Qingyin

"Big Sister Youyue, still no sign of Big Sister Feiyan and Big Sister Yuyan?"

A magical girl with beast ears atop her head and a gray wolf tail behind her spoke anxiously.

"Little Yalin, Abyss Return is no simple matter." Youyue stroked Yalin's head reassuringly.

"I never expected you to be this worried. Don't worry, magical girls aren't that weak."

"I wasn't worried about them at all." Yalin crossed her arms and repeatedly turned her head away.

Youyue paused, then smiled. "Looks like we won't need to rescue them after all."

Magical girl Feiyan's emotions came quickly and went quickly.

Like a blazing sun, she remained especially dazzling even at night.

"Finally, we're out!"

Feiyan burst out of the underground passage and couldn't contain her joy as she cheered loudly.

Before anyone saw her, they heard her voice.

"Big Sister Feiyan?!" Yalin brightened in midair.

Her gaze quickly caught Feiyan on the ground not far away, and she shot straight toward her from the sky.

"A magical girl I haven't seen before? An outsider? Why are you here?"

Youyue looked at the unfamiliar Ye Qing, thought briefly, then flew down alongside the other three.

Before Yalin even landed, she anxiously shouted, "Big Sister Feiyan!!"

Feiyan said delightedly, "Yalin, and Senior Youyue too. I didn't expect to run into you right after getting out."

"This isn't the place to talk. Since you're out, hurry back."

Ye Qing blurted it out without reading the room at all, ruining the joy of their reunion after escaping.

She did not leave them even the slightest time to linger, as though she wanted to chase them away immediately.

"So you're the magical girl who saved Big Sister Yuyan and Big Sister Feiyan. I'll reluctantly thank you, then." Yalin spoke in an arrogant, awkward tone.

Huh?

Ye Qing was just about to put her thoughts into action and curse out the magical girl in front of her.

But when she saw Yalin's furtive glances and the tail behind her spinning wildly, she fell silent.

A tsundere magical girl paired with a dog tail... what a contrast.

"Thank you for your help. May I ask what your magical girl title is?" Youyue asked with a smiling expression.

Magical girl title?

Was it an alias? Like an online handle, the kind people used as game IDs?

Tsk, I'm terrible at naming things.

Besides, I wasn't planning to be a magical girl anyway.

I'll just make up an excuse to brush it off.

"None of your damn business," Ye Qing answered expressionlessly.

A tiny crack appeared in Youyue's face, which had maintained its gentle smile all along, after hearing those blunt words.

"Even if you saved Big Sister Feiyan and Big Sister Yuyan, that doesn't give you the right to disrespect Big Sister Youyue like this!" Yalin bared her teeth at Ye Qing.

"Don't, Yalin." Yuyan and Feiyan hurriedly stepped in front of their companion.

"Can you get lost by yourself? If you can, then hurry up and get lost, you troublemaker," Ye Qing said mercilessly.

"Hehe..." Youyue gave a smile that did not reach her eyes, staring intently at Ye Qing's face.

"Since that's the case, let's leave for now. We can discuss this after we get back."

"Try not to die on the way," Ye Qing added.

Rude words had always made it clear that their speaker was unwelcome.

Youyue, the most senior and influential among them, said no more and led the other three magical girls away.

Ye Qing watched them leave, intending to first find a secluded place with no one around and undo her magical girl form.

Her thoughts were a complete mess.

Her true feelings clearly were not like that, but the words that came out were far too blunt.

Why had she become a magical girl, and why was she behaving so crudely? She had too many questions that needed answers.

Just as she rose into the air, the space before her split open, and two mascots, one thin and one fat, crawled out.

"Hello, newly born magical girl. I'm Wazi, a Contract Beast of magical girls," said the thinner mascot.

"I'm the magical girls' Contract Beast, Qiu—"

Before the fatter Contract Beast could finish saying its name, just as the final syllable began, Ye Qing grabbed it.

"Bastard, did you say your name was Kyubey?" Ye Qing's cold voice carried obvious killing intent as she stared straight at it.

"My name is Qiubo!"

Only then did Ye Qing release her hand.

Qiubo flew backward in fear. That killing intent just now had not been fake.

If it really had been called Kyubey, it felt like it would have died instantly at the hands of this newly born magical girl.

Why was a newly born magical girl so powerful? And why did she hold such terrifying killing intent toward that name?

"From now on, I'll call you Stinky Penguin." Ye Qing pointed at it.

"So domineering!" Qiubo replied.

"Why penguin? Did you specially give it that name?" Wazi asked in confusion.

Because it looked way too much like that "Wanna top up Q-coins?" thing.

It was hard not to call it a penguin.

Ye Qing did not answer. Instead, she put away the book in her hand and quietly waited for the two Contract Beasts to speak first.

After a long silence, Wazi said, "Newly born magical girl, join us. Join the Magical Girl Association."

An invitation right away?

Without explaining anything?

"Get lost." Ye Qing refused without hesitation.

"Alright, then." Wazi spoke regretfully.

That was it? Was my charm really that low?

Well, perhaps that wasn't a bad thing.

"We respect magical girls' choices," Qiubo added from the side.

They wanted badly to read this newly born magical girl's thoughts from her expression.

But her face remained cold and unchanged.

Even when killing intent rose within her, only her eyes changed slightly. They could not see what was in her heart at all.

Wazi continued, "Then let us introduce magical girls to you."

Magical girls?

It was probably that classic situation where enemies and allies came from the same source.

Transformation stones that could be corrupted, witchification, fallen beasts, things like that.

Ye Qing's gaze shifted slightly, but she could not summon much interest.

"Women with truth, goodness, and beauty in their hearts, powerful wishes, and souls infused with the aura of this world are blessed by the gods and become magical girls!"

After Wazi had spoken only one sentence, countless questions and an endless number of snide remarks sprang into Ye Qing's mind.

Where did I get any truth, goodness, and beauty?

And where did this woman part come from?!

"Shut up." Ye Qing immediately interrupted it.

"Don't start from the creation of the world like some idiot.

Tell me about stuff like enemies and allies coming from the same source, witchification, and fallen beasts so I can give up on that idea."

"What are enemies and allies coming from the same source, witchification, and fallen beasts?" Wazi tilted its head, then suddenly understood.

"Although I don't understand what you're saying, magical girls aren't like they are in fictional works.

The moment a magical girl falls and loses her pure heart, her Heartglow Stone dims or shatters, and she loses her identity as a magical girl.

Other than that, there is no way to corrupt a Heartglow Stone, nor has there ever been anything like witchification.

As for fallen beasts, are they some kind of species from another realm?"

No enemies and allies from the same source, no witchification, and no fallen beasts?

Interesting.

Ye Qing immediately became interested and took the initiative to ask, "What do magical girls usually do?"

"Protect order." Qiubo spoke first. "This is my field of expertise."

Qiubo explained, "The spatial barrier of this world is unstable, so all kinds of creatures can fall here through Spatial Rifts.

Whenever a Spatial Rift appears, magical girls protect others from the spatial tremors, kill evil species from other realms, and escort friendly species from other realms to the World Space Bureau to study, allowing them to integrate into this world."

Spatial Rifts, spatial tremors, and the World Space Bureau were all common knowledge taught in academies from childhood.

Magical girls helped outsiders become part of this place.

If they wished to return to their homeland, they needed tremendous luck and ability.

Space was unstable. It was easy to wander in by mistake, but difficult to leave, let alone return to one's homeland with precision.

Besides dealing with species from other realms and helping friendly outsiders, they also had to handle various villain organizations and cults.

In the end, it all came down to protecting order.

"Although you don't wish to join the Magical Girl Association, if a Spatial Rift suddenly appears, we still hope you'll lend a hand," Wazi said.

"No need to worry. The frequency of Spatial Rifts has dropped greatly in recent years." Ye Qing waved her hand. She neither agreed nor directly accepted, then continued asking.

"My thoughts and actions never match. What's going on?"

I always feel like I really enjoy swearing.

Without holding myself back, I could cram three f-bombs into one sentence.

Wazi's explanation interrupted her thoughts. "Magical girls possess truth, goodness, and beauty, and 'truth' means one's 'true nature.'

Magical girls take the forms they most wish to become and act with the attitudes their hearts desire most.

So every magical girl's behavior is her truest self within."

Like Yalin?

A newly awakened magical girl, all tsundere yet with a tail that revealed her true feelings.

So I really wanted to be a vulgar person? Was I really that awful?

"Then why am I so powerful?" Ye Qing had dug up half the ground, yet she was still bursting with energy.

"Magical girls are strong according to the purity of their souls, and strong according to the strength of their souls," Wazi replied.

Soul? Mind?

Was I this powerful because the souls from two lifetimes had stacked together?

In any case, anything unclear and inexplicable could all be chalked up to idealism and soul theory.

That felt very magical-girl-like too.

There was nothing else to do now. It was time to make them leave.

"Alright, get lost on your own." Ye Qing waved her hand.

This kind of self-serving behavior—discarding others after using them and not even seeing them off politely—was not likable.

Ye Qing found it hard to imagine that she wanted to be this kind of person.

But considering the situation, suddenly gaining so much power and not turning into some arrogant superhuman was already pretty good.

Fortunately, as Contract Beasts, they had seen much in their lives and did not grow dissatisfied.

"Would you like to come to the Association for a drink? There's a new bestseller lately that lots of magical girls enjoy," Wazi invited.

"Are you deaf? If you can't understand human language, go learn it. Get back and study," Ye Qing's words remained merciless.

"Then see you next time, newly born magical girl." Wazi waved politely.

"By the way, have you decided on your title? You need some kind of name."

Tsk.

My naming difficulty was acting up. I couldn't just use an online handle, could I?

A name... a combination...

Since Feiyan said my voice sounded nice, and I thought it wasn't bad either, then I'd be called...

"Qingyin," Qingyin said.

With that, she flew away first, heading straight home.

Well, that was convenient. She did not need to take the subway home now.