The Truth of the Flower Heir (4)

“Wait a second.”

You Dong cut Lao Lin off.

“Don’t you think your story has some basic logical flaws?” he said, voice tight.

“Let’s assume, for argument’s sake, that my sister really had that absurd level of power—the so-called [Great Full Bloom].”

“First: ‘granting me a new life.’ Doesn’t that imply I had to die first before being revived? Did I die? Because I don’t remember that!” You Dong snapped.

“You didn’t die,” Shi Minjun stepped forward, handing him a printed document.

You Dong looked down—and froze.

It was his medical record.

“But your heart… is entirely made from what Huimei left behind as a magical girl. She poured every ounce of her existence as [Sandalphon] into it,” Shi Minjun said.

“A miracle born from one person’s wish, created solely for one other person—” Lao Lin added softly. “And the one meant to bear that miracle… is the [Flower’s Heir].”

“What are you even talking about?! My heart? Me—I—”

You Dong stopped.

A memory flickered—faint, buried.

Over ten years ago, when he was still in middle school, he had been hospitalized briefly after collapsing post-game due to a cardiac issue. But it was just a minor surgery, right? Nothing serious.

He’d long since filed it away, forgotten—because afterward, there were no lasting effects. If not for this moment, he might never have remembered it at all.

“Wait… you’re saying that wasn’t just a routine surgery? That I only recovered because of my sister?”

“Yes,” Shi Minjun said. “Even if the operation had succeeded perfectly, your heart function would’ve only returned to about half capacity. Living a normal life? Nearly impossible.”

“Huimei couldn’t accept that. So she used her magic to create an entirely new heart—a construct woven from concentrated magical energy. That’s where your current power originates.”

“That explains why, the moment you became a magical girl, you already possessed such overwhelming magic reserves. It’s the final spell of a [Great Full Bloom] magical girl,” Lao Lin added, his tone heavy with sorrow.

“No way… This is bullshit.”

You Dong muttered under his breath, still resisting.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t accept his sister’s sacrifice.

It was that accepting it meant facing another truth—one too cruel to bear.

“I’ll ask you one question,” he said, his voice suddenly cold, eerily calm. “Answer honestly.”

“When my sister used that power… did she…?”

Lao Lin nodded slowly, his expression pained.

Maybe lying now would’ve been kinder.

But faced with someone who had died out of love, and another who lived because of it—any lie, any softening of the truth, would be a desecration of something sacred.

“She lost her magic and retired back to an ordinary life,” Lao Lin said quietly.

“So… if… if it weren’t for me…” You Dong whispered.

“AAAAAAH!”

An unbearable wave of regret and guilt erupted from deep within, tearing through his throat in a raw, wordless scream.

You Dong dropped to his knees.

One moment, he slammed his fist into the dirt. The next, he clutched his head, trembling. He didn’t know what to do—punish himself? Atone now, immediately?

But what sin could he possibly atone for?

In that instant of confusion, tears streamed down his face.

Lao Lin and Shi Minjun watched silently as the man before them teetered on the edge of emotional collapse.

—If it weren’t for me, Sister would’ve lived on like Shi Minjun—still a magical girl, still fighting. She wouldn’t have died in that plane crash caused by an aberration attack. Maybe she could’ve even saved those others…

They both knew that was the unspoken thought clawing at his mind.

You’re wrong to think that way. You can’t judge a dynamic reality with static logic. You’re just torturing yourself.

But in this moment, rational words were useless.

So they stayed silent.

An emissary from the Magical Kingdom. A veteran magical girl forged in countless battles. Even these two extraordinary beings stood powerless before the depth and complexity of human emotion.

After a long while—after the storm inside him had passed—you Dong slowly pushed himself up from the ground, hands braced on his knees.

At just the right moment, Lao Lin handed him a cigarette. Without a word, the two smoked in silence.

“…So who exactly is Heilou?”

Out of nowhere, You Dong asked.

“Why was she in that photo with you? Were you allies back then?”

“You’ve already processed it? Got your head on straight fast. Just like your sister,” Shi Minjun remarked.

“What’s there to process?” You Dong gave a bitter laugh.

“If I’m not responsible for my sister’s death, then of course I’ll live on.”

“But if I am responsible?” He paused.

“Then goddamn it, don’t I have to live even harder?”

“A remarkable mindset,” Lao Lin murmured, nodding.

In that moment, he thought of You Xi, Mo Li, and Bai Mian—and felt a deep sense of gratitude.

“To find adults like you… it’s truly been a lifesaver.”

“There’s no such thing as someone who starts out an adult,” You Dong said.

“Now tell me about Heilou. For You Xi’s sake, I have to rescue Bai Mian from her.”

“Heilou was indeed a magical girl I contracted. At first, I remember her as extremely shy and timid,” Lao Lin said.

That matched the girl in the photo at Shi Minjun’s house—the one with downcast eyes, radiating nervousness.

Curious, You Dong wondered: What happened to turn her into the terrifying figure I faced?

“This… was our fault.”

As if reading his thoughts, Lao Lin began to confess.

“At the time, the Magical Kingdom implemented a highly experimental method to boost magical girls’ base capabilities.”

“Experimental method?” You Dong frowned.

“Yes. And it led directly to a series of tragedies.” Lao Lin nodded, voice tinged with bitterness.

“You probably know the basics, but let me recap.”

“The contracts made by girls like Nu Bi or Huang Xing are known as Second-Generation Contracts. Your sister, and you—who inherited her power—are bound by First-Generation Contracts.”

“The biggest difference? First-Gen girls use magic wands. Second-Gen girls get weapons shaped by their soul’s essence—we call them [Soulweapons].”

“What does that have to do with this ‘experimental method’?”

Lao Lin nodded.

“Before the official Second-Gen contracts rolled out, the Magical Kingdom tested a prototype. And that’s where the problem began.”

“At the time, First-Gen magical girls had high learning curves and dangerous mission risks. To improve baseline ability, they decided to innovate on the weapon system.”

“Magic wands offer infinite potential, but the barrier to entry is high.”

“So they asked: Is there a way to create a weapon that adapts automatically to the user’s personality and fighting style? That way, even rookies could fight effectively from day one—and grow faster.”

“And thus, the [Soulbound Items] were born. Officially unnamed at the time, we privately called it the Second-Gen Contract… though it’s unrelated to today’s version.”

“So… a test version between First and Second Gen? Call it 1.5, then?” You Dong suggested.

“Exactly. That label fits,” Lao Lin admitted.

“The Magical Kingdom was confident this 1.5-Gen contract would replace the old one completely. But in reality, it was a flawed prototype—with severe side effects.”

“Side effects?”

“If [Soulweapons] use magic crystals to weave power into personalized arms… [Soulbound Items] are pure theft.”

“In simple terms, they extract a portion of the user’s soul and reshape it into weapons. Heilou’s wings—those razor-sharp things? They aren’t magically conjured. They are part of her soul.”

“…That’s… messed up.”

You Dong didn’t fully grasp how souls worked, but analogizing helped.

“So the contract basically cuts off a piece of her body—her soul—to make these [Soulbound Items]?”

“Precisely. Your analogy is accurate.”

Lao Lin lowered his head, ashamed.

“At first, the Magical Kingdom believed this wouldn’t harm the user. After all, [Soulbound Items] only activated during transformation.”

“When de-transforming, the extracted portion would return, reintegrating into the soul.”

“That sounds… fine, right?” Lao Lin asked.

“How could it be fine?” You Dong scowled.

He couldn’t pinpoint the flaw logically—but as a human, his instinctive reverence for the soul told him: This is wrong.

“The human soul shouldn’t be toyed with like this.”

“No,” Lao Lin sighed. “You’re right.”

“The 1.5-Gen girls—like Heilou—grew stronger at unprecedented speeds. Though few in number, some reached [Leaf] or even [Petal] rank within months. Unthinkable for either First or current Second-Gen.”

“But the cost?” You Dong asked, already suspecting the answer.

“The greater the [Soulbound Item], the more soul it required each time it formed. At first, some girls couldn’t de-transform. Then, while their souls remained partially extracted, they began losing human memories and emotions—until they became pure magical constructs.”

“They could never become human again?”

“No. They became beings of pure magic—like me, or aberrations.”

“The soul holds memory, emotion—it should be sacred. We violated that sanctity. And so, we were punished.”

Lao Lin’s voice was thick with regret.

“Hah. What f*cking nerve,” You Dong spat, laughing bitterly.

“You say we were punished? Who really paid the price? Heilou and the others!”

He glared at Lao Lin, fury and disgust plain in his eyes.

Lao Lin bowed his head, unable to meet his gaze.

Silence fell. You Dong lit another cigarette, inhaling deeply.

After a while, he spoke.

“Lao Lin.”

“What?”

“Can you give me a straight answer—right now?”

“Human minds break under too much truth. Right now, You Dong wasn’t thinking—he was letting his heart decide.”

“Can I still trust you?”

Lao Lin met his eyes, speaking slowly, deliberately:

“Please… believe in me.”

Long silence.

Then, from between clenched teeth, one word:

“Fine.”

“My goal is simple: save Bai Mian for You Xi. But to do that, there’s one problem—I clearly can’t beat Heilou. So…”

He turned to Shi Minjun, who had stood silently beside him throughout the exchange.

“Are you the backup you brought me?”

“No, no, no—you flatter me,” Lao Lin chuckled weakly. “I couldn’t possibly recruit her. She volunteered to help you defeat Heilou.”

“Is that so? Then… thank you.”

You Dong looked at Shi Minjun with genuine gratitude.

But her gaze in return was sharp—almost mocking.

“Enough chatter.”

She tilted her chin at him.

“Kid. Transform.”

“And we’ll start from the very beginning—how to hold a magic wand.”