Chapter 166: Unexpected Incidents After Unexpected Incidents

When Lin Xiaolu dragged the reluctant Bai Jingxuan and Xia Liang out of the secret base, Hong Siyu was already seated in her car, driving out of the gate from the parking lot.

There was no time to give further instructions; Lin Xiaolu hurriedly rushed out of the residential area, hailed a taxi on the roadside, and told the driver, "Follow the car ahead."

Receiving such a strange request, the driver naturally muttered to himself but did not refuse—several little girls did not appear to be anyone with ulterior motives. As he started the engine and followed the vehicle ahead, he subtly asked a few questions, trying to draw out the purpose of these young passengers tracking someone else to satisfy his own superfluous curiosity. However, Lin Xiaolu clearly had no intention of revealing anything, so he tactfully stopped asking further.

On a weekday afternoon, traffic on the streets was relatively sparse. While this certainly made vehicle passage smoother, it also indirectly increased the possibility of Lin Xiaolu and the others being exposed. To prevent following too closely and alerting Hong Siyu, the girls, just like last time, chose to trail far behind.

The benefit of doing so was certainly that the stalking behavior became more concealed, but it also meant they might lose the target if they weren't careful. So Lin Xiaolu had to sit in the front passenger seat, watching Hong Siyu's driving route with full concentration.

This caused Bai Jingxuan, sitting in the back seat, to hatch a little scheme.

Since her sister was focused on the tracking activity, it seemed she could take the opportunity to do something small.

However, she did not know Xia Liang's current thoughts. In her view, sending a message in such a cramped space while avoiding Lin Xiaolu's gaze was not difficult; the hard part was hiding it from Xia Liang sitting beside her.

Secretly reaching into her coat pocket to feel for her phone—this phone was even given to her by Senior Cuique after she joined the Magical Girl squad—Bai Jingxuan glanced guiltily in Xia Liang's direction.

This action was actually very concealed, and the purpose was merely to confirm the other person's movements, with no ulterior intent. But to Bai Jingxuan's surprise, when she looked at Xia Liang, she found that Xia Liang was also looking at her.

Moreover, at the moment their gazes met, Xia Liang winked at her.

I'll provide cover.

Moving her lips, she silently said this to Bai Jingxuan.

After saying this, worried that Bai Jingxuan might not understand her meaning, she thoughtfully pointed at the pocket with her finger, glanced at Lin Xiaolu through the rearview mirror, and made a phone-calling gesture.

After this whole sequence of actions, regardless of whether Bai Jingxuan was dull, she understood Xia Liang's meaning: she seemed to be on her side.

Confirming this point, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and her tense body relaxed somewhat. Skillfully pulling her phone out of her coat pocket, she held the phone against the back of the driver's seat like a primary school student avoiding a teacher in class, and carefully lit up the phone screen.

While she was operating this way, Xia Liang pretended to casually flop onto the front passenger seat, sticking her head out from Lin Xiaolu's side, and loudly said on purpose, "How is it? Did you figure out where she wants to go?"

"Where to?"

Lin Xiaolu glanced at her strangely: "How would I know that? I can't predict the future."

"Didn't you notice she's driving towards the suburban elevated highway?"

Xia Liang extended her left hand again, pointing far ahead, thereby creating an obstacle between Lin Xiaolu's field of vision and the rearview mirror: "Heading to the suburbs at this time is very obvious; she's going to work."

Because there was also a taxi driver who didn't know the truth nearby, she couldn't say "Hong Siyu is going to the Yi Ce Bureau," so she could only use "going to work" to refer to it, but this was enough for Lin Xiaolu to understand her meaning.

However, understanding was one thing; it did not mean Lin Xiaolu agreed with Xia Liang's viewpoint.

"You're overthinking things."

Grabbing the seatbelt in front of her, Lin Xiaolu stared unblinkingly at the windshield: "If she really is going to work, why would she go out looking like this?"

The "looking like this" she referred to was Hong Siyu's form as a Magical Girl.

For some reason or another, since Hong Siyu returned to Fang Ting City in her identity as a Magical Girl, she had almost never revealed her true form, spending most of her time active in the appearance of a Magical Girl.

This originally wasn't a big deal; if interpreted with a simpler line of thought, it could simply be said to be a matter of personal preference. But in Lin Xiaolu's eyes now, it was a glaring suspicious point.

"I told you, you're thinking too much..."

Xia Liang chatted casually with Lin Xiaolu beside her, while Bai Jingxuan seized this opportunity to edit a message on her phone as inconspicuously as possible.

Because she had little experience using a phone, Bai Jingxuan's typing proficiency was very low; she had to focus intently on the keyboard to input. This awkward posture, combined with the taxi's occasional bumps, made her progress especially slow.

Fortunately, Xia Liang was absolutely top-notch at stalling, distracting Lin Xiaolu with various off-topic subjects so that her gaze never fell on the back seat. This gave ample time for Bai Jingxuan to slowly edit the message.

Time passed second by second; when the content she wanted to input was mostly complete, a faint layer of sweat had already formed on Bai Jingxuan's forehead. Her toes curled tightly, she bit her lower lip slightly, and her gaze frequently darted to the front passenger seat, fearing that Lin Xiaolu might suddenly turn her head to look during the process.

Facts proved she was lucky, because until she finished inputting the content, Lin Xiaolu had not noticed the small movements behind her.

But she was also unlucky. Because just when she was only a few characters away from sending the message, at the intersection in front of the taxi, a bicycle ran a red light and flew past the front of the car at extremely high speed.

Screech—

The driver, quick-eyed and quick-handed, used both hands and feet to suddenly slam on the brakes, while simultaneously pulling the handbrake without stopping his hand movements, barely stopping before hitting the other party, thus avoiding a traffic accident.

After completing the whole set of actions, the driver, besides feeling fear, was filled with a nameless anger; he pressed the window down and shouted at the bicycle rider, "How are you riding? Do you have no regard for your life!"

However, this bicycle rider who had almost been hit seemed completely unaware that he had just brushed past death; he merely shifted his trajectory slightly, looked back at the driver, and rode away without turning his head, not even offering a single word of apology.

Seeing that the other party had no intention of stopping, even the driver was somewhat stunned; looking at the figure moving away, he muttered, "What kind of person is that?"

And if the driver was merely stunned, then the passengers in the car were completely brain-frozen.

Because just at the moment of braking, a phone suddenly flew out from the back seat and landed right at Lin Xiaolu's feet.

It was Bai Jingxuan's phone.

She hadn't had time to put it away, nor even time to stabilize her own balance, and thus crashed violently into the backrest in front of her. The phone, which she was already holding in an awkward posture, flew directly from her hand, resulting in the current scene.

The phone screen was even still on the message input interface, but because the keyboard occupied more than half the screen, the input content could not be fully displayed.

Looking at the phone lying on the ground, the girls were momentarily speechless.

Bai Jingxuan's mind went blank with a buzzing sound, completely unsure of what to do for a moment; Lin Xiaolu's gaze went straight, probably still thinking about what had happened; Xia Liang's smile froze completely on her face, and the half-spoken chat also got stuck.

Although a car accident had almost occurred, their attention was not at all on the danger just now, but entirely focused on the phone on the ground.

"Ah... Xiaoxuan, you are simply too careless!"

Among the three, Xia Liang was the first to react, quickly changing her course of action regarding the situation, and reaching out to grab the phone: "Don't play with your phone while sitting in a car; what if you hit somewhere during the braking just now?"

She displayed an attitude of concern for Bai Jingxuan's safety, wanting to snatch the phone back amidst the chaos. But just as her extended hand barely touched the phone, another hand had already pressed down on the back of her hand.

Turning her face stiffly to the side, her gaze met Lin Xiaolu's.

"What is written on the phone?" Perceiving something vaguely, Lin Xiaolu asked, blinking her eyes.

"Um... uh..."

Bai Jingxuan in the back seat had originally already reached out, wanting to take the phone from Xia Liang, but upon hearing Lin Xiaolu ask this, her extended hand instinctively trembled: "N-nothing written."

"Nothing written? Then why write such a long paragraph?"

Narrowing her eyes slightly, Lin Xiaolu's mind raced at high speed: "Or is there something so urgent that you had to type so many words in the car? Couldn't you just make a phone call?"

Bai Jingxuan felt sweat almost forming on the back of her hand.

"That is, that is..."

She, who was originally not good at lying, struggled to find a reason, once again casting a look of helplessness toward Xia Liang, but this time, the person she sought help from was also in trouble herself.

At this moment, Xia Liang could only tightly clutch the phone screen on the ground, preventing Lin Xiaolu from seeing what was written on it. Because too many topics had been exhausted in the previous idle chat, she now couldn't even find a good excuse to change the subject.

The atmosphere inside the car fell into stagnation for a moment. The driver, who had just stuck his head out to scold someone, turned back to look at the scene inside the vehicle and was momentarily baffled.

He scratched his chin with some trouble, pondering whether he should ask what was happening, but before he could make a decision, something even stranger flashed in the corner of his eyes.

Turning his head to look in the direction his peripheral vision had noticed, his mouth suddenly gaped wide open.

At the same time, the girls who had originally been in a standoff also noticed the suddenly appearing image; they looked out the car window and widened their eyes as well.

—There was a Remnant Beast there.

Only at this moment did they understand what the cyclist who had run the red light was actually doing: it wasn't that he was looking for trouble, but that a Remnant Beast was behind him, and he was fleeing.

Looking at this Remnant Beast that suddenly appeared at the intersection, Lin Xiaolu couldn't help but glance across the intersection, wanting to see if Hong Siyu's car was still there, but unfortunately, there was only emptiness in her field of vision.

She realized that if she didn't chase after her now, she might really be unable to catch up with Hong Siyu next.

If we were to speak of the feelings in her heart, she really wanted to order the driver to keep driving and chase, but reason told her: as a Magical Girl, under any circumstances, the matter of subduing Remnant Beasts must come first.

There was no time for too much deliberation; gazing at the open road ahead, her full emotions ultimately turned into a sigh of sorrow.

"—Why does a Remnant Beast have to appear at a time like this!"

Complaining aloud, she released the hand she had been pressing on Xia Liang's back. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she opened the car door and shouted loudly to the two girls behind her:

"What are you still looking at? Get out of the car!"

"Wait a minute, you want to get off here?"

The driver beside them spoke with a trembling voice: "Didn't you see what's outside the car? Sit down quickly, we need to escape!"

Unfortunately, his opinion failed to reach the girls' ears completely, because before he could finish speaking, the three girls had already filed out one after another, running out of the car. Only two ten-yuan bills were left thrown on the seat, probably intended to pay for this ride.

He wanted to search for the traces of these little passengers, but unfortunately he didn't see a single shadow. Seeing that the Remnant Beast had already noticed him and was waving its claws, charging toward the highway, he could only grit his teeth, give up the plan to save people, step on the accelerator, and choose to leave.

After that, the transformed Magical Girls rushed forward all at once and fought in a tangle with the Remnant Beast.

This battle was destined to be unfair.

This suddenly appearing Remnant Beast was merely an ordinary Huo-rank; for ordinary citizens it was already an incredibly dangerous monster, but for the Fang Ting City team now, it was just a pure punching bag.

Moreover, because of its appearance, the girls had all somewhat embarrassed themselves, putting them in an especially bad mood, so their strikes were especially heavy. Within a few minutes, this unlucky Remnant Beast fell to the ground amidst wails, transforming into the Echo in Lin Xiaolu's hand.

Having dealt with the Remnant Beast with an unhappy face, Lin Xiaolu didn't forget the purpose of her trip. She hurriedly stood atop the wreckage and gazed into the distance, but unfortunately, the traces of Hong Siyu's vehicle were completely gone from her field of vision.

Now, she had to admit a fact—that her stalking had failed.

It wasn't due to operational errors, nor was it because of a traitor's betrayal, but because of a Remnant Beast that had appeared out of nowhere.

"Oh well, if we lost her, we lost her. I already said, just look in that direction; Sister Hong definitely just went to work."

Xia Liang patted her shoulder to comfort her, but the smile on her face completely hid her true intentions: "It's rare to have half a day off; we might as well find a place to play."

"Mm, mm!" Having retrieved her phone, Bai Jingxuan quickly deleted the message she had edited, then obediently responded like a good child standing beside them.

"You two! You two!"

Although it was her own decision, Lin Xiaolu was so angry she stomped her feet: "Why are you still so happy when the mission failed? Where's your backbone? Your ambition? Your spirit of unity?"

"It's not a fault of war, not a fault of war."

Xia Liang continued to smooth things over: "We have all done our best; it's just that the timing was truly unfortunate. No help for it, just relax."

"Sister Xia Liang is right!" Bai Jingxuan nodded her head like a pestle pounding garlic.

"What do you mean 'unfortunate'? We were almost successful to begin with!"

Lin Xiaolu was speechless with anger and pointed a finger at Bai Jingxuan again: "And you, what do you mean by 'right'? You little traitor, were you trying to send a warning just now?"

Bai Jingxuan's nodding motion immediately stopped, turning into vigorous shaking of her head.

"You're overthinking it; how could a good child like Xiao Xuan do such a thing?"

Xia Liang pushed Lin Xiaolu's shoulder, her smile on her face becoming even brighter: "Really, there's no help for it; failure is already failure. Let's find a place nearby to play; I've already decided on the place!"

"You!"

Lin Xiaolu turned back and glared at Xia Liang; after a long moment, her attitude softened somewhat. Realizing that the situation was indeed irretrievable, she lowered her head in rather dejected spirits: "Fine, tell me then, where are we going to play?"

After all, it was a rare holiday, and she didn't want to waste the remaining time on negative emotions.

"Let me see... the name is Fang Ting World Trade Mall, right near the Bureau of Heterogeneous Strategies."

Having received Lin Xiaolu's approval, Xia Liang opened her phone and tapped on her notes: "It's a shopping plaza invested in by the government, which only opened recently. I've heard there are quite a few interesting shops; I haven't been there to browse yet."

"Near the Bureau of Heterogeneous Strategies?"

"Yes, the walking time to the Bureau of Heterogeneous Strategies is only about twenty minutes."

Xia Liang showed her phone screen and waved it: "If you're willing, we can play until closing time, then go to the Bureau of Heterogeneous Strategies to confirm whether Sister Hong was really at work. If she really comes out of the Bureau of Heterogeneous Strategies at that time, it should prove what I said, right?"

"What if she doesn't come out of the Bureau of Heterogeneous Strategies?"

"Then I'll accompany you next time, that works, right?" Feeling pleased that her goal was achieved, Xia Liang said with her hands on her hips.

As for Lin Xiaolu, whose plan had failed, she was gloomy and felt no interest in anything, but still, with an attitude close to cutting losses, reluctantly nodded: "... I hope you keep your word."

The girls, who failed to continue the stalking due to various coincidences, did not know that Hong Siyu's car was indeed heading toward the suburbs, toward the direction of the Bureau of Heterogeneous Strategies. However, just before reaching the destination, a small change occurred.

That car turned a corner toward the side.

(End of this chapter)