Chapter 263: A Reminder

After finishing phone calls with three juniors, Lin Yun lingered in the bar for a while longer.

The drink the bartender recommended indeed met his needs; not only did he feel no intoxication, but its refreshing taste actually made him much more alert. The slight greasy feeling from eating sweets all day vanished after he downed the glass. Leaning against the chair back while scrolling through his phone, Lin Yun replied to the last few work-related messages of the day, then stood up to leave.

Before leaving, for some unknown reason, two girls who looked young but might or might not be magical girls approached him to strike up a conversation, using rather emotional language. However, Lin Yun merely replied with a few polite words before departing directly.

He knew that hitting on the opposite sex in a bar was nothing rare, but he had no such interest, nor should he.

Returning to the alley where he had parked earlier, Lin Yun walked into the alley and completed his transformation in the shadows.

When they arrived, Senior Cuique had already recorded the coat Mo He gave her into the "Civilian Mode" of the Gentian Gem. So, upon activating the gem, she immediately reverted to the outfit she had worn upon arrival. However, after doing all this, she did not return directly along the same path; instead, she walked out from the other end of the alley and took a detour back to where she had parked.

She knew there were few surveillance cameras around, but to prevent being seen by anyone with ulterior motives, caution was still the better course.

Thus, having finally muddled through the crisis of conflicting identities, Senior Cuique got into her car, input the magic information she had already recorded, and drove back to the Rainbow Wetlands.

Upon returning, the first thing she did was find Mo He, return the coat, and inform her of where she had parked, so Mo He wouldn't be unable to find it later.

"Anyway, thank you very much. You've done me a huge favor."

Seeing Mo He accept the coat, Senior Cuique decided not to disturb her further and waved, saying, "Then I'll head back now."

"... Um, wait a moment."

But just before leaving, Mo He hesitantly called out to Senior Cuique again.

"Is there something else?" Senior Cuique stopped.

"Mm, it's not that I need something from you, but rather, I feel there's something I must tell you."

Mo He tightened her grip on the coat's sleeve slightly: "It's just that in half a month, this year's assessment will be here."

"Indeed." Senior Cuique nodded.

"But this year's assessment is quite different from previous years, and, possibly, some rather dangerous things might happen."

Mo He spoke haltingly, as if every word cost her great effort: "So, if you know anyone preparing to participate in the assessment... it's best they don't go, or be very careful."

"Dangerous things?" Senior Cuique couldn't help but frown.

However, before she could ask for details, Mo He quickly bowed to her, then turned around and ran briskly back into the small house.

Judging by this demeanor, she had likely reached her limit in speaking and probably didn't intend to explain further.

Watching the small house, where the separation technique had risen again, making the interior impossible to see, Senior Cuique pondered for a moment before finally choosing to turn and leave.

If the other party didn't want to say more, there was no need for her to ask more; and since it concerned the assessment, she could discuss it with Emerald in a few days.

Asao Enka had previously revealed to her that this year's assessment would include a practical combat exercise specifically simulating a Great Beast Disaster, so the danger level would be much higher than in previous years. Was what Mo He intended to tell her also related to this "simulated Great Beast Disaster"?

For some reason, Senior Cuique felt it wasn't.

The "danger" the other party spoke of, judging by the tone, seemed to refer to some unexpected interference occurring, rather than the assessment itself being so terrifying.

And if Mo He wasn't lying, and the information Asao Enka leaked was also true, plus this being a Queen Year where the quantity and quality of candidates would be the highest in twenty years...

It was likely that the candidates this year would participate in a gathering fraught with crises and with competition more intense than ever.

Was it necessary to persuade the juniors to give up and wait until next year?

Such a thought flashed through Senior Cuique's mind again. Since Asao Enka gave her the extra information, she had thought this countless times. But when she mentioned this issue to the three juniors before, they all seemed to choose to face the difficulty head-on; now, the registration process was even already completed. At this point, if she went and asked them this question, would they really give up?

Moreover, the information she currently obtained was all hearsay; even if the content Asao Enka revealed hadn't been verified yet, should she really give up the assessment directly because of such information? Would that be overreacting?

Thinking while walking back, in the end, Senior Cuique still couldn't come up with an answer and could only shelve the question for now.

And since there was still half a month until the assessment, she decided to wait a bit longer, first gathering more relevant information before drawing a conclusion after comprehensive consideration.

At present, she faced another trouble.

Although Lin Xiaolu probably didn't pay much attention when buying it, in the viewing cabin where the Fang Ting City team resides, there is now likely a candle placed that burns according to birthdays.

Yes, Senior Cuique did not ignore that candle, even though at the time the candle, separated by the screen, showed no reaction whatsoever.

Actually, she could have ignored that candle, because the candle might not burn. Based on her father's behavior in childhood, she knew her true birth date was not February 14th. If that candle was merely appended with an astrological technique to judge the user's birthday, then she would most likely pass safely.

But the problem lies in: what if it wasn't just an astrological technique?

Senior Cuique knew how many bizarre functions existed within techniques; functions like mind-reading, memory retrieval, and historical reconstruction were all available. Although these techniques were very complex high-end ones, theoretically impossible to be used for a single candle, it still made one feel slightly uneasy.

Should she just ignore it altogether? If the candle burns, it burns; letting the juniors know her birthday date wouldn't seem to immediately trigger an identity conflict, would it?

Senior Cuique thought about it briefly, then immediately rejected this plan, because a thousand-li dam can collapse from an ant hole; if she kept revealing clues in the details, one day she would reach a point where the lie could no longer be covered up.

She decided to go all out on that candle.

So, when she returned to the small house and saw the half cake placed in the center of the table, along with the juniors chatting nearby, she was already on high alert.

"Ah, Senior Cuique, you're finally back, so slow!"

This time, Lin Xiaolu was the first to notice Senior Cuique's return, and, as expected, her first words mentioned the cake:

"Turns out we've already celebrated my dad's birthday and cut the cake; it's just a pity you weren't here."

"Teacher!"

Bai Jingxuan, as usual, whenever Senior Cuique returned, would rush over to be affectionate with her, like a puppy that never knew fatigue.

"There's still cake left, specially saved for you, Junior Senior." Xia Liang said casually while playing with her phone.

Obviously, in her view, the node most likely to go wrong had already passed, and now was the time to relax.

It was just that Senior Cuique knew she still had one final hurdle to clear.

The table with the cake was right on her unavoidable path back; whether she ate or not, she had to pass by it, and the candle representing "37" was currently stuck in the very top of the cake.

Although Senior Cuique was not skilled in techniques, she had still added multiple safeguards to herself at this moment. First, she used Perception Weakening to diminish her breathing and even her footsteps; simultaneously, she used a Magic Concealment Technique to cover her true form, preventing information from being read from her magic background; finally, she emptied her mind, thinking only of useless fragmented words, before taking her first step forward.

One step, two steps.

The cake grew closer in her field of vision. Senior Cuique, pretending to be nonchalant while holding Bai Jingxuan's arm, took a deep breath.

Three steps, four steps.

She could feel herself becoming tense, and with the tension came a rise in magic activity; fortunately, these were internal changes and wouldn't be visible.

Five steps, six steps, seven steps, eight steps.

Until she passed by the cake, Senior Cuique felt a stream of magic sweep over her; it indeed contained some technique structure, but it could be said to be extremely crude and simple.

Precisely because the spell structure was crude enough, Senior Cuique could even judge the content it scanned and investigated: this spell detected the heart rate and mana activity of nearby targets.

Undoubtedly, ordinary people would certainly have a heart rate. As for pure mana beings like magical girls, the vital indicator within their bodies was mana activity. Merely scanning such indicators was indeed as low-level as it got, far simpler than astrology.

But the problem lay precisely in this "scanning of mana activity."

Senior Cuique had previously guarded against spells that could theoretically investigate information like "birthdays"; she emptied her mind and concealed her true form. Her real birthday was theoretically not February 14th. If this candle was truly some so-called high technology, then she could likely pass the test.

Yet, a candle that claimed to be "high technology," employed "astrology," and even possessed other additional functions...

turned out to be nothing more than a street-stall item capable of scanning mana activity.

Thus, under the gaze of everyone present, the candle ignited.