Chapter 85: The Corrupted Transformation

Lin Yu felt his blood stop flowing for a moment.

“…Huh?”

He heard himself let out a dry syllable.

Transform?

Trans—form?

Hey, hey, hey… he didn’t mishear, right?

Did she really just say—

A moment later, Lin Yu laughed—panicked and brittle.

“Xiaoxue, w-what kind of joke is that? Transform? What, have you been watching weird anime lately? Magical girls? Kamen Riders?”

He babbled as he scrambled to pick up the empty plate on the table, trying to hide the panic in his eyes and the stiffness of his body under the pretense of doing chores.

But Lin Xue simply sat quietly on the sofa and let out a soft chuckle.

“Oh, is that so?”

She shrugged lightly.

“Alright then.”

“…Eh?”

Lin Yu froze mid-stack, his brain stalling for half a second because her giving up was way too clean.

“I was just talking casually anyway.”

Lin Xue stood up and stretched, the hem of her white dress tracing a clean arc that outlined the youthful curves of her body.

“Since it’s hard for you, I’ll drop it.”

“About your friend—I can’t really help anyway. Rules are rules.”

“It’s getting late. I should head back to school.”

With that, she actually took a step toward the door.

Each step struck Lin Yu’s heart like a hammer.

She’s leaving?

She… she’s really leaving?!

That’s not how this script goes!

Wait—stop!

His heartbeat spiked into chaos.

If she walked out now, what would happen to Luo Shaotian?

Their last shred of hope would be gone.

“W-wait!”

Lin Yu shouted, panicked.

Lin Xue stopped but didn’t look back. She only gave him a sidelong glance—a silent “your turn” from her back.

“Uh… I… I…”

Lin Yu clenched the plate so hard his knuckles turned white.

He shut his eyes. When he opened them again, every layer of pretense had peeled away. Only a bleak, exhausted calm remained.

“…Fine. I’ll transform.”

Lin Xue turned slowly, a smile of “just as expected” on her face.

“…”

Lin Yu set the plate down and braced himself against the cold kitchen counter just to remain standing.

His face was as pale as paper pulled fresh from a bucket of water.

“…But… how did you know?”

His voice trembled.

“And… what exactly do you know?”

“Quite a lot.”

Lin Xue walked toward him, speaking steadily.

“Last time in Zone γ, before Senior Su Xiaoli rushed in, she activated an emergency protocol. The permissions for that fell to me and my advisor.”

“During the final countdown, I kept calling you.”

She paused and said a number he couldn’t refute.

“One hundred and thirty-seven calls. Not a single one answered.”

“And Grey Crystal’s life signal severed from the outside world at that exact moment.”

Lin Yu’s lips moved, but no sound came out.

“And before that, when I visited your place, I met that girl called ‘Lulu.’”

“Funny coincidence—right after she left, I called you. Your phone was at home. My call got hung up immediately, and then I received a voice message from your number.”

“Hard not to think you and that ‘Lulu’ are related, right?”

“Anyway, pull all the threads together, strip them down layer by layer, and they all point to one impossible—but also the only possible—truth.”

“My dear big brother, Lin Yu, is Dawn Corporation’s… magical girl, Grey Crystal.”

Lin Yu fell silent.

So from that early on… his pathetic disguise had already been seen straight through.

“…Luo Shaotian… that was also your guess?”

“Mm.”

Lin Xue nodded.

“You’re not the type to actively worry about friends—unless that friend is special to you. You mentioned that buddy from college once. Soft-hearted nice guy.”

“And that ‘new type of contraband’ you described matches perfectly with a report I saw from my advisor about illegal psionic waste produced by Huaxia Heavy Industries.”

“…I see.”

Lin Yu straightened slowly, his expression twisting into something uglier than crying.

He felt like a clown.

A self-proclaimed master actor, not realizing his only audience had been reading the script from page one.

He stopped pretending entirely.

“…Wait here.”

He turned and walked toward his bedroom, each step heavy.

Click.

The door shut, sealing them into two separate worlds.

He went to his nightstand, pulled open the bottom drawer, and reached beneath a pile of random junk to retrieve the irregular hexagonal crystal brooch.

He hadn’t used it since the last time. He didn’t even know whether transforming after so long would still hurt as badly as the first time.

He closed his hand around it. The chilling sensation crawled across his palm and up into his heart like a snake.

“Whatever… pain is pain…”

He inhaled deeply, then opened the door and stepped back out.

In the living room, Lin Xue was already back on the sofa, sitting upright.

She didn’t rush him—just watched quietly, the way a researcher waited for the final result of an experiment.

Lin Yu walked to the most open part of the room and stopped.

Saying he wasn’t nervous would be the biggest lie of his life. He was about to put on a transformation show in front of his sister, for god’s sake…

But he had no choice. If he didn’t, what would happen to Luo Shaotian?

Was he supposed to abandon the man who once saved his life?

He couldn’t.

He had to save the fallen “sun,” no matter the cost.

He raised the brooch to his chest.

“Grey Crystal, activate—”

The slouching young man in a cheap hoodie and jeans vanished.

In his place stood a short-haired gray JK-uniformed schoolgirl.

The moment the light faded, Lin Yu felt as though the entire world’s spotlight was drilling into him.

He shifted slightly, and his gaze brushed against the massive mirror in the living room.

The reflection looked back at him.

And his breathing stopped.

What the—?

What the hell?

Who was that girl?

He raised a hand to touch the impossibly smooth, silvery hair flowing down his back. Then he touched the corner of his eye.

The “creature” in the mirror did exactly the same.

No…

You’ve gotta be joking…

Why did my magical girl form change?!

It wasn’t like this before!

The instant he saw that purple eye, a terrifying possibility flashed across his mind.

f*ck—

Was this because of the contamination?!

Motherf— you’ve gotta be kidding me!!!

His shock was justified.

Because this transformation was completely different from before.

The signature shoulder-length gray hair was gone. In its place was long, waist-length hair like a silver waterfall.

But the most striking change was her eyes.

They were no longer a pure forest green. One eye had turned a mesmerizing, eerie violet.

Inside that violet iris, nebulae seemed to swirl, as though one look could pull someone’s soul straight in.

This body was clearly more… “mature.”

Her previously modest chest now filled out the white shirt with a fuller curve, rising and falling with her tense breaths.

White short-sleeved blouse, navy pleated skirt, thigh-tight black knee-socks…

It was still the standard JK uniform.

But on this contaminated, strangely “ripened” body, it gained an indescribable contradiction—innocence twisted with seduction.

“Hiss—”

A sound of shock came from the sofa.

“Uh…”

Lin Yu noticed the change in his sister’s expression and nearly died of embarrassment.

She saw.

She saw everything.

The one thing he never wanted anyone to see—she saw it.

His mind went blank. Language crashed completely.

He didn’t dare look up at her face. He stared at the floor tile beneath his feet, wishing he could dig a hole and bury himself alive.

Shame paralyzed him. His legs pressed together on instinct, hands clamped to his sides, desperately trying to recover some tiny scrap of dignity.

Then, his sweet little sister stood up.

Her slippers slapped the floor lightly.

She leaned in close.

Lin Yu snapped back to reality, hiding his burning face behind his hands, forcing out a strangled protest:

“…D-done staring yet?”

No teasing. No shock.

Only a pair of soft, curious hands gently touching his long gray hair.

“…”

Lin Yu flinched, wanting to dodge—yet he endured.

“Wow…”

He heard her breathe in admiration.

“The texture… it feels real. Psionic constructs can do this? Made of psionic particles?”

Her fingers slid through his hair, then pinched his now-soft cheeks.

“Even the facial muscles are perfectly simulated. It feels exactly like a real human.”

“Tsk tsk… Skydome Group’s engineering really lives up to the hype. Might even beat our Rui-Tech.”

Like a child with a fascinating new toy, Lin Xue circled him, eye shining with almost greedy curiosity.

She looked at him like a gourmet staring at a rare delicacy, lips curling unconsciously with excitement.

“Let me see here.”

Two fingers hooked into his mouth, pulling it open.

“Here too, let me check—”

A tingling sensation brushed his waist, then—

She pinched his butt.

“W-hey—!”

“Hoh~ nice reflexes! Your new body is pretty pervy, gege~ (￣▽￣)~*”

“C-can you not…”

His mortified whisper changed nothing.

“Hold still—here too—”

A sudden chill swept up his thighs.

He nearly yelped.

“You—!”

“Oh, you have safety shorts. Booooring~”

“Girls don’t just go lifting skirts—”

Cold sweat dripped down his back.

“Is that… normal?!”

“No, not really. Just checking. As long as it’s flat down there it’s fine. Would’ve been disgusting if it was still there.”

She said it casually—then suddenly froze.

Her gaze landed on something at his neck.

A black metal collar.

Smooth matte alloy, no ornaments, only a tiny red indicator light blinking faintly at the front.

On the bright JK uniform, it stood out like a prisoner’s shackle.

She touched its edge gently.

“…What’s this?”

“Oh… the Psionic Suppression Collar. After I got contaminated in Zone γ, the higher-ups made me wear it. Said it’s to prevent me from losing control or causing trouble. Basically just a tracker.”

Lin Yu explained.

“…I see.”

She didn’t ask further—but she remembered it.

Then she resumed her mischief as though nothing had happened, poking the fuller curve under his shirt.

“—Hey!”

Lin Yu finally snapped, voice shrill and high like a cat having its tail stepped on.

“If you don’t stop, I’m seriously gonna get mad!”

“Ah? Sensitive much? Haha~ okay okay~”

She withdrew her hand.

She clasped her hands behind her back, bent slightly, looking up at him with a bright, sparkling gaze.

“After examining everything… I realized something. Bro, when you transform—you’re actually super cute.”

“Please don’t use that word on me…”

Lin Yu shuddered.

“It’s gross…”

“Gross? What’s gross? You look exactly like a girl right now.”

“Sorry, but I’m not.”

He insisted.

“This magical girl form is just a suit. At the core, I’m still—”

“Deny it all you want. But looking at you right now… I suddenly feel like I have a little sister.”

Lin Xue licked her lips.

“Hehe… I’ve always wanted a cute little sister.”

“…Hah?”

Lin Yu’s face flushed crimson.

He sighed, giving up.

“Stop talking nonsense. I’m your brother, okay? Who’s your sister?!”

“Alright, alright. Anyway—you’re satisfied now, right?”

“Can I transform back? This form feels… awful.”

“Awful? Why? Does it hurt your soul or something?”

She sounded worried.

“No. I just hate being like this.”

Lin Yu reminded her again,

“I’m a guy.”

“Haah—fine, fine. I thought there was some terrible cost. But if you think that tiny bit of effort earns you anything from me—haha—”

She tilted her head with a look of obvious superiority.

“You’re nowhere close~”

“WHAT?!”

“Since you’ve transformed already…”

Her gaze shifted toward his bedroom. Something sparkled in her eyes.

“Do you have… any other girl clothes in your closet?”

“No!”

He yelled instantly.

“You think a grown man would hide women’s clothes in his closet?!”

(The cosplay incident did not count.)

“Aww, what a shame…”

She looked disappointed—then her eyes lit again.

She grabbed his wrist.

“Perfect then.”

She dragged him toward the door.

“We’ll go buy some!”

“Buy? Buy WHAT? GIRL CLOTHES?!”

Lin Yu was stunned.

“Why?!”

“Hehehe~”

Lin Xue turned back and smiled like an indulgent big sister.

“Because dressing up my cute little sister in adorable outfits has always been my dream!”

“WHO’S YOUR LITTLE SISTER—!!!”

Lin Yu’s agonized scream was swallowed as the apartment door slammed shut.