Chapter 29: The Song Ends, The Crowd Scatters

Senior Cuique had told Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang during their lesson that a Magical Girl's magic armor could grow through postnatal effort.

This claim was not baseless, for she herself was an example. When she first became a Magical Girl, her magic construct was not like this at all.

Back then, she did not possess the near-endless quantity of threads she has now, nor the tailor's scissors held in her grip. She had only a sphere composed of magic threads; if forced to compare, its shape resembled a ball of yarn.

The number of magic threads scattered after the yarn ball unfolded was limited, their strength barely adequate, possessing almost no killing power, usable only occasionally to restrict the movements of Remnant Beasts. Such a weak magic armor had left Lin Yun disheartened for a long time; not only Anya, but even Su Shengzi, a person who usually acted on her own whims, offered him a few words of comfort based on humanitarianism.

For a long time afterward, Lin Yun used the magic armor merely as a means to control enemies, fighting with basic magic techniques.

This state persisted until he advanced to the Leaf Grade. After becoming immersed in spiritual contemplation, he discovered the strength of his magic threads had significantly increased. They could bind stronger enemies and could also sharpen the magic threads to directly cut down weak Remnant Beasts.

He began to specialize in the combat style of wielding threads. The more he used them, the more proficient he became; the more proficient, the more they evolved; the more evolved, the stronger they grew. The number of threads increased day by day, and their strength became as hard as metal and stone.

However, this combat style had its limits.

As the reinforcement of the threads themselves reached the upper limit, increasing the killing power of the magic armor became arduous, and Lin Yun once again felt his own limitations.

Was there any other method to allow himself to advance further?

The Lin Yun of the past had thought this way; he urgently wished to become stronger. Thus, as if responding to his wish, at that time, his magic armor changed once again—

The threads interwove, closed together, and constantly reshaped under Senior Cuique's control. As if pulled by a giant hand, they broke free from their original semi-hidden form, revealing a new appearance:

Fluorescent blue magic threads wove together to form a cube as exquisite as a sculpture. Its center was hollow, protecting Senior Cuique within, while its surface was similarly covered with dense openwork patterns, looking like a fragile work of art.

The strongest sonic attack of the fish-shaped Remnant Beast was blocked by this seemingly art piece that would shatter at a touch.

"Truly exaggerated. If given a bit more time, I fear what I would see wouldn't be a Larva-Grade Remnant Beast."

Senior Cuique loosened her hand; the lines in her vision relaxed accordingly, and the thread cube protecting her outside dispersed. Her expression was cold as she whispered to herself, "Fortunately, it is not too late."

As soon as she finished speaking, the sky-full of magic threads emitted a low hum.

Seemingly responding to the Remnant Beast's grand performance earlier, the humming shifted from low to high; immediately, the magic threads connecting the entire cave began to spin.

They spun, descended, and re-aggregated, changing in an orderly fashion. Openwork blades, appearing harmless and formed from clusters of magic threads, floated in mid-air along the inner walls. The floating blades increased in number until the sky was filled with fluorescent blue, merging into a sea of light.

If the power of the threads is insufficient, then use the threads to weave cloth. If the cloth is too soft, then make the threads hard.

When the strength of the threads composing the "cloth" is raised to a certain level, and their sharpness becomes superior, the "cloth" itself will become invincible.

"Masterpiece." This was the name Senior Cuique gave to this form of magic construct.

She had used this ability the night she saved Lin Xiaolu before, but at that time, she was only dealing with a Caterpillar-Grade Remnant Beast, far from requiring her to unleash her true strength.

Now, she could act as she pleased.

The fish-shaped Remnant Beast at the center of the cave had been completely bound at some point; its mouth opened and closed, but its body, highly compressed, could only emit a "huff huff" sound of airflow.

Senior Cuique raised her hand and touched a few magic threads again; the sharp buzzing sound around her ceased with this movement.

The concert was over.

The sky-filling fluorescent blue flew toward the Remnant Beast at the center and the flesh masses around it. Like the wind and lightning, in an instant, only a sound of "hiss hiss" could be heard.

The huge fish-shaped Remnant Beast, the Egg-Grade Remnant Beasts covering the ground, and the tentacles that were originally active around them all turned into fragments filling the sky under this strike.

The cave shook violently, and this space gradually collapsed.

Amidst a ground of sewage and rotting flesh, light points like a nebula surged out, flowing toward the palm of Senior Cuique's hand.

Upon reaching the Larva Grade, the echoes of Remnant Beasts began to become rare; they could obtain more contributions within the Realm, which also meant higher-quality resources.

These resources were useless to Senior Cuique herself, but there was no doubt they could help Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang improve their strength faster and become independent sooner.

In earlier years, someone had apparently calculated that, under the premise of optimal resource allocation, only three Larva-Grade echoes were needed; the resources exchanged from them could ensure blooming a Magical Girl with extremely low talent up to the Leaf Grade. Considering that the Magical Girl herself would also undergo magic training and spiritual contemplation, three was actually a number more than sufficient.

Unfortunately, Mo Ke currently had absolutely no ability to contact the Realm. To exchange resources from the Realm, she would probably have to return there personally next.

Thinking this, magic surged beneath Senior Cuique's feet as she prepared to rush out of this cave at the fastest speed.

However, before she left, she suddenly felt something and lowered her head, seeing only what appeared to be an altar-like structure in the middle of the water pool beside the Remnant Beast's remains.

An altar?

The space on the verge of collapse did not support her lingering, so she could only choose to imprint this scene into her mind. Senior Cuique took one last deep look at this place, then lingered no longer, accelerating her flight and leaving the cave like chasing wind and lightning.

Once a Larva-Grade Remnant Beast was slain, the nest it had constructed naturally vanished without a trace. Therefore, as Senior Cuique left the cave, she naturally left the complex spatial maze from before; when she returned to reality, she found herself once again in a sewer of unknown location.

She continued flying and soon successfully found an exit. She popped open the manhole cover, flew out from it, and thus left the stinking sewer, returning to the surface with fresh air for the first time in a long while.

However, Senior Cuique's expression did not improve upon her return.

She floated down to the ground and, almost without stopping, took out her mobile phone. After confirming the signal was reconnected, she immediately selected a number and dialed.

"... Hello?"

Shortly after, a somewhat sleepy female voice came from the other end of the call: "It's the middle of the night. What's wrong?"

"I think I need some explanations."

While making the call, Senior Cuique kicked the manhole cover by the roadside, causing it to land exactly back in its original position:

"What else is the Hetero Strategy Bureau hiding from us?"