Secondary Development, Got It?

The alarm rang three times.

Chen Decai reached a hand out from under the blankets and smacked it dead.

More precisely, he smashed it.

A new crack ran across his phone screen, splitting from the upper left corner to the lower right like a bolt of lightning.

"..."

Chen De stared at the phone for three seconds.

Then he remembered what contract he had signed last night.

His strength had increased.

That was a good thing.

But his phone screen had cracked.

That was not a good thing.

Dragging his still-sleepy body along, he crawled into the bathroom.

He turned on the faucet.

He splashed a handful of cold water onto his face.

The chill jolted Chen De awake.

He was instantly eighty percent alert.

He dried his face with a towel and looked up at the mirror.

The face reflected there belonged to a seventeen-year-old boy.

His features were well-proportioned. He was not handsome, but he was definitely not ugly either.

But something seemed a little different today.

Chen De leaned closer.

"Did I..."

"Get a little fairer?"

He practically pressed his face to the mirror.

He began comparing himself, detail for detail, with how he used to look.

His skin really had become fairer.

Not the sickly kind of pale, but a smooth, even whiteness, as if some kind of filter had been applied.

Even the occasional acne marks from before seemed to have faded.

What about his pores?

His pores seemed finer too?

Chen De's brow furrowed tighter and tighter.

"Something's not right..."

Just then.

A white cat climbed in through the window.

Qubi landed steadily beside the sink and flicked its tail.

"Admiring yourself this early in the morning?"

"Though I know turning into a magical girl for the first time can be exciting..."

"Shut up."

With quick reflexes, Chen De slapped the towel in his hand over Qubi's face.

The white cat struggled twice, pawed the towel off, and looked disgusted.

"How long has it been since you washed this towel?"

"I changed it yesterday."

"Then how long has it been since you washed your face?"

"I just washed it!"

Chen De snatched the towel back, hung it up, and looked into the mirror again.

"Enough nonsense. Has my face changed?"

Qubi jumped beside the mirror and tilted its head to inspect Chen De's reflection.

"Mm, you do look a little fairer."

"Why?"

"A side effect of signing the contract."

Qubi washed its face with its paws, looking as though it were only natural.

"A magical girl's power will gradually alter her physical condition."

"Better skin is only the most basic change."

"There will be more changes later on."

Chen De's hand froze in midair.

"What do you mean, more changes?"

"For example, less body hair."

"..."

"Your hair will become smoother."

"..."

"Your eyelashes will grow longer."

"Wait a second."

Chen De turned around, braced both hands against the sink, and lowered his head to look at Qubi.

"You mean that even if I'm not transformed, my body will still change in that direction?"

"It won't become that exaggerated."

Qubi's tone was airy.

"It'll just become a little... hmm, more androgynous."

"Androgynous?"

"Yes, the kind where people can't tell whether you're a boy or a girl—"

"Enough."

Chen De took a deep breath.

"Why didn't you tell me this before I signed the contract?"

"If I told you, you wouldn't have signed."

"So you did it on purpose."

"I merely selectively forgot some of the terms."

"That's called withholding information!"

Qubi blinked innocently.

"You know now, don't you?"

Chen De felt his blood pressure spike to rush-hour levels at seven-thirty in the morning.

He forced himself to calm down, returned to his bedroom, and started changing into his school uniform.

Qubi followed him, jumped onto the bed, and began kneading his pillow.

"Don't knead my pillow."

"It's a cat's instinct. I can't control it."

"You said you weren't a cat."

"When necessary, I am."

Chen De could not be bothered to keep arguing with this cat—or whatever it was.

He put on his school uniform and glanced at the full-length mirror on the wardrobe door.

Then he noticed another problem.

"Qubi."

"Mm?"

"Is my waist thinner?"

Qubi looked up at him.

"That's your imagination."

"Really?"

"Probably."

"What do you mean, probably?!"

Chen De pinched his waist.

It really did not seem much different from yesterday.

Maybe it was just psychological.

Ever since transforming, he had felt like there was something wrong with every part of his body.

It was like buying insurance and then feeling as though any little thing meant you were about to have an accident.

He shook his head, grabbed his schoolbag, and headed out.

"You're following me to school today?"

"Of course."

Qubi jumped down from the bed and lightly sprang onto his shoulder.

"I need to monitor your condition around the clock."

"The rookie period is when problems are most likely to arise."

"If you sit on my shoulder, people will see you, won't they?"

"Don't worry. Ordinary people can't see me."

Chen De paused.

"They can't see you?"

"Only contractors and people with magical power can see this form of mine."

"To ordinary people, I'm just air."

"Then when I talk to you, everyone else will think I'm talking to myself?"

"Yes."

"Don't you think that makes things even weirder?!"

"Then you can just not talk."

"Then stop talking to me first!"

Qubi gave a soft laugh and quietly lay on his shoulder.

Chen De left home, locked the door, and went downstairs.

The morning air still carried a hint of chill.

He bought two steamed buns and a cup of soy milk from a roadside breakfast stall, eating as he walked.

Halfway there, Qubi suddenly spoke.

"Oh, right. About tonight."

"The Eastside Industrial Zone?"

"Mm. I updated the intelligence."

Chen De took a bite of his steamed bun.

"Tell me."

"The probability of a Fierce Calamity has risen from extremely low to thirty percent."

Chen De's chewing slowed by a beat.

"Yesterday, you said the probability was extremely low."

"The intelligence updates in real time."

"What if it really is a Fierce Calamity?"

"Then fight it."

"I only signed the contract yesterday!"

"Talented fighters don't need experience."

"If you said that in sports circles, retired athletes would curse you to death."

Qubi's tail swayed.

"You weren't saying that yesterday when you took out a Lesser Calamity with one blade and one shot."

"That was a Lesser Calamity! You said yourself it was the weakest kind!"

"A Fierce Calamity isn't that much stronger."

"You go."

"I don't have hands."

"You have paws!"

"I'm in a support role, not a damage-dealing role."

Chen De nearly choked on his steamed bun.

He took a gulp of soy milk before recovering.

"Explain yourself. What level is a Fierce Calamity, exactly?"

Qubi thought for a moment.

"Put it this way: a Lesser Calamity is a little thug in an alley."

"Fierce Calamities are basically punks with machetes."

"Fundamentally, they're still punks, but getting slashed hurts."

"That comparison makes me feel incredibly unsafe."

"With me here, you won't die."

"You said that yesterday too. Your exact words were, 'You definitely won't die.' You even added the word 'definitely' to reassure yourself."

Qubi fell silent for a second.

"Your memory really shouldn't be this good."

Chen De rolled his eyes and stuffed the last bite of bun into his mouth.

The school was already close at hand.

Even from afar, he could see the bustling crowd at the school gate.

Chen De instinctively lowered his voice.

"Don't say anything stupid once we get into school."

"I won't talk."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Swear it."

"I'm a higher-dimensional life-form. I have no concept of oaths."

"Then promise."

"Fine, I promise."

Chen De had just stepped through the school gate.

When someone rushed over from the side and slung an arm over his shoulder.

"Dezi!"

An excessively sunny face leaned right in front of him.

It was Jiang Ping, a classmate.

A bad friend Chen De had known since elementary school.

"You look pretty good today."

Jiang Ping gave him a once-over.

"What face wash did you use? Why's your face gotten so pale?"

Chen De's smile twitched.

"No, I just washed my face normally."

"No, that's not right. You weren't this pale before."

Jiang Ping leaned in a little closer.

"And why's your skin gotten better? Did you secretly get cosmetic treatments?"

"I only get a few hundred a month. Do you think I can afford cosmetic treatments?"

"True."

Jiang Ping nodded, though his eyes were still full of suspicion.

"So it's a change from puberty?"

"Yeah, a second puberty."

"You're almost eighteen and you're still going through a second puberty?"

"Why do you care how many times I go through puberty?"

Chen De quickened his pace toward the classroom.

Qubi on his shoulder suddenly spoke.

"He seems to have a tiny bit of spiritual power perception too."

Chen De nearly tripped.

Without changing his expression, he replied in a whisper.

"Didn't you promise not to talk?"

"This is different. This is intelligence."

"Shut up."

"Your mouth was moving just now."

Jiang Ping called from behind him.

"Dezi, what are you muttering to yourself about?"

"Nothing! I'm reciting English vocabulary!"

"Since when were you this hardworking?"

Chen De did not answer and sped into the classroom.

He tossed his backpack onto the desk and collapsed onto it.

Qubi jumped from his shoulder onto the desk and crouched beside his textbook.

"That classmate of yours has roughly twice the spiritual power perception of an ordinary person."

"Not enough to see me, but enough to notice the faint changes on you."

"So that's why he could tell I'd gotten paler."

Chen De's voice was muffled against his arms.

"What if the changes get bigger and bigger later?"

"We'll deal with it when the time comes."

"That attitude is exactly like when my mom used to say, 'You'll understand when you grow up.'"

Qubi did not respond to that.

It stayed quiet for a few seconds before saying,

"Tonight at eight, near Warehouse Three in the Eastside Industrial Zone."

"Get ready."

Chen De lay on the desk with his eyes closed.

Only two things kept circling through his mind.

First, he might have to fight a Fierce Calamity tonight.

Second, his face would keep getting paler.

He did not know which was more terrifying.

The class bell rang.

Qubi stepped twice on the textbook, found a comfortable position, and lay down.

"If you fall asleep in class, I'll wake you up."

"You do nice things like that too?"

"Of course. If the teacher scolds you, your mood will worsen."

"And if your mood worsens, your magic power will become unstable."

"If your magic power is unstable, things could go wrong tonight."

"If things go wrong, you won't make any money."

"If you don't make money, then you—"

"Alright, alright, I get it."

Chen De buried his face in his arms.

"When all's said and done, it's still for your twenty percent cut."

Qubi did not deny it.

Its tail swayed lightly twice.

"It's a business partnership. Mutual benefit and win-win."