Chapter 163: Lin Xiaolu's Suspicion

"Suspicious."

A few days later, in the evening, after finishing patrol and returning home, Lin Xiaolu sat alone on the sofa, her expression heavy, and sighed in a deep voice: "It really is too suspicious."

Because there had been no Beast attacks in Fang Ting City for these past few days, and combined with the girls having gained a certain understanding of their assigned patrol areas, their patrol work inevitably suffered some slack. Patrol work that used to take nearly two hours after school had now been compressed to one hour.

After completing their fixed tasks, the girls, having nothing to do and not wanting to study, naturally gathered in the living room as usual, occupying their favorite spots on the sofa.

Beside her, Xia Liang had been watching TV intently; hearing Lin Xiaolu's murmuring beside her, she turned her head to glance at her, then turned back to the TV screen with a blank expression.

"Too suspicious."

Lin Xiaolu repeated the sentence again, and for some reason raised her voice: "I feel like something is happening behind the scenes, and I'm being kept in the dark."

Xia Liang continued to ignore her, watching the TV with a calm face.

Glancing at Xia Liang and seeing no intention of responding, Lin Xiaolu narrowed her eyes slightly. Rising from her seat, she walked behind the other, bent her knees, and crouched by Xia Liang's ear, enunciating each word: "Too. Sus. Pi. Cious."

"... What do you want to say?"

Reluctantly shifting her gaze from the TV, Xia Liang offered a somewhat perfunctory smile: "Suspicious? Have you discovered any suspicious characters recently?"

"Suspicious characters? Hmm... I guess so?" Lin Xiaolu straightened up, wearing a thoughtful expression.

"Who?"

"That woman."

"Who is 'that woman'? How am I supposed to understand you saying that?"

Xia Liang forced a dry laugh: "Isn't there a more distinctive name for her?"

Lin Xiaolu's breath hitched; she pressed her lips and paused for a long time before reluctantly forcing out a sentence: "It's... that woman named Hong Siyu."

"... Hah."

Xia Liang sighed slightly, a look of "I knew it" flashing across her face: "You're talking about Hong... Sister, right? What's wrong with her?"

"Don't you think it's strange?"

Lin Xiaolu gripped the back of the sofa with both hands, showing half her face from behind: "Why did that woman disappear for so long before, and why did she suddenly return as a Magical Girl recently? Ultimately, why can a retired Magical Girl restore her powers? That she was vague about that is one thing; but, but why has her cooking gotten better these past few days? Unbelievable!"

"Isn't that a good thing..."

Xia Liang frowned slightly, looking somewhat troubled: "Look, Hong Sister has become a Magical Girl again, and she's overcome the obstacle in cooking; there's no harm to anyone."

"I didn't say it was a bad thing; the key point is why? Too many strange things have happened recently, and I always feel they happen when I don't know. For instance, that residential gas pipeline explosion two weeks ago; the level of destruction was definitely a Beast, right? A few days ago, the newly completed building of the Anomaly Response Bureau collapsed; Senior Cuique even notified us in advance of a strong enemy. How could you not think an enemy attacked the Anomaly Response Bureau?"

Lin Xiaolu clearly did not accept this answer, counting various anomalies on her fingers: "As for Hong Siyu, the world doesn't give you free pies; what happened during those days she disappeared? I always feel she is hiding something from us! And it must be related to these strange events!"

"Haha..."

Because she really didn't know what to say, Xia Liang could only continue with dry laughter: "So?"

"I need to know the truth!" Lin Xiaolu slammed her hand heavily on the sofa back, speaking with righteous indignation, "Even if I have to use some means!"

Just as she said this, Bai Jingxuan happened to come up from the basement training ground. She held Mo Ke in one hand and wiped the sweat from her cheeks with Mao Jin, looking at Lin Xiaolu in the living room with some confusion: "The truth? What is big sister talking about?"

"About all the strange things happening in Fang Ting City recently; the most suspicious is that woman Hong Siyu."

Lin Xiaolu turned her face to look at Bai Jingxuan: "First the residential gas explosion, then the collapse of the Anomaly Response Bureau building; aren't you curious what happened behind the scenes?"

"Residential gas explosion...?" Slowing her speech, she lightly chewed on the words in her mouth; Bai Jingxuan opened her mouth slightly, but then suddenly remembered something and covered her mouth. Kan Shu La

"Why are you covering your mouth?" Lin Xiaolu looked at her with some suspicion; after a moment, she suddenly realized, rising from behind the sofa: "No, isn't the Lixing District your patrol area?"

"Ah!"

Bai Jingxuan couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, then waved her hands repeatedly: "I know nothing! I saw nothing when I was patrolling!"

"What do you mean you saw nothing? You really do know something, don't you, kid?"

Lin Xiaolu strode toward Bai Jingxuan: "Quick! Confess honestly!"

"Mom won't let... no, I can't say!" Bai Jingxuan held the stair railing and stepped back slightly.

"Mom? Senior Cuique? Hah?"

Lin Xiaolu widened her eyes slightly: "So this matter is also related to Senior Cuique? And I'm the only one who doesn't know?"

Even Xia Liang, who had been pretending not to notice all along, raised her head in surprise and looked toward where Bai Jingxuan was.

"Bai Jingxuan, I am your senior; logically speaking, I am also your future big sister. So, don't lie to your big sister, okay?"

Lin Xiaolu extended both hands, placing them on Bai Jingxuan's shoulders; in her dark eyes, it seemed as if vortices were swirling: "Come on, tell me, what exactly did Senior Cuique secretly make you do?"

"Um... I..." Bai Jingxuan gripped the hem of her clothes with both hands, clearly in a dilemma; she stammered for a long time without producing a sentence, and could only look at Xia Liang as if seeking help.

Seeing her seek help like this, although Xia Liang herself was equally curious, she could only start to intervene: "Calm down, calm down, Xiaolu; don't pressure the little kid so hard. You scared her, and she won't be able to speak, right?"

"Mm, mm!" Bai Jingxuan nodded repeatedly.

"Am I... very scary?"

Lin Xiaolu blinked, smoothly releasing her hands from Bai Jingxuan's shoulders, and turned to look at Xia Liang: "Then let's not press the elementary school student for now. Xia Liang, I suddenly remembered—don't you have some problems too?"

"During the time school just started this semester, you and Senior Cuique were always mysteriously alone together, right? Even during the parent-teacher meeting, something seemed to happen, and you always knew things I didn't know whether Senior Cuique had mentioned or not. Can you explain your situation first?"

Gulp.

Xia Liang unconsciously swallowed her saliva.

"H-how could that be? Whether at school or in the secret base, aren't we always together every day?"

She glanced upward, her voice slightly off-key: "I just have a better memory for things the little senior said; you just didn't remember them yourself, right?"

"... Suspicious."

Narrowing her eyes, Lin Xiaolu looked at Xia Liang, then at Bai Jingxuan behind her, repeating this sentence for who knows how many times today: "Too suspicious. Now everyone I look at seems suspicious. Could it be that everyone is hiding something from me, and I am the only one who knows nothing?"

"Oh my, you are really overthinking it!"

"Mm, mm!"

Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan hurriedly responded, interrupting Lin Xiaolu's words: "Let's not talk about this topic anymore. Weren't you just talking about Hong Sister? Where has the topic drifted to? Let's talk about serious matters; tell me, how do you plan to extract the truth from her?"

"Hmm? Oh... you mean this."

With her train of thought brought back by Xia Liang, Lin Xiaolu immediately switched to a line of thinking, pondering: "My current preliminary idea is to find a time to confront her, but I feel it might not necessarily yield the result I want."

"Confrontation is indeed not a good idea."

Xia Liang, who had previously been listless, suddenly abandoned her strategy of hiding in the murky waters and proactively offered a suggestion: "I think we should start by probing indirectly to lure her into saying something contradictory."

"Mm-hmm!" Bai Jingxuan eagerly chimed in to prove her existence.

"Probing indirectly? That's your specialty, isn't it?"

Lin Xiaolu raised an eyebrow: "Anyway, pretending to be well-behaved while asking malicious questions is your strong suit, right?"

"I won't accept baseless slander, you know."

Xia Liang's enthusiastic smile remained unchanged on her face: "Adjectives like 'pretending' and 'malicious' are unnecessary; they are just dark and subjective."

"Anyway, it's just about deliberately setting a trap, right?" Lin Xiaolu rolled her eyes. "It only works on good-natured people who don't guard against you."

"What do you mean by 'deceiving good-natured people'?"

Xia Liang immediately sounded displeased: "I was clearly trying to help you figure something out!"

"Too slow! Too unstable! By the time we get results, she might have already completed some sinister plot!"

Lin Xiaolu shook her head: "Rejected! Try another one!"

— "I think we could find an opportunity to secretly follow her and see what she is actually doing right now," a voice suddenly said.

"Follow her, hmm..."

Lin Xiaolu frowned: "Saying it is simple, but putting it into practice is very difficult. The last time we followed someone, it was a complete failure."

"Although I don't know what happened during the last surveillance, it must have been caused by insufficient preparation, inadequate tools, and irregular conduct."

That suddenly appeared voice continued: "If these problems can be solved, surveillance is actually a very efficient method. After all, private detectives in the old days handled cases this way."

"You do have a point there."

Lin Xiaolu was slightly swayed, yet still a bit hesitant: "However, even if we say we can solve the problems, aren't things like tools and conduct not that easy to handle?"

"It doesn't matter. If you truly have such an intention, I can help."

"Really? I didn't expect anyone among us to be able to help... wait, who are you?"

Realizing something was wrong halfway through her sentence, Lin Xiaolu finally discovered that this voice belonged to neither Xia Liang nor Bai Jingxuan, nor even Moke; instead, it came from a very strange direction—the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room.

The girls gathered in the living room turned their heads together and saw a round, somewhat misshapen creature standing there. Judging by the pair of fluttering small wings on its back, it was likely a fairy.

Of course, calling it a creature might be a bit of a stretch: because the other party had obvious artificial joint structures on its body, looking more like a doll than a living being. This fairy doll was currently standing outside the floor-to-ceiling window, pressing its large face against the glass, and speaking the words just heard in a muffled voice.

"... What is this?"

Stunned for a long moment by this suddenly appeared strange existence, Lin Xiaolu hesitantly proposed a guess: "A Remnant Beast?"

"What a rude child. I am not the same kind of pathetic monster as those. Even just by looking at my appearance and this intellectual conversation, you should be able to discover: I am a fairy."

The doll stood outside the window and tapped on the glass with its short claws: "So, could you please open the window first? Let me come in before we talk; the wind outside is so strong, and it's so cold."

"Appearing outside a house at a time like this to trick a minor into opening the window; even if you aren't a Remnant Beast, you can't be anything good, right?"

Lin Xiaolu, somewhat on guard, took out her Heart Gem: "Xia Liang, let's transform and take it out."

"'Take it out'? What kind of expression is that? Young people these days are too vicious!"

The fairy doll outside the window shivered all over: "I appeared here without showing any hostility, coming with feelings of care for the younger generation, yet I encounter such treatment without any basis?"

"Suddenly lying outside someone's window and saying suspicious things is enough to make people suspicious, isn't it? What exactly are you?"

Lin Xiaolu looked full of suspicion: "You even encouraged others to follow her; could it be that you were sent by someone from the Black Ash Dawn to sow discord?"

"Ahem, to compare me to those barbarians from the Black Ash Dawn... if I weren't a person of such noble character, I would probably be furious by now. No, even I would be a bit angry."

The fairy doll cleared its throat with a muffled sound and spoke in an old-fashioned manner: "As for asking what I am? Do you mean you want me to introduce myself in this cold current and chilly wind?"

"Moke, this guy seems to be a fairy; have you seen it before?"

"Never seen it."

Moke sized up the doll outside the window: "Moreover, the magical fluctuation on this guy is completely unlike that of a normal fairy; it must be a fake."

Lin Xiaolu nodded: "Okay, Xia Liang, let's take it out."

"Oppose violence! Hurting a fairy who is powerless with the strength of a rope, wouldn't your conscience be condemned?"

The fairy doll outside the window waved its claws repeatedly: "Besides, an elder traveled a long distance to come here to help you, yet not only do you not show courtesy, but you also subject them to violent abuse. Think about it, is this appropriate?"

"I don't have an elder who looks like a round ball!"

Lin Xiaolu pointed at the doll: "So just say it clearly! Who exactly are you?"

"Sigh, the younger generation these days..."

The fairy doll outside the window sighed in a pretentious manner, then puffed up its round belly: "Fine, since you are so eager, listen well. I am just a fairy who happened to pass by and loves gossip. You can call me... 'Fairy Immortal Chu Jingxian'."

(End of this chapter)