Chapter 83: Fan

Cuique regarded the sparrow on the ground with cool detachment; as she stepped forward, magical runes flew from her sleeve and settled on the sparrow's neck, clustering around the Heart Gem to form a blue, collar-like pattern.

These were not all—she immediately conjured a small magical barrier, forming a dome that enclosed the sparrow.

This was one of the spells every Magic Girl under the Investigation Bureau must master, and the only ones who could wield it: the Magic Suppression Art.

Its casting conditions were stringent: it could only be used after neutralizing the enemy's resistance. As its name implied, it completely sealed off the target's ability to use magic or transform, with duration varying according to the caster's magical strength.

Cuique had no intention of killing the sparrow; based on prior information, the organization named "Claw Mark" was a top-priority wanted group, and keeping the target alive to hand over to the nation might yield valuable intelligence.

Although she indeed had issues with the nation, this group's chaos in Fang Ting City had reached her tolerance limit.

If she had harbored any lingering hesitation before, she had now made her final decision: after this matter was settled, she must summon the Investigation Bureau.

Only after completing all this did she stagger back two steps, dispersing the stray magic around her.

No one noticed that her hair was now drenched in cold sweat.

Rather, her condition was far worse than she let on—the intense pain in her head made her feel as if her skull were about to split open, a severity sufficient to make an ordinary person scream out in agony.

Cuique felt no surprise, for she knew this was her old wound.

Her true form had been damaged, her Heart Gem shattered—the sparrow's words were all true. What she did not know was that Cuique's injuries were even worse than she could imagine. Thus, her other guess was also correct: as a former Magic Girl who had reached the Bud level, Cuique could no longer manifest her own Mirage Realm.

Not only the Mirage Realm, but even the most basic quality of a Magic Girl—the total volume of magic—had also shrunk drastically due to her injuries, forcing Cuique to adopt a conservative magic usage style in daily combat.

The potent magic she had just unleashed was not without source; it was the result of Cuique disregarding her injuries, fully igniting her magic core to temporarily reclaim her former total magical capacity.

Doing so allowed her magic to briefly return to its peak level, but at the cost of further triggering damage to her true form and soul, accompanied by excruciating headaches. The longer she maintained peak magic, the more intense the pain became, until she collapsed completely.

Lin Yun's decision to retire in the past was significantly influenced by his injuries.

She had originally not intended to use this method against the sparrow; she planned to feign weakness and engage in a war of attrition, consuming the enemy's magic through defense and counterattacks before seeking a decisive opening.

This strategy required no such explosive magic output, caused minimal magical depletion, and allowed her to gather intelligence during combat—truly a multi-benefit approach.

But when the enemy told her Lin Xiaolu might be in danger, Cuique realized that regardless of truth or falsehood, she could no longer delay.

Even as a precaution, she had to end this swiftly.

That was why she unleashed all her magic, defeating and subduing the sparrow with maximum speed.

The next step was to notify the Strange Affairs Bureau to come and take custody of the prisoner, then rush as fast as possible to the last location where she sensed Moke.

But as this thought occurred to her, she suddenly remembered: her phone had been knocked away during the battle.

And now she was no longer at the spot where the phone had fallen; returning to retrieve it would waste too much time.

In this situation, she spotted a passerby watching from a short distance away.

She walked straight over and extended her hand toward the stunned passerby:

"Excuse me, could I borrow your phone?"

But as she spoke the words casually, she realized the passerby's face seemed familiar—no, it was far too familiar.

Wang Tengfei mechanically handed over his phone.

His mind held only one thought: It's truly Cuique.

The girl standing before him—even after more than twenty years—he could still recognize her face. Though he had changed greatly, she remained exactly as she was back then, as if time had frozen on her, utterly unchanged.

"Is… Cuique?"

Watching the girl before him, her hands frantically tapping the phone, he couldn't help asking.

Then he saw her hands freeze.

The pause lasted only an instant; she resumed her actions immediately, dialing a phone number and holding the phone to her ear, as if the pause had been Wang Tengfei's illusion.

While waiting for the call to connect, she looked at the man before her, her emotions complex yet her expression calm: "Do you know me?"

Recognizing the man as her general manager and hearing her old codename from his lips, she found it hard to describe how she felt.

"Ah? I, uh…"

Wang Tengfei vaguely remembered he had many questions he wanted to ask—after all, in his youth, he had truly been a fan of Cuique, and her disappearance had left him with countless confusions and regrets.

But now, he suddenly realized he couldn't recall a single one of those questions.

No matter how much he had loved, how deep his regret or resentment, all that remained were a few words—he could no longer recall the emotions behind them.

Like a faded photograph in a frame: its outline remained clear, but it had turned pale. The once overwhelming questions had lost their color like the photo's hues, and the feelings within had become as flat as water, no longer stirring any ripple in his heart.

"I… used to be your fan."

After much thought, that was the only sentence he could utter.

Cuique heard this, looked at the man, paused briefly, then answered equally calmly: "Thank you."

She didn't know what else to say.

Then, as the call connected, she heard Hong Siyu's voice and ignored Wang Tengfei entirely. She informed Hong Siyu of the situation and exact location, gave detailed instructions on securing the sparrow, then ended the call and returned the phone to Wang Tengfei.

"That…"

Wang Tengfei mechanically took back the phone Cuique handed him and hesitantly asked: "You… are Old Lin, aren't you?"

The moment he spoke, the air around them seemed to drop two degrees.

Cuique's previously calm and cold expression froze on her face; after a moment, she inwardly sighed.

Of course he figured it out, she thought wearily.

Earlier in the general manager's office, when the sparrow tried to directly attack the office building to force her to reveal herself, she had been forced to transform on the spot.

Although she had done her best to make Wang Tengfei avert his gaze and only transformed into Cuique just before bursting out of the building, the process had been far from flawless—eventually, he had noticed something.

At a moment like this, the more she explained, the more suspicious it would seem; so she simply withdrew her hand coldly and said plainly: "Working in the real world requires some disguise."

She said only this, leaving the rest for Wang Tengfei to deduce on his own.