Preparations

When Love came out of the hospital, she said nothing for a long time.

She looked up at the sky. The sun suddenly seemed unbearably bright.

"Thousand Blades... don't you think this is too much to bear?"

"No matter how determined Grandma is... he's still her grandson. After her son died, he was the only family she had left by blood. She poured everything into raising him and pinned all her hopes for the future on him."

The old woman's final words still echoed in her ears.

"What are you going to do?"

Thousand Blades looked at Love, certainty in her eyes.

She knew Love well. Just as everyone said, Love was not someone who gave up easily, no matter what happened.

Love clenched her fists.

"Hmph."

"Don't let my gentle looks fool you into thinking I'm an obedient kid..."

"At eighteen or nineteen, I'm supposed to be rebellious, aren't I?"

Love gave Thousand Blades a playful wink. Seeing her like that, Thousand Blades couldn't help smiling.

"That's more like it."

They met each other's eyes and silently vowed not to let the old woman spend the last stretch of her life waiting in endless pain.

As they had said, Zhou Ping would still have to answer for what he had done. But that would happen after they brought him back.

They had to find Zhou Ping.

But before that—there could not be another Zhou Ping!

The people of the Northern Capital noticed that the Magical Girls seemed to be appearing more often.

And there was something different about their patrols, too.

Before, the Magical Girls usually swept through the sky, spreading their magic power to scan the areas below for Fallen Beasts or unusual magic.

Now, their patrols focused more on people.

Lights still burning in office buildings