Chapter 175: Manager Qian’s Regret

Click.

A soft sound rang out.

Lin Yu watched helplessly as Manager Qian unplugged the power cord of the surveillance camera and casually tossed it aside.

Immediately after, Manager Qian turned around and pushed open the window.

“Whoosh—”

The cold wind of Xinhai City instantly poured in, sweeping away most of the thick, choking cigar smell in the office.

So-called “opening the skylight and speaking frankly.”

Now, the window was open, the wind had come in, and that electronic eye that always blinked with a red monitoring light had gone blind.

This was not just an action, but a wordless statement—

What was about to be said next would be known only to heaven, earth, you, and me.

Lin Yu did not dare take that step at all; the choice had been placed squarely in Lin Yu’s hands.

Lin Yu sat on the expensive genuine-leather sofa, his fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of his clothes.

Silence.

A suffocating silence.

He realized that lately, he had been becoming more and more wrong.

If it were the old him—the deadbeat shut-in Lin Yu who only knew how to scrape by—encountering something this deadly, his brain would have overloaded long ago.

Either he would have completely given up, or he would have spilled everything in one go.

But now…

He was actually hesitating?

This sticky, gooey mental state…

“Damn it.”

He cursed inwardly.

Could it be that as his body was assimilating, even his personality was becoming more and more like that of some refined, soft little girl?

Speak?

Or not speak?

If he spoke, he might get dragged into an even deeper vortex;

If he didn’t, the masked man’s words would be like a thorn, sooner or later piercing straight through his heart.

That charlatan was indeed terrifying, but this fat man in front of him…

Lin Yu raised his head and looked at the back standing by the window, puffing away.

Although this fat man was usually slick-tongued, full of nonsense, and always liked squeezing labor like a crooked businessman—

Still,

His intuition told him that compared to that cold, massive corporate system,

This flesh-and-blood “old soldier” in front of him, who smoked and bragged, seemed more worth gambling on.

“Phew—”

Lin Yu let out a long breath, expelling every last bit of hesitation from his chest.

He didn’t want to guess anymore.

If he couldn’t even trust this guy, then in this world full of monsters, who could he trust?

“Manager Qian.”

Lin Yu’s voice was still a little dry, but his gaze had steadied.

“That charlatan… before he escaped, he really did ask me three questions.”

Manager Qian didn’t turn around.

Only his back stiffened slightly, and the fingers holding the cigar moved gently, signaling him to continue.

“The first question…”

Lin Yu swallowed, doing his best to recount the scene as it had been,

“He asked me what it felt like, as a man, to possess the body of a magical girl.”

“That guy not only knew that I was 【Gray Crystal】, he had also seen through my true gender beneath this disguise long ago.”

Manager Qian still faced away, looking out the window.

Only the wisps of rising blue smoke seemed to grow a little more chaotic.

“The second question.”

Lin Yu clenched his teeth, his voice tightening,

“He asked me how I viewed this profession… He was hinting at me, or rather guiding me to think about a phenomenon I had overlooked—”

“Why is it that in our company… we’ve never seen any ‘elderly’ magical girls?”

“Those retired seniors… where did they all go?”

“…………”

“Continue.”

Just two short words.

No emotion could be heard, yet they were heavy like iron.

“The last one.”

Lin Yu took a deep breath, staring at that back, and said word by word,

“He asked me… if one day, I discovered that I was destined to die, destined to follow in the footsteps of those predecessors…”

“When that moment came, if the enemy held the only path to survival in their hands…”

“Would I, in order to live… choose to fall.”

A deathly silence enveloped the entire office.

Even the sound of the wind outside the window seemed to stop.

After a long while.

Manager Qian slowly closed his eyes, as if laying down a burden weighing a thousand catties—

Or as if he had long expected this day to come.

He took a deep drag from the cigar in his hand, letting the pungent smoke roll through his lungs.

Then he slowly exhaled, his speech noticeably slower:

“…I see.”

Manager Qian slowly blew out a smoke ring, his eyes growing deep.

“I have to admit, that guy… asked very well. He’s an opponent who knows how to strike at pain points.”

He turned around, casually resting the half-smoked cigar in the ashtray, and sat back down in his chair.

Leaning forward, he adopted a heart-to-heart posture.

“Xiao Lin, since we’ve come this far, I’ll help you answer the first question first.”

“About why your identity was exposed.”

“Although we’ve always kept the true identities of magical girls confidential from the outside, you have to understand—so long as people are involved in a system, there is no such thing as a leakproof wall.”

“Our company has so many internal employees: cleaning ladies, cafeteria aunties, plus those high-turnover temporary workers…”

“As long as someone is determined, getting hold of a basic roster of code names isn’t difficult at all.”

“The reason your identity was leaked to that masked man is, nine times out of ten, because the 【Abyss Gospel Society】 paid a hefty price to bribe someone—or hacked into—parts of our department’s personnel system.”

At this point, Manager Qian let out a breath, a trace of self-reproach appearing on his face.

“In this regard, it really was negligence on the part of our management.”

“In the past, if our opponents were brainless pollutants, or country bumpkins like the Chicheng Gang who only knew brute force, there was no need for such high-intensity information lockdown.”

“Who would have thought that this Abyss Gospel Society would suddenly pop up in the past two years—and with such means…”

He nodded solemnly, as if making up his mind.

“This matter is settled!”

“I’ll go slam the table in front of Director Bai later and propose it—our company’s security system must be comprehensively upgraded!”

“Mend the fold after the sheep are lost; it’s not too late!”

“Then… then what about the losses caused by my data leak…”

Lin Yu’s eyes lit up.

He felt like the opportunity had arrived.

This was a major corporate blunder!

Shouldn’t he seize the chance to extort a bit?

Even asking for paid leave to go to Sanya to calm his nerves would be great!

He had just opened his mouth, barely halfway—

“Ah! I get it! I get your concern!”

Manager Qian slapped his thigh hard, cutting him off outright.

“Don’t worry, Xiao Lin!”

“Once the new encryption system goes live, your information will be top secret!”

“Even if hackers come, they’ll only be able to stare helplessly!”

“And for your safety, I strongly suggest that you just stay at home in the future, and only come to work after transforming!”

“That way, even if someone camps outside, they’d never imagine there’s a real man under the skin!”

“No… no! Manager, that’s not what I meant…”

Lin Yu panicked.

That’s not what I wanted to say!

I wanted something tangible—

“Ah—! I understand now!”

Manager Qian showed a sudden look of realization again.

“You’re worried about the information that’s already leaked, right?”

“No problem! Leave this to me!”

“I’ll go argue with the logistics department and have them use that thing called a ‘memory erasure device’ to wipe all the non-core temporary workers who’ve come into contact with your data!”

“Although the cost is a bit high, since this is the company’s fault, and it’s to protect our core employees, this money must be spent!”

“No skimping!”

“Ah… but that…”

Lin Yu was about to cry.

“No! That’s not it! I’m not asking you to spend money to brainwash people!”

“I want you to convert that money into cash and give it to me directly!”

“Oh! I get it again!”

Manager Qian interrupted him for the third time.

“Xiao Lin, you mean that blocking the outside leaks isn’t enough, and we have to start from within, right?”

“Exactly!”

“I also think we need to immediately convene an all-staff internal training session!”

“Specifically emphasize confidentiality rules!”

“Strictly forbid anyone from leaking colleagues’ or their own magical girl information on Moments, Weibo, or any social media platforms!”

“Anyone who skirts the line—immediate dismissal!”

“Severe punishment without mercy!”

“What do you think? Is this力度 big enough?”

“I… I think it’s great.”

“Especially great.”

Lin Yu’s mouth twitched stiffly.

He guiltily averted his gaze and silently swallowed back his sentence—

“Could you give some compensation for emotional distress?”

At this very moment, cold sweat had already begun to form on his back.

If this was all, it would be fine.

But once this was mentioned, he suddenly remembered—

Before leaving the house today, he seemed to have vented his anger by posting a bunch of high-definition face selfies on Weibo and Xiaohongshu, along with a long “rights-protection” essay…

Lin Yu prayed frantically in his heart that the post’s popularity wouldn’t get too high, while planning to delete it as soon as he walked out.

“Alright, this matter is settled.”

Manager Qian’s voice suddenly sank.

He lowered his head, looking at the expensive cigar that had already burned more than halfway.

The smoke that had been curling upward now seemed somewhat lonely.

“Then… next is the second question.”

“Where did those former magical girl seniors… go?”

“To tell you the truth, Xiao Lin.”

Manager Qian raised three fingers, his voice calm.

“According to the company’s internal statistics over the past dozen years, thirty percent of magical girls… will directly perish on the job.”

“That is to say, they will die in battles against pollutants.”

“They will have no tombstones.”

“They will turn, together with their beautiful skirts, into dust that no one can ever find.”

Lin Yu’s heart clenched violently.

Thirty percent.

That meant that out of every three lively, lovely girls like Li Qing or Chen Bing,

One was destined to die miserably?

“Of course, I know that’s not what you really want to ask.”

Manager Qian withdrew his fingers.

“What you want to ask about are the rest… those lucky ones who survived and didn’t die on the battlefield.”

“Logically speaking, as long as they didn’t die, they should still be in the company.”

“Even if they retired to the second line—becoming instructors or consultants, continuing to shine and contribute, right?”

He let out a self-mocking laugh, dry and hoarse.

“Heh… indeed.”

“Among the remaining seventy percent, the vast majority can successfully endure until ‘graduation.’”

“Some because they reached the 【age red line】 and their spiritual energy began to decline;”

“Some because they experienced too many tragedies, and their psychological 【mental barriers】 were riddled with holes, completely collapsing…”

“In short, for various reasons, they are forced to take off that battle uniform.”

At this point, Manager Qian paused, his gaze suddenly sharpening.

“But, Xiao Lin.”

“So-called ‘graduation’ comes with conditions.”

“And that absolutely unshakable condition is—”

“They must accept the highest level of memory cleansing.”

“Erase all memories related to magical girls, to spiritual energy, to everything experienced in this company…”

“Completely and utterly return to being an ordinary person who knows nothing at all.”

Lin Yu opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but no sound came out.

“Memory cleansing?”

“Wouldn’t that mean…”

“All the glory of risking their lives in battle, all the life-and-death bonds formed with companions, all those unforgettable loves and hatreds…”

“Everything would be formatted with a single click?”

“Isn’t that too cruel?”

“At this point, you must be thinking… is it really necessary to go that far?”

Manager Qian shook his head with a bitter smile.

“Of course it’s necessary.”

“Because… if we don’t do this… they won’t be able to bear it.”

“The contamination of subspace… is almost irreversible.”

“All the negative emotions accumulated through countless battles will pile up bit by bit in their hearts.”

“As long as they recall them, they will keep breeding, eroding their inner selves…”

“If they don’t forget completely,”

“There is only one road waiting for them—”

“【Witchification】.”

The office fell into deathly silence.

“Ah…”

Manager Qian let out a long sigh.

He took out a slightly yellowed photograph from the drawer.

His fingers gently rubbed over the image of a smiling girl, his eyes turning soft and sorrowful.

“That girl Chen Bing… she never mentioned it to you, did she?”

“The reason she fights so desperately, the reason she refuses to retire no matter how badly injured she is…”

“Is because… her own elder sister is that blood-soaked—”

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