Magical Girl’s Magnitude

Lilia didn’t answer Ye Huasheng’s question.

She simply looked at her in silence.

As a friend, there were some things she could say, and some things she couldn’t, or that would be useless to say.

Although what Bai Hai said was harsh, he was right.

If Chengzi continued to act so willfully, she would likely suffer a great loss…

If she were an ordinary person, it wouldn’t matter, but she was a magical girl now.

The consequences of reckless behavior were extremely serious.

‘But just what is his story…’

Lilia raised her head and looked at Bai Hai’s back.

Chengzi’s brother in name only… his words always seemed to carry a hidden meaning.

Could it be that he knew something?

But how could he possibly know?

In a daze, Lilia subconsciously superimposed his silhouette with the dark figure she had seen last night… but before the image could fully form, she shook her head again, amused by her own absurd idea.

‘How is that possible.’

She didn’t notice at all that Ye Huasheng was looking at her from the side with a very strange expression, a terrible guess forming in her mind:

‘Don’t tell me Nannan actually has improper thoughts about him?’

“Wait, sir.
Although I’m very grateful for your help earlier, what comes next will be extremely dangerous.
You…”

Meanwhile, Bai Hai had found the chief and expressed his intention to go inside with them.

He had a vague feeling that simply chasing the Anomaly’s main body would be pointless in defeating it.

The corpses left behind might hold a crucial clue.

Besides, since he had run into her, he wanted to communicate with Xia Cheng in her magical girl form as much as possible.

Perhaps he would gain some unexpected insight.

When the chief heard that Bai Hai also intended to enter the autopsy center, he was stunned.

He quickly waved his hands in refusal, but Bai Hai cut him off bluntly:

“Alright, that’s enough.
What time is it to be so formal?
If I didn’t know, fine, but I’m already involved now.
How can you kick a teammate halfway through a dungeon?
Besides, this is a police-civilian cooperation.”

Bai Hai made it clear he was coming along, no matter what.

The chief still wanted to say something, but Bai Hai added, “Besides, I was the one who found these three bodies.
I have a responsibility to follow up.”

“You found them?”

The chief’s brow furrowed upon hearing this, and he finally couldn’t help but ask, “Just who are you?”

“My name is Bai Hai.
I’m a travel photographer currently living here.”

Bai Hai answered calmly.

The chief seized on these keywords, and combining them with Liu Xiaoxiao’s earlier report, he instantly understood the man’s identity:

“I see.
So you’re the son of Professor Jiang Yue that Xiaoxiao mentioned, the one who returned from abroad?”

Ye Huasheng reacted slightly to this.

She then noticed some of the surrounding police officers begin to whisper among themselves.

Professor Jiang Yue, one of the top scholars in the country.

As criminal investigators in this city, they had some awareness of such high-profile individuals.

This was a person of great importance.

‘The son of a great scientist.
No wonder!’

“Yes, I am.”

“It’s an honor.
Your skills are impressive.
In the old days, I would have insisted on specially recruiting you into the police force… Thank you for your assistance.
We will ensure your safety.”

In reality, the chief’s words were rather empty.

The man was clearly a formidable fighter.

He remembered how he had just confidently promised to protect him, only for the man to take on three enemies by himself!

The chief’s agreement to let Bai Hai join them was not only due to his skills and identity but primarily because the chief had a hunch that this man might uncover some unexpected clues.

This man was by no means simple.

With so many years in the police force, he was confident in his ability to judge character.

“Let’s stop wasting time and get in there.
The longer we delay, the greater the chance of more reanimations inside.”

The chief nodded and specifically picked out a set of gear for Bai Hai.

Of course, he couldn’t give him a firearm, but he did provide a stab-proof vest and a helmet.

Bai Hai put on the vest but refused the helmet, and entered the autopsy center with the officers.

Throughout this entire process, Ye Huasheng was once again left standing there.

“Is my mom’s reputation that amazing?
Why did everyone’s attitude change the moment they heard he’s her son?”

After a while, she whispered to Lilia in disbelief, “Is it even more impressive than me being a magical girl?”

Lilia could only roll her eyes.

“…You’re asking me?
How should I know?”

Compared to Xia Cheng’s family, Pan Nannan’s was just an ordinary merchant family.

“Don’t dally.
Let’s go in.
Are you really planning to rely on them alone to deal with those zombies?”

“Oh…”

Meanwhile, high above the city, a fierce chase was underway.

“Liuliu, help me calculate my magic consumption and give me a way to catch up to it!”

Leng Xuan, longsword in hand, pursued the black bat closely.

However, no matter how she accelerated, the monster was like an illusion she could never catch.

So, Leng Xuan took the initiative to summon her contracted spirit.

A contracted spirit, judging by its appearance, looked like a mascot from an old-school magical girl anime.

It was standard issue for magical girls, like a certain Q-thing or a K-thing.

However, unlike in the anime, it wasn’t the spirits who actively contracted the magical girls, but rather the magical girls who, after their power increased, actively contracted them.

Ordinary humans didn’t know that there were power rankings among magical girls.

In their eyes, the only distinctions were the number of Anomalies they defeated and their cuteness.

But among magical girls themselves, a ranking system existed based on magnitude, a unit originating from the ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus for measuring the brightness of celestial bodies.

In fact, not even the magical girls themselves knew who had proposed this concept.

They only knew that there were six magnitudes in total.

Rookie magical girls like Ye Huasheng and Lilia were at the sixth magnitude, the most basic level.

When their magic power and personal skills improved, a star-up phenomenon would occur along with intense emotional fluctuations.

The brightness of the light within their Source Blood would increase, and their power would rise significantly.

At that point, they would become a fifth-magnitude magical girl.

Magical girls at this stage could not only learn more advanced magic but could also travel to the Magical Kingdom for an audience with the King, and under the King’s watch, contract their own spirit.

Spirits had different forms and abilities.

For example, Leng Xuan’s spirit, whom she called Liuliu, looked like a lion dance puppet.

This spirit’s ability was strategy.

It could quickly calculate the best course of action based on current conditions.

It also possessed the basic abilities common to most spirits, such as detecting danger and regulating magic.

Judging by ability alone, Liuliu’s strategic prowess seemed rather useless in Ye Huasheng’s eyes, as it didn’t directly increase one’s power.

However, Leng Xuan found this ability extremely practical.

It saved her the mental effort of calculation during battles, allowing her to fight more efficiently, which was crucial in high-intensity combat.

The small lion dance puppet emerged from Leng Xuan’s magic, shaking its head and body.

It looked exceptionally cute.

But this cute creature, after appearing for less than a few seconds, spoke in a soft and sweet voice:

“Give up.
It’s too fast.
Continuing this chase will only exhaust your magic.
But I have predicted the destination of its current route.
You can take a different path to circle around and ambush it.”

“Alright, I understand.”

A route map calculated by Liuliu appeared in Leng Xuan’s mind.

She nodded and, with a turn, shot off in a different direction.

On the ground below, Liu Xiaoxiao was driving her police car at an incredible speed.

Fortunately, the sirens had been sounded earlier, and most citizens were either hiding at home or in temporary shelters.

The roads were quite empty, allowing her to keep her eyes fixed on the faint trail of light and give chase.

Suddenly, the light made an abrupt turn and shot off in a different direction.

Liu Xiaoxiao paused for only a second before immediately turning to follow.

Although she didn’t know why the magical girl had changed course, she was certain that the light was chasing the Anomaly.

This time, she had to, she absolutely had to witness the demise of Yungu City’s Anomaly No. 35 with her own eyes!

Bai Hai, the police squad, and the magical girls formed an exploration team and entered the autopsy center, cautiously moving deeper inside.

The building was now completely surrounded, and various pieces of riot gear were laid out, ensuring the exploration team could eliminate any reanimated corpses within.

Initially, the two magical girls had demanded to explore alone, especially the one in red and white, who was the most insistent.

However, after Bai Hai’s firm reasoning (with the blue one also helping to persuade), the two of them had no choice but to agree to cooperate with the police, acting as the vanguard at the front of the squad.

The autopsy center was large.

After all, it managed all the forensic work for the entire city, and the City East Police Station it was affiliated with was also the Municipal Police Bureau, the management center of the entire police system.

The team had been exploring for ten minutes and had only managed to confirm that the first floor was clear of enemies and safe… for now.

The officers who used to work here were feeling for the first time just how vast this place was.

The familiar rooms were now filled with an unknown terror.

Just as the team was preparing to head to the second floor, Bai Hai suddenly spoke to the chief beside him.

“Chief, there’s a question I’ve wanted to ask from the beginning.”

“What is it?”

“Do you and Liu Xiaoxiao know that Anomaly?
I heard you call it Yungu City’s Anomaly No. 35?”

The chief’s expression froze.

In that brief moment, an intense internal struggle seemed to take place.

Then, in an extremely weary tone, he began to speak, and as he did, Bai Hai’s eyes slowly widened:

“That’s right… Actually, half a year ago, in March, I wasn’t stationed in Xingchuan City.
I was working with Xiaoxiao in Yungu City.
She’s my student and the daughter of a colleague from my class.
Her father entrusted her to my care.
But it was at that time that Yungu City’s No. 35 appeared…”

“Xiaoxiao’s parents and her younger sister died because of it.”