Chương 33: An Amazing Discovery

Lin Che sat at his desk, the warm light of the desk lamp illuminating his slightly tired face. Outside the window, the night was deep, the city's hustle and bustle had long since subsided, leaving only the occasional sound of the wind gently tapping against the glass.

He closed his eyes, and everything that had happened that day flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern—the sudden infiltration of the illusory realm, Yin Xue's trembling back during the battle, Liu Li's almost self-destructive charge, and the little girl curled up in the storage room, sobbing.

Every scene was like a sharp shard of glass, deeply embedded in his memory, but what bothered him most was always that inexplicable contradiction.

"I was clearly reborn on the night of the 29th, but Yuqing..."

He frowned, his fingertips unconsciously tapping lightly on the table. Yin Xue—or rather, Su Yuqing—had been a magical girl for almost two months. At the beginning of summer vacation, she had already signed a contract with Ruby.

At that time, "Lin Che" should still be the same person he was before.

"The timing doesn't match..."

This contradiction tangled in his thoughts like a mess of yarn. After trying various possibilities but still unable to come up with a reasonable explanation, he decided to first resolve another question that had been weighing on his mind for a long time.

"System," he murmured to himself, a hint of hesitation in his voice, "Is Xiaoye's recovery related to Yuqing becoming a magical girl?"

After a brief silence, a mechanical voice sounded: [There is a certain possibility]

"What's the reason?" Lin Che's fingers unconsciously clenched.

Becoming a magical girl requires extremely high magical adaptability, and one's ability preference is related to the contractor's own obsession.

His heart felt like it was being gently squeezed by something, and he subconsciously looked towards the door—before going upstairs, he saw Yuqing playing with Xiaoye in the living room, and his sister was laughing happily.

"I see..." Lin Che chuckled softly, his eyes filled with tenderness.

Yin Xue's abilities are healing and protection, while Su Yuqing's deepest obsession is protecting her family. Although the biggest mystery has not yet been solved, he felt much more at ease knowing this.

His gaze shifted to the deep night outside the window, and thinking of the "obsession" the system had just mentioned, the figure of the dark blue-clad girl suddenly appeared before his eyes—Liuli.

Her icy blades are sharp and resolute, her fighting style is almost self-destructive, and her hostility towards her "seniors" is abnormally intense...

Lin Che's brows furrowed again. The resistance he showed towards a specific person had gone beyond the normal range; it was more like an almost pathological obsession.

He could clearly sense where her hostility came from—she must have experienced betrayal or abandonment more than once to be so resistant to the identity of "senior".

Even so, she still chose to stand in front of Yin Xue and was still willing to risk her life to protect others.

Is the reason you want to help her simply because she has a close relationship with Su Yuqing?

The answer is obviously no.

Even without the connection to Yin Xue, that stubborn, heartbreaking figure was enough to make him unable to stand idly by.

The ability to perceive her thoughts so clearly may be influenced by the "cognitive feminization" under the punishment state, but even now, after returning to his original form, this understanding remains unshaken.

She was like a wounded young animal, baring her fangs at anyone who approached, yet deep within her icy blue eyes lay a longing for recognition that surpassed anyone else's.

Lin Che stood up and took out the pink and gold transformation device from his pocket—after he tried to discard it and then deactivated the transformation, this thing returned to him.

From today onward, he will no longer lock it in the drawer; he must carry it with him at all times so that he can intervene immediately in times of crisis.

"There are so many mysteries to unravel, but without enough information, thinking about it is futile," he rubbed his temples.

"But improving our strength is always the right thing to do."

In today's battle, he still used that almost instinctive way of manipulating magic, and could construct the magic he wanted to use with just a thought.

However, it would be an impossible task for him to consciously and precisely control either the enormous sphere of magical energy or the high-speed movement of the virtual beast.

Especially after witnessing Yin Xue and Liu Li's tacit cooperation, he realized more clearly that with his actual level of magic control, he was not qualified to teach them as a "senior".

But now that we've been reborn, now that we possess this power, now that we've made up our minds...

Therefore, protecting their path forward is the responsibility he must fulfill as a "senior," as an "older brother," and as an "adult" who has experienced reality.

Lin Che took a deep breath and held the pink-gold transformation device in his palm. As a flash of light appeared, a familiar strange feeling surged into his heart again—his consciousness seemed to be immersed in warm water, and some of the hard edges were quietly softening.

Xing Shuang, now transformed, gently shook her head, her fluffy twin ponytails swaying with the movement. She subconsciously reached out to smooth out the wrinkles in her skirt, a gesture she would never have paid attention to in her male form, yet it seemed so natural at this moment.

"This is such a... troublesome situation," Xing Shuang complained softly, her voice carrying an unconscious sweetness.

These subtle shifts in her perception always left her feeling disoriented, just like now, when she found herself unconsciously focusing on her reflection in the mirror.

"I was supposed to be practicing magic..." she muttered to herself, but couldn't help adjusting the ribbon at her collar again.

"It's all because of this transformed state..."

But what could be done? Consider it punishment for his momentary negligence in not carrying the transformation device. Xing Shuang sighed and decided to turn her attention back to the main matter.

"Let's practice until late at night," she murmured to herself.

"That way, we can offset the time spent on punishment."

She raised her wand, and pink-gold magic spread out like ripples, forming an invisible barrier in the room. This not only isolated the internal magical fluctuations but also allowed her to immediately detect anyone approaching.

Just as she was preparing to practice manipulating magic, she suddenly remembered those energy core fragments—the spoils she had obtained from Yin Xue and Liu Li.

"Oh right, these things..."

She took out the deep purple crystal fragments from the "Tears of the Star" and examined them in her palm. The crystalline fragments refracted an eerie luster under the light, as if they were pulsating slightly with life.

Flipping through these seemingly ordinary energy crystals, Starfrost suddenly chuckled, "Luckily, they're not dark blue, or I would have started having some unpleasant associations."

"I wonder if a Geiger counter would go off like crazy if you put it next to someone in that situation."

These energy core fragments seemed unusually stable in her hands, but considering she was at home, Starfrost dared not conduct any overly risky tests.

When she tentatively touched the fragments with her wand, a shocking scene unfolded—the fragments suddenly transformed into streams of light and were completely absorbed by the wand.

"What?!"

Xing Shuang stared wide-eyed, frozen in place; this unexpected development was completely beyond her comprehension.

What is this? The energy core of the void beast was absorbed by the magical girl's wand? Doesn't that mean...?

"No, it's too early to draw conclusions." She shook her head, forcing herself to calm down.

"We need to figure out what the effects will be after absorption."

She tried waving her wand, and the flow of magic seemed smoother than before, but there was nothing obviously wrong.

"For now... everything's alright?"

"Perhaps these fragments contained too little energy and were directly purified by my own magic."

To verify this hypothesis, Starfrost took out half of the energy core of the Queen Ant Beast and touched it with her magic wand again.

The same scene played out again—the energy core, about half the size of a basketball, remained at the tip of the wand for a moment before turning into a stream of light and being completely absorbed.

"What on earth is going on?" she immediately asked the system in her mind.

"Why is the energy core of the Void Beast being absorbed by my magic wand?"

This is a completely unknown situation.

Logically speaking, magic power and the dimensional energy contained within the energy core are absolutely opposed.

"Hey, hey, hey, isn't this plot going a bit wrong?" Starfrost muttered to herself, staring at the perfectly normal wand in her hand.

"Playing the enemy and ally with the same origin in a magical girl movie is giving me PTSD..."