Chapter 5: Crisis

"Be careful of the Remnant Beasts tonight?"

This sentence left Lin Yun feeling restless throughout his entire afternoon of work.

The reason was simple: the information revealed by this sentence was far too much for him to dismiss as a mere prank call or a nuisance.

His daughter is a magical girl; aside from himself and Hong Siyu, no one else should know this. As for the fact that he himself was once a magical girl, only a handful of people could possibly know. Moreover, he could confirm that the only people who would know this information were his current or former companions.

Then, could this call have come from Hong Siyu?

It was possible, but what reason would she have to act mysterious and make such an anonymous call? As an official, Hong Siyu had solemnly promised him that she would look after his daughter; such a topic could easily be discussed openly.

Holding the attitude that it is better to believe it than to ignore it, he sent a message to Hong Siyu:

[Did you call me?]

[?] was the reply from the other side.

It seemed it wasn't her.

Several candidates flashed through his mind, only to be dismissed one by one; Lin Yun still could not find a lead.

Then, was it just a random prank call that happened to hit the mark?

This possibility was actually quite high, even very high. After all, many scam calls these days follow this pattern; even if they spout nonsense, as long as they try enough targets, they will eventually encounter a few who believe it for various reasons.

Lin Yun tried to convince himself of this, yet his heart remained far from calm.

Just like that, evening arrived. His subordinates, who had worked with him for years, noticed his preoccupied appearance and specifically asked if he had encountered any trouble. Lin Yun shook his head, not sharing such a topic that sounded like a delusion with them.

Riding the train, he didn't return home until it was dark. Lin Yun looked at the shoe cabinet in the entryway with worry, and what set his heart at ease was that his daughter's shoes were already placed there. Passing through the living room, seeing the clean bowls and chopsticks in the kitchen sink, and walking to his daughter's door to see the light shining through the crack, all signs indicated that Lin Xiaolu was still at home.

This made Lin Yun breathe a sigh of relief.

Even if some dangerous Remnant Beast were to appear, as long as his daughter was still at home, it meant her safety was guaranteed.

Besides, there was no reason for Hong Siyu not to notify him if a Remnant Beast appeared.

Carrying a strange mood, Lin Yun finished his dinner and walked into the study to start working on the tasks he hadn't finished at the company. While working, he also kept a constant watch on his daughter's room to ensure that Lin Xiaolu wouldn't sneak out without him knowing.

Until midnight, he still hadn't discovered anything unusual. When the clock struck twelve, Lin Yun, exhausted from the day, felt he could no longer stay awake, so after a long wait, he lay down on the bed and drifted into sleep.

In a haze, he didn't know how much time had passed.

But at one moment, he seemed to hear some strange noise.

And so, in the pitch black, Lin Yun woke up with a start.

His heartbeat inexplicably sped up, and his breathing became rapid. He didn't remember if he had been dreaming, but after waking up, it felt as if even his mood had turned much worse.

Feeling around in the dark, he picked up his phone; the screen lit up, showing the time as 2:10.

Even though he had just woken up, after clarifying the situation, Lin Yun felt a very strong premonition in his heart.

This premonition was so strong that it felt very familiar, to the point where he instantly remembered when the last similar experience had occurred.

—The day his wife passed away.

"...That's impossible, right?"

The words left his mouth, carrying an uncertainty that even he could hear.

Lin Yun got out of bed, hurriedly pulled open the bedroom door, and looked toward his daughter's room. No longer caring about taboos or hesitation, he rushed to her door and knocked.

Nothing happened.

Lin Yun did not give up; he just knocked repeatedly, louder and louder. The hollow knocking echoed in the pitch-black hallway, yet he still received no response.

"That's impossible, right?" He repeated the sentence again.

Glancing at the door and the note that was blurry in the night, Lin Yun gritted his teeth and began to twist the doorknob directly.

Creak.

The door was locked.

He didn't know if his daughter usually kept her door locked—after all, he had never tried to open it—but now, this situation forced him to have some negative associations.

Could she have snuck out alone?

Picking up his phone, he began to call Hong Siyu, but the answer he got was "no one answered."

Opening the search engine, he began to type keywords like "Fang Ting City" and "Remnant Beast," but it was still like looking for a needle in a haystack; even last week's events had been covered up by various new hot topics, leaving no trace.

It seemed that in an instant, all coincidences had collided, and he had suddenly lost all clues to the movements of Remnant Beasts in Fang Ting City.

Naturally, he had also lost all control over his daughter's movements.

He tried to calm himself down, telling himself that no one opening the door didn't mean his daughter had run out alone in the middle of the night to deal with a Remnant Beast. It was just that his daughter disliked him as always and didn't want to bother with a neurotic dad knocking on her door in the middle of the night; such an explanation was actually very reasonable, much more reasonable than the groundless guesses in his mind right now.

Yet, he inexplicably believed in the premonition in his heart.

So he looked at his call logs, the second page, third from the bottom. That was the completely unfamiliar number that had suddenly called at noon.

His finger hovered over that option for a long time, and holding onto a glimmer of hope, he pressed that number.

It went through.

This caused his breathing to hitch.

Every second of the dial tone felt as long as a century. Listening to the long "beep—beep—" sound, Lin Yun gripped his phone tightly.

Then, the other side connected.

"Hiss—hiss."

It was still heavy static.

It was as if the signal was severely interfered with; the call was intermittent, pounding against Lin Yun's eardrums, and then, at a certain point, all the noise dissipated.

"In the suburbs, Wetland Park."

With those few short words, the call was hung up.

The surroundings returned to silence, as if it were still that ordinary night.

Putting down his phone, Lin Yun turned to look at the living room, only to see the faint moonlight painting a hazy white glow on the floor, bright and quiet, plain and peaceful. This seemed to be another image, another voice deep in his heart, telling him at this juncture, "Don't go."

Once he stepped out of the house at this moment, the things he had sacrificed so much to painstakingly maintain would cease to exist.

But for Lin Yun, this decision was meaningless. When the safety of his child was placed on the scale, the chips on the other side of the scale were already irrelevant.

Moving his feet, he rushed out of the house at almost his fastest speed.

Opening the door of his SUV, which he hadn't driven in a long time, he jammed the key in. Then, amidst the roar, he rushed onto the highway with horsepower far exceeding the city's speed limit.

"I must go."

As if instilling some concept into himself, he muttered to himself.

Now, he could even feel his own blood flowing, rushing straight to his brain, making it buzz.

The speed was still increasing. He pressed the accelerator to the controllable limit with a speed comparable to a street racer, running through countless traffic lights, racing all the way. Traffic violations, car accidents—these risks were not worth mentioning at this moment, because he knew that no matter what, he had to get to his daughter first.

He brought along that silent Flower of the Heart; although he had tried before and failed to transform into a magical girl, he still held onto some unrealistic hope.

Or rather, there was a thought in the dark telling him that this time, he could do it.

The distracting thoughts in his brain were already a mess, and he couldn't explain his current state; chaotic emotions, memories, and high physiological tension made his thinking completely illogical.

The only clear thought was, "I don't want anything to happen to my daughter."