Off Work, Then Transform into a Magical Girl-Chapter 76 – This is the time to root out traitors

"Is that okay? Isn't it almost time for afternoon practice?"

"Just ask for leave from the senior. It'll be fine."

"How can we disturb Cui Que for such a reason?"

"Well, if you put it that way..."

Somewhat undecided, Xia Liang took out her phone and typed a message in the group chat with the three of them. She said decisively, "Alright, I sent it!"

"Huh? I just told you not to do that, why did you send the message without permission? Quickly retract it!"

Seeing her actions, Lin Xiaolu raised her eyebrows and immediately reached out to grab Xia Liang's phone, "Give me the phone!"

"Hmph, no way! At times like this, we should be more straightforward."

Taking advantage of her slightly taller height and longer arm span, Xia Liang raised her phone and dodged Lin Xiaolu's attempts to snatch it, laughing effortlessly. After playing around for a while, she suddenly felt her phone vibrate in her hand. She blinked, put down her raised phone, and said, "Ah, there's a reply?"

We are ", find us on google.

Unable to snatch it, Lin Xiaolu, who was feeling annoyed, was also taken aback, "A reply? So fast?"

"Yeah, an instant reply."

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Xia Liang swiped the message page and drawled, imitating Cui Que's usual cold and calm tone, "Let me read it. She said, 'You can go, but remember to come back in the evening. If there's really a new recruit, notify me and I'll come over later.'"

After reading the contents of the message page, she held the screen up to Lin Xiaolu, "It's about the same. It seems like she agreed?"

Lin Xiaolu ignored her and instead retracted her body, took out her own phone, and read Cui Que's words carefully. After confirming that it matched what Xia Liang had said, she found that there was a string of other content following it, "What's this? An address?"

"150 meters west of the intersection of Xihe Road and Yuyun Road in Lixing District..."

Xia Liang immediately followed along and read, "Huh, isn't that the first welfare institute in Fangting City?"

"Is that Mo Ke's location?"

"It seems so, but why does the senior know where Mo Ke is?"

"It's just a location. Is there anything strange about Cui Que knowing?"

Lin Xiaolu didn't think there was any problem at all and said proudly, "With her powerful magical girl abilities, she probably has many means that she hasn't shown yet. Don't limit her abilities with your narrow-mindedness."

Just by looking at her expression, without listening to what she said, one would probably think that she was proud of herself.

"Haha... that's true. The senior probably had it planned all along." Faced with Lin Xiaolu's enthusiastic fan speech, Xia Liang could only respond with a dry laugh.

Having reached a consensus on the strange matter, the two no longer dwelled on the topic. Soon, Lin Xiaolu discovered the next suspicious point:

"Speaking of the welfare institute, aren't there a lot of children there?"

"Calling others children, but they might not be younger than us."

Xia Liang corrected helplessly, "But now that you mention it, it does seem suspicious. Let's go now. Maybe we can catch them in the act?"

"But... what about practice?" Lin Xiaolu still hesitated.

Unable to make up her mind, Xia Liang suggested with her index finger raised, "Then I'll go alone and let you know the result?"

"You... ah! You're really something!"

This sentence became the final straw that broke through Lin Xiaolu's inner defense line, making her unable to sit still any longer. In the end, curiosity won over her inner struggle, and she suddenly stood up, "I can't hold back anymore! Let's go, who's afraid of who!"

It was summer vacation, and with Cui Que giving them the green light for their trip, there was naturally no obstacle for the two to go out.

So, after changing into casual clothes for the outing, the two of them took the light rail subway together to Lixing District.

The location of the first welfare institute in Fangting City was on the outskirts of Lixing District, close to the suburbs. Fortunately, the transportation was very convenient, so it didn't take much effort to get there.Passing through the somewhat deserted station, Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang walked along the somewhat old streets, occasionally looking around and surveying the surroundings.

The Lixing District is located on the eastern side of Fangting City and is one of the earliest administrative divisions in Fangting City. Therefore, the infrastructure is relatively early, both in terms of road surface and surrounding buildings, which are relatively old. And because the main body later developed westward, it eventually became the so-called "old city area," with relatively sparse population and traffic.

Fortunately, the First Welfare Institute of Fangting City is not far away. As a building that accommodates a large number of people, its surrounding facilities are very complete, which somewhat compensates for this faint sense of loneliness.

After walking forward for a few minutes, the two of them could already see the building and walls of the welfare institute from a distance. After confirming that the location provided by Cui Que was correct, they quickened their pace, planning to catch Mo Ke off guard.

However, this plan went down the drain when they approached the welfare institute.

Because they found that an invisible wall had appeared in front of them, blocking their progress.

Feeling around with their hands and taking a closer look, Xia Liang discovered that the obstacle in front of them was not truly "invisible," but rather difficult to see clearly.

With her perception ability, she could sense that there was considerable magic power circulating within the structure in front of her. Obviously, this was a magic barrier.

"Xiao Lu."

Xia Liang's expression became somewhat serious, and her habitual smile on her face also faded slightly. "The situation may be different from what we expected."

Lin Xiaolu reached out and touched the transparent wall in front of her, seemingly recalling some unpleasant memories, and furrowed her brows. "Could this be... a magic barrier?"

Both of them were no longer rookies like when they first became magical girls. They already had a better understanding of basic spells like "magic barrier."

And there are not many people in this world who can use spells. Either they are magicians in the material world, or they are magical girls whose abilities have reached the Leaf Stage or above. It is abnormal for any of these people to appear near the welfare institute and set up a magic barrier here.

"Let's inform Cui Que first."

Lin Xiaolu's memories of magic barriers were not pleasant at all. She even had a vague sense of déjà vu and her first reaction was to seek help. She immediately took out her phone and dialed Cui Que's number.

Cui Que had repeatedly emphasized to her before that if they encountered an event that might exceed their abilities, they must notify her first. Although Lin Xiaolu didn't know why she had such an overprotective request, it didn't prevent her from following her instructions.

However, this time, after waiting for a while with her phone in hand, her expression became somewhat bewildered. The dialed call went on for a long time, but in the end, there was only a voice notification that no one answered.

"No one answered?" This was something Lin Xiaolu had not anticipated.

"Leave a message in the group. Let's try using magic to break the barrier."

Faced with the somewhat urgent situation, Xia Liang took out her Seed of the Heart and immediately transformed: "In this situation, if we have to wait for Senior to answer the phone, Mo Ke might be in danger inside."

Hearing her reminder, Lin Xiaolu realized that now was not the time to just stand around. After leaving a message in the group, she also took out her Seed of the Heart and transformed into a magical girl.

After transforming, the two of them began to use their magic power to attack the barrier, attempting to break it through force. However, although their attacks caused the barrier to shake continuously, they still couldn't completely destroy its structure.

After several unsuccessful attempts and seeing their magic power rapidly depleting, they had to stop again.

Lin Xiaolu's expression clearly showed some anxiety, while Xia Liang, on the other hand, looked at the barrier in front of her, deep in thought. "Perhaps we can try a different approach."

"What approach? Do you have a good idea?" Lin Xiaolu asked with some confusion.

"You'll see when we try."

Xia Liang smiled mysteriously, then raised her magic wand. "Xiao Jin, construct magic power."

With her incantation, her magic wand turned into a cloud of magic power, then reassembled into a small dressing mirror. This was her magic construct - Diversion.

Lin Xiaolu, who was beside her, also recognized Xia Liang's magic construct, but couldn't think of its purpose. "What are you using Diversion for?"

"Alright, don't ask so many questions. Just watch."

Without further explanation, Xia Liang began her experiment. She made the mirror in her hand split into several pieces, then adjusted the size of one of the mirrors to be large enough, even as tall as a person.

Then, she stuck the mirror that was the same height as a person onto the magic barrier in front of her.

"One of Diversion's abilities is to transfer and redirect magic power between mirrors. In other words, any magic power that comes into contact with its surface will be transferred to the other side of the mirror."

Xia Liang began to explain, "Senior mentioned in her lectures before that although a magic barrier is a spell, the essence of a spell is still magic power. It's just that the magic power within it is arranged in a specific state according to the spell's structure. So if my guess is correct..."

She stretched out her hand and pointed to the other side of the mirror that was not attached to the barrier.

Lin Xiaolu turned her head and saw that the mirror was now flickering with a faint light, indicating the presence of magic power. The fact that the mirror was transmitting magic power meant that there must be a source.

At this moment, even if her understanding was weak, she could guess what Xia Liang wanted to do.

At the same time, Xia Liang moved the half-height mirror in front of her, like a magician, and gestured towards the position where the mirror was previously attached to the barrier.

"You see, my guess was right."

In the direction she pointed, on the originally seamless barrier, a gap had appeared, allowing people to pass through.

...

...

"The barrier outside didn't react at all. It seems that you used some strange tricks."

Inside the barrier, after his imminent victory was interrupted, the man in the black robe initially felt annoyed, but quickly adjusted his mood. He scanned the lineup in front of him and said, "But, light blue and purple, is the last person not here yet? Then those mixed breeds are still somewhat useful."

Not being able to kill Mo Ke and letting her escape in the chaos did ignite his anger. However, that was not his main goal, so he didn't lose his composure.

"Do you know us?" The other party's words revealed a strange confidence, making Lin Xiaolu feel uneasy. She asked cautiously, "Do you know us? Or rather, why wouldn't you know us?"

After regaining his composure, the man shook his head and smirked, "Let's say, why wouldn't I know you?"

The man then counted the people in front of him as if counting goods. "Three magical girls, one fairy, a pig... let's not count that, and four sources of magic power, right? That's enough to make up for the loss of a sacrifice."

"What are you talking about?"

Lin Xiaolu sensed a different meaning in his words and realized that Cui Que's reason for not answering the phone might not be that simple. She asked seriously, "What happened to Cui Que? Do you have other accomplices?"

"Cui Que? Is that the code name for the little blue brat?"

The man shrugged, "Sorry, I really don't know what happened to her specifically, but anyway, both you and her will have the same outcome next—death."

After speaking, a chilling magic power suddenly spread around him.

He took out a purplish-black piece of flesh from somewhere, holding it up in front of him. The flesh emitted a strange halo and pulsated as if it had its own life.

"What is that... thing?"

Xia Liang, who had a stronger sense of magic power, couldn't help but cover her mouth and nose. "It feels disgusting."

"Disgusting? How ignorant. This is a treasure of the same nature as your heart gem."

Looking at the piece of flesh in his hand, the man's smile became devout and gentle. "Don't you think it has an irresistible beauty? After all, according to your naming method, it can be called 'Beast's Innards'."

"'Beast's Innards'..."

Only now did Lin Xiaolu, who had been feeling a strong sense of déjà vu since seeing the magic barrier enveloping the orphanage, finally understand something and showed a somewhat dazed expression.

She finally understood why she had been feeling restless since the night she encountered a similar situation in the wetland park on the outskirts of the city, just a few months after becoming a magical girl.

Trapped inside the barrier in the wetland park and encountering the caterpillar stage brutal beast, if it weren't for Cui Que's timely rescue, she would probably have died there.

And at this moment, she suddenly recalled the night when she was struggling under the brutal beast's claws, remembering the almost human-like expression on its face.

Could a brutal beast make such a human-like expression?

After all, the intelligence of low-evolution brutal beasts should be quite low.

After that, Lin Xiaolu also joined Cui Que in hunting down many brutal beasts. Most of them were large in size and had twisted forms. Even the majority of the egg stage brutal beasts looked like a mass of rotten flesh, let alone the caterpillars. There were rarely any individuals that stood on two legs.

Perhaps, they were not "simple brutal beasts" from the beginning.

"You are, no, are you guys..." Lin Xiaolu started to speak in astonishment but stopped halfway.

Because she realized that there was a deeper question.When she first became a Magical Girl, she was trapped and hunted down like prey; now, in this orphanage, it seemed the same thing was happening to the newly emerged Magical Girl.

Then, another question that sent chills down her spine arose.

"…What does the fact that there hasn't been a Magical Girl in Fangting City for nearly two years have to do with you?"

As she asked this question, she felt her brain buzzing.

"Oh? It seems like you've connected some dots. Do you need me to praise your sharpness?"

Instead of answering her question, the man countered with a question, his smile becoming increasingly cruel: "Or should I ask if the disappearance of Gong Chu Eleven in Fangting has anything to do with you?"

"So it really is related to you?"

Lin Xiaolu didn't know what kind of emotion she was feeling during this conversation, but she persisted in asking: "What exactly have you all done?"

"You should understand, right? Even if they're not sacrifices, the heart gems of Magical Girls are extremely valuable sources of Magic Power. Purely in terms of profit, it's enough to tempt people, let alone when facing a mortal enemy?"

The man responded somewhat irrelevantly to Lin Xiaolu's question, and said somewhat mockingly: "Not only did she die on duty, but she also leaked information. Gong Chu Eleven really left a mess... But never mind, it has nothing to do with me. After all, she was just a useless piece of trash. It's better that she's dead."

At this point in the conversation, even Xia Liang, who had not initially understood what was going on, had caught on. She looked at the man in the black robe with a hint of terror: "Are you saying... you're hunting Magical Girls?"

At this point, the man was no longer willing to converse with them.

Pressing the meatball in his hand to his chest, the man's expression became increasingly fanatical and cruel, even starting to appear somewhat deranged.

"Despicable false king, now is the time for me to carry out the will of the master and annihilate you all here!"

He shouted, screamed, and chanted, the meatball in his hand bursting with intense Magic Power. He stared at the Magical Girls in front of him, his eyes wide open, revealing sharp teeth from the corners of his split mouth:

"This is the time to root out traitors."

As his words fell, dark Magic Power enveloped his body. A black fog surged, and within the clouds, the man's originally human form gradually grew larger, eventually reaching several meters in height.

From the swirling fog, a beast's head with bared fangs and glowing red eyes emerged from the black mist. Amidst the flickering golden runes, the beast's body, covered in exaggerated and terrifying tubes, revealed its true form from the cold Magic Power.

At this moment, what appeared before everyone was no longer that man.

Even more so, if judged by its true nature, what stood before them was no longer a human.

— It was a Brutal Beast.