Ran Jiuyi’s Disguise Was Actually Quite Clumsy.

“Alright, alright, everyone calm down. First, let me introduce myself. My name is Ran Jiuyi. I used to be an office clerk, though I was fired quite a while ago.”

“Based on your behavior just now, I think you need my help.”

Otherwise, who knows what kind of mess you’ll make, Ran Jiuyi grumbled inwardly.

The “Little Three” looked at one another, then back at her. None of them had a better idea. They had never encountered a situation this complex and high-stakes, and they were completely at a loss.

After a moment of silence, Bai He’an—the most level-headed of the three—asked, “Can you really help us?”

Ran Jiuyi answered with certainty. “I can. And I will handle it perfectly. But I have two conditions.”

“First, tell me exactly what happened—especially how that man on the ground got injured.”

“Second, from now on, you follow my lead. If you don’t understand something, you can ask, but never agree to my face and then do something else behind my back.”

……

“So… they just told you everything? Including my identity and theirs?” Meng Shan asked.

“Yep,” Ran Jiuyi replied. “It was a total jumble. If it weren’t for my old job—where I constantly received incredibly abstract work reports—I wouldn’t have understood a word. Seriously, did you ever teach them how to communicate effectively?”

“Uh…”

Meng Shan realized he hadn’t. “Language and communication… isn’t that what Chinese teachers are for?”

“Then their Chinese teacher failed them. They have no sense of priority when they speak; they just drone on about useless details.”

……

After piecing together the events, Ran Jiuyi pondered for a moment before speaking. “Alright, it’s not too complicated. There are three main issues we need to solve right now.”

“First is Meng Shan’s condition. Do you have a specialized medical department serving you? Or perhaps a special contract with a specific hospital?”

The three girls shook their heads simultaneously. Whenever they got hurt in the past, Yi Ziling’s Healing Gel fixed them up instantly. They had never stepped foot in a specialized medical facility.

“None? Then, because of your secret identities, it’s inconvenient for you to go to a public hospital, right?”

Yi Ziling asked, confused, “Huh? Why? And if we don’t go to a hospital, where do we go?”

Ran Jiuyi replied flatly, “Simple. Meng Shan’s injuries are from an explosion—a very severe one. In a city this size, only a handful of people would show up with those kinds of wounds in a given week. Whoever you were fighting only needs to check the new patient logs at the local hospitals to pin him down.”

“Tracing the trail from him to the three of you would only be a matter of time. By then, the enemy will be in the shadows while you’re in the light. You won’t stand a chance.”

“Your previous battle already proved that your odds of winning against Bian alone are terrible. You have to fight as a team. Once your identities are exposed, do you think she’ll ever give you the chance to group up again?”

Ran Jiuyi’s analysis was spot-on. In her original plan, had she failed to catch Meng Shan, her next step would have been exactly that: scouring the hospitals.

As a city with only three “rookie” Magical Girls, Ran Jiuyi didn’t believe for a second that there was an independent medical unit looking after them.

Yi Ziling followed up, “If the hospital is off-limits, where should we take him?”

“Let me ask: what is Meng Shan’s home like? Where is it located?”

It was an odd question, but Yi Ziling answered anyway. “It’s a small two-story villa near the outskirts. Why do you ask?”

“Perfect,” Ran Jiuyi said. “Then we’ll take him home for treatment.”

“Eh?!” the three exclaimed in unison.

“Don’t look so surprised. Look at him: his wounds have stopped bleeding, his breathing is stable—his face is just a bit pale from the blood loss. This means he’s out of immediate danger. Yi Ziling’s treatment was very effective.”

“Now we just need a suitable place for him to recover slowly. He’ll make a full recovery sooner or later.”

Bai He’an was still uneasy. “Is that really okay? Ziling has never treated an injury this severe before.”

“Of course it is.” Ran Jiuyi flexed her left arm. “In just this short amount of time, my arm already feels much better. No swelling, no bleeding—the Healing Gel works wonders.”

However, having experienced it firsthand, Ran Jiuyi had spotted the gel’s weakness.

It required the recipient to have a strong inherent life force to be truly effective. If used on the elderly or those at death’s door whose vitality was waning, the effects would be significantly diminished.

I’ll have to find a time to use my own ability to top up Meng Shan’s life force later, she thought.

“And if you’re still worried, I can acquire medical supplies,” she continued. “If it really comes down to it, I have a few… ‘connections’ to find a trustworthy doctor. But that carries a high risk of exposure. I wouldn’t recommend it unless it’s a last resort.”

Under Ran Jiuyi’s persuasion, the three girls reluctantly nodded.

It was impossible to feel completely safe with a plan proposed by a stranger they’d just met. But they truly couldn’t think of a better way. They had no choice but to accept.

“Good.” Ran Jiuyi nodded. “Then Yi Ziling will escort Meng Shan. The rest of us have other matters to settle.”

……

Scanning the various medications and monitors surrounding his bed, Meng Shan asked, “So you got all this stuff? Where from? A lot of these are controlled prescription drugs.”

“Mostly from pharmacies and medical supply stores. If you pay a high enough price, people tend not to care about the details. And honestly, the stuff in your car is much harder to get a hold of than this.”

Ran Jiuyi still remembered the inventory: two automatic heavy machine guns, a sniper rifle, several bombs, and various other illegal, high-grade controlled weapons.

“Even if you’re the official ‘handler’ for the Magical Girls in this city, there’s no way you could legally possess that many weapons. Especially considering your ‘department’ is just a title with no one under you except those three girls.”

“They really did tell you everything.” Meng Shan seemed entirely unbothered by his status as a “hollow commander.”

“Actually, it’s a good thing. The less power this city has to deal with Monsters, the safer the city actually is. It means the casualties from fighting them are lower.”

“You’ve seen what my three girls are made of. They can only survive safely in a city like this that only spawns ‘trash-tier’ monsters. Put them somewhere with higher intensity, and they wouldn’t last a week.”

This took Ran Jiuyi by surprise. Did Meng Shan really have such a precise grasp of the girls’ power levels?

“But speaking of which… what did you do with my weapons? You didn’t throw them away, did you?” Meng Shan changed the subject.

“Of course not. I’ve organized them, though some are damaged and will need repairs.”

Meng Shan breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. If they were gone, it would have cost me a fortune in time and money to replace them.”

“But your car? I destroyed that completely. Turned it into scrap metal.”

Meng Shan: “…” “I’d rather you had thrown away the guns! Do you have any idea how expensive that car was?!”

……

“Next, we handle the vehicle,” Ran Jiuyi had said, pointing at the car that looked totaled but was technically still driveable.

“Salvage the weapons and take them to Meng Shan’s place. Then, dispose of the car entirely.”

Bai He’an had asked, “Can you tell us why? Brother Dashan really likes this car.”

Ran Jiuyi shrugged. “Same reason we’re skipping the hospital. This car is a traceable lead. We need to clean it up for safety’s sake.”

Bai He’an nodded. “I’ll handle it. I’m the best fit for this job. I’ll also go back and further wreck the previous battle sites to make sure no traces are left behind.”

“Are you sure you can do that?”

Bai He’an answered confidently, “Yes. That factory district was abandoned a long time ago. No one will come looking for trouble.”

Is that so? Ran Jiuyi didn’t quite believe it. Even if no one came looking now, it was hard to say someone wouldn’t try to use it against them in the future.

……

“Keep an eye on that factory situation,” Ran Jiuyi warned now. “No one is making a fuss yet, but who knows about the future.”

To her warning, Meng Shan remained perfectly composed. “It doesn’t matter. Anyone capable of making a fuss over that would have found something else to use anyway. Better to leave a deliberate flaw that’s easy to defend against later.”

“I’ll handle that when I have the time. But for now, there are more pressing matters, right?”

“You mean that person named Bian?”

“Partially. She is indeed strong. I need to write some support requests and do some serious research on how to deal with her.”

Meng Shan stared intently at Ran Jiuyi. “I have a feeling that our future enemies won’t just be limited to Bian. Am I right, Ran Jiuyi?”

Ran Jiuyi replied with a neutral expression, “I wouldn’t know. But I think your intuition is correct.”

……

“And what about me? What do I do?”

Jiang Yunshu, the only one without an assignment, had hopped in front of Ran Jiuyi. “Surely I’m not doing nothing?”

“Of course not,” Ran Jiuyi said with a smile. “You have a very important task.”

“In the coming days, plenty of people are going to come looking for Meng Shan to question him. What I need you to do is stand in for him and keep them at bay.”