Chapter 23: So, Become a True “Magical Girl”!

Hell Training, Day 3.

“Bang—!”

With a dull, heavy crash, Lin Yu’s petite body slammed onto the padded mat for the seventeenth time.

It felt like his soul had been shaken loose—floating in midair for two seconds before barely settling back into his body.

“Get up.”

Chen Bing’s voice was as cold and emotionless as Siri.

Is this woman actually a Terminator T-800 wearing human skin? Does she never get tired?

Every muscle in Lin Yu’s current girl’s body was screaming.

But driven by sheer stubbornness, she gritted her teeth and struggled to her feet like a broken doll.

As long as I don’t pass out, it doesn’t count as losing.

Hell Training, Day 7.

“Aiyaa, Senior~ you got it wrooong~ again~”

Li Qing tilted her head, wearing a smile that sent chills down one’s spine.

“The effective lethal radius of the ‘Z-7 Psionic Flash Grenade’ is fifteen meters, not twenty~ Even basic knowledge like that… looks like your body needs a bit more ‘love education’ than your brain~❤”

“Wait—”

“Bzzzt—!”

She didn’t give Lin Yu a chance to argue.

Pink electric arcs, like bloodthirsty snakes, shot through the wires and bit straight into her nerves.

A violent wave of numbness surged from her tailbone to the top of her skull. It felt like her very soul was trembling, blasting her consciousness into static.

“Hm~ Senior~”

Li Qing crouched in front of her, poking her twitching cheek.

“You didn’t… awaken some weird trait, did you? You’re actually enjoying this, aren’t you?”

Enjoy your head, you psycho pink-haired monster!

Hell Training, Day 8 — Afternoon.

C-3 Training Ground, Rest Area.

Chen Bing and Li Qing stood side by side at the data analysis console, staring at Lin Yu’s training curve.

Their expressions were perfectly synchronized: “confused old man staring at a phone.”

“Chen Bing-jie,”

Li Qing dropped her playful tone, turning unusually serious.

“This isn’t scientific.”

She pointed at the “comprehensive evaluation curve,” which crawled almost flat along the X-axis.

“Senior is definitely working hard—so hard I’m starting to think she has a masochistic streak.”

“She’s training more than anyone in our group, but…”

“This rate of improvement is slower than 2G internet! It’s like…”

Chen Bing picked up the thought, voice low:

“…like her body is refusing to execute her brain’s commands.”

She pulled up a slow-motion clip from a high-speed camera.

On screen, the gray-haired, green-eyed girl performed a tactical evasion maneuver.

Clearly, when a lethal strike approached, her muscles tensed—

But her actual movement lagged by a fraction of a second.

That delay, on the battlefield, meant death.

“Look.”

Chen Bing pointed at the subtle stiffness.

“It’s not slow reaction… it’s more like… incompatibility.”

“Incompatibility?”

Li Qing blinked.

“Mm…”

Chen Bing rubbed her temples.

“Let’s go ask that person…”

Dawn Company, Underground Level 4 — Logistics Maintenance Department.

The elevator doors slid open, and a wave of warm air mixed with machine oil rushed out.

Chen Bing and Li Qing dragged a half-dead Lin Yu through piles of scrapped exoskeletons and glowing energy tanks, arriving at a workbench deep inside.

Behind a mountain of parts stood a figure in grease-stained overalls.

An electronic cigarette glowing blue hung from her lips, while a welding torch in her hand spat bright blue flames.

She was the chief technician of this underground kingdom—Mei Ling, known as “Old Mei.”

“Old Mei-jie~”

Li Qing called carefully.

“Emergency! But this time, it’s not a gun that’s broken—it’s a person.”

“A person?”

The blue flame extinguished.

Old Mei turned off the torch, removed her heavy goggles, revealing bloodshot eyes from chronic sleep deprivation.

Her gaze swept over them, finally landing on the half-conscious gray-haired girl.

“Oh?”

She exhaled a fruity puff of vapor, lips curling into a mischievous grin.

“Isn’t this our precious little rarity—the once-in-a-lifetime… ‘equipped’ magical girl little bro?”

“What’s the matter? Already broken after just a few days with you tigresses?”

“Old Mei-jie!”

Li Qing flushed.

Chen Bing ignored the crude joke and tossed a holographic report in front of her.

“Technician Mei Ling. ‘Gray Crystal’ is experiencing severe response delay in her ‘Phase Spirit Body.’ Diagnose.”

Old Mei lazily glanced at the red warning curves.

Two seconds later, she scoffed.

“Response delay? Don’t throw around technical terms, kid.”

She pointed at Lin Yu.

“This is called allergy.”

“Huh?!”

Li Qing froze.

“Allergic to what? Dust? Pollen? Or my electric shocks?”

“To herself.”

Old Mei tapped her e-cigarette on the table, looking at them like idiots.

“More precisely—the stubborn, testosterone-filled male soul is subconsciously rejecting this delicate magical girl body.”

Boom.

The words struck like lightning.

Even Lin Yu, barely conscious, twitched.

“Rejecting?”

Chen Bing frowned.

“But the Persona Mask Protocol has a 99.9% theoretical compatibility rate.”

“Theoretical? Ha!”

Old Mei laughed.

“That’s for people whose body and mind match! What do you think a Phase Spirit Body is? It’s a vessel molded from positive emotions of pure girls, based on subspace laws! Its core logic is ‘girl’!”

She leaned in close, face inches from Lin Yu’s.

“And now you’re stuffing a straight man’s soul—twenty-plus years of rough, masculine thinking—into it. That’s like forcing a 100-kilo brute into an XS lace dress. You think that’s comfortable? The fact she hasn’t gone insane yet is already a miracle!”

The truth was revealed.

All the clumsiness, delay, and lack of coordination—

This was the root.

So it’s not that I’m not trying…

It’s my damn straight male soul causing trouble?

Lin Yu felt like he was falling into a bottomless pit.

How do you fix something at the level of the soul?

What—go to Thailand for surgery?!

“Then… what do we do?”

Li Qing panicked.

“Is she hopeless? Do we return her?”

“Hmph. Not quite.”

Old Mei smirked.

“If it’s cognitive misalignment, just ‘bend’ it back into place.”

“Bend it? How?!”

“No idea. Figure it out yourselves.”

With that, she turned back to her welding torch.

Chen Bing crossed her arms, deep in thought—possibly considering filing a return request.

Then—

“Wait! I’ve got it!”

A pink flash broke the silence.

Li Qing’s eyes lit up like bulbs.

“You have an idea?”

Chen Bing looked skeptical.

“Absolutely!”

Li Qing grabbed her arm, slipping into full-on otaku theorist mode.

“Old Mei said the problem is cognition! Senior is still using a ‘man’s mindset’ to control a ‘girl’s body’—that’s the bug! So—”

She smiled sweetly—so sweet it made Lin Yu’s spine chill.

“We don’t make him adapt. We perform cognitive reconstruction—aka brainwashing!”

“We make him fully accept—and even enjoy—being a beautiful girl, physically and mentally!”

Ignoring Chen Bing’s look of this person is insane, Li Qing raised three fingers and announced her plan:

“I’ve got a three-step treatment!”

“Step one: Visual indoctrination! Make him watch every classic magical girl anime from the past fifty years to build sacred professional faith!”

“Step two: Immersive experience! Take him to buy trendy milk tea, go shopping, do manicures! Let him understand that a beautiful girl’s daily life is itself a form of cultivation!”

“Step three!”

Li Qing took a deep breath and said, in the most innocent tone:

“To prevent ‘cognitive rebound’—I suggest…”

“From today onward, force him to stay transformed 24/7! Eating, sleeping, using the bathroom—even dreaming—only as a magical girl! Until he forgets he was ever a man!”

Crack.

Lin Yu could hear his world shattering.

She looked at Chen Bing in despair—her last hope.

Chen Bing stroked her chin, thought for three seconds… then nodded.

“…Sounds like it might work. Let’s try it.”

“Yay!!”

Li Qing cheered, crouching down and flashing Lin Yu a little devil’s smile.

“Don’t worry, Senior~ I’ll train you into the cutest, brightest, and strongest… little junior sister in the whole company~❤”