Chapter 403: A Lonely Journey, Bonds

The movie was a romantic and beautiful ending.

The boy and girl’s love began and blossomed under the fig tree.

Lin Baor looked at the rolling credits, feeling somewhat reluctant. She glanced back at the light reflected in Liang Xiaoxiao’s eyes. Suddenly, her heart skipped a beat, and as if struck by an electric shock, she immediately rose from the sofa.

The little girl’s thoughts were in turmoil. Suppressing the confusion within, she acted normally and turned on the room’s light, then asked,

“Does everyone want to keep watching?”

It was already nine o’clock at night. Usually, everyone would have gone to bed by then.

But after becoming magical girls, they could feel energetic with only three or four hours of sleep each day. If it weren’t for a subconscious habit, perhaps even a short practice of the Meditation Method could substitute for a whole day’s rest.

Of course, more importantly, magical girls didn’t get puffiness, dark circles, poor skin, or easily gain weight. Under such circumstances, whether to stay up late was purely a matter of personal habit.

Ruan Wutong held a strawberry-flavored lollipop in her mouth. She lifted her phone, the screen full of otaku-style beautiful girl illustrations, and said seriously,

“There’s a new game that just launched today. I want to play.”

Ji Shuzhu ignored the young lady’s flustered expression. Her delicate hand intertwined with the other’s fingers, sliding onto her fair, smooth thigh. When she pressed, the soft flesh gave a subtle rebound. Without changing her expression, she said,

“The captain and I need to discuss something.”

Chen Yining was about to object, but before she could, the little hand seemed ready to cause a scene publicly. Her pupils trembled, her lips tightened, and she hurriedly nodded in agreement to avoid trouble, though inside she felt both embarrassed and furious and was already plotting how to punish naughty Little Shuzhu later.

Liang Xiaoxiao took out her phone and looked down at a message from Dream Weaver Rabbit. Her body stiffened; she turned off the screen and put the phone away in her pocket. She stood up, quickly changed into a lightweight sports jacket, and said,

“I’m going to the lab to check my body data. You all go play first, okay?”

Lin Baor didn’t hesitate and asked worriedly,

“Do you need someone to accompany you?”

Liang Xiaoxiao looked at the girl’s delicate face. Her cold and calm expression suddenly blossomed into a radiant and infectious smile, just like before. She stepped forward and gently hugged Lin Baor, saying,

“No need, it’s just routine. I’ll be back soon.”

Having spoken, she gave no chance for a reply. She released the embrace, turned to change her shoes, waved her hand, and without wasting a moment, opened the door and left.

Lin Baor stared blankly at the closing door. For some reason, her mind was filled with Xiaoxiao’s departing back. She absently sat back on the sofa. The captain and Miss Choreographer had returned to their room. Only Ruan Wutong remained, still playing the new game.

The little girl picked the movie *WALL-E* that Wutong had wanted to watch earlier. After a long pause, she asked quietly,

“Wutong, do you think Xiaoxiao has become more handsome recently?”

Ruan Wutong was sucking on her lollipop. She thought for a moment and answered,

“Really? Maybe a little bit.”

“In the Ideal State, we didn’t notice it yet, but after going together on missions to the simulated battlefield, it was obvious that Xiaoxiao had become more reliable. She wasn’t a magical girl but was tremendously calm and always managed to catch the crucial moments in the battle.”

“And… she hasn’t been smiling much lately. She still has gray hair and different-colored eyes, which of course makes her look cooler and more handsome.”

Lin Baor had indeed noticed these things and had already gotten used to staying close to Xiaoxiao when entering the simulated battlefield.

Of course, the captain was reliable, but Xiaoxiao gave her a greater sense of security.

Because… whether in Sapporo or in the Ideal State, it was always Xiaoxiao who saved her.

The little girl recalled the past. She curled up on the sofa, lost in thought, hugging her legs. Her fingertips traced the twisted scars crawling like centipedes along her ankle and calf. The skin felt smooth, like a tattoo burned by fire.

Once upon a time, she had wanted desperately to become a magical girl immediately, to erase those scars.

But…

Even with abundant magic energy and an evolved life form that cleansed Liang Xiaoxiao’s flesh, marks, and disaster aura completely, those scars still remained.

Lin Baor could not clearly explain what she truly felt deep inside. Perhaps, more than these imperfections, she cared more about the story behind that scar.

Or perhaps, she simply did not want the special bond between her and Xiaoxiao to be completely severed.

After losing the shared disaster aura, she had already lost the ability to perceive the other’s thoughts and emotions. If even the scar faded away, it would be as if something unique between them was missing.

How sentimental.

Lin Baor told herself quietly. She suppressed her thoughts and patiently watched the movie.

It was an old film, set in a future world. Humans had devastated Earth into a landfill, so severely that it became uninhabitable. They had no choice but to massively migrate to other planets and entrusted a robot garbage cleanup company to handle the aftermath until Earth’s environmental system reached ecological balance again.

After humans left, the company sent batches of robots called WALL-E to Earth and gave them a single command—to sort the garbage.

As time passed, the robots broke down one by one, until only one robot remained, working alone on the uninhabited Earth.

Loneliness and solitude were the eternal themes of these hundreds of years.

The story began with a spaceship arriving on Earth, breaking the peace there.

Another robot specialized in search missions, named Eva, after exploration, found evidence that Earth was beginning to revive—a green plant.

Eva reported her discovery to humans and received orders to take the green plant away from Earth. Meanwhile, WALL-E, who had been lonely for centuries, felt that he had fallen in love with Eva. Thus, he began chasing after her, unfolding the story’s curtain.

This was an old environmental-themed movie, full of philosophical reflection and healing warmth.

Yet inexplicably, watching the silly robot WALL-E blindly chase Eva across the galaxy, what surfaced deep in her heart were images of tram wreckage, gray seas of fire, and the lonely, ferocious, sorrowful monster emerging from them.

That waltzing blade bloomed in the summer of Sapporo, cutting open the sticky, heavy cage and letting her breathless body see the sky again.

Xiaoxiao was her hero.

This scene, perhaps even ten or twenty years later, until the end of her life, would always remain clear, vivid, and vivid, as if it had happened just yesterday.

Lin Baor’s lips curled slightly. She savored the sweetness rising in her heart, soft, clear emotions budding in her chest like feathers stirring her soul.

But suddenly, sharp pain radiated from deep within her muscles.

The girl’s fingertips were burning hot. She lowered her gaze and, in a daze, saw the scars on her legs flickering like dancing flames, fiercely burning.

…

…

Underground base, lowest level, central laboratory.

Ji Qianju’s expression was complicated. She silently looked into the distance. The person in the cage was covered in blood, like a withered cabbage butterfly, crawling awkwardly on the ground. Proliferating bones and flesh swelled, broken wings and blades were being devoured by sticky tentacles.

That was… Liang Xiaoxiao.

Esther whispered softly,

“The A73 type anti-disaster medicine doesn’t work either.”

The Super AI said regretfully,

“In that case, even sending her back to the Ideal State is meaningless.”

“The Emperor had been gone for too long, and we had no bargaining chips with the Holy Sophon. It would not waste a precious Time Cocoon on Liang Xiaoxiao.”

“Even the Empire’s Alchemists might not agree to save a… monster.”

After Chu Yuanqing was swallowed by the Void, the Countermeasures Bureau could no longer use the Empire’s resources without restrictions as before.

In fact, if the Emperor’s name had not remained in the world of the Ideal State, and if Chu Yuanqing had not promised to tour the continent as the Emperor, the special class for magical girls at Yves Saint Laurent Academy would have simply vanished.

Ji Qianju did not speak but sighed inwardly.

The Fruit of Salvation could save Liang Xiaoxiao one time.

But this healing also had its limits. Resisting the corrosion, self-destruction, and conflict caused by the Disaster Genes was as difficult as preventing a magical girl from deteriorating.

Rather, Liang Xiaoxiao’s ability to persevere until now through sheer willpower was already an incomprehensible miracle.

Ji Qianju could not understand why the former Dreamweaving teacher had agreed to transplant so many Disaster Genes.

One E-class gene, one Grade D gene, two Grade C genes, and two Grade B genes.

The authority from these six Disasters—let alone inside a human body, even if it were herself—would require immediately activating Blooming Flowers to fully abandon the flesh and ensure survival.

—The pure white knight.

This path of fusing disaster beast power was ultimately as fleeting as a meteor, destined to be semi-permanently sealed away with that person’s sacrifice.

Truly… regrettable.

Ji Qianju closed her eyes, unwilling to witness what cruel scenes would follow.

Inside the cage, the girl’s body had already collapsed and shattered; a spiral staircase emerged from the swamp, blood-red birds, flamboyant fire trees, a half-sitting ruined palace, the tides rocking the entire laboratory, and monstrous flesh masses as huge as buses—all narrated the ending.

—It hurt so much.

Liang Xiaoxiao’s consciousness flickered as if she had returned to that laboratory, wrapped in countless delicate Time Cocoons, repeatedly enduring pain more desperate than death to meet those expectations.

Yet strangely, even at death’s door, she could not recall the one she was supposed to respond to.

The girl seemed like a butterfly suspended on a blade’s edge; the exhaustion from a sleepless week lay like a heavy blanket of snow, softly pressing on her spirit, disrupting her breathing rhythm, and causing countless illusions to swim before her eyes.

Loneliness, comfort, warmth.

The world felt so gentle.

The flute’s melody she heard by the river as a child softly played anew.

Ji Qianju opened her eyes and looked at the “monster” about to break free from the cage. The magic energy particles in her hands fluttered like snowflakes, instantly gathering into a high-level spell that embodied light and heat. Around her, the memory metal rumbled, stretching, spreading, and distorting like a breathing, spinning Rubik’s Cube, ready to build a tomb.

“Goodbye,” she whispered.

The spell activated, and the blade of light expanded.

That magic energy exploded, turning the world into a vast gray haze; the scattered blood and flesh evaporated. The entire laboratory trembled, and in the dazzling pure white light, the body drifted down like floating silk threads, as though brushstrokes on an oil painting—tragic and beautiful.

But… the bizarre and kaleidoscopic dream had not yet ended.

In the central area, silver flames burned fiercely, winding like ribbons around Liang Xiaoxiao’s body, shining brilliantly.

In a daze, she heard a strange voice—clear and gentle, like a sky cleansed by rain.

“Xiaoxiao, don’t be afraid, breathe with me.”

That whisper ringing in her ears made her soul leap, instincts awakening.

At that moment, even without a human body, she still heard the sound of her own breathing. Ripples overlapped deep within her soul, and the grand harmony brought forth an incredible miracle.

In a daze, flesh was reborn, genes reshaped, bones and form woven, hair and nails extending—this human body was like a budding fruit tree, effortlessly greeted rebirth in the carried breath.

Liang Xiaoxiao slowly came back to her senses. The conflict among the six kinds of Disaster Genes returned to their original state. She looked at her newly grown fingertips in confusion and, almost instinctively—without herself realizing—softly whispered:

“Teacher…”

Before the girl could fully immerse herself in this confusion, she suddenly felt a fingertip touch her forehead. In that instant, a heavy aura of authority penetrated her soul. All the Disaster Genes within her body ceased their abnormal movements, collectively submitting and falling into true silence.

Liang Xiaoxiao raised her eyes and saw a familiar person.

The splendor and majesty in Chu Wang Shu’s eyes slowly faded away. She relinquished the power of the Master of Disaster Group and looked at Liang Xiaoxiao, who had returned to her original form, feeling that something was off. She murmured:

“Strange, does the clue end here?”

Two minutes earlier, she had heard an extremely familiar voice calling her. She went to search but could only see a back. Despite chasing after it, she never caught up. Unconsciously, she had run this way and happened to witness Liang Xiaoxiao breaking free from loss of control and being fully restored.

Her sweet daughter’s nature was pure and kind. Without a second thought, she helped by layering a seal for the other. Yet the familiar voice and back had completely vanished, filling her heart with melancholy.

Ji Qianju and Esther, watching the scene, felt their minds overwhelmed with confusion and shared a silent glance.

What was happening?

What exactly had occurred?

How had Liang Xiaoxiao suddenly come back to life, and how did Chu Wang Shu arrive here?

…

…

Zhelong Town, inside a phone booth.

Chu Yuanqing leaned against the wall and sat down, coughing pale-faced for a while before tiredly pulling her hood over her head. Her white hair was somewhat disheveled, and her golden eyes were dimmed, as if a faint, almost invisible crack had formed deep within.

The mark of the Chain of Contracts had already melted away like spring snow.

The shrine maiden also sat beside her. She did not blame Chu Yuanqing for pushing herself so hard to teach the child a bit more but instead lifted the corners of her lips and softly said:

“Now you can rest assured. She might truly inherit your Martial God Technique.”

“And Little Shu, after this, should realize that with her presence, even without that child’s fortitude and will, many can embark on the path of the pure white knight.”

“But… before leaving, won’t you cast one last glance at them?”

Chu Yuanqing stood up and stepped out of the phone booth. She gazed at the twinkling lights stretching across Zhelong Town and softly said:

“I can’t look too much, or I’ll find it hard to let go.”

“So, this is good enough.”

With that, the forgotten traveler and the shrine maiden walked into the night, dispersing like mist in the wind, never to be seen again.