The 30-Year-Old Magical Girl - Chapter 22
You Dong drove the Clover through the congested traffic, weaving aggressively between lanes.
Anyone watching would know at a glance—
He was in an incredible hurry.
Chen Xi had no time to think.
Reality simply didn’t give her the luxury.
Just keeping up with You Dong’s car had already pushed her concentration to its absolute limit.
The last time she’d driven under this much pressure…
Had been during her driving test.
Sweat soaked her palms.
She hurriedly wiped them against her skirt before tightening her grip on the steering wheel once more.
“…We are interrupting this program with an emergency broadcast.”
“At 11:05 a.m. today, an Aberration appeared on Jixiang Street, Jixiang District…”
The announcement echoed from the car speakers.
Another Aberration?
Chen Xi frowned.
Lately…
These things seemed to be appearing more and more frequently.
Or was it simply her imagination?
The fleeting thought distracted her for only an instant.
Yet in that instant—
The Clover smoothly changed into the right lane.
By the time Chen Xi reacted, she had already missed the opportunity to follow.
Without hesitation, she crossed the solid lane marking anyway.
A traffic violation was the least of her concerns now.
Wait…
This road…
She glanced at the navigation screen.
Four characters were displayed clearly.
Jixiang Street.
According to the emergency broadcast, because the Aberration remained confined inside a single office building, authorities hadn’t closed the main road.
Traffic was still allowed to pass normally.
However…
As the saying went—
When the city gate catches fire, even the fish in the moat suffer.
Many cautious drivers had already turned on their hazard lights and were hurrying away from the area.
Against that backdrop…
You Dong and Chen Xi, both driving directly toward the danger, looked particularly conspicuous.
The warning sirens mounted along the roadside wailed continuously.
Each shrill sound made Chen Xi’s heartbeat quicken.
Soon after entering Jixiang Street…
The Clover finally came to a stop.
You Dong got out of the car.
After quickly surveying his surroundings, he suddenly seemed to notice something and sprinted toward a narrow alley without the slightest hesitation.
Seeing this…
Chen Xi hurriedly got out of her own car as well.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of magical girls and the government’s Anti-Aberration Special Operations Bureau…
Aberrations had long since become something distant from everyday life.
Especially inside a city as safe as Shangjing.
Like most ordinary citizens…
Chen Xi had only ever seen Aberrations on television or in the news.
She had never personally experienced one.
The life-and-death battles between magical girls, Special Operations officers, and Aberrations…
Felt as distant and unreal as wars taking place in foreign countries.
Precisely because she had always been so well protected…
Chen Xi never truly realized how dangerous her current actions were.
Or perhaps…
Even if she had realized…
Her curiosity toward You Dong outweighed her fear.
He had suddenly left work.
Driven here without hesitation.
And arrived precisely where the Aberration had appeared.
This entire chain of events…
Made Chen Xi suspect that You Dong somehow possessed advance information.
But logically speaking…
Even if he had known beforehand…
Shouldn’t he have avoided this place?
Why would he rush toward it instead?
Very quickly…
Chen Xi pieced together a reasonable explanation.
You Xi.
His beloved niece must have been somewhere on Jixiang Street.
After encountering the Aberration…
She must have immediately called her uncle for help.
That explained why You Dong had arrived even before the emergency news spread.
The reasoning seemed perfectly sound.
There was only one remaining question.
Why…
Had he entered the alley?
Unable to suppress her curiosity…
Chen Xi quietly followed behind.
Carefully…
She peeked into the alley where You Dong had disappeared.
At that exact moment—
A dazzling pillar of white light suddenly burst forth from the darkness.
The brilliance was so overwhelming that she instinctively turned her head away.
By the time her vision recovered…
You Dong had vanished.
“…?”
Chen Xi blinked in confusion.
Where did he go?
Just then—
Whoooosh!
A deafening sonic boom ripped through the sky overhead.
It sounded as though a fighter jet had flown directly above her.
Startled…
Chen Xi instinctively looked up.
Then…
She saw it.
A blue unidentified object streaked across the sky at unimaginable speed.
To be honest…
With ordinary human eyesight…
She couldn’t even tell what it actually was.
The next instant—
The blue object shot toward a nearby office building like a missile.
Boom!!
It smashed straight through the third-floor exterior wall.
Concrete exploded outward in every direction.
Then…
It disappeared inside.
Acting purely on instinct…
Following Lao Lin’s warning—
Raging Flame immediately raised her greatsword above her head like a shield.
The Shadow Hunter emerged from the darkness covering the ceiling.
Its bone blade thrust downward with terrifying speed.
Clang!
The blade struck the flat of the greatsword.
Sparks scattered everywhere.
The tremendous recoil numbed the Shadow Hunter’s arm, leaving its body briefly exposed.
Now!
Sensing the opening…
Raging Flame instantly switched from defense to offense.
Using one foot as a pivot…
She spun her body.
Borrowing the centrifugal force…
She unleashed a powerful horizontal slash.
Unfortunately…
Her lack of combat experience revealed itself at the worst possible moment.
“…Huh?”
Halfway through the swing…
She suddenly felt resistance.
Screeeeech!
The edge of her greatsword scraped violently against the concrete wall.
The piercing sound echoed throughout the building.
Although reinforced concrete was as fragile as paper before a magical weapon—
A huge section of the wall was sliced apart instantly.
Even so…
That brief obstruction disrupted the sword’s momentum.
The attack that should have cleaved the Shadow Hunter cleanly in half…
Missed by less than half a second.
Only the very tip of one bone blade was severed.
If compared to a human body…
It was roughly equivalent to losing the palm of a hand.
Realizing it had been seriously injured…
The Shadow Hunter immediately abandoned any thought of continuing the fight.
Its body blurred…
Then vanished into thin air once more.
“Ah… what a pity.”
Perched on Raging Flame’s shoulder…
Lao Lin clicked his tongue regretfully.
“I’m not bragging, but you were this close to becoming the fastest magical girl ever to solo a C-rank Aberration.”
“What a shame…”
“You almost made history.”
He continued lamenting the missed opportunity.
But Raging Flame knew the truth.
She was still far from being capable of fighting alone.
Without Lao Lin’s warning…
She would’ve already been impaled.
And because she had completely ignored her surroundings…
Her own poor positioning had cost her the decisive blow.
…There’s still a chance.
She steadied her breathing.
Preparing to continue the pursuit—
Just as her right foot stepped forward…
BOOM!!
A deafening explosion shook the entire floor.
“Ah!”
Caught off guard…
Raging Flame nearly lost her balance.
An earthquake?
Still slightly dizzy…
She hurriedly looked toward the source of the disturbance.
One of the building’s exterior walls…
Had been blasted wide open.
Dust filled the air.
For a brief moment…
Nothing inside could be seen.
Did the military shell the building?
That absurd thought flashed through her mind.
She quickly dismissed it.
Because…
As the dust slowly settled…
A petite blue figure calmly walked through the opening.
Her entrance was overwhelmingly forceful.
Yet her expression remained utterly indifferent.
In her delicate hand…
She held a magic wand—
The unmistakable symbol of the First Generation Magical Girls.
That doll-like appearance.
That mysterious aura.
That overwhelming presence.
There was only one possible identity.
“T-Tidal, Senior!”
Raging Flame exclaimed in delight.
“It’s me.”
Tidal gave a small, expressionless nod.
Her calm gaze slowly swept across the room.
“…Where’s the Aberration?”
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