Chapter 203: Interference

Lin Xiaolu held her head as she climbed up from the sofa, the chaotic memories in her mind making it nearly impossible for her to discern where she currently was.

And when she saw her surroundings, along with Lin Yun sitting behind the desk making a phone call, she finally recalled what she had just experienced—she had tried to stop that woman who claimed to be "Claw Mark," and then suddenly got knocked unconscious.

—"Mm, yes, the location is Yinping Mountain, it should be near the summit. The opponent likely isn't hiding, so their position can be found quickly... You should hurry over there; I will arrange the rest."

Almost at the same time, Lin Yun ended the call on his phone.

Putting away his phone and standing up from his seat, Lin Yun felt the situation gave him an immense headache. He subconsciously sighed, lifted his head, and happened to meet Lin Xiaolu's gaze.

"You're awake?"

Seeing that his daughter was indeed fine, the worry that had been hanging over his heart finally relaxed a bit. He walked straight over to Lin Xiaolu's side: "How do you feel? Is there anywhere else that hurts?"

"... It should be fine."

Releasing the hand covering her head, Lin Xiaolu shook her head and struggled to get up: "Where is that woman?"

"She's gone."

Lin Yun pointed to the window: "About ten minutes ago, after she knocked you out, she flew straight away."

"Ten minutes..."

Hearing the specific time she had been unconscious, Lin Xiaolu's body stiffened, and immediately afterward, she slumped back down: "Alright, looks like we can't catch up."

"Don't think about chasing her; you are clearly no match for that person."

Rubbing Lin Xiaolu's head, Lin Yun said helplessly: "What you should be doing now is resting properly. As for stopping that person, I have already notified the other members of your team. Senior Cuique and Hong Siyu will lead the way to handle it."

"Senior Cuique has already gone?"

Hearing Lin Yun's words, Lin Xiaolu, who had just lain down, suddenly did a carp leap and sat up again: "Where? Yinping Mountain? Then I have to go too!"

"I already said, you can't go."

Lin Yun removed his hand from the top of Lin Xiaolu's head: "This enemy is unusually dangerous. According to the intelligence I received, the opponent will be even more dangerous than the massive remnant beast from the previous Full Moon Festival. This is not a battle you can handle right now."

"But Senior Cuique went, right? Everyone has to go fight!"

Lin Xiaolu still clung to the key information: "If Senior Cuique went, then even if I can only help a little bit, I must go!"

Lin Yun was speechless. He very much wanted to just tell Lin Xiaolu, "If you go now, you will likely cause more harm than good," but felt that saying so was far too harsh.

"Listen to me, Little Lulu."

After thinking it over, he felt he could only choose to play the emotional card, so he squatted down, looking directly into Lin Xiaolu's eyes: "Dad will arrange everything, so don't do anything else that makes Dad worry, okay?"

Lin Xiaolu fell silent.

"But, I am a magic girl of Fang Ting City. At a time like this, I cannot be the one to cowardly retreat from battle."

After a while, she spoke again with a conflicted expression: "If I choose to retreat just because the enemy is dangerous, then I cannot be considered a competent magic girl at all..."

"After you grow up, there will always be more opportunities to face stronger enemies. When that time comes, I absolutely will not stop you."

Lin Yun said seriously: "But this time, even if it is only this one time, you really do not need to deal with an enemy like this."

Lin Xiaolu looked up. She could see the seriousness in Lin Yun's gaze, and the worry beneath that seriousness.

She opened her mouth again, but the words of refusal she originally wanted to say became quite stuck.

"... Alright."

She didn't know when, in some moment she hadn't even noticed herself, the words she spoke had turned into these two characters.

Then, she saw her father's expression become much more relaxed.

"Fine, then it's settled. Dad still has to arrange other emergency matters, so I probably won't be able to stay in the office with you for the rest of the time. Rest a while longer, then go back to the base by yourself."

Reaching out his hand again, this time to smooth Lin Xiaolu's hair, Lin Yun softened his voice: "I'm sorry. We were supposed to spend the New Year together, but it ended up like this. Let's talk properly about anything else later."

"It's fine."

Lin Xiaolu shook her head, looking a bit uncomfortable: "If the enemy has come, there's nothing to be done. You go ahead and handle your business."

She didn't know why, but she suddenly remembered when she was still in elementary school. Back then, her father also often had to work overtime or attend social engagements outside, but he had never apologized to her like this before.

And now, she didn't know since when, she felt her father had changed a lot.

Not just changes in identity, changes in behavior, but also some changes in personality.

If the former changes made her feel somewhat unfamiliar, then the latter changes instead brought her a subtle sense of familiarity.

It was precisely this familiarity, and even a somewhat comfortable feeling, that made her subconsciously choose to agree with his words.

Watching the father before her tug at the corners of his mouth, revealing an expression that was probably a smile on his usually serious face, and then putting on his suit jacket and walking out of the office, Lin Xiaolu sat obediently on the sofa, watching him leave until, accompanied by a "Click," the office door closed.

She sat silently for a while, then looked toward the window not far away.

Just now, that woman who claimed to be Claw Mark had left through that window.

With thoughts swirling in her heart, Lin Xiaolu first stared at the window with a blank expression, then revealed a somewhat conflicted look. After it lasted for quite a while, she finally sighed as if she had made up her mind.

She stood up.

The moon was dark and the wind high; as the night deepened, strange sounds continued to emanate from the depths of Yinping Mountain, where trees grew thick.

As a mountain peak located far from Fang Ting City's urban area with relatively low tourism development, Yinping Mountain saw very few visitors throughout the year. Furthermore, on New Year's Eve, most citizens chose to spend the good night with their families, so at this moment, there was not a single person in the mountain.

In such an environment, a high tower made of crushed stones and mud had stood up at some unknown time.

This high tower was about ten-plus meters tall and half a meter thick. Strange patterns were carved crookedly upon the tower's body. The height of this tower just exceeded the surrounding trees, piercing through the layers of canopy cover to stand beneath the night sky. And if someone looked closely, they could see that a strange purple-black light seemed to be flickering at the very top of the tower.

A black cat was squatting there.

More precisely, a fairy resembling a black cat was squatting there.

The patterns on the stone tower extended upward continuously, then gradually twisted and tangled together. These patterns all finally converged at the top, where they were now covered by Sami's claws.

It was injecting its own magic into these patterns, attempting to complete some kind of ritual. And the purpose of the so-called ritual was very simple—that was to blow up the mountain beneath its feet, along with a portion of Fang Ting City's urban defense network.

Such a crazy act naturally required a massive amount of magic. For fairies, for whom magic quantity was never a strong point, the difficulty of this matter became exceptionally arduous, which is why Sami had to build this stone tower to assist in her ritual.

Squatting motionless on the stone tower, time around it seemed to stand still. After an unknown amount of time had passed in the outside world, Sami suddenly opened her eyes.

It sensed the sound coming from high above.

A white trail extended continuously from the distance toward Yinping Mountain; a continuous sound, as if something were being torn apart, came from the top of the trail and then vanished above Semi's head.

About ten seconds later, a figure suddenly fell from the sky, landing quite lightly before it.

"Preparations complete?"

Yuan smoothed her hair and walked toward the Shi Ta: "Will it succeed?"

"The ritual the Leader taught me will not go wrong."

Squatting on the Shi Ta, Semi's face showed a trace of exhaustion. She lowered her head and looked at Yuan: "As for you, making such a grand fuss to go declare war on the City magic girls of Fang Ting; how could they still let you return so easily?"

"I didn't go directly to find the Cornflower. Besides, I don't know where the City magic girls of Fang Ting are. It's better to just have the Bureau of Anomalies people help me deliver the message."

When Yuan spoke of this matter, she made it sound as light as if she had just gone to buy a bottle of water: "Anyway, the effect is the same. Next, we just need to wait for them to come."

"Mm." Semi nodded, having no objection to this.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Yuan sat cross-legged at the base of the Shi Ta, leaning against it, quietly gazing at the nearly pitch-black night sky. The new moon of the year's end was nowhere to be seen; only a few stars twinkled through the thick clouds, appearing especially lonely.

Semi was focused on guiding the ritual's mana. Although this process was mechanical and dull, it did not hinder her from throwing herself into it wholeheartedly, so naturally she had no leisure to seek out conversation topics.

After this situation continued for an unknown length of time, Yuan suddenly spoke.

— "Hey, Semi."

"What is it?"

"In these two months in this city, how do you feel?" Yuan tilted her head back slightly, speaking as if casually: "Have you felt happy?"

"... Why ask this suddenly?"

"Nothing. Just bored, looking for a random topic." Yuan explained thus: "If you don't want to talk about it, forget it; it doesn't matter."

"Oh." Semi believed her explanation. While gently swishing her tail, she recalled her life during this period and finally drew a conclusion: "Not good. Very terrible."

"Very terrible?"

"Does that need saying? Following you, this unreliable fellow, camping out in wind and dew every day; sometimes even having to fight that group of rough stray cats for leftover food in trash cans; and before that, some inexplicable wild cat even came to court me... If I were to find the most wretched experience of my life, it would probably all be in these two months."

Lowering her head to look in Yuan's direction, Semi said with deep resentment: "Just thinking that I can finally bid farewell to this life next, I don't want to stay in this place full of painful memories for even a single second."

"Wow, that dissatisfied? I think it's fine." Yuan joked.

"Super dissatisfied! You should at least reflect on yourself!" Semi spoke with righteous indignation: "Anyway, all of this is because I went on this mission with you, so when we get back, you must compensate me properly!"

"Fine, fine, fine." Yuan responded perfunctorily: "What kind of compensation do you want?"

"I want five Echoes above the Shedding grade." Semi gave her demand without hesitation.

"Five? Even if you sold me, you couldn't get that many."

"Stop pretending to be poor. After all these years, you don't have any personal savings?"

"Where would savings come from? All my resources and wealth have already become the fuel for this level of strength." Yuan pointed proudly at her arm.

"... Then four."

"Not even four. Don't think about it."

"No way, I want four!"

"I won't do it. If I have to give that many, I might as well just default on the debt."

"You person... Three! This is my bottom line! If you don't agree to this, I'll go tell the Leader first, then find the Vice-Leader to beat you up!"

The two haggled like this for a long while. In the end, they argued to no conclusion. Moreover, the entire process was shouting across a distance; by the end, their mouths were dry and throats parched, forcing them to stop.

Thus, the depths of Yinping Mountain returned to silence.

Yuan continued to lean against the Shi Ta, closing her eyes to rest. Semi continued to guide the mana. After an unknown amount of time passed, Yuan spoke once more.

"Semi."

"... What now?"

"Although you might not believe it when I say it, in these two months, I actually quite enjoyed myself."

"Oh, is that so." Still not having recovered her emotions from the earlier argument, Semi replied coolly.

"Not surprised?" Yuan asked her.

"Why be surprised? I can see it clearly."

"Was I that obvious?"

"You've basically been everywhere in and around the district. As soon as you get money, you spend it wildly. You sleep in the bridge culverts like a dead pig. You do look like you're really enjoying this life." Semi couldn't help rolling her eyes: "Although in my view, it's simply lacking a brain."

"Lacking a brain...?"

Yuan looked slightly stunned: "Probably."

"What does 'probably' mean?" Semi didn't understand.

"It means I don't understand it either. Although you are scolding me, I feel it might indeed be the case."

"Can you stop doing that?" Semi said helplessly: "Clearly I am scolding you, yet you end up reflecting on it. This makes me feel awkward instead..."

"Semi." Yuan called out again.

"What now!"

"How about we don't do it."

Silence fell among the trees once more.

In the depths of winter, perhaps because the snow in the mountains had not yet melted, most noises were muffled by the snow layer. When no one spoke, the surroundings were exceptionally quiet.

"Yuan."

Then this time, it was Semi who spoke first:

"You should still remember, we came here for the Leader's mission."

"Mm, I remember." Yuan did not deny it at all.

"The people of this city have nothing to do with us; we are villains here to do evil deeds."

"Mm, I understand."

"This plan was your own idea in the first place. You said carrying out a massacre directly according to the Leader's scheme would make too much noise and might attract unnecessary enemies. It would be better to destroy the city's defense network; this way, it won't cause too many civilian casualties in the short term, and once the incident occurs, the disaster within the city can still tie up the Kingdom's combat power."

"Mm, I am clear on that."

"Then, what exactly are you saying now?"

Semy's voice carried a hint of coldness: "What does 'stop doing it' mean? The matter has already advanced to this point. I have done my best to accommodate your suddenly appearing sympathy, and the challenge letter has already been delivered. Now you suddenly say 'stop doing it'? Are you truly lacking in sense, or have you already lost the will to even listen to the Leader's orders?"

"If I had a choice, I would probably hope to be lacking in sense."

Lowering her gaze slightly, Yui spoke in a low voice: "The notion of defying the Leader... I cannot bear that."

"Yui, do you still remember the Leader's wish... no, the wish of our Claw Marks?" Semy asked this.

"Mm, of course." Yui nodded.

"To create a home for all the Magical Girls abandoned by the Kingdom, a home where our compatriots no longer suffer the constraints of the Kingdom and the Queen, and to find a path of freedom for all the Magical Girls who come after."

Semy recited aloud: "No matter how much blood is spilled in the process, no matter how many sins we bear, as long as it is for our home, even sacrificing our lives is not too much."

"A beautiful dream." Yui evaluated it thus.

"It is already on the verge of not being a dream anymore."

Semy emphasized: "We have put in so much effort over these ten-plus years, sacrificed so many comrades, and stained ourselves with the blood of so many innocents just to reach this point. At this stage, there is no turning back for us."

"We are villains, undeniably villains. The evil we have committed long ago no longer allows us to call ourselves innocent. And if we cannot even achieve our ultimate goal, then even as villains, we would be failures, accomplishing nothing."

"I do not want things to turn out that way. Rather, things absolutely cannot turn out that way. I would rather be a villain who stubbornly persists in darkness than a hypocrite who hesitates."

"There are only a few hours until the next Queen Year. The time left for us is running out. We must complete the upcoming mission at the fastest speed; otherwise, the Leader's dream... our dreams will all turn to bubbles."

"Stop being foolish, Yui. We have no room for sympathy toward others. If it really is as you say, 'we won't do it,' then it will be us who end up ruined..."

Having said this, Semy stopped.

It was not because it had nothing more to say, but because both it and Yui saw several traces of magic extending from the sky.

Deep blue, purple-red, orange. These were the colors of the three types of magic at the very forefront.

Light blue, hibiscus purple, green, cyan, pale red, pale yellow. These were the six colors following closely behind.

And regardless of the color, the number could not be wrong. So many traces of magic meant that a full nine Magical Girls had rushed to this place.

"Yui, how exactly did you issue the challenge? Did you blow up their base?" Gazing at the colorful magic in the sky, Semy could not help but voice a question.

"That is why I just said, stop doing it."

Yui slowly stood up and shook her feet, which had gone numb from sitting. She extended her hand, and a pitch-black magic wand materialized in her grasp, then melted, transforming into liquid metal as black as ink.

— "However, you are also right. In this situation, it is already too late."