Chapter 61: The Price of Flight and Pursuit

Soaring through the air. For millennia, flight had been a mere human dream, a pursuit many dedicated their entire lives to mastering.

Yet, in the era of the ‘Transcended,’ what was once called flight had become nothing more than an instinct for a Magical Girl.

From this perspective, it was arguably a form of ‘evolution’ actively sought. At least, that was Su Qingyao’s belief.

Though she had temporarily returned to solid ground, the fierce wind still echoed in her ears.

Even for a Magical Girl, flight demanded a significant expenditure of magical energy. For those of the second tier, at least, the cost was far from negligible.

To reach their destination in a single, unbroken flight, relying solely on their own power, was simply not feasible.

Considering this, Su Qingyao’s group had, at the end of yesterday’s training, established temporary resting points along their pre-planned route.

Essentially, it was just an open clearing, sparsely dotted with wooden stumps.

“Are you alright?”

Su Qingyao asked, her voice laced with concern, to the probationary Magical Girl before her. The middle schooler, only a second-tier Magical Girl, was panting heavily, her hair matted with sweat.

Magical energy depletion often brought with it severe discomfort and mild respiratory distress.

In stark contrast, Su Muxue sat quietly on Su Qingyao’s assigned seat, her eyes gently closed in rest.

While the rise and fall of her chest had quickened slightly, it was clear that Su Muxue still had considerable reserves.

Indeed, among the Magical Girl trainees, a considerable disparity in ability levels was evident.

As part of the ‘training,’ Su Qingyao could not directly use her magic to assist girls who had reached exhaustion. Thus, after seeing the girl nod, her face pale, Su Qingyao quietly conjured a refreshing breeze with a common spell, directing it towards her.

‘At least it can alleviate some of the discomfort, can’t it?’

Su Qingyao glanced around. Xu Yiyi, too, was secretly offering assistance in her own way.

The second-tier Magical Girls assigned to Xu Yanqing’s group, however, had to rely solely on their own efforts.

Just as Su Qingyao was quietly observing and contemplating, the girl’s magical outfit stirred without a breeze, the silken ribbons trailing from her skirt gently swaying.

Su Muxue stealthily reached out her hand.

Swish.

She suddenly darted her hand forward, grasping at a ribbon within arm’s reach.

Yet, to Su Muxue’s surprise, the ribbon, which had been drifting naturally moments before, dodged her grasp with astonishing speed just as it was about to be caught.

“!” Su Muxue gasped in astonishment.

The ribbon, as if possessing a mind of its own, calmed down upon realizing the hand belonged to the little white cat, then actively snaked into her palm.

This comforting gesture left Su Muxue bewildered for a while before she finally understood what had happened.

Su Muxue secretly cast her gaze upwards.

‘Hmm, my mother is still looking around, isn’t she? Could it be, as the storybooks say, that Mother actually has many eyes?’

Su Muxue tilted her head in confusion, feeling only the tickle of the ribbon against her palm.

In a childish act of retaliation, Su Muxue gave the ribbon a slight tug.

This time, Su Qingyao finally noticed the small movement.

“Oh, what’s Muxue doing?”

Su Qingyao, belatedly aware, looked down and asked Su Muxue.

Su Muxue, without needing to be taught, began to whistle.

Her youthful face was adorned with an innocent smile, yet Su Qingyao couldn’t shake the feeling that her daughter seemed to be hiding something.

Fortunately, before Su Qingyao could press further, Xu Yanqing blew a whistle, signaling them to move.

Su Qingyao set aside her daughter’s unusual behavior and straightened up.

The other Magical Girls resting nearby also rose from their wooden stumps, gathering closer to Su Qingyao.

She quickly counted the children assigned to her group.

Three, five… wait, something seemed off.

Su Qingyao frowned. ‘It seems someone is missing.’

“Hmm, where is He Baimiao?”

She addressed the assembled Magical Girls.

Su Qingyao’s voice wasn’t loud, yet it held an unspoken authority.

“Here, here!” A hasty voice called from Xu Yanqing’s side.

A petite Magical Girl with black hair rushed towards Su Qingyao, breaking into a run after being singled out.

‘Ah, didn’t I tell them not to switch groups?’

Having once been a student herself, Su Qingyao ultimately couldn’t bring herself to point it out, merely nodding at He Baimiao.

Once the three teams were properly organized, Xu Yanqing announced that it was time to depart again.

Before Su Qingyao ascended into the sky, Su Muxue quietly tugged at the corner of her clothing and whispered:

“Mommy, how many more times will we have to do this?”

Su Qingyao’s reply sounded less than certain.

“Hmm, probably twice more.”

“In any case, we still need to shake off the little tails following us, you know.”

Su Qingyao smiled, her eyes twinkling, while Su Muxue looked thoughtful.

“Mommy, do you mean someone is tracking us?”

Su Qingyao nodded, her tone devoid of the gravity one might expect from being pursued. “Of course.”

“However, the people behind us are merely at the stage of wanting to advertise to you all.”

Even without Su Qingyao mentioning it, the other two team leaders had long anticipated the presence of these followers.

Even if the City Defense Army could sweep a certain area, they couldn’t account for those truly determined individuals who would cast a wide net around the perimeter, inevitably catching glimpses of numerous streaks of light flying over the treetops.

And then, trouble inevitably followed.

Su Qingyao turned her head, looking towards a particular spot, and unconsciously sighed.

‘Everyone is far too well-fed these days,’ she mused, a hint of weary amusement in her tone.

****

“Boss, have we been spotted?”

The subordinate holding the binoculars suddenly felt a prickle of unease on his back.

‘Could the glint of my lenses truly give us away?’

Unlike the subordinate in the passenger seat, the man in the suit, gripping the steering wheel and crashing recklessly through the dense wreckage of scrapped metal, merely let out a cold snort.

On the long-abandoned roads of yesteryear, the ceaseless passage of New World scavengers had, at last, carved out a path barely wide enough for a small car.

However, it was ‘barely’ because most of the derelict vehicles hadn’t been cleared from the route, making it dangerously easy to collide head-on with one.

Unless one were chasing flying streaks of light, a normal person would hardly consider driving at such a reckless speed.

“Forget about them. We’re well past the blockade zone anyway.”

The Leader spat out the window, turning his head. “Do you know how hard it was to wait for this opportunity?”

It was a rare stroke of luck to hear about such a collective activity through unofficial channels.

For those looking to specifically recruit talent, it was an incredibly rare and valuable opportunity.

Especially since the participants were all rough diamonds, waiting to be polished.

They held the potential for significant future development.

“Yeah, but…”

“But, Boss – why do we absolutely need a Magical Girl to be our figurehead?”

The subordinate nearly had a steel rebar poke him in the face, scaring him almost to tears.

“That’s where you don’t understand.”

The Leader adjusted the sunglasses perched on his nose.

“This is what’s called pre-apocalypse corporate branding.”

‘Huh, but Boss,’ the subordinate wanted to interject.

‘Aren’t we just carving out territory in the fringe zones, running those… *activities*? What’s the point of hiring one, even if we pool all our resources?’

‘Surely it wasn’t something everyone wrote on a survey, was it?’