Chapter 138: Caged Delphinium
Thirty-five years old.
Hong Siyu spent two years in a daze.
——"What happened to you today?"
One day, in a restaurant at night, the man sitting opposite her asked curiously, "You are talking incoherently. Did you drink before you came here?"
The introduction doesn't make sense...that's normal.
She smiled bitterly to herself.
Because as long as she wanted to tell the other person the truth, all the vocal organs in her body would become ineffective and she would no longer be able to make any sound.
Her body no longer belonged to her, and her consciousness was sometimes awake and sometimes asleep. Even when she was awake, her every move was like a machine with a hidden door, full of constraints everywhere.
Information that is not allowed to be mentioned cannot be spoken out, and thoughts that are not allowed will be subconsciously forgotten. Many times, even she herself does not know what she is doing.
She was completely confused as to whether she was still a human being.
But she had to exist like this, and had to persist like this, because she still had a lot of information and a lot of things to tell the man in front of her.
So she forced a smile, picked up the wine glass, and handed it to the man in front of her:
"Last month, the country announced a new list of Magical Girl Hanaru rankings, and there were two newcomers added at once."
What she actually wanted to say was: Margaret-senpai has become a karuta, are you really willing to completely give up the power of a magical girl? "What's the point of saying this now?" The man obviously didn't want to answer this question.
“Is it meaningless to pay attention to the younger generation?”
In fact, what she wanted to ask was: Look at me more, can you detect more abnormalities in me?
"It has nothing to do with me, why should I pay attention to it?" But the other party was still avoiding the question.
"You can't fool your own people with this kind of lie. You can't pretend to have nothing to do with it, right? After all, you are..."
After all, you have been given the honor of "Magical Girl for Life" and can become a magical girl again.
Hong Siyu lowered his eyes and thought silently in his heart.
There are so many things I want to tell him, but I can't say them; there are so many things I want to ask him, but I can't ask them.
In the past two years, she has given too many hints in a roundabout way, but the other party's attitude is also very clear: he doesn't want to get involved in anything related to magical girls anymore.
He didn't say the reason explicitly, but Hong Siyu could tell from his expression that this was not an emotional decision, but rather was based on some deeper considerations.
Perhaps, given her position and identity, she could no longer say anything that could impress this man. After all, she was just a junior whom he had known in school, a teammate with whom he had worked for half a year. Her words were insignificant to him.
But there is no time.
The actions of Black Dawn are becoming more and more frequent, and more and more cities in Donghua Province have been infiltrated. If they continue like this, there will be no more chances.
Then, obviously there is only one last solution left.
She closed her eyes and silently said sorry in her heart.
Maybe this might be a little despicable, but if it can bring back the magical girl in my memory, I will become a little more despicable.
——"The new magical girl from Fangting City has contacted us today. So, does this have anything to do with you?"
…
…
Black Dawn will continue to hunt down the magical girls in Fangting City and strangle the newly emerged magical girl code-named White Rose in the cradle.
Hong Siyu already knew the news.
She couldn't tell Lin Yun about this, and couldn't hint at it in any way, because she couldn't possibly go against Moss's will. A lower-level beast couldn't disobey the orders of a higher-level beast, this was an iron rule.
However, she never intended to tell Lin Yun about this matter directly.
She just waited in a daze until one day, when Black Cinder Dawn had already planned to disguise an ordinary beast attack that night and then attack the magical girl named White Rose.
Hong Siyu briefly regained his clarity from his drowsiness.
The magical girl Bai Mei is Lin Yun’s daughter, the code name of Lin Xiaolu.
This was the opportunity she had found.
She couldn't say what she knew, but that didn't mean there were no other ways; Moss had always thought she was completely controlled, but there were ways to bypass the control and convey the information.
At noon that day, she asked someone she knew to apply for a new mobile phone card, and then took the card to a darkroom in the Strategy Bureau. After sneaking in, she found a purple cage in a device.
It was a cage made of purple-black magic barriers and spell runes, and inside it was a puppy that looked listless. There should have been a pair of wings on the puppy's back, but all the feathers on the wings had been plucked off, leaving only bare fleshy wings.
——It was a fairy, the sower of Fangting City, or should have been the sower of Fangting City, and her name was Nini.
Two years ago, Moss assassinated a new magical girl in Fangting City, then captured this sower named Nini and imprisoned it here.
Its feathers were very useful magical materials, so Moss broke them off; its magic was fairy magic that was rare in the material world, so Moss squeezed it out; two years later, this once lively sower was already dying, with almost no energy left.
It lay in the cage, watching Hong Siyu walk in from outside. The figure at the door was reflected in its lifeless eyes, but it did not react at all.
“You’re the Sower, right?”
Hong Siyu said this without any further explanation, and handed the phone in his hand to the fairy who looked like a puppy: "Then, you should still have the ability to sense the remaining beasts and magical girls in this city."
Nini looked at Hong Siyu quietly in the cage without saying anything.
It could feel that the woman in front of it was also a beast in human skin, and it had no reason to pay attention to what she said.
Hong Siyu didn't mind its lack of cooperation, and just handed the phone forward again: "I don't have any requirements, I just hope you can feel what you can feel, and then wait until the time is right, and tell the person on the other end of the phone what you know."
Nini still did not move, it would not surrender to the enemy.
Hong Si looked at it for a while, rummaged in his pocket, then took out a few biscuits and candies and slowly stuffed them into the cage through the gap.
"...What exactly do you want to do?" Nini spoke, but was still very alert.
"A remnant beast cannot defy the will of its superiors. There are some things I cannot do on my own."
Hong Siyu explained, “But my superiors did not forbid me to meet the sower, nor did they forbid me to give the sower some fresh air.”
"...You want to betray your superior?"
Nini moved her eyes slightly: "Or is this just a show for me?"
"Whatever it is, you don't have any other choice anyway, and neither do I."
Hong Siyu tightly gripped the phone and said in a low voice: "If you continue like this, your magic power will be drained out within a year, and you will become the experimental material of that woman. So why not bet your hope on this phone call? It's just a phone call anyway, and I'm not asking you to betray anyone."
"Who's on the other end of the line?"
"Inspector." Hong Siyu said softly.
The goblin was slightly stunned for a moment, then seemed to realize something and swallowed: "What do you want me to say to him?"
"Just tell him..."
Hong Siyu bit her lip, then slowly uttered two words: "Be careful."
…
…
There is no need to elaborate on what happened after that.
Hong Siyu had done everything she could, and she had indeed made the magical girl in her memory stand up again. The moment she saw Delphinium again, she knew that her mission was over.
As for Black Dawn's plan, she had no way to stop it.
From the moment she walked into the office of the director of the Fangting City Strategy Bureau, she had already become a crippled beast. Under the premise that she could not disobey her superiors, some small actions in secret were already the limit.
She chose to meet the person she loved for the last time on the night of the Full Moon Festival, and then left, quietly waiting for her final transformation in this place that had become a lair of beasts.
However, what she didn't expect was that she would see that person again at the last moment of her life.
She saw the magical girl in a navy blue dress walking in from the main door of the Strategy Bureau with a solemn expression and hurried steps, she was so determined.
Was this a dying hallucination? Or was it fate's final compensation to her unfortunate self? Hong Siyu didn't know the truth, but that didn't stop her from walking out of the crowded herd of beasts. Then, she quietly landed behind the magical girl and made her final request to her:
——Let’s get started.
Then, her consciousness fell into endless darkness.
Hong Siyu knew that she was not a qualified magical girl.
Because, when she first became a magical girl, her original intention was selfish and weak compared to other children.
If most of the girls who become magical girls have great courage and determination to fight for the common future of mankind, then I have always been the selfish one who only pursues my own happiness.
She embarked on this path to pray for her own happiness, and worked hard to pursue the light of her companions, but when she lost her original intention and could no longer see the light ahead, her path was cut off. Because of this, her enlightenment could only take her this far, and that shining light was destined not to favor her forever.
Having lost her light and future, she can no longer go on.
So, this is where everything ends, right?
Hong Siyu thought silently, allowing his consciousness to be drowned by the surging darkness.
An unqualified magical girl who still messed up everything even after retiring. Perhaps all this is her retribution.
If human consciousness still has another destination after death, what should I say when I see Anya? Will she feel regret and disappointment about my behavior?
However, I am no longer a human now, am I? If I become a crippled beast, can I go to the same world as the magical girl after I die?
Hong Si and his feelings are becoming increasingly blurred.
The sticky darkness was sticking to her thoughts, sinking into the bottomless abyss. Her drowsy consciousness became solidified as her thoughts stagnated. The last bit of clarity flickered like a candle in the wind, struggling to emit the last ray of light.
She could feel in the dark that above the boundless darkness, in that distant place, the azure light was becoming brighter and brighter.
That was the magic of the Delphinium, the magic of the magical girl. There was no doubt that when it erupted, it would take her life.
“——”
But she seemed to hear someone shouting something.
Are you a senior?
Hong Siyu feels that if she still has a body now, she should be able to laugh sincerely.
Even if he died as a crippled beast, at least he died at the hands of a magical girl before he did anything evil. At least he died at the hands of someone he loved. That would be the best outcome, right?
——"Hong Si Yu!"
The sound was becoming clearer and clearer, and this time, it reached Hong Siyu's ears with incredible clarity.
This made her, who was almost losing consciousness, regain some clarity.
Why can I still hear it?
She couldn't help but have such doubts.
Is death such a long and painful thing? Even if you have completely lost your perception of the outside world, will you still have constant delusions and hallucinations? It's enough. I don't want to live like this anymore. Let this all end quickly.
She complained in a self-deprecating manner. But then, she felt her hand being grabbed.
Although these hands should no longer exist, at this moment I can feel the power of the clenching hand very clearly.
Who is it?
She couldn't help but want to open her eyes, but she was firmly stuck in place by an unknown force and was still unable to move.
——"Hong Si Yu!"
The sound came from a distance again, but this time, it was closer.
And when this cry reached Hong Siyu's consciousness, the originally distant and dazzling blue light finally arrived in front of Hong Siyu.
She felt herself beginning to rise.
From the boundless darkness, it was dragged by a powerful force and rose towards the sky which was originally out of reach.
——"Hong Si Yu!"
She heard the shouting from her ear very clearly.
Hong Siyu suddenly opened his eyes.
Vision, hearing, touch, taste, the senses that should have been isolated were once again fed back to her brain with incredible clarity, and the world became clear and real again.
She saw the familiar buildings, familiar halls, and familiar moonlight.
This was the familiar Fangting City Strategy Bureau, where she had worked for two years against her will, but now it had become a ruin. Broken walls, cracked ground, broken glass, she was lying in the messy ruins, with the bright moonlight above her head.
And her hand was being tightly held by another hand.
In the azure magical light, the petite girl was covered in blood and stains of unknown origin. Her bright hair like diamonds was stained with dust, and she looked so miserable.
Her eyes and nails sparkled blue, the heart gem beneath her neck also shone with a dazzling blue light, and even her hair shone with magic power.
She was like an angel who had fallen into the world, looking at Hong Siyu with an inexplicable smile.
Hong Siyu had never seen Cuiqiao smile like that before.
"It's all right now."
She said this in a cold but gentle voice, and for some reason, although she was smiling, tears were glistening in the corners of her eyes: "Because, the magical girl is here."
In her hand, she held a small pair of tailor's scissors.
At this moment, the scissors were connected with countless blue silk threads, and the surface was covered with intricate patterns, which were also trembling in the breath of magic.
No, that's not a pattern.
Hong Siyu realized this.
Those things on the scissors are cracks.
She subconsciously raised her hand, and what she saw was not the ugly beast limbs she had imagined, but her own familiar hand, which had turned a little pale due to blood loss.
She looked to the side and saw an extremely tall, moth-shaped beast lying next to her, its stomach ripped open, but empty inside.
It was as if something was dug out from inside.
She couldn't help but make this association.
"senior."
She couldn't help but ask, "You, what did you do?"
"It was just a simple act of killing the remaining beast."
Cuiqiao gently put down the scissors in her hand, pressed down Hong Siyu's hand and said, "Isn't this your own request?"
This answer left Hong Siyu stunned.
She stared at Delphinium for a while, wanting to ask why you are still joking at this time, but when the words came to her lips they turned into sobs, and then she burst into tears.
First, tears silently fell from the corners of her eyes, and she sniffed. Soon, she couldn't help choking, and finally burst into tears:
"It's so scary! Senior! It's so dark, so uncomfortable, so scary, I'm really scared to death!"
"Yes, I know."
"I actually didn't want to die like this, but I thought there was really no hope, so I thought at least I wouldn't give you too much psychological burden when I died, so that you can quickly solve this problem. But I actually don't want to die at all!"
"Yes, I know."
"But I don't want to really become a beast. I don't want to eat people, I don't want to hurt others, and I don't want to hurt those children. I think if it really comes to that, it would be better for you to kill me..."
Hong Siyu cried loudly like a little child. When her tears were almost gone and her voice became hoarse, she paused, gradually lowered her voice, and whispered, "Senior, I like you."
"Yes, I know."
"It's not the kind of liking you have for friends, it's the kind of liking you have for the opposite sex."
"Yeah, I know that, too."
"Well, you know, I've actually been secretly in love with you since I was in the second year of junior high school."
"……sorry."
"But, I'm thirty-five now. I'm no longer the young and beautiful girl I was back then. I've aged like this and turned into such a disgusting monster. You won't like me anymore anyway, right?"
With a slight twitch of her nose, Hong Siyu forced a somewhat ugly smile: "I can only muster up the courage to confess in this atmosphere, and it's just such a disturbing confession. Just pretend you didn't hear it and don't reply."
"...Hong Siyu."
"What's wrong?"
"You don't have to be Anya anymore. You're not her." Delphinium said softly.
Hong Siyu was stunned and looked at Cuiqiao's face and was silent for a while.
"You can actually feel it." She closed her eyes feebly. "I thought you were really as dull as a log."
"Hong Siyu."
"What happened again?"
"Thank you for helping me think things through." Cuiqiao gently released the hand that she was holding on Hong Siyu's.
"What happened? Did you realize you could start a new relationship?"
"No."
"That's right. After all, an old woman like me..."
"Not really." Cuiqiao's somewhat erratic voice interrupted Hong Siyu's words.
This made Hong Siyu seem to realize something, and she opened her eyes again. She looked at Kuroko seriously, carefully observing every detail of her body, and felt that something seemed to have changed about this magical girl who should have been familiar to her.
"senior……"
She panted slightly, her voice trembling a little: "What did you do?"
Delphinium didn't explain anything, but just silently put away the scissors and stood up from the ground.
Then, Hong Siyu saw the scene behind Kuija.
Countless blue magic threads extended from behind the Delphinium, and each thread was connected to the remnant beast on the ceiling. The fluorescent blue threads were interwoven into a huge network. The surging magic power shuttled back and forth on the threads, forming a sea of light, and like a pair of wings, spreading out from the girl's back.
The tips of this pair of wings connected those remnant beasts that were originally humans, and unexpectedly made the originally restless beasts become calm and peaceful again, as if they had fallen into a beautiful dream and were sleeping in silence.
It is even difficult for Hong Siyu to describe this brilliant and magnificent scene in words.
But she began to feel an inexplicable sadness.
Because she knew that this was not what Delphinium should do now.
"Don't be so nervous. I haven't used that trick yet."
As if seeing through Hong Siyu's thoughts, Kuija said calmly: "I just simply let it go."
"I used to wishful thinking, even arrogantly thinking that I was a hero who saved everything. The heroes in the story books, after saving the world, can retire and live a stable and happy life with their loved ones."
"But the real world is not a storybook, and I am not a hero. I am just an ordinary person who was lucky enough to have power, and happened to save some people during the battle."
"I am a negligent husband and a negligent father. I failed to protect my lover and wife. If this continues, I will not be able to protect my daughter. If it really comes to that, everything I have done will be meaningless."
"Well, at least, while I can still fight, I can be a competent magical girl, right?"
She looked at Hong Siyu with a dazzling smile on her face: "Magical girls should bring hope, miracles, and salvation. As long as magical girls come, darkness, despair, and pain should be dispelled and eliminated."
"Let me be that kind of being. As long as I can still fight, I will make all the evil within my sight have nowhere to hide, and I will bring hope to all of you."
"So, I'm sorry, although I don't hate you, I can't let go of the past. I have chosen the future, and I may be destined to not be the one for you."
Hong Si and Zhidao, Delphinium made a certain choice.
It is not simply an emotional choice for oneself, but a more important choice that has far-reaching impact. Once this choice is made, it is like a machine that starts up, and its operation can no longer be reversed or stopped.
“Don’t do that.”
She spoke weakly, wanting to stand up to dissuade him, but then she realized that she didn't have enough strength. She was too weak to even stand up.
"Have a good sleep and rest."
The delphinium spoke to her softly, and then the silk threads behind it surged, creating gusts of air in the autumn night, just like a kingfisher flapping its wings.
In the ruins of the shattered Yi Ce Bureau, the only remaining steel frame was like a huge cage, but the cage had lost its lock. The green bird in the cage now spread its wings, looked up at the sky, and sang, wanting to fly away again.
——"When you wake up, it will be daybreak."
(End of this chapter)
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