Window Hero's Awakening

9:45 p.m.

Chen De stood in the bedroom, making her final preparations before heading out.

Her phone was fully charged and placed on the table.

Her keys were in the drawer.

The window was pushed open.

Cold wind rushed in.

Chen De put one foot on the windowsill, gripped the frame with both hands, and was just about to climb out.

"Chen De."

"Yeah?"

"Isn't it a hassle climbing in and out through the window every day?"

Chen De maintained her half-hanging position on the window and glanced back at Qubi.

"It is."

"Can't you use the door?"

"The neighbors have surveillance cameras. It'd be troublesome if I got recorded."

"Can't you transform after you get outside?"

Chen De fell silent.

One foot was still on the windowsill.

The other hung in midair.

The wind blew through her hair.

She silently pulled her foot back.

Jumped down from the windowsill.

And stood back on the bedroom floor.

"You're right. I was overthinking it."

Qubi licked its paw, wearing an expression that said, "I've wanted to say that for ages, but I was afraid you'd hit me."

Chen De expressionlessly walked to the door, put on her shoes, and turned the handle.

She opened the door normally.

Went downstairs normally.

And walked out of the apartment building normally.

She reached a corner of the residential complex without surveillance cameras.

"Transform."

A flash of white light.

Five feet tall. Short skirt. Bow. Thigh-high stockings.

"See? Doesn't this work just fine?" Qubi jumped onto her shoulder.

"Couldn't you have reminded me earlier?"

"You didn't listen."

"...I guess not."

Chen De took a deep breath.

One day, she was going to turn this cat into slippers.

"Let's go. South City."

With a tap of her toes, she shot forward.

Wind rushed into her sleeves.

Her skirt flew up.

This time, she didn't hold it down.

After all, she had safety shorts on.

Seven minutes later.

South City, an abandoned commercial street on the edge of the old district.

Half the streetlights were broken, and the few still lit were barely hanging on.

Chen De landed on the roof of a three-story shop and crouched down to observe.

"Where are they?"

"Two hundred meters ahead, in an abandoned parking lot. Two Lesser Calamities, roughly thirty meters apart."

"Take them together or one at a time?"

"I recommend taking them out one by one. Fighting both at once won't earn you extra money."

"Fine."

Chen De was just about to move.

Qubi's ears perked up.

"Wait."

"What now?"

"Someone's approaching."

Chen De frowned.

She looked toward the east.

A pale blue figure was rapidly approaching from the end of the street.

The blue gemstone atop her staff flickered in the night.

It was especially conspicuous.

Conspicuous enough to seem like it was saying, "I'm right here, come beat me up."

"Xing Lan." Chen De's expression instantly grew complicated.

"She came too."

"Didn't you say she was coming to South City too?"

"I thought she'd arrive later."

"You thought."

"An objective miscalculation."

Chen De ground her teeth.

The blue figure drew closer and closer. Her movements looked cautious; she would walk a few steps, stop, and hold her staff before her chest as if using some method to scan the area.

But she was clearly headed in the wrong direction.

She was walking away from the parking lot.

"She's going the wrong way," Chen De said.

"Her detection isn't precise enough. A common problem for newcomers."

"Then will she just never find them?"

"She'll most likely find them eventually, but it'll take another twenty minutes."

Twenty minutes.

Enough time for Chen De to finish both Lesser Calamities, go home, and wash her feet.

Chen De did not hesitate.

She jumped down from the roof, landed without a sound, and sprinted straight for the parking lot.

A short-barreled pistol formed in her right hand, and a white short blade formed in her left.

The first Lesser Calamity writhed in a corner of the parking lot.

A mass of black mist, a little smaller than a suitcase, not yet fully developed.

One shot.

The light bullet struck.

The black mist exploded.

One slash.

Cleanly harvested.

Two seconds from start to finish.

Without looking back, Chen De ran toward the second one.

Thirty meters away, beside an abandoned toll booth.

The second Lesser Calamity was slightly larger, but only by about the volume of a backpack.

The same routine.

One shot to break its defense.

One slash to finish it.

The black mist dispersed.

The air returned to silence.

"Eighty thousand in the bag," Qubi said.

"How much after deductions?"

"Sixty-four thousand."

"?"

Chen De stared at Qubi.

"I'll give you one chance to rephrase that."

"Just kidding."

Qubi shrank back.

Chen De put away her weapons and turned to leave.

Quickly.

She had to be quick.

Before Xing Lan found her.

She had just run out through the parking lot's iron gate.

"Sister Su?!"

A shriek of delighted surprise came from behind her.

Chen De's steps abruptly froze.

She slowly turned around.

Lin Xi stood twenty meters away, holding up her staff. The blue gemstone's light illuminated half her face.

She wore the ecstatic expression of someone seeing her idol in person.

"It really is Sister Su!!"

Lin Xi charged straight at her.

She ran incredibly fast.

Her staff nearly flew from her hand.

Within half a second, Chen De's brain made three judgments.

First, she couldn't run away.

Second, pretending not to hear was unrealistic.

Third, the countdown to social death had begun.

"Why are you here too?" Chen De tried to keep her voice calm.

Thankfully, her transformed voice was female, so she didn't need to worry about that.

What she needed to worry about was something else.

"I came to fight Lesser Calamities! My Contract Familiar said there were two in South City!" Lin Xi said as she ran up to her, panting heavily.

Then she glanced toward the parking lot.

There was nothing there.

It was spotless.

Lin Xi's expression shifted from excitement to confusion.

"They got taken out again?"

"Yeah."

"By Sister Su again?"

"Yeah."

Lin Xi's mouth twitched.

Then she took a deep breath.

"Sister Su, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Are you... specifically stealing them from me?"

Chen De nearly choked.

"No. I got here first."

"But the same thing happened at the park last time, and now it's happened again..."

"Coincidence."

"Both times were coincidences?"

"Yeah."

Lin Xi stared at her for three seconds.

Her gaze shifted from suspicion to grievance.

"I've been contracted for three days, and I haven't taken down a single Calamity..."

"Every time I sensed one and ran over, it was already gone..."

"Maybe I'm not suited to be a magical girl after all..."

Her voice grew softer and softer. Her staff slowly drooped, and her entire body radiated the dejected air of someone who had been thoroughly beaten down by society.

Chen De fell silent for two seconds.

You're not mentioning the time you got beaten up at all, huh.

She glanced at Qubi.

Qubi gave her a look that said, "You decide."

"The next one," Chen De said.

Lin Xi looked up.

"Huh?"

"When the next Calamity appears, I won't take it. You can fight it."

Lin Xi's eyes lit up instantly.

They shone like two sapphires.

"Really?!"

"Really."

"Sister Su, you're the best!!"

"Don't call me Sister Su."

"Then what should I call you?"

"Just call me Su Xi."

"Okay, Sister Su!"

Chen De felt like he might need some blood pressure medication.

"So what do we do now?" Lin Xi leaned closer, her expression full of anticipation.

"We go home."

"Shouldn't we walk around together? It's rare for us to run into each other—"

"No."

"But—"

"Go home."

Chen De turned and left.

His steps were firm.

Lin Xi's unwilling voice came from behind him.

"Sister Su! Are you coming to South City again tomorrow?"

"No."

"What about the day after tomorrow?"

"No."

"Then the day after that—"

"We'll see."

Chen De picked up his pace and broke into a run.

His white figure vanished around the street corner in the blink of an eye.

Lin Xi stood where she was, hugging her staff as the corners of her lips slowly curved upward.

"She didn't say she wasn't coming."

On a distant rooftop, Chen De sneezed.

"Qubi."

"Mm."

"Did I just dig a hole and jump into it myself?"

"You promised to let her take the next one."

"I know."

"That means you'll earn forty thousand less."

Chen De's footsteps paused.

He was silent for a full five seconds.

"Qubi."

"Mm."

"Did water get into my brain just now?"

"Maybe you got too much evening wind."

Chen De covered his face.

Forty thousand.

He had personally shoved forty thousand away.

When he got home tonight, he decided to put a lock on his window.

Not to keep out thieves.

To stop himself from doing something stupid again.