“Zhizhi, can you call me ‘Mom’ and let me hear it?”
“So we’re not recording a promotional video right now, why should I?”
“Will you call me or not?”
“No way!”
Zhizhi’s stubbornness made Luo You a little irritated.
One day I’m going to flood your dessert shop with bad reviews!
Bad reviews everywhere!
You’re clearly a mother-con magical girl, and yet you won’t even call me ‘Mom’ once?
Is that normal?
[Looks like it’s not time for a clean sweep just yet…]
Luo You thought to herself.
Her ideal scenario was for Zhizhi to let go of all restraint, shed all her clothes, and completely surrender to Ma~ma’s embrace, rediscovering the most primal instincts of humankind in Ma~ma’s arms…
But from the way things looked, Zhizhi’s mother-complex wasn’t that severe.
[Hmm? Maybe she’s worried I’d be grossed out, so she doesn’t dare expose her mother-complex?]
Luo You was suddenly enlightened.
Well, that’s true, this kind of preference would scare off 99.99% of people.
It’s only natural to worry.
Honestly, if Luo You learned that her own rebellious daughter had a mother-complex, she’d definitely be scared off too.
For the next ten years at least, Luo Zining shouldn’t even think of seeing her again.
But that’s not a problem. Zhizhi isn’t her real daughter, so the great Saint Luo Youyou will accept every~thing about Zhizhi.
“Zhizhi.”
“What?”
Zhizhi shrank her neck warily.
There’s something off—no! There’s something burning!
“Zhizhi, I, your mom, prefer honest children.”
“So?”
“So there’s no need to hide your true self. Didn’t I say you can vent any desire to Mom~? Mom~ will accept e~~very~thing, you know.”
“What you said before was ‘any grievance,’ wasn’t it? Don’t just quietly swap it for an even worse word! Also, didn’t I already tell you to stop using that weird Mama-san tone?!”
This little brat!
Surprisingly stubborn resistance.
Luo You’s patience was almost worn thin.
Her shadow stretched under the light, casting the oppressive silhouette of a hulking figure.
“Call me Mom!”
“No way!”
“I’ll ask you one more time—will you or won’t you! (Thunderous voice)”
“I—I-I’m your superior! This is insubordination…! (Whimper)”
“Call. Me. Mom!”
“No!”
Zhizhi stubbornly pushed the advancing Luo You aside, then dashed away without looking back.
Ah, ah, huh??
Luo You had thought Zhizhi wanted to play some thrilling mother-daughter roleplay, maybe relive her childhood or experience a taste of punishment.
But as Zhizhi ran off, Luo You lost all desire to stay.
To avoid Zhizhi tracking her every move, she honestly bought a ticket and prepared to take the light rail back.
***
Huahai City—
Floor-to-ceiling windows, cigars, smoke rings, a frivolous young man.
“Finally found her.”
The frivolous young man looked at the dirt-smeared girl in the photo and let out a breath.
Back then, during the Huahai City terror attack that shocked the whole country, among the thirty-plus hostages, this little girl survived by virtue of her outstanding boundary-sea material resistance.
“No wonder we couldn’t find her for so long. Turns out she was taken away by Jinlin on the day it happened.”
“Back then, Jinlin said she was taking her to the hospital, but when we investigated the local Huahai City hospitals afterward, there was no record of Jinlin ever going.”
Behind him, the bespectacled middle-aged man was still making his report.
“Magical girl Jinlin and this girl might be related. Interesting.”
The young man had already drawn his conclusion, tossing the report onto the desk.
“And this girl’s identity is the kind that can’t see the light of day.”
“…How so?”
“It’s simple. Jinlin and the little girl are related. Given the situation back then, she should’ve been taken to the hospital immediately for the best treatment, but Jinlin didn’t do that. That means there’s something wrong with this little girl.”
The middle-aged man paused for a moment, then said, “I really couldn’t find this girl’s household registration or any social ties. All I know is she appeared in a certain area once. I also activated informants stationed in the Huahai City branch, but there’s no intel on this girl. That means Jinlin didn’t take her to the branch for treatment, either.”
“No, no, no, that’s not the most important part.”
The frivolous young man suddenly took a deep drag, finishing more than half of his cigar in one go.
The smoke he exhaled quickly filled the room.
Bang.
A soft gunshot sounded.
A bullet hole appeared in the middle-aged man’s left chest.
Blood flowed rapidly as he collapsed to the ground.
“You—you—ptui! (Spitting blood)”
“Sorry… This concerns the highest-level secrets. Can’t let a mole like you keep on living.”
The young man offered an insincere apology.
“To make it up to you, I’ll at least let you die knowing why…”
He took out a document and said, “Actually, the fusion warriors’ bodies that took hostages that day weren’t injected with ordinary high-concentration boundary-sea material.”
“Yeah. To make sure Jinlin died for sure, to prevent the Magic Alliance from producing a second Manjusaka or Xingyue, we injected those fusion warriors with origin-level boundary-sea material… Origin-level! Only dragon-class or even Light-Harvester-class dimensional beasts possess it, and not just one type—several, mixed together.”
The middle-aged man’s gradually dimming eyes showed deep horror.
“If you understand, then die in peace.”
Bang!
Bang!
Two more shots.
The middle-aged man’s life ended.
“Sigh, what a shame. He was a mole, but pretty efficient at his job.”
The young man didn’t hurry to clean up the bodies.
Instead, he carefully examined the documents the middle-aged man had just brought back.
They detailed the ongoing investigation into the target.
“Looks like I’m about to make a name for myself…”
The young man couldn’t help but chuckle aloud.
A Super Bioweapon formed from a mixture of several origin substances—not to mention ensuring Jinlin’s death, even if the Ten Seats came, carelessness could mean instant death for them, too.
But that little girl bore it all with ease.
This was already beyond the notion of “innate talent.”
In the whole world, there wasn’t a single fusion warrior from any country who could do this.
Except one—the Gray Witch, Ariel.
She alone could simultaneously wield both the Yuanhai Giant Spirit and the Black Candle Giant Spirit, two Light-Harvester-class origin substances.
The one and only Super Fusion Warrior.
If there’s a second person in this world like the Gray Witch, that person could only be the Gray Witch herself—or from the forces behind her.
That little girl couldn’t possibly be Ariel.
But the magical girl Jinlin who took her away was very likely to be.
“The Gray Witch has been completely silent lately. The organization can’t do anything about her even if they wanted to. Now, it’s all unraveling right in front of us!”
The young man immediately reported the incident to headquarters.
Twenty minutes later, a drone packed with high explosives approached from outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, killing the young man on the spot.
Not even a minute after the explosion, a group of people entered through the door, swiftly disposing of both bodies.
By the time the magical girl arrived to investigate, the scene was already wiped clean.