on Earth?”
“You!”
Xiao Bai angrily shouted, but for some reason, the rest of its words caught in its throat.
It just panted angrily.
“Don’t shout.”
Without showing any emotion, Jiang Yao shifted slightly to shield Xiao Bai behind her.
She gave the middle finger (censored): “If you’ve got any moves, use them. If I can beat you once, I can do it a second time. If you have no tricks, then just die quickly—we’re all busy here, don’t waste time.”
(That’s right, that’s right.)
Jiang Lingwei felt relieved:
(This is how you deal with the dark side!)
“You’re right.”
To everyone’s surprise, An Shui Guan in the air spoke calmly and plainly:
“I really have no way out. Your minions here have been dealt with. Those trashy snacks causing chaos in the neighboring city will probably be suppressed soon. Preparation time was just too short.”
“I’m out of options. No way to beat you.”
“B…”
Jiang Yao was about to say something more when Jiang Lingwei, somehow accelerating her magic, flashed behind An Shui Guan and raised her staff high.
The magical girl Aurora said nothing, only continuously releasing magic.
“You?!”
An Shui Guan looked back in terror, not even having time to say anything before being engulfed by light.
Then the staff struck it heavily on the ground like a tennis racket.
“What’s the point of talking about chivalry with this guy?”
After finishing, Jiang Lingwei snorted coldly. The enemy wouldn’t surrender.
This kind of “I have no way out” talk really meant, “I still have a secret weapon, and I’m going to use it soon.”
Is that so?
Then why wait for them to finish talking and unleash their ultimate or transform to the next phase?
Light magic bloomed all around Jiang Lingwei as she pointed her finger at An Shui Guan on the ground:
“Everyone, attack together!”
“Ahem… how interesting…”
In a shallow pit, scorched all over like burned skin, An Shui Guan was dazed from the sudden blow.
It hadn’t been seriously hurt but coughed up some purplish-black fairy blood.
With its only remaining intact eye, it glared fiercely at Jiang Lingwei diving down from above.
“I originally planned to save some effort… hoped to capture a magical girl as bait.”
“But all these b’s are just trash…”
A murderous look filled An Shui Guan’s eyes:
“Forget it, I’ll handle this myself.”
Just before everyone’s attack reached it, An Shui Guan’s badly wounded body suddenly dissolved into a swarm of black particles and nimbly fled.
Bang.
Jiang Lingwei knew that strike had missed.
She looked up at the sky.
The black particles reformed into An Shui Guan’s figure.
The difference from before was that mysterious runes were now wrapped around its body.
“…”
Those runes tightened, forcing An Shui Guan to cough up more blood.
Then all the blood was absorbed by the runes on its body.
Despite the injury, An Shui Guan seemed to feel no pain at all.
Madness:
It fixed its one eye tightly on everyone.
“Already… completed!”
Its calmness completely vanished, replaced by endless madness.
“Die, all of you!”
The moment it finished speaking, a wave of black shockwaves spread out from it.
Jiang Lingwei and the others were forced to release magic shields to protect themselves.
Then an endless black mist spread, blotting out the sky and turning the place into another world.
At the same time, a burst of static noise came through Jiang Yao’s headphones.
【Li…ght…that… back then… ssssssssss…】
Wen Yanquan’s signal was completely lost.
“…No need to say, I understand.”
Removing the headphones that only produced noise, Jiang Lingwei stood firm on the blackened ground.
Nearby, the dark fairy had vanished without a trace.
In its place stood a tall figure, wrapped in endless black mist, also on the ground.
Clenching her magical gear tightly, Jiang Lingwei felt her heart pound with tension.
Yes, she had seen magic like this before.
It was the kind used by past enemies to open dark rifts—but faster, stronger, almost like the dark gate of a final battle.
So…
“Huff, huff…”
The girl’s chest rose and fell.
(Why… is my breathing getting so rapid?)
(What am I nervous about? Calm down, Aurora, what are you nervous for?)
Holding her faintly glowing staff, the magical girl Aurora carefully parted the surrounding black mist and assumed a defensive stance.
She watched the distant humanoid figure, which still hadn’t made a move.
(Now, who’s this expert that’s coming?)