Li Yi fell asleep very late yesterday.
When she woke up this morning, she almost missed her appointment.
Sitting on the bus with nothing to do, she took out the letter she had stayed up late writing to read it again.
Reading it word by word, the sentences that felt perfectly normal yesterday felt strange again today, even a little embarrassing.
She pressed herself close to the bus window, partially hiding the letter. In truth, her handwriting was quite delicate and small; even if the person sitting next to her leaned over to look, they might not be able to see it clearly, but Li Yi always felt as if everyone could see.
She felt a constant sense of guilt, like a thief caught in the act. After reading through the letter once more, she felt her cheeks heating up and hurriedly tucked the pink envelope away.
Of course, she hadn't actually wanted to use a pink envelope.
Because her sister had insisted that pink was the best color for a love letter, she had wanted to use a different color instead.
But after picking through various options, she still felt in her heart that pink was the prettiest and most appropriate...
After all, after all, it was a letter for making friends, and pink was more gentle. Other colors felt somewhat aggressive or cold...
In reality, the content of the envelope was quite normal. Broadly speaking, it expressed a hope to get to know Jiang Si better, a wish to become good friends, and a hope that Jiang Si could understand her thoughts. She sincerely hoped Jiang Si could reconcile with Keke.
Because Li Yi had an older sister herself, she could better understand how much Keke was hurting right now. She also believed that Jiang Si might not have intended to fall out with Keke; at the end of the day, they were family who relied on each other.
If they truly hated and loathed one another, how could they have lived together for so long?
If they could communicate properly and understand each other, even if they couldn't be as affectionate as ordinary siblings, at the very least, Keke wouldn't feel so cold and lonely at home.
As the captain of the Magical Girl Combat Team, caring for every member's family situation and helping them resolve family issues to become a qualified member of the team was her duty!
So, it wasn't a confession, or that she liked Jiang Si or anything...
As she thought, Li Yi took the letter out again to steal another glance.
It wouldn't be misunderstood as a love letter, would it?
It was all her sister's fault for calling it a "confession letter," making her constantly worry that she hadn't written it clearly enough to be misunderstood. She had to deliberate over every single word, which was why she had stayed up until the middle of the night.
Last night, she had originally intended to write while waiting for her sister to come home, but her sister hadn't returned even by the time she fell asleep.
Now that she had finished writing, she didn't even know if it was appropriate.
Furthermore, wasn't writing letters a bit too old-fashioned and outdated as a way to make friends? What if Jiang Si laughed at her?
If it were misunderstood as a confession and rejected, that would be one thing. Although it would be a bit depressing, it wouldn't cause much trouble.
But if she accepted... what, what should she do then?
Should she accept?
If she accepted, would it cause conflict with Shion? Even if she couldn't win a fight, Jiang Si, having accepted the confession, would surely stand on her side...
Her thoughts drifted into far-off fantasies for a moment. By the time she snapped back to reality, Li Yi felt embarrassed by her own wandering mind. She immediately slapped her cheeks hard twice to stop herself from overthinking.
The passenger next to her was startled by the sudden movement.
Having hurt herself, Li Yi rubbed her slightly red and swollen cheeks with teary eyes, while her mind began thinking about how to properly revise the letter once she got to school.
However, there were too many busybodies at school, and since she was quite a focal point in her class, if she started writing letters in class, it would definitely spread around that she was writing love letters again.
She had to find a place where no one was around to write...
Jiang Si most likely wouldn't be coming to school today either, so there was no rush to deliver it. She would look for Keke after school this afternoon.
She had already made an agreement with Keke to go for a walk together every day after school, so she would try her best to finish her homework at school.
Because of the relationship between Jiang Si and Shion, although the Disaster Strategy Bureau didn't dare to take further action against Jiang Si, they also didn't dare let Keke enter the Bureau again—both as a precaution and to protect Keke.
After all, while there weren't many people in the Bureau who were unfriendly toward the Qingyun Sect, there were still some. Her sister had always disliked the Qingyun Sect, and now that the Miracle Seed had been stolen from the Bureau, if Keke continued to go there, she would inevitably be subject to suspicion and gossip.
As the captain, taking her on daily missions and accompanying her on walks meant they didn't necessarily have to go to the Disaster Strategy Bureau.
In the end, most of the time at the Bureau involved boring things like meetings; not going wasn't a bad thing. In any case, Yinlian herself didn't want to go.
When she went for a walk with Keke after school this afternoon, she could ask Keke to help deliver the letter. Moreover, she could ask Keke to take a look and see if there were any issues with it...
Her sleep-deprived brain thought in a daze. In her half-asleep state, she didn't know why Jiang Si's perpetually expressionless face kept appearing in her mind.
She had actually noticed it before: in terms of facial features alone, Jiang Si was actually quite handsome, which didn't quite match his somewhat irritable and fierce personality. If he wore glasses and sat quietly in the classroom, he would probably be mistaken for a model student.
He was the type Li Yi quite liked...
No, no, Li Yi, what are you thinking!
Snapping her eyes open, Li Yi slammed her forehead against the iron bar by the window to stop her wandering thoughts.
In short, in short, it was just to become friends!
After calming down, Li Yi looked out the window and suddenly sensed something was wrong.
A thick, foul magical energy was nearby?
Before she could react, the vehicle shuddered violently. Screams erupted from inside the bus. The driver desperately steered toward the curb, repeatedly slamming on the brakes in an attempt to stop the bus.
A Disaster Beast had appeared in the distant park!
It seemed to be a bull. Its massive body had appeared directly from the sky, and when it crashed into the park, the resulting tremor reached all the way to the bus, even causing cracks to spread across the asphalt road!
There were no signs of people amidst the upturned soil and park fitness equipment, indicating that the people near the park had been evacuated in advance.
Only the Disaster Strategy Bureau could pull off something like that, but why hadn't she received any notification?
The bus came to a halt just against the curb. Li Yi grabbed her Seed, stood up from her seat, and released a bit of magic to help her push through the crowded passengers. She got off the bus and sprinted toward the park.
Before Li Yi could find a secluded spot to transform, Disaster Beasts began appearing in other locations!
She looked around, momentarily bewildered.
Why hadn't she received any notification?
The Disaster Strategy Bureau was capable of monitoring the appearance of Disaster Beasts in advance. With so many appearing today, the Bureau must have detected them. Logically, as the captain, she should have received the news yesterday...
Two beautiful streaks of rainbow light streaked across the sky. Looking up, Li Yi saw Keke and Yueji, who had transformed into Magical Girls and were meeting the bull-like Disaster Beast.
It was as if they had been prepared all along.
Below the park, police cars and special Disaster Strategy Bureau vehicles were cordoning off the danger zone.
Near the other Disaster Beasts, Magical Girls from the Qingyun Sect were also carefully setting up perimeters to minimize damage.
Everything proved that she was the only one who hadn't received the news.
Sensing a sense of unease, she walked to a hidden corner. Just as she took out her Miracle Seed to transform, she discovered an extremely dense black speck on it.
The speck wasn't large, yet it was so conspicuous that Li Yi couldn't help but reach out to wipe it away.
However, no matter how much she wiped, the black speck would not disappear; it was as if it were etched inside the Miracle Seed.
She didn't have the heart to dwell on it. Just as she was about to transform, her phone rang.
Li Yi glanced at it; it was the Inspection Department of the Disaster Strategy Bureau.
"Hello, is this Yiyi? Are you at school now?"
"Sister? Why are you using the Inspection Department's phone? And why haven't I received any news about all these Disaster Beasts appearing in the city? I see Keke and Yueji seem to have received notifications, and even the Qingyun Sect Magical Girls..."
"You're asking too many questions at once. Sigh, anyway, our Bureau has been infiltrated like a sieve. The Qingyun Sect people even knew about the mass appearance of Disaster Beasts in BH City before we did."
"We'll talk about it when you get back. I have to go deal with the Disaster Beasts first!"
However, just as she was transforming, she sensed something was wrong.
The magic... there was something slightly off about it.
Looking down, the tiny black speck on the Miracle Seed seemed to have grown just a little bit larger.
"My silly sister, there's no need to be so rushed. With the Qingyun Sect and your team members there, these Disaster Beasts won't cause too much harm. The death toll will at most be in the single digits."
"Sister, what are you talking about..."
"I mean you have more important things to do. Right now, the Bureau is not only facing Disaster Beast attacks, but the Witches' Society and the members of the Qingyun Sect have also begun to move. I can feel that the Bureau's current situation is very dangerous. We need you to come back and stabilize the situation, Yiyi..."
Ahead, the massive bull approaching the B-class Disaster Beast suddenly stomped the ground. With a roar, its terrifying magical energy overturned the nearby police cars, and Keke was nearly blown off her broom by the force.
The park was being turned into a massive crater of ruins by repeated trampling. The terrifying, foul magical energy made it impossible for Yueji and Keke to get close.
The bull-like Disaster Beast lowered its head slightly, taking a stance to build momentum.
Then, it charged forward with ferocity!
Streets, vehicles, streetlights, factories—everything was crushed flat in an instant by this charge!
Yueji and Keke stood in front, but even though they were giving it their all, they still struggled to stop the beast's charge.
The power of this single charge alone was enough to rival the level of a B-class Disaster Beast!
It wasn't until thousands of pink petals drifted down, surrounding the bull-like Disaster Beast, that its charging speed finally began to slow.
Then, with one leg half-kneeling, it crashed to the ground, half its head smashing into the earth and carving out another massive trench, until its horns slammed into a building ahead, finally coming to a halt.
Both Yueji and Keke looked back in surprise. "Captain!"
"Sister, I'll head back as soon as I deal with this beast!" Having hung up the phone, Yinlian flew up to stand side-by-side with the two of them. She first asked, "Did you both receive the news in advance?"
Seeing them both nod, Yinlian took a deep breath and did not press further.
Because after the bull-like Disaster Beast had impaled the building ahead with its horns, it shook its head and stood up once more.
"Focus! Coordinate with me to eliminate the beast!"
"Yes, Captain!"
...
Disaster Strategy Bureau, Inspection Department.
Yinluo stared blankly at the disconnected phone.
In the crystal ball beside her, the annoying face of Shuangsheng emerged, grinning. "Oh my, you were hung up on by your own sister. How pitiful. Even though you explicitly said you were in danger, your sister didn't care at all."
"After all, she is the captain of the Magical Girl Combat Team."
Due to the constant flickering of the phone screen, Yinluo's expression was volatile, appearing both proud and disgusted. "First, she must execute her duties as the captain of the Magical Girl Combat Team and protect everyone as a Magical Girl. Everything else comes after."
"Even her sister is included in 'everything else.' How sad."
"Indeed."
Yinluo took off her glasses and picked up the crystal ball. "What's even sadder is that your sister, who used to be so obedient and could only follow behind you and rely on you, has become so independent. She can even give you orders and protect you in return, as if your roles have been swapped."
"Feeling a bit unbalanced?"
Without a word, Yinluo simply smiled and lifted the crystal ball. "Miss Shuangsheng, as we discussed before, I gave you half of the potions. You were supposed to help me activate the Seeds of Lament spread by the Captain. But this quantity... something isn't right, is it? Isn't it quite a bit less than what we agreed upon?"
"Oh, oh, look at how you're talking, as if I'm scamming you." Shuangsheng looked aggrieved. "You know how cautious the Captain is. I've done my best to awaken this many Disaster Beasts. Many of the Seeds of Lament didn't even have enough contaminated magic stored before they were forcibly activated. Wasting this much will surely make the Captain furious later; how can you blame me?"
"And besides, rather than the insufficient number of activated beasts, isn't it more important that you let the news from the Inspection Department leak out? After all that effort, the Qingyun Sect still received the news in advance. In the end, you only managed to keep your own sister in the dark. That's far more fatal than the shortage of activated beasts. If the Qingyun Sect hadn't received the news early, things outside would be in total chaos right now, and a lot of people would be dead."
Rubbing her temples, Yinluo walked out of the Inspection Department.
"It can't be helped. They are the Qingyun Sect, after all."
As Yinluo entered the corridor, she was surrounded by other Bureau employees moving in a hurry.
Outside the Bureau, the roars of several Disaster Beasts could be heard.
Bringing the Seeds of Lament into the Bureau's independent space to awaken them was not a difficult task for Yinluo.
Mudan had already gone out to provide support. Yueji and Keke were not in the Bureau to begin with, so there were currently no Magical Girls within the entire Bureau; they were merely defending with magical barriers.
A massive amount of heavy weaponry poured ammunition onto the Disaster Beasts, and the violent vibrations made it difficult to stand steady inside the Bureau.
But for the Disaster Beasts, this was only barely enough to suppress them.
Under the onslaught of the large number of Disaster Beasts, the magical barriers were beginning to falter.
She walked toward the security room. Currently, all the Bureau's armed forces were dealing with the Disaster Beasts, so the "empty" security room was naturally unoccupied.
She opened the lock, went through verification, decryption, and card swiping—the layers of design were quite professional.
However, having worked here long enough, Yinluo naturally knew how much of it was just for show.
As she passed through, she asked, "I'm curious, why did you betray the Qingyun Sect to join the Witches' Society?"
"Just like how you betrayed the Disaster Strategy Bureau. I just couldn't stand certain people."
"If it were just to deal with the Qingyun Sect, wouldn't the Bureau be a better choice? It would leave you some room to maneuver."
"Don't make me laugh. Do you actually believe what you're saying? Asking me to join the Bureau to deal with the Qingyun Sect? I might as well just go solo."
Yinluo walked all the way to the third brick in the eastern corner. Upon opening it, she could see an exquisite box inside.
Yinluo, who had always maintained elegance and calm, showed a flash of intense emotion on her face.
Caressing the box with excitement and greed, she was impatient to open it, only to find that the box was not locked.
She didn't even need the lock-picking tools she had prepared, which left her momentarily stunned. Then, she opened the box, only to find that only two Miracle Seeds remained inside.
If she remembered correctly, shouldn't there be three?
"Hi hi hi, the gift I prepared for you has arrived. I won't disturb your first grand display of power after obtaining the strength. Bye-bye~"
Shuangsheng's face vanished from the crystal ball. Hearing the disturbance, Yinluo whipped her head around.
Susan was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, looking at her with a hint of mockery and disgust
"Do you have anything you'd like to explain, Miss Yinluo?"
After a moment of stunned silence, Yinluo quickly ran through the list of people who knew the intelligence in her mind, and then let out a sigh.
Shuangsheng, you little bitch...
(End of Chapter)