Star Magical Girl, Mint!

A month and a half passed.

It had officially been a week since school started.

The early morning sunlight streamed through the gap in the curtains into the bedroom.

Su Bai sat up from the slightly worn single bed and raised a hand to rub his heavy neck.

Over the past month and a half, he had been forced to become the hardest-working night-shift worker in Xinghai City.

At the same time, he had been trying to deal with the chaotic magical power within him that could run wild at any moment.

Almost every night, he had to transform into "Ziwei" and fight... fight...

Fight without end!

Not only had he kept the picky Kabi well-fed, but he had also amassed a considerable savings.

At least, he no longer had to worry about his tuition and living expenses for the first half of his sophomore year.

After washing up, he walked out of the room, and the fragrance of soy milk filled the living room.

At the dining table.

Su Xiaoxiao had half a fried dough stick clenched between her teeth while both hands frantically scrolled down on her tablet.

The girl's face was flushed with an odd red glow from excitement.

That girl was so distracted today that she could not even eat breakfast properly.

"Hajige! Hurry and look at the headlines on all the major Demon Hunting forums today!"

Su Xiaoxiao slammed the tablet onto the dining table and pointed at the bold, highlighted headline.

"Official Bounty Announcement: A Million-Yuan Annual Salary to Sincerely Invite a Girl with Reality-Bending Potential to Join the Monster Hunting Bureau's Special Operations Squad!"

Su Bai held his bowl and took a sip of hot soy milk without responding.

Su Xiaoxiao cleared her throat and began loudly reading the details of the news.

"The Monster Hunting Bureau has confirmed that suspected traces of other orthodox Magical Girls have appeared in various places."

Her voice rose and fell dramatically as she read the news.

"The authorities are now issuing a recruitment order to the entire city. Any girl between the ages of sixteen and twenty who possesses a pure heart and carries light within her may undergo a potential assessment."

At this point, she abruptly changed her tone, indignation filling her voice.

"The authorities have also issued a stern warning, advising all unaffiliated Magical Girls not to join private organizations of unknown origin!"

Su Xiaoxiao slapped the table hard.

"Especially that 'Star Magical Girls' organization that's been extremely popular online lately!"

She leaned back in her chair and let out a long, deeply resentful sigh.

"Why?!"

The girl grabbed her twin ponytails in frustration and wailed, "I'm already eighteen! I pray to the Will of the World every day!"

"Why hasn't the Will of the World chosen me? Is Su Xiaoxiao not pure enough or lacking in faith?!"

Su Bai swallowed the soy milk in his mouth and slowly set down his bowl.

He pulled out a tissue and wiped his mouth.

Seeing his indifferent expression, Su Xiaoxiao immediately became furious.

"Hajige, I knew talking to you about this would be like playing music for a cow."

She mercilessly switched into her usual mode of mockery.

"You vulgar money-grubber, with nothing in your head but making money, will never understand what it means to pursue a glorious cause!"

"When you're being chased around by Monsters one day, you'll understand the value of being a Magical Girl."

Su Bai let her point and gesture at him, without the slightest ripple in his heart.

He even felt a little like laughing.

Have him sign up with the Monster Hunting Bureau and claim that so-called million-yuan annual salary?

Give him a break.

The authorities had indeed contacted him before, offering Magical Girl Ziwei the exorbitant annual salary of ten million.

But compared to working for the Monster Hunting Bureau, he preferred his current unaffiliated state, where he bore his own profits and losses and enjoyed absolute freedom.

Besides, he enjoyed a Magical Girl organization made up entirely of girls even more.

After breakfast, Su Bai grabbed his shoulder bag and left the house.

He walked to the station two blocks away and boarded the cross-river light rail to Tianqiong University during the morning rush.

The carriage was packed to the brim.

The air was filled with the smell of steamed buns from breakfast and stale, chilly air.

Office drones in cheap suits dozed against the handrails, exhaustion with life written all over their faces.

Several high school students in uniforms squeezed by the doors, chattering about the latest seasonal anime.

Some complained about their mortgages, some discussed their weekend practical training classes, and some were fighting for a better tomorrow.

Su Bai was wedged into the corner of the carriage, gripping a hanging strap with one hand.

This was ordinary society. There was no lofty salvation, only the trivialities of firewood, rice, oil, and salt.

But there was no denying it.

This was also the everyday life he desperately fought to protect in this city each night while wielding that heavy dark-gold scythe.

Amid the rhythmic screech of metal, the train smoothly entered the underwater cross-river tunnel.

The river scenery outside the windows was swallowed by endless darkness, while the fluorescent lights inside the carriage cast a little ghastly white illumination.

Everything had been perfectly normal.

Just as the train was about to reach the middle of the tunnel.

The carriage shook violently, and the tremendous inertia sent the standing passengers tumbling into a heap.

Bzzzt—

The fluorescent lights on the ceiling flickered wildly twice before going out completely.

Only the emergency indicators remained, emitting a faint green glow.

Darkness instantly engulfed the carriage.

Before panic could spread, a horrifying sound of writhing suckers suddenly came from outside the windows.

An amorphous soft-bodied creature half the size of a truck, its entire body coated in sticky dark-green fluid, clung tightly to the reinforced glass of the carriage.

An E-rank, fifth-tier Monster—the Mutant Deepwater Leech.

The dense, sharp mouthparts on its abdomen scraped viciously against the glass, producing a shrill screech.

White cracks instantly spread across the glass.

The previously quiet crowd inside the carriage completely broke down.

Screams, sobs, and shoving blended into one chaotic mess.

People frantically pushed toward the rear carriages, trampling one another as desperate wails filled every inch of air.

"Master! It's an E-rank Monster! Above the fifth tier!"

Kabi's voice rang urgently in Su Bai's mind.

It usually hid in Su Bai's shadow to avoid being discovered by others.

"The acid is about to eat through the carriage door! If you don't act now, everyone on this train will die!"

Su Bai did not let the crowd sweep him along in their panicked flight.

He moved against the flow of people, preparing to squeeze toward the blind spot by the connection between the carriages.

He intended to find a secluded place, transform into "Ziwei," and quickly cut the disgusting leech in half.

Suddenly.

The thick concrete ceiling above the tunnel erupted with an intensely dazzling pink light.

The radiance stabbed into everyone's eyes inside the carriage.

A thick beam of light covered in intricate flame runes precisely pierced through the layered metal above the carriage.

The high temperature instantly melted the surrounding steel.

The Mutant Leech, still frantically attacking the windows, let out a shrill scream as the beam nailed it to the concrete wall of the tunnel.

Green acidic blood splattered across the ground.

The people inside the carriage forgot to shove one another and stared blankly at the large hole torn open in the roof.

A girl in a gorgeous mint-green gothic dress drifted down along the pillar of light.

Her face was full of youthful collagen, and she looked impossibly young.

Her green twin ponytails fluttered in the wind.

She gripped a mint-colored wand with a heart-shaped gem embedded in its tip.

She tensed her small face nervously and rapidly recited a string of incantations.

A trace of undisguisable shyness colored her voice, but her tone was utterly earnest.

"Starlight shines, all things revive, my green is the will of the sky—"

"Wind, listen to my name—"

"Wind—Waltz!"

(A Wind Waltz!)

Accompanied by a distinctly fresh, lightly fragrant breeze spreading through the tunnel.

She swung her wand backward.

A devastating spiral Windburst slammed directly into the Monster pinned to the wall.

The Mutant Leech did not even have a chance to struggle before the violent Wind Element tore it into pieces on the spot.

An instant kill.

Clean and decisive.

After a brief daze, the passengers who had escaped death erupted into earth-shaking cheers.

"It's the Magical Girl reported by the authorities!"

"Star Magical Girl—Mint! I've seen her photos online!"

"She's so cute! We're saved!"

The twin-tailed girl stood with her back to the excited crowd inside the carriage.

She did not turn around. She merely tilted her face slightly to the side, leaving behind what she considered an extremely aloof and mysterious smile.

She lightly tapped the ground with her wand.

The girl's figure transformed into a pale-green whirlwind and vanished into the depths of the tunnel through the hole in the ceiling.

The light-rail carriage was still filled with the excited roar of people who had been rescued.

Su Bai stood behind the crowd with both hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

He quietly watched in the direction where the green whirlwind had disappeared.

The corner of his mouth lifted.

"Master, did you think of something happy?"

Kabi poked half of its round, chubby head out of the shadow, blinking its huge eyes in confusion.

"Nothing."

Su Bai withdrew his gaze, his tone flat.

"I just think... this reality-bending power is truly quite absurd."

He paused for a second.

"Besides—"

"Watching your little sister's airheaded best friend shine so brightly outside, then come home to mooch food, isn't that quite hilarious?"