Where could it have gone?
At work today, I was a bit distracted, my mind drifting to the Unknown Alliance’s business. They held a public meeting that afternoon. The so-called public meeting was really just a formality—the terms had already been settled behind closed doors, and everyone was there to go through the motions.
Fine, for most of the older folks, the public meeting that looked so fiercely debated might fool the young ones, but it didn’t work on them.
Song Wuli worked while watching the meeting’s live broadcast on his phone.
The focus of the discussion was, of course, the Magical Girl and the Barber.
Every Cadre-level Demonic Creature sparked widespread debate, but this one stirred even more, because the Barber’s earth-shattering punches had given the planet itself a few new hairstyles.
It wasn’t just visible in Yiri City—even Busan City and Tokyo City could see the changes in the cloud formations.
The international impact was even greater.
It was like a natural disaster earthquake in Europe; the most people in Asia would think: man, that’s scary.
But if that earthquake could be felt across Asia, then Asians would think: damn, what a massive quake?!
That was the impact the Barber’s Earth Center Parting Fist had on the international community.
The Human Alliance held a meeting and announced some results. Officials confirmed the Demonic Creature’s code name, “Barber,” and acknowledged it as Cadre Level.
Boos filled the council chamber—naturally from the Witch Faction councilors—while at the same time, they commended the Special Task Force and the Defeated Team for “defeating the Barber,” creating quite a racket.
Everyone understood what this meant: dissatisfaction that the Human Supremacists had snatched away the Magical Girl’s credit.
Even though the whole world knew it was the Magical Girl who had taken down the Barber—the girl who had only debuted a few months ago, Yin Lin.
Those councilors still shamelessly commended the Special Task Force and the Defeated Team, attributing the credit to them.
They even praised the new-type sensors installed in Yiri City not long ago, claiming they had a huge impact on the Barber.
In short, they were hinting that other cities should hurry up and accept these new-type sensors, and stop obstructing their spread.
Although the Witch Faction councilors booed and mocked, when it came time to vote, they chose to abstain rather than vote against.
The Human Alliance’s assembly passed a bill to accelerate the spread of new-type sensors, allocating funds to push the project forward.
Then it was the Witch Faction councilors’ turn to speak. They proposed reducing the crackdown on Magical Girl incidents.
The content was complicated, but translated into plain language: when a Magical Girl is battling a Demonic Creature, attacking the Magical Girl is prohibited.
Additionally, during normal peacetime, the pursuit of Magical Girls should be reduced—no ambushes, no arrests without proper cause. Regardless of the reason, an application must be filed first, and only after approval could action be taken.
When the Witch Faction raised these points in the council chamber, the Human Supremacists booed back, shouting that the Witch Faction were traitors to humanity, sellouts serving alien creatures.
For a moment, the noise was like a chaotic marketplace.
Of course, when it came time to vote, the Human Supremacists all abstained as well—no one voted against. The Witch Faction’s bill also passed.
Many bills were passed at the assembly, and some were scrapped. Overall, the Witch Faction had gained some ground.
The Independent Action Right that the Defeated Team had just obtained—how long had it even been? The Witch Faction had it revoked.
From now on, setting up an ambush for Yin Lin would require filing an application.
Even if the application passed, the Witch Faction would know in advance and could leak the information to the Magical Girl, preventing any ambush from happening.
The bill seemed simple, but there was so much room for maneuvering within it.
Watching the meeting conclude, Song Wuli let out a sigh of relief. But he felt even more disgusted with politics, and increasingly irritated with the Magical Girl Wan Zi.
Wan Zi was clearly playing schemes, doing things similar to politics, and Song Wuli avoided contact with her precisely because of that.
His phone kept buzzing as Jin Luan relayed Wan Zi’s messages several times. Wan Zi still wanted very much to talk with Yin Lin.
Song Wuli’s stance hadn’t changed—he refused again.
There was also news from the milk tea shop: the store manager wanted to invite Yao Ruoning to work tonight with double pay.
Old Song wanted to go, but he couldn’t. He was carrying injuries on his body, identical to the ones on Yin Lin.
Would he dare go? Going would expose everything.
He had no choice but to decline the milk tea shop job.
He continued working overtime at the company until evening.
For some reason, he hadn’t received any messages from Huang Yi, which worried him. He didn’t have much energy for overtime today, so he went home at 9:00 PM.
His other colleagues didn’t go home—they stayed at the company, afraid of being late tomorrow morning. The metro wasn’t running yet, making commuting inconvenient.
Old Song didn’t mind. He just took a taxi home. He had some things to do that were easier done at home.
He transformed, stripped naked, took out a few mirrors he’d just bought and set them at various angles, then spread his legs, using the mirror reflections to examine Yin Lin’s private area.
No matter how he looked, the membrane was still intact—there was absolutely no way something could have been inserted and come out unharmed.
Damn it, where did that Time Stone go? It couldn’t possibly be in his stomach, right?
After mulling it over, he took advantage of the night to go to the hospital for another check-up, bringing fruit to visit the hospitalized Xia Shiyao and Chen Jiayuan.
Even though Yin Lin hadn’t asked, the Elder Physician voluntarily requested she take more scans.
“Just confirming—you don’t have any metal on you, right?” the assistant asked out of habit.
Yesterday, Yin Lin had answered that question in a split second. Today, she suddenly paused for a few seconds.
Finally, she gave a rather uncertain answer: “No.”
After the exams, it was almost midnight again. X-rays, ultrasound, CT, and MRI all found something, but not what Yin Lin had been hoping for.
The Elder Physician was intently studying the scans, having already reviewed them several times.
“Do you see anything in my body… anything extra?” Yin Lin asked in a small, hesitant voice.
“What did you say?” The Elder Physician kept his head down at the scans, not hearing clearly.
“I’m asking… is there anything strange inside my body?” Yin Lin repeated.
“Huh? What did you say?!”
The Elder Physician heard it clearly this time, and the shock made the scans slip from his hands and fall to the floor.
The Elder Physician was visibly agitated now. He looked at Yin Lin and spat out two words: “Details.”
He abruptly shut the office door, hurriedly stood up, and shooed them all out.
Seeing Xia Shiyao and Chen Jiayuan peeking through the door, the Elder Physician looked confused. “Details about what?”
Meanwhile, Huang Yi’s side was also busy. They’d discovered something shocking, no less startling than what the Elder Physician was experiencing.
At the Countermeasure Center, the Acting Person-in-Charge was playing a video recording while Huang Yi and several experts were in the office too.
It was footage of the battle between the Barber and Yin Lin. Strangely, both Yin Lin and the Barber were moving backward—whether walking, running, or flying, they were all retreating.
Suddenly, a Spear of Creation flew in from the distance, coming from the direction of the dock, moving at incredible speed. It struck the Barber’s body, nearly piercing clean through.
Spears of Creation kept launching, one every two seconds on average, with absurdly high accuracy and devastating power, almost turning the Barber into a pincushion.
“Tell me your thoughts.”
The Acting Person-in-Charge had dark circles under his eyes, seemingly not having slept since yesterday.