Chapter 358: Perspectives

Cui Que did not manage to discern much from those beast-children.

After all, she was only observing from afar, and for a short time at that, so the information she could obtain was very limited. Furthermore, some of the beast-children had quite keen senses; for instance, the magical girl codenamed "Arrowhead," even though Cui Que had hidden her own magical power fluctuations and deliberately blended into the crowd, seemed to have sensed the fact that "someone was watching her" and attempted to find the source of the gaze.

Of course, it was impossible for Cui Que to be discovered by them. While their keen perception was indeed commendable, the disparity in magical power, experience, and technique determined the asymmetry of information between the two sides.

"To be honest, although I can somewhat feel the barrier between them and the other children, I think it should just be the differences caused by their upbringing and the education they received."

While recalling the information she had observed in secret, Cui Que organized her words: "Although it might sound too tolerant to say it this way, I feel that, if we really talk about their essence, they don't seem any different from ordinary magical girls."

"Mm."

The fairy doll shook its head: "That's normal."

"Normal?"

"I mean, it's normal for you to have this feeling, because by simply observing their appearance and behavioral patterns, the conclusion we reached here is about the same."

The emerald's voice remained languid: "However, this also confirms our previous conjecture, doesn't it?"

"We?" Cui Que looked suspicious, as she had no memory of ever speculating on anything with Emerald.

"That girl of yours, Bo Xue."

Emerald pointed out: "Do you still remember what I told you when you first brought her to see me?"

"You said a lot back then." Cui Que nodded: "But which sentence specifically?"

"I said—she is a natural beast-transformer, and after she became a magical girl, she became a natural 'Claw Mark'."

Emerald coughed lightly twice, reciting as if reading from a book: "More pure, more complete, and closer to a perfect form than even Bai Lang, a true 'Claw Mark'."

Cui Que remembered this sentence.

Without a doubt, the words Emerald had used to describe Bai Jingxuan at that time could be perfectly applied to those beast-children now.

"So, just as you usually can't see anything special about that little girl of yours, these beast-children are naturally the same."

Emerald gave her conclusion: "Their existence proves that Bo Xue is not an isolated case; this trait is a commonality among this batch of beast-children."

"Was this within your expectations?" Cui Que looked at the doll.

"No."

Emerald was concise: "But it wasn't that surprising either. Where there is one, there is two. After seeing your little girl, I had more or less guessed it in my heart, I just didn't expect to see so many examples so quickly."

After hearing Emerald's analysis, Cui Que hesitated to speak.

"What's wrong? Is there something you can't say?" Seeing Cui Que's reaction, the doll tilted its head, looking somewhat cute.

"……It's not that I can't say it."

Cui Que pursed her lips: "It's just that, thinking of Bo Xue, I can't help but think a bit more when I look at these 'beast-children'."

"Oh, so that's what you mean."

Emerald realized: "I was wondering why your attitude was so strange. Still thinking about these things? Feeling sympathetic? Wanting to help them?"

"It hasn't reached that level."

Cui Que sighed: "I just can't help but wonder in my heart, wanting to know if there might be children like Bo Xue among them."

"Junior."

Emerald's voice became much more serious: "You shouldn't have forgotten that I told you yesterday that just finding a way to protect that examinee named Mint has already caused us to take on many additional risks. Don't forget, their identity is first our enemy, and only then are they 'children'. And the situation we are about to face will be incomparably chaotic; you don't need to, and it's impossible to, save everyone. That kind of thing, even we, the incumbent Gem Scepters, cannot do."

In fact, Cui Que had already discussed this topic with Emerald yesterday.

In Emerald's view, Cui Que not only kept thinking about her "old comrades" in Claw Mark, but now also inexplicably harbored benevolence toward the beast-children of Black Ash Dawn. If this hesitant mindset wasn't pointed out, it might invite disaster in the upcoming operations.

And Cui Que herself knew exactly what Emerald was thinking.

"I know, and I have already explained to you many times, I am not arrogant enough to think I can mediate all disputes."

Cui Que's expression was calm: "Rather, it is precisely because I know more that my disgust for Black Ash Dawn is growing day by day."

It was too disgusting, simply nauseating.

This was Cui Que's feeling toward what Black Ash Dawn was doing at this moment.

Emerald had said before that the source of Claw Mark's unconventional beast-transformation technology had always been a mystery. Although Bai Lang herself was a former Gem Scepter, she was not a scientific talent skilled in technological development, so it was completely illogical that she could organize a complete system of beast-transformation, combat, and ability development more than a decade after defecting.

And if, previously, in Cui Que's mind, Black Ash Dawn was only "suspected" on the list of potential providers of this technology to Claw Mark, then now, knowing what kind of existence the "beast-children" were, and that some of these beast-children could even become magical girls, she could be certain that there were definitely people from Black Ash Dawn among the sources of Claw Mark's technology.

She couldn't help but think of Hong Siyu.

The encounter Hong Siyu had on the day of the Full Moon Festival was still vivid in her mind, and on the path of Claw Mark exploring this forbidden technology, how many victims like Hong Siyu would there be?

Cui Que couldn't bring herself to dwell on it; even just guessing a number made her feel heavy-hearted.

"Claw Mark's technology currently looks highly likely to be related to them, and these 'beast-children' who became magical girls are also their handiwork. These scumbags not only ignore taboos and abuse the magical power of remnant beasts, treating human life like grass, but now they are even reaching out to magical girls, reaching out to children who originally held beautiful dreams and wanted to help others..."

She looked at her palms, her hands loosely clenched: "Precisely because of this, no matter what conspiracy they are preparing right now, I absolutely do not want them to succeed. Not only that, I must catch that disgusting guy hiding in the shadows, using magical girls as shields while plotting conspiracies."

"Mm, you sound quite motivated, so let's just assume I was overthinking it."

The sound of drinking water came from the doll's head, probably an action by Emerald herself. She pondered for a moment and shook her head: "Are you free tonight?"

"Tonight?"

"Let's add another meeting. Since you are so motivated, our security plan should be adjusted again." Emerald proposed.

"That should be fine. In fact, I already have some ideas now..."

Cui Que nodded in agreement, and the two of them started discussing the draft directly.

Certain points needed to be changed, certain patrol logic needed to be re-discussed; if they had to ensure they could deal with the beast-children's interference while guarding against external enemies, many plans had to be changed.

And just as the two were discussing heatedly, a magic mirror message suddenly arrived on Emerald's side.

The two's conversation had to be temporarily suspended. Seeing that she had already been in the examination hall for nearly 20 minutes, and continuing to linger might delay the subsequent examination, Cui Que took the initiative to leave.

Emerald did not stop her.

Just as Cui Que thought this conversation had come to an end and walked decisively to the entrance of the examination hall, her hand already reaching toward the door, a slightly astonished exclamation from Emerald came from behind her:

——"What did you say? The file I just adjusted the permissions for was viewed by Purple Diamond?"