[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl":3,"chapter-off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-chapter-315":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Off the Clock, Then a Magical Girl",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2350235,4594,"Chapter 315: Exploration","off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-chapter-315",315,"\u003Cp>\"I apologize. I often make certain movements subconsciously when I'm thinking. I have offended you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reminded by Cui Que, Tu Dinggui put her hand down with a sense of belated realization, her face showing apology: \"I often do this with my younger sister at home, so I just did it out of habit...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Mm, it's fine.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since the other party was willing to stop, Cui Que had no intention of pursuing the matter further. She gave a simple response to indicate the incident was over and continued walking forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The three-person team continued to explore the maze in silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The brightness in the maze was not very high, one could even say it was somewhat dim, but the three people present were all quite formidable magical girls. Their vision was no longer affected by simple light and shadow, so moving forward in the dark was not a problem. However, this conclusion seemed limited to Cui Que's own perspective, because not long after they had walked a certain distance, she felt the surrounding environment suddenly brighten.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Turning her head to the side, she saw Tu Dinggui raising her hand, casting a spell for auxiliary illumination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There are stairs ahead, watch your step.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps because the previous subconscious act of touching Cui Que's head made Tu Dinggui feel somewhat awkward and apologetic, she deliberately kept a distance of a few steps from Cui Que, merely casting the spell next to Cui Que.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beside them, Gouweicao saw this and silently retracted the hand she had already extended.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cui Que looked at the ball of light beside her, then at the stairs not far away, wanting to say something but not knowing what to say.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She really wanted to say that this counted as excessive concern, but then she remembered that \"Long Dan\" was indeed seen as a child in the eyes of others, and there was no reason to be so resistant to someone else's kindness. Explaining so much was worse than not explaining at all, so in the end, she simply said \"Thank you\" and led the ball of light down the stairs with the team.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Following the route Tu Dinggui had described, the group first went down one floor, passed several corners, and after walking steadily for about five minutes, human voices could be vaguely heard from the darkness ahead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking closely, it was actually another examinee team.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After getting closer, that team also noticed Cui Que and the others, so their previously chatty state came to an abrupt halt, replaced by somewhat vigilant gazes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone had memorized the rules stated by the chief examiner before the exam; \"attacks or interference against other examinees are not prohibited\" meant that all teams could potentially be enemies. If one side was completely off-guard when two teams made contact, then they were likely not far from being eliminated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, even with their vigilance, the center of their gaze would only be Tu Dinggui.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a big celebrity among this year's examinees, most magical girls who wanted to achieve good results would inevitably memorize Tu Dinggui's appearance, so when they met on this narrow path, the other party recognized Tu Dinggui's identity at a glance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was probably the downside of having someone from the \"Thigh List\" in the team.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, the same rule for the assessment also stipulated that if an examinee was attacked by an opponent and lost the ability to act, resulting in elimination, then as long as she could identify the attacker's identity afterward, she could obtain all the points the other party had in this event.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, just from a single encounter, the other party had already recognized Tu Dinggui's identity, and it could be said that they were already prepared—as long as they were attacked and eliminated by Tu Dinggui here, they would report her name upon going out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this inexplicably tense atmosphere, Tu Dinggui stared at these magical girls expressionlessly for two seconds, then slowly opened her mouth to say:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hello.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The atmosphere at the scene stalled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this simple greeting, the \"demonstrations\" or \"threats\" that had already reached the throats of the magical girls opposite were all stuck there. After another moment, their leader hesitantly said: \"Hello?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Did you discover anything on the way here?\" Tu Dinggui continued to ask.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Uh... I don't think so?\" the other party replied after a brief recollection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Okay, thank you. We came down from the stairs to the rear right; we have also explored that area, and there was nothing there.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tu Dinggui nodded politely in thanks: \"If you are going to explore forward, you can go to the left.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Oh... okay.\" The other party nodded blankly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And in this maze, whether it's the walls or the ground, there is a type of spell attached that can be utilized, did you know?\" Tu Dinggui asked again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ah? What is that?\" At this, besides the leader of the other party, the other magical girls also spoke up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Tu Dinggui explained the usage of the spells in the maze to the other party again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After this explanation, the opposing team completely let go of their previous vigilance and began to exchange information with Tu Dinggui: although they didn't know about the existence of the maze spells, they had managed to find a few dead ends by walking hard, and they told all of them to Tu Dinggui at this moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—\"It really scared me to death; the first team we encountered in the maze was the fifth on the Thigh List.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the leader of the other party finished saying this, she scratched her head and laughed: \"I felt like I saw my own great-grandmother waving at me at that moment.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then you're really pathetic; I only had weak legs,\" her teammate took the opportunity to tease.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two teams briefly finished exchanging information, then bid each other farewell and continued to explore. The other team also returned to the laughter and joy they had when they arrived, their figures disappearing from Cui Que's field of vision accompanied by the sound of giggling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She didn't look much at the corridor that had become empty again, but suddenly felt: was the atmosphere in the team she was in a bit too dull?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Judging from Tu Dinggui's performance so far, she shouldn't be the type of person who is reticent, and her interactions with others were very natural. Gouweicao was not the type to resist communicating with others either; currently, it was clearly just that she was a bit shy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even though none of the three people were repulsed by teammates in terms of personality, due to various reasons, their relationship with each other had made no progress so far. To the point that other teams were chatting and laughing all the way, while they were like they had been cast with some spell, always remaining silent for long periods.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is it my problem?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cui Que couldn't help but think this way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It had to be said that compared to the introverted Gouweicao and the seemingly somewhat oblivious Tu Dinggui, she was indeed the most suitable person to carry out \"team relationship ice-breaking.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even, it was precisely because she hadn't shown much so far, and had even been relatively cold and hard regarding Tu Dinggui's previous subconscious act of closeness, that the other party was now also quite awkward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If she were a little more active in conversation, would it be more conducive to the team's integration? For example, when Tu Dinggui mentioned her younger sister earlier, if she had seized this opportunity to ask about Tu Dinggui's daily life, could that have provided an opportunity for more internal communication within the team?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She did indeed want to hide her skills, but that didn't mean she would shirk all her responsibilities as a team member. To put it bluntly, she wouldn't take the initiative to become that \"thigh,\" but she wouldn't be a member who held the team back either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tu Dinggui's personal ability was indeed very strong, so no matter what, she should be able to pass the assessment. But \"passing\" and \"ranking at the top\" were two different concepts. If this team's relationship failed to integrate smoothly because of her inaction, affecting the subsequent rankings of the other two members, then it would instead become Cui Que's fault.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, just as she was calculating this matter, the team's exploration suddenly made new progress.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—A bush wall that was emitting flickering light for some reason, looking particularly eye-catching, appeared in front of the three of them.\u003C\u002Fp>",1426,"2026-06-21T02:45:53.136Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","875c455c67f79967a00c5d4f35baa9e64cdf24ea384fc4a5a946ad5dd4a6cd04","off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-chapter-316","off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-chapter-314",364,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Foff-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-cover.jpg"]