Chapter 87: Liu Wenqin

The Strange Strategy Bureau's support always arrived late, but in terms of cleanup, they were still competent. From Luoming District to Lixing District, both incident sites had been secured and isolated by Strange Strategy Bureau personnel.

In Luoming District, the damaged areas were the most scattered, and road and infrastructure damage was the most severe, though casualties were minimal; in Lixing District, the destruction was almost entirely confined to the vicinity of Fang Ting City's First Fuli Academy, yet it resulted in numerous civilian deaths.

Repair and reconstruction of disaster zones; evacuation and follow-up arrangements for affected personnel; investigation, evidence collection, and comforting of eyewitnesses; and the arrest and transport of terrorist attackers—massive tasks unfolded around this crisis, which lasted only a few hours.

The magicians who called themselves Black Ash Dawn would be sent to the Strange Strategy Bureau for further interrogation, facing punishments ranging from revocation of magical ability to execution, depending on their crimes and cooperation; the corpse of the deceased black-robed man would be transported to the central city's major Strange Strategy Bureau facility and delivered through its gate to the Magical Nation's Research Institute.

As for the last and most difficult subject—the Claw Mark Magic Girl Sparrow—she would be detained in a special containment facility in Fang Ting City, awaiting the arrival of the Magical Nation's Investigation Bureau.

This was Senior Cuique's own request, and it received strong support from the Fang Ting City Strange Strategy Bureau.

According to Director Mo Si, this was not merely about resolving a single case, but also a valuable opportunity to reestablish contact with the Magical Nation.

Thus, through a contact from the Sower in the neighboring city of Qingyan, the Fang Ting City Strange Strategy Bureau immediately transmitted the information to the National Investigation Bureau, and days later received a reply: the Investigation Bureau would dispatch an investigative team to Fang Ting City.

Unlike their previous indifference, the Investigation Bureau clearly placed greater importance and concern on members of the "Claw Mark" organization.

But all that is another story.

After this sudden yet swiftly contained crisis—and before the Magical Nation's envoys arrived—Lin Yun, who had successfully resigned, still had several things to do.

Settle in the newly joined Magic Girl, Bai Jingxuan; assist the Strange Strategy Bureau with final cleanup tasks; and then, the day he had long prepared for: Anya's anniversary of death.

Regarding Bai Jingxuan, the child who had suddenly become a Magic Girl in the accident, Lin Yun knew nothing at all. Aside from noticing during their first meeting that her magical energy seemed to possess a unique property, he only knew she lived at the Fuli Academy and was an orphan.

But even orphans, unless abandoned as infants, must once have had parents and families; to better understand her, Lin Yun chose to meet with the Fuli Academy's director—Ms. Liu Wenqin.

Of course, not as Lin Yun, but as Senior Cuique.

To accommodate this need, the Strange Strategy Bureau had specially granted Senior Cuique a backdoor: normally, when ordinary people learned a Magic Girl's true identity, they were promptly given psychological suggestion to forget the matter. But after this incident, the Strange Strategy Bureau did not immediately apply psychological suggestion to Director Liu; instead, they temporarily allowed her to retain full awareness of the events, to facilitate better communication with Senior Cuique.

Thus, on the morning after the incident ended, Senior Cuique met with Liu Wenqin in the director's office.

"I already know your purpose. To be honest… I never expected something like this to happen to me at my age."

Sitting behind her desk, her arm in a cast, Liu Wenqin said with a sigh: "I've always known magic existed in this world, but when it actually happened right beside me, it still felt unreal."

"We apologize for failing to detect the situation in time and for not arriving to assist sooner."

Sitting in the chair before the desk, Senior Cuique held the tea cup Liu Wenqin had prepared: "Eliminating residual beasts should have been our Magic Girls' duty. As captain of the Fang Ting City team, I deeply regret this failure."

After hearing Senior Cuique's words, Liu Wenqin, seated behind the desk, paused briefly, then spoke: "Excuse me, before we discuss Xiao Xuan, may I ask you one question?"

"Please." Senior Cuique regarded her calmly.

"Though I don't remember clearly anymore… weren't you once called Cornflower?"

Carefully studying Senior Cuique's attire, Liu Wenqin hesitated: "This might be impolite—if you don't know who Cornflower is, just pretend I didn't ask."

The office fell silent.

"... I am."

After a long silence, polishing the tea cup in her hands, Senior Cuique nodded calmly: "If you mean the Magic Girl named Cornflower, then yes—I am Cornflower."

"Hah, no wonder—I felt familiar the moment I saw you."

Liu Wenqin smiled with relief, as if recalling something, her demeanor relaxing: "If I remember right, you were Fang Ting City's Magic Girl twenty years ago. We used to see you on the news sometimes, and my daughter adored you."

"Twenty years ago? Then your daughter now…" Senior Cuique caught the implication in her words.

"Yes, she has children of her own now."

Liu Wenqin covered her mouth, clearly delighted by the topic: "She once planned to volunteer as a caregiver here at the Fuli Academy, but she ended up slacking off—now she's missed her chance to meet her childhood idol."

Senior Cuique shook her head: "So much time has passed—even if she once paid attention as a child, she must have forgotten by now."

"How could she? Even now, whenever she sees news about Magic Girls, she still mentions your name."

Liu Wenqin smiled: "You were heroes of this city back then. People who admired you never forgot your name."

These words, Senior Cuique had heard not long ago from Wang Tengfei.

Since emerging from retirement, she had tried to hide her trail and never contacted ordinary people. She never imagined that, when she interacted closely with people again as a Magic Girl, so many still remembered her.

"By the way, have you been a Magic Girl in Fang Ting City all these twenty years? You said you're the current captain—what about the earlier kids? I remember they were called Cherry and Lanxiang… and one with a very long name?"

Senior Cuique said nothing, so Liu Wenqin continued, then realized her mistake and apologized with a wave of her hand: "Oh, sorry—I just automatically thought of you as the children you were back then."

"Magic Girls really are amazing—after all these years, you haven't aged a bit, still look so young, like a child."

(End of Chapter)