Yinlin began to gather her power, not caring whether the enemy could sense her mana.
They were already this close; if there really were aberrations, they should be able to sense the magical energy radiating from the Magical Girl uniform.
Gathering a bit more power wouldn’t hurt.
Staring at the somewhat intimidating iron door, Yinlin made a few hand gestures.
First, she pointed at herself, then grabbed the door handle, getting ready to open it.
She then pointed at Huanhong, signaling her to charge inside.
It took Huanhong ten seconds to understand the gesture.
She quickly shook her head and pointed back at Yinlin, indicating that Yinlin should be the one to charge forward.
Don’t be fooled by Miss Yinlin’s delicate appearance; once she activated her shield, it was tougher than anyone else’s.
Seeing Huanhong’s gesture, Yinlin wasn’t about to back down.
Why should she be the one to charge in? Professionally speaking, Yinlin was a Remote Mage, while Huanhong held the Rear Guard Certificate.
But Huanhong was scared too and didn’t want to be the first to step inside.
Knowing full well that there might be dangerous things in this house, and with rumors of a terrifying Monster using gravity magic in the city recently, Huanhong just didn’t dare go first.
This stalemate wasn’t going to solve anything.
Yinlin thought for a moment and came up with a fair solution.
She made a hand gesture indicating a countdown, then proposed they charge in together.
Huanhong nodded in agreement.
Yinlin held up three fingers, then folded down one, then two, before clenching her fist sharply.
She yanked open the iron door with force, then sprinted forward a step before stopping abruptly.
Huanhong, not expecting any trickery, dashed inside as soon as the door opened.
After running a few steps, she realized she’d been tricked; Yinlin only entered after a moment.
“Hah, young and naive.”
Old Song never spared these young ones when he wanted to bully them.
Huanhong was quite displeased but held back since she was already inside.
Yinlin held her staff in one hand and her phone’s flashlight in the other.
For a Magical Girl, not even knowing basic illumination magic was pretty embarrassing, but since Huanhong didn’t know it either, it wasn’t quite as shameful.
Actually, Yinlin knew a rudimentary illumination spell.
When charging her magical cannon, a magic circle would automatically form and glow.
The light emitted at 5% charge was half as bright as a phone’s flashlight, barely enough to illuminate the area immediately around her.
The two inspected the room and discovered a staircase leading downward.
It should have been a Secret Passage, and it was currently open.
Before going in, Yinlin took a photo and sent her location to Huang Yi.
Never imitate those reckless protagonists in horror movies who blindly jump into holes and doors, wander off when nothing happens, and panic when something does.
Though they had done half the work, Yinlin stayed alert and left Huang Yi a safety line.
After receiving the message, Huang Yi replied with several questions about the scene.
Basically, no mana was detected, and there was no trace of any aberration.
However, there had been a mana fluctuation similar to a Transmission Tunnel in the area before.
Of course, she couldn’t reveal the info about the Transmission Tunnel to others, so she only mentioned the mana fluctuation and that she was checking it out.
Huang Yi was worried and advised her not to rush around, to wait for the special task force to arrive.
They were expected to get there within an hour.
Yinlin didn’t want to wait.
Partly because she felt the danger was low—she hadn’t sensed any aberrations—and partly because she didn’t want intelligence to leak out, fearing there might be a major secret below.
The experts and Huang Yi seemed right; Yinlin felt a faint… hostility? Or perhaps wariness toward humans?
After the exchange, Yinlin still decided to proceed, accompanied by Huanhong.
Looking down the staircase, the two began to bicker again.
Huanhong wanted Yinlin to go first, while Yinlin insisted that Huanhong lead the way.
In front of her, Yinlin sent Huanhong a private message:
【As the senior, would it be proper for me to let a junior take the lead?】
Huanhong pulled out her phone and typed back face to face:
【Survival of the fittest. I don’t care about senior or junior, you have the shield, you can take damage, so you go first.】
Yinlin replied: 【If I’m supposed to take damage and output, then what do I need you for? To cheer me on?】
Huanhong was stumped, blushing, her fingers lingering over the screen without typing.
Yinlin had hit a sore spot.
Already feeling weak and frustrated over their formation research, she wanted to improve quickly.
Now Yinlin’s mockery made her feel even more embarrassed.
Gritting her teeth, she swallowed the insult and took the lead, stepping onto the stairs descending underground.
“Hah, children are just easy to handle.”
Yinlin followed behind, her staff already aimed and ready to fire at any moment.
Up to this point, she still hadn’t sensed any aberrations.
Recalling the last time she encountered hidden mana fluctuations, Yinlin remained cautious.
That kind of hidden mana wave combined with gravity magic was the deadliest trap ever—anyone who got close was instantly killed.
As they descended, the crisp sound of Yinlin’s high heels hitting the steps echoed sharply.
Even though she deliberately lightened her footsteps, the noise was unavoidable.
Also, these shoes made walking down stairs uncomfortable, her balance constantly swaying as if she might fall at any moment.
The staircase spiraled down for two minutes, descending at least three underground levels.
The air grew stifling and stuffy.
There was no ventilation system down here.
The walls were marked with many scratches and dents, matching the marks on the iron door.
Suddenly, Yinlin’s foot stepped into a groove, throwing off her balance and causing her to fall forward onto Huanhong.
Startled, Huanhong immediately turned around to face her.
Yinlin recovered and looked down at the groove—though the steps were stone, something had worn the groove into the surface.
All signs pointed toward an aberration.
The two kept silent and pressed on.
After roughly reaching the depth of the fourth underground level, the spiral staircase finally ended.
Ahead was a small room, about twenty square meters in size, but with a high ceiling of around four meters.
There was no furniture or signs of habitation, but a strange tall device stood there—a semi-circular ring, about 3.5 meters tall.
The ring radiated a strong technological aura.
It was clear no one lived here.
Only then did Huanhong speak: “Have you ever seen something like this?”
Yinlin shook her head. “It looks like a Transmission Portal from a game.”
Recalling the Transmission Tunnel mana signature they’d sensed earlier, it was natural to suspect this was a Transmission Portal.
They’d also detected the same energy nearby, matching this location.
“Transmission Portal?” Huanhong was a bit stunned. “Why would there be a Transmission Portal here? I’ve never heard of Magical Girls building one here.”
Yinlin said, “Then it must belong to the aberrations.”
Either aberrations or humans, but after thinking it over, humans building this seemed unlikely—aberrations were the more probable creators.
With that conclusion, the world seemed even more enigmatic.
Man, MC is really not likeable in this story lol