Chapter 14: Tracking Mission and Xizi Yue

[Main Quest 2 (Phase 1): Use a secondary identity to approach "Magical Girl Embers," attract her attention, and establish a connection with her.]

Ke Mingqing glanced at the quest details. Since he had important matters to attend to, he had planned to grab his backpack and leave immediately. However, as soon as he stepped out of the classroom, he found Jiang Qingzi already waiting for him in the corridor.

Jiang Qingzi leaned against the railing and smiled at him. "Why are you in such a rush?"

"Man... don't you know I'm the center of attention at school right now? Of course I want to get out of here as fast as possible." Ke Mingqing gave him a slight sidelong glance, looking at him with a bit of exasperation. "What do you want now?"

Jiang Qingzi rested his arms on the corridor railing. "I'm worried you might run into trouble on the school bus again, of course." He shrugged and suggested, "Why don't you take my car? I can have my driver drop you off."

Ke Mingqing sweated silently, thinking to himself, "Getting into the getaway car of a master thief like you would be the real danger, wouldn't it?"

He sighed. "Forget it, I'll just take the school bus. Otherwise, rumors will start spreading that I'm being kept by a wealthy young master."

Seeing that he couldn't stop him, Jiang Qingzi simply boarded the school bus to keep him company for the ride. Inside the vehicle, Ke Mingqing and Jiang Qingzi sat shoulder to shoulder in the very last row.

Despite acting disdainful on the surface, having a bodyguard with A-Class combat power gave Ke Mingqing a strong sense of security. He thought, "Now I'll never have to worry about being killed by some small-fry villain."

The bright yellow school bus swayed back and forth, making the passengers drowsy. Resting his chin in his hand, Ke Mingqing shot the breeze with Jiang Qingzi while playing Tetris on his phone.

Before long, the bus arrived at the stop. He got off at the Old Jingmai District, waved goodbye to Jiang Qingzi through the window, and headed straight home without looking back.

After returning to his bedroom, Ke Mingqing immediately finished his homework. Pressing the end of his pen against his chin, he turned his head to gaze out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the blood-red sky. The setting sun was slowly dipping toward the city's skyline, pulling away the last rays of light scattered between the skyscrapers. Ke Mingqing's pupils gradually darkened along with it.

When twilight shrouded the old building, Xia Zili returned home. After dinner, she told Xia Wenna that she was going out for a walk.

Ke Mingqing appeared nonchalant, but he had been waiting for this exact moment. Sitting on the sofa, he pulled a pair of sunglasses from his pocket. Just as Xia Zili walked past behind him, he pressed a button on the frame with his thumb.

[Prompt: The "Tracking Sunglasses" have locked onto a Superhuman Species—"Magical Girl Embers." For the next two hours, the target's location will be continuously marked on the sunglasses' map.]

Glancing at the prompt before him, Ke Mingqing returned the sunglasses to his player inventory and stood up from the sofa. He went up to the second floor and leisurely strolled into his bedroom. He closed the door, locked it, and sat down on his soft bed.

Silently chanting "Theater Puppet" in his mind, Ke Mingqing closed his eyes. A bird's-eye view instantly appeared in his vision. Through this omniscient perspective, he could see Xia Zili putting on her sandals at the entryway and leaving the house.

Ke Mingqing generated the Theater Puppet on the rooftop of the adjacent residential building, just as usual.

[A "Theater Puppet" has been generated within a 50-meter radius. The puppet will exist for 6 hours.]

He took a look outside through the window. "Bai Jieke" had already made his grand entrance. Wearing a Magic Hat and holding a black cane, he crouched silently on the railing of the opposite rooftop, gazing into the distance with hollow eyes.

The Theater Puppet shared an inventory with the player, so Bai Jieke was able to take out the Tracking Sunglasses and manifest them. He placed the sunglasses on his deathly white face, and an electronic map instantly loaded across the lenses. A flashing red dot on the map indicated Xia Zili's real-time location.

Concealing his presence, Bai Jieke's figure almost blended into the night. Leaning against the railing, he gazed down at the ground in silence.

Shortly after leaving the house, Xia Zili turned into a deep, empty alleyway. Immediately after, her body was enveloped in a dark cocoon of light. A moment later, the cocoon shattered. Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, the young girl underwent a complete transformation in appearance. She was now wearing a deep black Gothic Dress, its hem resembling a black rose with petals fluttering in the wind. Her hands were clad in black leather gloves, and her right hand gripped a dark gray umbrella.

Magical Girl Embers brushed a strand of hair from her temple and slowly lifted her gaze, her eyes as pure as the auroras of Iceland.

"Do Magical Girls transform this fast? It didn't even take a second," Ke Mingqing thought. "I figured they would take a few seconds to transform like in the cartoons, maybe throw in a dance routine or something. That way, I could just take them out while their transformation animation was playing."

Just as he was thinking this, the Gothic Dress Girl suddenly raised the black umbrella over her head. The bouquet patterned on the umbrella's canopy bloomed at that exact moment. A ripple of Magic Power spread out from beneath her feet, propelling her body straight up into the air in an instant.

In the blink of an eye, Embers vanished beyond the clouds. Holding her umbrella, the girl soared through the sky, becoming nothing more than a speeding black dot. At the same time, the red dot on the map of the sunglasses changed positions at high speed. Bai Jieke sprang into action.

The Magic Hat on his head suddenly began to spin rapidly. Acting like the rotor blades of a helicopter, it carried the deathly white puppet up into the night sky.

"...Is this really not going to crash?" This was the second time Ke Mingqing had asked himself this question.

After all, the target was a B-Class Superhuman Species. Bai Jieke's speed naturally couldn't match that of Magical Girl Embers. However, after chasing her for a short while, the Gothic Dress Girl stopped at a fixed location.

It was an abandoned elementary school in the Old Jingmai District. The school had been closed down for a long time. At night, it was completely deserted, leaving the corridors of the teaching buildings empty. Chalk marks from years ago still lingered on the blackboards inside the classrooms, and the cold wind blew the wooden doors open and shut.

Bai Jieke dropped from the clouds and landed on the rooftop of one of the teaching buildings. He straightened his eccentric hat, sat on the railing, and suddenly leaned backward. Wrapping his legs around the metal bar, he hung upside down in mid-air.

Turning his head slightly, he spotted the window of a certain classroom on the fifth floor. Looking inside through the glass, he saw the classroom was illuminated—not by electricity, but by the flickering flames of candles.

Many old, worn-out desks had been pushed together to form a massive rectangular table, and the candles were placed directly atop it. Bai Jieke shifted his legs on the railing, sliding his suspended body slightly to the right. Still hanging upside down, he peeked inside from the edge of the window.

At that moment, Magical Girl Embers was sitting alone on the long table near the edge of the classroom. The patterned hem of her Gothic Dress was spread out across the tabletop like fields of withered flowers. Her eyes were downcast, her thoughts a mystery.

Bai Jieke held his breath and observed her in silence. The next second, just as he was about to break through the window, a roaring sound seemingly from another dimension echoed out. Suddenly, the space in a corner of the classroom tore violently open.

Ke Mingqing was startled and hurriedly made the Theater Puppet stay completely still. Accompanied by the echoing CLACK-CLACK, CLACK-CLACK sounds, a dark green train engine abruptly emerged from the massive spatial rift.

Rows of pumpkin lanterns hung from the front of the train, radiating a warm, orange glow.

Magical Girl Embers turned her head to look at the figure inside the driver's cabin and said in an exasperated tone, "Master, why did it take you so long?"

A moment later, the cabin door opened. A fair, slender leg stepped out first, followed by the appearance of a young girl wearing a light green qipao. Her features were delicate and ethereal, her skin pale. Pure, jet-black hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her dark eyes seemed to be veiled by a layer of mist. Her face was entirely expressionless.

[Superhuman Species Code: "Magical Girl Xizi Yue"]

[Danger Level: S-Class]

[Superhuman Introduction: Xizi Yue is a Magical Girl hailed as one of the "Three Great Magical Girls." She oversees the operations of the Chinese Magical Girl Company. From brand endorsements to daily task assignments, everything is executed by Xizi Yue alone. Xizi Yue's Magical Dress is a light green qipao, and her Magical Weapons are a set of "Mahjong Tiles with the 12 Chinese Zodiac Animals." In addition, she possesses a Magical Relic—"NO.19: Super Space-Time Train."]

[Currently Known Weaknesses: 1. Xizi Yue's guard is very low when she is eating. This opening can be seized to launch an attack against her.]

"A Magical Relic..." Ke Mingqing had heard of such things. Rumor had it that these were items passed down through generations among Magical Girls. Only one Magical Relic was born per century. By the 21st century, there were only 20 such relics in the entire world.

"Does Xizi Yue monopolize one all by herself?" he thought. "By the way, this train is way too spectacular. Flying from the United States to China in a single second? I really want something like this, too."

Ke Mingqing shrugged, his thoughts shifting gears. "I've heard online that she's a foodie, but to think it's severe enough to become an actual weakness documented in her Superhuman Species Panel?"

Before long, the spatial rift in the classroom slowly closed. The front of the dark green train was sucked back into it, disappearing without a trace. After stepping off the train, Xizi Yue found a spot to sit down.

She quietly ate a rice ball she held in her hand. She looked just like a red panda eating bamboo, which created quite a contrast with her ethereal appearance.

"Master, why aren't you saying anything?" the Gothic Dress Girl asked softly. "You're not still mad at me, are you?"

Xizi Yue gave no response. After a while, she finished the rice ball and gently clapped her hands clean. Only then did she leisurely raise her head, speaking in a calm tone. "I just didn't expect that you would bring a friend to our meeting, Li. That doesn't seem to conform to our rules."

"A friend?" Magical Girl Embers was stunned. After a long moment, she tilted her head slightly, a strand of hair slipping down past her ear.

Xizi Yue didn't reply. Instead, she held a teapot she had pulled out from who-knew-where with both hands. Taking off the lid, she took a gentle sip of the hot tea. Then, turning her cheek slightly, she cast a sidelong glance toward the window.

Seeing this, the Gothic Dress Girl froze for a moment before following her gaze, slowly turning her head to look at the window at the edge of the classroom.

In that instant, she locked eyes with Bai Jieke, whose head was hanging upside down in the window frame.

Amidst the dead silence, he stared back with hollow eyes, a spine-chilling smile plastered across his face.