Li Yi was unable to attend her sister's funeral.
Her parents wouldn't allow her to attend her sister's funeral, and in the end, she only caught a glimpse of it from afar.
She then went to school.
I went to class in a daze, and when I got back, I saw that my phone had received many messages from relatives and friends—or perhaps not friends, just acquaintances.
They condemned her for not even attending her sister's funeral, calling her heartless, especially considering how much her sister had cared for and loved her since childhood.
ungrateful.
Li Yi Li Yi didn't want to explain anything, because she had already noticed when Iris's words made her want to laugh.
In just two or three days, she was no longer as sad and pained by her sister's death.
They truly deserve to be called heartless and cruel.
How long should one grieve when a loved one dies to be considered adequate? And to what extent must one grieve to be considered to have a conscience?
Li Yi didn't know, but she knew she must be heartless.
Because she did not grieve for her sister's death for more than three days.
Regardless of the reasoning, this is still substandard.
So Li Yi left Jiang Si's house and ran to the riverbank where she and her sister used to play together.
It was far from Jiang Si's home, and even after she paid for a taxi, the journey took a full hour.
She wanted to recall more about her sister, to make herself feel pain, to prove that she hadn't forgotten her.
But there was none at all.
Fish occasionally leap from the shimmering river, a gentle breeze carries a hint of moisture, and melodious birdsong mingles with the distant sounds of car horns. Sunlight filters through the leaves, shimmering and dancing on the skin like shards of mercury.
It was so pleasant it made me drowsy, a wonderful peace and comfort. I couldn't feel any pain in my heart, and even the memories of playing here with my sister only left me with a feeling of emotional exhaustion.
She kept urging herself:
You need to cry, Li Yi.
You must feel sad, Li Yi.
You must always think of your sister, never forget her, never...
Thinking this, Li Yi stared blankly at the envelope in her hand.
So, when the girl running up in slippers asked her if she wanted to know about their creator...
Li Yi also subconsciously replied with a joke.
This left the other party completely bewildered.
The Shuangsheng were truly surprised by Li Yi's response.
But she quickly burst out laughing; of course she'd laugh at something so funny!
"I thought you'd be more upset. Sure enough, Yinluo is utterly unlikeable. Even if she dies, her sister doesn't care at all..."
Originally, she wanted to provoke the other party, but seeing Shuangsheng Li Yi was not refuting at all and was just staring blankly, she became more and more frustrated as she spoke.
No way?
Aren't you the quintessential magical girl? Lively, enthusiastic, and outgoing—a super typical magical girl.
Why are you suddenly silent? Was the intelligence wrong?
Just as the Shuangsheng were doubting themselves, Li Yi buried her head in her knees. "It's not that my sister isn't likable, it's my problem. I can't be sad anymore."
"Well, it's been about three days since Yinluo passed away, hasn't it?" Shuangsheng sat down beside her, resting her hands on the grass behind her and looking up at the sky. "It's normal, it's normal, especially for people like you with such intense emotions. It's easy to feel emotionally drained. To be able to grieve for your sister for three days is already quite remarkable, to be honest."
"Thank you," Li Yi said softly. "But how did you know me, and who my sister is?"
"That's because I'm the one who brought your sister into the Witch Association."
As if pricked by a needle, Li Yi suddenly stood up and pulled back, instinctively grabbing her Miracle Seed.
Then I realized that I could no longer transform.
She even said that she didn't want to be a magical girl anymore.
However, when faced with danger, their first instinct is still to rely on the power of magical girls...
Her previously calmed emotions surged again. Clutching the Miracle Seed, Li Yi stared intently at her, "You're from the Witch Association... it was you who lured my sister into joining the Witch Association!"
"I have absolutely no interest in increasing the number of members in the Witch Association, since the Witch Association doesn't give out commissions based on the number of members."
The Shuangsheng chuckled and said, "Back then, your sister begged me desperately. I felt so sorry for her, so I helped her join the Witch Association and gave her a chance to realize her dream. You should be thanking me. If it weren't for me, you and your sister would have fallen out long ago."
Although Li Yi was on edge, she knew that at such close range, she couldn't escape and was no match for her opponent.
Witch Association use far too many methods to kill an ordinary person.
But she still retained the courage she once had as a magical girl, shouting, "Do you think I'd listen to the nonsense of the Witch Association?!"
"Sigh, that's why I said Yinluo is pitiful. She's always pretending to be a good older sister, a fan who longs for magical girls, and a good daughter in her family. But no one has ever tried to understand her, and no one is interested in her wishes and pain. Yinlian, do you really understand your sister?"
This question left Li Yi somewhat at a loss for words.
Does she understand her older sister?
It wasn't until the very end that I learned my sister had actually joined the Witch Association, and that she had even gone so far as to kill her colleagues to steal the Miracle Seed from the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau for the Witch Association.
Only then did I realize that my sister was actually...
"Then let me ask you, Miss Yinlian, as the captain of the Magical Girl Combat Team of the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau, someone whom all Witch Association cannot touch, how was the Miracle Seed contaminated?"
Li Yi remained silent, unable to speak.
In fact, she had already guessed it in her heart.
They just don't want to admit it, and they don't want to believe it.
"Only your sister can do that."
When the truth was revealed to her, Li Yi felt neither anger nor sadness. She simply felt relieved, as if the dust had settled, leaving her with only a sense of powerlessness.
Leaning against the tree trunk, the Shuangsheng shifted their bodies, adjusting to a more comfortable position. "She's really troublesome. As your younger sister, becoming a magical girl fills her with a mix of admiration, hatred, pride, and insane jealousy. It's incredibly conflicting; I even suspect she's going to have a mental breakdown. But you can rest assured about one thing: even in the end, your sister never intended to kill you. She just wanted you to be an ordinary person, someone who could only follow in her footsteps."
"How do you know so much?"
"Didn't I tell you? I'm your sister's mentor, but also her only friend." The Shuangsheng tilted their heads, thinking for a moment. "I guess you could say that. Although we often argue, and even considered killing each other, I am indeed her only friend. I know almost everything about your sister, since no one else listens to her except me."
She instinctively wanted to say thank you, but remembering that the other person was from the Witch Association, Li Yi swallowed the words back.
The Witch Association only an enemy, but also the murderer who killed her sister.
He is second only to Shion in terms of enemy status...
"Are you telling me all this so that I'll join the Witch Association?"
Li Yi calmly retorted, "I'm sorry, although I'm very grateful for your help to my sister in the end, I will not join the Witch Association."
"Don't flatter yourself, little sister. You can't become a magical girl right now. What Witch Association want with you?"
The sharp words made Li Yi's expression turn somewhat unpleasant. Shuangsheng smiled, showing no malice whatsoever, "It's just that as a friend, I should help her out. Otherwise, Yinluo would be too pitiful, wouldn't she? She's already dead. If her sister still doesn't know what she was thinking, what she did..."
At this point, the Shuangsheng suddenly paused, "Oh, I almost forgot, I'm so careless, there's something I forgot to mention. Regarding Susan Witch Association's cult, guess who did it?"
Li Yi suddenly raised her head, "Impossible! My sister used to admire Zhulu a lot, and she only joined the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau because of Zhulu!"
"The more you yearn for something, the more unattainable it becomes, and the more you want to destroy it. Those who join the Witch Association, once they come into contact with the Grief Seed and the Filthy Magic Power, easily amplify their negative emotions. But your sister enjoyed it, after all, she had been suppressing herself for over a decade, and it was hard work pretending. Finally gaining power, she destroyed what she longed for. She excitedly told me about it for ages, mocking Susan's shocked and resentful expression after losing her transformation..."
"Stop talking!"
Li Yi knelt on the ground, and the pain and sorrow she thought she had exhausted finally surged up again.
Overwhelmed by other emotions, she clutched her head, "Why, why do you have to tell me these things? I don't want to hear them, I don't want to know..."
"Because the performance was so typical, it even became a bit boring for me."
The Shuangsheng suddenly stood up and walked to Li Yi's side, staring at her at very close range. "You're supposed to be a magical girl! Look at how pathetic you are now! Who do you think you can fawn over? Your parents treat you like an enemy, your sister doesn't really like you that much, and everyone in the Magical Girl Combat Team treats you as a reliable captain, they don't even consider you a junior."
"So, you're going to whine to Keke? And then what? Let Keke comfort you, hide behind Keke, watch Keke fight the Calamity Beast, and do nothing, right, Captain Yinlian?"
"The only children your sister is jealous of are kids like this. How pathetic."
Li Yi bit her lip, lowered her head, and looked at her jet-black seed through teary eyes. "I'm no longer a magical girl."
The Shuangsheng lightly flicked her forehead. "Magical girls aren't girls who beg for miracles; magical girls are girls who create miracles. You've just abandoned something so many people envy and yearn for—it's truly hateful."
"Fine, it's actually a good thing for me that you're not a magical girl."
The Shuangsheng scoffed and then walked behind her. "Next, I'm going to take care of your Magical Girl Combat Team. I'll start with Iris, then Peony, and then Keke. I'll kill every single magical girl around you, kill them all! You just sit here and watch me take them all down, then keep crying!"
"I... I know Winter Lord, you could say we're acquaintances."
Li Yi choked up, but still managed to say, " Shion is someone I know, and Dandelion has also been getting in my way. Are you going to look for them too?"
"..."
The Shuangsheng pretended not to hear and strode away.
Watching the other person leave, Li Yi sent a message to Susan at the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau while glancing at the seeds in her hand.
The pitch-black seed no longer responded to her wishes.
All happiness and beauty have been buried by hatred and pain.
She can barely remember why she became a magical girl in the first place.
Can I really continue being a magical girl?
Do I really still deserve to be a magical girl?
After I became a magical girl, who will be happy...?
When she thought of her sister, her heart ached.
"Roar!"
Startled, Li Yi nearly dropped her phone. She looked up.
In the direction where the Shuangsheng had departed, another Calamity Beast appeared, letting out a deafening roar.
The enormous Calamity Beast exuded a terrifying aura; it was very close, and its magical power was palpable!
It's none of my business anymore.
She realized she was no longer capable of fighting the Calamity Beast, and that going there would only be a hindrance.
So hurry back...
Li Yi staggered to her feet and started running.
"A massive Calamity Beast that's about to advance to Rank A?"
Iris, who had just received a message from Susan, had arrived near the Calamity Beast and looked around.
The evacuation of people was also swift this time.
Aside from the limited number of magical girls and their relatively weak combat abilities, the Beihai Disaster Countermeasures Bureau's other capabilities are quite outstanding; even Iris couldn't find many faults with them.
"But it's really strange, why is it in the suburbs again?"
Although the location is quite different from before—last time it was in the eastern suburbs, this time it's in the south, near the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau.
Although they were born in different places, the places where they were born were really strange.
Generally speaking, naturally occurring Calamity Beast tend to appear in places with the strongest resentment and are most likely to Calamity Beast in areas overflowing with negative emotions. Therefore, they are usually found in crowded places.
The Calamity Beast created by the Witch Association are meant to cause destruction, and they will definitely be found in crowded places, at the very least in cities.
However, after arriving in the Beihai, two more Calamity Beast appeared one after another, which must have been orchestrated by the Witch Association.
But why are they all in the suburbs?
There were hardly any casualties, and even the property damage was minimal.
The appearance of a Class B Calamity Beast is always a significant disaster for a city, but the consecutive appearances of these two Calamity Beast in the Beihai resulted in almost no damage...
Could it be that the Azure Cloud Sect possesses some ability unknown to the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau, allowing the Calamity Beast to be permanently born in the suburbs outside the city?
But thinking about it, it's unlikely.
If they really had this technology, the Witch Association's reaction would be much faster than the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau's.
Could it be that the Azure Cloud Sect possesses some kind of deterrent power, preventing the Witch Association from summoning Calamity Beast within the city?
Wait a minute, if you really don't dare, why not just not summon it at all?
Too lazy to think about it any further, he looked up at the motionless Calamity Beast, and although he felt a little strange, he still took out the seed.
We can't delay; if this Calamity Beast continues to grow and advance to A-rank, it will be troublesome!
" All Phenomena..."
He only got halfway through his transformation lines when a long blue whip suddenly lashed out from behind him!
Even though Iris reacted quickly enough, she still couldn't dodge it. After being slapped on the back of her hand, the seed in her hand still flew out!
The remaining light blue whip was about to bind her, but Iris had already grasped the magic wand in her right hand.
With a gentle flick, all the whips fell heavily to the ground with a "crack," turning into a pool of black water.
Looking up, she saw a girl with a single ponytail, wearing sandals, her blue dress fluttering, casually catching her seed.
when...
I didn't detect any magical aura at all.
"Oh no, a major crisis for magical girls!"
The girl squinted, and when she smiled, she revealed her fangs, which was very cute, but Iris also sensed a dangerous aura.
"What should we do if our seeds are stolen?"
Raising an eyebrow, Iris, Iris in hand and adjusting her sun hat, said confidently and calmly, "Just take it back."
Having said that, he charged forward like a cannonball!