Chapter 162: New Member

Early December, the weather had turned cold; a desolate cold wind brought a light snow, and the streets of Fang Ting City had grown much paler in the winter.

The pale sky was high and vast; though sunlight shone, it brought not a shred of warmth. When the cold wind blew, it carried a faint howl, as if the roar of nature itself.

It was the weekend, yet few pedestrians were seen on the road. A chill permeated the streets everywhere; the few who ventured out wrapped themselves in heavy winter coats, enduring the biting cold on their cheeks as they walked across the gray-and-white interwoven road. The city's clamor was blown away by the cold wind, leaving only silence and coldness.

In such cold weather, most people preferred to spend their rare weekends indoors with the heating cranked up.

While the outdoor streets were cold and desolate, the indoor warmth seemed all the more precious. A single pane of glass divided two worlds of cold and warmth; the water mist on the window lattice, not yet dispersed, seemed to speak of the outdoor cold's unwillingness to yield.

With a "hah," she exhaled the mist from her mouth onto the glass, watching the misty area slowly shrink. Lin Xiaolu, somewhat bored, drew a crude smiley face on it. Peering through the gaps of the smiley face at the desolate scene outside, she still saw no one she was waiting for. Turning back to look at Xia Liang, who was lying on her side on the sofa playing with her phone, she couldn't help but sigh:

"Why hasn't Senior Cuique returned yet?"

"I get the feeling you're asking about Senior Cuique, but there's something else hidden in your words."

Xia Liang stared at the phone screen, not turning her head, and spoke in a lazy, drawn-out voice: "Does being alone with me make you feel so bored?"

"Who's being alone with you? We just happen to be in the same living room."

Lin Xiaolu looked again at the smiley face she had just drawn. Seeing that after only two exchanges, her "artistic masterpiece" had already become mottled and worn, she instinctively squinted: "Don't flatter yourself; I really was just asking about Senior Cuique."

"Even if there's no other meaning, you've already asked this question at least three times."

While tapping on the phone screen's keyboard, Xia Liang murmured: "If she hasn't returned, she hasn't returned. No matter how anxious you are, it won't help. Don't you have anything else to do?"

"No."

Lin Xiaolu wiped away the smiley face she had drawn with one palm and muttered: "My magic cultivation has hit a bottleneck, I've already finished the school assignments, there are no interesting programs on TV, and I have abso-lutely nothing to do."

"What about games? Your Magical Girl Squad?"

"Finished. I've cleared all the levels."

Turning from the window and walking back to the center of the living room, Lin Xiaolu sat back on the sofa with a gloomy expression: "Mom... I've also switched to Shu Cao's character and already maxed out the level. I have no interest in continuing to play."

"Isn't there a new event? And a newly released character, something called Qian Niu... or what?"

"No interest. A gloomy character isn't my type. Magical Girls are more inspiring when they sparkle and shine."

Upon hearing the name "Qian Niu," Lin Xiaolu instinctively pouted, her evaluation in her mouth utterly merciless: "As for the new event, it feels meaningless. Isn't it just the most clichéd template for a villain's first appearance? It's been played to death in the anime."

"Then go find other players to battle. I remember that game has player-versus-player content, right?"

"Hah? You want me to pit my hard-worked-on Magical Girl against others to determine superiority and inferiority? Winning brings no benefit, and losing means being humiliated. Are you a devil?" Lin Xiaolu widened her eyes.

"The devil is the game operator, isn't it? I'm just stating facts."

Xia Liang put down her phone with some helplessness: "This won't work, that won't work either. Why don't you go downstairs and train with Xiao Xuan?"

"She has already awakened her Magic Armor. What use would I be going there?"

Lin Xiaolu pouted: "And I have a feeling that child has suddenly become much stronger recently. When I spar with her now, I can't gain any advantage at all."

"If you say so, then indeed that is the case."

Xia Liang nodded in deep agreement: "Not only can you not win when sparring with her, but I'm almost at the Leaf Grade, yet I still feel I have no advantage against her. Little Senior has been spending more time training her alone. I feel something unknown has happened to that child."

"Could that be?"

Lin Xiaolu propped her elbows on her knees, blinking in confusion: "I don't feel anything."

"You noticed, right? That child has completely abandoned the title 'Teacher' recently and started chasing Little Senior, calling her 'Mom'."

Xia Liang, whose head was leaning on the armrest, tilted it slightly upward, her gaze meeting Lin Xiaolu's: "Don't you have any thoughts on this?"

"What's wrong? After all, I was the one who told her."

Looking at Xia Liang with a confused expression, Lin Xiaolu tilted her head: "Elementary school students speak their hearts directly. Isn't it fine to express intimacy this way?"

"Then why haven't you been calling her that these past few days?"

"I'm not an elementary school student! And Senior Cuique seems quite troubled by that title!"

Lin Xiaolu vehemently pointed out the error in Xia Liang's words, then crossed her arms and leaned back, striking a thinking pose: "Although, if this progress continues, perhaps there really will come a day... but since their relationship hasn't truly reached that step yet, wouldn't it be too selfish of me to rush and call her that?"

"... Do as you please."

Wearing a strange smile that Lin Xiaolu couldn't understand at all, Xia Liang put down her phone. She pushed hard with her back, propelling herself up from the sofa's backrest, and thus changed the subject: "Forget it, how about we do some housework together?"

"Eh? No way."

Lin Xiaolu immediately expressed disgust: "I just did it yesterday. Today was supposed to be your turn, right? Don't try to swap concepts and drag me into it."

"Anyway, you have nothing to do, right?"

Xia Liang smiled cunningly: "Just consider it deepening the camaraderie between teammates."

"Who cares?"

Lin Xiaolu rolled her eyes at her, slumped her entire body completely onto the backrest, and simultaneously lifted her heels, indicating her refusal to touch the ground: "Rather than repeating meaningless housework, it would be better if a Remnant Beast appeared right now for me to fight."

"Fight a Remnant Beast?"

As if hearing something very amusing, Xia Liang wore a joyful yet innocent smile: "If you can't use white magic, you couldn't even beat a slightly stronger caterpillar, right? After all, it's a Species Grade."

"I, you!" Lin Xiaolu's heels, which had just been lifted, instantly slammed onto the floor.

Just as the two's daily bickering was evolving into a meaningless argument, a sound from the entrance hall interrupted their conversation.

Bang!

The crisp sound of the door closing seemed like a signal, causing both of their gazes to turn toward the entrance.

If human ears could react to sound, Lin Xiaolu's ears would probably be standing upright right now. After all, she knew better than anyone what a door-closing sound at this time of day meant.

"Senior Cuique, you're back..."

Jumping up abruptly amidst Xia Liang's helpless gaze, Lin Xiaolu shuffled quickly to the door, intending to properly welcome the other person, but upon seeing the scene at the entrance, she subtly closed her mouth.

Because standing there was not just Senior Cuique alone, but another figure as well.

It was a Magical Girl dressed in purple-red attire, who looked somewhat familiar, yet she couldn't say where the familiarity came from. If she had to say where she had seen a Magical Girl with this image, it seemed to be only in the mobile game she had been playing recently.

But directly calling a first-time meeting person by a mobile game character's name sounded somewhat like a childish child unable to distinguish fantasy from reality, so Lin Xiaolu wisely chose to keep quiet.

This expression, filled with confusion mixed with aloofness, and aloofness mixed with wariness, was caught by Senior Cuique. Therefore, she first glanced at that Magical Girl, her lips parted slightly as if to speak, but then stopped, finally closing her eyes slightly as if making a decision before speaking:

"Call over Bo Xue and Xiao Jin, and also Mo Ke. I want to introduce a new member to you all."

"... A new member?"

Lin Xiaolu sized up the girl in the red dress, swallowing the words "She looks older than all of us." Finally, she just gave a slight sniff, leaving with a heart full of wonder and doubt.

And before long, all the members of the secret base had gathered together.

"Let me introduce everyone. This is the City magic girl who recently arrived in Fang Ting City. She will join our squad as a non-resident member and act with us in some battles."

Senior Cuique gestured with one hand toward the girl beside her, her face stern, speaking seriously: "Compared to you, she is also a senior, so if there are any questions you don't understand, you can ask her."

Having said that, seeing that no one spoke, she scanned the girls' reactions, paused, and spoke again: "Does anyone have anything they want to ask?"

After asking this, she saw Xia Liang raise her hand first, so she nodded to signal her to ask.

"I don't understand! What does 'non-resident member' mean?"

After receiving Senior Cuique's signal, Xia Liang lowered her hand, her expression serious, asking like a good student: "Does it mean this senior won't be stationed in Fang Ting City?"

"No, she will be in Fang Ting City, but she won't stay in the secret base for long, nor will she participate in regular patrols."

Senior Cuique explained just as seriously: "In short, after she joins our squad, she will only come to help with important battles and training exercises; at other times she has other missions."

"Is this senior from the Kingdom?"

Bai Jingxuan followed up with a question: "She doesn't feel like a City magic girl who was originally in Fang Ting City."

Senior Cuique weighed her words, responding with a hint of thought: "This question... yes, and also no. She is actually more like me, originally a local of Fang Ting City, but later some things happened..."

"A friend of Mom's?"

Bai Jingxuan seemed to take a moment to understand the concept, then obediently nodded: "Then I have nothing else to ask."

-- "I have an objection! As a Sower, I have an objection!"

However, Moke spoke up at this moment: "Although this is my lord the Inspector's will, the rotation of City magic girls in a city is my duty! I never knew there was such a City magic girl in Fang Ting City, and I didn't sense her at all before! Suddenly someone appears and claims to join our squad and such; I just learned this kind of thing, it's against the rules!"

"I know this is sudden, but we can discuss the relevant procedures later."

Senior Cuique held her arms with a hint of helplessness: "In any case, today is just to introduce everyone to each other; specific activity methods will be discussed later."

"But we must at least know her background, right?"

Lin Xiaolu was the last to speak, but her attitude was the sharpest and most direct: "Even if Senior Cuique introduced her, even if she's a senior, a stranger suddenly joining the squad and such..."

Her voice grew quieter towards the end, but everyone actually understood what she meant.

And in fact, the previous questions from Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan were also subtly revealing this layer of meaning.

After understanding this, even Senior Cuique could no longer maintain her stern expression, revealing a helpless look of "I knew it would be like this," and glanced at the girl beside her.

Their eyes met, seemingly completing some exchange the girls didn't understand; a moment later, that strange girl spoke up with a hint of awkwardness:

"Um, because I was originally a City magic girl in Fang Ting City... I just recently returned, no, I should say I'm back on duty?"

"Originally in Fang Ting City?" Xia Liang seemed to understand a bit, "Are you the senior who left Fang Ting City two years ago?"

"No, not exactly..."

"Then what senior from when? Earlier? Wouldn't that mean you've already retired by now?"

Xia Liang tilted her head: "So, you are like the junior senior, from Fang Ting City, but joined the Magic Kingdom, and recently returned due to a mission?"

"I didn't join the Magic Kingdom either."

Although being questioned by a girl who looked younger than herself, the young girl didn't show the slightest air of an elder: "I actually retired before..."

"Retired!"

This time, everyone except Senior Cuique and the fairies let out an exclamation.

Because everyone, even the fairies, knew that a retired City magic girl would lose her power and could never transform again. The girl's statement was undoubtedly challenging their common sense and understanding.

"Are you saying you retired before, but can now return to be a City magic girl?"

Even the most rational Xia Liang was momentarily dumbfounded: "How is this possible? Are there still regulations and statutes we haven't learned? Or does the Magic Kingdom have special privileges? No, why do I feel like this sounds somewhat familiar..."

-- "Stop guessing."

Finally, Senior Cuique interrupted the girls' clamor, saying somewhat helplessly: "Actually, you all know her. She is my junior, and her City magic girl codename is Chaoyan."

As soon as this sentence was spoken, the noise in the living room immediately ceased. It also completely dispelled the girls' doubts.

Then, after such a doubt was resolved, what erupted was an even more intense series of exclamations of surprise and suspicion.

"Is it Aunt Hong?" Bai Jingxuan's exclamation was the most direct.

"Ah, it's actually Hong... Sister," Xia Liang slightly covered her mouth, still remembering to standardize her address.

"It's actually that strange woman?" Moke spoke the least politely at this moment.

The girls' and fairies' cries mixed together; everyone expressed their surprise, however, there was only one person who didn't speak.

That was Lin Xiaolu.

It wasn't that she was too surprised, or had foreknowledge and understood the truth, but because her focus had already drifted to a strange direction just now.

She saw the smile Hong Siyu showed Senior Cuique, reserved yet carrying some emotion, and saw Senior Cuique's helpless yet gentle eye response.

What is their relationship?

Compared to Hong Siyu's true identity, this question, from the moment it appeared, firmly occupied her mind, and then, triggered the alarm in Lin Xiaolu's thoughts.

(End of Chapter)