Huali's Training

If ordinary people nearby had been affected by Evil Intent, then there was a good chance that a Fierce Beast or Witch capable of influencing ordinary people with Evil Intent was nearby as well.

The three of them circled the area twice more, but sensed no other presences and found no trace of any other Fierce Beasts.

"Looks like the Fierce Beast isn't nearby? It seems to be one that's very good at hiding itself," Green Yi said.

Huang Xing nodded and sighed. "If even you, the best at searching, couldn't find any clues, I'm afraid we won't be able to find the Fierce Beast today."

After two rounds of patrols, the police arrived and arrested the man consumed by Evil Intent, who had been beaten until he could no longer fight back. They also investigated the dead woman's identity and what had happened.

The victim and the man had been a couple. Recently, the man's career had not been going well, and after the woman criticized him a few times, hatred had taken root in his heart.

The murdered woman's family soon arrived as well. Between their tears and grief, they also expressed their gratitude to the Magical Girls.

Although they had failed to prevent the tragedy, catching the criminal immediately and preventing him from carrying out his plan to kill and bury the body, thereby protecting the victim's remains, was still an immense accomplishment.

"I'm sorry. We couldn't stop him before he did something terrible. By the time we found her, she had already... gone to another world." Green Yi looked somewhat guilty.

"This isn't your fault." The family forgave her.

"We'll definitely help you find the true culprit behind this and send the one responsible for her death to the other world to properly apologize to her!" Huang Xing said.

"We're counting on you!"

They absolutely could not let the Fierce Beast go.

But at the moment, there truly were no clues.

Searching aimlessly would make a breakthrough difficult. While the police did not possess the Magical Girls' sensory abilities, they could learn about crimes as soon as they occurred through all kinds of channels.

If a Fierce Beast did not do evil, it would not be called a Fierce Beast.

Since there might be a Fierce Beast nearby, the police deployed more officers in the area. If they found anything, they would notify the girls immediately.

The following patrols yielded no further discoveries, but Huali, who had gained something on his very first patrol, remained excited even after returning home.

Although he still had not personally solved a problem this time, the more he learned about the Magical Girls' work, the more he looked forward to his own future.

Upholding love and justice was not merely a slogan. The Magical Girls had always interpreted justice through their actions.

Witches and Fierce Beasts needed to be dealt with, of course, but the justice of ordinary people needed protection too.

After returning home, he checked his magical power. After a day of rest, he had recovered about one-third of it. At this rate, he would fully recover by the day after tomorrow.

Because his magical power had not yet recovered, Fu You still did not have him proceed with the next stage of training the following day. She merely told him that he could visit the backyard of Magical Girls' Apartment in his spare time, where the Magical Girls sparred with one another to hone their skills.

Though fighting between people was vastly different from fighting as Magical Girls, practice would still improve his reactions when facing enemies.

Now that he knew more about Magical Girls, Huali naturally became more curious about Fu You's identity. Yet most of his questions were ignored, and his attempts to learn more about his senior only left him rebuffed.

Fu You's former codename had been Canary, but she did not look much older than him. They were both in their second year of high school, and he instinctively felt that Fu You was at most eighteen, no older than that.

Normally, one should become a Magical Girl after the age of fifteen. That meant Fu You could have been a Magical Girl for no more than three years.

Then how long ago was the "before" that Fu You spoke of? Why had her codename been abandoned?

And had Fu You always been so powerful? Had she never teamed up with anyone? Then when Fu You had first become a Magical Girl, who had guided her into the field?

Every Magical Girl possessed her own magical characteristics, so a designated senior usually guided each Magical Girl into the profession.

Fu You must have had a senior too, right? Who had that senior been? How had that person trained such a powerful Magical Girl?

He also wanted badly to know what conflict existed between Fu You and Huang Xing. But Fu You would not talk, and he did not feel comfortable asking Huang Xing either. He could only keep it bottled up and secretly think of ways to maintain his relationship with both sides.

When he was with Huang Xing, he had tried indirectly asking her about Fu You, but Huang Xing's disgust was too obvious. It seemed that merely mentioning Fu You's name repulsed her, so he had no choice but to shut up.

Sitting behind Fu You, Huali could never stop himself from focusing on her red earring.

None of the other students in class wore earrings or ear studs. Such accessories were forbidden at school, yet Fu You seemed to be the sole exception.

And Fu You was clearly pretending to be a boy, so why was such an obvious piece of jewelry, one not really worn by boys, hanging from his ear?

That gemstone did not look like a mere decoration. Earrings used as accessories usually emphasized appearance more, while that rather large gem was round and full. It was beautiful, certainly, but on Fu You, he could not help linking it to a Magical Girl's magic gem.

He asked Fu You about it, only for her to stare at him coldly for a long while.

He had no choice but to shut up.

Senior is so mysterious.

After school, another day of patrols and training began.

The ones patrolling with him that day were Honglian and Lan Lu.

The two Magical Girls were clearly not as talkative as Huang Xing and Green Yi. Lan Lu kept her head down as she walked and spent more time on her phone, rarely speaking. As Honglian walked, she occasionally stretched her limbs and often greeted the owners of nearby shops. She seemed especially familiar with the area, but did not speak much to Lan Lu or Huali.

Huali tried to break the silence and asked the two seniors a few questions. Most of the time, Honglian merely replied with "Mm," "Right," or "That's right," brushing him off and unwilling to say more. Lan Lu occasionally made tiny sounds that he could not quite hear, making him feel awkward, so he stopped talking as well.

"If you want to get stronger, come to the track after patrol ends. I'll train with you properly," Honglian suddenly said after the three of them had been silent for quite a while.

"Sure!"

The patrol produced no results. The day passed without incident.

At the track, after being forced to run three laps, do more than ten push-ups, fifty bunny hops, and twenty pull-ups, Huali collapsed from exhaustion. At last, he received praise from Honglian.

"Kid, you've got one-third of my former bearing now!"

How could the gap between one Magical Girl and another be so enormous?

—From a distant rooftop, Fu You dangled her black-stockinged legs as she gazed toward Huali.

The stars in the sky shone brightly.

She yawned.

Time to go back. My worries were definitely unnecessary, right?