Chapter 11: It's the same kind of magic, isn't it?

Jiang Si was not particularly surprised by his sister's final decision to join the Disaster Strategy Bureau.

Although their relationship had grown increasingly strained after their parents passed away, over the past three years, he would occasionally catch Jiang Keke in the living room watching magical girl programs on TV.

Some were real-time news reports about which disaster beasts a magical girl had cleared or how many people she had saved, while others were variety shows.

Magical girls needed to make money, primarily because the Disaster Strategy Bureau required funds for its operations, so it was common practice to generate revenue through the idolization of magical girls.

Variety shows, games, television, and movies—there was no shortage of invitations for magical girls to star in them personally.

What Jiang Keke cared about most was the blue magical girl from years ago named翠雀 (Emerald Sparrow), the benefactor who had once saved them.

Though she had never said it aloud, Jiang Si had raised her for so many years and could tell that she had always carried deep guilt because she had once spoken out of turn, blaming Emerald Sparrow for not arriving sooner to save their parents.

She frequently searched for ways to contact Emerald Sparrow and had even written letters in the past, hoping to send them to her.

Unfortunately, they had vanished into the void.

In Jiang Keke's eyes, Emerald Sparrow was likely her idol and her goal.

Since Emerald Sparrow was also the captain of the magical girls in the neighboring city's Disaster Strategy Bureau, it was perfectly logical for Jiang Keke to join the Bureau; it would give her a chance to meet her idol in the future.

It would be stranger if she refused; there was absolutely no reason to turn down the Bureau's invitation.

To ensure he didn't look too foolish, he got up early to change. He wore clothes left behind by his father, which he had been able to wear almost fully since his first year of high school.

Partly because Jiang Si had grown quickly, and partly because their old man was indeed not very tall.

With the cuffs and pant legs folded slightly, the outfit fit him quite well.

After tidying his hair, he adopted a slightly decadent look, as if he were a man half-dead from working a job.

He looked exactly like a member of society.

As for appearance, temperament could mask many things.

At the very least, the reaction from Yin Lian when she looked up as he came downstairs proved that his adjustment had been successful.

"Your brother looks just like your dad."

Hearing the magical girl's exclamation beside him, Jiang Keke couldn't help but feel speechless. "He's just dressing like Dad."

"I only meant he looks very mature..."

"Heh, for all we know, he's a thousand-year-old monster on the inside," Jiang Keke said, making no effort to say anything nice. "He's heartless."

In fact, he wore this exact outfit every time they went to parent-teacher meetings, so Jiang Keke had long since grown used to it.

Jiang Si only had two sets of clothes: his school uniform and his father's suit. He rarely wore the suit.

But whenever he did, he truly did look a lot like his father.

During the first parent-teacher meeting, the homeroom teacher had even assumed her father was that young.

But the illusion would break as soon as he spoke; after all, his voice was still a bit youthful.

"Have you eaten?"

Jiang Si asked calmly. Jiang Keke gave her usual "mm" response, unwilling to say anything more.

Yin Lian spoke up obediently from the side, "I saved some for you. Would you like some, Senior Jiang Si? The food in the kitchen shouldn't be cold yet."

"No need, I ate last night."

Walking to the door, he changed into leather shoes—also his father's. He usually only wore sneakers to make exercising easier. "Let's go once you're ready. We'll be back early; I have school this afternoon."

Hearing Jiang Si say he was going to school, Keke's expression turned visibly mocking.

Go to school? Go to school for what, to skip class?

However, she didn't even bother to mock him, simply following behind to change her shoes.

Even Yin Lian couldn't help but sigh in the face of such a stiff, awkward atmosphere.

A magical girl with such heavy family issues was never a good thing...

Though it seemed like most magical girls had some degree of family issues.

When they pushed open the door, the sun was pleasant today. Although autumn was still far off in Beihai, it was no longer that hot. Especially since it was early morning, a slight chill accompanied the passing breeze.

However, if one stayed directly under the sunlight, it would become sweltering in no time.

After heading out, Yin Lian hid in the shadows by the roadside, enjoying the coolness. Jiang Keke followed closely behind her. Because Keke was slightly taller, the shadows of the roadside buildings couldn't cover her completely, so her face would still be hit by the sun, forcing her to raise her hand to shield her eyes from time to time.

Halfway through, Yin Lian noticed Jiang Keke's repetitive motion of shielding the sun and immediately began to mimic her. She stepped slightly out into the light, intentionally letting the sun hit her, and said, "It's a bit hot today, isn't it..."

"Does Senior like to suffer unnecessarily?"

"I'm actually hot," Yin Lian muttered. She glanced back again. Jiang Si was walking at the very rear; he had no intention of hiding in the shadows and was simply striding forward under the direct sunlight. "Isn't your brother afraid of the heat?"

"His body temperature is always kept below zero."

"What kind of special ability is that?"

"He's just a frozen corpse."

"..."

Though it was a bit impolite, Yin Lian almost laughed. She covered her face to hide an inappropriate smile and asked, "Why do you hate your brother so much?"

After a moment of silence, Jiang Keke tugged at her shoulder bag. "Because he's not human."

Yin Lian hadn't intended to keep pressing; after all, it was someone else's family matter, and asking for the reason was already crossing a line.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Keke continued, "When our parents passed away, on the day of the funeral, he didn't come. He went to work out instead."

Stunned, Yin Lian glanced back at Jiang Si following at the rear and frowned. "There must... be some reason, right?"

"No, he did it purely for the sake of exercising," Jiang Keke said expressionlessly. "There was no reason. Even if our parents raised him, even if they lived together for over ten years, to him, the life or death of our parents wasn't as important as his workout today."

"Perhaps he's just using exercise to numb himself, to hide his sadness and pain..."

Yin Lian looked at Keke with a strange smile. "Senior, you're being a bit unrealistic. In fact, when my relatives dragged him to the funeral, his face was full of impatience. He showed no sadness or grief for our parents' death, let alone pain. To him, it was like two dogs had died. You'll know if you just ask around."

Yin Lian hadn't expected Jiang Keke to reveal so much so suddenly. She was so shocked she was momentarily speechless, and even her pace slowed down.

"I see Senior Yin Lian seems to have some unrealistic fantasies about him, so I'm giving you a heads-up now to prevent you from being disappointed later. That feeling is truly unpleasant."

Yin Lian took a deep breath. "Thank you, Keke. I understand. But I still feel there must be some misunderstanding."

"I hope so."

Jiang Keke remained noncommittal. If it weren't for the fact that Yin Lian was also a magical girl and was attentive enough to make Keke treat her as a friend, she wouldn't have been willing to talk about these family matters.

After all, she had never told anyone in all these years.

But whether Yin Lian listened or not was her own business. Jiang Keke had no intention of getting involved in Jiang Si's affairs. If Yin Lian insisted on taking Jiang Si's side later and tried to force a reconciliation, Jiang Keke would absolutely not join the Disaster Strategy Bureau, nor would she continue her relationship with Yin Lian.

Many of her former relatives had been cut off in exactly that way.

"But I also know that if your own brother is that kind of person, it really is hard to accept. I'm sorry for saying earlier that I hoped you could get along with your brother; I was being too presumptive."

"It's not that..." Jiang Keke sniffled and turned her head away. "You don't know these things, Senior. It's not your fault."

Yin Lian then grabbed her hand and shook it. "Call me Yin Lian from now on. Stop with the 'Senior' this and 'Senior' that."

"Little Yin Lian."

"I never said you could add 'Little' to it!"

Watching the two girls bickering ahead, Jiang Si frowned, wondering what they were doing.

They had been walking aimlessly for nearly twenty minutes, with no intention of heading toward the Disaster Strategy Bureau.

Was this person here to amuse himself and Keke?

Although he could get the Bureau's location by messaging Bing Tang, it would be too easy to expose himself. Who knew if this girl named Yin Lian was monitoring him?

Magical girls always had strange abilities, especially since she was a pink magical girl, who typically specialized in mental-type magic. Combined with the Bureau's reach, contacting Bing Tang would be risky.

It was better to be cautious, so he hadn't contacted Bing Tang since last night, and his phone had been on airplane mode until now.

But wasting time like this wasn't a solution. Stopping his pace, Jiang Si spoke up, "How much longer? Should we call a car?"

On the other side, Yin Lian let go of Keke's hand and replied with a smile, "We're almost there. Don't be impatient."

Her tone had lost its previous respect.

After walking a bit longer, the three entered a remote street. From a distance, Jiang Si saw a somewhat familiar building.

The sanatorium where he and his sister had been sent for treatment three years ago.

Was the Disaster Strategy Bureau actually in a place like this? So close?

He felt a sense of strangeness. If it was this close, why hadn't Bing Tang mentioned it?

Immediately, Yin Lian turned again, exiting an alleyway and turning into another small path.

It wasn't necessarily that they walked a long distance, but Yin Lian turned left and right so much that it almost made them dizzy. Finally, they arrived at a place neither sibling had ever seen before.

It seemed to be near the outskirts. A small grove of trees obscured the view. The three stopped at a corner of a wall. The wall appeared to be long neglected, with red bricks exposed, and many insects could be seen crawling on it. A branch from an old poplar tree hung down nearby, obscuring the top of the wall.

Jiang Si felt that the direction they had been walking was strange. He suspected that Yin Lian might have used her magical girl powers to distort their sense of direction, but he couldn't be sure.

"The Disaster Strategy Bureau is actually in a place like this?" Jiang Keke panted, tugging at her collar. This winding route had exhausted her.

Because of Jiang Si, Keke hated exercising and, by extension, hated PE class, so her physical fitness wasn't very good.

Walking such a long way was naturally quite taxing.

"Of course not." Yin Lian took out a key and pressed it against the wall.

Jiang Si raised an eyebrow, confirming that she didn't view him as a suspicious person.

Because the key was hanging with a Miracle Seed, she made no attempt to hide it.

As soon as the key was inserted, the entire wall rippled. When the key turned, the whole wall opened to both sides like a large gate.

Yin Lian put away the key, skipped inside lightly, and then poked her head out to wave at the two. "Come in."

Jiang Si walked ahead of Keke. As he stepped through the gate, he found that they were facing a station.

There were ten platforms in total, and at the end of each platform was a small brass bell.

The position where they entered through the wall was between platforms nine and ten.

"Welcome to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters."

Although the entertainment in this world was completely different from his original one, the development trajectory was similar.

Jiang Si knew that the work *Harry Potter* had become a global phenomenon a year ago.

In his previous life, he was a web novel enthusiast and had no interest in stories set in low-magic worlds; the magic used by the people in them had even made him sneer.

What was so interesting about a few kids saving the world? Without detailed cultivation routes or power rankings, it was far inferior to web novels. He didn't know how it became so popular; one could only say the hand of capital had worked its magic.

He hadn't expected the prestigious Disaster Strategy Bureau to actually imitate a train platform.

How childish.

Beside him, Jiang Keke walked in cautiously. After peering around for a long time, hearing the name "Platform Nine and Three-Quarters," she immediately complained, "Is there no issue with the copyright?"

"It's fine. They even cooperate with the Bureau over there; the actors are all magical girls from our side."

An Easterner playing Harry Potter? Jiang Si found it hard to imagine.

"The previous platform was too old and dilapidated, which scared many newcomers; it looked like a horror movie set back then. Later, the higher-ups said we had to keep up with the times and at least make it look like something children would like, so we created Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Other Bureau branches are following suit, too."

"Is it effective?"

"...You are the first newcomer to arrive after the platform renovation."

Yin Lian scratched her head awkwardly, then added indignantly, "It's all the Qingyun Sect's fault! They've made it so the Bureau can't find any magical girls anymore."

*Ah, right, right, right, it's all Bing Tang's fault.*

Jiang Si sneered inwardly. It wasn't because the Bureau's recruitment loopholes were so massive; it had nothing to do with Bing Tang.

Jiang Keke didn't join Yin Lian in criticizing the Qingyun Sect, but instead looked curiously into the distance. "So, is it also a train?"

"Of course not."

Yin Lian walked to the bell and tapped it lightly with her finger.

The melodious ring of the bell rippled into the distance. More strange to Jiang Si than the long-lasting sound was that the echo sounded as if it were in the mountains.

Soon, two broomsticks arrived, pulling a small carriage section behind them.

They moved very fast, even creating sparks from friction when they stopped at the platform.

"One carriage is only big enough for two people," Yin Lian explained. "Originally, there were only broomsticks, but later, to match the platform, we attached a carriage section for them to pull. Newcomers won't be scared sitting in this."

As she spoke, she pulled Keke into the carriage first.

This small carriage section was indeed only large enough for two.

"Senior Jiang Si, please wait a moment, I'll come back to pick you up..."

As Yin Lian spoke, as the broomsticks pulled the carriage upward to fly, she saw Jiang Si below her slightly crouch.

Then, like a spring, he suddenly leaped up!

At a height of nearly six meters, he managed to grab the handle of the departing broomstick.

"This one will do."

Yin Lian stared dumbfounded at Jiang Si, who was gripping the broomstick handle so tightly that even as the broom flew at high speed, there was no sign of him falling.

She tucked away the Miracle Seed, feeling a bit parched, and looked back at Keke. "Your brother... just what kind of person is he?"

With a huff, Jiang Keke acted as if she weren't surprised at all. "Didn't I tell you? He's not human."