Get off work and become a magical girl

Chapter 221 Blocking
Lin Xiaolu covered her head and climbed up from the sofa. The chaotic memories in her mind made it almost impossible for her to tell where she was.

When she saw her surroundings and Lin Yun sitting behind the desk talking on the phone, she recalled what she had just experienced - she wanted to stop the woman who claimed to be "Claw Mark", and then she was suddenly knocked unconscious.

——"Yes, the location is Yinping Mountain, it should be close to the top of the mountain. The other party should not be hiding, so we will find their location soon... You guys hurry over as soon as possible, I will arrange other things."

Almost at the same time, Lin Yun ended the call on his mobile phone.

Lin Yun put away his phone and stood up from his seat. He felt that the matter was extremely troublesome. He sighed subconsciously, raised his head, and happened to meet Lin Xiaolu's eyes.

"woke up?"

Seeing that his daughter was indeed fine, he finally relaxed a little and walked straight to Lin Xiaolu's side: "How do you feel? Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere else?"

"……should be no problem."

Releasing her hands from covering her head, Lin Xiaolu shook her head and struggled to get up: "Where is that woman?"

"gone."

Lin Yun pointed to the window and said, "About ten minutes ago, she knocked you out and flew away."

"ten minutes……"

After hearing the exact time when she was unconscious, Lin Xiaolu's body froze, and then she slumped back down: "Well, it looks like I can't catch up."

"Don't even think about chasing him. You're obviously no match for that guy."

Rubbing Lin Xiaolu's head, Lin Yun said helplessly: "What you should do now is to rest well. As for stopping that person, I have already notified the other members of your team. Cuique and Hongsi will lead the team to solve it."

"Delphinium has gone?"

Hearing Lin Yun's words, Lin Xiaolu, who had just laid down, suddenly jumped up and sat up again: "Where is it? Yinping Mountain? Then I want to go too!"

"I told you, you can't go."

Lin Yun took his hand off Lin Xiaolu's head and said, "The enemy this time is not just dangerous. According to the information I have, the enemy is even more dangerous than the giant beast from the Full Moon Festival. This is not a battle you can handle right now."

"But Delphinium went, right? Everybody's going to fight!"

Lin Xiaolu still held on to the key information: "If I go, even if I can only help a little, I will definitely go!"

Lin Yun was speechless. He really wanted to tell Lin Xiaolu, "If you go there now, you might end up making things worse," but he felt that it would be too harsh to say so.

"Be obedient, Lulu."

After thinking about it, he felt that he could only choose to play the emotional card, so he squatted down and looked directly into Lin Xiaolu's eyes: "Dad will arrange everything, so don't do anything to make Dad worry, okay?"

Lin Xiaolu quieted down.

"But I am the magical girl of Fangting City. At a time like this, I cannot be afraid of fighting alone."

After a while, she spoke again with a conflicted look on her face: "If I choose to retreat just because the enemy is dangerous, then I am not a competent magical girl at all..."

"When you grow up, you will have more opportunities to face stronger enemies. When that time comes, I will never stop you again."

Lin Yun said seriously: "But this time, even if it's only this time, you really don't need to deal with such an enemy."

Lin Xiaolu raised her head. She could see the seriousness in Lin Yun’s eyes, as well as the worry underneath that seriousness.

She opened her mouth again, but the words of rejection she wanted to say came out rather sluggishly.

"……All right."

She didn't know when, at a moment when she didn't even notice it, the words she said had turned into these two words.

Then, she saw her father's expression become much more relaxed.

"Okay, let's put it this way. Dad, I have to go and arrange other emergency matters, so I may not be able to accompany you in the office next time. You can rest for a while and then go back to the base by yourself."

He reached out again, but this time he straightened Lin Xiaolu's hair. Lin Yun slowed down his voice and said, "I'm sorry. We had agreed to spend the New Year together, but it ended up like this. If there's anything else, we can talk about it later."

"fine."

Lin Xiaolu shook her head, looking a little uncomfortable: "There's nothing we can do if the enemy comes, just go and do your thing first."

She didn't know why, but she suddenly remembered that when she was in elementary school, her father often had to work overtime or socialize outside, but he had never apologized to her like this.

And now, she didn't know when it started, but she felt that her father had changed a lot.

It's not just changes in identity and behavior, but also some changes in personality.

If the former change made her feel a little strange, then the latter change brought her a subtle sense of familiarity.

It was this familiar and even comfortable feeling that made her subconsciously choose to agree with the other party's words.

Looking at the father in front of him, he pulled the corner of his mouth, and an expression that was probably a smile appeared on his usually serious face. Then he put on his suit jacket and walked out of the office. Lin Xiaolu sat obediently on the sofa and watched him leave until the office door was closed with a "click".

She sat silently for a while, then looked toward the window not far away.

Just now, the woman who claimed to be Claw Mark left through that window.

With her thoughts in turmoil, Lin Xiaolu first stared at the window expressionlessly, then revealed a somewhat conflicted look which lasted for a long while, and finally she let out a breath as if she had made up her mind.

She stood up.

……

……

The moon was dark and the wind was strong. As the night deepened, strange noises kept coming from the depths of the wooded Yinping Mountain.

As a mountain far away from Fangting City and with a relatively low level of tourism development, there are not many tourists on Yinping Mountain all year round. In addition, on New Year's Eve, most citizens choose to spend the night with their families, so there is no one in the mountain at this time.

In such an environment, a tall tower made of rubble and soil was erected at some point in time.

The tower was about ten meters high and half a meter thick, with some strange patterns carved on it. The tower was just taller than the surrounding trees, and it stood under the night sky through the layers of treetops. If someone looked closely, they could see a strange purple-black light flashing at the top of the tower.

A black cat was sitting there.

To be precise, there was a goblin that looked like a black cat squatting there.

The lines on the stone tower continued to extend upwards, gradually entangled with each other, and finally all the lines converged at the top, which was now covered by Semi's claws.

It was injecting its own magic power into these lines in an attempt to complete a ritual. The purpose of the so-called ritual was very simple - to blow up the mountain under its feet, along with part of Fangting City's urban defense network.

Such a crazy action naturally requires a huge amount of magic power. For fairies whose magic power has never been their strong point, this matter becomes extremely difficult, so Semi had to build this stone tower to assist in his ritual.

Squatting on the stone tower without moving, the time around him seemed to stand still. After an unknown amount of time had passed in the outside world, Semi suddenly opened his eyes.

It detected the sound coming from high in the sky.

A white track extended from the distance towards Yinping Mountain. A continuous sound, as if something was tearing, came from the top of the track and disappeared above Semi's head.

About ten seconds later, a figure suddenly fell from the air and landed in front of it quite lightly.

"Are you ready?"

Yuan smoothed her hair and walked towards the stone tower: "Will it work?"

"The ritual the chief taught me cannot go wrong."

Sitting on the stone tower, Semi's face showed a bit of fatigue. He lowered his head and looked at Yuan: "But you, you went to Fangting City's magical girls to declare war with such a big fanfare, and they actually let you go so easily?"

"I didn't go directly to Cornflower, and I don't know where all the magical girls in Fangting City are. It would be better to ask the people from the Strategy Bureau to pass on the message for me."

When Yuan said this, it was as if he was saying that he just went to buy a bottle of water: "Anyway, the effect is the same. Next, we just need to wait for them to come over."

"Yeah." Semi nodded and had no objection.

The two were silent for a moment.

Yuan sat cross-legged on the bottom floor of the stone tower, leaning against it, quietly looking at the nearly pitch-black night sky. The new moon at the end of the year was nowhere to be seen, and only a few stars twinkled through the thick clouds, looking particularly lonely.

Semi was concentrating on guiding the magic of the ritual. Although the process was mechanical and boring, it did not prevent him from devoting himself to it. Naturally, he had no time to find topics to talk about.

This situation continued for who knows how long before Yuan suddenly spoke.

——"Hey, Sammy." "What's wrong?"

"How do you feel about the two months in this city?" Yuan raised her head slightly and asked casually, "Are you happy?"

"…Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"

"Nothing, I was just bored and just wanted to find a topic to talk about." Yuan explained: "If you don't want to talk about this, forget it, it doesn't matter."

"Oh." Sammy believed her and gently wagged his tail while recalling his life during this period. He finally came to a conclusion: "Not very good, very bad."

"very bad?"

"Need I say more? I have to sleep outdoors with you, an unreliable guy, every day. Sometimes I have to compete with those rude stray cats for leftovers in the trash can. There were even some inexplicable wild cats who came to me to woo me... If I were to find the most miserable experience in my life, it would probably all be in these two months."

Looking down in the direction of Yuan, Semi said rather resentfully: "When I think about the fact that I can finally say goodbye to this kind of life, I don't want to stay in this place full of painful memories for even a second."

"Wow, are you so dissatisfied? I think it's okay." Yuan said with a laugh.

"I'm really dissatisfied! You should at least reflect on yourself!" Sammy said righteously: "In short, all this is because I went on this mission with you, so you must compensate me after we return!"

"Okay, okay." Yuan responded perfunctorily: "What kind of compensation do you want?"

"I want five Echoes above the Metamorphosis level." Semi gave his request without hesitation.

"Five? You can't get that many even if you sell me."

"Stop pretending to be poor. You don't have any stock of your own after all these years?"

"Where did the stock come from? All my resources and money have become the nourishment for my current strength." Yuan pointed to his arm proudly.

"… Then four."

"Not even four. Forget it."

"No, I want four!"

"I won't do it. If it costs so much, I might as well just default on the debt."

"You... three! This is my bottom line! If you don't agree to this, I will first complain to the leader, and then find the deputy leader to beat you up!"

The two people bargained like this for a long time, but in the end they couldn't come to a conclusion. In addition, the whole process was just shouting at each other, and in the end they were both dry-mouthed and forced to stop.

Then silence returned to the depths of Yinping Mountain.

Yuan continued to lean against the stone tower with his eyes closed, while Semi continued to guide his magic power. After an unknown amount of time had passed, Yuan spoke again.

"Sammy."

"……what happened again?"

"Although you may not believe it, I actually enjoyed these two months."

"Oh, really?" Semi, who had not yet recovered from the argument, said indifferently.

"Aren't you surprised?" Kite asked it.

"Why are you surprised? It's not like I can't see it."

"Was I that obvious?"

"You've been to almost every place in the neighborhood. You spend money recklessly and sleep like a dead pig in the bridge hole. You really seem to enjoy this kind of life." Sammy couldn't help rolling his eyes: "Although in my opinion, you are just stupid."

"Are you short of ideas...?"

Yuan was slightly stunned: "Maybe."

"What does that mean?" Sammy was puzzled.

"It means I don't understand it either. Even though you are scolding me, I think it is indeed possible."

"Can you please stop doing this?" Sammy said helplessly, "I was scolding you, but you were reflecting on yourself. This made me feel really embarrassed..."

"Semi." Yuan called again.

"what happened again!"

"Or we can just stop doing it."

The woods fell into silence again.

It was the dead of winter, and perhaps because the snow in the mountains had not yet melted, most of the noise was muffled by the snow. When no one was talking, the surroundings were exceptionally quiet.

"kite."

Then this time, it was Sammy who spoke first:
"You should remember that we are here for the leader's mission."

"Yeah, I remember." Yuan did not deny it at all.

"What the people in this city are like has nothing to do with us. We are just bad guys who are here to do bad things."

"Yes, I know."

"You were the one who came up with this plan because you said that if we just followed the leader's plan and started a massacre, it would make too much noise and might attract unnecessary enemies. It would be better to destroy the city's defense network so that there wouldn't be too many civilian casualties in a short period of time. After the incident, the disaster in the city could also tie down the country's combat power."

"Yes, I understand."

"So, what are you talking about now?"

Sammy's voice was a little cold. "What do you mean by 'stop doing it'? Things have already progressed to this point, and I have tried my best to accommodate your sudden sympathy. I have even handed over the challenge. Now you suddenly say 'stop doing it'? Are you really stupid, or do you no longer want to listen to the leader's orders?"

"If I could choose, I would probably hope that I am stupid, right?"

Lowering his eyes slightly, Yuan whispered, "I can't bear to go against the leader's words... "

"Yan, do you still remember the leader's wish... no, it's our Claw's wish, right?" Semi asked.

"Yeah, of course." Yuan nodded.

"For all the magical girls abandoned by the country, for our compatriots, to create a homeland that is no longer constrained by the country and the queen, and to find a free way to live for all the magical girls who come after them."

Semi read aloud: "No matter how much blood is shed or how many sins are committed, as long as it is for our homeland, we will not hesitate even if it costs our lives."

"It's a beautiful dream." Yuan commented.

“It’s almost not a dream anymore.”

Semi stressed: "We have made so much effort over the past decade, sacrificed so many companions, and shed the blood of so many innocent people to get to this point. Now, there is no turning back."

"We are bad people, undoubtedly bad people. The evil deeds we have committed have long since stopped us from claiming to be innocent. If we cannot even achieve our ultimate goal, then even as bad people we are failures and have accomplished nothing."

"I don't want to see things turn out like that. Rather, things must not turn out like that. I would rather be a bad guy who insists on doing evil than a hypocrite who hesitates."

"In a few hours, it will be the next Queen's Year. We don't have much time left. We must complete the next task as quickly as possible, otherwise the leader's dream... our dream will all come to nothing."

"Don't be stupid again, Yuan. We don't have the luxury of sympathizing with others. If we really 'quit' like you said, we will be the ones who are doomed..."

At this point, Semi paused.

It was not because it had nothing to say, but because it and Yuan both saw several magical tracks extending from the sky.

Dark blue, purple, and orange. These are the three colors of magic rushing to the front.

Light blue, hibiscus purple, green, cyan, light red, light yellow. These are the next six colors.

No matter what the color is, the number is correct. So many magic tracks mean that there are nine magical girls rushing here.

"Yuan, how did you issue the declaration of war? Are you going to blow up their base?" Looking at the colorful magic in the sky, Semi couldn't help but ask.

“That’s why I just said, stop doing it.”

Yuan slowly stood up and shook her feet which were numb from sitting. She stretched out her hand, and a pitch-black magic wand appeared in her hand, then melted and turned into liquid metal as black as ink.

——"But you're right. It's too late now."

(End of this chapter)