Leaving Fangting

February 10th, 9:00 AM, sunny.

In the magical girl base of Fangting City, Larkspur is in her room, giving her suitcase a final check.

"Change of clothes, toiletries, travel permit, driver's license, cell phone, keys, wallet..."

She checked each item one by one, muttering to herself, and only after confirming that no essential items had been left behind did she close her suitcase.

"Okay, no problem."

She was so certain.

Going to the Kingdom for qualification assessment was something that had been planned long ago, and the relevant preparations had been underway for a long time. Now, she just needed to follow the established procedures.

Dragging her suitcase out of the room, she walked all the way to the stairwell. She looked at the slightly narrow stairwell, then at the suitcase beside her. After a while, she raised her finger, drew a few lines in the air, and then used her Magic Armament to create a simple zipline to lift the suitcase down.

One person waited in the living room for a while, and about ten minutes later, several junior members of the Fangting City Squad came down from upstairs one after another. The group waited a little longer until Asō Madoka also came downstairs yawning. After handing over some work to Larkspur, they officially set off from the base.

Several of the younger members of the Bai'an City Squad returned to their respective cities a week ago, leaving only Asō Madoka remaining in Fangting. If nothing unexpected happens, she will work with Hong Siyu to ensure the safety of Fangting City after Larkspur and the others leave.

Driving away from the city with the younger generation, we smoothly made our way to the Landship port. Away from the hustle and bustle of the city, Larkspur felt that her vision had become wider. The buildings that gradually disappeared in the rearview mirror were blurred like silhouettes, and the air was cleaner and less dusty than in the city.

Along the highway leading to the suburbs, farms gradually replaced buildings, and vast fields stretched as far as the eye could see, seemingly without end. Looking towards the horizon, the open sky resembled a giant canvas, painted with colors by the rising sun, captivating the eye.

Soft golden light spilled across the road ahead, and a few early spring birds occasionally flew past the car window, their calls fading into the distance, adding a touch of poetry to this morning journey.

After driving for more than ten minutes on this country road, the outline of the port gradually came into view of Larkspur and the others.

As the outermost buildings of a city, Landship are generally built with the City Barrier Network. Outside the port lies Wasteland, and inside the port lies the city. Therefore, this area can be considered a key border defense zone. Although with the technical support of the Kingdom, it is common for a single Aberrant Beast to break into the vicinity of a city's protective netting for several years. However, if Aberrant Beast does break in, it usually causes a very serious problem. Therefore, the cooperation between the port and the city's Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau is actually quite close.

Although the port is far from the city center, the huge flow of people and the large number of passengers coming and going every day have created a well-developed commercial area around it, with everything from food and accommodation to entertainment, making it almost like an independent town.

As they drove through the commercial district, the younger women couldn't help but look around. Being quite young, they didn't have much memory of leaving the city or traveling on Landship. Lin Xiaolu had once left Fangting for a family trip, while Bai Jingxuan had traveled on Landship when she moved to Fangting with her parents, but they were both very young then, so their memories were vague.

Larkspur saw several of her juniors peering out of the car window in the rearview mirror. A slight smile appeared on her lips, and she silently slowed down a little.

A dozen minutes later, Larkspur's car pulled into the port parking lot, and the girls took their suitcases out of the car and walked into the huge port area.

The travel tickets had already been prepared by the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau. Considering that the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau's recent financial expenditures were not abundant, Lin Yun did not approve the four first-class cabins requested by his subordinates, but only approved two economy class cabins.

Under Larkspur's guidance, the group easily completed the procedures of ticket collection, luggage check-in, security check, etc. They only encountered a slight obstacle at the security check, simply because the staff couldn't find their "guardian" after searching for a long time.

"Although you have already bought tickets, because intercity voyages by Landship are risky, we cannot allow minors to board alone without adult accompaniment." This was what the staff member said at the time.

"I am an adult," was Larkspur's reply.

"You are... uh..." The staff member initially wanted to verify the veracity of the statement, but when he discovered that the one claiming to be an "adult" was actually the youngest-looking girl in the group, he immediately abandoned any thought of verification.

"Little friend, we're conducting a security check here, which is a very serious matter. Lying won't work here."

"... I really am an adult." Having anticipated this situation, Larkspur wasn't too surprised, but she took out her pre-prepared identification with a slight sense of helplessness.

The identity document was genuine, endorsed by the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, and therefore had full validity. It was an authentic document, so after the staff verified it several times without finding any problems, they apologized and allowed Larkspur and the others to enter the waiting area.

"Little kid, pfft." Even after walking out of the security checkpoint, Xia Liang couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Stop being so glib." That was met with a glare from the Larkspur.

This minor incident naturally did not affect everyone's itinerary, and soon, the Landship bound for Yannan City began checking tickets on time.

The journey to the Kingdom is long and arduous. In the entire Material Realm, only the Central City has a train that can take you directly to the Kingdom. Each state has its own dedicated track that circles the Central City of the entire state before taking all passengers out of the Material Realm and heading to the Magic Kingdom.

For this reason, the Fangting City Squad had to first travel to Yannan City, the nearest Central City, and then transfer to the Kingdom Express in order to successfully reach the Kingdom.

The timeframe was calculated by the Larkspur. Based on the Landship's speed, the group would likely arrive in Yannan City tomorrow morning, then transfer to the Kingdom Express that day. After a whole night and a morning of travel, they would arrive in the Magic Kingdom the afternoon after tomorrow.

Unlike the previous business trip to Bai'an City alone, Yannan City is much farther away, so this time everyone will have to spend the night on the Landship. Since the economy class on the Landship usually has two beds, Lin Yun only approved two rooms beforehand.

Soon, he had to pay the price for his decision.

"I want to share a bed with Larkspur!" Standing next to Larkspur's bed, Lin Xiaolu expressed her attitude quite firmly.

"It's me and Mom...the teacher in one room!" Bai Jingxuan refused to budge.

"You're a big kid now. Shouldn't you be practicing your independence in this kind of situation? If you keep acting like a child with your elders, you'll never grow up!" Lin Xiaolu scolded.

"Sister Xiao Lu has no right to say that to me! You're clearly older than me!" Bai Jingxuan, dissatisfied.

"Heh, because I already have plenty of experience in being independent, I don't need to practice this kind of thing anymore," Lin Xiaolu said smugly.

"Well, I have that experience too!" Bai Jingxuan argued forcefully.

"No, wait, no matter what you want to argue about, let's forget about this so-called 'independence and autonomy'..." Larkspur had to speak up to dissuade them.

"Haha... Is sharing a room with me really such an undesirable thing?" Xia Liang on the other side couldn't help but feel a little self-doubt.

In the end, neither Larkspur nor Xia Liang could stop the two from their childish argument, and the battle for the "bed opposite Larkspur" remained unresolved. In the end, both Lin Xiaolu and Bai Jingxuan were hoarse from arguing, but neither could convince the other.

Seeing that the problem was not being solved, Xia Liang finally offered a suggestion.

"Although that wasn't my original intention... in a situation like this, shouldn't we use this to settle things once and for all?" she said, taking a cardboard box out of her backpack.

"What is that?" Lin Xiaolu asked, puzzled.

"Flying Chess," Xia Liang said with a smile, "I originally bought it because I was worried about being bored on the way, but now it seems perfect for solving your problem?"

"Flying Chess?" Bai Jingxuan's eyes lit up immediately.

"Flying Chess...?" Larkspur glanced at Lin Xiaolu and Bai Jingxuan's reactions, thought for a moment, and said, "It's not impossible."

From her perspective, she couldn't let the conflict between the two escalate further, nor could she actively choose one of them to share a room with her. If she wanted to continue trying to mediate between the two children, letting them decide the winner themselves was the best solution.

As a means of determining the winner, Ludo is safe and gentle enough that there is no need to worry about it causing any major problems.

"If I had to say something, I wouldn't have any objections..."

Lin Xiaolu narrowed her eyes slightly. "But what if Larkspur wins in the end? Should we have a rematch?"

"Well, if the young senior wins, there should naturally be a reward. How about rewarding me with a room..." Xia Liang said with a smile, but was quickly interrupted by Larkspur's voice.

"Each person earns one point for each win, and the first person to reach 3 points wins."

She crossed her arms and said, "If I win, for every game I win, you'll get to do an extra set of schoolwork tests after you return to Fangting City following the exams."

"Huh?"

"Ah?"

"Hmm..."

The three girls sitting opposite her immediately showed different expressions, but there was no doubt that this condition was somewhat unacceptable to them.

But soon, after a brief moment of thought, the group made another decision:

"Alright, let's settle this once and for all!"

"I lost, I lost..." A few hours later, Lin Xiaolu leaned on the chessboard with both hands, looking at the scattered pieces with a gloomy expression, muttering to herself.

"We were only one round away from winning..." Bai Jingxuan sat to the side, clutching the dice and pouting, looking unwilling to give up.

The ultimate winner of the match, the one who secured the first three wins, was Xia Liang, who looked quite embarrassed at that moment.

Throughout the match, Lin Xiaolu was actually the first to score a point. With an unreasonable surge of luck at the beginning, she quickly secured the point and proudly declared that her luck was unmatched. Unfortunately, she only won that one game.

Bai Jingxuan won two games and even reached match point first, but unfortunately she couldn't maintain her good luck until the end and failed at the last minute.

Finally, Xia Liang came from behind and broke through the encirclement. With his relatively meticulous tactical arrangements and a fairly smooth roll of the dice, he finally won three points. In fact, he almost made Lin Xiaolu cry because he sent Lin Xiaolu's pieces home too many times during the process.

As for Larkspur, she had no intention of winning at all. The idea of adding a test paper was just a joke; she only wanted to play along with the child symbolically. So she only won one game in the middle of the match to prove that she wasn't just going through the motions, and then she didn't score any more points.

In other words, according to the agreement made beforehand, Xia Liang and Larkspur would share a cabin during their time on the Landship.

"Damn it, you cunning fellow! You must have suggested this as the competition format because Ludo is your best game!"

After her initial dejection, Lin Xiaolu's first act upon regaining her composure was to question Xia Liang's motives, "Did you plan this all along? Are you secretly laughing to yourself right now?!"

"That's right!" Bai Jingxuan chimed in from the side.

"Well... how should I put it... would you believe me if I said that my previous understanding of Ludo was limited to 'knowing the Rule '?"

Xia Liang chuckled dryly and raised her hands in a gesture of surrender, "At first, I really just wanted to treat it as a simple entertainment activity; I didn't consider anything else."

"No, I don't think this competition format is fair. I demand a rematch!" Lin Xiaolu shouted.

"That's right!" Bai Jingxuan exclaimed.

Even if you say that...

Xia Liang looked at the two of them with a hint of helplessness. "But I did try my best to win..."

"That's right, enough is enough, stop being unreasonable, White Rose, Bo Xue."

Reaching out both hands, Larkspur pressed down on Lin Xiaolu's and Bai Jingxuan's heads respectively, concluding the matter. "Little Brocade won, so she should receive the agreed-upon reward. As for you two, losing is losing. You can win it back later. You need to learn to accept defeat gracefully and not cheat."

"Your next task is to go to the other compartment, settle your belongings, and check that all the equipment in your compartment is working properly. If there are any problems, we'll have to contact the maintenance personnel."

Larkspur ruffled their hair, then released them, issuing a curt order to leave, "Now, take your luggage and go to the other cabin."

Her words were like a bolt from the blue for Lin Xiaolu and Bai Jingxuan.

It wasn't just because they lost, and because Xia Liang and Larkspur were going to live together, but also because they both realized a cruel truth:

--You have to sleep in the same cabin as the other person.