Chapter 130 Clues (8k)
"Well, I'm back."
Lin Yun raised his lips as kindly as possible, pretending to meet Bai Jingxuan for the first time and asked, "I already know the classmate on the left. What about the one on the right? Is he also your friend?"
He ignored Xia Liang's little movements because he didn't want to interpret what this troublesome girl was doing. In other words, he could guess what Xia Liang was secretly shouting.
Bai Jingxuan and Lin Xiaolu were watching from the side, and he needed to keep his identity secret in front of these two people. It would definitely be safest to act like a serious elder.
As for Bai Jingxuan's identity as a magical girl, he had no intention of pointing it out. Even from "Lin Yun's" perspective alone, he had every reason to guess this, but it was reasonable for him to continue playing dumb.
"…Stop asking in such a roundabout way."
However, Lin Xiaolu could not understand Lin Yun's thoughts. She wiped her hands with a rag, looked up at her father, and responded bluntly: "This child is the same as Xia Liang. He was also my companion when I was a magical girl."
In her opinion, since she was bringing outsiders to her home to celebrate the festival today, it would be best to make their identities and situations clear to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.
Moreover, although her father did meet Bai Jingxuan for the first time, the people present today - Xia Liang and Hong Si were all related to magical girls, so there was no reason for him not to guess Bai Jingxuan's identity.
Anyway, she had long given up hiding the fact that she was a magical girl from her father, so she just said whatever she wanted to say without any mental burden.
"My name is Bai Jingxuan." Bai Jingxuan beside her also quickly followed and reported her own name.
"...Oh, so this child is also a magical girl. She's so young, that's amazing."
Lin Xiaolu's abruptness only surprised Lin Yun for a moment, and he immediately thought of a response. He looked enlightened and acted like an ordinary person who didn't know anything. "Hello, hello, Lulu, thank you for taking care of me."
"No way! In fact, it's Sister Xiaolu who takes care of me..."
The two of them exchanged pleasantries, the elder was amiable and kind, the younger was reserved but polite, and it looked like a harmonious scene. Outsiders would have no idea what was going on.
As for those who knew the inside story, both Xia Liang and Hong Siyu had subtle expressions, looking like they were smiling but not smiling, which made Lin Xiaolu look at them strangely.
The two people here were repeating useless formalities, and the people next to them were thinking about other things. Among the people present, only one goblin was left whose mind was still on the stove in the kitchen.
When Mo Ke ignored Lin Yun and Bai Jingxuan's boring politeness and turned his attention to the wok beside him, he immediately blew his beard and glared at them, shouting loudly: "You guys! The wok is burnt!"
Everyone present realized that the smell of burning was sweeping the entire kitchen. The girls who had put down their work were stunned to see the wok was already smoking, and they hurriedly gathered around.
However, the incident happened suddenly and the action was hasty, so they were not prepared. They just went to the stove without any preparation, which caused a series of more troubles.
——"Woooooa! It's breathing fire!"
"The shovel... the shovel... the shovel is hot!"
"I, I'll go get some water!"
Bai Jingxuan picked up an empty bowl and tried to reach the sink, but she was too small and didn't pay attention to her feet. She had just taken two steps to the side when she was tripped by Lin Xiaolu's feet and lost her balance.
Seeing the bowl in her hand slip out of her hand and she was about to fall, Lin Yun was quick to reach out and grab the collar behind her neck, and then caught the bowl flying into the air. This prevented a kitchen tragedy from happening.
"I'm sorry..." Bai Jingxuan, who was picked up by Lin Yun, looked at the ground in a daze. After a while, she looked up, looked at the bowl in his hand, and spoke hesitantly.
"It's okay, as long as you're okay."
Lin Yun loosened Bai Jingxuan's collar and stuffed the bowl back into her hands: "Don't worry, be careful."
He didn't let Bai Jingxuan go back to cook, because looking at the chaotic scene, he knew it was time for him to take over the dinner. Since he was already back home, there was no reason for him to let a group of young people busy around in the kitchen. This would neither be respectable as an adult nor safe.
"But what's wrong with you?"
Before he walked up to the stove, he glanced back at Hong Siyu: "Before, you let the children cook, but now you are just standing by and watching? Is this how you usually take care of people?"
"You ask me?"
Hong Siyu blinked twice innocently: "You are wrongly accusing me, it's not that I don't want to, but it's a long story..."
"Long story short." Lin Yun interrupted her.
Hong Siyu grinned and pointed his thumb at himself: "I am banned from the kitchen."
Lin Yun remained silent, but couldn't help but give her a blank look.
One of the two adults present could hardly be relied upon, so he was too lazy to say anything more to Hong Siyu. He stepped forward to take over the girls' work and picked up the kitchen utensils himself.
"Okay, I'll cook, you guys go play."
He said this, freeing the girls from the kitchen.
He had cooked a lot himself when he was in the secret base before. Although he had been on business trips for many days, he was familiar with the stove this time. Unlike Delphinium's height of 138cm, the familiar altitude also made his movements much easier.
However, he still took some care and tried to make some differences in seasoning and cooking time from the "Delphinium technique".
After all, if the taste of the two is too similar, it will inevitably arouse Lin Xiaolu's suspicion.
In addition, the girls had already prepared some dishes before he came back, so he didn't need to spend much effort. The remaining task was just to cook the rest of the ingredients into finished products.
Just like that, after a short busy time, the festive dinner was completed. The Full Moon Festival, which was originally planned to be spent by only two people, became much more lively with the participation of several others.
Lin Yun had previously considered whether he should invite the rest of the Magic Girls Team to his home to celebrate the holiday. After all, if it was just him and Lin Xiaolu celebrating the holiday, the atmosphere would inevitably become a little dull and awkward.
The easing of the relationship with his daughter did not mean that he and Lin Xiaolu had more common topics. In fact, without the identity of a magical girl, he still did not have much to share with his daughter.
Talking about hobbies? He and his daughter don't have any common hobbies, and it's hard for him to say what his personal hobbies are.
Talking about study? It was fine to speak as a father, but asking about Lin Xiaolu's grades in a father's tone would probably only make the conversation more awkward.
In addition, the girls of Fangting City's team had undoubtedly become pretty good friends after spending several months together, and it didn't seem like a good idea to forcibly separate them on a day like this.
If Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan were called over together, it would undoubtedly alleviate the above problems and let the younger generations communicate among themselves.
The only problem was how he was going to ask for it - if he asked for it as Lin Yun, his motives would be unclear; and if he asked for it as Cuiqiao, it would be too abrupt.
What he didn't expect was that before he could make a decision, Hong Siyu had already brought all the team members to his home, leading to the current scene.
From this perspective, he also had to thank Hong Siyu. Although the other party might have just acted on impulse, he undoubtedly helped him solve a not-so-small problem.
In addition, from a safety perspective, it is undoubtedly the best option for the Fangting City team to gather at home.
The unknown phone call he received in the evening was like a thorn, piercing Lin Yun's heart.
The other party asked him to "be careful", but did not give any answer as to what he should be careful about.
Could it be a trap like the night when Lin Xiaolu was in danger? Or would a very powerful beast attack Fangting City next? In this happy atmosphere, Lin Yun's mood was always a little worried.
Therefore, after dinner lasted for a while, Lin Yun found an excuse and returned to his room first, and took out the magic mirror used to communicate with the Investigation Institute. He submitted the results of his investigation in Bai'an City in recent days and the matter of the unknown phone calls to the Investigation Institute.
After doing all this, he returned to the restaurant to have dinner with others.
After thinking calmly, he came to the conclusion that the most important thing he should do now is to stay vigilant, guarding against enemies that may appear at any time, while keeping an eye on the new magical girls at home.
No matter what the possible enemies want to do, as long as they make sure these children are under their noses, there will be no problem.
Time passed slowly as Lin Yun felt a little tense.
No one else present seemed to notice that there was anything wrong with Lin Yun, only Xia Liang seemed to feel that Lin Yun's mood was a little different from usual.
So she gave Lin Yun a furtive look and sent a message to Cuique's cell phone, asking if anything had happened.
Lin Yun did not reply to her.
He simply used Delphinium's account to log into the Fangting City team's group, and while expressing holiday greetings to the other magical girls, he reminded them to be careful when he was away, as the Donghua Province might not be peaceful recently.
In this regard, the girls seemed to be focusing on the fact that Delphinium did not come back for the holiday. They did not pay much attention to the phrase "be careful" which had nothing to do with magical girls.
This forced Lin Yun to secretly send a few more messages to the group, repeatedly emphasizing the point that "there might be danger" before he attracted the girls' attention.
Just like that, dinner time was over, and after the girls ran to the living room to watch TV together, Hong Siyu took the initiative to leave.
"It's a rare holiday, so I'd better go home early and catch up on some sleep. I'm really exhausted from the recruitment exam a few days ago." This is what she said.
Lin Yun did not try to persuade her to stay any longer and walked Hong Si to the door, watching her take off her shoe covers and put on her coat.
"I'm really sorry to ask you to go to the secret base to take care of them these days."
After walking out of the entrance, he carefully said, "Thank you very much for taking the initiative to bring those children here today."
"Just for this kind of thing?"
Hong Siyu put on her bag and looked at him with a smile: "Then there's no need to thank me. After all, we have such a good relationship, right?"
"I don't remember having any strange relationship with you." Lin Yun denied calmly.
"Strange relationship? How come, is the relationship between senior and junior weird?"
Hong Si and his eyes widened: "What I wanted to say just now was 'It is natural for seniors and juniors of magical girls to help each other', but what are you talking about, senior? I don't understand at all."
"……Yeah."
"Such a bland reaction is nothing. I've seized the opportunity to turn the tables, can you at least give me some feedback?"
"No, you are right."
Lin Yun walked along the corridor with her: "It is natural to help each other. I apologize."
"Ah, here we go again, suddenly being so prudish at a time like this! Obviously..."
Hong Siyu started to yell with some dissatisfaction, but suddenly paused halfway through his words.
Her gaze suddenly passed over Lin Yun's shoulder and looked behind him. She pursed her lips inexplicably as if she saw something.
"What's wrong?"
Lin Yun looked back in the direction of her gaze, but could only see an empty corridor and a black garbage bag placed next to a public trash can.
"Um... no, nothing."
Hong Siyu's eyes were a little straight, but after a moment, they returned to their original state and laughed loudly: "I just wanted to sneeze suddenly, but I held it back."
"…Don't act so scary about something like this."
Lin Yun drooped his eyelids and said, "And is it necessary to hold it back? It's not something embarrassing."
"It's very embarrassing for women and it damages their image."
Hong Siyu shook her finger and said, "Senior, you have to be careful. If you always make such remarks to women of the right age, you won't be able to find a stepmother for Xiaolu."
"I'm old now, and I don't need this ability anymore."
Lin Yun said indifferently: "I don't have this idea. Lulu doesn't seem to like it either. It's fine now."
"Are you still single like this?" Hong Siyu tilted her head.
"What else?" Lin Yun asked puzzledly.
"No, I mean... ah, never mind, this is fine."
Hong Siyu breathed a sigh of relief after a brief pause: "That's it, it's not bad to be single forever, after all, I've been single forever too."
"Then you should get married." Lin Yun glanced at her. "Financially, you have the subsidy for retiring as a magical girl, socially, you have a job at the Strategy Bureau, and you are also a beautiful woman. If you really want to find someone, can you not find one?"
All I got was silence.
"What's wrong?"
"Senior, do you think... I am a beauty?"
"Is it strange? I won't go so far as to deny the objective existence of things."
"It's so strange! I feel like you've never considered me as a member of the opposite sex!"
“…”
"Why don't you speak anymore, Senior?"
"I'm thinking about how to express it in a less hurtful way."
“It’s already very hurtful when you have this kind of thinking!”
"Then I'm sorry, as you said, yes."
"Huh? Be careful now, I'm pretending to cry and complain about a scumbag in the hallway!"
"Where did you come from, you fraudster?"
"The scammer wants you to pay, I'm free, want to try?"
"Stop making such tasteless jokes."
With a helpless sigh, after sending Hong Si to the elevator door, Lin Yun suddenly asked, "Are you sure you want to leave? In fact, I suggest you stay."
"Huh? Senior, what do you mean? You want me to stay overnight?" Hong Siyu covered his mouth.
"I'm just a little worried. After all, it might not be safe next time."
"Not so safe? Why?"
"Remember the unknown phone number I told you about?"
Lin Yun turned his head slightly and looked around. After making sure that there was no one else, he lowered his voice and said expressionlessly, "I got another call this afternoon."
"Strange phone call... ah, that? Really?"
Hong Siyu widened his eyes in surprise: "Did the other party tell you that something dangerous might happen again?"
"That's right."
Lin Yun said with a serious expression: "It's almost exactly the same as last time."
"You mean, the time at the wetland park?"
"That's right."
Lin Yun nodded: "So I have to trouble you to inform the Strategy Bureau, and it's better to stay..."
bite--
The sound of the elevator interrupted his instructions. The elevator of the apartment building stopped in front of the two of them, and then slowly opened the door.
The two people standing at the elevator door were silent for a moment, and no one spoke.
"...Then I'll be leaving now."
In the end, it was Hong Siyu who spoke first, walked into the elevator, turned around and waved at him: "I already know what you said."
"Are you sure?"
Lin Yun frowned: "What if you encounter a dangerous beast on the road..."
"It's okay."
The elevator door gradually began to close. Hong Siyu shook his head, then looked up at Lin Yun: "Anyway, no matter what kind of beast you encounter, you can destroy it, right?"
"I will do my best." Standing in the corridor, Lin Yun nodded.
"Really? Then I'm relieved."
Hong Siyu breathed a sigh of relief, looked at him with a smile on her face, and her voice gradually became softer:
——"I leave it to you, Senior."
Her voice echoed out of the elevator, and was finally cut off in the corridor with a crisp "bang".
Lin Yun stood in the empty corridor, looking at the elevator door closing in front of him, pondering slightly.
He was not a fool, in fact, he knew very well what Hong Siyu was thinking. It was just that this thought was a little inappropriate for them now.
Not to mention that he doesn't have corresponding feelings, even if he does, there are too many unsolvable practical problems between the two of them.
Hong Siyu obviously knew all this, so even though she teased her in every way, she never said anything.
This is actually a tacit understanding between them.
The relationship between them is that they were former companions, the senior and junior of the magical girl, and it would be best if it was just this way, it can only be this way.
Any further changes could easily destroy this connection, causing it to deteriorate and eventually become something no one wants to see.
He didn't care at first and tried to refuse Hong Siyu openly, but the other party was unwilling to point it out and admit it, so he tactfully stopped mentioning it.
They are no longer children. The interactions between adults are always like this. They need to carefully manage the distance between each other. Everyone has the truth that they have kept in their hearts and will not say it. There is no need to dig into it. It is impossible to insist on having everything unobstructed.
After all, between two adults, as long as they can play out the characters they have established for each other to the end, it doesn't matter what the truth is. If you rashly talk about further topics, it will only destroy the original delicate distance.
Well, that's enough for now.
This was the unspoken consensus reached between Hong Si and Lin Yun.
After watching the elevator display show that it had reached the first floor, Lin Yun silently turned around and walked back home.
Hong Siyu was unwilling to stay, but he had to go back as soon as possible. The warning from the unknown phone call seemed to still be ringing in his ears. He had to remain vigilant enough to ensure that the new people in the family were under his protection.
Fortunately, no accidents or crises occurred afterwards.
The three new magical girls and the fairy all stayed at home well, gathered together to chat and play; the full moon outside the window was hanging high in the sky, pure and bright, and its silvery light illuminated the entire city; gorgeous fireworks occasionally flashed in the night sky, adding a bit of warmth to this family reunion festival, and everything looked peaceful.
It was just like any ordinary Full Moon Festival, nothing unusual.
Time passed little by little until it was almost ten o'clock. The girls were still gathered in the living room watching a movie that they had found from somewhere, and even Mo Ke sat with them with great interest.
He walked out of the kitchen with the washed fruits and prepared to take them to the living room. Hearing the loud noises coming from not far away, just as Lin Yun was wondering what time he should send them to bed, the content of the conversation in the living room suddenly caught his attention.
——"Don't try to cheat! You will still be the one to take out the trash tomorrow!"
"No means no! I've been working for three days in a row. Strike, meow! It's torture to let a fairy do this kind of work!"
Those were the voices of Lin Xiaolu and Mo Ke.
"You accepted this as your punishment last time you cheated on your friends! You said you had to take out the trash for a week straight."
"I now feel that your request is excessive! I want to go back on my word!"
The two continued their usual elementary school-level quarrel, and what they said was completely meaningless, but Lin Yun, who was standing by, suddenly let go of her hand after hearing the content of their conversation.
Boom.
He quickly reached out and grabbed the fruit bowl, retaining most of the fruit, but the remaining oranges and pears still fell to the ground.
The fruits that fell on the ground were running around and rolling as if out of control, and were everywhere for a while, but Lin Yun still stood firmly where he was, with no intention of chasing after them for a long time.
“The fruit is spilled!”
Moko was the first to divert his attention from the quarrel and saw this scene. Several girls gathered around and wanted to help deal with the fallen fruits on the ground.
"It's okay, I can take them to wash again..."
After explaining dryly, Lin Yun simply picked up a few oranges from the ground and looked at the girls in front of him: "What did you just say about throwing away the garbage?"
“Throwing out the trash?”
Lin Xiaolu was slightly stunned, and then replied: "It's nothing. It's just that we have a schedule for doing housework, and the order is usually determined by rock-paper-scissors."
This was the first time that Lin Yun heard of this. It showed that after he left Fangting City, the three little ones had gone through a lot of trouble in their life in the secret base.
"Rock, paper, scissors, trash?"
Lin Yun looked at Lin Xiaolu in confusion: "So, who were you talking to just now?"
"…If you're talking about this, you're talking about it."
Lin Xiaolu pointed at Moko who was floating on the side and said, "It's the fairy who made us magical girls. They are usually called sowers."
"There's nothing over there." Lin Yun ignored Xia Liang's teasing smile and continued to maintain his ordinary persona.
"Well, because ordinary people can't see fairies."
Lin Xiaolu did not doubt him and explained honestly: "But they also really exist. You can touch them if you stretch out your hand."
“You can’t see it but you can touch it?”
Lin Yun put on a full show and reached out his hand to touch Mo Ke again. After expressing his surprise, he asked again, "So, you're saying that you were asking the goblins to... take out the garbage?"
"Yeah." Lin Xiaolu nodded, "Actually, there's no problem. It's already been thrown out once just now."
"Yes, is that so..."
Lin Yun felt that he could hardly utter a word and could only speak mechanically.
Since his comeback as a magical girl, except for the night when Lin Xiaolu was in danger, he has never felt so cold inside as he does now.
His brain felt as if it had been hit by a heavy hammer, leaving only a buzzing sound and making his thinking somewhat sluggish.
The saying “ordinary people can’t see goblins” is actually a relatively broad description.
This description is not absolute. In fact, the fundamental reason why ordinary people cannot see fairies is that they do not have enough magic power.
Generally speaking, if you want to see fairies, you must at least be a novice magician, only then will you have the magical power to see fairies.
As for magical girls, even unsigned magical girl candidates, most of them already have a level of magic power close to that of a magician when they were still mortals, so it is easy to see fairies.
However, retired magical girls don't have this ability.
In order to ensure that retired magical girls do not abuse their power after leaving the country, the country will take back and seal the magic power of retired magical girls, reducing it to the level of ordinary people.
In other words, the magic power of a retired magical girl is not much stronger than that of an ordinary person. In this case, they naturally cannot see fairies.
As a magical girl who retired in a conventional way, Hong Si and Nature were no exception. In fact, according to her own words and her previous performance, she had lost her magic power and could no longer see fairies.
But just now, through the conversation between Lin Xiaolu and Mo Ke, he finally realized: what was Hong Si looking at when he was at the door just now.
Hong Siyu was looking at the back of him, at the trash can behind him, at the trash bag next to him, and at that moment, the man who was struggling to carry a bag of trash over there...
...Moko.
impossible.
This was the first judgment Lin Yun could make.
His reason told him that it was impossible because it was inexplicable and incomprehensible.
The sealed magic source can no longer provide magic power to the magical girl, just like a car without a fuel tank. Without the source of energy, the magic power of the magical girl will not be much better than that of an ordinary person.
And this change is almost irreversible, because he has never heard of a magical girl who can regain the qualification to use her power from the country after retiring.
So, if that’s the case, why did Hong Siyu see Mo Ke?
Lin Yun mechanically picked up the fruit on the ground, brought it back to the kitchen, and stood by the sink. He seemed extremely calm on the surface, but his mind was constantly churning.
Just at this moment, he suddenly heard his cell phone ringing again.
He took out his cell phone from his pocket and looked at the screen. The number on it made his eyes freeze: this was the strange number that had contacted him in the afternoon.
Almost instantly, he pressed his finger to answer the call. Putting the phone to his ear, Lin Yun adjusted his breathing and asked calmly, "Hello?"
“…hiss.”
The noise of the signal came from the other end again.
“Hurry…go…”
What followed was a voice that was even fainter than the previous ones.
"What?"
"...Go find her."
"who?"
"Go find... go find..."
The chaotic sound became louder and louder, even covering the already weak human voice, making it even weaker. Just when Lin Yun thought that this call might end in failure like the previous one, the chaotic signal suddenly disappeared.
Almost at the same moment, an extremely clear but weak voice reached Lin Yun's ears from the other side of the call.
——"Lord Cornflower, go find Asagao quickly, it's too late!"
I asked for leave in the pinned post in the book review section yesterday, but I don’t know what went wrong with the post and it’s not showing up…
I can only say I'm very sorry about this, so I did 7k6 in one go today to make up for yesterday's update.
(End of this chapter)
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