Chapter 184 Accidents
When Lin Xiaolu dragged the reluctant Bai Jingxuan and Xia Liang out of the secret base, Hong Siyu had already got into his car and drove out of the parking lot.
Without having time to explain anything else, Lin Xiaolu rushed out of the community, stopped a taxi on the side of the road, and told the driver to "follow the car in front."
The driver was somewhat puzzled by such a strange request, but he did not refuse it—the little girls did not look like people with ulterior motives. As he stepped on the accelerator to catch up with the vehicle in front, he asked a few questions indirectly, trying to find out the purpose of these young passengers tracking others in order to satisfy his unnecessary curiosity. However, Lin Xiaolu obviously had no intention of revealing anything, so he tactfully stopped asking any more questions.
On a weekday afternoon, traffic on the streets is relatively sparse. This certainly made the traffic of vehicles smoother, but it also increased the possibility of Lin Xiaolu and others being exposed. In order to avoid being noticed by Hong Siyu by following too closely, the girls chose to stay far behind, just like last time.
The advantage of doing this is that it can make the tracking behavior more covert, but it is also possible to lose the target if you are not paying attention. So Lin Xiaolu had to sit in the passenger seat and watch Hong Siyu's driving route intently.
This made Bai Jingxuan, who was sitting in the back seat, start to think something.
My sister is focused on tracking activities, so it seems that she can take the opportunity to do some small actions.
However, she didn't know what Xia Liang was thinking now. In her opinion, it was not difficult to tip off in such a small space and avoid Lin Xiaolu's gaze, but the difficult part was to hide it from Xia Liang who was sitting next to her.
She secretly reached into her coat pocket and touched her cell phone - this phone was even given to her by Cuiqiao after she joined the magical girl team. Bai Jingxuan glanced in Xia Liang's direction with a guilty conscience.
This action is actually very covert, and its purpose is only to confirm the other party's movements, without any unnecessary intentions. But to Bai Jingxuan's surprise, when she looked at Xia Liang, she found that Xia Liang was also looking at her.
Not only that, when their eyes met each other, Xia Liang also winked at her.
I'll cover you.
She opened and closed her lips and spoke silently to Bai Jingxuan.
After saying this, because she was worried that Bai Jingxuan might not understand what she meant, she considerately pointed to her pocket, glanced at Lin Xiaolu through the rearview mirror, and made a gesture of making a phone call.
After all these actions, no matter whether Bai Jingxuan was slow or not, she understood what Xia Liang meant: she seemed to be on her side.
After confirming this, she breathed a sigh of relief and her tense body relaxed a little. She deftly pulled the phone out of her coat pocket, and like a primary school student hiding from the teacher, she placed the phone against the backrest of the driver's seat and carefully turned on the screen.
While she was doing this, Xia Liang pretended to lie down on the passenger seat, stuck his head out from beside Lin Xiaolu, and deliberately said loudly: "How is it? Did you figure out where she wants to go?"
"Where are you going?"
Lin Xiaolu glanced at her strangely: "How can I tell that? I can't predict the future."
"Didn't you notice that she was heading for the suburban elevated highway?"
Xia Liang stretched out his left hand again and pointed forward, creating an obstacle between Lin Xiaolu's vision and the rearview mirror: "Walking towards the suburbs at this time, isn't it obvious that she is going to work."
Because there was a taxi driver next to her who was unaware of the truth, she couldn't say "Hong Siyu is going to the Yi Ce Bureau" and could only use "going to work". However, this was enough for Lin Xiaolu to understand what she meant.
However, understanding it does not mean that Lin Xiaolu agrees with Xia Liang's point of view.
"You think things are too simple."
Holding the seat belt in front of her, Lin Xiaolu stared at the front window of the car: "If she really wants to go to work, why would she go out like this?"
The "this appearance" she was referring to was Hong Siyu's form as a magical girl.
No one knows for what reason, but ever since Hong Siyu returned to Fangting City as a magical girl, she has hardly revealed her true form, and has been acting as a magical girl most of the time.
This is not a big deal. If you interpret it in a simpler way, it can be said to be a matter of personal preference. But in Lin Xiaolu's eyes now, it is an obvious doubt.
"I've already told you that you think too much..."
Xia Liang leaned over to Lin Xiaolu and chatted with her casually, while Bai Jingxuan seized the opportunity to edit messages on her phone as covertly as possible.
Because she has little experience in using mobile phones, Bai Jingxuan's typing proficiency is very low and she has to stare at the keyboard carefully to type. This awkward posture, coupled with the occasional bumps in the taxi, made her progress particularly slow.
Fortunately, Xia Liang was very good at managing his time. He used all kinds of irrelevant topics to distract Lin Xiaolu's attention, so that her eyes were not on the back seat at all. This gave Bai Jingxuan enough time to slowly edit the information.
Time passed by minute by minute, and when most of the content she wanted to input was completed, a thin layer of sweat had already seeped out on Bai Jingxuan's forehead. She clenched her toes, bit her lower lip slightly, and glanced towards the passenger seat from time to time, fearing that Lin Xiaolu would suddenly turn around and take a look at her during the process.
As it turned out, she was lucky, because until she finished typing the content, Lin Xiaolu didn't notice the little movement behind her.
But she is also unfortunate. Because when she was only a few characters away from sending the message, a bicycle ran a red light at the intersection in front of the taxi and sped past the car at an extremely fast speed.
Squeak——
The driver was quick-witted and used both his hands and feet to slam on the brakes. At the same time, he kept moving his hands and pulled the handbrake in time. He managed to stop the car just before hitting the other party and avoided a traffic accident.
After the whole process, the driver was filled with fear and anger. He rolled down the window and yelled at the cyclist: "How dare you ride a cyclist? You are killing yourself!"
However, the cyclist who was almost hit seemed to be completely unaware that he had just had a brush with death. He simply deviated a little, looked back at the driver, and then rode away without looking back, without even a word of apology.
Seeing that the other party had no intention of stopping, even the driver was a little stunned. Looking at the figure going away, he muttered, "Who is it?"
If the driver was just dazed, then the passengers in the car had their brains frozen.
Because at the moment of braking, a mobile phone suddenly flew out from the back seat and landed at Lin Xiaolu's feet.
It’s Bai Jingxuan’s cell phone.
She didn't have time to put it away, or even to steady herself, and she crashed into the backrest in front of her. The phone, which was originally held in an awkward position, slipped out of his hand, resulting in the current scene.
The phone's screen was even still showing the information input interface, but because the keyboard took up more than half of the screen, the input content could not be fully displayed.
Looking at the phone that fell on the ground, the girls were speechless for a moment.
Bai Jingxuan's brain was buzzing, and she didn't know what to do for a moment; Lin Xiaolu's eyes were fixed, probably still thinking about what happened; Xia Liang's smile was completely frozen on his face, and the idle talk he was about to say was also stuck.
Clearly, a car accident almost happened, but their attention was not on the danger, but on the mobile phone on the ground.
"Ah...Xiaoxuan, you are too careless!"
Among the three, Xia Liang was the first to react. He quickly changed his course of action and reached out to grab his phone: "Don't play with your phone when you're in the car. What if you hit something when you braked just now?"
She showed an attitude of concern for Bai Jingxuan's safety and wanted to take advantage of the chaos to retrieve the phone. Just as her outstretched hand touched the phone, another hand pressed on the back of her hand.
She turned her head somewhat stiffly, and her eyes met Lin Xiaolu's.
"What's written on the phone?" Lin Xiaolu asked with blinking eyes, vaguely realizing something.
“Hmm… um…”
Bai Jingxuan in the back seat had already reached out her hand, wanting to take the phone from Xia Liang, but when she heard Lin Xiaolu's question, her hand trembled subconsciously: "No, nothing is written."
"You didn't write anything? Then why did you write such a long paragraph?"
Squinting her eyes slightly, Lin Xiaolu's mind was working at high speed: "Or, is there something urgent that requires you to type so much in the car? Can't you just call directly?"
Bai Jingxuan felt like sweat was oozing out of the back of her hands.
"That's, that's..."
She was not good at lying to begin with, so she tried hard to find an excuse and once again turned to Xia Liang for help. However, this time, the person she was asking for help was also in trouble.
At this time, Xia Liang could only hold the mobile phone screen on the ground tightly to prevent Lin Xiaolu from seeing what was written on it. Because she had used up too many topics in the previous chat, she couldn't find a good excuse to change the subject even if she wanted to.
The atmosphere in the car was stagnant for a moment. The driver, who had just stuck his head out to curse someone, looked back at the scene in the car and was confused for a moment.
He scratched his chin in confusion, wondering whether he should ask what happened, but he hadn't made a decision yet. Something even stranger flashed in the corner of my eyes.
He turned his head and looked in the direction his peripheral vision noticed, and his mouth suddenly opened wide.
At the same time, the girls who were originally in a standoff also noticed the sudden appearance of the image. They looked out of the car window and also opened their eyes wide.
——There is a crippled beast there.
It was not until this moment that they understood what the cyclist who had just run a red light was doing: he was not looking for trouble, but there was a beast behind him and he was running away.
Looking at the crippled beast that suddenly appeared at the intersection, Lin Xiaolu couldn't help but look across the intersection, wanting to see if Hong Siyu's car was still there, but unfortunately there was nothing in her sight.
She realized that if she didn't catch up now, she might not be able to catch up with Hong Siyu.
If she were to talk about her inner feelings, she really wanted to tell the driver to continue chasing, but reason told her: As a magical girl, no matter what the situation, defeating the remaining beasts is the top priority.
There was not much time to make a decision. She looked at the open road ahead, and all her emotions turned into a sigh.
"——Why, a remnant beast appears at this time!?"
Complaining, she released her hand from the back of Xia Liang's hand. He unbuckled the seat belt in front of him, opened the car door, and shouted to the two girls behind him:
"What are you looking at? Get out of the car!"
"Wait, you guys are getting off here?"
The driver's voice trembled: "Didn't you see what's outside the car? Hurry up and sit down, we should run away!"
Unfortunately, his advice never reached the girls, because before he could finish his words, the three girls filed out and ran out of the car. Only two ten-dollar bills were left thrown on the seat, probably to pay for the fare for the trip.
He wanted to find any trace of these little passengers, but unfortunately he didn't see even a single figure. Seeing that the crippled beast had noticed him and was rushing towards the road with its claws waving, he could only grit his teeth, give up the idea of rescuing it, step on the accelerator and choose to leave.
After that, the transformed magical girls rushed forward and fought with the remaining beasts.
This battle is destined to be unfair.
This suddenly appearing crippled beast was just an ordinary insect-level creature. It was an extremely dangerous monster to ordinary citizens, but to the current Fangting City team it was just a pure sandbag.
In addition, because of its appearance, several girls were embarrassed to varying degrees, and they were in a particularly bad mood, so they attacked particularly hard. Within a few minutes, the unfortunate beast fell to the ground howling and turned into the echo in Lin Xiaolu's hand.
After dealing with the remaining beast with an unhappy look on her face, Lin Xiaolu had not forgotten the purpose of her trip. She hurriedly stood on the wreckage and looked into the distance, but unfortunately, there was no trace of Hong Si or the vehicle in her sight.
Now, she had to admit a fact - that her tracking had failed.
It was not because of a mistake in the operation, nor because of a traitor's betrayal, but because of a brutal beast that appeared out of nowhere.
"Oh, if you lose her, then you lose her. I told you to just look in that direction. Sister Hong must have just gone to work."
Xia Liang patted her shoulder to comfort her, but the smile on his face did not reveal his true intentions: "It's a rare half-day off, we might as well find a place to have some fun."
"Yeah, yeah!" Bai Jingxuan, who got her phone back, quickly deleted all the messages she had edited, and then responded like a good baby.
"You two! You two!"
Although it was her own decision, Lin Xiaolu was still so angry that she stamped her feet: "Why are you so happy when the operation failed! Where is your backbone? Where is your ambition? Where is your spirit of unity?"
"No war crimes, no war crimes."
Xia Liang continued to smooth things over, "We have all tried our best, it's just a coincidence, there is nothing we can do, just relax."
"Sister Xia Liang is right!" Bai Jingxuan nodded repeatedly.
"What do you mean by unfortunate? It was almost successful!"
Lin Xiaolu was furious and pointed at Bai Jingxuan: "And you, what do you mean by 'right'? You little traitor, were you trying to tip off the police just now?"
Bai Jingxuan stopped nodding suddenly and started shaking her head vigorously.
"You're thinking too much. How could a good kid like Xiaoxuan do something like that?"
Xia Liang pushed Lin Xiaolu's shoulders, with a brighter smile on his face: "There's really no other way. We've already failed. Let's find a place nearby to play. I've already decided on the place!"
"you!"
Lin Xiaolu turned around and glared at Xia Liang, but after a while, her attitude softened a little. Perhaps realizing that the situation was indeed irreversible, she lowered her head in frustration: "Forget it, tell me, where are we going to play?"
After all, it was a rare vacation, and she didn't want to spend the rest of her time in negative emotions.
"Let me see... As for the name, it's Fangting World Trade Mall, which is near the Yi Ce Bureau."
After getting Lin Xiaolu's approval, Xia Liang opened his phone and clicked on his memo: "It's a shopping mall invested by the government. It has only been open for a short time. I heard that there are many interesting stores. I haven't been there yet."
"Near the Strategy Bureau?"
"Yes, it only takes about twenty minutes to walk to the Strategy Bureau."
Xia Liang showed the screen of his mobile phone and shook it: "If you want, we can play until the end of the working time, and then go to the Strategy Bureau to confirm whether Sister Hong is at work. If she really came out of the Strategy Bureau by then, she can at least confirm what I said, right?"
"What if she didn't come from the Strategy Bureau?"
"Then I'll accompany you next time, is that okay?" Xia Liang said with his hands on his hips, thinking that his goal had been achieved and in a good mood.
As for Lin Xiaolu, whose plan failed, she was unhappy and felt that she had no interest in anything. However, she still held an attitude of almost cutting her losses and nodded reluctantly: "...I hope you keep your word."
The girls who were unable to continue following the car due to various coincidences did not know that Hong Siyu's car was indeed heading towards the suburbs, towards the Yi Ce Bureau. However, just before reaching the destination, a slight change occurred.
The car turned to the side.
(End of this chapter)
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