Since Lin Yun had disguised himself as Erald Sparrow in front of his daughter, carrying two cell phones had beco a habit for him.
In order not to reveal any flaws when using them, he even deliberately sought advice from a female sales assistant in a flagship store before purchasing the phones. Heeding her suggestion, he chose a cell phone case for "Erald Sparrow's phone" to make it look a bit more feminine.
There were only three contacts on this phone, naly Lin Xiaolu, Xia Liang, and Hong Siyu.
To ensure that he could promptly communicate with them in case the Remnant Beasts appeared or there was an ergency, Lin Yun would not purposely turn off the phone or set it to silent mode; he only switched it to vibrate while at work.
Today was no exception.
When he left for work in the morning, he took extra care to carry Erald Sparrow's phone with him, taking it out of the pocket of his usual business attire to ensure that his communication with the two girls as Erald Sparrow was smooth.
However, at that ti, he hadn't anticipated that the two young girls would have followed him, and even tracked him all the way to the shopping center.
At first, he was focused on acting to deceive Moke; after encountering the two girls, he started figuring out how to help them save face in this awkward situation; and later while shopping, he beca imrsed in the sentintal mood of this special day, completely forgetting the ticking ti bomb in the inner pocket of his jacket.
As a result, it had led to the present situation: the clear ringtone made Xia Liang shift her gaze his way, while he reached inside his jacket, holding the phone and not knowing whether he should take it out.
In just a few short seconds, several plans flashed through Lin Yun's mind:
The first option was to quickly lower Erald Sparrow's phone volu to the minimum and then take out his own phone, pretending to have just received a call.
This plan was the most logically sound, but operationally difficult—he had set his ringtone to both ring and vibrate so as not to overlook any calls.
Even if he could mute the phone volu entirely, in the nearly deserted restaurant, the sound of vibration was equally hard to ignore.
The second option was to answer the call but cover the mouthpiece of Erald Sparrow's phone with his hand so his voice wouldn't be picked up by this phone; then take out Lin Yun's phone and pretend to receive a call from soone else.
Logically, this plan also had minimal flaws, but operationally it was even more challenging. First, he couldn't ensure that he would completely cover the mouthpiece, and even a slight leak of sound would give him away; second, this would make his actions quite odd, with his right hand inside his coat and his left hand reaching over to his right side to answer a call on his other phone; it would look very strange no matter how one saw it.
The last option was to simply hang up the call and then call Erald Sparrow using Lin Yun's phone, ensuring that Xia Liang would only receive a "busy" signal when she tried to call.
This was operationally simple and he could definitely succeed if he chose to, but logically there was a huge flaw: he couldn't explain why the ringing stopped on his end, and Xia Liang's call was disconnected at the sa ti.
While he was still weighing his options, Xia Liang had already taken action first.
She held the phone to her ear, tilting her head towards Lin Yun with a look of confusion and inquiry in her eyes, "Uncle, aren't you going to answer your phone?"
Lin Yun knew there was no ti left to delay.
"Hmm, thank you for the reminder, I was just thinking about sothing and didn't notice."
He replied with an expressionless face, trying to distract Xia Liang through conversation while he began to fiddle with the side of the phone, attempting to find the volu button to at least silence the ringtone for now.
As far as he was concerned, although several plans had been laid out, it didn't an they couldn't be mixed together. He would have to play it by ear and take things as they ca; there was still a chance he could bluff his way through.
"Strange indeed... let's try hanging up," Xia Liang muttered to herself, her fingers deftly tapping on her phone screen. Your journey continues on мѵʟ
In the mont following her action, the ringtone in the restaurant stopped.
The empty restaurant returned to its previous silence, with only the hustle and bustle of the shopping mall's busy walkway outside the showcase windows filling the air with exclamations and screams, while the restaurant's glass partition created a boundary, separating the inside and outside into two worlds: outside was chaotic and crowded with a panic-filled tumult; inside was starkly quiet, with an awkward hush.
Indisputably, Xia Liang had just pressed the end call button.
Following this series of maneuvers, she first glanced at Lin Yun while holding her phone, blinking her eyes innocently, then exclaid with astonishnt, "Ah, it really stopped?"
Lin Yun looked at the restaurant's undecorated ceiling and took a deep breath.
His hand, which had been at his chest, now limply fell to his side.
"Uncle, you have soone else's phone on you."
Seemingly understanding the situation, Xia Liang tried to restrain herself, but still, a sowhat sly smile appeared on her face, "It's a bit of a leap to ask, but it's that person I'm thinking of, isn't it?"
"You guessed right," Lin Yun conceded with the resignation of a boiled pig, his voice devoid of any inflection, openly admitting it.
"Why would the phone of Little Senior... no, Erald Sparrow Senior, be with you, uncle?"
After getting Lin Yun's response, Xia Liang seed even more confused, "I rember Junior used my phone at my place last night..."
"We know each other, and I found this morning that she left her phone at my house."
Lin Yun numbly opened his mouth, vainly throwing out a reason made up on the spot, "Although it's not what you think, we do maintain a certain contact."
"Going to find Uncle in the middle of the night, and then leaving your phone at your house..."
Xia Liang's mouth gradually opened wide, "You an, you two really have that kind of relationship?"
"I don't know what relationship you're referring to, but I don't think so," Lin Yun closed his eyes.
"Uncle, even if it's consensual, it's still illegal to have that kind of relationship with a child, you know?"
Frowning, Xia Liang said sowhat sternly, "And Erald Sparrow is so cute, how could you have the heart to do bad things to her?"
"...As I said, we're not that kind of relationship, it's just intersecting because of Lulu and the Magical Girl stuff," Lin Yun sighed helplessly.
"Moreover, she should have told you, right? She's much older than you guys, an adult the sa age as ."
"That's not okay either."
Xia Liang pouted, showing rare displeasure, "Even if you're both adults, I still think it shouldn't be like that, and that's not fair to Xiaolu, right?"
"Classmate, I can assure you, it's really not like what you think."
Lin Yun, enduring the awkwardness inside, put on a grave face and argued earnestly, "I know you're worried about Lulu, and I also know that Lulu is not quite ready to accept a... uh, stepmother. So there's really no romantic relationship with the 'Erald Sparrow' you're talking about."
"Really?" Xia Liang sounded skeptical.
"If I had to say, she's actually more closely related to Lulu's mother."
To divert her attention, Lin Yun explained, half-truthfully, "This, if you want to know, I'll tell you on the way back."
"Her mother? You an..." Xia Liang wanted to ask more, but her words were cut off as she hesitated.
Because at that mont, both the phone in Lin Yun's chest pocket and in her hand vibrated.
Picking up the phone, Xia Liang saw that Lin Xiaolu had sent a ssage in the Magical Girl squad's group chat:
[@Xiaojin: What on earth are you doing, hurry up and get over here!]
[@Erald Sparrow: There's a Remnant Beast attack at Luoming District's Jinbao Shopping Plaza, are you free now, Erald Sparrow? Ah, no hurry.]
"...Looks like we really can't continue this chat."
After reading the information on the screen, Xia Liang let out a helpless smile, "So Uncle, if you can get in touch with Erald Sparrow, could you let her know? After all, she instructed us to inform her whenever Remnant Beasts appear."
While she was full of doubts, she ultimately knew what was more important: neighborhood gossip could wait, but taking care of the Remnant Beasts was the top priority.
"I will."
Seeing a chance to end this awkward conversation, Lin Yun did not hesitate to choose to stop. He looked up at Xia Liang, nodding with feigned seriousness, "Hong Siyu should be able to get in touch with her."
"Phew, we can talk about the rest when we get back then."
Exhaling, Xia Liang put away her phone and waved to Lin Yun, "As for the stuff earlier, I'll just take your word for it."
"It's all true," Lin Yun said expressionlessly, "just don't exaggerate things to Lulu."
"Don't worry, I won't tell Xiaolu,"
Xia Liang said playfully with a mischievous grin, "I know, after all, if I told her these things, who knows what she might start to imagine."
Lin Yun thought to himself that she had just been wildly speculating, but in the end, he didn't retort and just silently watched as Xia Liang left the restaurant.
Watching the girl run off, he leaned back in his seat and let out a long sigh, his tense nerves finally relaxing sowhat.
Forget all that for now, he thought, first figure out where to transform.
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