The Time to Root Out Traitors and Crush Rebels

On a midsummer afternoon, in the air-conditioned living room, Lin Xiaolu emerged from her long Soul Meditation, leaned back on the sofa, and picked up her phone somewhat listlessly.

After casually reading some boring news on social media, and having fun with a few short videos, she put down her phone when she realized something was wrong, and asked doubtfully, "Have you been out for too long?"

"Don't worry, it has its own things to do too."

Xia Liang leaned lazily against the sofa, drawing out her words, "Didn't we say before that there was progress in the search for the prospective magical girl?"

"But this has been going on for too long. I usually just go out for a stroll around lunchtime, but today it's almost 3 p. m."

Lin Xiaolu pondered for a moment, resting her chin on her hand. After a while, she looked up and made a somewhat abrupt judgment. "Something's strange."

"What's strange?" Xia Liang, who was already used to her somewhat erratic thinking, asked lazily from the sofa.

"Moko is hiding something from us," Lin Xiaolu said with certainty.

"Even Fairy need their own private space. But I really didn't expect that you, Xiao Lu, who always argues with Moko, actually care about it quite a bit?" Xia Liang said in a muffled voice.

Lin Xiaolu rolled her eyes and patted the sofa cushion next to her. "Is this what you call concern? I'm suspicious!"

"Okay, okay."

Xia Liang sat up, supporting herself on the sofa back, and stretched. "Hmm--If you have any doubts, should we go and take a look?"

"That won't work, will it? Isn't it almost time for afternoon study?"

"Why don't you just ask your senior for leave?"

"How could you disturb the Larkspur for such a reason?"

"Well, if you put it that way..."

Somewhat noncommittal, Xia Liang took out her phone, typed a message into the group chat for the three of them, and said quite decisively, "Okay, sent!"

"Huh? I just told you not to do that, and you sent the message without my permission! Delete it right now!"

Seeing her act this way, Lin Xiaolu raised her eyebrows, then turned to the side and reached out to snatch Xia Liang's phone. "Give me the phone!"

"Hmph, no way, you should be more straightforward at times like this."

Taking advantage of her height and arm span, Xia Liang raised her phone, swaying her arm from side to side to dodge Lin Xiaolu's attempts to snatch it, and laughed with ease. After a while of playful fighting, she suddenly felt her phone vibrate, so she blinked, lowered the phone, and said, "... Ah, a reply?"

Unable to win the argument and already somewhat annoyed, Lin Xiaolu was taken aback. "A reply? So fast?"

"Yeah, I replied instantly."

Xia Liang scrolled through the message page, drawing out her words and mimicking Larkspur's usual cool and calm tone. "Let me read it. She said: 'You can go, but remember to come back on time tonight. If there are any new recruits, let me know, and I'll come over later.'"

After reading the message, she showed the screen to Lin Xiaolu: "That's about it. It seems she agreed?"

Lin Xiaolu ignored her, instead pulling back and taking out her phone to carefully read Larkspur's words. After confirming that they matched Xia Liang's, she noticed a string of other information following: "What's this? An address?"

"150 meters west of the intersection of West River Road and Jadecloud Road in Dawnstar District..."

Xia Liang immediately repeated, "Huh, is this Fangting City No. 1 Welfare Institute nearby?"

Is this Moko's location?

"It seems so, but why would the young senior know where Moko is?"

"It's just a position, what's so strange about Larkspur knowing that?"

Lin Xiaolu, however, didn't see anything wrong with it and said proudly, "A magical girl as powerful as her must have many unseen abilities. Don't limit her capabilities with your narrow-minded perspective."

Judging solely from her expression without listening to what she says, one might mistake her pride for something else entirely.

"Haha... that's true, the young senior was probably prepared in advance." Faced with Lin Xiaolu's enthusiastic fan comments, Xia Liang could only respond with a dry laugh.

The two reached a consensus on the strange matter and stopped dwelling on the topic. Soon, Lin Xiaolu discovered the next suspicious point:

"Speaking of which, are there many children in the orphanage?"

"We call others children, but they might not necessarily be younger than us."

Xia Liang sighed and corrected him, "But that does sound suspicious. Let's set off now; maybe we can catch them red-handed?"

"But, about the cultivation..." Lin Xiaolu still hesitated.

She couldn't make up her mind, so Xia Liang raised her index finger and suggested, "Then I'll go and see by myself and tell you the result?"

"You—you really are something else!"

These words were the final straw that broke Lin Xiaolu's defenses, making her unable to sit still any longer. Her inner struggle ultimately gave way to curiosity, and she abruptly stood up. "I can't resist! Let's go! Who's afraid of who!"

It's summer vacation now, and with Larkspur giving them the green light for their trip, there are naturally no obstacles for the two of them to go out.

So, after simply changing into their travel clothes, the two of them took the light rail to Dawnstar District together.

The Fangting City No. 1 Welfare Institute is located on the edge of Dawnstar District, close to the suburbs, but fortunately, the transportation is very convenient, and it doesn't take much effort to get there.

After passing through the somewhat deserted station, Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang strolled together along the old streets, occasionally looking around and taking in the scenery.

Dawnstar District is located on the easternmost side of Fangting City. It is one of the earliest administrative divisions established in Fangting City, so its infrastructure is also relatively old. Both the roads and the surrounding buildings are relatively dilapidated. As the main area later expanded westward, it eventually became the so-called "old city area," where both the flow of people and traffic became relatively sparse.

In addition, it was a weekday afternoon, so when Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang arrived at this neighborhood, they could clearly feel that it was not very popular.

Fortunately, their destination— Fangting City No. 1 Welfare Institute —was not far away. As a building that accommodates a large number of people, its surrounding facilities were very complete, which somewhat made up for the slight sense of loneliness.

After walking for several minutes, the two could see the buildings and walls of the orphanage in the distance. After confirming that the location provided by Larkspur was correct, they quickened their pace, planning to catch Moko guard.

This plan fell through once they got close to the welfare home.

They discovered that an invisible wall had appeared in front of them, blocking their path forward.

Reaching out and touching around, and then looking closer, Xia Liang realized that the obstacles blocking their way weren't truly "invisible," but rather difficult to see clearly.

With her perception, it wasn't hard for her to sense that there was a considerable amount of magic flowing within the structure in front of her; clearly, it was a Magic Barrier.

"Xiao Lu."

Xia Liang's expression turned somewhat serious, and her habitual smile faded slightly, "The situation is probably different from what we thought."

Lin Xiaolu reached out and touched the transparent wall in front of her. She seemed to recall some unpleasant memory, her brow furrowing. "Could this be... Magic Barrier?"

The two were no longer the rookies they were when they first became magical girls, and they had gained a considerable understanding of basic Spell Formula such as "Magic Barrier".

There are very few people in this world who can use Spell Formula. They are either Mage from the Material Realm or magical girls whose Blossoming have reached the Leaf Rank or higher. It is abnormal for either of them to appear around the orphanage and set up Magic Barrier there.

"Let's notify Larkspur first."

Lin Xiaolu's memories of the Magic Barrier were far from pleasant; she even had a vague sense of déjà vu. Her first reaction was to call for help, so she immediately took out her phone and dialed Larkspur's number.

Larkspur had repeatedly emphasized to her that if she encountered any events that might be beyond her control, she should notify her first. Although she didn't know what this overprotective request was all about, it didn't stop Lin Xiaolu from keeping her advice.

This time, however, after holding her phone and waiting for a moment, her expression became somewhat blank: the call she made went through a long wait, but in the end, she only received a voice notification that no one was answering.

"No one answered?" This was something Lin Xiaolu hadn't expected.

"Leave a message in the group chat, let's try to break the barrier with magic first."

Faced with a somewhat urgent situation, Xia Liang took out her Heart Bud and immediately activated her transformation. "In this situation, if we insist on waiting for the junior to answer the phone, Moko might be in danger inside."

Hearing her reminder, Lin Xiaolu realized that now was not the time to just stand there. After leaving a message in the group, she took out her Heart Seed and transformed into a magical girl.

After transforming, the two began bombarding the barrier with Mana Beam, attempting to break it through brute force. However, although their attacks caused the barrier to vibrate continuously, they were still unable to completely destroy its structure.

After several unsuccessful attempts and seeing their magic power rapidly depleting, they had to stop again.

Lin Xiaolu clearly showed some anxiety, while Xia Liang, on the other side, although also unable to achieve anything, looked at the barrier in front of her thoughtfully. "Perhaps, we can try a different approach."

"What's your idea? Do you have any good ideas?" Lin Xiaolu asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Try it and you'll see."

Xia Liang smiled mysteriously, then raised her wand. "Little Brocade, Magic Construct Extraction."

As she chanted, the wand in her hand transformed into a magical nebula, then coalesced again into a small dressing mirror—her Magic Construct, the Diversion.

Lin Xiaolu, who was standing to the side, also recognized Xia Liang's Magic Construct, but couldn't figure out its purpose. "Why did you take out the Diversion Force?"

"Okay, stop asking so many questions, just watch."

Without much explanation, Xia Liang immediately began her experiment. She split the mirror in her hand into several mirrors, and then adjusted the size of one of them to be large enough, even as tall as a person.

Then, she placed the life-sized mirror onto the Magic Barrier in front of her.

"One of the abilities of the Diversion is to redirect and transfer magic between mirrors. In other words, magic that comes into contact with one of the mirrors will be transferred to the other mirror."

Xia Liang began to explain, "As the junior senior mentioned in his lectures before, although Magic Barrier is Spell Formula, the essence of Spell Formula is still magic. It's just that the magic within it is arranged in a specific state according to the Spell Formula's structure. So, if I'm not mistaken..."

She reached out and pointed to another mirror that wasn't attached to the barrier.

Lin Xiaolu turned her head and saw that the mirror was shimmering with light, clearly indicating the flow of magic. The fact that the mirror was emitting magic meant that it must have a source.

At this point, even with her limited comprehension, she could guess what Xia Liang wanted to do.

At the same time, Xia Liang moved the mirror, which was about half her height, away from her, and like a magician, turned sideways to face Xiao Lu, gesturing towards the spot where the mirror had previously been placed:

"You see, my guess was right."

In the direction she pointed, a gap had appeared in the once seamless barrier, where a faint flow of magic had created a passageway large enough for someone to pass through.

"The outer barrier isn't reacting at all. Looks like you've used some strange tricks."

Within the barrier, after his impending victory was thwarted, the black-robed man was initially annoyed by the appearance of the two new magical girls, but he quickly composed himself and surveyed the group before him. "However, light blue and purple, huh? There's only one person left who hasn't arrived? Well, those bastards might still be somewhat useful."

While failing to kill Moko and allowing him to escape in the chaos certainly fueled his anger, this wasn't his primary objective, so he wouldn't lose his composure.

"You know us?" The other person's words revealed an inexplicable confidence, which made Lin Xiaolu feel slightly uncomfortable, and she asked with some wariness.

"Know you? Or rather, why wouldn't I know?"

After regaining his composure, the man shook his head, a strange smile spreading across his face, "For example, the strongest among you is that shortest blue brat, right? Isn't she with you now?"

"We have no reason to inform the enemy of our comrades' whereabouts."

Seeing that Lin Xiaolu's expression had changed, Xia Liang took the initiative to speak, "Whether she comes or not, we will subdue you here and use magic to carry out a terrorist attack. The only thing waiting for you is arrest."

"Oh? Really? Is it that you're unwilling to report it, or that you're unable to report it?"

The man seemed completely unconcerned by her words and the fact that he was being surrounded. Instead, he stretched out his hand and counted the people in front of him as if he were inventorying goods. "Three magical girls, one Fairy, a meat pig... never mind, so four Mana Source in the end? Let's leave it at that, it should at least make up for part of the loss of a Sacrificial Child."

What are you talking to yourself about?

Lin Xiaolu gleaned some meaning from his words and realized that Larkspur's previous refusal to answer the phone might not be so simple. She asked seriously, "What exactly happened on Larkspur's end? Do you have other accomplices?"

"Larkspur? Is that the code name for that little blue brat?"

The man shrugged. "Sorry, I really don't know what's going to happen on her end. After all, the only request I made to that bastard was for her not to interfere with my plans."

"Bastard?" The word the man kept repeating finally caught Lin Xiaolu's attention. "So you really have accomplices?"

"Curious? Want to ask more? But my enthusiasm for conversation has almost run out, it's time to get down to business."

Raising his head, the man's expression remained unchanged, but his voice grew even louder. "Knowing more is meaningless, after all, you and she will all face the same end—death!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a chilling, terrifying magical power suddenly spread around him.

Suddenly, he pulled out a purplish-black lump of flesh and held it horizontally in front of him. The lump of flesh emitted a strange aura and pulsated from time to time, as if it possessed its own life.

"What... is that?"

Xia Liang, whose Mana Perception was slightly stronger, couldn't help but cover her mouth and nose. "It feels so disgusting."

"Disgusting? How foolish! This is a treasure of the same nature as your Heart Gem."

Gazing at the lump of flesh in his hand, the man's smile softened with reverence, "Don't you find it irresistibly beautiful? After all, if we were to follow your naming conventions, we could call it 'Beast Viscera'."

"'The Beast Viscera'..."

It wasn't until she saw his posture that Lin Xiaolu, who had been feeling a strong sense of déjà vu, seemed to finally understand something and showed a somewhat dazed expression.

She finally understood why she had felt a vague sense of unease ever since she saw the Magic Barrier enveloping the orphanage.

Because several months earlier, just a week after she became a magical girl, she had encountered something similar in Wetland Park on the outskirts of the city.

Trapped in the Wetland Park by the barrier and encountering the remnants of the Looper Tier Aberrant Beast, she would probably have died there if not for the timely rescue by the Larkspur.

At this moment, she suddenly recalled the night she encountered danger in the Wetland Park, and remembered a question she had almost forgotten.

That was the almost human-like expression she saw on the face of the Aberrant Beast Looper Tier Aberrant Beast struggled against its claws.

Is it possible for Aberrant Beast to make such a human-like expression?

Without a doubt, it's impossible.

After all, the intelligence of a low-evolutionary Aberrant Beast should be quite low.

Moreover, after that, Lin Xiaolu actually followed the Larkspur to hunt down many Aberrant Beasts, but she had never seen an individual as approachable as that night. Most of them were huge and twisted in shape. Not to mention that most of them were Egg Rank Aberrant Beast that looked like a lump of rotten flesh, even among the caterpillars, there were very few that could stand on two legs.

Perhaps, they were never "simple Aberrant Beast" from the beginning.

"You are... no, could you all be...?"

Lin Xiaolu opened her mouth in surprise, but stopped herself at the last second.

Because she immediately realized a deeper problem.

When she first became a magical girl, she was surrounded by barriers and hunted like in a trap; now, in this orphanage, the same thing seems to be happening to the newly appeared magical girl.

Then, another question arose that sent chills down her spine.

There's no need to inquire about this man's background anymore; the answer is self-evident. The biggest conspiracy must lie in something else entirely:

"... Fangting City hasn't had a magical girl for almost two years. What does that have to do with you?"

Even she felt her brain buzzing when she asked that question.

"You seem to have made a connection to something? Should I compliment your keen observation?"

The man didn't answer her question, but instead asked in return, his somber tone contrasting sharply with his devout and gentle expression. "Or is it that the missing Worker Contact at Fangting has something to do with you?"

"Worker Contact... is that what you call each other? So this matter really is related to you!"

Lin Xiaolu no longer knew what her feelings were when she continued asking questions.

The truth she imagined was too cruel for her to bear, but her body continued to move, relentlessly pursuing the truth.

"What exactly happened? What have you all done?" she asked, gripping her wand tightly.

"What did you do? You should know. Even if it's not Sacrificial Child, a magical girl's Heart Gem is still an extremely valuable magical material. Purely in terms of profit, it's enough to tempt anyone, let alone when facing a mortal enemy?"

The man, staring at the lump of flesh in his hand without even glancing at her, gave somewhat irrelevant answers to Lin Xiaolu's questions, "There is only one way to deal with a mortal enemy: annihilation is the only answer."

"The Worker Contact in your city, his code name was Eleven, right? That guy must have contacted you, right? But you're all still alive here, so he really is dead?"

"Ha, not only did he die in office, but he also leaked information. The Fairy and magical girls he couldn't get rid of have now ruined my plans. Worker Contact Eleven has really left behind a mess..."

"Fine, what's done is done. I don't want to clean up his mess, but I'll do his job for now."

For some reason, ever since he took out that lump of meat, his speech became rambling and incoherent, as if he were talking to himself. The logic in his words was also quite disjointed, like sleep talking, making it extremely difficult for people to understand.

But at this stage of the conversation, even understanding only a small portion of the information was enough for Xia Liang, who hadn't quite grasped what was happening, to come to her senses and look at the man in black robes with a hint of shock:

"You mean, you're... hunting magical girls?"

At this point, the man was no longer willing to talk to them.

Pressing the lump of flesh against his chest, the man's expression shifted from gentle to excited, then to fanatical and ruthless, even bordering on madness.

"You despicable False Royal Court, now is the time for me, acting on behalf of the Lord, to annihilate you all here!"

He roared, shouted, and chanted, the lump of flesh in his hand bursting forth with intense magic. He stared at the magical girls before him, his eyes wide, sharp teeth peeking out from his gaping mouth:

"This is the time to eliminate traitors and rebels."

As he finished speaking, dark magic enveloped his entire body, a cloud of black mist rose, and within the dark clouds, the man's originally human form gradually grew taller, eventually reaching several meters in height.

From the surging mist, a beast's head, baring fangs and flashing red eyes, emerged from the black fog. Amidst the flickering golden runes, the beast's body, covered with exaggerated and terrifying tubes, revealed its true form from a chilling magical energy.

At this moment, the man who appeared before everyone was no longer that man.

In fact, if judged by their very nature, what they were facing was no longer a human being.

--It was an Aberrant Beast.