After the footsteps completely faded away, and after a little longer, Ye Xingling poked her head out from under the tall mechanical frame of the dishwasher. Then, using looks and gestures, she signaled to Jiang Nan that it was safe, and led her to quietly slip into the restroom that the hooded man had come out of not long ago.
Entering the restroom, white tiles pieced together into walls and rows of small stalls came into view. For a moment, Ye Xingling couldn’t see anything unusual, so she had Jiang Nan stand near the entrance while she herself went from the outside to the inside, opening the doors of each stall one by one, checking for hidden dangers.
Jiang Nan saw how proficient her otaku deskmate’s movements were and subconsciously followed her lead, lightening her breath and moving quietly. She copied the actions fairly well, which relieved Ye Xingling a lot.
A regular student like Jiang Nan, even if she had never experienced something like this, had drilled for various emergencies countless times. At the very least, she had the basic awareness to protect herself.
Ye Xingling opened the door to the last stall. The already serious expression on her pretty face grew even more grave. After thinking it over, she took out her phone and snapped a picture of the backpack placed in the corner inside.
Then, she glanced at the jittery Jiang Nan, who was looking around. She thought to herself, ‘Luckily she took my signal as just helping her keep watch.’ Nervously, she took off the necklace from around her neck, held it in her hand, and with the other hand unzipped the backpack’s zipper, which had been barely closed to begin with.
Seeing what was inside the backpack, Ye Xingling couldn’t help but gasp—
A timer with two pitch-black cylindrical objects tied to it appeared before her. On the dial of that timer, glowing crimson numbers were counting down from around thirty-eight minutes.
She certainly recognized what this thing was. At least those two pitch-black cylindrical objects—she had learned about them in the basic information every Magical Girl needed to know. They were tube-shaped bombs made from a mixture of gunpowder and Magic Stone powder in a certain ratio, encased in a shell that was both strong and easy to detonate. As for their power…
After all, it was something many Hunters used to blow up Monsters. With this quantity… it could probably rob most Monsters with low physical resistance of most of their combat power. Using it to bomb a school—they sure had the nerve. This would blow a pretty big hole in this half of the building…
If they had professionals calculating, with enough of this explosive, thirty-eight—now thirty-seven minutes later, the entire school would probably be flattened in an instant.
Calculating the time they had been hiding, this bomb had probably been placed around when the timer showed forty minutes.
“Um… so? Did you find anything?”
Jiang Nan at the door saw her otaku deskmate staring blankly at the last stall with a serious face and asked in a low voice.
“Come in and see for yourself. Don’t make a sound.”
Ye Xingling gave a helpless smile. Using her phone, she documented the appearance of this bomb, then switched to the Magical Girl Society group chat. She sent several photos all at once, imitating the scene from a few days ago when Senior Jin Ming had asked for help in the group, and begged her dear senior members for assistance.
What else could she do? Search the entire cafeteria for all bombs? And after that? She had no way to disarm these bombs, so her first choice was obviously to call for backup!
As for possibly exposing her identity, or the relationship between the Magical Girl Society and the Human Alliance…
Nothing was more important than her and her classmates’ lives and safety.
“Senior members, help! The Satellite City Sixth High School has been attacked too. I found this kind of bomb in the cafeteria restroom. What should I do now?”
While Ye Xingling was editing her plea for help, Jiang Nan also came to her side. Seeing the contents of the backpack, she was momentarily too shocked to speak.
“B-bomb?”
Jiang Nan desperately suppressed her voice and pointed tremblingly at the bomb in the backpack. She turned back and looked fearfully at Ye Xingling, who was calmly playing with her phone.
“What’s there to be afraid of? It won’t explode yet. There are still thirty-six minutes.”
In the lull of waiting for the senior members to respond, Ye Xingling took a moment to pat Jiang Nan’s shoulder and casually told her not to be nervous.
But unfortunately, after her words of comfort, her good deskmate seemed even more terrified, which left Ye Xingling feeling a bit confused.
However, Jiang Nan quickly quieted down and didn’t cause Ye Xingling too much worry. Because of this, she was able to spare a glance at the senior members’ messages.
Upon seeing her message, Qiluo gathered the Magical Girls together, and Yunque also gave her many practical suggestions that she found very helpful.
As expected of the senior members!
Ye Xingling felt so moved she nearly cried in her heart, thinking, ‘Having such a reliable organization and such cute and powerful senior members is truly the luckiest thing in my life…’
Soon, her other two senior members also replied.
Qiansheng: “Satellite City Sixth High School? That’s pretty close. I can get there in about three minutes. Let’s wait until Senior Qiluo and Senior Yunque understand the on-site information before making a decision. Miss Shuanghua, you must protect yourself.”
Jin Ming: “Sorry, I can’t get away right now… By the time I arrive, the bomb will probably have exploded… If you still need help in an hour, this lady will definitely come and back you up!”
Seeing this, a smile appeared on Ye Xingling’s face.
So Senior Jin Ming, who called herself “this lady” and was usually sharp-tongued yet quite polite, actually used these colloquial words sometimes. It somehow tickled her funny bone.
Her laugh made Jiang Nan stare at her with a strange look that said, “Have you lost your mind?” which immediately pulled her back to reality.
Yeah, this wasn’t the time for laughing. Ensuring her and Jiang Nan’s safety was the right path…
She still wanted to go home in one piece.
Ye Xingling calculated in her mind.
Home…
Big brother and Sister Shiyue… would they know something about this…?
Ye Xingling’s heart hesitated. Would this make her brother and the others worry? But if her brother had connections to get Identity Codes, then he should also have connections to find effective combat power…
It wasn’t exactly grasping at straws, but asking her own brother for help in such a serious supernatural incident gave Ye Xingling an indescribable weird feeling inside.
But so what?
They were her most beloved and trusted brother and sister.
Having thought this through, Ye Xingling made up her mind. She immediately composed a message and sent it to her brother Ye Xingyao. Then, under Jiang Nan’s stunned gaze, she locked her phone and stuffed it into Jiang Nan’s arms.
“I’m going to deal with this bomb. You hide here. Those guys probably won’t come to search this place. With my phone, someone should be able to find you soon. If you are found, just run away. Don’t worry about me.”