Yijinmò’s streak of bad luck might be tied to some will of Heaven—or rather, the power of the rules themselves.
In short, the heavens just didn’t want her to get rich. Every time she had some cash on hand, it would vanish into thin air after just a few days.
Gone for good, no matter how hard she tried to find it—her nature was fundamentally at odds with wealth.
If the heavens hadn’t blocked her, she would’ve already become Jiangnan City’s richest person just by selling doujinshi and panties!
Staring at her account balance, which had once again reset to zero, the girl slumped dejectedly on the sofa, losing all will to fight once more.
Secretly transferring the money she earned to others was out of the question. She’d tried it early on with Vita, but it still disappeared mysteriously.
Even certain prepaid expenses or investment products encountered obstacles… only regular consumption was permitted by this heavenly power.
Fortunately, she’d already paid all her rent and even redeemed the big-ticket machine tool from Boss-chan.
The pink-haired loli over at the red-light district was more familiar with things, so she left all the agency fees to Vita.
All in all, not exactly a loss, sob sob…
“Commander, you dropped some little pearls!”
“N-no, it’s nothing… just feeling like life’s too short, that’s all.”
Only when she was playing with Miss Luo could she feel a hint of sweetness, after all, she could generate gold coins from her.
“…Has Stinger-chan and the others not returned yet?”
Summoning all her strength to get up, Yijinmò glanced toward the door.
“They should have arrived by now, right?”
Looking at the time, a trace of worry rose in both their hearts.
…
“Oysters, oysters…”
Dragging her exhausted body, Alice collapsed onto a park bench.
After a night of searching, she couldn’t say she’d returned with great results—at best, she had come back empty-handed.
With Higanbana and Cornflower (Or Yuchuju,) they had combed through more than half the city but hadn’t seen even a trace of little sister Yuhan.
As if she’d vanished into thin air…
“If you live, people want to see you; if you die, they want to see the body. How could there be no clues at all…”
“What clues?”
Luo Shiyun came over from the vending machine, carrying three bottles of drinks, handing them to the Stinger on the bench and Cornflower (Or Yuchuju), who was resting with her eyes closed nearby.
“How much? I’ll transfer it to you, senpai.”
The polite and obedient child immediately spoke, but Luo Shiyun shook her head in refusal.
“I actually didn’t pay for these…”
“Huh?”
“Because that vending machine over there seems to have been kicked and broken. There were some bottles in the retrieval slot, so I just took them.”
The machine was still crackling with electricity.
“Is that even a thing? People around here are really rough!”
Taking the drink from Higanbana without hesitation, Alice drank while criticizing.
The three of them had been busy from yesterday evening until this morning, having expanded their search all the way into the lower city…
If they still hadn’t found little sister Yuhan, they’d probably have to temporarily return home.
Luo Shiyun sighed quietly in her heart but didn’t feel much sense of crisis.
After all, if even she hadn’t found Yuhan, what miracles could ordinary Alice possibly pull off?
She thought to herself, joking, if that golden-haired loser beat her tonight, she’d eat her wife’s little sandal whole!
“Thank you all so much for accompanying me on patrol all night…”
“It’s nothing, nothing. Taking care of juniors is what we should do, and besides, Higanbana and I really do mean well.”
Alice nudged the still-dazed Higanbana, who blinked in surprise but then replied, “The essence of magical girls is to protect love and justice in the world. It’s no big deal to work harder for that.”
“Besides, we get to bond with a junior like you. If anything ever happens, we’ll have to help each other out!”
Watching these two’s harmonious exchange, Cornflower (Or Yuchuju)—whose true identity was actually Liu Yulan’s disciple despite her magical girl façade—felt touched.
These two seniors were so much more reliable than her two feuding upperclassmen!
Just thinking about those two gave her a headache.
“Thank you both so much, Senior Higanbana and Senior Stinger… you’re right, we should work hard together!”
Just as the three happily clasped hands and vowed to be magical girls for life, a familiar presence was almost simultaneously sensed by all of them.
“Come on, come on! If we’re late, Chunfeng might get worried!”
“You say that like it’s easy…”
“Who has stamina like you? If it weren’t for Commander warning us not to casually use abilities outside, let’s see how arrogant you’d be…”
She just floated up using buoyancy, okay?
A gray-haired girl bounced cheerfully into their sight, followed half-dead by a dark red-haired girl.
Both sides froze at their sudden encounter.
One was surprised to bump into a weirdo like this.
The other was surprised to bump into magical girls like these.
Alice and Luo Shiyun exchanged a glance, and the two experienced magical girls acted immediately.
Why not duel at first sight?
“Heh, never expected weirdos here. I advise you two to surrender quickly, or else if a fight breaks out—”
Before Alice could finish her threat, Higanbana had already drawn her sword and charged.
Stinger immediately stepped in front of her friend, ready to block the impact.
But how could a weak weirdo stand a chance against the most feared magical girl?
In the blink of an eye, Stinger was struck down by Luo Shiyun in just a few moves, rolling on the ground before barely stopping, utterly beaten and completely outmatched.
The sword danced elegantly in midair. Liu Yulan immediately used buoyancy to try to interrupt the fierce assault, but her lack of combat experience meant she didn’t realize it was only a feint by Luo Shiyun.
The unguarded weirdo girl was kicked by Higanbana and fell against the wall.
Just as Luo Shiyun raised her sword to finish the weirdo off decisively, an unexpected figure blocked her path.
“Senior! Please wait!”
“… Cornflower (Or Yuchuju)?”
The indigo-clad magical girl stood nervously before her, cold sweat beading on her forehead.
This sudden scene caught Luo Shiyun completely off guard.
“…What do you mean by this?”
A magical girl protecting a weirdo?
Could it be that this weirdo was her wife?
“I-I… I just think this isn’t right. Look, these two weirdos aren’t really that strong, right? We can just capture them and bring them back to the association. There’s no need for you, senior, to take action.”