“Is it really in this direction?”
Shui Hua asked Liu Jin, who was flying alongside her.
In the distance was the hilly terrain rarely seen in Shui City, causing Shui Hua to feel increasingly unsure about whether they were headed the right way.
“From a geographical standpoint, this should be the way south… but why is the terrain like this? Regardless, let’s just keep flying in this direction for now. We’ve been in the air for so long that we’re bound to hit a city eventually,” Liu Jin replied.
He did not sound entirely certain himself, but he offered a reasonable amount of comfort.
“I understand the logic… but my Magic Power is almost at its limit. I can fly for a few more minutes at most. If I don’t see a road within that time, I’ll be forced to become a grounded magical girl.”
Although some residual power from her forced Awakening remained, making her significantly stronger than before — for instance, she could now manage to fluidize one small part of her body and her Water Ball output was more powerful — her base MP bar had not increased at all. Her endurance remained utterly pathetic.
“It’s fine. I’ll just carry you on my back when the time comes,” Liu Jin replied almost instantly, turning his face toward her.
“Uh… if it’s really necessary… I guess that works,” Shui Hua stammered.
Since Liu Jin had already suggested it, she could only nod in agreement.
They pushed forward, continuing their flight with gritted teeth.
After a short distance, Shui Hua finally spotted a familiar concrete road around a bend on the mountainside.
“I finally see a road! We finally found a place with people.”
Shui Hua breathed a sigh of relief and continued flying along the road with Liu Jin.
However, the Magic Power inside Shui Hua’s body soon began to hit a critical low.
She could clearly feel the lift from her flight magic weakening. Just as she was preparing to descend for a rest, her Magic Power suddenly cut off entirely.
Shui Hua flailed in the air for a moment, but it was futile, and her body began to plummet straight down.
“Careful.”
Liu Jin’s voice and movements were almost perfectly synchronized.
He stopped instantly in mid-air, and an arm reached out from the side, firmly catching her upper arm.
Simultaneously, several golden silk threads appeared out of thin air and wrapped around Shui Hua’s waist, serving as a secondary insurance policy to prevent her from falling.
“I’m out of Magic Power…”
Even though Shui Hua hadn’t used any significant magic, simply maintaining flight had completely drained her.
It made her feel a bit embarrassed.
“Should I carry you, then?”
Liu Jin asked, taking the opportunity.
“Fine.”
Shui Hua stared at his back and hesitated for 2 seconds.
Knowing that stubbornness would be useless at a time like this, she nodded.
The golden silk threads gently lifted her and placed her onto Liu Jin’s back.
Shui Hua quickly reached out to wrap her arms around Liu Jin’s neck to keep from slipping.
Liu Jin reached back, firmly supporting the crooks of her knees.
Once he adjusted his posture, he took off again, carrying her through the sky.
Back when she was still Yuhua, he could naturally rest his chin on Liu Jin’s shoulder and leisurely take in the scenery.
Now, however, with Shui Hua’s petite stature, she could only press her face sideways against Liu Jin’s back.
Liu Jin’s long, golden hair fluttered in the wind, occasionally brushing against her cheeks and carrying a unique scent that did not seem to be shampoo.
It was a constant distraction to her senses.
Shui Hua shook her head, forcing her attention onto the scenery below.
As the road beneath them widened, fields and plastic greenhouses began to appear, followed by shops and residential buildings.
They had finally returned to civilization.
“In any case, we finally made it to a city,” Shui Hua murmured to herself, her heart feeling a little more at ease.
Liu Jin found a secluded spot to land.
The two of them walked quickly toward the nearest street that seemed to have a lot of foot traffic, searching for a mobile phone store.
They found a small service center on a street corner.
After pushing the door open, they saw rows of phones displayed under the glass counter.
“Hello, could you let me see this one?”
Subconsciously trying to maintain her magical girl persona, Shui Hua chose a phone with a soft pink casing.
It was only after the choice was made that she remembered Liu Jin already knew her true identity as a university student.
He had seen her on the rooftop and knew she was just playing a role, so there was no need for her to pretend now.
But since she had already picked it, Shui Hua was too lazy to return it.
The clerk soon boxed the phone and brought it over.
She then reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out the shattered remnants of her old phone, carefully pinching the small SIM card out from the debris.
Shui Hua hadn’t held much hope, but to her surprise, it wasn’t damaged.
She quickly inserted it into the new phone and pressed the power button.
The signal bars soon lit up, and immediately after, the phone began to vibrate incessantly as several text messages flooded in.
“Let’s see where exactly we are…”
Shui Hua swiped across the screen, preparing to download a map app, but an automatic welcome message popped up first.
“Welcome to Mountain City!”
Shui Hua froze.
Since Shui City was a major metropolis, she had assumed that no matter how lost they got, they would at most be wandering around the neighboring districts.
She never expected they would end up all the way in Mountain City…
‘Mountain City? How did we end up in Mountain City? Did that Awakened Entity bring us this far?’
It would have been better if they had ended up in Sea City, which was even farther from Shui City, because at least there were high-speed trains there.
Mountain City, however, was a small city near Shui City that could only be reached by road.
Taking a taxi from Mountain City’s urban area back to Shui City would take nearly 2 hours if there were no traffic jams.
If they wanted to return to Shuicheng University of Technology, it would likely take over 3 hours.
After the ordeal with the Awakened Entity and the fact that they had flown in the complete opposite direction, it was already almost 7:00 PM.
This meant they would return to the school by 10:00 PM at the earliest.
Even worse, because Shui Hua had been too embarrassed to let Liu Jin carry her earlier, her Magic Power was completely depleted.
Even if they rushed back, her transformation mechanism meant she wouldn’t be able to turn back into Yuhua immediately…
In short, there was no way she was getting back to the dormitory tonight.
“Liu Jin, how much Magic Power do you have left?”
If Liu Jin had enough, Shui Hua would have to swallow her pride and ask him to carry her all the way back.
Liu Jin shook his head.
“I don’t have much left either. Carrying you and controlling the silk threads both consumed a lot of energy.”
“Then it looks like we can only take a taxi back.”
Shui Hua opened the map app again.
The trip to Shuicheng University of Technology was nearly 200 to 300 kilometers away.
Combined with heavy congestion on a long stretch of the road, the estimated travel time was 4.5 hours.
“What should we do? Should we rush back tonight, or what?”
Shui Hua looked at Liu Jin, asking for her opinion.
However, Liu Jin was pointing at a noodle shop across the street.
He didn’t look anxious at all, as if being lost in a neighboring city and being unable to return to school were no big deal.
He looked at Shui Hua and said in a calm tone, “Since it’s come to this, let’s eat first.”