Chapter 5: I Won't Allow That Kind of Thing

When he opened his eyes, it was already morning.

Rubbing his eyes, Jiang Si picked up the seed in his hand.

Sunlight filtered through the curtains, making the purple seed look crystalline, like a gem.

Suppressing his satisfied feelings, Jiang Si got out of bed and glanced at the homework on his desk.

It wasn't finished; normally he'd need to go to school early to make it up.

High school homework was piling up. If he actually completed it all, it would seriously interfere with his cultivation path.

After getting up, he packed the homework into his backpack, changed clothes, brushed his teeth, and went downstairs, where he found his younger sister already eating.

Simple scrambled eggs and the leftover steamed bun from last night.

"Keke, your teacher called last night and said your math score slid."

Jiang Keke—Keke was her childhood name. Their parents had planned to give her a formal name later, but after the accident three years ago, they were never able to name her; so the nickname just stuck.

"Mm."

Her tone was extremely indifferent.

Ever since Jiang Si skipped their parents' funeral three years ago, his relationship with his sister had stayed frozen like this.

Jiang Si never tried to patch things up, and Jiang Keke rarely spoke more than a few words to him.

Though they'd lived together for years, it was like living with a stranger.

Relatives had naturally considered adopting Jiang Keke—but nobody wanted to adopt a child like Jiang Si, who seemed heartless and ungrateful.

He felt nothing about their parents' deaths—no crying, not even visible sadness—so no one wanted to take him in. Many were willing to adopt Jiang Keke, but she refused to leave the house her parents left behind.

And so, that was how the two of them had gotten through these three years.

The sister moved on to middle school; he entered high school.

"Parent-teacher meeting..."

"I don't need you to bother."

Before the sentence finished, she had already refused.

He had attended two parent meetings on her behalf.

With their parents gone, it was normal for an older brother to act as guardian at a parent-teacher meeting, though he wasn't much older than her. At those meetings he inevitably drew ridicule.

He heard that her classmates would tease her after each meeting; it seemed she didn't want him to go again.

Relatives could help, but sometimes it was better to avoid using those connections.

The more they relied on others, the stronger others' reasons to adopt Jiang Keke would become, until she had no choice.

Jiang Si didn't care whether she was adopted or not; in fact, he thought being adopted would be better for her.

Since becoming a Magical Girl, he had a lot to study; Jiang Keke's presence was a hindrance in many ways.

For Jiang Si, his pursuit of the Way always came first.

Out of gratitude for their parents raising them, he didn't mind taking care of his sister, but if she chose to leave, it would make things easier for him.

After finishing washing up, he had just sat down when Keke stood, grabbed the half-eaten bun, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and walked out.

She seemed allergic to being near him.

Jiang Si had become used to it; he ate the leftover steamed bun with some cold side dishes, shoulder strapped with his backpack, and left.

Although as a Magical Girl he could fly, identity concealment was important—he did not want to expose himself.

In recent years, Disaster Beasts had become increasingly frequent in Beihai, and rules around Magical Girl memory erasure had finally loosened; they no longer wiped related memories. Discussions about Magical Girls could be overheard on the street.

If he transformed carelessly, he'd be recognized quickly, his location locked down, and then his identity...

Web novel protagonists never reveal their secrets easily.

Not even to relatives.

During rush hour, even though Jiang Si arrived early, the crowd was still oppressive. Once inside, he was swept along by the flow. He grabbed a pole by a window seat and steadied himself.

Morning smelled of breakfast. Early students chattered energetically; the gentle sunlight dispelled the last of the night's chill, warming him enough that Jiang Si yawned and felt sleepiness coming back.

Every small detail of this ordinary life used to make him restless and irritable.

Now, holding the power of a Magical Girl and with the Great Path in sight, he could finally feel peace and calm toward it all.

Not bad.

Thinking that, he planned to doze a little until reaching his stop, when the sunlight suddenly vanished.

A huge shadow swept over them.

The packed bus of students and commuters violently lurched.

Students screamed, commuters shouted and made calls.

The peaceful morning was shattered.

Jiang Si looked up; a terrifying eyeball hung above the bus, and the gusts it raised shook the vehicle.

A Disaster Beast.

Over the last three years he'd seen many and dealt with many. Perhaps because Beihai had more Magical Girls, Disaster Beasts had started appearing more often.

They could form from collective resentment—people who didn't want to attend school or work. Wherever there was lingering hate, these creatures could inexplicably be born.

The surrounding noises rose; someone began to cry. He touched his purple seed.

Just as that eyeball whipped up a stronger gale, threatening to lift the bus, a sliver of ice-blue light suddenly pierced through the distorted eye.

Blood flowed like tears; the ice-blue glow quickly soaked the eyeball and burst into dazzling color. When the light dimmed, the eye was layered in ice crystals, completely frozen.

A Magical Girl lightly stepped onto the frozen eye.

Amid the bus's cheers, she brought her magic wand down hard on the ice beneath her. The Disaster Beast that would have terrified ordinary people shattered into crystalline fragments that scattered into the air.

Ribbons danced in the breeze as a blue Magical Girl spiraled backward through the shards like a sprite—graceful and beautiful. Before vanishing, she waved to the bus with a smile, lips moving as if she were saying something.

Jiang Si averted his gaze and released the magic seed from his grip.

No need to worry about how to leave the bus and transform now.

After the Magical Girl disappeared, the bus burst into animated conversation.

"Her again—the blue Magical Girl!"

"Codename: Winter. Freelance Magical Girl. Six-petaled ice-flower pupils. Power: low temperature and ice manipulation..."

"You remember that much?"

"She's unofficial. I heard the Disaster Control Bureau's been looking for her."

"Wonder if they'll fight..."

She was something of a minor celebrity.

The bus rocked and resumed its route.

When he reached school, Jiang Si was pushed off with the crowd.

Though the boarding had been packed, after disembarking and the intersections split the flow, the crowd thinned.

The Magical Girl's appearance caused a brief buzz, but it passed quickly.

In recent years, Beihai's Disaster Beasts showed up frequently. Once the Disaster Control Bureau moved in, it established consistent Magical Girl oversight.

Magical Girls themselves weren't rare—wherever Disaster Beasts appeared, a Magical Girl would show up.

The reason for the heightened discussion was that Winter, as a freelance Magical Girl, operated outside the Disaster Control Bureau, making her relationship with it ambiguous.

Even though she cleared Disaster Beasts and protected citizens, her strained relations with the Bureau had people speculating about conflict. Two factions even formed among civilians.

No one knew where the blue Magical Girl came from; even the Bureau couldn't find her identity. Few dared to support someone so unidentified.

Not long after the blue Magical Girl vanished, unnoticed by most, a girl in a white knit sweater and navy pleated skirt appeared from a hidden path near the school gate. People seemed not to notice her at all.

Only when she reached the curb with an embroidered toy bear hanging from her backpack did ice crystal fragments fall from her and a few students notice. They greeted her enthusiastically; she returned a polite smile.

She then scanned toward the bus stop expectantly, as if searching for someone.

After a while and with no one in sight, she stomped her foot. "Truant again!"

Jiang Si had never said he intended to go to class.

Before he had any extraordinary powers, he had to comply—attend school and prepare for the future.

Now, with supernormal ability, why should he still compromise? If he still had to go to school, what was the point of transforming into a Magical Girl?

Academics had become an obstacle to his path of cultivation and ascent to immortality; it was something to be discarded.

School exists to help people find direction and the ability to achieve it.

But Jiang Si was already walking his own road; his life no longer needed school as a necessary tool.

Nor did he need homework.

"Jiang Si!"

He glanced back. The girl with the backpack jogged up, the toy bear swaying. "Wait for me!"

He ignored her, but she kept pace and soon reached his side, following closely. After catching her breath she complained softly, "Why won't you pay attention to me?"

"I figured you were busy."

"Not true." She said that as she smoothed some disheveled hair, tilting her head slightly; ice-blue, droplet-like earrings sparkled. "I did pretty well earlier, right?"

"Mm."

Bingtang—sixteen, a high school girl—sits next to Jiang Si.

She was the girl he happened to save when he first learned to transform three years ago.

Magical Girls can erase ordinary people's memories. If they drape magic over someone's mind, that person can lose all memory related to the Magical Girl and Disaster Beast.

Originally Jiang Si intended to erase her memory to hide his identity.

But when he looked up, there was the blue Magical Girl, and he looked at her foolishly.

Faced with the Disaster Beast's despair, Bingtang naturally transformed.

They stared at each other for a long time in the rain.

It wasn't that he wanted to kill to silence her—in those days he didn't fully understand his strength and couldn't be sure he could win a real fight—but he had to watch her closely so she wouldn't reveal his identity.

Over time, Winter—the Magical Girl—became his friend and the only person who knew his identity. The two of them formed an organization that operated independently of the Disaster Control Bureau.

After all, web novel protagonists need their own organization and followers.

"Yesterday the Disaster Control Bureau sent another warning: either join the Bureau voluntarily or withdraw from BH City."

Bingtang shook her head helplessly. "They're the latecomers."

The Bureau's response was always slow. When Disaster Beasts first appeared in BH City over a decade ago, the Bureau only sent official observers and didn't deploy Magical Girls.

Three years ago, Jiang Si and Bingtang were the ones clearing Disaster Beasts and setting up a dedicated organization.

It wasn't until the next year that the Bureau noticed the rising frequency and finally sent Magical Girls, reopening a branch in BH City.

This year they've been putting pressure on Winter, trying to get her to join them.

"Ignore them."

Jiang Si replied casually. He and Bingtang went to an abandoned factory.

It was close to the school; from the factory's second floor you could even see the school's teaching building.

They reached a gap in the concrete floor; Jiang Si tapped the ground with his toe.

He placed the purple seed on the ground. Intricate patterns flowed out from the seed, spreading and forming a precise magic circle.

The circle faded, and a door appeared in the floor.

They opened the door and stepped down, descending the stairs to the bottom of the underground passage, where a plaque hung.

Illusory Moon Cavern Dwelling!

The simple wooden plaque radiated an immortal flavor. Jiang Si had spent considerable effort making it.

He was very satisfied with the result.

At the entrance there was the crisp sound of a spirit spring—an artificially installed water circulation system that cost two thousand yuan, making the entrance look like a waterfall.

Inside the dwelling the passage twisted and turned; the walls were covered in vines—which were fake, far less expensive and easier to maintain.

Nearby sat rustic spirit-beast stone carvings, though one looked like a goofy husky.

That had been Bingtang's decoration choice.

Poor thing: until a few years ago Jiang Si had discovered this world's entertainment was nothing like his original world. Songs, novels, comics, movies—everything felt unfamiliar.

So many ordinary things to him were as alien to Bingtang as a celestial text.

He mentioned buying a spirit-beast stone carving to give the dwelling a more immortal feel; Bingtang brought a husky statue, reportedly expensive art.

A painted jade table held two lit incense sticks.

It gave the sense of a lingering mystical aura.

If they had money, they could furnish it better; for now Jiang Si was satisfied—he wasn't in a hurry.

The most eye-catching things in the dwelling, aside from decor, were the training implements.

Dumbbells, barbells, squat racks, bench presses, punching bags, resistance bands, push-up stands...

Jiang Si tossed his backpack aside and began training.

He'd trained like this every day for years without slackening; Bingtang was used to the routine.

While he trained, she went through his backpack. "Did you finish your homework?"

"No."

"I wrote it for you."

Jiang Si remained silent and continued his workout.

Before transforming into a Magical Girl, his physical strength plateaued no matter how much he trained.

After gaining the ability to transform into a Magical Girl, his training finally produced results again. Though the increases were small, he could clearly feel that each session strengthened his body and power; his ceiling was gradually rising.

However, the results wouldn't show outwardly.

"The bodies of Magical Girls only mature with time; external factors don't change them. It's for the Magical Girls' protection..."

The mascot had explained that.

Although the mascot spent most of its time sleeping and rarely came out, it had at least taught Jiang Si basic Magical Girl knowledge.

No external change was actually convenient for Jiang Si—it made deception easier.

As long as he could grow stronger, there was no reason to stop.

A real web novel protagonist becomes an all-rounded invincible hexagonal warrior.

Physical strength was indispensable.

"Did you find the classification levels for Magical Girls?"

While copying his homework, Bingtang pulled out her phone. "Found them. The Disaster Control Bureau divides them into four levels: Sprout, Seedling, Blooming, and Full Bloom."

"Only four?"

"Yeah."

Jiang Si shook his head. "What trash. They're official yet don't even have a detailed grading system. Vague tiers should have been retired long ago."

He then delivered a sudden side kick; the punching bag exploded under the force!

"For example, my current physical strength can't match a genuine Sprout-peak Magical Girl, but a basic Sprout-level Magical Girl isn't my opponent."

Jiang Si clenched his fist.

"My current level doesn't fit the official rankings. I'm just labeled Sprout, but in reality I'm half a step to Sprout Great Perfection."