Chapter 261: Su Xiaoli’s Solution

“But even so, it doesn’t have to be done like this, Xia Nai-chan. It’s dangerous, you know.”

Su Xiaoli wasn’t intimidated by her blustering attitude at all.

She raised a finger and lightly tapped her delicate chin, earnestly persuading her:

“In a high-pressure situation like a promotion test, even headquarters’ monitors can’t guarantee there won’t be any accidents. If you interfere on your own… and happen to trigger something you shouldn’t… it might lead to completely unexpected consequences.”

“Hmph!”

Xia Nai bit her lip and snorted coldly.

“What I want is exactly those unexpected consequences! If I don’t teach her a lesson, she’ll really think getting to B-rank is that easy!”

“…Honestly, Xia Nai-chan, you’re always like this.”

Looking at her stubborn companion, a trace of regret flashed through Su Xiaoli’s clear fox-like eyes.

“You always put your effort into these roundabout little tricks… That’s why you’ve been stuck at your bottleneck and can’t break into A-rank.”

“Besides, Xia Nai-chan, you’re already 16. If you can’t break through within these last two years…”

“Enough! Stop talking! I know already!!!”

The word “16” stabbed straight into Xia Nai’s most sensitive nerve.

How could she not know that a magical girl’s prime only lasted a few years?

She might be in the spotlight now, but soon she would grow old.

This line of work fed on youth—cruelly so.

But—

“I don’t need a genius like you lecturing me!”

With reddened eyes and a trembling voice, Xia Nai threw out that sentence and stormed off.

Bang!

Only after she left did the other magical girls—who hadn’t even dared to breathe—carefully gather around Su Xiaoli.

“Um… Senior Su…”

One of the less experienced girls swallowed nervously and asked in a low voice:

“You… seem to be protecting that newcomer called [Gray Crystal] quite a bit? She’s from C District after all… isn’t it a bit strange for us to speak up for an outsider like this?”

“What does that matter?”

Su Xiaoli turned back, her clear eyes filled with simple conviction.

“We’re all magical girls fighting under the same night sky, gathered to protect this city… Why should we hurt each other just because we’re in different districts?”

Faced with such a pure, spotless declaration, the others exchanged glances, momentarily at a loss for words.

After a long silence—

A girl whose eyes already carried the weary exhaustion of a corporate worker sighed helplessly and gave a bitter smile.

“Well… that’s true. In a company where we’re crushed by all kinds of metrics and performance targets, only a naturally gifted genius like you, Senior Su, could still hold onto such simple ideals.”

“Yeah… not having to worry about the curse of age, not having to scheme for resources. Being young and talented really is nice…”

The girls exchanged tacit, bitter looks, like a flock of gray birds that had lost their vitality, and gradually left the tea room in twos and threes.

In the blink of an eye, only Su Xiaoli remained.

She stood alone beside the round table, staring at the cups of black tea slowly growing cold, her eyes dimming.

She knew what she said earlier hadn’t been pleasant.

No one likes being lectured.

She didn’t want things to turn this tense either. After all, whether it was Xia Nai or the girls who had just left, they were all colleagues who fought alongside her.

But…

“I only thought it would be interesting, so I encouraged Xia Nai-chan to go meet Lin Yu-kun… and in the end, it still turned out like this?”

“No choice… looks like I’ll have to go remind that guy.”

When Lin Yu walked out of Manager Qian’s office, his steps felt unsteady.

That look Manager Qian gave him just now—

What kind of look was it?

Shock? Confusion? Or… thinking he’d gone crazy?

Probably all of the above.

In any case, after hearing his explanation, even that smooth-talking fat man had been left speechless.

In the end, Manager Qian just rubbed his temples with a complicated expression, approved himself a short leave, and said he needed to immediately discuss the matter with Director Bai.

Discuss what?

Whether a patient like him—whose sense of gender identity had already started to become chaotic—could still continue wearing a little skirt and shine for the company?

“Haha…”

Lin Yu gave a dry laugh.

Probably not anymore.

This time, he’d likely really messed up.

“Sigh… if I can’t even keep this magical girl job… then according to what that fat guy Qian said before, what else can I even do in this life?”

Head drooping, Lin Yu muttered to himself like a sun-dried salted fish:

“Thinking about it, I’m just a shut-in anyway. Without this magical girl accident, my daily life would probably still be staying behind drawn curtains, staring at my computer screen, playing eroge heroines… and then one day quietly dropping dead… Yeah, that’s the most normal development…”

“Why are you imagining your future so pessimistically?”

A sly, fox-like voice drifted by his ear.

“Who—?!”

Startled, Lin Yu jerked and turned his head—then recognized the person.

“Oh… it’s Senior Su Xiaoli?”

At some point, Su Xiaoli had already sat beside him on the lounge bench, completely silent.

Today, she wore a soft beige knitted cardigan, her fluffy flaxen long curls draped over her shoulders, warm like sunlight.

“Long time no see, Lin Yu-kun~”

She tilted her head, her eyes curving into pretty crescents.

“S-Senior Su, what are you doing here?”

Lin Yu awkwardly scooted aside a bit and stammered:

“This is C District territory, right? I heard you got promoted to A-rank recently… logically speaking, someone as busy as you—how do you have time…”

“Because I don’t have a mission today~ So I came by to see you.”

Su Xiaoli blinked as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“C-came specifically to see me?”

Lin Yu tugged at his mouth awkwardly and gave a dry laugh.

“Haha… I’m not worthy of that…”

“Why wouldn’t you be?”

She smiled.

“A few days ago, didn’t that Rose Radiance from our D District say she had a ‘business exchange’ with your C District? And you defeated her cleanly, didn’t you? The news has already spread over here—everyone’s talking about it.”

Lin Yu’s emotions, however, became extremely complicated.

Defeated her?

…Did that really count as his victory?

Honestly, he wasn’t sure.

After becoming a magical girl, it felt like all the “male” parts of him had drifted away, and his thinking had become completely feminine.

It was entirely another version of himself.

He was certain it was still him—

But he didn’t think it was entirely his own strength.

More like cheating, maybe?

Like when playing a high-difficulty action game—if you just can’t beat it, you give up and turn on a cheat trainer.

Sure, the screen shows “Victory” in the end…

But that hollow feeling of crushing your opponent with hacks just makes it feel undeserved.

“Hmm? Why did you suddenly go quiet, Lin Yu-kun?”

Seeing him not respond, Su Xiaoli leaned a little closer.

“Reliving that exciting battle?”

“No…”

Lin Yu scratched his head awkwardly and lowered his gaze.

“I just feel like… talking about wins and losses like that is kind of meaningless.”

“Yeah. It was just a temporary win through some tricks. Nothing to be proud of. At my age, temporary success or failure isn’t something worth clinging to. Having a stable and reliable future—that’s what matters most.”

“Eh—”

Su Xiaoli dragged out her tone.

“That’s quite philosophical~ As expected of Lin Yu-kun, very mature, understanding such deep things.”

“Mature? Come on, don’t tease me. What kind of adult am I?”

Lin Yu clicked his tongue self-deprecatingly.

“If not an adult, then a child? Like me?”

“I don’t know…”

Lin Yu shook his head with a bitter smile.

“Maybe in your eyes, I barely count as an adult. But in the eyes of real adults… I’m no different from a kid.”

“Hey, hey, Lin Yu-kun, that gloomy aura of yours is contagious, you know!”

Pouting her pink cheeks, Su Xiaoli lightly slapped his arm.

“I heard from Li Qingrui that you were depressed for a while after the last mission, but recently you suddenly improved a lot, like you had an epiphany. The company’s higher-ups were even alarmed and are preparing to make an exception and let you take the B-rank test!”

“At a time like this, you should be full of spirit! But the moment I see you today, you’re so listless?”

“Depressed? Sudden improvement?”

The bitterness on Lin Yu’s face deepened. He spread his hands helplessly.

“Well… since you’ve asked this much, I guess I can’t hide it anymore. I’ll just be honest.”

“I… don’t plan to take any promotion test. I’m… quitting.”

“Quitting?!”

For once, even the always elegant Su Xiaoli lost her composure.

“You’re not serious, Lin Yu-kun?! You’re choosing to resign at a time like this?!”

“I don’t have a choice…”

Lin Yu avoided her burning gaze, his voice muffled.

“I… have my reasons.”

“What reasons?”

“Personal. Can’t disclose.”

He brushed it off, then his expression turned strange.

“By the way… Senior Su, you suddenly came to C District to see me—that’s already pretty suspicious. And now you keep asking about me quitting… Don’t tell me you’ve got a crush on me?!”

Gulp.

Lin Yu swallowed hard, his mind racing.

Sure, I’m a loser—but I did save my seniors, so I count as a “hero” now, right?

Could it be… I actually give off some kind of male charm?!

Wait, no…

A sudden realization flashed.

Oh—I get it!

These days, there are lots of girls—especially talented, beautiful prodigies like her—

The so-called “yuri vibes”!

Could it be that Senior Su…

“Tsk tsk…”

Thinking this, Lin Yu felt a strange sense of guilt rising.

Looks like this magical girl form doesn’t just bend guys—it works on yuri senpais too!

Damn, that’s impressive.

Is this the trouble of being strong?

He was almost sighing emotionally.

All the more reason to quit. If he stayed longer and ended up “turning” all his coworkers…

Wouldn’t that make him a sinner?

Lin Yu still couldn’t accept yuri. To him, it was basically the same as being gay.

He just wanted to be normal—just wanted a pure, straightforward romance.

“Because you’ve been targeted.”

Su Xiaoli suddenly said.

“Targeted? By who?”

“I can’t say. I originally came to remind you to be careful during the promotion test…”

At this point, she couldn’t help twitching her lips.

“And then you suddenly tell me you’re quitting… sigh—”

“Bad timing, I guess.”

“Don’t quit! It’s rare for the company to have someone as interesting as you. Being a magical girl is such a fun job—are you really going to quit and go work for some shady capitalist boss instead?”

“I mean… I don’t want to either, but…”

“But what?”

Pressed again, Lin Yu hesitated before revealing a little:

“If I keep going… I feel like I’m going to be assimilated.”

“Assimilated? What do you mean?”

“I mean… my original self being assimilated by the magical girl…”

“Oh—so that’s it!”

Su Xiaoli’s eyes widened as she seemed to understand.

“Looks like having too high a synchronization rate isn’t necessarily a good thing… Hmm…”

She thought for a moment, then suddenly brightened.

“Ah! I’ve got it!”

“What?”

“I have a way to help you solve this problem!”