Chapter 20: Going to Your House

"Waaah... ugh, ugh... waaah..."

As the dust settled after the battle, Lin Xiaolu knelt on the ground, retching continuously while tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.

From the moment she was drenched in the foul-smelling organic fluid, she had collapsed into a heap on the ground, sobbing loudly; she would cry for a while, then retch again, then cry after retching, until she was a mess of tears and snot.

"It’s okay, it’s okay."

Cui Que squatted to the side, gently patting her back, and comforted her in a cold, soft voice: "It’s just a bit smelly, and no one else saw it. You can wash the scent off once you get home and take a good bath."

Seeing her daughter put through such an ordeal, it was truly hard for Cui Que not to feel distressed.

So, even though offering comfort like this went a bit against her usual persona, she couldn't help but do it.

"Cui Que... ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh... waaah..."

Lin Xiaolu looked at Cui Que through tear-blurred eyes, but before she could even get two words out, she couldn't help but retch again.

Xia Liang, not far away, was in no better shape, leaning against a roadside signal pole with a sickly complexion. However, her willpower was stronger than Lin Xiaolu's; after retching a few times at the start, she relied on her strong self-control to suppress the physiological reaction and didn't vomit on the spot. She managed to maintain her composure, at least.

The sour, rotten stench at the scene was truly foul; even a magical girl like Cui Que, who had been through many battles and seen all sorts of filthy battlefields, felt a bit nauseated. She couldn't help but cover her mouth and nose with her hand.

After squatting beside Lin Xiaolu for a while and realizing she wouldn't recover anytime soon, Cui Que flew over to Xia Liang and asked with slight concern: "How is it? Are you feeling a bit better?"

"Ugh... it already feels much better than at the beginning."

Xia Liang covered her mouth, looking miserable, and forced a smile: "It’s just that my hair is sticky and uncomfortable. Little Senior, can you use water magic or something similar?"

"Sorry, I don't really have any research in that area."

Cui Que spoke the truth.

The "water magic" Xia Liang mentioned did exist and was usually called "Raw Water Formula," but such formulas were not within Cui Que's repertoire.

For a magical girl, once her ability blossomed to the Leaf stage, using formulas would become one of her basic skills. But to become proficient and master a variety of formulas, one still needed to spend a great deal of energy learning and researching.

In the past, Lin Yun had little interest in learning formulas; he only learned a few of the most basic ones to assist in combat and didn't put in any further effort. The number of formulas he actually mastered was not high.

But in the current situation, it wasn't strictly necessary to rely on a Raw Water Formula to solve the problem, so Cui Que waited a while, and once Lin Xiaolu's condition improved slightly, she proposed to the two:

"Since the Remnant Beast has been dealt with, you two should head home to wash up and get some good rest."

Lin Xiaolu, still on the ground, spoke with difficulty: "But, ugh... we still have to go to school this afternoon..."

"There's no need to worry about that."

Cui Que waved her hand to show she had it under control: "The coordination with the Heterodox Strategy Bureau is specifically for handling these kinds of situations. I will report the matter to them, and they will send someone to contact the school and resolve the attendance issue."

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that Xia Liang was also there, this wouldn't even require using the Bureau's channels; she could just make a phone call to the school as Lin Yun to ask for a sick leave for her daughter. The methods available to an adult were quite extensive.

"Ugh... alright then... ugh." Hearing Cui Que's words and having no further objections, Lin Xiaolu stood up from the ground, feeling somewhat weak.

Standing in place, she spent a moment focusing her attention and looked around to confirm her bearings, re-establishing her sense of direction. After quite a bit of effort, she squinted and thought for a while, as if she had only just remembered which direction her home was in.

Taking two steps in the determined direction, Lin Xiaolu prepared to wait until her magic power recovered before flying toward her home, but before long, she noticed someone seemed to be following behind her.

She looked at Cui Que standing not far away, confirmed that someone else was following her, and stopped, turning her head with a squint: a magical girl in purple was standing behind her with a smile on her face.

Without a doubt, it was Xia Liang.

Seeing Lin Xiaolu turn around, Xia Liang seemed oblivious to her unfriendly gaze, simply raising her hand to wave and smiling obediently. She had no intention of explaining her actions at all.

"Why are you following me?"

Lin Xiaolu asked irritably.

"Hmm... looking for a place to take a bath?" Xia Liang's expression was natural, yet she said it with some uncertainty, as if she were saying this to find a public bathhouse.

"Don't follow me, go back to your own home to wash." Having no interest in her half-true, half-false rhetoric, Lin Xiaolu threw out a blunt sentence and turned to leave.

But after walking only a few steps, she realized something was wrong; the footsteps behind her hadn't vanished. Clearly, Xia Liang was still following her.

"You!"

This time, feeling genuinely angry, Lin Xiaolu turned around again and stared straight at Xia Liang's face: "I should have already told you not to follow me. What exactly do you want?"

"Nothing, really."

Xia Liang blinked innocently: "I just want to go to your house and take a look."

"Huh? Why would I let you go to my house?"

Lin Xiaolu looked bewildered: "Why don't you go back to your own home?"

"Hmm..."

Xia Liang pondered for a moment as if she were truly thinking, then tilted her head and replied: "I don't think I can?"

"I don't care about your attitude... and why is that a question?" Lin Xiaolu frowned.

Upon hearing this, Xia Liang first beamed, a look of slight pride appearing on her face. Then, as if she were saying something truly remarkable, she pressed her chest and said with her head held high:

—"Because I ran away from home."

Silence.

Once these words were out, Lin Xiaolu froze in place, and even Cui Que, who had been silent until now, raised her eyebrows and looked at Xia Liang with a stunned expression.

Fortunately, Cui Que was an adult after all; she quickly realized the current situation and felt that it would be better for her daughter to continue the conversation to build their relationship, so she poked Lin Xiaolu from behind.

Lin Xiaolu, having regained her senses, could only ask in disbelief: "You... what did you just say?"

Hearing Lin Xiaolu's question and seeing both of them looking at her, Xia Liang, thinking she hadn't expressed herself clearly, blinked and repeated her words:

"Ah, I mean, I ran away from home. I don't actually have anywhere to go right now, so could you please give me a place to stay?"