Chapter 31: The Rating Drop

Mana level readout is only 0.67? Even for a command position, that Rating is too low, isn’t it?

B-rank standard is 1.1, A-rank requires 1.3. Past geniuses could even reach 1.6-something. She can’t even hit 0.7. Can she really still be captain?

Facing the rising discussion, Tang Yuanding cleared his throat again, signaling the room to quiet down.

The mana readings on the screen were low enough to surprise him too, but the priority was confirming intel.

“Put the Rating aside for now. Activate the Hatcher. The intel on monsters is more important than obsessing over Hongxia’s mana level while she’s exhausted.”

With the grinding of gears, the capsule-shaped device called the Hatcher rose from beneath the floor of the meeting room.

Jiang Ciqiu stared at the gray-white device with her crimson eyes.

In her previous life, she had gone through more than deep dives inside it. The pain of memory deletion and having mysterious liquid forced into her brain had also happened in this capsule.

The hatch opened upward, revealing dense pipes and a seat meant for one person.

Looking at the needles and patches still gleaming coldly, Jiang Ciqiu felt her legs tremble a little.

“Ugh. At this point, I can only trust that cat.”

She took a deep breath and stepped into the Hatcher.

The seat was ice-cold. Countless tubes wrapped around her arms like tentacles. The moment the needle pierced her skin, a metallic-tasting liquid rushed into her veins.

“I’m ready. Start.”

She heard herself say.

The hatch closed, and the world went dark.

Just before her consciousness was pulled away, Jiang Ciqiu felt something brush lightly across her mind.

Then a flood of memories drowned her.

The gray shadow under the gymnasium, the female monster vanishing in twisted space, fireballs, fragments, dancing particles of light, all of it surged out.

But the parts that could not see the light, the deal with the Black Cat, the secret of her rebirth, and the dear friend she could never stop worrying about, were pushed into a corner by something like a paw and sank down.

After who knew how long, the data stream on the meeting room screen finally stabilized.

[Memory consistency: High | Mental contamination index: Normal | Intel judgment: Credible]

“Mental data is normal. The intel is credible,” the technician in charge reported.

Ilya let out a breath, her shoulders dropping. Lan Ruobing was still frowning.

“0.67, and she’s captain with a level like that?”

The number lingered in the blonde girl’s mind too.

If a magical girl’s mana Rating stayed below 1 for a long time, the Bureau might consider revoking her status. After memory erasure, she would return to an ordinary life.

As a magical girl who had joined the team because Hongxia inspired her, Ilya naturally did not want to see her idol and captain leave in disgrace.

“It should just be exhaustion from fighting for three days straight. Before this week, no magical girl had ever sortied at that frequency. Captain just hasn’t rested enough.”

“…I hope you’re right, Ilya.”

Lan Ruobing shot her a glare, turned her head awkwardly, and started playing on her phone, avoiding the sight of the old captain trembling as she got to her feet inside the opened capsule.

The red light faded, and Jiang Ciqiu became the short-haired girl in a school uniform again.

She truly felt like she had reached middle age and lost her old prowess. Every extra second in her transformed state was torture.

Deep dives required injecting a special drug into a magical girl’s brain. The dizziness from the side effects made her legs give out as she left the capsule. She almost knelt in front of everyone. Ilya reacted and darted over, catching her.

“Captain! Are you okay?”

“N-no, I’m fine. Just a little dizzy. Give me a moment.”

Jiang Ciqiu steadied herself on Ilya’s arm and clicked her tongue inwardly.

The old geezers hadn’t spotted anything wrong with the deep dive, but she hoped this useless body wouldn’t sell her out first.

If she looked too weak, would the boss fire her?

Her office drone instincts made her turn her head nervously. Tang Yuanding was indeed looking this way, his brow tightly furrowed.

‘Oh no, I’m going to get fired for bad performance!’

Jiang Ciqiu screamed inwardly, but Tang Yuanding was not thinking about letting her go chase her dreams.

To the administrator, Hongxia had been a stable, powerful, trustworthy warrior for eight years. Her rapid decline lately was truly abnormal.

…Could it be related to that high school boy named Lin?

Dating? Jiang Ciqiu?

At that thought, Tang Yuanding realized why he was so surprised.

He had never seen Jiang Ciqiu as a little girl like the other magical girls. Her temperament and the way she did things made her seem more like an exploitable male workhorse… no, a male employee.

In his eyes, Jiang Ciqiu was more like a junior boy who needed to be shaped through hardship and lessons, not a girl to be held in his palms and protected.

Maybe he really had been putting too much pressure on Hongxia. Had the string been pulled so tight that it snapped?

“Hongxia.” Tang Yuanding took a sip of tea from his thermos and spoke. “For the calamity beast incidents in the next two weeks, unless there is a special situation, you don’t need to sortie. Rest well for a while.”

Jiang Ciqiu felt relieved.

At least she wouldn’t have to worry about being a hero of justice and fighting for her life in her final days.

“Understood. I’ll take a good vacation then.”

As soon as she spoke, Lan Ruobing clicked her tongue obviously, then quickly walked over to Jiang Ciqiu, who had been helped into a chair by Ilya.

“So you’re just going to leave like this? Retire at the end of your career with such a ridiculous rating? Where’s that bullheaded drive you had when you saved people and fought calamity beasts!?”

Hearing the girl’s tone, frustrated that she wasn’t living up to her potential, Jiang Ciqiu smiled helplessly.

I’m already past the age where I can shout about friendship and bonds, buff myself, and one-shot the boss. Don’t throw such a harsh topic at me.

“I’m only resting for a while, then I’ll come back. Don’t worry, I won’t retire.”

“Heh. You’d better keep your word, senior!”

Lan Ruobing practically ground out the last two words through her teeth. After shooting a fierce glare at Jiang Ciqiu, who had gone limp in the chair, she turned and left the meeting room.

“Captain, you’re the one who inspired her to join the team. She only said that because she was anxious. Don’t take it to heart.”

Ilya hurried to smooth things over for her teammate. Jiang Ciqiu waved a hand, saying she wouldn’t take it to heart. It was just a kid throwing a tantrum.

Basking in the admiring gaze of the blonde young lady, Jiang Ciqiu, a middle-aged corporate drone inside, felt her self-worth spike.

Come on. To an office drone, that kind of talk had about as much bite as a spoiled child acting cute.

By the time she left the Bureau building, it was already past midnight.

Jiang Ciqiu refused the driver and chose to walk back. She wanted to clear her head.

After becoming an office drone, walking was the only exercise that cost nothing, trained her body, and wasn’t too intense, so she had made it a habit.

The girl’s footsteps echoed through the empty streets. Streetlights stretched her shadow long.

Jiang Ciqiu hummed an off-key drifter’s tune, immersed in the joy of a double vacation. She didn’t notice that, in the shadow of a streetlight a dozen meters behind her, a figure had been sneaking after her for a while.

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