Truth, Part 1 - Mi

(Miluno)

The old man had already drawn the ominous-looking, mysterious potion into the syringe, but he still gritted his teeth, looking as if he would take the secret to his grave.

"Do it."

When her mother gave the order, Dantai Xue hurriedly tried to stop her.

What are you going to do?

Mom didn't care about the shrug.

"There's no other way. Since you won't cooperate, we'll have to use our own methods to get the information... This medicine is quite strong; one injection will cause strange changes in the body. I don't know if the old gentleman can withstand it."

Could it be truth serum?

Or is it APTX-4869?

I don't think my parents would really do anything to an elderly person. They can obtain information without any side effects using SpiCa's magic, but Dantai Xue doesn't know their character and seems genuinely flustered.

"Hey! Don't do anything reckless!"

Tiger Cub was quite loyal; she summoned the golden hammer that weighed a thousand pounds, and the moment it landed, it shattered the expensive solid wood floor in the private room. But before the heartbroken Dantai Xue could scream, I had already gone around the dining table, pressed Tiger Cub's head down, and slammed her onto the table.

Bang! (Sound of a face smashing into a cake)

The tiger-striped catgirl turned into a cat with a smeared face.

"You're overthinking things by going against me. What are the consequences of protecting an inside man? You should really think about it. I think you, whose homes have been destroyed by 'the Other Side,' should be able to make the right decision, right?"

He held Tiger Cub down with one hand and poked her twitching cat ears with the other. She struggled twice with all her might, but couldn't move at all.

This girl is considered strong among magical girls; she can hold me down with one hand...

Even without Witchification, has my power already reached this level?

"Grandpa Gong... why don't you just tell me?"

Dantai Xue offered this advice.

Even with a syringe pressed close to his throat, the old man remained unmoved.

Like the revolutionary martyrs who fought to the death during the War of Resistance Against Japan...

"That's enough, I already know who A Ling is."

Dantai Zhengchu said this, he added in a low voice, "Release Uncle Gong, and I will tell you."

They released Tiger Cub.

The latter glared at me resentfully, rubbed her arm which I had twisted sore, and then began wiping the cream and cake crumbs off her face.

"Tsk tsk, you figured it out?"

Mom squinted and said:

"Hey~ don't portray us as villains. You should understand that we're currently at war with the Other Side, and any act of cover-up is unacceptable. Please don't let personal feelings ruin the overall situation, okay?"

The old man temporarily put away the syringe, and Dantai Xue calmed down a bit.

He also asked, "... A Ling, who exactly is Aya?"

"Cough."

Dantai Zhengchu seemed to have made up his mind, and slowly spoke.

"She is your grandfather, Dantai Chenwei."

Puff--

The shocking truth caused Mono to spit out another mouthful of juice.

"Cough cough cough, wait, wait! Wasn't the former head of the Dantai Society dead?"

In Xiao Yi's principal's office, Anjie, who was Sun Ji's secretary, said that she had accompanied Sun Ji to Dantai Chenwei's funeral two years ago.

"No, could it be a faked death?"

Mono wiped his mouth and continued his analysis, "That was only death in a social sense. Dantai Chenwei was one of the first experimental subjects to Contaminated Crystal. Although she rewrote her fate of death, she became a living Ghost, secretly lying in wait as Sun Ji's hidden informant... Unfortunately, she still cared about family ties. In order to personally take care of her bedridden son, she still appeared in the Dantai Society as Gong Ling, leaving a loose end."

The elderly man in the video sighed and wiped away his tears.

Dantai Zhengchu nodded silently, it seemed that Mono's guess was pretty much right.

"Oh? You all don't know about the former head of the family faking his death? They were clearly family!"

Dantai Xue said with a livid face, "Of course I didn't know! If I had known that A Ling was Grandpa in disguise, I would never have dared to bathe with her... and even lay a hand on her! Good heavens!"

I think...

Even if the other person is just an ordinary girl, you still need to go to the police station to calm down after your behavior.

Dantai Zhengchu then spoke.

"Having nearly died and been resurrected, that Sun Ji must have used this to demand that my father conceal his identity and work for him."

Mom asked again, "Oh, so what methods do you have to arrest her?"

"They can't catch them, can they?"

Mono waved his hand, deflated, and said, "That thing is Ghost! After casting magic, it doesn't even have a physical form. Not to mention my senses, even Mom's 'Memory Tracking' can't see it. How could I possibly catch it!"

Mom seemed very happy to be called "Mom" by Mono, and she rubbed Mono's round face again, saying:

"It's okay, we don't really need to go looking for her. We just need to get her moving."

"So how do you plan to force it?" I asked.

"Hey-hey."

With a grin, Mom picked up a silver fork from the table and, without warning, hurled it at Dantai Xue. Her throwing technique was so practiced it seemed she'd trained, but the sharp silver fork stopped mid-air just before reaching Dantai Xue, as if captured by some invisible force. Though it continued to sway, it didn't advance an inch further...

Is this what they call being forced?

I roughly understand what my mother is trying to do, and if she really wants to hurt Dantai Xue, I will step in to stop her.

But the fact that it automatically stopped in mid-air means...

"Sure enough, she's here, in this private room?"

Mom clapped her hands, her face beaming with the satisfaction of her wicked scheme, but she didn't notice that the fork had already been turned on her.

No, perhaps she noticed but trusted I would protect her?

Mono raises his hand to ask a question:

"Then how can we catch Ghost?"

"No, no, no, since she's here, we can resolve this through conversation!"

My mother shook her head repeatedly, her smile never faltering from beginning to end, and it even grew brighter and brighter.

"Since he's an old man who values family ties, he probably wouldn't want to see his children and grandchildren suffer misfortune, right? If something unexpected happens next time, he might be implicated... Ah, or maybe we should just close this place down? Magical girl experiences are, in a sense, a kind of erotic establishment, aren't they? It's a restaurant that's already operating in a gray area, so closing it down is only reasonable, isn't it?"

The little thing muttered to itself about this.

"Wow, their despicable nature really is passed down through generations."

How should I speak?

However, her mother's words did put a lot of pressure on Gong Ling. Even if there was a way to catch the other party, she could escape at any time using that magic. She could pass through walls and become invisible, so there was no way to keep her locked up.

Suddenly, a pale white light appeared from the corner of the wall, and a silver-haired beauty, dressed in a light white silk dress, stood there quietly. The old man had been reborn as a beautiful young woman.

"This has nothing to do with them. I'm right here."

"A Ling... no, no... Grandpa?"

Dantai Xue stood up, while Dantai Zhengchu had a complicated expression.

"Dad, why are you doing this...?"

Gong Ling, however, raised her hand to interrupt her.

"Zhengchu, Xue'er, I have already died once, and I have long since let go of my Past identity. You don't need to be bound by seniority."

Simply put, it's because he doesn't want to be seen as an old man, right?