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The Larkspur gazed indifferently at the Sparrow on the ground. With each step it took forward, Fawo Runes flew out from its sleeve. Soon, these runes landed on the unconscious Sparrow's neck, coiling around the Heart Gem and transforming into a blue, collar-like pattern.

That wasn't all. Next, she conjured a small Magic Barrier, forming a dome that trapped the Sparrow inside.

This is one of the Spell Formula every magical girl under the Investigation Institute must master, and that only the Investigation Institute can master: Anti-Magic Technique.

Its activation conditions are quite demanding; it can only be used after the enemy's resistance has been overcome. As its name suggests, this Spell Formula can completely seal off the opponent's ability to use magic and transform, and its duration varies depending on the user's magic power.

Larkspur had no intention of killing Sparrow. After all, according to the information she had previously learned, this organization called "Claw Mark" was a key target of the Kingdom's wanted list. Leaving her alive and handing her over to the Kingdom should allow them to extract a lot of information.

Although she did have some issues with the Kingdom, the trouble Sparrow and his gang had caused in Fangting City had reached her limit.

If there was even a slight reservation before, she has now made a firm decision: once this matter is settled, the Investigation Institute must be summoned.

After doing all this, she took two unsteady steps back, dissipating the magic emanating from her body.

No one noticed that she was covered in cold sweat.

Rather, her actual experience was far worse than she appeared; the intense headache alone made her feel like her head was about to explode. And the intensity of this pain was enough to make most people scream in agony.

Larkspur wasn't surprised, because she knew it was an old wound of hers.

Her True Form was damaged, her Heart Gem shattered, and everything Sparrow had said before was true. What she didn't know was that the injuries Larkspur suffered were far more severe than she could have imagined. Therefore, her other guess was also correct: as a magical girl who had once reached the Blossom Rank, Larkspur was now unable to create her own Wonderland.

Not only in the Wonderland, but even the most basic quality of a magical girl—the total amount of magic power—has actually shrunk considerably due to the injury, which is why Larkspur usually has to adopt a magic-conserving fighting style.

The powerful magic power just now was not without source; it was the result of the Larkspur disregarding its injuries, fully activating its Mana Source, and reclaiming its original total amount of magic power.

This would allow her magic to briefly return to its former peak level, but at the cost of further triggering the injuries to her True Form and soul, accompanied by extremely severe headaches. As the peak magic was maintained for longer, this pain would become more and more intense until she completely lost consciousness.

Lin Yun's decision to retire was largely due to injuries.

In her battle with the Sparrow, she hadn't originally planned to use such tactics. Instead, she intended to feign weakness to wage a war of attrition, using defensive counterattacks to deplete the sparrow's magic power before looking for an opportunity to deliver a fatal blow.

This method doesn't require unleashing magical power like this, nor does it cause significant magical power consumption. Furthermore, it allows you to extract information from your opponent during battle, making it a win-win situation.

However, when the other party told her that Lin Xiaolu might be in crisis, Larkspur realized that regardless of whether it was true or not, she could not delay any longer.

Even just in case, I need to act quickly and decisively.

That's why she unleashed all her magic power, defeating and suppressing the Sparrow at lightning speed.

The next step is to notify the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau to come here and retrieve the person, and then rush to the location where she last sensed Moko to see what exactly happened.

But as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she suddenly remembered something: her phone had been knocked away during the fight.

However, I'm not actually in the same spot where I left my phone. Flying back to get it would take too much time.

In this situation, she saw a passerby looking in her direction from a short distance away.

So she walked straight over and extended her hand to the somewhat stunned passerby:

"Excuse me, could I borrow your phone for a moment?"

Only after she blurted out those words did she realize that the passerby's appearance seemed somewhat familiar, or rather, far too familiar.

Wang Tengfei then blankly handed over his phone.

At that moment, only one thought occupied his mind: it really was Cornflower.

Even after more than twenty years, he could still recognize the girl standing in front of him. Although he had changed a lot, the girl remained exactly the same as she had been that year, as if time had stood still for her, unchanged in the slightest.

Is it... Cornflower?

Looking at the girl in front of him, who was holding her phone with both hands and tapping away, he couldn't help but ask her a question.

Then he saw the girl's hands pause.

The pause was only momentary; she quickly resumed her actions, entered a phone number, and held the phone to her ear, as if the previous pause had been Wang Tengfei's illusion.

While waiting for the call to connect, she looked at the man in front of her, her feelings slightly complicated, but she said calmly, "Do you know me?"

Recognizing the man in front of her as her general manager, and hearing her former code name from him, she found it difficult to describe how she felt.

"Huh? I, this..."

Opening his mouth, Wang Tengfei vaguely remembered that he had many questions he wanted to ask. After all, he was indeed a fan of the girl in front of him when he was young, and at that time he had many questions and regrets about the disappearance of Cornflower.

Only now did he suddenly realize that he couldn't remember any of those questions.

No matter what kind of affection, regret, or resentment he felt, now only a few words remain; he can no longer recall those emotions.

Like faded old photographs in a frame: their outlines are still clear, but they have turned white. The questions that once filled my mind are as distorted as the colors in the photograph, and the emotions hidden within them have become as flat as water, no longer able to stir any ripples in my heart.

"I... used to be your fan."

After much thought, he realized that only this one sentence remained to be uttered.

Upon hearing this, Larkspur glanced at the man before her, hesitated slightly, and then replied with equal calmness, "Thank you."

She didn't know what to say.

Then, as the call was connected, she heard Hong Siyu's voice and ignored Wang Tengfei. After informing Hong Siyu of the situation and its exact location, and giving her many instructions on guarding the Sparrow, she hung up and handed the phone back to Wang Tengfei.

"That..."

Wang Tengfei took the phone from Larkspur in a daze and asked hesitantly, "Are you... Old Lin?"

The moment these words were spoken, the surrounding temperature seemed to drop two degrees.

The Larkspur's originally calm and aloof expression froze on her face, and after a short while, she couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

She thought with a hint of helplessness, "As expected, they guessed it."

Previously in the general manager's office, because the Sparrow tried to attack the office building to force her to show herself, she had no choice but to transform on the spot.

Although they had tried their best to keep Wang Tengfei out of sight during the process, and only transformed into Larkspur before rushing out of the office building, the process was not meticulous, and the other party eventually discovered the clues.

At times like this, the more you try to explain, the more obvious it becomes. So she simply withdrew her hand somewhat coldly and said calmly, "Working in the real world ultimately requires a bit of pretense."

She only said that one sentence, leaving the rest for Wang Tengfei to figure out himself.