Chapter 40: The Aftermath of the Ming Tide and a Familiar Face

Magic Girl Headquarters.

How many times had Su Qianyu visited this place now?

Inside her terminal, the last messages between herself and The Old Woman were from noon yesterday.

Her lower back aching, Su Qianyu braced herself, watching the scenery ascend with the elevator.

At this moment, she felt unwell, both physically and mentally.

Illo was currently escorting Su Qianyu, taking the elevator all the way down from the rooftop.

Never in her wildest dreams had Su Qianyu imagined she would one day beg for mercy, all because she couldn’t endure the ‘Ming Tide’.

The ‘Ming’ in ‘Ming Tide’ referred to the cry of a fox.

And the ‘Tide’ in ‘Ming Tide’… that was the tide of the ocean.

To her astonishment, Illo had, simply to pass the time, mercilessly tested Su Qianyu’s personal threshold, pushing her limits again and again as if she were a mere experimental subject.

This relentless testing had consumed an entire afternoon and continued well into the evening.

Her sorrow, seemingly crafted from water, had dripped ceaselessly onto the bed.

To describe the scene, it was much like a grand string instrument playing a tumultuous, urgent rain, while a smaller string whispered softly.

Ultimately, it was akin to large and small pearls scattering across a jade plate.

Only, the strings that cried out were hers, and the pearls that scattered were also hers.

The pain was excruciating, utterly unbearable.

She vowed never to fall for such a trap again.

Leaning heavily on the railing, Su Qianyu’s expression was one of utter discomfiture.

Before, she had never truly understood the meaning of ‘tomorrow after tomorrow’.

Now, however, she understood perfectly.

Yet, ‘day’ was not merely a noun; it was undeniably a verb.

In stark contrast to Su Qianyu’s utterly exhausted visage beside her, Illo’s face glowed with a vibrant flush of health.

She looked as though she had just completed a session of ‘Caibu’ (TL Note: A Taoist cultivation practice involving ‘harvesting’ vital essence from another to replenish one’s own, often with sexual connotations).

Unable to lift her head, Su Qianyu drew a deep, shuddering breath.

‘At least… I’m still alive,’ she thought, ‘and that’s something.’

‘As long as the green mountains remain, there will always be wood to burn,’ she mused, clinging to the old adage.

On her previous visit, she had surreptitiously infiltrated the headquarters, catching only glimpses of its decor.

This time, however, Illo and she had entered openly, without any pretense of stealth.

Truth be told, in Su Qianyu’s eyes, this so-called Magic Girl Headquarters wasn’t much different from the research facility beneath Qincai’s home.

The only distinction lay in the personnel; those here carried an air of composure that the others lacked.

Oh, and there was also an abundance of Magic Girls, not just varied in form, but vibrant in color and allure.

‘So grand, so beautiful, I’m itching to feel them up,’ she thought mischievously.

“What exactly are you staring at?”

Just as Su Qianyu was about to feast her eyes, Illo’s iron fist descended upon her head the very next second.

“Quite the lecherous mind you have, don’t you? Even in this state, you’re still so eager to look?”

Su Qianyu remained silent, merely rubbing her head twice in quiet resignation.

Her gaze flickered past Illo’s face, but then, with a subtle shift, she pulled her eyes back.

“Hm? You dare to imply that!?”

Stepping out of the elevator, Illo chose to let the matter drop.

However, to Su Qianyu, who followed behind, it seemed the matter wouldn’t be so easily dismissed.

While Illo herself might not care, her fists certainly did.

Cracking her knuckles, Illo wore a perfectly relaxed expression.

Yet, gazing at the bustling lobby beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass, she suddenly stood rooted to the spot, unmoving.

‘Hm? Where are the people meant to greet us?’ she wondered.

She had meticulously arranged everything yesterday, taking advantage of Su Qianyu being unconscious.

Since she had already notified The Old Woman, the other party would surely have been forewarned of their movements.

The more actions taken, the more vulnerabilities exposed.

With the enemy lurking in the shadows and her movements exposed, only by taking the initiative could she hope to uncover more.

Moreover, the opponent was most likely another Magic Girl.

Among those of her own rank, Illo was unrivaled.

Even against those of a higher rank, she could still achieve a one-for-one exchange.

And what’s more… she still had Su Qianyu.

Her gaze shifted to the Little Fox Girl, who now sported two more bumps on her head, and Illo’s confidence swelled a few notches.

After all, Su Qianyu possessed invaluable spatial manipulation abilities.

After a brief wait, Illo and Su Qianyu finally saw the person who had come to collect them.

Yet, the moment their gazes met, both Illo and Su Qianyu felt their brows twitch in unison.

“Lin Li, what brings you here?”

The person who had arrived to escort them was none other than Lin Li, whom they hadn’t seen in quite some time.

However, her appearance had undergone a significant transformation since their last encounter.

At first glance, were it not for her strikingly distinctive eyes, they might not have recognized her at all.

“Professor Yu specifically asked me to bring you both over. Please do follow closely, won’t you?”

Hearing her voice, this time, there were no prolonged pleasantries exchanged between them.

Nevertheless, observing her retreating back, Illo couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss.

To have risen from a clerk to an investigator within mere days, only to then appear at headquarters to escort her and Su Qianyu to meet that old man—there had to be some secret hidden within this progression.

Yet, investigating the matter now would prove difficult.

She had far more pressing concerns to attend to.

Following a route entirely different from her previous visit, and after navigating countless winding corridors and swiping access cards an untold number of times for verification, they finally rounded a corner to find a familiar figure awaiting them.

“Well, well, finally decided to grace me with your presence, have you?”

From the outset, Yuwen Zhibai exuded considerable warmth and enthusiasm.

His face remained as robust and healthy as it had been during their last meeting, but Illo, facing his greeting, wore an expression as cold as ice, merely extending her hand and locking eyes with him.

“Where are the items I requested?”

“Naturally, everything has been prepared for you,” he replied.

The latter cleared his throat softly, and Lin Li promptly pushed open the large door behind them, revealing a stack of documents on a table within.

“But tell me, why did you suddenly begin investigating information about demonic creatures last time?”

Yuwen Zhibai adjusted his glasses, a scrutinizing gaze settling in his eyes.

Illo, however, did not answer directly; instead, she deftly steered the conversation to a new topic.

“Why did you choose her to be your assistant?”

Illo distinctly recalled that only Yuwen Zhibai’s hand-picked personal assistants were privy to the location of such an important figure.

Even she, Illo, sometimes failed to receive such preferential treatment.

He merely cleared his throat twice, then instructed Lin Li to leave them.

“Shall we step inside to discuss this further?”

The old man suggested, ushering Su Qianyu and Illo inside.

As Illo eagerly seized the documents and began reviewing them, Yuwen Zhibai slowly, deliberately, began to speak.

“As you know, this world is full of all sorts of people.”

“So, occasionally granting opportunities to young people isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

Su Qianyu listened to his seemingly disconnected remarks, feeling a wave of confusion wash over her. ‘What exactly,’ she wondered, ‘was the connection between those two statements?’

Illo, however, merely hummed softly in acknowledgment, then refocused her attention entirely on the documents.

Remaining seated, Su Qianyu suddenly felt a pang of awkwardness.

‘Illo is engrossed in the documents,’ she mused, ‘so what am I supposed to do?’

As if sensing Su Qianyu’s predicament, Yuwen Zhibai, seated across the table, chuckled softly before rising to his feet.

“You wouldn’t mind if I took her for a brief tour, would you?”

Illo simply nodded, tacitly consenting to the proposal.

Closing the room’s door, Su Qianyu and Yuwen Zhibai proceeded to a large floor-to-ceiling window.

Through the expansive glass, Su Qianyu observed the minuscule crowds below, resembling tiny ants scurrying.

Yuwen Zhibai regarded Su Qianyu for a long moment before finally initiating a conversation.

“Is that Magic Girl Terminal of yours… useful?”

He began by immediately inquiring about Su Qianyu’s terminal.

Pondering his question, Su Qianyu recalled the events of the previous day.

‘Indeed… quite impressive, wouldn’t you say?’ she thought.

It wasn’t just functional; it was also interactive and waterproof.

Of course, she was referring specifically to its message transmission capabilities.