[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl":3,"chapter-off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-chapter-83":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Off the Clock, Then a Magical Girl",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2350003,4594,"Chapter 83: Fan","off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-chapter-83",83,"\u003Cp>Cui Que looked at the sparrow on the ground with some indifference. As she stepped forward, Favo runes flew out from her cuffs. Soon, these runes landed on the neck of the unconscious sparrow, anchoring themselves onto the Heart Gem and transforming into a blue, collar-like pattern.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was not all; immediately after, she condensed a small magical barrier, forming a dome that enclosed the sparrow within.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was one of the techniques that every magical girl under the Investigation Bureau was required to master, and only the Investigation Bureau could master: the Magic Sealing Art.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its casting conditions were quite harsh; it could only be used after neutralizing the enemy's resistance. As the name suggested, this technique could completely seal the target's ability to use magic or transform, with the duration fluctuating based on the caster's magical strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cui Que did not intend to kill the sparrow. After all, according to the information she had previously obtained, this organization called \"Claw Mark\" was a key target wanted by the state, and leaving a live captive to hand over to the state should allow them to extract quite a bit of information.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although she and the state did have some issues, the mess this group of sparrows had caused in Fangting City had reached the limit of her tolerance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If there had been a shred of hesitation before, she had now completely made up her mind: once this matter was over, she must call the Investigation Bureau over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After finishing all this, she took two steps back with an unsteady gait and dispersed the magical energy leaking from her body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one noticed that she was already covered in cold sweat at this moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or rather, her condition was actually far worse than she appeared; the intense pain in her head alone made her feel as if her brain were about to explode. The severity of this pain was enough to make an ordinary person cry out in agony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cui Que was not surprised, because she knew this was her old injury.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her true form was damaged, and her Heart Gem was shattered; everything the sparrow had said earlier was the truth. What the sparrow did not know was that the injury Cui Que had sustained was even more severe than she could imagine. Thus, her other guess was also correct: as a magical girl who had once reached the Lei-level, the current Cui Que could not manifest her own Wonder Realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was not just the Wonder Realm; even a magical girl's most basic quality—the total amount of magical energy—had actually withered significantly under the influence of her injuries, which was why Cui Que usually had to adopt a strategy of conserving magic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The powerful magical energy from just a moment ago was naturally not a rootless source, but the result of Cui Que disregarding her injuries and fully stimulating her magic source to trigger a complete eruption, reclaiming her original total capacity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Doing this allowed her magical energy to briefly return to the level of her peak period, but the price was that the injuries to her true form and soul were further triggered, accompanied by extremely intense headaches. As the duration of this peak-level magic continued, this pain would become increasingly intense until she completely lost consciousness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason why Lin Yun had chosen to retire back then was largely due to his injuries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had not originally intended to use this method in the battle against the sparrow, but rather planned to feign weakness to engage in a war of attrition, consuming the opponent's magic through defensive counterattacks before finding an opportunity to deliver a fatal blow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such a plan would not require erupting her magic like this, nor would it cause such severe magical depletion, and it would even allow her to extract information from the opponent during the fight—it could be called killing many birds with one stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, when the opponent told her that Lin Xiaolu might be in danger, Cui Que realized that regardless of whether it was true or false, she could not delay any longer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if just to be safe, she had to end the battle quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was why she stimulated all her magical energy to defeat and capture the sparrow at the fastest speed possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the next step was to notify the Heterodox Strategy Bureau to come here to take the person, and then rush to the last location where she had sensed Moke to see what was going on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as her thoughts reached this point, she suddenly remembered one thing: her mobile phone had been knocked away during the fight just now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the location she was in now was not where the phone had fallen; flying back to retrieve it would waste too much time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this situation, she saw a passerby not far away who was looking toward this spot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So she walked straight over and reached out her hand toward the somewhat dazed passerby:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Excuse me, could I borrow your phone for a moment?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only after she said this casually did she realize that the passerby's appearance seemed somewhat familiar—or rather, it was far too familiar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Tengfei handed over his phone in a daze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was only one thought in his mind at this moment: it really is Cornflower.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even though more than twenty years had passed, he could still recognize the face of the girl standing before him. Although he had changed a lot, the girl was just as she had been that year, as if time had stopped for her, unchanged in the slightest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Is it... Cornflower?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the girl who was holding the phone with both hands and tapping away, he asked uncontrollably.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he saw the girl's hands pause.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This pause lasted only for an instant; soon she continued her actions, entered a string of phone numbers, and held the phone to her ear, as if the previous pause had just been Wang Tengfei's hallucination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While waiting for the call to connect, she looked at the man in front of her with somewhat complicated feelings, but said with a flat expression: \"Do you know me?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having recognized that the man in front of her was her general manager and hearing her old code name from his mouth, it was hard for her to describe how she felt right now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ah? I, this...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Opening his mouth, Wang Tengfei vaguely remembered that he had many questions he wanted to ask; after all, he had indeed been a fan of this girl when he was young, and at that time, he had many misunderstandings and regrets regarding Cornflower's disappearance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now, he suddenly found that he couldn't remember a single one of those questions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter what kind of liking, regret, or unwillingness he had felt, now only a few words remained; he could no longer recall those emotions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like an old, faded photograph in a frame: their outlines were still clear, but they had already turned pale. The questions that had once filled his mind were as distorted as the colors of the photo, and the emotions contained within had become as bland as water, no longer able to stir ripples in his heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I... used to be your fan.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After thinking it over, this was the only sentence he could manage to say.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Cui Que looked at the man again, pondered slightly, and then replied just as flatly: \"Thank you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She didn't know what else to say.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, as the call was connected, she heard Hong Siyu's voice and stopped paying attention to Wang Tengfei. After informing Hong Siyu of the situation and the specific location, and giving many instructions regarding the custody of the sparrow, she hung up the phone and returned it to Wang Tengfei.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Taking back the phone Cui Que handed over in a daze, Wang Tengfei asked hesitantly: \"Are you... are you Old Lin?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as these words were spoken, even the surrounding temperature seemed to drop by two degrees.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cui Que's originally flat and cold expression froze on her face, and before long, she couldn't help but sigh inwardly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As expected, she had been guessed, she thought with some helplessness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Previously, in the general manager's office, because the sparrow had attempted to attack the office building directly to force her to appear, she had no choice but to transform on the spot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although she had tried her best to make Wang Tengfei look away during the process and had only transformed into Cui Que before rushing out of the office building, she realized that the process had not been rigorous, and in the end, the other party had still discovered the clues.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And at such a time, the more one tried to explain, the more it would reveal the truth, so she just withdrew her hand with some coldness and said flatly: \"Working in the real world ultimately requires a bit of disguise.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She only said this one sentence, leaving the rest for Wang Tengfei to think about himself.\u003C\u002Fp>",1512,"2026-06-21T02:45:47.620Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","bd74b93f2c8fba4d3ce6bd20e33ecea17a666cea253d20982c6e87ddbb127503","off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-chapter-84","off-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-chapter-82",364,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Foff-the-clock-then-a-magical-girl-cover.jpg"]