Chapter 76: The Time to Root Out Traitors and Punish Rebels

On a midsummer afternoon, in the air-conditioned living room, Lin Xiaolu returned from a long reverie to wakefulness, leaned back on the sofa, and picked up her phone with some boredom.

After casually scrolling through some boring news on social media and chuckling at a few short videos, she realized something was off, put down her phone, and asked in confusion: "Has Moko been out too long?"

"Relax, it has its own things to do."

Xia Liang, leaning lazily on the sofa nearby, dragged out her voice: "Didn't we say before that there's progress in finding potential magical girls?"

"But this is taking way too long. Usually, it goes out for a stroll around lunchtime, but it's almost three in the afternoon now."

Propping her chin, Lin Xiaolu pondered for a moment, then looked up after a while and made a somewhat abrupt judgment: "Something's fishy."

"What's fishy?" Xia Liang, already accustomed to her somewhat jumping logic, asked lazily from the sofa.

"Moko is hiding something from us." Lin Xiaolu's tone was certain.

"Fairies need their own private space too. But I really didn't expect that, Xiaolu, you usually argue with Moko all the time, yet you actually care about it?" Xia Liang mumbled.

Lin Xiaolu rolled her eyes and patted the sofa cushion beside her: "Is this called caring? I'm suspicious!"

"Fine, fine, fine."

Xia Liang sat up, holding onto the sofa backrest, and stretched: "Hmm—if you're suspicious, should we follow and take a look?"

"Can't we? Isn't it almost time for afternoon practice?"

"Just ask the Junior Senior for leave, that's all."

"How can we disturb Senior Cuique for such a reason?"

"Hmm, if you say so..."

With some noncommittal gesture, she took out her phone, typed a message into the three-person group chat, and Xia Liang said quite decisively: "Okay, sent!"

"Huh? I just told you not to do that, and you went ahead and sent the message on your own! Quick, recall it!"

Seeing her do this, Lin Xiaolu raised her eyebrows, then turned sideways and reached out, trying to snatch Xia Liang's phone: "Give me the phone!"

"Hehe, no way, no way. At times like this, one should be straightforward."

Relying on her slight advantage in height and arm span, Xia Liang held the phone up, swayed her arms left and right to dodge Lin Xiaolu's attempts to grab it, and laughed with ease. After a bit of playful scuffling, she suddenly felt the phone in her hand vibrate, so she blinked, lowered the raised phone, and said: "... Ah, a reply?"

Unable to win the struggle and now somewhat annoyed, Lin Xiaolu was also stunned: "A reply? That fast?"

"Yeah, instant reply."

Xia Liang scrolled through the message page, dragged out her voice, and mimicked Senior Cuique's usual cool and calm tone: "Let me read it. She said: 'You may go, but remember to return promptly tonight. If there really is a potential new recruit, notify me, and I will come over shortly.'"

After finishing reading the content of the message page, she showed the screen to Lin Xiaolu: "That's basically it, she seems to have agreed?"

Lin Xiaolu ignored her, pulled her body back, took out her own phone, and carefully read Senior Cuique's words. After confirming the content matched what Xia Liang had said, she noticed a string of other content following it: "What's this? An address?"

"150 meters west of the intersection of Xihe Road and Yuyun Road in Lixing District..."

Xia Liang immediately read along: "Eh, isn't this area the Fang Ting City First Fuli Academy?"

"Is this Moko's location?"

"Seems so, but why would the Junior Senior know where Moko is?"

"It's just a location; what's strange about Senior Cuique knowing?"

Lin Xiaolu, feeling there was absolutely no problem, said proudly: "As a powerful magical girl like her, she must have many undisclosed methods in daily life. Don't limit her abilities with your narrow perspective."

Judging only by her expression, without listening to what she said, one might think her pride was about herself.

"Haha... true, the Junior Senior probably prepared for this long ago." Facing Lin Xiaolu's fanatical fan speech, Xia Liang could only respond with a dry laugh.

The two reached a consensus on this strange matter and stopped dwelling on the topic. Soon, Lin Xiaolu discovered the next point of suspicion:

"Come to think of it, regarding the Fuli Academy, isn't there a lot of children there?"

"Calling others children, but they might not be younger than us."

Xia Liang helplessly corrected: "But saying that, it really is suspicious. Let's set off now; maybe we can catch them red-handed?"

"But, about the practice..." Lin Xiaolu was still somewhat hesitant.

As she couldn't make up her mind, Xia Liang raised her index finger and suggested: "Then I'll go check alone and tell you the result?"

"You—ah! You really are!"

This sentence became the last straw that broke Lin Xiaolu's inner defenses, making her unable to sit still; her inner struggle ultimately gave way to curiosity, so she suddenly stood up: "I can't hold back anymore! Let's go, who's afraid of whom!"

It was currently the summer vacation, and with Senior Cuique giving them the green light for their itinerary, the two naturally faced no obstacles in going out.

So, after simply changing into casual clothes for travel, the two took the light rail tram together to Lixing District.

The location of the Fang Ting City First Fuli Academy was on the edge of Lixing District, near the suburbs, but fortunately, transportation was very convenient, and getting there didn't take much effort.

Passing through the somewhat quiet station, Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang strolled together along the somewhat old streets, occasionally looking left and right, observing the surroundings.

Lixing District is on the far eastern side of Fang Ting City, one of the earliest administrative divisions established in the city, so its infrastructure is relatively early; both the roads and surrounding buildings are relatively old. Moreover, because development later shifted westward, it eventually became the so-called "Old Town," where both foot traffic and transportation have become relatively sparse.

Plus, since it was a weekday afternoon, when Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang arrived in this neighborhood, they could clearly feel the lack of vitality.

Fortunately, not far away was their destination for this trip—the Fang Ting City First Fuli Academy. As a building accommodating a large number of people, its surrounding facilities were very complete, somewhat compensating for this faint sense of desolation.

After continuing forward for a few minutes, the two could already see the academy's buildings and walls from afar. After confirming the location matched what Senior Cuique provided, they quickened their pace, planning to catch Moko off guard.

This plan was dashed as soon as they approached the Fuli Academy.

Because they discovered that an invisible wall had appeared before them at some unknown time, blocking their further progress.

Reaching out to touch around and leaning in to look closely, Xia Liang found that the obstacle blocking them wasn't truly "invisible," just difficult to see clearly.

With her perception ability, she could sense a considerable flow of magic within the structure before her; obviously, this was a magic barrier.

"Xiaolu."

Xia Liang's expression became somewhat Solemn, and her habitual smile on her face faded slightly: "The situation is probably different from what we thought."

Lin Xiaolu reached out to touch the transparent wall before her, as if recalling some unpleasant memories, and frowned deeply: "Could this be... a magic barrier?"

The two were no longer newbies like when they first became magical girls; they already had considerable understanding of basic spells like "magic barrier."

And people in this world who can use spells are not common; they are either magicians in the material world or magical girls whose abilities have blossomed to the Leaf level or above. Whichever type of person it is, appearing around the Fuli Academy and setting up a magic barrier here, is abnormal.

"Let's notify Senior Cuique first."

Lin Xiaolu's memories of the magic barrier were far from pleasant; she even felt a vague sense of déjà vu. Her first reaction was to seek help, so she immediately took out her phone and dialed Senior Cuique's number.

Senior Cuique had repeatedly emphasized to her before that if she encountered an event potentially beyond her capabilities, she must notify her first. Although Lin Xiaolu didn't understand why such an overprotective request existed, it didn't stop her from keeping her promise.

However, this time, after holding up her phone and waiting for a moment, her expression became somewhat blank: the call rang for a long time, but finally, only a voicemail notification of no answer played.

"No one answered?" This was something Lin Xiaolu had not anticipated before.

"Leave a message in the group chat. Let's try to break the barrier with magic first."

Facing the somewhat urgent situation, Xia Liang took out her Heart Bud and decisively transformed: "In this situation, if we insist on waiting for the Little Senior to answer the phone, Moke might encounter danger inside."

Hearing her reminder, Lin Xiaolu realized it was not the time to just stand there. After briefly leaving a message in the group chat, she also took out her Heart Seed and transformed into a magical girl.

After the two transformed, they began to bombard the barrier separately with magic beams, attempting to break it through brute force. However, although their attacks made the barrier tremble constantly, they still could not completely destroy its structure.

After several failed attempts and seeing their magic deplete rapidly, they had to stop again.

Lin Xiaolu clearly showed an anxious expression. On the other side, although Xia Liang had not Achieve merit either, she looked at the barrier before her, deep in thought: "Perhaps we can try a different approach."

"What approach? Do you have a good idea?" Lin Xiaolu asked, somewhat puzzled by her words.

"You'll know once you try."

Xia Liang smiled somewhat mysteriously, then raised her wand: "Xiao Jin, Magic Construct Emerge."

Accompanying her incantation, the wand in her hand turned into a magic nebula, then reassembled into a small dressing mirror. This was her Magic Construct—Diversion.

Lin Xiaolu, standing nearby, also recognized Xia Liang's Magic Construct but couldn't think of any use for it: "What are you bringing out Diversion for?"

"Alright, don't ask so many questions. Just watch."

Without further explanation, Xia Liang directly began her attempt. She caused the mirror in her hand to split into several mirrors, then adjusted the size of one of them to be large enough, even as tall as a person.

Then, she pressed that person-tall mirror against the magic barrier before her.

"One of Diversion's abilities is to transmit and redirect magic between mirror surfaces. That is to say, any magic touching its surface will be transmitted to another mirror."

Xia Liang began to explain: "The Little Senior mentioned in class before that although the magic barrier is a spell formula, the essence of a spell formula is still magic; it's just that the magic within is arranged into a specific state according to the spell structure. So, if my guess is correct..."

She reached out her hand and pointed to another mirror that was not pressed against the barrier.

Lin Xiaolu turned her head to look and saw that the mirror was currently flickering with faint glows, obviously with magic flowing through it. Since this mirror was transmitting magic, it necessarily had a source.

At this moment, even with her weakest comprehension ability, she guessed what Xia Liang wanted to do.

At the same time, Xia Liang moved the half-person-tall mirror in front of her aside. Like a magician, she stood sideways facing Lin Xiaolu and gestured with her hand toward the spot where the mirror had previously been attached:

"See, my guess was correct."

In the direction she pointed, on the barrier that had originally been a seamless whole, amidst the faint flow of magic, a gap large enough for a person to pass through had appeared at some unknown time.

"The barrier outside didn't react at all. It seems you used some strange little tricks."

Inside the barrier, after the victory within reach was interrupted, the man in the black robe initially felt angry facing the two newly appeared magical girls, but he quickly adjusted his emotions, scanning the lineup before him: "However, light blue and purple? Is the last person still not here? Then those bastards are at least somewhat useful."

Failing to kill Moke and letting him escape in the chaos certainly ignited the fire in his heart. But this was not his core objective, so he would not lose his composure because of it.

"You know us?" The confidence revealed in the other's words made Lin Xiaolu feel slightly uncomfortable, and she asked with some caution.

"Know you? Rather, why would we not know?"

After returning to calm, the man shook his head, and a strange smile spread across his lips: "For instance, the strongest among you is that shortest blue brat, right? She isn't acting with you now?"

"We have no reason to report our allies' whereabouts to the enemy."

Seeing Lin Xiaolu's expression turn somewhat wrong, Xia Liang on the side took over the conversation: "Regardless of whether she comes or not, we will subdue you here. Using magic to carry out a terrorist attack, the only path waiting for you is arrest."

"Oh? Really? Is it that you are unwilling to report, or unable to report?"

The man paid no attention to her words, seeming indifferent to the situation of being surrounded. Instead, he reached out his hand and counted the few people before him as if tallying goods: "Three magical girls, one fairy, a meat pig... never mind that. In the end, four magic sources? That will do. It can at least compensate for part of the loss of a sacrificial child."

"What exactly are you muttering to yourself about?"

Reading a few other meanings from his words, Lin Xiaolu realized that the reason Senior Cuique hadn't answered the phone might not be so simple, and asked seriously: "What exactly happened over there with Senior Cuique! Do you have other accomplices?"

"Senior Cuique? Is that the code name for that blue brat?"

The man shrugged: "Sorry, I really don't know what specifically will happen on her end. After all, the request I made to that bastard was just for her not to come and ruin my plans."

"Bastard?" The word the man kept muttering finally caught Lin Xiaolu's attention. "So you do have other accomplices?"

"Curious? Want to ask more? But my interest in talking is almost exhausted. It's time to get down to business."

Raising his head, the man's expression didn't change, but his voice grew louder: "Knowing more things is meaningless. After all, you and she will only have the same ending next—namely, death!"

With those words, a chilling magic that made one tremble suddenly spread around him.

It was seen that he had taken out a purple-black lump of flesh at some unknown time, holding it level in front of him. The lump of flesh emitted a strange halo, pulsating from time to time, as if possessing its own life.

"That is... what thing?"

Xia Liang, whose magic perception ability was slightly stronger, couldn't help but cover her mouth and nose: "It feels so disgusting."

"Disgusting? How ignorant. This is a treasure of the same nature as your Heart Gems."

Gazing at the lump of flesh in his hand, a few traces of piety and gentleness appeared in the smile on the man's face: "Don't you feel it has a beauty that makes one unable to stop? After all, if we follow your naming method, it can be called the 'Beast's Viscera'."

"'Beast's Viscera'..."

Only when she saw his posture did Lin Xiaolu, who had been haunted by a strong sense of déjà vu in her heart, finally seem to understand something, revealing a somewhat dazed expression.

She finally knew why, since seeing the magic barrier covering the Fuli Academy, she had always felt a vague sense of irritability in her heart.

Because several months ago, just about a week after she became a magical girl, she had encountered a similar incident in the wetland park on the outskirts of the city.

Trapped in the wetland park by the barrier and encountering a Caterpillar-class Remnant Beast, if not for Senior Cuique's timely rescue, she would probably have died there.

And at this very moment, she suddenly recalled the night she was in danger in the wetland park, remembering a doubt that was almost forgotten by her.

That was the almost human-like expression she saw on the face of the Remnant Beast while she was struggling desperately under its claws.

Could a Remnant Beast make such a human-like expression?

Without a doubt, impossible.

After all, low-evolution-level residual beasts should have very low intelligence.

Moreover, after that, Lin Xiaolu had actually accompanied Senior Cuique in hunting many residual beasts, yet she had never encountered an individual as human-like as the one that night. Most were massive and grotesquely deformed; let alone the Ovum-class residual beasts that resembled nothing but piles of rotting flesh, even among the Huo-class, few took a bipedal form.

Perhaps, they were never merely "simple residual beasts" to begin with.

"You are—no, are you all…?"

Lin Xiaolu opened her mouth in surprise, but stopped mid-sentence.

Because she immediately realized a deeper issue.

When she first became a Magic Girl, she had been trapped by barriers and hunted like in a trap; now, in this Fuli Academy, the same thing seemed to be happening to the newly appeared Magic Girl.

Then, another question arose that made her shiver with dread.

There was no longer any need to ask about this man's origins—the answer was self-evident; the greatest conspiracy must be something else:

"... What is your connection to the fact that Fang Ting City had no Magic Girls for nearly two years?"

Even as she asked, she felt her mind buzzing.

"You seem to have connected some dots? Should I compliment you on your sharpness?"

The man did not answer her question, but countered: "Or perhaps the disappearance of the Gongchu in Fang Ting has something to do with you?" His somber tone clashed sharply with his reverent, gentle expression.

"Gongchu… that's your term for each other? This really is connected to you!"

Lin Xiaolu no longer knew what drove her to keep asking.

The truth she suspected was too cruel; she did not want to imagine it, yet her body still moved, persistently chasing the truth.

"What exactly is going on? What have you done?" she asked, gripping her wand tightly.

"What have we done? You should understand. Even if not a Sacrificial Child, a Magic Girl's Heart Gem is an extremely valuable magical material. Purely for profit, it's enough to entice, let alone when facing an enemy of death?"

Answering her question evasively, the man stared at the lump of flesh in his hand, not even glancing at her: "The only attitude toward an enemy of death is total annihilation—that is the only answer."

"Your city's Gongchu was probably designated Eleven, right? Didn't he come after you? Yet you're all still alive here—so he's dead, then?"

"Hah. He died on duty, leaked information, and failed to eliminate the fairies and Magic Girls who then turned around and ruined my plans. Gongchu Eleven really left behind a mess…"

"Enough. A useless waste is dead, so let him die. Though I'd rather not clean up after such trash, I'll take over his duties now."

For some reason, since he had pulled out that lump of flesh, his speech had become erratic, entirely self-directed, with illogical leaps like rambling dreams, utterly incomprehensible.

But by this point in the conversation, even understanding only a small part of the information was enough for Xia Liang to finally grasp the truth—and she looked at the black-robed man with horror.

"You mean… you're hunting Magic Girls?"

At this moment, the man no longer wished to speak with them.

Pressing the lump of flesh against his chest, his expression shifted from gentle to excited, then to fanatical and cruel, bordering on madness.

"Base of the False Court, now it is I who shall carry out the Master's will and exterminate you all here!"

He shouted, cried out, chanted—his hand's lump of flesh erupted with intense magical power. He stared at the several Magic Girls before him, eyes bulging, lips split to reveal sharp teeth:

"This is the time to root out traitors and punish rebels."

As his words fell, black magical energy enveloped his entire body; a dark mist surged, and from the gloomy clouds, his once-human form grew taller, finally reaching several meters in height.

From the swirling mist emerged a beast's head, baring a full mouth of fangs, eyes glowing red; golden runes flickered as its monstrous body—covered in grotesque, terrifying tubes—materialized from the chilling magical aura.

At this moment, what stood before them was no longer that man.

Indeed, if judged by its true nature, what stood before them was no longer even human.

——But a residual beast.