Liu Wenqin

The support from the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau always arrives late, but in terms of the aftermath, they are quite competent. From Luoming District to Dawnstar District, both incident sites have been controlled and isolated by personnel from the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau.

Among them, the damage in Luoming District was the most scattered, and the damage to roads and infrastructure was the most severe, but fortunately there were few casualties; the damaged area in Dawnstar District was almost entirely around the Fangting City No. 1 Welfare Institute, but it caused the deaths of many innocent people.

The work involved a vast amount of work on the restoration and reconstruction of the disaster area; the evacuation and follow-up arrangements for those in distress; the investigation, evidence collection, and reassurance of eyewitnesses; and the arrest and extradition of the terrorists. This crisis, which lasted only a few hours, was a massive undertaking.

The Mage who call themselves Black Ash Dawn will be sent to the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau for further interrogation. They will face punishments depending on their crimes and attitudes toward confession, ranging from the abolition of their Spell Formula abilities to the death penalty. The bodies of the dead men in black robes will be transported to the large Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau in the Central City and then sent to the Research Institute of the Magic Kingdom through special channels.

As for the last and most troublesome target: Claw Mark, Sparrow magical girl with claw marks, she will be imprisoned in a special containment facility in Fangting City, awaiting the arrival of the Fang Investigation Institute of the Magic Kingdom.

This was Larkspur's own idea, and it also received strong support from the Fangting City Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau.

According to Director Moss, this is not just about handling this case well, but also a good opportunity to re-establish contact with the Magic Kingdom.

Therefore, through the contact of the Seeder in the neighboring city of Qingyan City, the Fangting City Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau immediately forwarded the information to the Kingdom Investigation Institute, and received a reply a few days later: the Investigation Institute would dispatch an investigation team to Fangting City.

Unlike its previous indifferent attitude, the Investigation Institute is clearly paying more attention to and caring more about the members of the "Claw Mark" organization.

However, that's a story for another time.

After this sudden and swiftly resolved crisis, and before the arrival of officials from the Kingdom, Lin Yun, who had successfully resigned, still had a few things to do.

He settled Bai Jingxuan, the magical girl who had just joined the team; assisted the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau with some final cleanup work; and then came the day he had long been prepared for: the anniversary of Anya's death.

Lin Yun knew absolutely nothing about Bai Jingxuan, the girl who had suddenly become a magical girl in an accident. Apart from noticing the special nature of her magic during their first meeting, all she knew was that she lived in an orphanage and was an orphan.

But even orphans, unless they are abandoned children, should have once had parents and families. Out of a need to understand them better, Lin Yun chose to meet with Ms. Liu Wenqin, the director of the welfare home.

Of course, not as Lin Yun, but as Larkspur.

Because of this need, the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau specially opened a back door for Larkspur: Normally, when ordinary people learn the true identity of a magical girl, they should be given psychological suggestion in time to forget about the matter. However, after this incident, the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau did not give Dean Liu psychological suggestion immediately, but instead temporarily allowed her to retain the full understanding of the matter so that she could better communicate with Larkspur.

And so, on the morning of the day after the incident, Larkspur and Liu Wenqin met in the dean's office.

"I already know why you've come. To be honest... I really didn't expect to encounter something like this at my age."

Sitting behind her desk, with her arm in a cast, Liu Wenqin said with a hint of helplessness, "Although I've always known that magic exists in this world, it still feels somewhat unreal when these things actually happen around me."

"We are sorry that we failed to detect the situation in time and were unable to come to the rescue in time."

Sitting in the chair in front of the desk, Larkspur held the teacup that Liu Wenqin had prepared and said, "Timely elimination of the Aberrant Beast should be our magical girl's task. As the captain of the Fangting City Squad, I feel very sorry about this."

Upon hearing Larkspur's words, Liu Wenqin, who was sitting behind her desk, was slightly taken aback before saying, "Excuse me, before we start discussing Xiao Xuan's matter, may I ask you a question first?"

"Excuse me," Larkspur calmly, looking at her.

"Although I don't remember very clearly... but are you called Cornflower?"

After carefully examining Larkspur's attire, Liu Wenqin hesitated and said, "Asking this might be a bit presumptuous. If you don't know who Cornflower is, just pretend I didn't ask."

The office fell silent for a moment.

"... I am."

After rubbing the teacup in her hands and remaining silent for a while, Larkspur remained calm and nodded. "If you're referring to a magical girl named Cornflower, then I am Cornflower."

"Haha, no wonder, you looked familiar when I first saw you."

She smiled with a sense of relief, and Liu Wenqin's attitude relaxed considerably, as if she had thought of something, "If I remember correctly, you were our Fangting City's magical girl twenty years ago. Back then, I would occasionally see you on the news, and my daughter liked you very much."

"Twenty years ago? So, your daughter is now..." Larkspur caught the information in her words.

"Yes, she already has her own child."

Liu Wenqin covered her mouth, seemingly pleased that the topic was being discussed. "She had planned to volunteer at this orphanage for a while, but unfortunately she slacked off in the end, and now she's missed the chance to meet her childhood idol."

Larkspur shook her head. "So much time has passed, even if you paid attention to it when you were a child, you've probably forgotten about it by now."

"How could that be? Even now, when she sees news related to magical girls, she still occasionally mentions your name."

Liu Wenqin smiled and said, "You were great heroes of this city back then. Those who liked you will always remember your name."

Larkspur had heard this phrase from Wang Tengfei not long ago.

Since her retirement and comeback, she had been trying to hide her whereabouts and had never had any contact with ordinary people. She never expected that after she came into close contact with people as a magical girl, so many people would still remember her.

"Speaking of which, have you been a magical girl in Fangting City for the past twenty years? You said you're the current captain, so what about the other girls from before? I remember they were named Sakura and Lanxiang... and there was another girl with a really long name?"

Larkspur didn't reply, so Liu Wenqin continued. Halfway through her sentence, she realized there was something wrong with her words and waved her hand apologetically, "Ah, I'm sorry, I subconsciously treated you all like the children from back then."

"Magical girls are really amazing. Even after all these years, they haven't aged at all. They still look so young, like little children."