Chapter 112: Clues (8k)

"Mm, I'm back."

Lin Yun forced a gentle smile, pretending to meet Bai Jingxuan for the first time as he asked, "I've already met the young lady on the left. Who is this one on the right? Also your friend?"

He ignored Xia Liang's little gestures because he didn't want to decipher what trouble this girl was up to again, or rather, he could guess exactly what Xia Liang was secretly shouting.

With Bai Jingxuan and Lin Xiaolu watching from the side, he needed to keep his identity hidden before these two; putting on a proper elder's demeanor was surely the safest approach.

As for Bai Jingxuan's identity as a magical girl, he had no intention of exposing it. Even from the perspective of "Lin Yun," he had ample reason to deduce this, but continuing to play dumb also made sense.

"... Stop beating around the bush."

However, Lin Xiaolu couldn't understand Lin Yun's thoughts. Wiping her hands with a rag, she looked up at her father and replied bluntly, "This child, like Xia Liang, was my companion when I was a magical girl."

In her view, since she had brought an outsider home to celebrate the festival today, it was best to clarify their identity and situation to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.

Besides, although her father was indeed meeting Bai Jingxuan for the first time, everyone present today—Xia Liang and Hong Siyu—were related to magical girls, so there was no reason he wouldn't guess Bai Jingxuan's identity.

Anyway, she had long given up on hiding the magical girl business from her father; saying whatever needed to be said meant carrying no mental burden.

"My name is Bai Jingxuan." The Bai Jingxuan beside her hurriedly introduced herself as well.

"... Oh, so this child is also a magical girl. She's so young, truly remarkable."

Lin Xiaolu's abrupt revelation only surprised Lin Yun for a moment before he immediately devised a response. He wore an expression of sudden realization, acting completely like an uninformed ordinary person: "Hello, hello. Thank you for taking care of Little Lulu usually."

"Oh no! Actually, it's Big Sister Xiaolu who takes care of me..."

The two then exchanged polite pleasantries; the elder was kind and gentle, while the junior was reserved but polite, creating a scene of perfect harmony. An outsider would never know the true circumstances behind it.

As for those who knew the truth, both Xia Liang and Hong Siyu had subtle expressions, looking as if they were smiling but not really, which made Lin Xiaolu glance at them strangely.

While the two on this side repeated useless formalities, the few people nearby were lost in their own thoughts. Among everyone present, only one fairy's mind was still on the kitchen stove.

When Moko ignored the boring pleasantries between Lin Yun and Bai Jingxuan and shifted his gaze to the wok beside him, he immediately furrowed his brows and widened his eyes, shouting loudly, "You lot! The wok is burning!"

Everyone present then realized that the smell of burning had filled the entire kitchen. The girls who had previously put down their tasks saw the wok already smoking and were momentarily stunned, rushing over immediately.

However, since the incident happened suddenly and they acted in haste, they hadn't made any preparations, and gathering at the stove without any readiness instead triggered a series of further troubles.

—"Waaah! It's spitting fire!"

"The spatula... the spatula... the spatula is so hot!"

"I, I'll go get water!"

Bai Jingxuan picked up an empty bowl and tried to reach the sink, but she was too short and didn't watch her feet; after just shifting two steps to the side, she tripped over Lin Xiaolu's foot and lost her balance.

Seeing the bowl fly from her hand and her about to fall, Lin Yun, quick-eyed and fast-handed, reached out, grabbed the collar at the back of her neck, and caught the bowl soaring through the air. This averted a kitchen tragedy that was about to unfold.

"I'm sorry..." Lifted by Lin Yun, Bai Jingxuan stared blankly at the floor. After a while, she looked up, glanced at the bowl in his hand, and stammered, "I..."

"It's fine, as long as you're okay."

Lin Yun released Bai Jingxuan's collar and shoved the bowl back into her hands: "Don't rush, be careful."

He didn't let Bai Jingxuan return to cooking because, looking at the chaotic scene, he knew he should take over dinner. Since he was back in his own home, he had no reason to let a group of juniors rush around the kitchen. That would neither save face for an adult nor be safe at all.

"But what about you?"

Before stepping up to the stove, he glanced back at Hong Siyu: "Letting the children handle the cooking before was one thing, but standing by and doing nothing now? Is this how you usually take care of people?"

"You're asking me?"

Hong Siyu blinked innocently a couple of times: "You're wronging me. It's not that I don't want to, but it's a long story..."

"Make it short." Lin Yun cut her off.

Hong Siyu grinned and pointed her thumb at herself: "I'm banned from entering the kitchen."

Lin Yun fell silent but couldn't help rolling his eyes at her.

With one of the two adults present almost useless, he was too lazy to say much more to Hong Siyu. He stepped forward, took over the girls' work, and personally grabbed the kitchen utensils.

"Alright, I'll cook. You guys go play."

He said this, freeing the girls from the kitchen.

He had cooked personally quite a bit at the secret base before. Although he had been away on business for many days, returning to the stove now felt like second nature. Unlike Senior Cuique's height of 138, the familiar altitude made his hand movements much more convenient.

However, he still paid attention, trying to make some distinctions in seasoning and heat control from "Senior Cuique's technique."

After all, if the two tastes were too similar, it would inevitably arouse Lin Xiaolu's suspicion.

Besides, before he returned, the girls had already prepared some dishes, so he didn't need to put in much effort; the remaining task was just to cook the other ingredients into finished dishes.

Thus, after a brief period of busyness, the festival dinner was complete. The full moon festival, originally planned for just two people, became much livelier with the addition of the others.

Lin Yun had previously considered whether to invite the rest of the magical girl squad to his home for the festival. After all, if only he and Lin Xiaolu celebrated the festival together, the atmosphere would inevitably become somewhat dull and awkward.

The improvement in his relationship with his daughter didn't mean he and Lin Xiaolu had more common topics. In fact, stripped of the magical girl identity, he still had very little to share with his daughter.

Talk about hobbies? He and his daughter had no common hobbies to speak of; in fact, he himself found it hard to say he had any personal hobbies.

Talk about studies? It was fine when he was Senior Cuique, but asking Lin Xiaolu about her grades in a fatherly tone would probably just make the conversation atmosphere even more stiff.

Besides, after months of getting along, the girls of the Fang Ting City squad were undoubtedly quite good friends. Forcing them apart on such a day didn't seem like a good idea.

If Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan were invited over together, it would undoubtedly alleviate the above problems; just let the juniors communicate among themselves.

The only issue was how he should bring it up—making such a request as Lin Yun would make his motives seem mysterious; doing so as Senior Cuique would seem too abrupt.

What he didn't expect was that before he could make a decision, Hong Siyu had already brought the entire squad running to his home, leading to the current scene.

In this regard, he had to thank Hong Siyu. Although the other party might have just acted on a whim, she undoubtedly solved a not-so-small trouble for him.

Besides, from a safety perspective, the Fang Ting City squad gathering at his home was undoubtedly the optimal option.

The mysterious call received in the evening was like a thorn, always pricking Lin Yun's heart.

The other party told him to "be careful," but didn't specify what exactly to be careful about.

Was it a trap, like the night Lin Xiaolu was in danger before? Or would extremely powerful Remnant Beasts attack Fang Ting City next?

Amidst this harmonious atmosphere, Lin Yun's mood always carried a hint of hidden worry.

So, after dinner had continued for a while, Lin Yun found an excuse and returned to his room first, pulling out the magic mirror used to contact the Investigation Bureau. He submitted his investigation results in Bai'an City over the past few days, as well as the matter of the mysterious call, to the Investigation Bureau.

Only after finishing all this did he return to the dining room to have dinner with the others.

After thinking calmly, the conclusion he reached was: the thing he should do most right now is remain vigilant, keeping an eye out for enemies who might appear at any moment while also watching over the newcomer magic girls at home.

No matter what any potential enemies might want to do, as long as he ensures these children stay right under his nose, there will be no problems.

Time gradually passed with Lin Yun in a slightly tense mood.

The others present seemed not to have noticed anything amiss with Lin Yun; only Xia Liang appeared to sense that Lin Yun's mood was somewhat different from usual.

So she secretly gave Lin Yun a wink, then sent a message to Senior Cuique's phone, asking if something had happened.

Lin Yun did not reply to her.

He simply logged into the Fang Ting City squad group chat using Senior Cuique's account, expressing holiday greetings to the other magic girls while reminding them to stay safe in his absence, as the Donghua State Domain might not be very peaceful recently.

Regarding this, the girls' focus seemed to be on the fact that Senior Cuique had not returned for the holiday. As for phrases like "stay safe," which had little connection to magic girls, they did not attach much importance to them.

This forced Lin Yun to secretly send out a few more group messages, repeatedly emphasizing the point that "there might be danger," before the girls finally took notice.

Just like that, dinner time ended, and after the girls all ran to the living room to watch TV, Hong Siyu voluntarily proposed leaving.

"It's a rare holiday; I should go back early to catch up on sleep. The recruitment exam a few days ago really exhausted me." That was what she said.

Lin Yun did not try to detain her any further; he walked Hong Siyu to the door and watched her take off her shoe covers and put on her coat.

"Having you take care of them at the secret base these past few days has really been a trouble for you."

After stepping out of the entrance hall, he chose his words carefully and said, "I also want to thank you for voluntarily bringing those children over today."

"Just for that?"

Hong Siyu slung her bag over her shoulder, looking at him with a bright smile: "Then there's no need to thank me; after all, given our relationship, right?"

"I don't recall having any strange relationship with you." Lin Yun denied it calmly.

"Strange relationship? How so? Is the relationship between seniors and juniors strange?"

Hong Siyu widened her eyes: "What I just meant to express was that 'it is only natural for senior and junior magic girls to help each other,' but what is the senior talking about? I completely don't understand."

"... Is that so."

"What kind of flat reaction is that? I even seized the opportunity to turn the tables on you; you should at least give me some feedback."

"No, you are right."

Walking alongside her down the corridor, Lin Yun said, "Helping each other is only natural; I apologize."

"Ah, here we go again, suddenly acting all serious at a time like this! Clearly..."

Hong Siyu began to complain somewhat dissatisfied, but halfway through her sentence, she suddenly paused.

Her gaze suddenly shifted past Lin Yun's shoulder, looking behind him, as if she had seen something, and she inexplicably pressed her lips together.

"What's wrong?"

Lin Yun turned around following her line of sight, but could only see the empty corridor and a black garbage bag placed beside the public trash bin.

"Hmm... no, nothing."

Hong Siyu's eyes looked slightly vacant for a moment before returning to her usual expression; she laughed loudly: "I just suddenly wanted to sneeze, but I held it back."

"... Don't look so scary over something like that."

Lin Yun said with drooping eyelids, "And was it necessary to hold it back? It's not something very embarrassing."

"For a woman, it is very embarrassing and damages one's image."

Hong Siyu shook her finger: "Senior, you need to be a bit more careful; always making such remarks about women of marriageable age means you won't be able to find a stepmother for Little Lulu."

"At my age, I don't need that ability anymore."

Lin Yun said somewhat indifferently, "I have no such thoughts; Little Lulu seems to dislike it too, so things are fine just as they are."

"Just staying single like that?" Hong Siyu tilted her head.

"What else?" Lin Yun asked in confusion.

"No, I was going to say... ah, never mind, this is fine too."

After a brief pause, Hong Siyu sighed: "Let it be; staying single forever isn't bad either, after all, I have always been single too."

"Then why don't you just get married?" Lin Yun glanced at her. "You have financial subsidies from retiring as a magic girl, social connections from your job at the Yice Bureau, and you're considered a beauty in terms of appearance; if you really wanted to find someone, would you not be able to?"

All he got in return was silence.

"What's wrong?"

"Senior, do you think... I am a beauty?"

"Is that strange? I am not the type to deny objective facts."

"It is strange! I feel like you have never seen me as a member of the opposite sex!"

"..."

"Why has the senior stopped speaking too?"

"I am thinking about how to express myself so as not to hurt you."

"The moment you think about that is already hurtful!"

"Then I am very sorry; as you said, yes."

"Hah? Be careful, or I'll start crying in the hallway and complain about a scumbag right now!"

"What kind of scammer pretending to be a victim are you?"

"Scammers want your money; I am free; want to try?"

"Don't make such tasteless jokes."

Sighing helplessly, after walking Hong Siyu to the elevator entrance, Lin Yun suddenly asked, "Are you sure you want to leave? Actually, I suggest you stay."

"Eh? What does the senior mean? Wanting to keep me overnight?" Hong Siyu covered her mouth.

"I am just a little worried; after all, things might not be very safe from now on."

"Not very safe? Why?"

"Do you remember the unknown phone number I told you about?"

Lin Yun glanced back slightly, and after confirming no one else was around, he lowered his voice and said expressionlessly, "I received another one this afternoon."

"A strange phone call... ah, that one? Really?"

Hong Siyu widened her eyes in some surprise: "Did the other side tell you again that something dangerous might happen?"

"That's right."

Lin Yun said with a somewhat serious expression, "It's almost exactly the same as last time."

"You mean the one at the Wetland Park?"

"That's right."

Lin Yun nodded: "So I'll have to trouble you to notify the Anomaly Bureau, and it would be best if you stayed..."

Ding—

The sound of the elevator cut off his admonition. The apartment building's elevator stopped in front of the two of them, then slowly opened its doors.

The two people standing at the elevator entrance fell silent for a moment; no one spoke again.

"... Well then, I'm off."

Finally, Hong Siyu spoke first, stepping into the elevator, and turned back to wave at him: "I already know what you said."

"Are you sure?"

Lin Yun frowned: "What if you encounter a dangerous Remnant Beast on the way..."

"It's fine."

The elevator doors began to close gradually. Hong Siyu shook her head, then looked up at Lin Yun: "Anyway, no matter what kind of Remnant Beast you meet, Senior, you can eliminate it, right?"

"I will do my utmost." Standing in the hallway, Lin Yun nodded.

"Is that so? Then I'm relieved."

Hong Siyu sighed slightly, a smile on her face as she looked at him, her voice gradually softening:

— "I leave it to you, Senior."

Her voice drifted out of the elevator, finally cut off in the hallway with a crisp "Bang!"

Lin Yun stood in the empty corridor, gazing at the closed elevator doors before him, pondering slightly.

He was not a fool; in fact, he knew very well what thoughts Hong Siyu held. It was just that these thoughts were somewhat untimely for them at present.

Not to mention he had no corresponding feelings; even if he did, there were too many unsolvable practical problems between the two of them.

Hong Siyu obviously knew this as well, so, despite all her teasing, she never once stated it explicitly.

This was actually a tacit understanding between them.

The relationship between them was that of former comrades, of senior and junior magical girls, and it was best that it remain only that, could only be that.

Any further change could easily destroy this connection, corrupt it, and ultimately turn it into something no one wished to see.

At first, he didn't care and had even tried to explicitly refuse Hong Siyu, but since the other party was unwilling to clarify and admit it, he tactfully stopped bringing it up.

They were no longer children; interactions between adults were always like this, requiring careful management of each other's distance. Everyone would have true words hidden in their hearts that they would never speak; there was no need to dig to the root. Insisting on making everything completely transparent was impossible.

In the end, between two adults, as long as the personas they had established could be acted out to the very end, then what the true words were didn't matter. Rashly bringing up topics of further progress would only destroy the original subtle distance.

So, what they had now was enough.

This was the consensus reached between Hong Siyu and Lin Yun without words.

Watching the elevator floor display go to the first floor, Lin Yun silently turned around and walked back into his home.

Hong Siyu was unwilling to stay, but he had to return as soon as possible; the warning from the earlier unknown call seemed to still be in his ears. He needed to maintain sufficient vigilance to ensure the newbies at home were under his protection.

Fortunately, nothing unexpected or dangerous happened afterwards.

The three new magical girls and the fairy were staying safely at home, chatting and playing together; outside the window, the full moon hung high, pure and bright, its silver-white light shining over the entire city; occasionally, brilliant fireworks would flash in the night sky, adding a touch of warmth to this family-reunion festival, and everything looked peaceful.

Just like every ordinary Full Moon Festival, there was nothing abnormal.

Time passed bit by bit until it was nearly ten o'clock. The girls were still gathered in the living room watching a movie they had found somewhere, and even Moko was sitting with them, full of interest.

Coming out of the kitchen carrying washed fruit, preparing to take it to the living room, and hearing the various loud noises coming from not far away, just as Lin Yun was wondering what time to make them go to bed, the content of the conversation in the living room suddenly caught his attention.

— "Don't try to cheat! Tomorrow, taking out the trash is still your job!"

"No means no! I've already done it for three days in a row. I'm on strike, meow, strike! Making a fairy do this kind of work is simply abuse!"

Those were the voices of Lin Xiaolu and Moko.

"This is the penalty you admitted to last time when you stole food! You said you'd take out the trash for a week straight."

"I think your request is excessive now! I want to take it back!"

The two continued their usual elementary-school-level quarrel, saying words with absolutely no substance, but Lin Yun, sitting nearby, suddenly let go of his hand upon hearing the content of their dialogue.

Thud.

He quickly reached out to grab the fruit tray, saving most of the fruit, but the remaining oranges and pears still spilled onto the floor.

The fruit on the floor scattered and rolled around as if out of control, running everywhere in an instant, but Lin Yun still stood motionless in place, with no intention of chasing after them even for a moment.

"The fruit spilled!"

Moko was the first to shift her attention from the quarrel and saw this scene. Several girls immediately gathered around, wanting to help clean up the fruit that had fallen on the ground.

"It's fine, I can take them to be washed again..."

After a dry explanation, Lin Yun simply picked up a few oranges from the floor and looked at the girls in front of him: "The taking out the trash you just mentioned... what's the situation?"

"Taking out the trash?"

Lin Xiaolu was slightly stunned, then replied: "It's nothing special. We just have a chore roster among ourselves; generally, the order is decided by rock-paper-scissors."

This was the first time Lin Yun had heard of this; it showed that after he left Fang Ting City, the three little ones had stirred up quite a bit in their life at the secret base.

"Rock-paper-scissors for taking out the trash?"

Lin Yun looked at Lin Xiaolu somewhat bewildered: "Then, who exactly were you just talking to?"

"... If you're asking about that, it was talking to it."

Lin Xiaolu pointed at Moke floating to the side: "It's the fairy that turns us into Magical Girls; they're generally called Sowers."

"There's nothing over there." Ignoring Xia Liang's teasing smile, Lin Yun continued to maintain his persona as an ordinary person.

"Mm, because ordinary people can't see fairies."

Lin Xiaolu, suspecting nothing, explained earnestly: "But they truly exist; you can touch them if you reach out your hand."

"Can't see them but can touch them?"

To sell the act completely, Lin Yun reached out and touched Moke again, feigning surprise before speaking up once more:

"So, you're saying you were just having the fairy... go throw out the trash?"

"Mm." Lin Xiaolu nodded. "Actually, there's no problem; it already went out to throw trash once just now."

"Is... is that so..."

Lin Yun felt he could barely utter a single word, only managing to make a mechanical sound with his mouth.

Since resuming his life as a Magical Girl, except for that night when Lin Xiaolu encountered danger, he had never felt such inner chill as he did now.

His brain felt as if it had been struck heavily by a hammer, leaving only a ringing hum that made his thoughts sluggish.

The so-called "ordinary people can't see fairies" is actually a relatively broad description.

This description isn't absolute; in fact, the essential reason ordinary people can't see fairies is that they lack sufficient mana.

Generally, to see a fairy, one must at least be a magician who has just begun to glimpse the path; only then does one possess the mana required to see fairies.

As for Magical Girls, even uncontracted candidates, most already possessed mana levels close to those of magicians while still mortals, so they could see fairies quite easily.

However, retired Magical Girls do not retain this ability.

To prevent retired Magical Girls from misusing their power after leaving the Realm, the Realm reclaims and seals their mana, reducing it to ordinary human levels.

In other words, a retired Magical Girl's mana within her body isn't much stronger than an ordinary person's. Under such circumstances, they naturally cannot see fairies either.

As a Magical Girl who retired through the standard procedure, Hong Siyu was naturally no exception. In fact, according to her own words and her previous behavior, she had already lost her mana and could no longer see fairies.

But just now, through the conversation between Lin Xiaolu and Moke, he finally realized: exactly what Hong Siyu had been looking at when she was at the door.

Hong Siyu was looking at his back, at the trash can behind him, at the trash bag beside it, and at that moment, at the one who was straining to carry a bag of trash flying past...

... Moke.

Impossible.

This was the judgment Lin Yun could make immediately.

His reason told him it was impossible, because this matter could neither be explained nor understood.

Mana sources that have been reclaimed and sealed cannot provide mana to a Magical Girl again; just as a car without a fuel tank has no energy source, a Magical Girl's mana would not be much superior to an ordinary person's.

Furthermore, this change is almost irreversible, because he had never heard of a Magical Girl, after retiring, being able to regain the qualification to use power from the Realm.

Then, if that is the case, why did Hong Siyu see Moke?

Lin Yun mechanically picked up the fruit from the ground and brought it back to the kitchen. Standing by the sink, he appeared utterly calm on the surface, while his thoughts churned endlessly.

Just at that moment, he suddenly heard his phone ring again.

Pulling the phone from his pocket, he looked at the screen; the number on it made his gaze freeze: this was precisely the strange number that had contacted him that afternoon.

Almost instantly, he pressed his finger to answer the call, placed the phone to his ear, adjusted his breathing, and asked as flatly as possible: "Hello?"

"... Hiss... hiss..."

Static noise came through from the other end once again.

"Hurry... go..."

Immediately following was a voice even fainter than the previous few times.

"What?"

"... Hurry... find her."

"Who?"

"Go find... go find..."

The chaotic noise grew heavier, even drowning out the already faint human voice, making it even weaker. Just as Lin Yun thought this call would once again end in nothing, the chaotic signal suddenly cleared.

Almost at the same instant, an incredibly clear yet weak voice reached Lin Yun's ear from the other side of the call.

— "Lady Cornflower, hurry and find Morning Glory; it will be too late!"

I requested leave yesterday in the pinned post of the book review section, but for some reason the post isn't displaying...

For this, I can only say I am deeply sorry, so today I'm releasing 7.6k all at once to make up for yesterday's update.

(End of this chapter)