Early that morning, he woke in a double bed occupied by only one person.
Lin Yun instinctively reached for the pillow beside him, only to find empty space.
It was always like this.
He always imagined that everything had merely been a dream, that his wife was still beside him.
He stared blankly at the ceiling, took some time to settle his emotions, then sat up in bed.
She was gone, and another day began as usual.
Washing up, shaving, dressing, making himself presentable-none of it ever changed.
He left his room and glanced next door. A note reading "Knock first" was stuck to his daughter's bedroom door. That never changed either.
Lin Yun took a ready-made breakfast from the refrigerator, quickly heated it up, and ate without much thought. He left another portion for his daughter, who was probably still asleep, then silently left home.
Fangting City's morning rush hour was exceptionally bad. Driving meant barely moving at all, so Lin Yun seldom drove to work, preferring to squeeze onto the packed train.
It was crowded, but fast enough to ensure he reached the office on time.
He walked to the station nearest his home and waited about three minutes for the train. Swept into the carriage by the crowd, Lin Yun found a free hanging strap near the window and grabbed it like a castaway seizing a floating plank amid a raging storm.
He lowered his head and opened his phone. Seeing his manager already assigning tasks left and right in the company group chat so early in the morning, he unconsciously let out a long sigh.
Bored, Lin Yun sifted through the idle chatter in the group for useful information and considered how to tackle the tedious work urgently awaiting him that day. The more he thought about it, the more discouraged he felt. Finally, he put his phone away, emptied his mind, and enjoyed a rare moment of peace on the crowded train.
Before long, a startled scream suddenly rang out in the carriage.
After that first scream, cries of alarm erupted all around him.
Lin Yun looked toward the crowd where the sound had come from, then followed their gazes outside. His eyes roamed until he quickly found what mattered and understood why everyone was shouting.
A huge monster shaped like a ball of flesh clung to a distant high-rise, flailing its claws in a terrifying display.
Aberrant beasts-that was what people called them.
They often appeared without warning in human cities, destroying and killing indiscriminately and without purpose. Their origins remained a mystery to this day, and they posed a tremendous threat to public safety.
Physical attacks could not harm them. Even the most powerful firearms and explosives failed to strike them effectively, making them a serious headache.
In recent years, however, aberrant beast attacks had been uncommon in Fangting City.
As time passed, what had once been common knowledge grew hazy. Amid their peaceful lives, people had gradually grown accustomed to days without sudden aberrant beast attacks.
No wonder an unexpected incident like this left them so panicked.
The anxious commotion did not last long before it was forcibly interrupted.
A streak of pale blue light cut across the sky, striking straight at the aberrant beast among the buildings.
As though answering that streak of light's challenge, the spherical monster opened its hideous maw wide and let out an earth-shaking roar.
Then, as the train carried them farther away, they could no longer make out what happened next.
Some passengers were still shaken, some swore incessantly, and others cheered with delight.
They had all recognized that streak of blue light. It could not have been anything else-it was undoubtedly a magical girl.
Magical girls seemed to have appeared for the very purpose of keeping aberrant beasts in check.
There was no way to establish who had first called them "magical girls," nor whether the name had arisen naturally or come from those familiar children's cartoons. Whatever its origins, "magical girl" had become synonymous with "eliminating aberrant beasts."
Some regarded them as a conspiracy or a fraud, while others saw them as modern heroes. But without question, magical girls were a presence people cared about, one they could not ignore.
Lin Yun was no exception.
"A color I haven't seen before. A new magical girl... so they still appear."
There was no particular feeling in his words; they could even have been called emotionless. Only his tightly furrowed brow betrayed his unsettled mood.
He had known this day would come sooner or later.
Still, aberrant beasts and magical girls were ultimately far removed from ordinary life. Unless someone was accidentally caught up in their affairs, the two worlds would remain parallel lines, never intersecting.
As he was now, he had no reason to keep concerning himself with such things.
The train continued rumbling onward.
Following the crowd out of the station, Lin Yun made his way through the busy streets to the office building where his company was based and began his day's work.
He worked for an elevator company called Ascend, whose main business was manufacturing and selling various commercial elevators. He was the head of its after-sales service department.
As a result, he inevitably spent every day wrangling with customers. Whenever something went even slightly wrong with a larger order, it always found its way back to him eventually. The endless trivial matters were enough to make his scalp crawl.
He sat diligently through reporting meetings, patiently handled business communications, forced himself to stay alert as he routed tasks, and finished filing documents in a daze.
At nearly seven that evening, Lin Yun politely declined an invitation to dinner and left the office. Facing the already darkened sky, he silently started home.
Dim yellow light spilled over the streets but failed to illuminate his face. Walking in the shadows of the skyscrapers, Lin Yun looked lost.
Lately, he had kept feeling frustrated with his life.
His seemingly unchanging position at the company was gradually wearing him down.
His long-static social circle was narrowing his perspective more and more.
His family relationships were approaching freezing point, and he did not know how to communicate with his child.
And although he was still in his prime, his body had less and less energy and suffered frequent minor ailments, with unbearable aches in his shoulders and the back of his neck.
Thinking further back, every turning point seemed to lead to that funeral in the rain. As he stood helplessly before the rain-soaked gravestone, his daughter's muffled sobs in his ears, all the good things he had believed in seemed to wash away with the rain, leaving only a suffocating weight. It seemed that ever since his wife had passed away, his life had held nothing he could call good.
A car horn abruptly sounded from the road, pulling Lin Yun out of his inner world and back to reality.
Was he dwelling too much on the past?
There were so many things weighing on him, so many problems arising, that he could find no clear cause among them.
As he slowly made his way toward the station, a phone call suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
Lin Yun took out his phone and glanced at the caller's name. He hesitated briefly, but in the end moved his finger to the answer button.
He answered the call, and as the clear ringing faded, a woman's voice came from the other end.
"Are you off work yet? Want to have dinner together tonight?"
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