The 30-Year-Old Magical Girl - Chapter 29
The revelation that the adorable little girl named Tidal was actually a magical girl…
Surprisingly, Chen Xi wasn’t all that shocked.
In fact…
The very first time she’d met Tidal, she’d already felt there was something unusual about her.
That calm, restrained demeanor.
The effortless confidence with which she avoided every probing question.
If those qualities truly belonged to an ordinary girl who looked barely eleven or twelve years old…
That would have been the strange part.
A few days earlier…
While secretly following her ex-boyfriend, You Dong, through Jixiang Street…
Chen Xi had accidentally witnessed Tidal defeating an Aberration.
After that…
She had almost forgotten why she’d been tailing You Dong in the first place.
Her curiosity about Tidal had completely taken over.
That evening…
After finishing work…
Chen Xi returned home, shut herself in her bedroom, and—as always—logged into her favorite magical girl forum.
There were countless magical girl communities on the internet.
Some were obsessed with ranking combat strength.
Others specialized in collecting information.
But the forum Chen Xi frequented had only one purpose.
To spread the cuteness of magical girls throughout the universe.
Because of that…
The atmosphere there was remarkably wholesome.
There were no endless arguments about power scaling.
No debates over who could defeat whom in a single attack.
No endless complaints about teammates being dead weight.
Instead…
The forum was filled with photos secretly taken by fans…
Beautiful fan illustrations…
And serialized fan-made comics.
Chen Xi had loved magical girls ever since she was little.
Not because of their battles.
Nor because of their strength.
Like countless girls who once dreamed of becoming princesses…
She was simply captivated by how beautiful magical girls were.
Their consistently gorgeous appearances.
Their elegant yet practical costumes.
Their hairstyles.
Hair colors.
Accessories.
Even their weapons.
Everything was designed with a unified aesthetic that somehow never became boring.
She had once been completely obsessed.
As for how many magical girl photos and voice recordings were stored across the three multi-terabyte hard drives in her room…
Even Chen Xi herself had long since lost count.
Now that she’d graduated…
And become an ordinary office worker…
Whenever work or daily life left her exhausted…
Opening those folders full of magical girl photos had become her favorite way to relax.
She typed several keywords into the forum’s search bar.
Fifth Ring.
Blue magical girl.
Tidal.
Almost instantly…
Numerous discussion threads appeared.
At present…
Nobody on the internet knew Tidal’s official codename.
Most users simply referred to her as…
“That incredibly powerful little blue girl.”
Or…
“The blue magical girl who fires giant beams of light.”
Knowing something that everyone else didn’t…
Made Chen Xi feel oddly close to Tidal.
That tiny secret filled her with an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.
Grinning foolishly…
She opened thread after thread.
Saving every single picture of Tidal onto her computer.
“…She’s so cute…”
“Way too cute…”
“Hehehe…”
Then…
One particular thread caught her eye.
It was locked.
Unlocking it required fifty forum coins.
Equivalent to fifty yuan.
Its title read—
【Humanity’s Treasure】Collection of Rare Under-Skirt Photos of the Mysterious Blue Girl During the Fuxing Street Battle
“…!”
The moment Chen Xi read the title…
Her entire face flushed bright red.
Even though she hadn’t taken the photos herself…
An overwhelming sense of shame washed over her.
It almost felt as though…
She were the one secretly photographing a magical girl’s underwear while she fought.
H-How could someone do something so shameless?!
Chen Xi was utterly stunned.
…Seriously?
Magical girls risked their lives protecting the city.
Protecting everyone.
And these people…
Were secretly taking pictures like this?
The embarrassment quickly transformed into righteous fury.
Burning with indignation…
She immediately paid the fifty yuan.
And opened the thread.
First…
I’m not a pervert.
Second…
This is important evidence.
Using those two excuses to justify herself…
She began examining the photos.
“…W-Whoa…”
“…Oh…”
“…S-So that’s the color…?”
Inside the dim bedroom…
Only the pale glow of the computer monitor illuminated Chen Xi’s face.
Her eyes were unfocused.
Her expression blank.
She slowly…
Carefully…
Studied every image contained in the fifty-yuan “research material.”
Then…
She imagined something.
Tidal’s cold.
Proud.
Distant expression.
Now imagine…
She discovers these secretly taken photos.
Learns that embarrassing pictures of her are spreading all over the internet.
She’d panic.
She’d get angry.
She’d feel hurt.
Until…
That perfectly composed expression finally shattered.
Tears streaming down her cheeks…
And then—
…Just one lick.
It would definitely taste amazing…
“…Hehe.”
Chen Xi had completely disappeared into her own imagination.
Her fantasies spread freely…
Like wings soaring across an endless sky.
Tap.
Tap tap.
Tap tap tap tap.
Her fingers flew across the keyboard.
Three hours later…
She leaned back in satisfaction.
Her very first magical girl fan comic…
Was complete.
Defeating the Ice Queen—My First Intimate Encounter
“…Achoo!”
While patrolling through the sky…
Tidal suddenly sneezed.
Flying beside her…
Raging Flame immediately turned around.
“Senior?”
“Are you feeling sick?”
“Should we take a break?”
“…No.”
Tidal waved dismissively.
“I’m fine.”
The truth was…
You Dong had recently caught a cold from overworking himself.
However…
His rational side believed that ordinary illnesses shouldn’t affect his magical girl form.
…So why do I suddenly feel like someone is staring at me?
An inexplicable chill crawled up his back.
Suppressing that strange feeling…
Tidal continued searching the skies alongside Raging Flame.
Their target…
The Nightmare Fiend.
Two days earlier…
The Second Ring Magical Girl Squad had fought an exhausting battle against the A-Rank Aberration.
Although it ultimately escaped…
Yu Bing’s report indicated that it had barely survived.
It should currently be using nearly all of its remaining strength simply to maintain its physical form.
Which made now…
The perfect opportunity to eliminate it once and for all.
At present…
Every magical girl who wasn’t occupied with another mission…
Was searching throughout Shangjing for traces of the Nightmare Fiend.
After all…
An A-Rank magic crystal was an incredibly valuable prize.
Everyone wanted to claim it before the creature recovered.
“Senior.”
Raging Flame suddenly spoke.
“Should we split up?”
“There are only two magical girls stationed in the Fifth Ring.”
“If we stay together…”
“We won’t be able to search much territory in a single day.”
Tidal thought about the suggestion.
Given the Nightmare Fiend’s current condition…
It was probably too weak to launch a serious attack.
There wasn’t much need to stay together.
Splitting up would indeed be far more efficient.
“…Let’s use that convenience store as the boundary.”
She pointed toward the busy street below.
“I’ll search the eastern side.”
“You cover the west.”
“No matter what happens…”
“We’ll meet back on the rooftop here…”
“At five-thirty this afternoon.”
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