Transform into a magical girl after getting off work

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The track of deep blue magic carved swiftly across the pitch-black night sky before quietly vanishing into the thick clouds, silently crossing over much of the city.

Glancing at the phone screen between her fingers, the bold "Call Failed" pushed Emerald Sparrow's anxiety even higher. With a gloomy expression and clenched teeth, she kept increasing her flying speed toward Hong Siyu's apartment from her memory.

She couldn't stay at home any longer.

Because whenever she tried to contact Hong Siyu with her phone, she couldn't get through no matter what she did.

She knew that separating from the new recruits now might play right into the enemy's hands; the mysterious phone call leaking information could also be a trap set by the enemy. But her intuition told her that what was said on the phone was true.

The moment the caller uttered "Cornflower" and "Chaoyan," which belonged to Hong Siyu's Magical Girl alias, the credibility of their words increased. Moreover, it was completely in line with Emerald Sparrow's own deductions.

Retired Magical Girls were almost never able to regain their Magic Power, an iron rule of the Magic Kingdom; to see a Fairy, one had to possess more than the average human's Magic Power.

So, the fact that Hong Siyu, a retired Magical Girl, could see Moke was absolutely impossible.

Under the premise of this knowledge, re-evaluating the words Hong Siyu uttered upon leaving, Emerald Sparrow instantly tasted a very strange implication.

Did she already know something?

"Leave it to you, senior," what did she want to express?

Even, her sudden decision to send all three kids to her house tonight, was she guarding against something?

The emergence of one truth spurred the birth of more new questions. Emerald Sparrow felt her mind drowning in uncertainties, struggling even to untangle a single thread of thought.

To gain the answers to all these, the most essential thing she should do now was to find Hong Siyu.

This was also why she headed to the apartment where the other lived immediately.

Following the path memorized in her mind, she flew to Hong Siyu's apartment balcony, casually tore open the latch with Magic Silk, and virtually hurled herself into the apartment, calling out:

"Hong Siyu!"

However, there was no response in the empty apartment.

Emerald Sparrow understood that the worst-case scenario had indeed happened.

Hong Siyu had left her house nearly an hour ago, and without any mishaps, she should have undoubtedly returned home. If she was not at home now, she definitely went somewhere else on the way.

Where could she have gone? Where was she able to go? And no matter where she went, was the current situation really her own decision?

With these questions, she turned on the lights in Hong Siyu's home and looked around, trying to find any trace or clue in the apartment.

Hong Siyu's apartment could not be called tidy, but it wasn't particularly dirty and disorganized—aside from the quilt casually thrown on the bed and a trash can overflowing with garbage, it was relatively well-ordered.

Emerald Sparrow crouched beside the bed, rummaged through the bedside table for a while, and found nothing but some personal clothes and knick-knacks.

Then she turned direction, opened the wardrobe, only to find that the clothes inside had exceeded capacity and poured out as the doors swung open. Had she not been quick with her reflexes, she would have likely been buried under the onrush of fabric.

Securing the clothes with Magic Silk, Emerald Sparrow searched the wardrobe and still found nothing.

She moved to the island counter of the open kitchen next, picked up beer cans from the countertop, only to discover that the aluminum cans were all empty, and the dried inner walls suggested they had been there for quite some time.

This seemed to indirectly indicate that Hong Siyu had not returned to this apartment for several days.

Was it because she had been taking the new recruits to the secret base after work in recent days, or was there another reason?

The investigation didn't solve the issue but instead added to the growing list of questions. Emerald Sparrow tried to find clues about Hong Siyu's whereabouts in the apartment, but still came up empty-handed.

The investigation hit a deadlock here.

With no other choice, she pulled out her phone once again, opened the contact list, and felt like she should seek help from that unknown number to see if they could offer any more clues.

Pressing the call button, she held the phone to her ear while her gaze continued to sweep across the room, but as her eyes skimmed past the balcony's sliding doors, she suddenly froze, unable to shift her gaze elsewhere.

—She saw a moth.

Not the typical insect by any means, but a moth so large it nearly reached the size of a washbasin.

The moth was currently resting quietly on the outside of the balcony's glass door, naturally drooping its wings, standing upright, as if it were observing the scene within the apartment.

The word "observing" was used because Emerald Sparrow felt a strong sense of being spied upon.

She felt like she was being watched by an insect.

The phone at her ear was still unanswered, but as she stood there, maintaining the position of making a call, staring fixedly at the moth outside the balcony, the familiar static noise suddenly buzzed in her ear.

The strange moth before her was eerie indeed, but finding Hong Siyu was of utmost importance to the current Emerald Sparrow, so she decisively shifted her focus back to the call, immediately asking:

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"Hello? Where is Hong Siyu?"

Each cryptic call would cut off just when crucial information was about to be given, leaving her unsure how long this one might last. Without beating around the bush, she asked the most crucial question straightaway.

"Hiss… hiss… hiss…"

It seemed that her question had been heard, as the sounds from the other end of the line started to fluctuate more intensely.

After a prolonged bout of indistinct noise, a voice fainter than before finally spoke up again: "High up... very high…"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Very high?" Emerald Sparrow immediately furrowed her brows and repeated.

"… usually would go to…" The feeble voice kept pausing, sending fragmented words into Emerald Sparrow's ear.

She strained to discern the speaker's words, attempting to remember them all, but the voice kept getting fainter and fainter until it was barely audible.

"Hello? Can't hear you, are you still there?" Emerald Sparrow couldn't help but call out to confirm.

Only static remained on the other side of the call.

"Hello?"

The static did not change at all.

"Are you there?"

—"Boom!"

Just as Emerald Sparrow was raising the volume in an attempt to hear the other side more clearly, a thunderous roar suddenly blasted through the call, sending a jolting shock through her entire body, nearly causing her to throw her phone out of her grasp.

Fortunately, her quick reflexes saved the day as she immediately caught the slipping phone with a beam of Magic Silk, but when she looked at the screen again, it showed that the call had been disconnected.

Determined, Emerald Sparrow dialed the number again, but after a brief wait, she was met with the message that the other party "had switched off their phone," without leaving any room for doubt.

This encounter with the unknown number had come to an inconclusive end.

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Emerald Sparrow gazed blankly at her phone screen for a while before suddenly looking toward the balcony's floor-to-ceiling window, only to see the enormous moth still plastered against the glass, spreading its wings. Despite not making a sound, its quivering antennae almost seemed to carry an emotion, as though mocking her.

This scene only served to sour her mood even further. Deciding not to leave this odd creature any chance of survival, she lifted her hand and fired a Magic Power Beam.

The deep blue Magic Power pierced the burglar-proof glass of the floor-to-ceiling window almost instantly, engulfing the giant moth within. However, when the Magic dispersed, she found that her Magic Power Beam hadn't hit anything but the glass. The moth that had been on the window vanished without a trace, like a mere illusion.

Emerald Sparrow quickly stepped forward, crouched down, and inspected the shattered floor-to-ceiling window. After confirming that no insect remains were present, she felt even more puzzled.

Had she seen an illusion?

To confirm this, Emerald Sparrow lifted her head and looked into the distance, searching for any trace of the moth's departure, but the dark, quiet night sky held no flying objects.

Perched on the balcony, Emerald Sparrow stood on her tiptoes and squinted around: Apart from a few lights, Fangting City nearing midnight had nothing else. There were no spare vehicles or pedestrians on the roads, and the shops and high-rises had mostly turned off their decorative yet functionless lights, casting the silence of the city where nothing else seemed worthy of attention.

However, when Emerald Sparrow's gaze continued to travel further into the distance, a somewhat familiar silhouette of a building suddenly caught her eye.

At first, she did not realize what the silhouette was. But as it dawned on her, her gaze abruptly froze in that direction — because she remembered that place was the Abnormal Strategy Bureau.

The home of Hong Siyu was not far from the Fangting City Abnormal Strategy Bureau, only a little over a kilometer away. She probably chose to rent there for the convenience of getting to work.

Perhaps she could go to the Abnormal Strategy Bureau to ask about the situation? Emerald Sparrow mulled it over; however, at this hour, the true management layer of the Bureau would have already left for the day. Even if she went, what could she possibly find out?

Moreover, from her current perspective, the distant Abnormal Strategy Bureau was engulfed in boundless gloom, with every window pitch-dark, not a single light shining through.

Unable to see even a sliver of light, could there really be anyone at the Bureau?

This lead seemed to be another dead end. So, with a soft sigh, Emerald Sparrow negated her own idea and turned to leave. But just as she was about to turn around, her feet froze, and her eyes slowly widened in shock.

The Abnormal Strategy Bureau — how could it be unoccupied?

After all, as the ultimate magical management organization for a city, aside from magical girls themselves, the Bureau was invariably staffed at all times.

Even now, close to midnight, even if only a few administrative departments and on-duty teams remained, it should not look as desolate and unlit as it did, seeming entirely abandoned.

Something was amiss.

Emerald Sparrow felt her recent experiences in Bai'an City stirring to life; the memories, still fresh, reminded her with stark clarity of what she had encountered there.

The events in Bai'an City had ultimately been left in the hands of the Abnormal Strategy Bureau. So, what about Fangting City?

It wasn't that she doubted the competence of the Fangting City Abnormal Strategy Bureau, but during several previous attacks, the Bureau had indeed not shown the necessary alertness.

And even without any concrete evidence, an idea inexplicably formed in her mind:

—She might now need to make a trip to the Abnormal Strategy Bureau.