The Hardest Question (5k)

Afterwards, the Fangting City Magical Girl Squad held another focused discussion regarding matters related to the Secret Base.

The core issues discussed were twofold: whether or not to request assistance from the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, and what exactly the role of the Secret Base should be.

Regarding the previous question, after Larkspur had explained it to them, Xia Liang and Lin Xiaolu already had the answer in their minds; after explaining it to Bai Jingxuan and obtaining her consent, the four of them voted in unison—to go and take advantage of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau.

The second question seemed simple, but some disagreements arose during the discussion.

The main purpose of the Secret Base is, of course, to facilitate activities: it's a convenient place for meetings and gatherings, for teaching and training, and for building relationships. In addition, the magical girls can also choose to stay overnight at the Secret Base.

Among them, Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan had the clearest attitude: since everyone usually gathers here, why not just move in and live there permanently, using the Secret Base as their residence?

It may sound harsh, but for them, moving into such a Secret Base might be more comfortable than living at home or in a welfare institution.

But Lin Xiaolu and Larkspur are different; they each have their own problems.

Lin Xiaolu's concern was how to explain this to Lin Yun, and whether Lin Yun would agree: after all, her relationship with her father had finally improved recently, and they had more opportunities to talk. If she frequently stayed out overnight, would it be too neglectful of her father?

The problem that the Larkspur was worried about was even more complicated: what if her identity was exposed?

After all, he and his daughter had a relatively stable family. Even if they occasionally stayed overnight at the Secret Base, they couldn't settle there permanently. This would inevitably lead to a troublesome problem: it would become increasingly difficult for him to conceal his identity.

When his daughter comes home, he must go home as her father; when his daughter stays overnight at the Secret Base, he must stay overnight as the Larkspur.

She could occasionally come up with excuses, such as using her father's identity to tell Lin Xiaolu that she was on a business trip, or using Larkspur's identity to tell everyone that she was going out alone at night. But even so, such tricks were not a long-term solution and could not be used frequently.

Over time, even if Lin Xiaolu is slow to notice, she will eventually realize that "Larkspur" and "Lin Yun" have a strange degree of overlap in their actions.

Larkspur knows some Spell Formula, but he hasn't learned any illusion-creating Spell Formula like disguise or mental magic. Larkspur can create his own clones using Magic Armament, but these clones can't be maintained remotely or move freely, making them easy to expose.

Magic couldn't fool them, and the on-site discussion yielded no results, so the issue was left for a family conversation between Lin Xiaolu and Lin Yun.

When Lin Xiaolu hesitated and shyly asked Lin Yun if she could stay overnight, Lin Yun immediately made the decision.

"No problem, I think it's a good thing."

The conversation took place during breakfast. He casually placed eggs and milk in front of Lin Xiaolu while encouraging her, "If necessary, you could even move in and live with your teammates."

"Huh? No... you've already agreed?"

Somewhat bewildered, Lin Xiaolu took the bowl of rice and exclaimed in surprise, "Your fourteen-year-old daughter is going to live alone? And didn't I run away from home before because of an argument..."

This is also the main reason why she is so worried about this matter.

After reconciling with Lin Yun, although she was unwilling to admit it, she did reflect a little on her behavior during the cold war. Among them, running away from home seemed to have been too much of a shock to her father.

Her worry was that since she had left without saying goodbye and stayed overnight at a classmate's house, asking Lin Yun for the same thing again might remind her of unpleasant memories and cause her to refuse.

To her surprise, Lin Yun agreed very readily, even to the point of seeming overly open-minded.

"I don't know much about magical girls, but I have a lot of experience in supporting them from behind the scenes."

Lin Yun, having also placed her own breakfast on the table, said calmly, "Your mother and I were good friends back in our school days. She even frequently traveled out of town for magical girl activities back then, which is perfectly normal."

"You really won't be upset?" Things were going so smoothly that Lin Xiaolu found it hard to believe. "I thought you would at least try to stop me."

"Will the Larkspur be with you?"

Lin Yun tried hard to keep her expression straight, so as not to give anything away in the details. "She has a very good relationship with your mother, and she's a very reliable adult now. I believe she can manage you all well."

"That's true..."

Lin Xiaolu asked suspiciously, "Dad, do you have some kind of contact with Larkspur in private? You two seem to be quite familiar with each other?"

She had actually been holding this question in for a long time, having had suspicions as early as the weekend when she followed Lin Yun out. Although it turned out that her wild guesses were probably just misunderstandings, it still left a lingering suspicion in her mind.

"We haven't met many times, but I learned some things about your time as a magical girl through her."

Instead of directly answering her daughter's question, Lin Yun casually remarked, "She speaks highly of you, and it doesn't seem like just polite talk."

"Huh? The Larkspur has a high opinion of me?"

Unsurprisingly, Lin Xiaolu's attention was quickly diverted by this rhetoric, and she curiously asked, "What did she say about me?"

"Very hardworking, very serious, and has great potential..."

Lin Yun briefly summarized some of Lin Xiaolu's strengths, while forcefully peeling the eggshell in his hand. "Anyway, in her eyes you are very outstanding."

"Eh... is that so?" Lin Xiaolu lowered her head slightly and picked up the milk to sip.

Although she tried to maintain a calm demeanor, her feet under the table were off the ground, swinging lightly in the air, clearly indicating that she was not at peace.

She was so preoccupied with these words that she couldn't possibly guess the complex thoughts behind her father's words.

"It's not just because I feel at ease, but also because I have some things to take care of in a couple of months."

Seeing that Lin Xiaolu's attention had been diverted and she probably didn't have time to think, Lin Yun added, "I might have to go on a long business trip and won't be able to stay in Fangting City. It would be good for you to live with your magical girl companions."

"How long will you be gone?" Lin Xiaolu blinked, holding her cup.

"It might take a few months," Lin Yun said vaguely. "I was originally planning to ask Aunt Hong to take care of you, but it seems that's not necessary now."

"I don't want that woman taking care of me." Lin Xiaolu lowered her eyes slightly. "Besides, although I don't care, you're getting a little too close to her."

"It's just business as usual. What are you thinking about all this time at such a young age?"

Lin Yun sighed helplessly, "Also, don't call her 'that woman' to her face; it's a bit impolite."

"Good--"

With Lin Yun's permission, Lin Xiaolu told the team that she would be staying overnight at the Secret Base and would stay for several months thereafter.

The details regarding the Secret Base were thus finalized.

With the magical girls expressing this desire, the Bureau of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau naturally agreed immediately. Almost as soon as Larkspur brought up the matter with Hong Siyu, the specific location was already in sight.

Not only the location of the Secret Base, but also communication with the welfare home, were all handled by the Lin Yun of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau. Because neither his original identity nor Larkspur's identity was suitable for him to get involved in these matters.

Things are progressing more smoothly than expected.

After discussions with Dean Liu Wenqin, the welfare home finally agreed to let Bai Jingxuan move out temporarily, citing "special talent training" as the reason, with the endorsement of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, and at Bai Jingxuan's own request.

This means that once the Secret Base is completed, Bai Jingxuan can nominally live in the dormitory under the jurisdiction of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, but in reality, she will live in the Secret Base of the Magical Girl Squad.

Bai Jingxuan seemed quite pleased with this.

Although she doesn't usually express her preferences, Larkspur could sense that she seemed very excited about "living with the Magical Girl Squad," and even her training intensity had increased significantly.

Amidst this positive situation, several days of summer vacation have passed in this rhythm.

Although they had basically finished their summer homework, Xia Liang and Lin Xiaolu were still facing a placement test at the start of the new school term, so they had to continue to catch up on their studies.

Larkspur used her extra time to review a lot of junior high school coursework, and was now able to provide comprehensive tutoring to the two girls. She even went to Lin Xiaolu's school to obtain some question banks, which she then selected and recompiled to give them intermittent tests.

Lectures, practice problems, and explaining mistakes – this is the three-pronged approach of exam-oriented education. As a method summarized by many teachers, its advantages and disadvantages aside, it is undeniably effective for tutoring.

After a summer of hard work, Lin Xiaolu managed to make up for her weaknesses, raising her scores in physics and math, which she was least good at, to over 70 points, and even occasionally reaching 80 points.

Xia Liang, as always, is a genius and fully demonstrates his solid foundation as "someone else's child". Starting with single-digit scores, he raised almost all subjects to above the passing grade while taking intensive training during the holidays.

Such intensive tutoring naturally comes at a price: Larkspur often has to stay up late grading their papers and preparing more comprehensive lesson materials. To stay alert, she even has to maintain her transformed state to prevent herself from falling asleep due to exhaustion.

In the quiet of the night in the study, under the light of the desk lamp, a petite figure can often be seen hunched over, busy at her desk.

All three of them put in extraordinary efforts, and the current results are a natural outcome.

Of course, even with such significant, even exaggerated, progress, these results are not much in the context of a relatively simple junior high school curriculum. The two girls still have a long way to go to become "top students" in the conventional sense.

With less than a week left before the start of school, it was another night. Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang were each hunched over their desks working on the test papers that Larkspur had prepared, while Larkspur sat to the side flipping through her textbook.

In the midst of this tranquility, a cell phone suddenly vibrated.

Lin Xiaolu remained unmoved because she remembered her phone's ringtone; Xia Liang didn't look up either, she could roughly guess whose call it was.

Larkspur paused slightly, then put down the book in her hand and reached for the pocket on her dress. Just as she was about to touch the dress, her hand suddenly stopped.

She suddenly realized that it wasn't her phone ringing, but Lin Yun's.

Larkspur's phone was shot down during a previous battle with Sparrow, falling from a great height onto the road. By the time Larkspur retrieved it, the cracks on the screen were almost as exaggerated as her Flower of the Heart.

The phone was so badly damaged that it was no longer usable, so Larkspur had no choice but to get a new one.

Because of a previous mix-up at the shopping mall, after purchasing a new phone, she cautiously set both phones to silent mode, with only the vibration frequency differing, to distinguish which phone received the call.

Right now, the noise coming from inside the clothes is undoubtedly coming from "Lin Yun's phone".

Having identified the source of the sound, and therefore not taking it out in front of the two girls, Larkspur jumped off the chair, placed the textbook on the seat, and said in a cool tone, "I'm going out for a bit."

She walked out of Xia Liang's room, through the living room to the balcony, and took her phone out of her pocket. She saw a somewhat familiar name displayed on the screen—it belonged to a client of Ascend Company.

This is not surprising at all; rather, she had already vaguely guessed it.

Because Lin Yun had only recently resigned, although she had already sent out messages on social media to announce her departure and provided the contact number for the new after-sales department, there were always some people who didn't read the messages.

Dealing with such calls is not difficult; just tell the truth. Once they know they have resigned, they will naturally contact other people.

However, since she was currently at Xia Liang's house, it wasn't convenient for her to transform into a phone to answer the call.

If he were to revert to Lin Yun, even a slightly louder voice on the balcony might be overheard by the two girls in the room. That would be highly suspicious.

Larkspur made up her mind and immediately hung up the phone. Since she had already seen the caller ID, she could just send a text message to inform the other party.

As she pondered this, she reached out and tapped the message button. A white text message interface popped up on her phone, waiting for her to type in her message.

But at the same time, she heard footsteps behind her.

Startled, Larkspur quickly pressed the screen-off button, then hid her phone in her pocket, turned around nonchalantly, and calmly looked over.

The visitor was Xia Liang.

"Young senior, you've finished writing the questions."

Waving the test paper in one hand, Xia Liang yawned, seemingly oblivious to Larkspur's odd expression. "It's getting late, can I go take a shower and go to bed now?"

"Finished writing?"

Larkspur remained expressionless, but was actually slightly surprised, because she remembered that this test paper had only been out for less than an hour. "This test paper should have a lot of questions, did you skip any?"

"No one jumped. You can check it yourself if you don't believe me."

Xia Liang smiled and held out the test paper to Larkspur: "I've even solved the hardest questions."

"The most difficult question?"

She couldn't recall setting any difficult questions on the test paper, which puzzled her, but Larkspur still took the paper and subconsciously scanned the questions on it.

The moment her eyes fell on the exam paper, she suddenly realized something was wrong: the paper only had the first multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions completed; it wasn't actually finished.

What does this mean?

The Larkspur couldn't help but raise its eyebrows.

She didn't think Xia Liang would make such a silly joke; nor did she think it was just her being capricious and trying to slack off. Therefore, she felt the other person must have some ulterior motive. But what could that motive be?

She pondered the previous conversation for a moment, then realized something, her eyes widened, and she suddenly looked up to meet Xia Liang's smiling gaze.

Buzz--

Almost simultaneously, the phone vibrated from Larkspur's pocket.

Under her gaze, Xia Liang withdrew her hand that had handed out the test paper, then took two steps forward and took out a cell phone from behind her back.

The girl turned on her phone screen, which displayed a call interface. The other party's name was vaguely visible among the virtual buttons on the glowing screen.

--Uncle Lin.

"Young senior."

Before me, Xia Liang wore an unprecedentedly joyful smile, a hint of smug satisfaction at her successful scheme, and a touch of mischievousness.

Like a cunning little fox displaying its prey with smug delight, she leaned close to the Larkspur's ear and whispered something in his ear:

"This time, did Uncle Lin leave his phone at your house?"

I'd like to recommend a book by a fellow reader: <I Really Don't Want to Be a Magical Girl Anymore>.

Although it borrows some ideas from this book, the author has actually written its own content and direction. It's also about to be released, so interested readers can support it.