Chapter 8: The Hidden Doubt

“It’s relevant.”

In front of an old fox like this, flat-out denial or fabricating lies was pointless.

If she wanted to get past him, the best approach was to feed his suspicions with a mix of half-truths.

“Lin Xia is my friend. Honestly, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him one of my most important close friends.”

Jiang Ciqiu met Tang Yuanding’s gaze, her voice calm.

“As a magical girl whose power is driven by emotion, watching a close friend die would naturally cause a massive emotional impact. That would sharply raise my mana output threshold in a short time, which explains last night’s abnormal performance.”

Tang Yuanding shifted the topic. “But he happened to avoid disaster because he’d already checked out of the hospital early. He even showed up normally at Shanyang First High today.”

The girl nodded, then deliberately put on a probing expression. “Right. Seven… Chief, are you saying the Administration arranged his early discharge yesterday?”

She silently grumbled to herself: if the Administration really did that, she’d owe the organization a huge favor.

To repay that debt, she didn’t even want to think about how much they’d work her like a mule.

But Tang Yuanding shook his head.

“Don’t forget, last night’s hospital attack was a Calamity Beast incident.”

“Whether it’s the General Administration or us, we still have no way to predict where a Calamity Beast will appear in advance. There’s no chance we’d set up a scheme around a high school student.”

Jiang Ciqiu nodded, acting relieved.

“I see. So it wasn’t arranged by you.”

“But you went through the trouble of getting both my teammates out of the room. Surely this isn’t just about that? After all, ’emotional fluctuations affecting mana output’ is basic common knowledge for magical girls. There’s no need to keep it confidential from them.”

Tang Yuanding stared at the composed girl before him.

Her mature reaction and pointed counter-question matched exactly the veteran magical girl who’d worked under him for nearly eight years.

Yet the intuition he’d honed over decades in power told him something about Jiang Ciqiu seemed different now.

After a brief moment of eye contact, the man chose to suppress that unfounded suspicion.

“You’re right. That’s not what I wanted to ask.”

Tang Yuanding tapped on the keyboard in front of him. On the big screen, Lin Xia’s photo shrank and moved to the corner. In its place appeared the mark of a black hand, with a string of Cyrillic letters beneath it that Jiang Ciqiu couldn’t read.

“The Administration believes your friend Lin Xia may have caught the attention of a very dangerous organization.”

“The Chaos Hand.”

Tang Yuanding looked at the emblem on the screen, his gaze serious. “They’re a superpowered terrorist organization that’s risen in the neighboring super-cities over the past six months. We suspect they’ve already extended their reach into Shanyang City, and… they may have made contact with Lin Xia, possibly even conducted some kind of operation on him.”

“You mean…”

“I mean, the ‘Lin Xia’ in front of you right now might no longer be the friend you remember.”

Jiang Ciqiu’s heart sank violently. She instinctively wanted to deny it.

But the words caught in her throat. She couldn’t find any reason to refute it.

In the future she’d experienced, there was no Lin Xia who could have survived that hospital explosion.

Her close friend, the boy who always smiled at her with a pale face, had indeed died in the summer of his sixteenth year.

“Even if that’s true…” Jiang Ciqiu took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay calm. “Why? Why would they target a male high school student lying sick in a hospital bed?”

“We don’t know the exact reason yet, but my guess is, most likely because of you.”

Tang Yuanding looked at Jiang Ciqiu, who had lowered her head and was biting her lip, and let out a sigh.

“The Chaos Hand might be trying to use his friendship with you as a breakthrough point, to reach into Shanyang’s magical girl teams.”

The girl’s fists clenched on her knees, her arms trembling slightly.

Seeing that she was struggling to hide her emotional turmoil, the man cleared his throat and softened his tone a bit.

“Ahem. For now, this is just a possibility. If we had solid evidence, we’d have sent a task force to the school to arrest him already. The reason I kept you alone today is that I want you, as his longtime friend, to confirm his true identity through daily contact. Determine whether he needs to be eliminated, kept under observation, or is safe.”

“As for why Flash Yellow and Meteor Blue aren’t told, it’s to prevent information leaks. The Chaos Hand doesn’t yet know the Administration is aware of their infiltration into Shanyang. Secrecy is key.”

After a few seconds of silence, the girl nodded.

On the surface, she remained impassive, but Jiang Ciqiu’s mind was already a tangled mess.

Lin Xia had indeed changed.

The sudden improvement in his physical condition, the explosive power that let him leap over ten meters, the unexplained early discharge… Was all of this due to fate’s coincidences and changes, or because he truly was no longer the friend who only existed in her memories?

If he really had become a villain, then as a magical girl, was her duty to transform and kill him?

Could she actually do it? Facing the face she’d missed for thirteen whole years?

The more she thought, the more her head felt like it was splitting. She instinctively reached up and massaged her temples.

Click.

The meeting room door opened again, and two sets of footsteps entered one after another.

It should be Ilya and Lan Ruobing, who’d been kicked out earlier. But Jiang Ciqiu had no energy to deal with them right now.

Thankfully, Tang Yuanding wasn’t like the principal at the opening ceremony who’d drone on for another half hour with “just one more thing.” He gave the three of them a few simple instructions and announced the meeting was over.

“Ooh, why the exhausted look, senior?”

As she passed by Jiang Ciqiu’s seat, the girl with short blue hair glanced down at her from above, her provocation undisguised.

“If you’re too old to fight anymore, want me to take over command and spare that pitiful firepower of yours?”

Her good captain didn’t even lift an eyelid.

Provocation at this level, to someone who’d been beaten down by society for years, was like a child throwing a tantrum. It didn’t hurt at all.

“Enough with the jokes, Lan Ruobing.” Ilya stepped forward to defend Jiang Ciqiu. “The captain consumed a huge amount of mana last night. It’s already impressive she managed to drag herself to the meeting today. Stop with the sarcastic comments.”

“Tsk tsk tsk, what a fast defensive support. No wonder the internet calls Flash Yellow the captain’s filial daughter.” Lan Ruobing shook her head dramatically. “Why don’t you just adopt her as your mom, Ilya? That way you two can sell your CP act online too.”

“You…! Lan Ruobing, are you asking for a beating?!”

“Nyah~ Catch me if you can, doll face!”

The two very different girls chased each other out of the meeting room, their energy dispersing some of the stifling atmosphere.

But Jiang Ciqiu stayed in her chair, unmoving, like a statue that had been placed there from the very beginning.

Tang Yuanding hesitated for a few seconds as he passed her, then lightly patted her shoulder twice and left without a word.

In his view, Jiang Ciqiu was different from the other young magical girls.

If Ilya and Lan Ruobing were still teenage girls who needed him as an adult to coax and guide, then after more than seven years of fighting, Jiang Ciqiu had long grown into the most trustworthy warrior in his hands.

No matter what happened, Magical Girl Crimson Glow would perfectly complete every mission assigned by the organization, just as she always had.

The Administration supervisor also left the room, leaving only Jiang Ciqiu sitting alone in the meeting room.

After another long silence, the girl let out a long breath. Then, like a house cat, she stretched her body and flopped down on the conference table.

“Sigh…”

She was tired.

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