Chapter 97: The Most Difficult Question (5k)

Afterward, the Fang Ting City Magical Girl Squad held another focused discussion regarding matters related to their secret base.

The core issues of the discussion were twofold: whether to request assistance from the Anomaly Strategy Bureau, and what exactly the positioning of the secret base should be.

Regarding the first issue, after Senior Cuique had previously provided an explanation, both Xia Liang and Lin Xiaolu had their answers; after explaining the matter to Bai Jingxuan and obtaining her consent, the voting result among the four was unanimous—go fleece the Anomaly Strategy Bureau.

The second issue seemed very simple, yet some disagreements arose during the discussion.

The primary function of the secret base was naturally to facilitate activities: convenient for gathering, convenient for teaching and training, and convenient for bonding. Apart from this, the Magical Girls could of course also choose to stay overnight at the secret base.

Among them, Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan held the clearest attitudes: since everyone was already gathering here for daily activities, they might as well move in and live there permanently, treating the secret base as their residence.

Although saying it sounded somewhat cold, for them, moving into such a secret base might be more comfortable than living at home or at the Fuli Academy.

But Lin Xiaolu and Senior Cuique were different; each of them had their own difficulties.

The problem Lin Xiaolu worried about was how she would explain it to Lin Yun and whether Lin Yun would agree: after all, her relationship with her father had recently improved somewhat, and the opportunities for them to converse had increased significantly; if she stayed out overnight frequently, would she be neglecting her father too much?

The problem Senior Cuique worried about was even more complex: what if her identity was exposed.

She and her Daughter did have a relatively fixed family; even if they occasionally stayed overnight at the secret base, they could not settle there permanently. Continuing like this would inevitably create a troublesome problem: it would become increasingly difficult for her to conceal her identity.

When her Daughter returned home, she would have to return home in the identity of the father; when her Daughter stayed overnight at the secret base, she would have to go stay overnight in the identity of Senior Cuique.

She could occasionally find excuses, such as telling Lin Xiaolu in the father's identity that she was on a business trip, or telling everyone in Senior Cuique's identity that she was acting alone at night. But even so, such tricks were not a long-term solution and could not be used frequently.

Over the long term, no matter how dull Lin Xiaolu was, she would discover this fact: the movement trajectories of "Senior Cuique" and "Lin Yun" had an eerie degree of overlap.

Senior Cuique knew some spells, but had not learned illusion-making or mental-type spells; Senior Cuique could use her magical armor to create a decoy, but the fabricated decoy could not be maintained remotely, nor could it move freely, and it would be easily exposed.

Relying on magic to fool people was impossible, and the on-site discussion yielded no result, so this issue was left for the family conversation between Lin Xiaolu and Lin Yun.

When Lin Xiaolu, still somewhat hesitant and shy, proposed her request to stay out overnight to Lin Yun, Lin Yun directly made the decision.

"No problem, I think it's a good thing."

The conversation took place during breakfast; while pretending not to care, he placed eggs and milk in front of Lin Xiaolu and encouraged her: "If necessary, you can even move over and live together with your teammates."

"Eh? No... you're agreeing to this already?"

Taking the rice bowl somewhat dazedly, Lin Xiaolu said in astonishment: "Your fourteen-year-old daughter wants to live alone? And didn't I run away from home because of a fight before..."

This was also the main reason she was so worried about this matter.

After reconciling with Lin Yun, although unwilling to admit it, she had reflected a little on her various behaviors during the cold war period; among them, the incident of running away from home seemed to have stimulated her old father far too much.

What she worried about was: since she had left without saying goodbye at that time and gone to stay overnight at a classmate's house alone, proposing such a request to Lin Yun now might make him recall unpleasant memories and thus reject her.

However, contrary to her expectations, Lin Yun's attitude in agreeing was very decisive, even appearing overly open-minded.

"I don't understand much about Magical Girl matters; but I have a lot of experience in how to support Magical Girls from behind the scenes."

Placing his own breakfast on the table, Lin Yun said calmly: "Your mother and I were good friends during our student days; back then she even frequently traveled out of the city for Magical Girl activities; these are all very normal."

"You really won't be unhappy?" The development of events was too smooth, making Lin Xiaolu find it hard to believe, "I thought you would at least try to stop me."

"Senior Cuique will be with you, right?"

Lin Yun tried hard to tighten his expression to avoid exposing anything in the details: "She has a very good relationship with your mother and is now a very reliable adult; I believe she can take good care of you."

"Well, that's true..."

Lin Xiaolu was somewhat suspicious: "Dad, did you have some private contact with Senior Cuique? It feels like you two are very familiar with each other?"

She had actually been holding back this question for a long time; she had already suspected it during that double weekend when she followed Lin Yun out. Although it was later proven that the things she guessed blindly were probably misunderstandings, it still left a few speculations in her heart.

"We haven't met many times, but I learned some things about you being a Magical Girl through her."

Without directly answering his Daughter's question, Lin Yun said lightly: "She has a high opinion of you, and it doesn't seem to be just polite talk."

"Eh? Senior Cuique has a high opinion of me?"

As expected, Lin Xiaolu was quickly distracted by this tactic and asked curiously: "What did she say about me?"

"Very hardworking, very serious, very full of potential..."

Lin Yun briefly summarized some of Lin Xiaolu's strengths while using force with his fingers to peel the eggshell in his hand: "Anyway, in her eyes, you are very excellent."

"Eh... really?" Lin Xiaolu lowered her head slightly and sipped her milk.

Although she tried hard to maintain surface calm, her feet under the table had left the ground and were swinging lightly in the air, obviously her mood was not calm.

Now, her mind was moved by these words, and naturally she could not guess the complex thoughts behind her father.

"It's not just because I'm at ease, but also because in two months I will have some matters too."

Seeing that Lin Xiaolu's attention had been diverted and she probably had no time to think, Lin Yun added: "At that time, I might also have to go on a long business trip and won't be able to stay in Fang Ting City; it would be quite good for you to live together with your Magical Girl companions."

"How long will you be out?" Lin Xiaolu blinked her eyes while holding the cup.

"Maybe a few months." Lin Yun was vague, "I originally planned to ask Aunt Hong to take care of you, but now it seems that won't be necessary."

"I don't want that woman to take care of me." Lin Xiaolu lowered her eyes slightly, "And although I don't care, you are getting a bit too close to her."

"It's just business, nothing more. At your young age, what are you imagining all day long?"

Lin Yun sighed helplessly: "Also, don't call her 'that woman' to her face; it's a bit rude."

"Okay—"

With Lin Yun's permission, Lin Xiaolu brought the news to the squad that she would stay overnight at the secret base and then live there for several months.

The series of matters regarding the secret base were thus settled.

With the Magical Girls having such willingness, the Anomaly Strategy Bureau naturally agreed immediately; almost shortly after Senior Cuique proposed this matter to Hong Siyu, a specific location had already been identified.

Not only the issue of the secret base's location, but also the communication matters with the Fuli Academy side, Lin Yun handed over entirely to the Anomaly Strategy Bureau to handle. Because for these matters, neither his original identity nor Senior Cuique's identity was suitable to appear in person.

The progress of the matter was smoother than imagined.

After a discussion with Dean Liu Wenqin, finally, on the grounds of "special talent training," backed by the Anomaly Strategy Bureau and requested by Bai Jingxuan herself, the Fuli Academy side readily agreed to the request for her to move out temporarily.

This meant that once the secret base was completed, Bai Jingxuan could officially reside in the dormitory under the Anomaly Strategy Bureau, while actually living in the Magical Girl Squad's secret base.

Regarding this, Bai Jingxuan seemed very happy.

Although she usually did not actively express her preferences, Senior Cuique could feel that she seemed very much looking forward to "living together with the Magical Girl Squad," and even her intensity in training had increased significantly.

Amidst this positive situation, a few more days of summer vacation passed in this rhythm.

Although the summer vacation homework was basically completed smoothly, Xia Liang and Lin Xiaolu still faced placement exams when school opened, so they had to continue working hard to catch up on lessons.

Senior Cuique used her extra time to review a lot of junior high school coursework and was already able to provide full-subject tutoring for the two girls. She even went to Lin Xiaolu's school to get some question banks, selected and reorganized them herself, and gave them intermittent exams.

Lecturing, doing practice problems, and explaining wrong answers—this is the three-axe process of exam-oriented education. As a method summarized by many teachers, putting aside its pros and cons, it is indeed remarkably effective for tutoring.

After a summer of hard work, Lin Xiaolu managed to plug her gaps, raising her weakest subjects, physics and math, to over 70 points, and occasionally even scoring 80.

Xia Liang, as always, was a genius, fully demonstrating the solid foundation of a "child from another family." Starting with single-digit scores, while balancing the summer's devilish special training, she raised almost all subjects above the passing line.

Such high-intensity tutoring naturally came with a price: Senior Cuique often had to stay up late grading their problems while preparing even more comprehensive lesson materials. To keep her mind alert, she even had to maintain her transformed state to prevent herself from falling asleep due to drowsiness.

In the study late at night when all was quiet, under the glow of the desk lamp, a petite figure was often seen busy at the desk.

All three had put in extra effort, so the current results were a natural outcome.

Of course, even though they had made substantial, even exaggerated progress, such scores meant little given the relatively simple curriculum of junior high school. To become "excellent students" in the conventional sense, the two girls still had a long way to go.

With less than a week left before school started, on another night, Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang were each leaning over their desks writing the exam papers Senior Cuique had prepared, while Senior Cuique sat nearby flipping through a textbook in her hands.

Just in the midst of this silence, the vibration sound of a mobile phone suddenly rang out.

Lin Xiaolu remained unmoved because she remembered her own phone's ringtone; Xia Liang didn't look up either, as she could probably guess whose call it was.

Senior Cuique was slightly startled, then put down the book in her hand and reached for the pocket on her dress. Just as she was about to touch the fabric, her hand suddenly stopped.

She suddenly realized that the ringing wasn't her phone, but Lin Yun's.

"Senior Cuique's phone" had been knocked down during the battle with the sparrow earlier, falling from high altitude onto the road. By the time Senior Cuique retrieved it, the cracks on the screen were almost as exaggerated as her Heart-Flower.

Since it was broken to that extent, the phone was naturally unusable, so Senior Cuique had no choice but to replace it with a new one.

Furthermore, because of the mix-up incident at the shopping mall previously, after purchasing the new phone, she cautiously set both phones to always be on silent, with only different vibration frequencies, relying solely on this to distinguish which phone was receiving a call.

At this moment, the sound coming from her clothes undoubtedly came from "Lin Yun's phone."

Having identified the source of the sound, and thus not taking it out in front of the two girls, Senior Cuique jumped down from her chair, placed the textbook on the seat, and coldly instructed: "I'll be out for a moment."

Walking out of Xia Liang's room, through the living room to the balcony, she took the phone out of her dress pocket and saw a somewhat familiar name displayed on it—it was a client of Gao Sheng Company.

This wasn't actually strange; rather, she had vaguely guessed it.

Because Lin Yun hadn't resigned that long ago, although she had already sent a mass message on social software, widely announcing her resignation and providing the contact number for the new after-sales department, there were always people who didn't read messages.

Handling such calls wasn't troublesome; one just had to tell the truth. Once they knew she had resigned, they would naturally contact someone else.

However, since she was still at Xia Liang's house, it was actually inconvenient for her to transform to answer the phone.

If she transformed back into Lin Yun and spoke a bit louder on the balcony, the two girls in the room might hear a man's voice. That would be too suspicious.

Senior Cuique made a decision in her heart and immediately hung up the call. Anyway, she had already seen the caller ID name; she could just edit a short message to inform the other party.

As she planned this, she reached out and tapped the message button. A white SMS interface popped up on the phone, waiting for her to input content.

But at that very moment, she heard footsteps coming from behind her.

Instantly startled, Senior Cuique quickly pressed the screen-off key, then hid the phone in her pocket. Turning around as if nothing had happened, she looked over calmly.

The one who came was Xia Liang.

"Little Senior, I've finished the problems."

Waving the paper in her hand with one hand, Xia Liang yawned, seeming not to notice Senior Cuique's unusual expression: "It's already very late; can I go take a shower and sleep directly?"

"Finished?"

Senior Cuique was expressionless, but actually felt slightly surprised in her heart because she remembered this paper had only been brought out less than an hour ago: "This paper should have had a huge volume of questions; did you skip any?"

"I didn't skip any. If you don't believe me, you can take a look."

Smiling, Xia Liang held the exam paper out in front of Senior Cuique: "I've even solved the hardest questions."

"The hardest questions?"

Not remembering having set any difficult questions on the paper, she felt somewhat strange in her heart, but Senior Cuique still took the paper and instinctively scanned the questions on the sheet.

The very instant her gaze touched the exam paper, she suddenly felt something was wrong: because this paper had merely completed the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank sections at the very beginning; in fact, it hadn't been finished at all.

What does this mean?

Senior Cuique couldn't help but raise her eyebrows.

She didn't think Xia Liang would make such a boring joke; nor did she think this was acting up to try to slack off. So she felt the other party must have some purpose. What could that purpose be?

Following the previous conversation, she thought for a moment, then realized something. Her eyes widened slightly, and she suddenly lifted her head, locking eyes with Xia Liang, whose face was full of smiles.

Buzz—

At almost the same time, the vibration sound of the phone came from Senior Cuique's pocket.

In her gaze, Xia Liang withdrew the hand holding out the exam paper, then stepped forward two more paces, and took out a mobile phone from behind her back.

The young girl lit up her phone screen, and on it, the call interface was brightly displayed. On the glowing screen, between the virtual buttons, the other party's name was vaguely visible.

—Uncle Lin.

"Little Senior."

The Xia Liang before her wore a joyous smile unlike any she had shown before, with a small sense of triumph at her scheme succeeding, and a touch of mischief.

She was like a little fox whose scheme had succeeded, showing off her prey in her hand as if boasting, leaning close to Senior Cuique's ear, and lowering her voice as if whispering a secret:

"This time, did Uncle Lin leave his phone at your house?"

Recommending a book written by a book friend: "I Really Don't Want to Be a Magical Girl Anymore."

Although there is a bit of borrowing from this book in the concept, the author has actually written their own content and direction. It has recently reached the time for publication; book friends who are interested can support it, meow.

(End of this chapter)