An Unexpected Encounter

After gaining a rough understanding of Samuel’s abilities, Ran Jiu asked, “Do you think this Samuel is friend or foe?”

After a moment of contemplation, Meng Shan replied, “He feels like a simple, well-meaning passerby. As you know, hiding one’s true abilities provides a massive advantage in combat—and as you said, he isn’t a combat-oriented Awakened.”

“So, what’s the plan? Leave him be?”

“Of course not. We’ll shadow him for the afternoon. If he doesn’t show any suspicious behavior, then we’ll leave him alone.”

“Fine, let’s do that.”

On this rare Sunday, Ran Jiu wasn’t the only one looking for rest; so was the magical girl, Jiang Yunshu.

For a student who had been grinding at school for half a year, summer break was undoubtedly the thing they looked forward to most. During this month-long holiday, students usually relaxed, slept in, ate snacks, and played games to their heart’s content.

However, due to Ran Jiu’s special training regimen, Yunshu’s “comfortable” summer was much like those children sent to cram schools by overbearing parents—spent entirely in constant study and training. It couldn’t be helped; Yunshu knew that as a magical girl, she was still too weak. To become strong, she had to put in more effort than anyone else.

But training was training. Since it was finally Sunday—a scheduled rest day—Yunshu intended to make the most of it.

Early that morning, she dressed up in a light pink dress paired with a slim-fitting black jacket. Tying her hair into twin-tails, she headed out with her friends in high spirits. Throughout the morning, she wandered through various spots of interest, her laughter echoing everywhere she went.

Initially, she planned to spend the entire day this way. But at noon, a strange young man interrupted her plans.

While walking through the crowds with her friends and debating which restaurant to pick for lunch, a sudden scream pierced the air.

“Aaaaaah!”

Did something happen? A monster attack?! Faced with a potential disaster, Jiang Yunshu, as a magical girl, could not stand idly by. Because of the distance, her friends hadn’t heard it. After finding a quick excuse to duck into an alley, she raced toward the source of the sound.

Due to the dense crowds, she couldn’t transform easily and had to settle for a light jog to reach the scene.

“Aaaaah! This creep! He touched me!”

Upon arriving, Yunshu received one piece of good news and one piece of bad news. The good news: she and the other magical girls wouldn’t have to fight monsters on their day off. The bad news: the scene before her looked even harder to deal with than a monster attack.

Surrounded by a crowd, a short-haired woman in her thirties—stout and clearly lacking in exercise—was pointing an accusing finger at a strangely dressed man.

“You all saw it! This creep just touched me! Look at the suspicious, serious way he’s dressed—he’s definitely not a good person. A total pervert!”

Indeed, the man accused of being a “creep” was Samuel, the man who had just helped Meng Shan and Ran Jiu.

Facing the woman’s aggression, Samuel explained patiently, “I was merely passing by you; I did not touch you. Please, Madam, do not misunderstand.”

“You said you were passing by, and you claim you didn’t touch me?!” The woman completely ignored his explanation, screaming even louder. “Look at this! This pervert is trying to make excuses!”

Hearing this, the surrounding crowd began to buzz with gossip. Most of them started hurling insults at Samuel, calling him shameless. Why was the crowd siding with the unreasonable woman? The reason was simple: Samuel’s attire was far too suspicious. Wrapping oneself up so tightly in the sweltering heat was not the behavior of a “normal” person.

Seeing the crowd side with her, the woman’s confidence surged. She stormed up to Samuel, grabbed his hand, and roared, “Can some kind soul help me call the police? Get this creep thrown in jail!”

This sequence of actions clearly drew Samuel’s ire, but his upbringing dictated he maintain his manners. Suppressing his anger, he said in a level tone, “Allow me to explain again: I did not touch you. This is a misunderstanding. Please stop this intentional harassment.”

Feeling her “righteousness” questioned in public, and seeing that Samuel still dared to argue, the woman gave him a violent shove, knocking him to the ground. Samuel’s cane skittered away. Seeing this, the woman deliberately kicked the cane even further.

As she moved, she continued to yell, “Everyone look! This man is still trying to grope me!”

At this point, Jiang Yunshu, who had been watching from the crowd, could no longer hold back. She squeezed through the onlookers and stood between Samuel and the woman. “That’s enough! You’re going too far. If there’s an issue, wait for the police to handle it. Getting violent is wrong!”

Finding her path blocked, the woman’s temper flared. She cursed at Yunshu, “Where did this little brat come from? You look like trouble too!”

Just as the woman prepared to lay hands on Yunshu, she suddenly jolted as if pricked by something.

“Aaaaaah! What was that?! It hurts! You little b*tch, it must be you! I—”

Before she could do anything else, a booming voice rang out from outside the crowd: “Watch out! That car is on fire!”

The crowd instinctively looked toward the source of the shout. Sure enough, not far away, thick smoke was billowing from beneath a sedan. Terrified of an explosion, the crowd scattered in a chaotic frenzy.

“Don’t think you can run, you little… Aaaaah! Something pricked me again!”

In the chaos, Yunshu acted decisively. She grabbed the cane, scooped Samuel up, and vanished into the fleeing crowd without a trace.

By the time the woman caught her breath, Yunshu and Samuel were long gone. Fuming, she pulled out her phone to call the police. However, before she could dial, a hand snatched the phone away.

The woman looked up to find Meng Shan and Ran Jiu standing before her, looking at her with “kind” eyes.

Ran Jiu patted the woman on the shoulder and said, “Let’s go somewhere quiet to chat—about whether your behavior just now was appropriate.”

After running for a while and ensuring the woman hadn’t followed, Yunshu set Samuel down, panting heavily.

“Hah… hah… I’m exhausted. Are you okay?”

“I am fine, Miss. Thank you for standing up for me.” Samuel tried to stand up. This was no easy feat for him; because his leg couldn’t bend, he tried several times, nearly collapsing each time.

Seeing his struggle, Yunshu moved to help, but Samuel stopped her with a word.

“I appreciate your kindness, Miss, but I do not need it. I can stand on my own. Could you please hand me my cane?”

“Oh, right! Here you go.”

With his cane back in hand, standing up became much easier. Leaning on the support, he slowly rose to his feet. Samuel bowed sincerely to Yunshu. “Thank you again. Without your help, things would have become very troublesome. My name is Samuel Aldrich.”

“I’m Jiang Yunshu. You can just call me Yunshu.” After resting a bit, her breathing steadied. “No need to thank me. I just want to double-check—you didn’t touch that woman, right?”

“No. I am only a tourist in this city. Touching her would serve no purpose, nor does she possess any value that attracts me. I had no desire to touch her.”

“That’s good then. It proves I didn’t help the wrong person,” Yunshu said happily. “I knew that fierce-looking woman wasn’t a good person.”

“One cannot judge whether a person is good or bad—let alone innocent—based solely on appearance,” Samuel said calmly. “To know if someone is innocent, one requires careful investigation and reliable evidence.”

Yunshu chuckled at his formal logic. “I get it. You sound just like Brother Shan and Sister Ran. But I still prefer to trust my intuition. If I had followed your logic just now, I wouldn’t have been able to get you away in time.”

Samuel fell silent for a moment before replying, “A very reasonable insight. It seems my thinking was still incomplete. Now then, Miss Yunshu, how should I repay you?”

“Repay me…?” Yunshu thought for a second, then asked curiously, “Then I want to ask: why do you wrap yourself up so tightly? You aren’t showing a single inch of skin in the middle of summer. Aren’t you hot?”