Another morning, Lin Yun sat in his office, staring blankly at the computer screen.
It had been a week since he stayed over at Xia Liang's place, and Xia Liang's motivation in both her magical and academic studies had clearly strengthened. As the two new magical girls welcod their sumr vacation, Lin Yun continued his arduous work life.
Of course, when saying arduous, it was mainly because of the pressure he put on himself.
Not only did he have to work, but he also needed to review the knowledge from junior high to help Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang with their tuition. Besides these, there was another important task: he had to fight the Remnant Beasts.
Whether it was because sumr had arrived and the Remnant Beasts had beco as dense as mosquitoes, he wasn't sure. Previously, he would only encounter one every ten days or half a month, but now they appeared every few days.
Even a few days ago, two different places suffered attacks at the sa ti.
Fortunately, both Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang could now be considered beginners in combat, capable of dealing with even stronger larval Remnant Beasts. Eventually, they joined forces with Erald Sparrow to handle the Beasts at both locations simultaneously.
Even though Lin Yun was well aware of his own capabilities, he had to admit that Fangting City's squad of magical girls was indeed short on mbers.
They were lacking in battle, teaching and training, and even in gathering information.
In the past few years' records of Remnant Beasts in Fangting City, he and Hong Siyu had found quite a few clues, nearly certain there were other hidden Remnant Beasts. However, due to the lack of information, they didn't know if any had reached the pupal stage.
In such a situation, coupled with the substantial gains from recent fights against Remnant Beasts, Lin Yun couldn't help but think: Perhaps he should completely give up the idea of a reclusive life and simply resign?
The Echoes that magical girls obtained from exterminating Remnant Beasts could actually be used to acquire wealth.
While they couldn't be directly exchanged for money in the material world, whether it was obtaining currency from the Magic Kingdom or exchanging it for gold, silver, and jewels, there were countless ways to turn contributions into wealth.
If magical girls didn't mind being exposed and arrested by the investigation agency, they could even exchange contributions for supplies or weapons, selling them to civilians of the kingdom or lower-class magicians in the material realm, which was a guaranteed lucrative trade.
Of course, very few people were willing to exchange their magical girl status and power for such shady wealth. That's why weapons and supplies from the Magic Kingdom remained highly priced among magicians in the material world.
As a magical girl with a lifeti appointnt, Lin Yun could completely abandon his current job and live off the inco from fighting Remnant Beasts. In fact, An Ya always claid to be a freelancer, and this "freelance" job was being a magical girl. She even joked with Lin Yun before, asking if he wanted her to provide for the entire family.
Now, a lifestyle similar to An Ya's lay before Lin Yun: earning rewards by hunting Remnant Beasts, he could even use just a small portion of the Echoes for family expenses, and the rest could be used to enhance the team's strength.
This kind of life seed quite feasible, but Lin Yun was still hesitant.
The reason was nothing more than unwillingness.
When he was seventeen, the decision to give up being a magical girl and return to a normal life, focus on college entrance exams and job-seeking, was never about personal gain.
He didn't want to be a magical girl, he didn't even want to get entangled with the Magic Kingdom again, and he has been refusing to contact the kingdom personally to this day, for many more complicated reasons.
With these thoughts, a mory flashed through his mind: a scene in a small hospital room, where a man lying on a bed laughed and said sothing to him.
"...Dad, was my decision back then really the right one?"
Leaning back in his chair, he murmured to himself.
However, this question was dood to have no answer. The one who could have given him an answer was no longer in this world, even buried in the corner of his mory, unable to converse with him again.
Imrsed in his thoughts, just as he was struggling with his next choice, suddenly, the cellphone in his pocket rang.
Picking up the phone, the caller ID showed it was Hong Siyu.
He looked at the screen, paused for a mont before picking up the phone and pressing the call button: "Hello?"
"Senior, are you there?" Hong Siyu's voice ca from the other end of the phone.
"Yes," he responded in a low voice.
"Did we recruit any new mbers recently?" The voice from the other side sounded quite frivolous.
Lin Yun looked at the computer screen and said indifferently, "If there's nothing important, can I hang up on you?"
"A little clue won't cost you a limb. There's no 'Xiao Jin' in the Abnormal Strategy Bureau's records up till now, which should prove how trustworthy I am, right?" Hong Siyu sounded sowhat dissatisfied.
"There isn't. I was just worrying about being short-staffed."
This statent was half true, half false.
In Lin Yun's view, while Fangting City's magical girls were indeed lacking manpower, it also wasn't suitable to continue recruiting in the short term.
In the long run, recruitnt was necessary; Fangting City had to rebuild its young defensive magical force, and he couldn't bear it all alone forever. However, in the short term, bringing in new magical girls could create gaps in his protection.
The most sensible plan was to first elevate Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang Kaihua to the seedling stage before considering recruiting new teammates.
"Eh—"
Hong Siyu dragged out her tone, clearly sowhat skeptical, but she did not continue to press the issue, "Then I have so news; do you want to hear it?"
"Speak," Lin Yun responded succinctly.
"Alright, it's about the issue of assistance we discussed before. The Investigation Institute is unwilling to provide personnel, so I contacted several Abnormal Strategy Bureaus in the central cities. They've all received similar responses from the locale Seeders, all saying that they can't send assistance."
Hong Siyu's voice carried an indefinable emotion, "However, the Abnormal Strategy Bureaus from York City and Jinglan City, the answers they got from the Seeders were... more interesting?"
"What answers?" Lin Yun's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
With a bit of abruptness, Hong Siyu asked, "Senior, have you ever asked if I was hiding anything from you?"
"Yes, I've asked that."
"Well now, it's my turn to ask you the sa question."
The playfulness left Hong Siyu's voice as it steadied, "Have you ever neglected to tell us sothing in the past?"
Lin Yun's expression turned solemn, yet his voice remained unfluctuating, "I'm not clear on what you're implying?"
"Because I got so replies from them that might be different from what we imagined before."
After a brief pause in her speech, Hong Siyu continued, "Shall I read them out?"
"...Go ahead," Lin Yun said sowhat helplessly.
For he had already guessed what Hong Siyu ant by "different answers."
Noise of fingernails tapping on the screen ca through the phone, seemingly Hong Siyu operating sothing on her mobile. Shortly after, her voice ca again:
The Seeder from New York City, 'Pikari', said exactly this: 'We're about to enter the next 20th year, I certainly don't want to get involved in this ss.'
The Seeder from Jinglan City, 'Little Youyou', said: 'Are you talking about Fangting City? The one that person is in? Maybe let's not. After all, they don't dare to go.'
"And even if soone tried to inquire further, they would act as if there were deep secrets not to be disclosed."
After sharing this, seeing that Lin Yun remained silent, Hong Siyu fell silent on the other end as well.
After a mont, her voice returned with a hint of hesitation, "Senior, this 'next 20th year' should refer to next year, right? And what they ntioned must be... or at least, must be different from the Investigation Institute's reasons, right?"
Lin Yun closed his eyes.
Just as he had always insisted to Echo that his codena was "Erald Sparrow", even though that really was the na he currently used, he did this because he was in Fangting City and was concerned about how Echo might react to his previous codena.
Seeders or, say, Fairies, they were different from Magical Girls. At least in certain matters, they always seed to know more than Magical Girls.
"Ha, of course, I would have guessed even if you didn't tell , though I can't be sure," he said.
Lin Yun remained silent, and Hong Siyu continued as if she were speaking to herself, "I wasn't a Magical Girl back then, but Sister Shengzi told that about 20 years ago, after the 'Garden' defense battle, you were summoned to the Rose Palace..."
—"That's enough, Hong Siyu."
He interrupted her, opening his eyes with an expression that was sowhat wooden, and even sowhat stern, "No need to go on, you've guessed correctly."
"Really?"
"Yes, at least in part, you're not wrong."
"That truly is an unimaginable feat."
There was a touch of exclamation in Hong Siyu's voice, "So it's true, no second Magical Girl dares to do that, right?"
"Who knows?" Clearly not wanting to continue this topic, Lin Yun neither confird nor denied.
"So this ans we really won't have any reinforcents, right?"
"Yes, we won't."
"If that's the case..."
Perhaps sensing the stiffness in the atmosphere, Hong Siyu shifted the topic proactively, "Senior, you ntioned before that you're conducting special training for the rookies for next year's certification test?"
"Yes." His tone slightly lifted as she ntioned this matter.
"Then, if you can't free up any ti in the short term, how about trying another option?"
Hong Siyu asked tentatively, "For instance, letting take a look?"
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