Chapter 44: The Hidden Test

The three of them entered the Association. Shi Lu and Bai Yun led Bai Muxue to the elevator.

Bai Muxue noticed that Shi Lu reached out and pressed the down button three times in a row.

Everyone knew that pressing the down button wasn’t a way to call the elevator to you. It meant the person on this floor wanted to go down.

But Shi Lu kept pressing it, which meant her destination was underground.

There was an underground level here?

This was the first Bai Muxue had heard of it.

On top of that, the underground level was clearly not open to the public. Judging by Shi Lu’s actions, an ordinary person wouldn’t think to press the down button three times.

Before long, the elevator doors opened.

“Let’s go in.” Shi Lu stepped in first.

Bai Muxue stood outside the elevator, looking reluctant and a little scared.

“It’s fine.” Bai Yun said gently.

“Mhm…” Bai Muxue nodded slightly and stepped inside.

Bai Yun entered last.

The elevator doors slowly closed, and the car carried the three of them down.

A very long time passed before the doors opened again.

‘Anyone who didn’t know better would think this was the gates of hell, sending people down to the eighteenth level.’

Bai Muxue complained silently.

“Follow me.” Shi Lu was the first to step out.

Bai Muxue followed behind her, with Bai Yun close at her heels.

This was a long corridor. The walls on both sides, as well as the ceiling and the floor, all emitted a faint glow.

So even without any lights, the place was brightly lit.

The three came to a metal door. Shi Lu took out a card from her person and placed it on the card reader next to the door.

“Identity verification passed.” An electronic voice came through.

The metal door slid open from both sides. Inside was a spacious room stocked with all kinds of equipment, and a few boxes piled up in the corner.

The equipment was all different. Some of it Bai Muxue could recognize, like a treadmill and a weight machine.

But most of it, she had no clue what it was.

“Ah, this place hasn’t been used for way too long. Let me find the blood draw needle first.” Shi Lu walked toward the boxes in the corner.

“Sis, do you usually work at the Association?” While Shi Lu was searching, Bai Muxue asked Bai Yun.

“Mhm.” Bai Yun nodded.

In Bai Yun’s eyes, Bai Muxue asking this question wasn’t surprising.

She had never told Bai Muxue where her workplace was. Bai Muxue only knew that she was generally quite busy with work.

“Then… Sis, are you a magical girl?” When she asked this, Bai Muxue lifted her head to look at Bai Yun, blinking her ruby-like eyes.

“…Of course not.” Bai Yun lied.

Looking into Bai Muxue’s eyes, Bai Yun felt a little ashamed.

“Why would Muxue think that?” Bai Yun asked.

“Because… I can’t really say. Maybe it’s intuition.” Bai Muxue answered.

Bai Yun didn’t keep pressing. She felt that Bai Muxue was probably just asking casually.

“Found it.” Shi Lu came over with a blood draw needle and a tourniquet. “Let’s draw blood first.”

“Wait, let me ask a question. Can we skip the blood draw?” Bai Muxue stepped back.

“Why?”

“I’m a bit afraid of drawing blood.” Bai Muxue answered.

This time Bai Muxue wasn’t lying. She really was a little afraid of having her blood drawn.

In the past, she would avoid physical exams whenever possible, especially when it came to the blood draw.

Shi Lu looked at Bai Yun with a questioning gaze.

“It’s true.” Bai Yun nodded.

“Alright then. We don’t really need a blood sample anyway.” Shi Lu took out a cotton swab instead.

“Stick out your tongue.”

Bai Muxue was confused, but she obediently did as told.

Shi Lu swiped the cotton swab across Bai Muxue’s tongue. Then she walked over to a device that Bai Muxue couldn’t make sense of, tossed the swab straight in, and pressed a few buttons.

The device started up, humming as it ran.

Shi Lu stood in front of it, patiently waiting for the test result.

Her approach wasn’t without reason.

Yesterday, Bai Yun had told Shi Lu about Bai Muxue, along with her speculation.

Bai Yun had sensed the Eternal Night Witch’s magic at home. She felt that Bai Muxue’s transformation might be related to the Eternal Night Witch.

But Shi Lu had also run into Bai Muxue once, and she hadn’t detected any witch magic on Bai Muxue.

So Shi Lu thought of another possibility.

Perhaps Bai Muxue had been chosen by the “Spirit” after all. The magic was just lying latent, hidden and not yet showing itself.

Her transformation into a girl might be connected to that latent magic.

That was why Shi Lu had brought Bai Muxue here.

As long as Bai Muxue’s bodily fluid was put into this device, it would analyze the components.

If there were components that couldn’t be analyzed, that would mean Bai Muxue really did have magic in her body, confirming Shi Lu’s guess.

If not… then they would really have to find the Eternal Night Witch and ask why.

Bai Ye, hiding inside Bai Muxue, stayed silent. She simply kept strengthening her disguise.

After a while, the device’s test results came out.

Everything was normal.

In other words, Bai Muxue really didn’t have any magic in her body. She was just an ordinary person.

Shi Lu looked at the results and frowned.

She couldn’t figure it out.

The test showed that Bai Muxue had no hidden magic, so she couldn’t possibly be a magical girl.

And even thinking along Bai Yun’s line of reasoning, Shi Lu still couldn’t understand why the Eternal Night Witch would turn Bai Muxue into a girl.

It couldn’t be that the Eternal Night Witch had possessed Bai Muxue, right?

That was absolutely impossible.

Shi Lu believed that, given the Eternal Night Witch’s current state, it was unlikely she could pull off a disguise that would fool her.

“Ugh…” Shi Lu sighed.

She might have been too impatient, too eager to find traces of the Eternal Night Witch. She had almost suspected an innocent Bai Muxue.

“So… what’s the situation now?” Seeing Shi Lu standing frozen in front of the device for so long, Bai Muxue quietly moved closer and asked.

“Nothing. You two can go.” Shi Lu answered.

Bai Yun led Bai Muxue out of the Association’s basement and up to the first floor.

“Um… Sis, I suddenly need to use the bathroom. I can’t hold it anymore.” Bai Muxue pretended to look urgent.

“Mhm, the bathroom is over there.” Bai Yun nodded and pointed the way for Bai Muxue.

Bai Muxue hurried away. She didn’t stop until she reached a spot where Bai Yun’s eyes couldn’t follow.

“What’s wrong?”

Just now, Bai Muxue had noticed that Bai Ye’s magic had suddenly decreased by a small amount. Worried that something had gone wrong, she used an excuse to put some distance between herself and Bai Yun.

That way, she could communicate with Bai Ye without Bai Yun catching on.

“I just helped hide you from that machine’s scan… I don’t know what it does, but my gut tells me something’s definitely off about it.” Bai Ye answered.

“It just took a bit more out of me to fool Shi Lu, a Huiyue-class magical girl.”

“Anyway, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me too much. I still suggest you go gather some emotional power, because I’m almost out of magic to use.”

“Got it, got it. I’ll go gather emotional power later.” Bai Muxue agreed.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

The Count’s Illegitimate Son’s Tutor

CharacterGrowthFusionFantasyOverpoweredProtagonist

Read Now →
Not interested