Chapter 922: First Encounter

"Oh no, oh no, I'm going to be late!"

On the street, a young girl carrying a schoolbag was running forward with a hurried expression.

This girl had pink hair tied into twin tails with two red Ribbons, and her wine-red eyes were filled with a panicked look. She was wearing a school uniform consisting of a light brown shirt, a black plaid skirt, white stockings, and a pair of brown leather shoes.

Kaname Madoka felt that things were going terribly for her right now. Last night, her younger brother had suddenly developed a fever, and her father had taken him to the hospital and hadn't returned all night. She had also slept very late due to worrying about her brother's condition, and then she had had strange dreams during the night, which resulted in her not waking up on time this morning. Her mother was not good at waking up early to begin with, so naturally, she hadn't been able to wake her up, which led to the current situation. If she didn't run a little faster, she would be late today.

Just as the girl rushed to a corner, a bicycle suddenly shot out. The person riding the bicycle clearly hadn't expected a girl to suddenly run out from the corner, and at this moment, it was already too late to dodge.

Watching the bicycle grow larger in her eyes, Madoka subconsciously closed her eyes. But the expected pain did not appear; a force suddenly emerged from behind her, pulling her back. Madoka only felt a gust of wind whistle past her face, blowing her hair up.

When she cautiously opened her eyes, she realized that the bicycle had stopped not far away, and a middle-aged man was looking in her direction with lingering fear.

"Are you alright, little girl?" A voice sounded from behind Madoka.

Madoka turned her head and saw a man standing behind her; it was this man who had pulled her back just in time, avoiding a collision with the bicycle.

Lingyun looked at the Madoka in front of him with a smile on his face. He hadn't expected that he would run into the world's future Madokami at this time. However, this scene had not appeared in the original World Line; could it be that his arrival had disrupted the World Line of this world?

The middle-aged man on the bicycle bowed repeatedly to apologize to Madoka, and then thanked Lingyun repeatedly. After confirming that Madoka was truly uninjured, the middle-aged man got on his bicycle and hurried away, looking as if he had urgent business.

"Th-thank you..." Madoka bowed to Lingyun.

"You're welcome. But you should pay attention to your surroundings when running in the future, otherwise, it's very dangerous!" Lingyun reminded her with a smile.

"Yes, I understand." Madoka bowed to Lingyun again.

Afterwards, an anxious expression appeared on Madoka's face: "Oh no, I'm going to be late."

After saying goodbye to Lingyun, Madoka started running again and soon disappeared from Lingyun's field of vision.

"What truly massive karma. Because of Akemi Homura's repeated Cycles, this massive karma has all gathered on Madoka. If this power of karma were to fully erupt, it would be enough to distort this world; it's no wonder Kyubey would covet this power," Lingyun said, shaking his head.

"Yes, and this world is currently quite fragile; otherwise, Kyubey wouldn't have been able to exploit the loopholes, and Akemi Homura wouldn't have been able to backtrack the World Line time and time again. The only thing that is relatively strong should be the fate line in this world where Madoka is destined to become a Magical Girl," Ruoxi said, her figure appearing beside Lingyun.

"The world's fragility led to Kyubey exploiting the loopholes?" Lingyun said thoughtfully.

"That's right. By the way, Brother, the semi-dormant World Consciousness of this world made a deal with me," Ruoxi said with a smile.

"A deal? Is it a deal to keep this world from collapsing?" Lingyun asked.

"Mm, this world doesn't want to head toward destruction itself. It hopes you can reverse the fate of this world, and during this period, it can provide you with all the help it is capable of," Ruoxi said.

"Provide me with all the help it is capable of? This world's World Consciousness is a bit too trusting of me, isn't it?" Lingyun's tone carried a hint of surprise.

"Did Brother forget about those World Blessings on you? The World Consciousness of this world trusts you so much, and this World Blessing accounts for more than half the credit!" Ruoxi said, rolling her eyes.

"Alright, I understand. I'll take on this matter," Lingyun nodded.

"Whoa, finally here. Almost, I was almost late!" Madoka, who had rushed to the school gate, couldn't help but let out a long breath.

"Madoka, you're here!" Just at this moment, two girls ran over from not far away, smiling and greeting Madoka.

"Sayaka, Hitomi!" Madoka waved at the two with a smile, a happy expression on her face.

Not far away, a blonde girl looked at the three of them frolicking and showed a hint of envy on her face.

"Are they second-year juniors? It really is enviable..."

Looking at the school uniforms on the three, Tomoe Mami said this, but she had no intention of going up to disturb them, instead turning and walking away slowly.

Kyubey, who had appeared on the girl's shoulder at some point, cast its gaze toward Madoka's direction, a flash of astonishment and joy seemingly passing through its eyes.

Just as Kyubey was watching Madoka, a gaze carrying biting murderous intent fell upon Kyubey. The murderous intent hidden within this gaze even made the fur on Kyubey's body stand up, but this murderous intent was aimed solely at it; even the girl beside it didn't notice. Kyubey, which was quite sensitive to its surrounding environment, suddenly turned its head and looked in the direction from which the gaze came.

A girl with long, straight black hair appeared in Kyubey's field of vision. Upon seeing this girl, Kyubey knew that this girl was the one who had been hunting it down all along.

Seeing Kyubey fix its gaze on Madoka, Akemi Homura knew that Kyubey had set its sights on Madoka. After this, Kyubey would use all sorts of methods to induce Madoka to become a Magical Girl and step onto that path that ended only in despair. This time, she absolutely must not repeat the same mistakes; she absolutely must not let Madoka step onto the path of becoming a Magical Girl.

If it weren't for the fear that they were currently on school grounds and there were still quite a few people around, Akemi Homura would likely have already pulled out her pistol and riddled this Kyubey in front of her with holes.

Seeing that Kyubey had already discovered her gaze, Akemi Homura turned around without hesitation and disappeared into the crowd.

"Is this girl also a student at this Mitakihara Middle School?" Kyubey muttered to itself, wondering what she was plotting.

However, for some unknown reason, Kyubey seemed to have no intention of telling Tomoe Mami that a Magical Girl was hostile toward it.