Tracking Mission and Xi Ziyue

[Main Quest 2 (Phase One): Use your second identity to make contact with "Magical Girl Ember," attract her attention, and establish a connection with her.]

Ke Mingqing glanced at the quest details. With important matters still awaiting him, he had originally planned to sling on his backpack and leave.

But when he walked out of the classroom, he discovered that Jiang Qingzi was already waiting for him in the corridor.

Leaning against the railing, Jiang Qingzi smiled at him. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Bro... don't you know I'm the center of attention at school right now? Of course I need to get out as fast as I can."

As he spoke, Ke Mingqing shot him a sidelong glance, looking at him with some helplessness.

"What do you want this time?"

Jiang Qingzi rested his arms on the corridor railing. "Of course I'm worried you'll get into trouble on the school bus again." He shrugged and suggested, "Why don't you ride in my car? I'll have the driver give you a lift."

Ke Mingqing inwardly broke into a cold sweat. Getting into the car of a thief like you, that's what would really be dangerous, right?

He sighed. "Forget it, I'd better take the school bus. Otherwise, people will start saying I've been kept by the young master."

Seeing that he could not stop him, Jiang Qingzi ultimately got on the school bus as well and accompanied him for the ride.

Inside the bus, Ke Mingqing and Jiang Qingzi sat together in the last row.

He might have acted disgusted on the surface, but having an A-rank combatant as a bodyguard still filled Ke Mingqing with a sense of security. Now Mom never has to worry about me getting taken out by some trashy villain again.

The bright yellow school bus swayed along, making him drowsy. Resting his chin on one hand, Ke Mingqing chatted and joked with Jiang Qingzi while playing Tetris on his phone.

Before long, the school bus reached its stop. He got off in Old Jingmai District, waved goodbye to Jiang Qingzi through the window, and headed home without looking back.

After returning to his bedroom, Ke Mingqing immediately finished his homework. Propping his chin with his pen, he turned his head and gazed out at the blood-red sky beyond the floor-to-ceiling window.

The setting sun slowly sank toward the city's horizon, withdrawing the lingering glow scattered between the skyscrapers. Ke Mingqing's eyes gradually dimmed as well.

When dusk enveloped the old apartment building, Xia Zili returned home.

After dinner, Xia Zili told Xia Wenna that she was going out for a walk.

Ke Mingqing seemed unconcerned, but he had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

Sitting on the sofa, he pulled a pair of sunglasses from his pocket. As Xia Zili passed behind him, he pressed the button on the frame with his thumb.

[Notice: "Tracking Sunglasses" have locked onto a superhuman species—"Magical Girl Ember." For the next two hours, her location will be continuously marked on the sunglasses map.]

After glancing at the prompt before him, Ke Mingqing put the sunglasses back into his player inventory and rose from the sofa.

He went upstairs, leisurely entered his bedroom, closed and locked the door, then sat down on the soft bed.

After silently reciting "Theater Puppet," Ke Mingqing closed his eyes. A bird's-eye view immediately appeared in his mind, and through that omniscient perspective, he saw Xia Zili put on her sandals at the entrance and leave the house.

As usual, Ke Mingqing generated the Theater Puppet on the rooftop of the residential building next door.

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

Looking outside through the window, White Jack had already made its entrance.

Wearing a magician's top hat and holding a black cane, it crouched silently on the railing of the rooftop opposite, its hollow eyes gazing into the distance.

The Theater Puppet shared an "inventory" with the player, allowing White Jack to take out the Tracking Sunglasses and materialize them.

It put the sunglasses on its deathly pale face. At that moment, an electronic map appeared across the lenses. A red dot flashed on the map—it was Xia Zili's real-time location.

White Jack concealed its presence, its body nearly blending into the night. Leaning against the railing, it silently watched the ground below.

After Xia Zili left the house, she soon turned into an empty, deep alley.

Then, her figure was suddenly enveloped in a dark cocoon of light. Before long, the cocoon shattered. Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, the girl underwent a complete transformation. She changed into a dark gothic dress, its skirt resembling black roses, petals drifting in the wind. Her hands were covered in black leather gloves, and she held a dark gray umbrella in her right hand.

Magical Girl Ember brushed aside the hair at her temple and slowly raised her eyes, which were as clear as the aurora over Iceland.

"Magical girls transform that fast? Not even a second." Ke Mingqing thought, I thought they'd transform for a few seconds like in cartoons, maybe dance a little too. Then you could kill them while their transformation animation was playing.

As he was thinking this, the girl in the gothic dress suddenly raised her black umbrella over her head.

The bouquet pattern on the umbrella bloomed at that instant. Then ripples of magical power spread beneath her feet, launching her body upward in a flash.

In the blink of an eye, Ember vanished beyond the clouds.

Holding her umbrella, the girl streaked through the clouds, becoming a rapidly moving black dot. At the same time, the red dot on the sunglasses map shifted at high speed, and White Jack began to move as well.

The magician's top hat on its head suddenly spun at high speed. Like helicopter blades, it carried the pale puppet up into the night sky.

"...Is this really not going to crash?"

This was the second time Ke Mingqing had asked himself that question.

After all, the other party was a B-rank superhuman species. White Jack naturally could not match Magical Girl Ember's speed. However, after following her for a while, the girl in the gothic dress stopped at a fixed location.

It was an abandoned elementary school in Old Jingmai District.

The school had been closed for a long time. At night, no one ever came here, and the corridors of the teaching building stood empty. Chalk marks from years ago still remained on the classroom blackboards, while the cool wind blew the wooden doors open and shut.

White Jack descended from the clouds and landed on the rooftop of a teaching building.

It straightened its bizarre top hat, then sat on the railing. Its body suddenly leaned backward, its legs wrapping around the railing as it hung upside down in midair.

It then tilted its head slightly and spotted the window of a classroom on the fifth floor of the teaching building.

Looking inside through the window, the classroom was lit by candles.

Many old desks had been piled together to form a huge rectangular table, and the candles sat atop it.

White Jack shifted its legs around the railing and moved slightly to the right in midair.

Then, with its head hanging upside down, it peered inside from the edge of the window.

At that moment, Magical Girl Ember sat alone on the long table at the edge of the classroom. The patterned skirt of her gothic dress spread across the tabletop like patches of withered flower fields.

Her eyes were lowered, and no one knew what she was thinking.

White Jack held its breath and silently observed her.

The next moment, it was about to crash through the window. Suddenly, a roar that seemed to come from another dimension rang out, followed by the abrupt shattering of space in one corner of the classroom.

Ke Mingqing was startled and hurriedly made the Theater Puppet remain where it was.

Amid a spreading clanking sound, a dark green locomotive suddenly emerged from the enormous spatial rift.

Rows of jack-o'-lanterns hung from its front, casting a warm orange glow.

Magical Girl Ember turned to look at the figure in the driver's cab and said irritably, "Master, why did you take so long?"

Before long, the cab door opened. First came a slender, fair leg, followed by a girl in a light green qipao stepping into view.

Her features were ethereal, her skin fair, and her black, cool-toned hair draped over her shoulders. Her ink-dark eyes seemed veiled in mist, and her face showed little expression.

[Superhuman Species Codename: "Magical Girl Xi Ziyue"]

[Danger Level: S-rank]

[Superhuman Species Profile: Xi Ziyue is a magical girl known as one of the "Three Great Magical Girls." She oversees the operations of the Chinese Magical Girl Company. From brand endorsements to everyday work assignments, Xi Ziyue handles everything herself.

Xi Ziyue's magical attire is a light green qipao, while her magical weapons are a set of "mahjong tiles printed with the twelve zodiac animals." In addition, she possesses a magical relic—"No. 19: Transdimensional Train."]

[Known Weaknesses: 1. Xi Ziyue is highly unguarded while eating. You may seize this opportunity to attack her.]

"Magical relic..." Ke Mingqing had heard of such things.

Rumor had it that these were items passed down among magical girls through the generations. Only one magical relic would be born each century, and by the twenty-first century, there were only twenty relics in the entire world.

"Xi Ziyue has one all to herself?" he thought. Also, this train is way too spectacular. It can fly from America to China in one second? I want something like that too.

Ke Mingqing shrugged, then considered another thought.

"Still, I'd heard online before that she's a foodie, but could that really be so serious that it became a weakness recorded on her superhuman species panel?"

Before long, the spatial rift in the classroom slowly closed. The front of the dark green train was pulled into it and vanished without a trace. After getting off the train, Xi Ziyue found a place to sit.

She quietly ate a rice ball in her hand.

She looked like a little panda eating bamboo, which contrasted rather sharply with her ethereal appearance.

"Master, why aren't you saying anything?" the girl in the gothic dress asked softly. "Don't tell me you're still angry with me?"

Xi Ziyue did not respond. After a while, she finished the rice ball and lightly clapped her hands.

Only then did she slowly raise her head and speak in a calm tone.

"I just didn't expect you to bring a friend to the meeting, Xiao Li. That doesn't seem to follow our rules."

"A friend?"

Magical Girl Ember froze. After a long while, she tilted her head slightly, and a strand of hair slipped down beside her ear.

Xi Ziyue said nothing. She merely held a teapot she had somehow produced in both hands, lifted the lid, and gently took a sip of hot tea.

Then she turned her face slightly and glanced toward the window from the corner of her eye.

The girl in the gothic dress was stunned for a moment before following her gaze. She turned her head and slowly looked toward the window at the edge of the classroom.

At that moment, her eyes met those of White Jack, whose head was exposed as it hung upside down.

In the silence, its eyes were hollow, and a terrifying smile hung on its face.