Chapter 26: An Unexpected Encounter and the Road to the Library

As the taxi neared Xinghe Han Street, Su Xinxin hastily called for it to stop, eager to alight.

“How are you feeling? Are you alright?” Xiao Ming floated beside her shoulder.

“I’m fine, really…” Su Xinxin exhaled a long, shaky breath.

It wasn’t that she had deliberately gotten off early. When she set the navigation, it should have been pinned to the “Chutian Province Library,” but her hand had slipped, mistakenly setting it for the nearby “Xinghe Han Street.”

Still, it wasn’t a bad thing. Now, she could observe the street’s recovery after the battle on Monday.

More importantly, of course, she no longer had to endure that inexplicable, dizzying sensation in the car. She felt somewhat carsick, yet it wasn’t the typical world-spinning nausea; rather, it was a dull, almost-dizzy discomfort.

Could it be psychological? Shouldn’t carsickness be a physical ailment? Surely, it wasn’t caused by her soul or her mindset. Was this ‘Su Xinxin’s’ body naturally prone to carsickness, or was it the elderly soul within her, unaccustomed to fast-moving vehicles?

She couldn’t quite figure it out. In any case, she had kept the window down the entire ride, letting the wind blow on her face, and even secretly used a bit of magic to soothe herself, barely managing to hold on until she could finally get out.

“Why aren’t you moving, Su Xinxin? You adorable, beautiful girl lost in thought?” Xiao Ming called out to her using various playful names, no longer even addressing her as ‘Master.’

Su Xinxin subtly glanced at the commercial street before her.

“Hmm… This place recovered quite quickly,” she commented, feigning composure.

“Uh… Your acting is far too transparent; it’s hard not to point it out,” Xiao Ming mercilessly exposed her attempt to conceal her daze.

Su Xinxin was about to pull out her phone to re-navigate when two figures in the distance walked swiftly towards her. She instinctively tried to duck her head, but it was too late.

“Hey, beautiful! Our new store just opened…”

“Little beauty, we’re currently running a free summer trial! With this card, you can…”

One on her left, one on her right, two salespeople had already surrounded her.

Unable to evade them, Su Xinxin reluctantly glanced at the flyer offered to her, attempting to politely refuse. “I’m sorry, I might not be—”

“It’s fine, it’s fine! It’s free! Just take the card and have a look!”

Seeing their enthusiastic faces, Su Xinxin, thinking about how hard they worked, accepted the card. She tried again to disengage. “Alright… well, I’ll come back another time when I’m free—”

“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t be in such a hurry to leave! The experience store is just ahead. It’s free, it won’t cost you anything, and it’ll only take a few minutes of your time!”

Su Xinxin felt her head might explode. She simply shoved the card back into the salesperson’s hand, turned, and scurried away, ‘escaping’ at a light run.

“You’ve lived for seventy years; how can you still not handle situations like this?” Xiao Ming followed beside her, her tone teasing.

“These things are like TVs and phones, their tricks change every year! There’s no ‘common sense’ to follow! If I still had my old man’s physique, they wouldn’t even bother me, would they?” Su Xinxin retorted irritably, her voice tinged with a hint of grievance, as if she might burst into tears any second.

Seeing her like this, Xiao Ming immediately stopped teasing her.

“Hmm… If you don’t want to engage, just walk away or run next time you encounter them,” it suggested softly.

Perhaps not wanting to be looked down upon by Xiao Ming, Su Xinxin then recited all her accumulated ‘sales knowledge.’

“Of course I don’t want to engage! Why do these salespeople directly drag me over? They don’t even give out eggs! So unprofessional! That’s not how they teach it in the sales world! By the rules, they should first give me some eggs, then ask for contact info, send warm greetings during holidays, and then invite me to some ‘free course.’…

“After I’ve finished all the courses there, they’d then casually reveal a great item they could sell me at a low price. I would never go to someone who just directly demands I go! That’s not how sales are done!”

Hearing Su Xinxin’s response, Xiao Ming was momentarily speechless.

Perhaps she had forgotten again that she was now a young person, and sales strategies would naturally change depending on the target.

Su Xinxin ran a few more steps before stopping, gently catching her breath. Her gaze unintentionally swept over a roadside trash can—next to it, two large, discarded empty water buckets lay askew.

‘What a waste. Such big buckets, they could still be sold as scrap…’

Xiao Ming noticed her gaze.

“Uh… This isn’t the time for ‘treasure hunting’ by the trash can, you know. And there’s no sparkle inside, no ‘treasure’ there!”

But just as it finished speaking, there did seem to be something… unusual near the trash can.

“I feel a faint aura of ‘Erosion,'” Su Xinxin murmured, focusing her senses.

“Oh? You’re sensing that?” Xiao Ming paused, then concentrated its own perception.

Indeed, there was. Very faint, a cluster of N-level ‘motes’ of corruption, lingering around the rim of the trash can.

Su Xinxin recalled the sensation from her last purification assistance. Naturally, she raised her hand, a faint glow shimmering in her palm, silently purifying and dispersing the inconspicuous gray mist.

However, she had forgotten—this was not the last battlefield, and there would be no ‘Gardener’ department to handle the aftermath and cognitive processing. Such ‘motes,’ invisible to ordinary people, needed to be dealt with discreetly and without attracting attention.

Almost the instant the purification was complete, she noticed several slightly surprised glances from passersby—a young girl standing by a trash can, gesturing into the air… it certainly looked a bit odd.

“Quick, your phone! Pretend you’re playing on your phone!” Xiao Ming urgently prompted.

Su Xinxin reacted, quickly pulling out her phone from her pocket, lowering her head, and dramatically swiping the screen. Only then did she manage to cover up the awkwardness.

‘I should just hurry to the library.’

****

Meanwhile, Lin Mo, in her untransformed state as Jasmine, was also rushing to the library.

“Finally… finally almost at the campus gate…” Lin Mo panted, leaning on her knees, fine beads of sweat dotting her forehead.

She had woken up, dressed, wolfed down a few bites of what was either breakfast or lunch, and then sprinted out of her dorm building, nearly collapsing from exhaustion.

“Just a little more effort, Master! What if your ‘good friend’ Jasmin has already arrived at the library early and encountered some trouble—” Xiao Li’s voice echoed in her mind.

“Shut up! You’re so annoying!” Lin Mo gasped, quickening her pace. “If I hadn’t been so engrossed in watching anime last night, I wouldn’t have overslept!”

Last night—or more accurately, around two or three in the morning, or even later—was when she finally fell asleep. First, she had accompanied her roommates out for dinner and karaoke until late, as the semester was ending and summer vacation was approaching.

Then, after tidying up in the dorm, she lay down but remembered a new anime she hadn’t watched. The more she thought about it, the more awake she became, so she simply got up to catch up. After finishing it, tears welled up, and she couldn’t resist checking comments and discussing it with others… She only went to sleep when it was almost dawn.

This sleep lasted until half past eleven in the morning.

‘Actually, I should have slept less…’ She was a nursing student, and night shifts would likely be commonplace in the future. Fortunately, she had cleverly messaged Jasmin in advance, changing their library meeting time to the afternoon.

If Jasmin had really gone to the library early that morning and her mentor hadn’t shown up, what if something had happened? After all, it was her who had proposed the task. So, she had no choice but to ask Jasmin to go in the afternoon instead.

Lin Mo finally caught a taxi and settled into the back seat. Although taking a taxi would still take time, it was better than being late.

“Actually, Master, if you’re worried, you could ask other magical girl colleagues nearby to look after her. The resident colleagues at the provincial library should all be quite strong,” Xiao Li suggested.

“No!” Lin Mo immediately refused. “Wouldn’t that make me seem useless as a teacher? If someone else helps her, she’ll definitely like them more than me.”

“It’s okay, Master, I like you!”

“Mm-hmm, I like you too…” Lin Mo’s tone softened, then she sighed. “However, you, as a Spirit, still don’t understand many things about my worries regarding school and making friends~”

The car merged into traffic, heading towards the library.

The sunlight outside the window began to fade, promising a peaceful Sunday afternoon.

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