Chapter 11: Encounter

After completing her transformation, Huimengyi stepped out from the empty corner and removed the bell at her waist, gently shaking it toward the direction the crowd had fled.

A series of jingle jingle chimes rang out, piercing through every obstacle and resonating in the minds of everyone around, restoring their senses.

And along with it, a message echoed in their minds: Please evacuate the area quickly and in an orderly manner.

A calamity has been detected nearby.

Huimengyi put the bell away and, ignoring the now-panicked crowd fleeing the area, charged straight into the flow in the opposite direction.

With her earlier use of Mirror Flower, Water Moon, she had already severed herself from the physical layer of the world, allowing her to pass through shelf after shelf as she rushed toward the source the people had been drawn to.

On the other side, Ye Jinyi still hadn’t recovered from the shock of the ring swallowing the mist.

And just now, the unfamiliar voice of a young girl echoing in her head had startled her all over again.

“Calamity?!”

Ye Jinyi tried to make sense of what was happening.

Had she been discovered?

No way—how was she even exposed?

Please let it be some other calamity, please let it be some other calamity, please let it be some other calamity.

As long as it’s not me, as long as it’s not me, as long as it’s not me.

Important things must be said three times….

“Oops!” ×2

Before she could finish her silent prayer, something suddenly slammed into her.

Rubbing her head, Ye Jinyi got up from beside the shelf.

“Ugh~”

She opened her eyes and looked through her sunglasses at whoever had bumped into her.

Standing before her was a white-haired girl, about a head taller than her.

But before Ye Jinyi could even start cursing, the girl had already drawn a pistol in midair and pressed it to her forehead.

“A magical girl?”

The moment she heard the voice, Ye Jinyi suddenly realized—it was the same one she’d heard in her mind earlier, issuing the emergency message.

So… this girl was a magical girl?

“Yes yes yes! I’m a magical girl!”

Ye Jinyi immediately nodded in agreement.

If she were mistaken for the calamity now, it’d be all over.

“Codename?”

Ah…

That one word turned Ye Jinyi to stone.

There was no way she had something like that!

Whatever—might as well gamble.

Just make something up!

“Codename… Jin Yi!”

Shifu?!

Huimengyi froze for a moment.

Wasn’t that the name of her master from the card game?

One used “Jin,” the other “Yi”…

But it was a codename that did exist, so she pulled out her phone to verify it just in case.

[The account you searched for does not exist.]

Huimengyi was now sure she was being lied to.

Still, she pretended to keep searching with her left hand while keeping the pistol trained on Ye Jinyi’s forehead with her right, preventing her from making any sudden moves.

Then Huimengyi pulled up Ye Jinyi’s Goose Chat account and began mashing a whole string of stickers, flooding her inbox.

A second later, Ye Jinyi’s phone started buzzing wildly in her pocket.

Ding ding~ ding ding~ ding ding~…

By this point, Huimengyi’s face was covered in metaphorical black lines.

Every time Huimengyi sent an emoji, a ding-ling would ring out from the other person’s phone—so precise it almost felt like cheating.

“Let me guess… your full name is Ye Jinyi, right? Just resigned from Heaven Group not long ago, and recently played a card game with someone named [Magical Girl Yingmeng-chan]?”

“Huh?”

Ye Jinyi suddenly froze.

Did she install surveillance in my home?

Wait—can I uninstall it?

Her brain spun wildly, trying to make sense of it all.

Finally, she arrived at a terrifyingly reasonable conclusion.

“You… you’re not Huimengyi, are you?”

“Sure am, my esteemed shifu.”

Huimengyi huffed and lowered her right hand.

The gun had already reverted into a crystal pen, which she slipped back into her pocket.

“Ah? You really are?”

The flood of information completely crashed Ye Jinyi’s brain.

She couldn’t even process anything anymore.

While Ye Jinyi was trying to figure out how she was going to face her own disciple from now on, Huimengyi was wondering about something herself.

So her shifu… was just a little kid?

“So, shifu, I’m really curious—how did you even get a job? Don’t tell me Heaven Group is shameless enough to hire child labor now?”

Ye Jinyi, whose brain had already been on the verge of overheating, felt actual steam rising after hearing that line.

“Whatever, shifu, you should leave this place now. I’ve got a calamity to deal with.”

Huimengyi didn’t have time to chat about life philosophy with her master.

They’d already wasted too much time.

Whatever she didn’t understand could be asked later.

With that, Huimengyi passed through the shelf beside Ye Jinyi again, rushing back in the direction she came from.

Ye Jinyi stood there in a daze, watching her walk straight through the wall.

Should she run?

Wait—wouldn’t it be wrong to just leave her behind?

She’s a magical girl.

I’m just some useless mess.

Why am I even worried about her?

If I go over there, I’ll just be a burden.

Even if I really am the strongest calamity, I can’t use a single ability.

Why should I worry about anyone else?

I should be focused on staying alive.

“Run, quickly.”

Ye Jinyi muttered to herself and started jogging away from the scene.

As she fled, the previous store music ended, and the next track began playing—it was a soft, classical music box tune.

“Für Elise”.

Ethereal and delicate, the sound carried a tinge of loneliness—almost suffocating.

Ye Jinyi looked back at the empty mall.

Everyone who could’ve escaped was already long gone.

She was the only one still standing here like an idiot.

“There aren’t many days left anyway, so why can’t I just let go?”

She looked down at her own shadow and, in a daze, felt like it was laughing at her.

“Is running away… really worth it?”

She felt like she was being torn apart.

Running was the logical choice—she didn’t owe anyone anything.

This wasn’t her responsibility to begin with.

So why—why did she want to go back?

Was it some twisted desire to play the hero?

Hero?

That’s a joke.

She didn’t even have any dignity left—what face was she trying to save?

“I… I just… care about her safety!”

“If… if Mengyi-chan dies, who’s going to play cards with me? This trash game’s already boring enough—if I lose my only friend, where am I supposed to find happiness?”

“If it’s my last bit of life, shouldn’t I go a little crazy? I’ve spent my whole life being the obedient one—can’t I go wild just once?”

Then just once—let’s go wild.

Ye Jinyi turned around and ran back against the flow of the fleeing crowd.

She pulled off her sunglasses and stuffed them in her pocket.

Raising her left hand, she looked at the ring on her finger.

“Promise me you’ll be useful this time, okay?”

“Your mater is about to do something stupid—you’re not seriously going to just let me die, are you?”