Chapter 59: The Mobile Phone Incident

Ever since Lin Yun began disguising himself as Cui Que in front of his daughter, carrying two mobile phones had become his habit.

To avoid revealing any flaws while using it, he had even specifically consulted a female clerk at the flagship store before buying the phone, and based on her advice, he had intentionally chosen a phone case to make "Cui Que's phone" look a bit more feminine.

There were only three contacts on this phone in total: Lin Xiaolu, Xia Liang, and Hong Siyu.

And in order to stay in touch with them in case a Remnant Beast appeared or an emergency occurred, Lin Yun would not intentionally turn the phone off or set it to silent; he only switched it to vibrate mode while at work.

Today was no exception.

When he left the house this morning, he had deliberately taken Cui Que's phone out of the pocket of the formal suit he usually wore and brought it with him to ensure that the connection between the identity of Cui Que and the two girls remained clear.

It was just that, at the time, he hadn't expected the two little girls to follow him without him knowing, and to follow him all the way to the shopping center.

At first, he had been focused on acting to deceive Moke; after encountering the two girls, he had started trying to smooth things over in such an awkward situation; then, while shopping, he had become immersed in the sentimental emotions of this special day, to the point where he had completely forgotten that he had such a ticking time bomb in his inner jacket pocket.

The result was what it was now: the clear ringtone caused Xia Liang to shift her gaze over, while he reached his hand into the inside of his jacket, gripping the phone, not knowing whether he should actually take it out.

In just a few short seconds, several plans had already flashed through Lin Yun's mind:

The first was to quickly press the volume of Cui Que's phone to the minimum, then take out his own original phone and pretend he had just happened to receive a call.

This plan was the most logically sound, yet it was very difficult to execute—he had set the incoming call alert on that phone to ringtone plus vibration, specifically to prevent himself from ignoring it.

Even if he could turn the phone's volume to zero, in this restaurant where there weren't many people left, the sound of the vibration would be equally hard to ignore.

The second was to choose to answer the call, but cover the microphone of Cui Que's phone with his hand so his voice wouldn't be picked up by it; then take out Lin Yun's phone and pretend he had received a call from someone else.

The logical loophole in this plan was also small, but it was even harder to execute. First, he couldn't ensure he could completely cover the microphone, and if even a little sound leaked out, he would be exposed; second, doing so would make his movements quite strange, with his right hand inside his jacket while his left hand had to reach over to the right to touch the phone to answer, which looked weird no matter how you looked at it.

The last one was to hang up the call directly, then use Lin Yun's phone to call Cui Que, so that if Xia Liang called over, she would only get a "busy" signal.

This was very simple to execute, and one could even say that as long as he was willing, it would definitely succeed. But logically, it had a massive loophole: he couldn't explain why the ringtone on his side stopped at the exact moment the call on Xia Liang's side was hung up.

Just as he was deliberating in his mind, Xia Liang had already taken the first step.

She held her phone to her ear, tilted her head to look at Lin Yun, her eyes filled with confusion and inquiry: "Uncle, aren't you going to answer the phone?"

Lin Yun then knew there was no time left to stall.

"Um, thanks for the reminder. I was just thinking about something and didn't notice."

He replied with a blank expression, striving to use conversation to distract Xia Liang; at the same time, he began to fumble along the side of the phone, trying to find the volume button, thinking that he should at least turn off the ringtone first.

In his mind, since he had already listed several plans, it didn't mean they couldn't be mixed and matched; as long as he dealt with things as they came and acted according to the situation, there should still be a chance to bluff his way through.

"How strange... I'll try hanging up."

However, before he could take any other action, Xia Liang had already muttered to herself, her finger tapping lightly on the phone screen.

Following her action, a moment later, the ringtone in the restaurant stopped.

The empty restaurant returned to silence, with only the mall corridor outside the display window still filled with exclamations and screams. The glass partition of the storefront became a boundary, dividing the inside and outside of the restaurant into two worlds: outside, the crowd was pushing and shoving, noisy and chaotic, spreading panic; inside, it was cold and desolate, quiet enough to hear a pin drop, and filled with awkwardness.

Without a doubt, Xia Liang had just pressed the hang-up button.

After such a series of actions, she first held the phone loosely while looking at Lin Yun, blinked her eyes somewhat innocently, and then said in astonishment: "Ah, it really stopped?"

Lin Yun looked at the undecorated ceiling of the restaurant and let out a long breath.

He lowered his hand from his chest in a gesture of surrender.

"Uncle, you have someone else's phone on you."

Seeming to realize the situation before her, even though Xia Liang intended to restrain herself, a somewhat mischievous smile appeared on her face: "Although it's a bit of a leap to ask this, it should be the person I'm thinking of, right?"

"You guessed right." Lin Yun, like a dead pig not fearing boiling water, replied with a voice devoid of fluctuation, admitting it straightforwardly.

"Why would Little Senior... no, Senior Cui Que's phone be with you, Uncle?"

After getting Lin Yun's answer, Xia Liang seemed even more confused: "I remember Little Senior was still using her phone at my house last night..."

"We know each other, and I discovered this morning that she had left her phone at my place."

Lin Yun opened his mouth somewhat numbly, throwing out a fabricated excuse in vain: "Although it's not what you think, we do indeed maintain a certain level of contact."

"Going to see Uncle in the middle of the night, and then leaving her phone at your house..."

Xia Liang gradually opened her mouth wide: "In other words, are you two really in that kind of relationship?"

"I don't know what kind of relationship you're talking about, but I don't think so." Lin Yun closed his eyes.

"Uncle, even if both parties are willing, having that kind of relationship with a child is illegal, you know?"

Frowning, Xia Liang said somewhat seriously: "And Senior Cui Que is so cute, how could you have the heart to do bad things to her?"

"...I already said, we aren't in that kind of relationship; it's just that we have intersections regarding Lulu and the Magical Girl matters."

Lin Yun sighed powerlessly: "Besides, she should have told you, right? She is an adult who is much older than you all and is the same age as me."

"That still doesn't make it okay."

Xia Liang puffed out her cheeks, uncharacteristically displeased: "Even if you are both adults, I still feel you shouldn't do that. Aren't you also being very unfair to Little Lulu?"

"My dear student, I can assure you that it really isn't like what you think."

Lin Yun suppressed the embarrassment in his heart, put on a solemn appearance, and defended himself earnestly: "I know you care about Lulu, and I also know that Lulu still can't quite accept having a... uh, stepmother. So, I really don't have any romantic relationship with the 'Senior Cui Que' you speak of."

"Really?" Xia Liang asked suspiciously.

"If I had to say, she actually has a closer relationship with Lulu's mother."

In order to divert her attention, Lin Yun explained half-truthfully: "If you want to know about this, I will tell you both on the way back."

"Her mother? You mean..." Xia Liang wanted to ask more, but the words were forced to stop at her lips.

Because at this very moment, the phone on Lin Yun's chest and the one in her hand vibrated at the same time.

Picking up the phone to look, Xia Liang discovered that Lin Xiaolu had sent a message in the Magical Girl squad group:

【@Little Jin: What on earth are you doing? Hurry up and come!】

【@Cui Que: There is a Remnant Beast attack at the Jinbao Shopping Plaza in Luoming District. Cui Que, are you free now? Ah, no need to rush.】

"...It seems we really can't keep chatting."

After reading the message on the screen, Xia Liang lowered her hand and gave a helpless smile: "Then Uncle, if you can contact Senior Cui Que, could you inform her? After all, she instructed us that we must notify her whenever a Remnant Beast appears."

Although she was full of doubts in her heart, she ultimately knew what was more important: gossip about family matters could be asked about later; repelling the Remnant Beast was the top priority at hand.

"I will."

Seeing that there was finally an opportunity to end this awkward conversation, Lin Yun also chose to stop without hesitation. He looked up to meet Xia Liang's eyes and nodded pretentiously, "Hong Siyu should have a way to contact her."

"Phew, then we'll leave the rest for when we get back."

After letting out a breath, Xia Liang put away her phone and waved at Lin Yun: "As for the earlier stuff, I'll just assume everything you said is true."

"It is all true." Lin Yun said with a blank expression, "Just don't go adding fuel to the fire when talking to Lulu."

"Don't worry, I won't tell Little Lulu."

Xia Liang smiled somewhat mischievously: "I know, after all, if I told her these things, there's no telling what she might start imagining."

Lin Yun thought to himself that you were also imagining things just now, but he ultimately didn't argue any further, only silently watching Xia Liang leave the restaurant.

Watching the girl's figure jogging away, he leaned back in his seat and let out a long sigh, his tense nerves finally relaxing a little.

Forget it, throw these things aside; better to think about where to transform first, he thought to himself.