Chapter 250 Tudinggui
"Hello, ladies, excuse me, to ensure your travel safety, please show your passes before boarding the bus."
On the quiet platform, a neatly dressed attendant stood at the door of the train compartment and bowed to Delphinium and his group. "Please forgive my presumptuous reminder. Considering that some of you may be riding this special train for the first time, please be careful not to use false or forged documents. This is not a joke, because once discovered, it may affect your subsequent trip."
"A pass?"
After hearing this term, Lin Xiaolu was stunned for a moment, then looked at Delphinium in confusion: "Do we have this thing? Why don't I remember it?"
Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan on the side also turned their eyes over.
"Generally speaking, people who want to go to the Magic Kingdom need to apply to the local Strategy Bureau first, fill in their personal information and reason for entry in detail, and pay a certain fee before the Strategy Bureau can report it to the National Civil Administration and enter the approval queue. Usually, the application will be accepted within a month, and if it is approved, you can get a time-limited pass. After that, you can use this pass to go to the country, and it will be collected when you leave the country at the end of the period."
Delphinium remained calm and explained very calmly: "But this is a general channel. We don't need that."
"Why?" Lin Xiaolu asked.
"Magical girls who hold a qualification certification card can use their certification card as a pass to enter and leave the country at will."
Delphinium said this, pulling out a few cards from his coat pocket: "As for us, we only need to use the admission ticket."
The "we" she mentioned at this time naturally included herself, because from this moment on, her external identity was no longer "Magical Girl Delphinium", but "Magical Girl Longdan". As a "newcomer magical girl", Longdan, who had not yet participated in the qualification certification assessment, theoretically did not have her own certification card.
She had already told several juniors about this matter, but she said that she "had to return to the country to carry out a secret mission and needed to hide her identity." This statement, coupled with her identity as the inspector of the Investigation Bureau, did not seem to be inappropriate, so the juniors had no doubts about it.
"Let me see... So that's it. They are the magical girls from Fangting City, Miss Baimei, Miss Xiaojin, Miss Boxue, and Miss Longdan, right?"
The attendant in charge of ticket checking took the admission ticket, slightly widened his eyes, and a few Favor runes faintly appeared on his pupils, obviously confirming the authenticity of the document.
He did not react to the identities of the magical girls. Obviously, there were countless magical girls traveling on this train between the material world and the kingdom every day. Magical girls were not a rare identity here.
"Okay, the documents have been verified and confirmed to be valid. I'm very sorry for taking up your time."
Having said this, he bowed, walked to the side, and opened the door behind him.
Cuiqiao took the admission tickets of several people from their hands, counted them and put them back into his coat pocket, then led his juniors into the train door.
She looked calm, but the juniors behind her were extremely excited and could not wait to get into the train. They just wanted to see what this train from their country looked like.
However, when they walked in, all they saw was a small room of a few square meters, covered with green plants from the floor to the walls.
"This is... the national train?"
The scene before them was so unexpected that Lin Xiaolu blurted out, "Why is the car so small?"
It was no wonder that she had such a question, because this small room was too small, and apart from a crystal column of unknown purpose placed in the center, the rest of the room was filled with only vines and grass, and there wasn't even a place for people to sit. It didn't look like a train compartment at all.
"This is the transfer level, not the carriage."
Delphinium glanced at Lin Xiaolu helplessly, and while explaining, she took out her ticket and stuck it on the crystal column in front of her: "Stick your ticket up, and then it will transfer us to the carriage we should go to."
"Transfer?" Although still doubtful, Lin Xiaolu followed and put her ticket on it.
Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan followed suit.
Soon, the crystal lit up, and several people felt the floor of the room beneath their feet shake violently. Then, they felt that the small room they were in was moving like an elevator.
"Because the route of this train will include the central cities of the entire state, as well as dozens of larger cities in the country, there will be a lot of passengers during peak hours, and ordinary trains simply cannot accommodate so many passengers."
Taking her ticket from the crystal column, Delphinium explained, "For this reason, the space in this train has been transformed using a spell to ensure that it has a larger capacity, enough to fit nearly a hundred carriages."
"There are so many carriages that it would take an average passenger more than ten minutes to find their own carriage by walking, so we added a transfer floor to take passengers to where they need to go."
As she spoke, she walked back to the main entrance: "Using this method, the time it takes for passengers to reach their carriages can be compressed to just a dozen seconds."
As she finished speaking, the door in front of them slowly opened again.
This time, the scenery on the other side of the door is the true appearance of the carriage.
As Cuiqiao just said, the space inside the carriage is larger than it appears from the outside. The train seems to be only about three to four meters wide from the outside, but the width of the space inside the carriage appears to be nearly five meters, making it appear extraordinarily spacious.
In this extremely spacious space, the interior is not as conventional as ordinary trains, but is ingeniously set up with a bar, a long table, and some coffee tables of different shapes, surrounded by soft-looking chairs and cushions. The inner walls of the carriage are painted bright yellow, and the floor is covered with a soft brown carpet. There is even a separate reading area a little further away, with several huge desks embedded between the scattered bookcases. The whole space is more like a reading salon and a cafe, rather than a train carriage.
When Cuique and others entered the carriage, some passengers had already taken their seats. Some were studying hard in the reading area, some were chatting in the lounge area, some were sipping coffee leisurely at the coffee table, and some were lying on the soft sofa, covered with blankets, and sleeping soundly.
Without exception, most of these passengers were human women, and most of them looked young. As for the other small number, they were all fairies.
This is also very normal, because the carriage that Delphinium and others are heading to is specially prepared for new candidates going to the country to take the assessment. In this carriage, there are only new magical girls who don’t even have certification cards, and the sowers who accompany them to the country.
Compared to the generally quiet magical girls, these fairies seemed much more noisy. They were gathering together to play some games that humans couldn't understand. But judging by the way they were enjoying themselves, it must be interesting.
This group of goblins made a lot of noise for a long time as if no one was around, and finally ended a game amid a round of booing. Then, a goblin that looked like a pony slowly flew out from among them and stopped in front of Delphinium and the others.
"Welcome aboard this train. Thank you for choosing the National Train. I am the attendant of carriage No. 68. You can call me Opera Cake."
The pony fairy looked very polite, and it was hard to tell that he was just messing around with other fairies. "Our carriage is fully self-service. You can choose any empty seat in the car, take the drinks and meals at the restaurant and bar, and borrow books from the reading area, but please remember to return them before getting off the train. If you have any additional needs, please feel free to contact me. I will do my best to meet your needs."
It spoke a series of lines coherently as if reciting a book, and then asked immediately: "So, is there anything you need now?"
Several magical girls looked at each other and shook their heads. After all, they had just arrived here and didn't know what to do even if they wanted to make a request.
Seeing this, the fairy named Opera Cake understood and said no more. After bowing to everyone again, she flew back to the place where she had just played with a group of fairies.
"The gap in business capabilities is really huge." As if she had thought of something, Lin Xiaolu looked at the back of the goblin and expressed her feelings.
"Indeed." Xia Liang had no choice but to agree.
Here we have to mention Mo Ke, the sower from Fangting City who for some reason did not accompany the group.
As a rule of thumb, when a city's magical girl team has new members going to the country to take an assessment, the sowers in the team must accompany them, because compared to the new magical girls, or even the older, more experienced magical girls, they know more about the country, making it easier to resolve various procedural issues and emergencies encountered during the trip.
However, in Fangting City, the situation was completely different, because Mo Ke showed a considerable degree of resistance to returning to his country.
Logically speaking, even if it had left the country without permission, it was now an officially certified Fangting sower, so returning to the country would not be a big problem. But when Kuizi mentioned this to it, Moko flatly refused.
"I'm not going back!"
Such a firm attitude even made people feel confused, but Mo Ke had no intention of explaining further, so everyone could only give up.
After all, there is no explicit rule requiring the Sower to accompany the Magical Girl Assessment, and this time the team also has a natural guide like Delphinium, so it seems that whether Moko comes or not will not affect the itinerary too much.
Taking into account that Hong Si and Aso Yuanxiang stayed in Fangting City, it seemed that Mo Ke did not need to worry about any safety issues in Fangting City. Everyone just let it go, and it finally became like this.
Lin Xiaolu and Bai Jingxuan rushed to the bar almost without stopping and started choosing snacks from the long glass refrigerator. Xia Liang took a seat in the lounge area and lay on the sofa playing with his mobile phone.
Delphinium also sat on the sofa in the rest area for a while, but she didn't have the habit of playing with her mobile phone. She didn't feel tired at all. She couldn't concentrate on reading for the time being. After thinking it over, she stood up again and decided to walk around the entire carriage.
Compared to 20 years ago, when she was a real newcomer to take the exam, the interior decoration of the train had obviously been refurbished more than once, so even though she had taken the national train many times before, she didn't feel bored at this time. She just walked and stopped, looking here and there, and stopped if there was anything worth noting.
Compared with the furnishings in the carriage, the most noteworthy thing is the group of magical girls in the reading area.
The group of magical girls were basically all sitting around the same desk. In the middle of the desk sat a girl with white hair. The other girls gathered around her without any prior arrangement. They all seemed to be reading quietly, but in fact, someone would raise their head and glance at the white-haired girl from time to time.
This strange scene naturally did not escape the eyes of the Jade Bird, but she watched for a long time and still could not understand what these people were doing. It was only after she left that she figured out the whole story from the conversation between several magical girls at another table.
"How about it? Do you want to go to that table too?"
"I would like to go...but all the seats are taken."
"Tsk, those guys are so annoying. They take up the positions and say nothing. Isn't this just a waste of opportunity? If you don't want to be teammates with Tu Dinggui, then don't take up such a valuable position!"
From the words of these magical girls, it can be inferred that the girl with white hair, whose code name is Tuding Gui, seems to be quite famous as a new magical girl. In addition to being famous enough, she also has strength that makes other magical girls admire her very much.
Because Tu Dinggui came alone to participate in the national assessment this time, and because there are many team projects in the assessment, candidates are required to form a team, which means that Tu Dinggui's teammate position is completely vacant when she takes the exam. Therefore, these magical girls who recognized Tu Dinggui all wanted to curry favor with her, hoping to become her teammates in the team project.
"It's really hard work, celebrities." This was Delphinium's comment after understanding the reason.
She could completely understand the thoughts of the magical girls around her. After all, it was not shameful to suck up to someone powerful in an exam. As long as it followed the rules and did not harm others, it was completely feasible.
However, Tu Dinggui, who was surrounded by the crowd, seemed to have a very hard time. The entire desk was packed with people, which meant that she could only read in a very uncomfortable posture while huddled in the crowd. In addition, there were always people around her who tried to make some noise to attract her attention. It could be said that the reading environment was really bad.
However, what surprised Delphinium was that even when being harassed like this, Tudinggui's eyes never left the pages of the book in her hand. Even when she was swayed left and right by the crowd around her, she did not protest, but read the book very attentively.
What kind of wonderful book could make people so fascinated? With such a question in mind, Delphinium looked at the cover of the book:
——The title of the book is "Efficient Casting of Energy Transmutation Spells and Selection of Spell Positions".
Delphinium turned and walked away.
It's not that she has any opinion on this new magical girl who just learned her code name, but in her opinion, someone with such a learning spirit will definitely have a bright future as a magical girl. There is no need for her to continue reading, as she is not really reading gossip.
After walking around the reading area, Cuiqiao returned to the restaurant and bar, where she saw Lin Xiaolu and Bai Jingxuan sitting on either side of a small round table. The table was already filled with snacks, ranging from cakes to ice cream to fruits.
"Ah, Delphinium, there are so many varieties of snacks here! I can't even choose from them all!"
Seeing Delphinium approaching, Lin Xiaolu immediately called out to her as if introducing some treasure: "It's all free anyway, do you want to eat together?"
"No, thank you."
Delphinium patted her head and said, "I just wanted to look around. I'm not hungry yet. You guys eat."
After she said this, she was about to leave the restaurant and bar area, but after taking two steps, she found Bai Jingxuan staring at her eagerly. So she had to take two steps back, pat Bai Jingxuan on the head, and then leave.
After walking around the carriage for a while and basically understanding its internal structure, and admiring the carefully tended flowers in the carriage for a while, Delphinium went back to the transfer deck and left the carriage.
In the national special train, passengers are not limited to their own carriages. In fact, there are many carriages with different functions in the train depending on their different permissions.
For example, passengers who spend more money and have membership benefits can go to the special gym car, swimming pool car, the high-end dining car that is rumored to employ the former private chef of the Gem Scepter, and the bathhouse car where they can enjoy massage services from fairies... The huge interior space gives this special train luxurious services comparable to those of a high-end hotel. As long as you are rich enough, just taking this train is a pleasure.
In addition, magical girls with certification cards can open permissions for other parts of the carriage, such as the meditation room where magical girls can concentrate on their thoughts; or the laboratory where they can conduct some simple experiments; there are also highly reinforced training rooms that can withstand high-intensity attacks; and combat meeting rooms where combat plans are discussed during the journey... All services that can provide combat assistance to magical girls are also on this train.
For ordinary passengers, such as those who simply passed the application and intend to travel between the realm and the material world, or rookie magical girls like the current Fangting City team who do not even have a certification card, the additional service carriages they can visit are very limited. Basically, there are only facilities such as bars and shops that require payment, and special observation carriages.
This time, Delphinium went to the observation car.
Considering that the train uses a space expansion technique, most of the carriages are actually completely indoors and have almost no windows facing the outside. That's why the train has specially added a carriage for viewing, so that passengers who like to see the scenery can enjoy the scenery along the way.
For Delphinium, this carriage is probably the only place on the entire train that makes her feel a little nostalgic.
The interior decoration is just like those of ordinary old-fashioned trains, with a long and narrow rectangular space, benches along the inner wall of the carriage, and large windows. However, in this special train, the aisle is filled with colorful flowers, as if the sea of flowers in spring has extended here.
Roses, daisies, lavender and baby's breath... pink, purple and yellow flowers are intertwined together, and the spaces between the flowers are filled with lush green grass. The soft sunlight coming in from the window makes the colors of the flowers more vivid, as if the boundary between nature and man-made things has been erased.
Perhaps because the space is so long, the passengers are not densely packed. Judging from the position where Delphinium entered the carriage, there were only four or five passengers here to take pictures. The benches in the car are covered with exquisite cushions and decorated with some simple and fresh patterns. The handrails of the tram are entwined with green vines and small flowers, and the ceiling lights emit warm yellow light. The whole space is like a still moment extracted from a dream, familiar yet strange.
It's still the same as it was twenty years ago.
Thinking so, Delphinium walked lightly, trying not to step on the flowers and plants on the road. Then, she picked an empty bench and sat down slowly.
She still clearly remembered the scene when she first took this train to the country: the four-member team from Fangting City solved the problem of no one on duty by applying for assistance from the neighboring city, and then applied for assistance from the Yi Ce Bureau to solve the financial problem of travel expenses. They finally embarked on the journey, and after being exhausted from the long journey, no one knew who led the way to this carriage.
At that time, Delphinium was so tired that her eyelids were fighting. She just wanted to go back to her own carriage and have a sleep, so Anya dragged her in reluctantly. After that, the beautiful scenery in this carriage was deeply imprinted in everyone's memory.
In addition, Anya was scolded by the fairy who managed the carriage because she trampled too many flowers and plants with her rough movements; Aso Yuanxiang opened the carriage and yelled to the outside and was almost thrown out; Delphinium herself fell asleep on the bench because she was too sleepy; Su Shengzi took this opportunity to take a set of photos of Delphinium, named "Alice in the Land of Dreams", and won a prize in a photography competition later...
There are many stupid things in these memories, which would make people feel embarrassed when thinking about them under normal circumstances. However, when Delphinium recalled them at this time, it did not feel embarrassed at all, but only felt nostalgic.
With this somewhat indescribable feeling, she looked up at the window opposite her, watching the scenery that was rapidly receding as the train moved forward. At this time, the train was about to leave Yannan City, so there were large tracts of fields outside the window, which echoed the flowers and plants in the car, as if they were connected into one.
Just as Delphinium was gradually sinking into her own thoughts, the sound of the transfer floor entrance opening was heard.
She looked to the side as the voice came, and the person who walked into the car as the car door opened and closed was the magical girl whose code name was Tudinggui.
This magical girl named Tudinggui has a well-proportioned figure, neither tall nor short, with fair skin and a rosy complexion, and looks like she has been raised in a noble and well-fed environment. Her facial features are slightly deep, yet delicate and soft, as if she is a mixed-race child from different states.
The most eye-catching thing is her gray hair, which is particularly rare in Donghua Prefecture where most people have black or brown hair. Her gray hair is tied into a pair of half-tied ponytails. While part of her hair is loose behind her head, she also has a ponytail tied on the side of her head, making the girl look sweet and refreshing at first impression.
The magical girl named Tudinggui walked into the carriage, holding the book "Efficient Casting of Transmutation Spells and Selection of Spell Positions" that she had been reading in her arms. The hem of her dark blue skirt swayed among the flowers and plants, and then she stopped in front of a bench diagonally opposite to the Delphinium.
The girl pulled her white shirt slightly to smooth out the wrinkles from walking, then straightened her knitted light-colored vest and sat on the bench with her skirt pressed. During the whole process, her eyes were oblivious to the people around her, and perhaps because she was completely immersed in her own thoughts, she didn't realize that there was someone sitting diagonally opposite her.
Delphinium had no intention of taking the initiative to talk to the stranger. The two of them just sat in their respective seats, one reading a book and the other in a daze, without any communication.
It was not until a long time later, perhaps because his eyes were tired from reading for a long time, that Tu Dinggui reluctantly turned his gaze away from the pages of the book, raised his head with a slightly aftertaste, and seemed to be thinking about something.
After a while, perhaps she figured it out, she raised the corners of her mouth happily and waved her fist in the air.
Then, as if she felt that her action just now was inappropriate, she looked around furtively, trying to confirm whether her action was seen by others, but there were actually no other passengers around looking at her, which made her slightly relieved.
Finally, her eyes caught sight of the delphinium in the corner.
There is no doubt that in terms of appearance alone, Delphinium is the most eye-catching one among the magical girls who are generally good-looking. Even if she is wearing a very simple windbreaker jacket without any decorative parts, it does not reduce the stunning degree of her appearance. "Perfect and exquisite like a doll" is often a compliment to appearance, but for Delphinium it is an objective description.
So, did the girl notice the delphinium because she really thought it was "beautiful"?
Delphinium didn't know.
She only knew that from a certain moment on, when the white-haired girl across from her noticed her, her eyes seemed to drift over from time to time, and this very strong sense of being watched made her feel quite uncomfortable.
Until one moment, when the girl was staring at Delphinium for the umpteenth time, Delphinium finally couldn't help it anymore, and she had to ask: "Excuse me... do you have anything to say to me?"
"Um?"
Perhaps because she didn't expect Delphinium to take the initiative to talk to her, the girl was slightly stunned, then shook her head: "No."
"Well, forgive me for being too self-conscious, but the reason you kept looking in this direction just now is because..." Delphinium raised an eyebrow.
"Um, was it that obvious? Sorry."
The girl bowed slightly: "I didn't mean to disturb you, but I thought of something when I saw you. I'm sorry if it bothered you."
"Have you thought of something?" Delphinium asked.
"Well, because you look very young, even about the same age as my 9-year-old sister. So I was thinking, 'There are children this young who want to take the test,' and so on, and I had some unnecessary associations."
The girl nodded and said bluntly: "Of course, this may be my subjective assumption, but if you are in this place, you should also be a magical girl. Anyway, I subconsciously regarded you as a magical girl... Sorry."
"No, you guessed it right, I am indeed a magical girl."
Delphinium shook her head. "But I beg to differ with what you call a 'little kid', because I am actually older than I look."
"Ah, is that so?"
Tu Dinggui blinked and said, "That seems even more embarrassing. Sorry. So how old are you this year?"
How old am I? This question really applies to delphiniums.
Although she knew very well that she was 36 this year and would be 37 soon, that was the age of Lin Yun and Cuiqiao, not the age of "Magical Girl Longdan".
So, how big should "Gentian" be this year?
15? 16? Or 18? Delphinium wanted to give a slightly higher number, at least she shouldn't look too young among this group of new magical girls, otherwise it would easily attract unnecessary attention. After all, there has always been a rumor among magical girls that "the younger you become a magical girl, the higher your potential is." This is an unfounded rumor. She came to the country to infiltrate, so naturally the lower the better.
However, reporting an age in this situation is not actually based on Delphinium's mood, because theoretically, the age of the fake identity "Gentian" should have been determined by Emerald when it was created. If she reports a random number now, it might become a flaw.
Thinking about this, Delphinium suddenly remembered the admission ticket she was carrying. There was no doubt that her personal information should be written on the admission ticket. As long as she confirmed it, she would know how old "Gentian's age" should be.
Without further ado, Cuiqiao immediately took out the admission ticket from her clothes and looked down at it: ——【Candidate Information】
【Name: Gentian】
[Birthplace: Fangting City, Donghua Prefecture]
Age: 10 years old
Age: 10 years old.
Looking at the number written on the admission ticket in her hand, Cuique almost couldn't help but tear up the small card.
Fortunately, she was strong enough, and this emotional fluctuation did not affect her actions at all. After calming down a little, she raised her head expressionlessly and said calmly: "Although I don't look old, I'm actually 16..."
——"Ah, so you are 10 years old. You are indeed older than the 9 years you look."
Tudinggui stood in front of Delphinium, lowered her head and looked at the number on the admission ticket with her, then raised her head and praised: "Being a magical girl at the age of 10, and even taking the qualification certification right away, it's amazing."
"...No, actually...admission ticket..." Delphinium tried hard to organize her words.
"Huh? What's wrong?" Tu Dinggui was obviously completely certain of the fact that she was 10 years old. There was no doubt on his face and he looked very refreshed. "Ah, sorry, do you think I look down on you because you are young? No, I really think you are great... Uh, why do you look so lost?"
"Nothing, I'm just a little worried."
Finally, Delphinium gave up her defense.
(End of this chapter)
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