Male, 30 years old, magical girl (middle)

Only You Dong remained in the room.

The cigarette continued to burn, but he hadn’t taken a single puff.

This year marked the third year You Dong and Chen Xi had been dating.

You Dong was 30, Chen Xi was 24. They, with a full six-year age gap, had met at a high school alumni gathering.

Throughout their relationship, they had always gotten along harmoniously, treating each other with mutual respect.
Recalling the bits and pieces of the past now, everything seemed as sweet as a beautiful dream.

However, this year, You Dong woke up from that dream.
He slowly realized a terrifying truth.

Without him noticing, Chen Xi had reached the age for marriage discussions.
Yet, for certain reasons, he was unable to build a happy family for her.

Realizing that continuing like this would only waste his girlfriend’s youth, You Dong chose to act decisively and proposed a breakup.

Chen Xi refused to agree, even thinking You Dong was joking.
Left with no choice, he had to orchestrate this drama to force his girlfriend away…

Thinking back now, time was tight, and this was all done too crudely.

Chen Xi was an intelligent woman.
Once she calmed down and thought about it, she would quickly notice the suspicious points.

But there was another possibility: she was already completely disappointed in him and was no longer willing to even think about him.
That would be for the best.

…Was it really for the best?

The moment that possibility crossed his mind, the regret and loneliness that surged in his heart betrayed You Dong.

The cigarette burned out, its ashes scattering on the floor.
The memories also came to an abrupt end in that instant.

You Dong immediately wanted to light another one.
He temporarily lacked the courage to face reality and wanted to continue living in the warmth of his memories.

However, the cigarettes were gone.

“Damn you…”

The smug face of the lucky cat flashed in You Dong’s mind.

Forced to face reality, he picked up the file folder Old Lin had left behind.
Untying the string, You Dong pulled out a set of developed photographs.

It was a picture captured by a high-speed camera, looking somewhat blurry, but it was still possible to make out that the focus of this set of photos was a humanoid creature flying in the sky.

One of the humanoid creature’s wings was pure white, while the other was as black as ink, giving it an extremely eerie appearance.

The moment he recognized the creature in the photo, You Dong suddenly felt a cramp in his stomach.
He immediately covered his mouth.

At this moment, painful memories and dark emotions, like whips, mercilessly tortured his spirit.

He got up and ran to the bathroom, leaning over the sink and dry-heaving.

There was nothing in his stomach.
All he could vomit was acid, snot, and tears.

“Damn it…”

You Dong clenched his fists so tightly it felt as if he would pierce the skin of his palm.

Reflected in the mirror above the vanity was a man’s face, twisted into a horrifying grimace by hatred.

Aberration—Sky Person.

To him and his dear niece—You Xi, it was the root of all their suffering.

One day, five years ago.
You Xi’s mother, who was also You Dong’s biological sister—You Huimei, and her husband Gu Chenyu, were traveling on a commercial airliner.
Tragically, the plane they were on was attacked and crashed by the A-rank Aberration, Sky Person.
The crew and 180 passengers, none survived…

From that day on, You Xi lost her parents, and he lost his only direct blood relative in the world.

At that time, You Dong was 25 and studying for his master’s degree abroad.
This news was like a bolt from the blue, shattering his future plans and even directly changing the course of his life.

Because of this tragedy, You Xi became an orphan.
Even more tragically, since You Xi’s maternal grandparents, that is, You Dong and his sister’s parents, had passed away early.
And her so-called paternal grandparents, Gu Chenyu’s parents, had no intention of adopting her.

The reason was that from the very beginning, they couldn’t accept that their meticulously raised, highly educated son would willingly become a live-in son-in-law in the You family, even letting the child take the mother’s surname…
Because of this conflict, the relationship between the two families was extremely poor, and they had no contact.

After learning this fact, You Dong didn’t hesitate for a second.
He dropped out of school, returned to the country, and handled You Xi’s adoption procedures.

Now, he was both You Xi’s “uncle” and her “adoptive father.”
He channeled all the pain and guilt of losing his closest relatives into love and devotion, pouring it all onto his niece.

“Bzz… Bzz…”

As his memories reached this point, the phone in his pocket rang again.

‘Is it Old Lin calling?’

You Dong smiled helplessly.

Now, he finally understood what that old fox was planning.

In fact, if Old Lin had appeared earlier, say, five years ago right after the accident, You Dong would have even knelt down and begged him to let him transform.

Magical girl or Asura demon, it didn’t matter.
As long as he could get revenge, as long as he could personally blast that damned Sky Person to smithereens, he wouldn’t care what he became.

But now, it was too late.

The man’s blood was still hot, and the hatred had not been resolved.
However, compared to revenge, he now had more important things to do.

He had once sworn at his sister’s memorial tablet to protect You Xi, to raise her into an outstanding adult in their stead.
For this, You Dong gave up his studies, his future, and today, his marriage.

To abandon his niece You Xi and rush into a happy marriage, to build a perfect family…

He could not accept such a thing, nor would he forgive himself for even having such a thought.

As for Old Lin’s invitation, You Dong had been tempted.
It was the revenge he had long awaited.

However, after some thought, he decided to give it up.

Fighting as a magical girl meant getting hurt, dying, being constantly on the run, and being unable to attend to many real-life problems.

Compared to protecting strangers he didn’t know, You Dong now only wanted, and only had the ability, to protect the happiness and future of one single person.

Suppressing the urge for revenge, he prepared to refuse Old Lin’s invitation once again.

However, the caller ID showed You Xi’s homeroom teacher, a young female teacher surnamed Li.

As someone who’s been there, he knew very well that when a homeroom teacher proactively calls a parent, nine times out of ten, the child has gotten into trouble at school.

‘What did You Xi do now?’

He remembered it had been less than a month since You Xi had berated the new intern teacher to tears.
Which unlucky soul had provoked our young miss You this time?

You Dong answered the phone with a half-joking attitude.

He couldn’t help it.
Without teasing himself a little, he really didn’t have the courage to press the answer button.

–”Hello, is this You Xi’s family?”

A woman’s voice came from the other end of the phone, her tone a little rushed, which only heightened his anxiety.

–”Hello, yes. You must be Teacher Li, right? Is there something I can help you with?”

–”You need to come to the school right away to handle something.”

–”May I ask what it is?”

–”Your daughter hit a classmate.”

–”Is… is it serious?”

–”Very serious.”

“…”

You Dong’s stomach churned again.

After a few seconds, he feigned composure and said, –”Alright, I’ll come to the school to handle it right now.”

After hanging up, You Dong cupped his hands to catch some cold water, splashed it vigorously on his face, and tidied his appearance.

In the mirror was a decent-looking face, just that his gaze was somewhat weary, like a rusted machine.

But he remembered a time when those eyes were very clear and full of life.
Back then, You Dong had no responsibilities and no pressure.
Even if he occasionally ran into trouble, that legendary “other people’s child,” his invincible sister, would always step in to solve it.

He caused trouble, she cleaned it up.
It had always been like that since they were young, hadn’t it?

However…

At this thought, a deep sense of powerlessness washed over him, and You Dong closed his eyes in pain.

“Sis.”

The man sighed from the bottom of his heart:

“What do I do? Raising a kid is really so hard…”

After the plaintive whisper, he patted his cheeks and put on the mask of an adult once more.

Even with a thousand dissatisfactions and ten thousand reluctances, what must be faced, must be faced.

In the world of adults, there is no retreat.