“Hm?” Diamond stirred at home.
As a contract beast aiding magical girls, its sensory abilities were typically far superior to theirs—until Yinlin, a freak with equally monstrous perception, showed up.
Diamond had just detected an immense surge of magic, unnatural and rule-breaking.
Even Yinlin needed to charge up, gather magic, and then fire to produce such power.
Diamond should’ve sensed a gradual buildup, not an abrupt, massive burst.
Something was wrong!
It wasn’t Yinlin’s magical signature, nor did it match any known magical girl’s abilities.
A demon, perhaps?
Diamond glanced at the clock. It was past the time Song Wuli was due back, but no sign of him.
It fumbled with its tiny paws to call his phone.
No answer—feedback suggested it was off.
Recalling the magic surge’s location, it aligned with the direct route from the company to home.
Unease gnawed at Diamond.
It decided to head out, hanging the phone around its neck.
*Cough, cough.* It hacked, leaving blood on the floor.
Its health looked grim.
It hitched a ride, hiding in a car’s trunk, speeding toward the location.
En route, it tried calling again—still no answer.
It dialed another number, connecting.
Diamond: “I need your help.”
“Diamond? You dare call me?” Xia Shiyao’s voice crackled through.
“It’s not about me—it’s Yinlin.”
“Where? What happened?”
The sky had darkened.
Jinluan arrived first, soaring overhead, weapon in hand, ready to strike.
No magic was detectable; the area was calm, but she didn’t know the exact spot.
She called Diamond, who soon arrived.
They met, Jinluan’s face cold yet anxious.
“I don’t want to rehash the past. What’s going on?” Jinluan lifted Diamond into the air, scanning below.
Diamond explained: “Twenty minutes ago, I felt a huge magic surge, right there.”
It pointed to an area—a narrow alley cluttered with obstacles, highly concealed.
Jinluan descended to check. No magic now, but signs of a recent event: damaged walls and ground.
The duo searched within a 100-meter radius, finding nothing.
They widened the circle. After ten minutes, Diamond sensed faint magic.
Too weak for Jinluan to detect, but Diamond could.
Following its lead, they flew several kilometers.
At one kilometer out, Jinluan finally sensed the faint magic, speeding up, nearly tossing Diamond off.
“Update me on the surroundings,” Jinluan demanded, closing in.
Coughing, Diamond shouted: “No second magic source—only the one ahead.”
Diamond, with its radar-like perception, pinpointed the magic-emitting object.
This was a contract beast’s usual support for magical girls.
Yinlin’s own perception was so strong she rarely needed Diamond’s radar, and with Diamond injured, she hadn’t dragged it along.
Jinluan, however, relied heavily on this living radar—her own senses were weaker.
They tracked the faint magic, unsure if it was a demon or something else.
On a building’s rooftop, they found a long trail of red blood stretching from the roof to the stairwell.
Demon blood was green—this wasn’t a demon’s.
Jinluan landed, sprinting toward the blood trail, darting into the stairwell.
Diamond was left behind, scrambling to follow.
The scene ahead broke even Jinluan’s simp heart, and Diamond, emotionally stunted, felt a pang.
The silver-haired girl slumped against the stairwell wall, drenched in blood, clothes tattered, her wounded body exposed.
Hearing footsteps, she forced her eyes open.
“Evening… good,” she greeted, voice frail, barely a whisper, like she could fade any second.
Jinluan gently scooped her up, flying toward a familiar destination.
Diamond kept pace.
Yinlin relaxed, vision darkening, and passed out.
She woke to pain.
An unfamiliar ceiling greeted her, a mask on her face, tubes in her body.
Crap, captured for dissection!
Moving hurt—her body was sore and aching everywhere.
She raised her right hand, noticing it was small—she was still in magical girl form, untransformed.
Glancing aside, she saw someone resting in a chair.
A familiar face: Jinluan.
Recalling before she blacked out: ambushed, hit by a precision sniper shot, nearly one-shotted.
Hiding to recover, Diamond and Jinluan found her, and Jinluan carried her off.
Then, nothing.
A hospital?
Jinluan stirred, alerted by the machine’s beeping, and saw Yinlin awake.
“How do you feel?” She rushed over, pressing the bedside call button for medics.
“Fine, no problem,” Song Wuli said. A man doesn’t cry pain, even if it’s killing him.
A cough came from the corner—Diamond hopped onto the table, eyeing Yinlin.
“What happened? Who could do this to you?” Diamond, hard-hearted, focused on the incident, not her state.
“I… was deliberately ambushed…”
Breathing through the mask, she recounted the event.
She stopped as footsteps approached, falling silent.
An elderly doctor in a white coat entered with a nurse, asking Jinluan and Diamond to step out. They examined Yinlin.
They shone a flashlight in her eyes, had her read numbers with their fingers, and tested her left and right hand movements.
After a few minutes, they updated her condition.
Multiple fractures, internal bleeding—surgery had stabilized her, but recovery wasn’t guaranteed.
She needed close monitoring.