Even if you're a corrupted magical girl, you still have to try to redeem yourself.

"Are we too late?"

Helica muttered to herself, preparing to investigate the things that had suddenly appeared here further, but before she could even touch them, the magical imprint engraved on the floor suddenly flickered and then began to disintegrate on its own.

Herlica hurriedly prepared to use her phone to photograph the dissipating magical mark, but upon seeing the empty camera screen, she suddenly remembered that ordinary cameras cannot record magical energy, so she could only give up indignantly.

When Helica returned to the classroom to check on the others, she found the teacher already back on the podium, urging the students around her to perk up and prepare to continue today's lessons.

Upon seeing Tian Lei (You are involved in another matter #jiu Qi Zi Helika), the teacher noticed that the seat that originally belonged to Helika was now empty.

"You are... Tianlei, what were you doing just now?" The sleeping teacher had no idea when Tianlei Helica had left, nor did he know that Tianlei Helica had flipped his eyelids while he was asleep. He was now asking seriously.

Helica stammered a few times before bringing out the excuse she had come up with during her brainstorming session.

"I felt a little sleepy, so I went to the bathroom to wash my face."

Herika's face wasn't wet, but the tutor wouldn't pursue the matter.

"Go back to your seats, we need to continue the lesson."

Herlica obediently walked across the podium, glancing out of the corner of her eye at the girls below who were still rubbing their sleepy eyes or yawning, and felt increasingly uneasy.

There was no disturbance at all; everyone just felt that the atmosphere in the classroom was too dull and made them feel drowsy. No one thought that they had been attacked.

How long did it take me to find this place? Ten minutes? No more than thirteen minutes.

Even with the activation time of this magic mark, it shouldn't take longer than twenty minutes.

In those few minutes, she seized the magic power of ordinary people, took the collected magic power away, and destroyed the evidence... If it weren't for the fact that Helica the Thunder happened to be there, she would never have noticed anything amiss.

It's very strange, absolutely very strange.

……

“That’s right, it’s really strange.” Inuyama Baqi leaned back in the activity room chair with her legs crossed, rocking back and forth. The chair creaked as she rocked, and at first glance, she looked exactly like a delinquent girl.

　"You tell me, if she needed magic, why not make it bigger? She could just kiss someone and steal a lot of magic, right? Or she could just attack them, kidnap them, and slowly suck on them…right? All that trouble, and it's just for a tiny bit of magic? What's she after?"

Listening to Baqi's thoroughly villainous remarks, Tianlei Helika crossed her arms unhappily and corrected the errors in Baqi's words.

"It's precisely because they're organized, disciplined, and planned, and their actions are so secretive—clearly they don't intend to cause trouble—that it makes people feel worried!"

With a thud, all four legs of the chair Baqi was sitting on touched the ground at the same time, and Baqi supported her chin with her hands on her knees.

"I know, of course I know."

"What do you know! Isn't this a clear attempt to keep us in the dark? This situation is far from optimistic! Maybe this is some kind of plan by Grimm and Mashiro! Like..."

Herika interrupted, but soon ran out of words and couldn't come up with a suitable example. If she could think like Mashiro Urouge and understand what Mashiro Urouge was thinking, things would be much easier to solve.

“If she doesn’t intend for us to find out, then she should at least keep her commotion to a minimum, right?” Baqi asked in return.

“Isn’t the commotion already small enough?” Helica strongly disagreed with what Baki said.

“Let me give you an example. If you’re working in the kitchen and want to take advantage of the situation, you could secretly take a few eggs without anyone noticing. That’s within the normal range of waste,” Baqi said, shaking her finger.

"But if you just bring the stove home, someone will definitely notice. However... if you just bring a bag of rice home, maybe no one will notice you at first, but after a couple of times, someone will definitely notice that something is missing, right?"

“Uh…” Herika was speechless at Baki’s extremely abstract example. She couldn’t think of any rebuttal for a long time, and she couldn’t understand what Baki was trying to express.

“What Bachi means is—this method of obtaining magic that could cause large-scale riots is fine once or twice, but if it happens a few times, it will definitely be discovered, like you discovered it now, right?”

Yuuki Yui picked up where Baqi left off: "Instead of being discovered like this, why not just cause a few big incidents, collect enough magic power, and then stop and run away? It won't be easy to find the corrupted magical girl who caused such a commotion by following the slightest clues."

When Yuuki Yoriichi joined the discussion, Tenrai Helica's tone softened: "That's true, but... what if it's Urouge Mashiro..."

"If you want to acquire magic power without being discovered, Mashiro Urouge must be able to come up with a better way. At least I can easily think of a few: have Sumireko Yumehara absorb it one by one through the power of dreams; create a device that extracts magic power in a smaller way; or, like what Tomoe said, find someone who has no presence, like Lin, drain her dry and bury her somewhere. Any of these options would be better than the current ones, right?"

Yuki Yuki watched as Lin Jiezi shuddered, but kept her mouth shut.

"So even if we don't consider that Mashiro Uzumaki's habit of not absorbing the power of ordinary people, she wouldn't do something so foolish."

Chapter 140 Magical Girl, a Suspenseful Turn!

"This is a magical girl we don't know. I've never sensed such magic before, at least not in my memory."

Hong Moli slowly rose from the corner where the magical imprint no longer existed, repeatedly kneading the fragments of magical energy between her fingers as if she were rubbing some powder, thus making her conclusion.

If Hong Moli hadn't gone straight to the spot where Tian Lei Helika had discovered the magic mark as soon as she entered the room, Tian Lei Helika might have had even more doubts about what the other party had said.

Even she now has to admit once again that vampires do have a very keen sense of smell, able to clearly locate their prey.

Yes, it's much better than Inuyama Tomoe's puppy nose.

Helica would never say these words aloud. Apart from herself, the other five people standing here were all corrupted magical girls, and she had no reason to invite trouble upon herself.

Helica had originally planned to bring more people, but the sight of a large group of magical girls barging in seemed too conspicuous.

Actually, it's already quite noticeable that five people are acting together like this.

While Helica pondered, Inuyama Baki, who had been holding her shoulders, cautiously leaned over, as if she could also find something in that empty area.

"Hong, are you sure?"

"Probably 80%? If it's someone like Yuuki Yuuki who can use a wand to change their magic into the appearance of another person, then I really wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

Hong Moli's expression was unusually serious, but the confidence in her voice was still quite evident.

"Moreover, the probability I mentioned is based on the assumption that Mashiro Urokin and Hiyori, no, that Mashiro Urokin and Asahiya each possess abilities I don't know about, which is 10% each. Otherwise, there's a 99% chance that it's a magical girl we've never encountered before."

"Why are you so sure?" Helica couldn't help but ask.

Hong Moli replied, "After I came into contact with the magic of Urouge Mashiro and Yuuki Yuuki, I became even more certain that their magic is completely different, but they have the same aura, as obvious as adding sea salt to strawberry milk. I can think that this is the residue left by the primordial darkness magic, or the common point of the three pillar gods' wands, which is not present in this magic."

Helica's confusion deepened. It was not surprising that a corrupted magical girl could do such a thing, but in all the time, only two new magical girls had been born in Moonsea City: Sakura Hanako and Sakuragawa Nana. How could a corrupted magical girl suddenly appear?

If the release of the Primordial Darkness allows some girls' wishes to directly receive a response from the dark power, bypassing the magical girl stage and transforming them directly into corrupted magical girls, then this could indeed explain some of the questions surrounding Heri Tenrai.

But just as Tenrai Herika said when she refuted Inuyama Baki: the corrupted magical girl who created this farce had a plan, was able to precisely control the timing of the plan, knew when to stop, and knew how to destroy evidence to avoid being tracked down. This is indeed not something a rookie magical girl could do.

At least Helica Tenrai couldn't do that when she first became a magical girl; most of her experience came from Rie Tsukimi, which saved her from many detours.

However, theory and practice are completely different things, and the difficulty of actually doing such a thing under the nose of a magical girl is not just something you can hear about.

Hong Moli, unaware of Tian Lei Helika's thoughts, continued to rub her fingers and said, "Fortunately, you notified me relatively early, less than a day after the incident, so I remembered this magical aura. If her aura reappears, I will bring her to you."

That's a classic villain line. Thinking that Koumari might have made a similar promise to Kuroba Kiyomi that she would take care of Yuuki Yuki, Tenrai Herika felt a little uncomfortable.

Although Hong Moli never said such a thing.

However, the progress that Hong Moli's abilities have brought to everyone is undeniable.

……

Five days after the farce at the cram school, a similar incident occurred again, but this time it was discovered not by Helica Tenrai, but by Hanako Sakura.

At that time, Sakura Hanako was waiting for her mother to finish her lunch break at her workplace, which was the largest hospital in Tsukimi City, Tsukimi Hospital, so that the two of them could have lunch together.

While she was waiting, the same thing happened in the small square where she and Mizuno Yu had fought Yuuki Yuki before. Starting with a cup that was accidentally smashed on the paving stones, the mood of the people around her clearly dropped.

Sakura Hanako is, after all, a magical girl, and she naturally mentioned the mark that Tenrai Helica discovered and their speculations to Sakura Hanako.

Sakura Hanako immediately realized that something bad was happening, and promptly transformed herself in a corner where no one was watching.

Perhaps the other party sensed the magic power generated when Sakura Hanako transformed, and the magic that eroded other people's souls to steal magic power immediately stopped, and the situation did not escalate further.

When Sakura Hanako, imitating Tenrai Helica, finally found the magic circle imprinted somewhere, the owner of the magic circle had already disappeared.

The mark that Sakura Hanako discovered was near the power distribution box that controls the square's electricity. If you draw a circle representing the area affected, it wouldn't be difficult to find it.

However, it was noon, and there were many people coming and going in the square. The area near the power distribution box was also a blind spot for the surveillance cameras, so Sakura Hanako had no way of finding out who was active nearby at the time.

Perhaps because Sakura Hanako reacted quickly, it didn't actually cause any harm. Many patients experienced physical discomfort, while the ordinary people who remained in the square only felt that their bodies seemed to become heavier.

However, it's also possible that Sakura Hanako alerted the enemy, because the mysterious corrupted magical girl didn't commit any more crimes in the following week.

But this is all for later.

At the time, Sakura Hanako felt that she should tell her senior magical girls about this, so she made a phone call to the others to share the current situation.

Before long, the magical girl seniors who hadn't transformed, along with Yuuki Yuki and Nishio Reki, arrived together.

By the time the other magical girls arrived, the magical mark had already destroyed itself, leaving only a small amount of magic behind.

"Another new magical girl?"

After examining the unusual magical power, Yuuki Yukino couldn't help but ask this question.

It was Yuuki Gen's idea to take Koumori to the scene for the first time to investigate. After all, Koumori was needed to eliminate some dangerous situations, and at that time, the magic power had almost dissipated, so Yuuki Gen herself was not confident in extracting any subtle magical energy.

However, investigating the corrupted magical girl is ultimately the magical girl's job. Last time, Koumori only lent a hand because of Yuuki Yuuki's feelings, and Yuuki Yuuki felt embarrassed to trouble Koumori every time.

Yuuki Yui originally thought that this time she had arrived just in time, and that as long as she followed the traces of magic, she would eventually be able to find that mysterious, corrupted magical girl.

Surprisingly, the magical aura left behind this time was completely different from the last time, and the location where the magical aura was left was only near the power distribution box, making it impossible to trace the enemy's whereabouts by following the magical aura.

This is enough to show that the magical girl who left the mark intentionally erased her "footprints".

After spending half a day working around the distribution box, everyone ultimately had to return empty-handed.

But there were still some gains. For example, the magic mark that can cast plundering magic might be like a firework, a one-time device with a full set of functions.

For example, this could very well be a case of organized crime.

The third time, too, yielded nothing.

However, it was Lava Mountain Lamp who discovered the third unexpected incident.

One day, while working as a cashier at a gym, Rokuyama suddenly sensed an unpleasant and strange aura nearby. He then intuitively discovered a strange brand engraved on a locker in the gym's changing room.

However, when the lava lamp approached, the owner of the brand had already disappeared, leaving only a brand that was still in operation standing there.

So Lamp casually crushed the strange brand and went back to the front desk to work as a cashier.

Incidentally, this matter was mentioned to Mizuno Yu by Rokuyama Tomo during a casual chat afterward.

"Hmm, I think I suddenly noticed that the guests who were training that day weren't very motivated. They all left quickly. It seems like that's true, right? Anyway, I didn't pay much attention to it. People who resort to such underhanded tactics can't be true experts!"

At the time, Laughing Mountain said something like this—the reason for "something like" is that when Mizuno Yu was describing the conversation between the two, she made a lot of inexplicable remarks.

Because a long time had passed, it was already a week after the incident when Rokuyama and Mizuno Yu brought it up.

Upon hearing the news, Yuuki Yui went to the gym to check it out without much hope, but unsurprisingly, she found nothing. Instead, she was persuaded by Lava Mountain Lantern to buy a 10-visit gym card.

The reason why Rokuyama and Mizuno Yu brought up this matter was because of the incident that Mizuno Yu happened to encounter.

In short, Mizuno Yu went to a hot spring and noticed that as people soaked in the hot spring, they started to become crooked and swaying, as if they were about to fall asleep at any moment. Recalling the two times before, she became very suspicious and searched the surrounding area. Finally, she found a similar mark hidden in a wooden tub.

Needless to say, Yuuki Yui also came up empty-handed this time. Not only because Mizuno Yui found out that the other party had already left, but even if she investigated, she would probably get a similar conclusion to that of Sakura Hanako. The expensive entrance fee alone made Yuuki Yui hesitate.