The air seemed to freeze for half a second after his painfully “straight-man” answer.
“Eh—?! How can you feel nothing at all?!”
Li Qing was the first to break the silence, letting out an exaggerated cry like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, her face filled with the heartbreak of “all my effort wasted.”
“Senior, didn’t you feel it? On this land of F District, full of love and dreams, even the air you breathe converts into sweet positive spiritual energy! It’s hugely beneficial for the mental barriers of us magical girls!”
(…Positive spiritual energy? All I inhaled was capitalist-scented, coppery air—almost choked this proletarian pauper to death.)
Lin Yu silently raged inside, his face still wearing that expression of cold detachment: “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Alright, Li Qing.”
Chen Bing, who had remained silent until now, finally put down her milk tea—she had only taken one sip—and frowned so sharply it could kill a fly.
“I told you your therapy is useless,” she said bluntly. “Lin Yu has been a man for over twenty years. How could a few days of treatment possibly change his mindset? He’s not some repressed patient who dreams of being a woman every night.”
“Since your therapy doesn’t work, we’ll try another approach.”
Her tone was serious, like reviewing a post-battle report.
“Lin Yu, answer me one question. Why… why did you join [Dawn Company] in the first place?”
This question was far sharper and more direct than Li Qing’s playful probing.
Li Qing stopped her chatter, blinking her curious big eyes, also waiting for his answer.
Lin Yu held the cold milk tea, silent.
Sunlight shone on the face that now belonged to a girl, making his soft gray hair almost translucent.
He remembered the contract with a penalty of five million.
He remembered Manager Qian’s smile hiding a blade.
He remembered the cold, two-digit balance in his bank account.
He remembered his mother’s worried, disappointed sighs over the phone.
He felt like a clown stripped naked and thrown onto a stage, every embarrassment exposed before these two genuine “girls,” nearly ten years younger than him.
Yet in the end, he chose honesty.
Because he knew any lies or disguises would only make him look more ridiculous.
“…Because I have no money.”
He spoke slowly, his voice quiet but clear.
“Living in this city is too expensive…”
“Food costs money. Just a chicken leg meal at Sha County Snack costs 9 yuan. Occasionally you can save 3 yuan with group-order discounts, but then the vendor will skimp, and the delivery guy will yell ‘dog food.’”
“Medical care costs money. Once I got food poisoning and spent 167.3 yuan. I remember clearly—40 yuan of that was just for a taxi! And that was after I first used a 30% discount coupon while my stomach hurt!”
“Rent costs money. Transportation costs money. Electricity costs money. Water costs money. I’m starting to think someday even breathing will cost money…”
“I don’t have enough money. Really, I don’t…”
His voice carried sorrow as he continued:
“I came to New Sea City full of hope, thinking I’d work hard, find a proper job, and give my family a better life.”
“When I graduated, I sent out hundreds of resumes. The best offer was a sales job at a high-tech company: 3,000 yuan base salary, no benefits, boss made us chant slogans every morning, fined us if we didn’t shout loud enough. I worked three months, got no pay, and even had to pay 300 yuan in slogan fines myself.”
“But… sigh, maybe I’m just stupid, maybe I didn’t try hard enough. I couldn’t find a proper job, and a one-year gap turned my resume into a stain.”
“Later I did part-time work, delivered food, competed with [Sky Dome Group]’s unmanned delivery vehicles—but with automation spreading, selling my labor like that had no future…”
“That’s when I realized that someone like me, without top-level education or special skills, has no place in a city like New Sea!”
“All those slogans like ‘New Sea Welcomes You’ and ‘New Sea is Your Home’—lies!”
“I thought that once my savings ran out, I’d have to leave New Sea. But… I ended up becoming a magical girl? Damn, fate really loves to mock people…”
After speaking, Lin Yu even gave a self-deprecating laugh and took a big gulp of milk tea. Somehow, it didn’t taste as bad anymore.
“…“
The atmosphere grew heavy.
Li Qing’s smile vanished, and she lowered her head, unconsciously stirring the ice in her cup.
For the first time, Chen Bing’s gaze softened, revealing a complicated, indescribable emotion.
To break the awkwardness, Lin Yu took a deep breath and threw the question back:
“And you two?” He looked at the two girls. “Why did you join?”
“Protecting the homeland is my family tradition… Compared to an ordinary soldier, a magical girl can do more.”
Chen Bing’s answer was simple and direct.
For her, fighting monsters was as natural as breathing.
She fell silent afterward, returning to her “icy” stance.
Lin Yu then turned to Li Qing.
“Me?”
Li Qing lifted her head, her face brightening with energy, smiling as usual:
“Because the uniform is cute, the pay is good~ And I get to play with the latest toy guns Master Mei remodeled! Jobs this great are impossible to find even with a lantern!”
Her words were full of innocence and joy. Yet Lin Yu keenly noticed a fleeting shadow of gloom in her starry eyes, like a passing cloud.
It disappeared almost instantly, but he knew it was real.
His heart, battered by society, immediately understood the hidden heaviness behind that brief darkness.
(…This one also has her ‘reason.’)
But he didn’t press further.
He knew some scars shouldn’t be touched.
That was an unspoken, final tenderness in the adult world.
“Anyway, even though we each have our own reasons for joining~”
Li Qing quickly recovered her cheerful tone, finishing her milk tea in one gulp. Like a general giving a pre-battle speech, she concluded energetically:
“But now that we’re wearing these outfits and holding these guns, we are magical girls! It really feels… a bit strange.”
She nudged Lin Yu with her elbow, curious:
“Senior, you really don’t feel anything? About being called a ‘magical girl’?”
She asked casually, as if in idle girl talk.
(…Feel anything?)
Lin Yu paused, then bitterly smiled:
“What kind of feeling? A well-paid job, but one where you could die at any moment… a bit like… performance art in a ‘high-risk occupation’?”
As he spoke, his mind involuntarily conjured another figure.
(…What would Ye Yaoying say?)
He could almost picture her—a petite, violent girl with emotionless deep blue eyes, staring coldly at the questioner, then calmly stating two words in her AI-like monotone:
“Mission.”
To her, perhaps, that was the entire answer.
“No way~ Senior~”
Li Qing wagged her finger:
“A magical girl is not a profession! It’s a belief! It’s love! Courage! Hope!”
She struck a dramatic, chÅ«nibyÅ-style transformation pose as she spoke.
(…Help, the side effects of her ‘visual therapy’ haven’t worn off, have they?)
Lin Yu felt his temples start throbbing again.
“…Enough already.”
Chen Bing, in contrast, gave a concise evaluation of Li Qing’s “magical girl manga” speech:
“A magical girl is just a job.”
She looked at Lin Yu with her sharp eyes and stated her thoughts clearly, word by word:
“We’re not ‘heroes.’”
“We are just… a group chosen by the company, still within shelf life…”
“…mere ‘consumables.’”