Chapter 16: Fear

Rustle.

Jiang Lingwei entered the code “0703” on the keypad.

The glass case lowered slowly.

The magic costume of [Yunxia], the “Mie” cross sickle, gleamed faintly before them.

Jiang Lingwei stood frozen.

Closing her eyes, she could almost see her ninja-clad senior slicing a demon leader’s core in the mist.

She reached out but hesitated, withdrawing her hand.

Turning, she whispered, “What happens if I enter the wrong code?”

“Huh?” Wen Yaquan blinked, caught off guard.

“Oh.” She chuckled, licking her lips. “Three tries. Enter it wrong, or try to break it…”

“Endless black dragon flames devour everything.”

“…Really?” Jiang Lingwei shook her head. “How’d you sneak that past inspections?”

“Hahaha!” Wen Yaquan laughed, stepping beside her. “This street’s mine. I fear nothing.”

“Dismantle it. If a demon king or devil finds this and attacks, your explosives won’t stop them.”

“You’re worried about innocent people getting hurt,” Wen Yaquan said, seeing through her.

She gazed at the dim, glowing sickle, eyes misty. “No one, no monster, nothing will tarnish my buddy’s legacy.”

Jiang Lingwei’s gaze softened, complex. “Even if the whole café blows up?”

“The whole street. I rigged it all.” Wen Yaquan winked, like it was a girlish jest.

“Ugh.” Jiang Lingwei sighed, exasperated. “I knew it.”

Classic Wen Yaquan.

“Hot weapons are useless. Can we stop with the explosions? Where’d you even get the explosives?”

“Explosives?” Wen Yaquan scoffed. “That’s the Dark Dragon’s magnificent flame, devouring all enemies!”

“…” Jiang Lingwei inhaled deeply, calming herself.

Future folks lived obliviously, unaware an ordinary street was packed with enough explosives to obliterate it.

She was too tired to question how Wen Yaquan pulled it off.

A genius researcher, rich, time-rich, versed in magic and science, and a hopeless chuunibyou case.

No surprise there.

“Don’t sigh,” Wen Yaquan said, patting her shoulder like a big sister. “I waited for you, not the dark ones. I know I’m no real magical girl. You wouldn’t do this.”

“But I had no choice. It’s the best I could do.”

Jiang Lingwei frowned. “No way. We have official magical girls now. Why not hand it over?”

“No, no, no!” Wen Yaquan struck a JOJO pose, arms crossed. “I’m an old-school magical girl teammate—work with the authorities? Never!”

Like an opera’s opening, she raised her chin, eyes gleaming. “We’re the city’s hidden heroes, the world’s last justice, the ultimate force against darkness!”

“Sister Quan, stop the chuunibyou act! Dismantle those explosives in the next few days!”

“It’s the Dark Dragon’s flame…”

Wen Yaquan pouted, pointing with both fingertips, aggrieved.

“Dismantle it!”

“Yes…” she mumbled.

Jiang Lingwei shifted, eyeing her. “Wait, were you testing me? Splashing holy water to confirm it’s me? Playing me from the start?”

“Smart!” Wen Yaquan grinned, ruffling Jiang Lingwei’s hair. “You figured it out.”

“Ugh! Stop messing my head!” Jiang Lingwei swatted her hand.

Wen Yaquan loved roughing her hair, more pressing than patting, always tangling it.

For someone bad at girls’ hair, it was torture.

Only a stoic could resist laughing.

“Let’s go.”

The sickle glowed brighter as Jiang Lingwei, another magical girl, neared.

She turned. “Your holy water’s useless. It has magic but it’s weak—placebo at best. I’ll draw a light magic circle later. Now dismantle those explosives.”

“Got it! Loyalty!” Wen Yaquan saluted, then muttered, “No wonder it was only 100,000 a bottle…”

Seeing Jiang Lingwei at the exit, she called, “Hey? Not taking it?”

“No.”

Jiang Lingwei shook her head, leaving.

Wen Yaquan raised the glass case and followed.

“…Aurora, go for it!”

Outside, Jiang Lingwei had transformed, recited her lines, and was casting spells with her staff.

“This feels more familiar,” Wen Yaquan sighed.

“Where’d you find Yunxia’s magic costume? And the others?”

“Downtown, obviously,” Wen Yaquan said, voice low. “I told you, I stayed at the base two weeks, but not all day.”

“I searched the city center multiple times. Nothing.”

“Ruins, craters, the center flattened. Twin Towers gone.”

She gave a bitter smile. “I thought finding your bodies would be something. At least I’d know where you were.”

“But nothing. Understand, Little Aurora? Not just you—everyone in the city center vanished.”

“People outside lived on, like a barrier kept them blind to the ruins.”

Her fingers trembled as she recalled it.

She grabbed a kettle, as if to pour water, but just held it.

“In the second week, I found it in mist-covered ruins. The others? Nothing.”

Pain etched Wen Yaquan’s face. “I grabbed it and ran. I couldn’t handle it. The more I knew, the less courage I had…”

“It’s okay.”

Jiang Lingwei set the kettle aside, gripping Wen Yaquan’s hand.

A warm glow pulsed in her palm.

“It’s okay,” the magical girl repeated. “In the name of all that’s good and bright.”

“I’ll dispel your fear and save our companions.”

“Because I’m a magical girl. Because I’m [Aurora].”

Only the aurora can pierce the Arctic’s eternal dark.

The seafarer speaks of Yingzhou, lost in misty waves. The Yue folk tell of Tianmu, clouds and mists flickering, fleeting. —Li Bai, Dreaming of Wandering on Tianmu Mountain and Chanting a Farewell Song