The villainous magical girl's daily mission is to find fault.

During the time that Nan Xiaofeng disappeared without a trace, Su Tianqing had already prepared for the worst.

If she can't get over this, then her "royal path" type is very likely to gravitate towards the direction of Karin and Usagi, or even fall into darkness like Aurora and be unable to extricate herself.

Perhaps another unprecedented Star Shadow will be born... derived from the Shining Star, far more dangerous than any previous Shadow.

Iris's dark shadow almost killed this fox, Alice's deep shadow directly transformed into a different colored Alice, and Rabbit's blood-red shadow was relatively stable in comparison, but that was only because Xia Youyou, the ace support, was present.

Fortunately, Hyacinth hasn't actually fallen towards the direction of Starry Night, and even the Codex hasn't issued any life-threatening missions like before. Things seem to be developing in a positive direction overall.

Su Tianqing then fell into another kind of thinking: how to soothe Hyacinth's emotions this time?

Nan Jiayu went to the library early to cram for her final exams. On the table was a bowl of soy milk, steamed buns, and a boiled egg, along with a note that read, "I'm going to the library to study. I'll have lunch in the cafeteria today."

The golden-haired fox girl chewed on the large meat bun in her hand, took a sip of soy milk with her other hand, and couldn't help but recall the series of lines and coping strategies she had prepared in advance last night.

First of all, I have prepared two layers of insurance!

I arranged to meet Nan Xiaofeng this morning at a wetland park south of Chengdu. The place is beautiful with clear water and lush mountains, and you can even go boating. It's the perfect place for me to use my talk therapy techniques.

No matter what topic or method Nan Xiaofeng uses to approach the conversation, this fox has a clear countermeasure prepared—

Instead of immediately discussing the millennium with her, I'll start with her recent life and then ask her how she obtained the terminal. This way, I can naturally transition to the topic of albatross.

Then she could observe Nan Xiaofeng's reaction to see if she had noticed the ambiguous relationship between Albatross and her.

Then, have Yue Tianxin (the automatic transmission version) call the Divine Stone again, pretending to have overheard the information left by the Stargazer Mengmeng by accident. This will lift Nan Xiaofeng's spirits.

If talk therapy doesn't work, this fox can also ambush a team of axemen in the park, using the capsizing of a boat as a signal to leap aboard. Two meticulously designed wild monsters will bring a certain degree of pressure to Hyacinth, forcing her to cheer up.

Of course, Su Tianqing herself didn't think the second method was very reliable. Although she had learned to swim, it didn't mean she was willing to go swimming. She would only use it as a last resort when talk therapy failed.

"There's no time to lose!"

The fox spirit put down the empty soy milk cup in her hand, picked up a tissue to wipe her hand that had been holding the steamed bun, threw the remaining half of the boiled egg into her mouth, and straightened her fox tail in the morning sunlight.

"Let's go! Destination: Renmahu Park!"

……

The journey from downtown Chengdu to the newly built wetland park normally takes a considerable amount of time.

But for magical girls, flying is much faster than taking a car; a journey that takes one or two hours by car can be covered in just a dozen minutes by flying.

This is all while adhering to the low-altitude traffic regulations set by the Hero Association. If it were Cat Cat, that outlaw who dares to fly supersonic at low altitudes, he could probably fly there in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Su Tianqing landed lightly in a concealed spot, looked around to make sure no one was there, and that the camera was also shrouded in a magical aura that obscured her perception, before she confidently took out her phone on the park path.

It was 10 a.m., and there was still some free time before the agreed 10:15 a.m. So Su Tianqing decided to find an open-air tea stall to buy a cup of fragrant flower tea and enjoy the morning scenery of the wetland park in peace.

Waterbirds flew over the lake. The morning sun had not yet cast the heat of midday, and two or three groups of people were already leisurely rowing and playing on the lake, creating an image of autumn waters merging with the sky.

Su Tianqing closed her eyes, sent Nan Xiaofeng her location, and quietly waited for her arrival.

Which angle should we start from? Or should we wait for Nan Xiaofeng to speak first, and then I'll adapt to the situation?

It's unlikely that Nan Xiaofeng would ask any strange questions, after all, she can't just come in and start acting cute and spoiled... But maybe not?

"Sister Tianqing—!"

Just as Su Tianqing was quietly enjoying her leisure and peace, a drawn-out call rang out and then quickly approached.

Su Tianqing turned to look at the source of the sound. Nan Xiaofeng was running towards them, a joyful smile on his face. He seemed much more restrained than before, and even gave this fox a different feeling:

This expression seems to be something she's forcing herself to keep from worrying too much.

"Good morning."

The golden-haired fox girl waved and greeted them as always, her fox tail swaying a few times in response.

"Hehe, it took me ages to find a place to land. Sorry to keep you waiting, Sister Tianqing."

"Actually, I just arrived not long ago. I was planning to sit here and rest for a while, and also..."

After a brief pause, Su Tianqing turned her gaze to Nan Xiaofeng and spoke first.

"Although I don't think lecturing is very appealing, Xiaofeng, your friends all care about you."

"Ah... well, I apologized to everyone last night..." The girl suddenly froze, her cheeks flushed slightly, and she looked away timidly.

"I thought about it carefully last night, and I really shouldn't have run away without saying a word, especially since I'm the team leader. I heard that Sasha and Xiao Wang have been looking for me for a long time without success, so I'm planning to buy everyone some cake to apologize."

"It's a good thing to admit your mistakes and correct them," Su Tianqing replied with a smile.

Nan Xiaofeng chuckled for a while, then sat down and looked at the rippling lake in front of him. He couldn't help but lean back against the tea stall chair, his expression gradually calming down as he let out a long breath.

It was as if a burden had been lifted, but her eyes were still filled with unconcealed confusion and sorrow.

"...Sister Tianqing."

"uh-huh?"

"Thank you so much for coming all this way to be with me... I heard you have exams coming up soon, Tianqing. I hope this doesn't interfere with your studies..."

"It's okay. I've said before that you can come to me with any problems you can't solve, and I'll do my best to help you find a solution," Su Tianqing replied with a smile, as reliable as ever.

Exams? You should worry about your older sister instead; Xiaoyu is the one who should be cramming for the exams.

"So, Xiaofeng, you've run into a problem this time. Is it related to albatrosses?"

After the pleasantries, Su Tianqing seized the opportunity to get straight to the point.

"Um."

Nan Xiaofeng sighed, neither denying nor denying, and nodded slightly, everything understood without words.

From the moment the terminal information was decrypted, Nan Xiaofeng fell into a depressed state, as if she had lost something very important and absolutely could not lose it. She couldn't wait to tell herself all about her experiences in the millennium and the information decrypted from the terminal.

Although Su Tianqing had read these things three or four times before, this was the first time she had heard Nan Xiaofeng talk about her true feelings.

Su Tianqing didn't speak, she just listened.

Nan Xiaofeng already had the answer in her heart, but she was just unwilling to face that possibility. All the conversational tricks and methods that I had thought of were useless here.

All I had to do was listen and let her release the emotions she had been suppressing. That was enough.

"When I heard my senior say, 'Forget me,' my mind suddenly went blank, and I felt a kind of... a terrifying sense of powerlessness."

"Just like the day of the final battle with Garuda, when you were injured protecting Sasha, it felt exactly the same as back then."

Nan Xiaofeng raised her hand and then lowered it, opened her mouth and then closed it, finally leaning weakly against the chair as if she had lost all her strength.

"Why do I care so much about Elder Albatross? It's like I have some kind of mysterious connection with her, I really can't figure it out."

"I've only fought alongside my senior a few times, even though I've fought with Hana Rin and Mu Yao for much longer, so why do I feel such a familiar feeling towards Albatross-senpai..."

"She is optimistic and cheerful, and brave when fighting monsters, but her habit of grabbing weapons on the spur of the moment does cause some trouble, just as Meteor and the others said."

"She always smiled when she saw me, and would try to give me snacks and candies. She would also take me shopping on Qiuxi Road in the past, just like you, Sister Tianqing."

"But... Sister Tianqing, you are different. You are the person everyone trusts the most. Everyone thinks you are the most reliable person."

"Why do I feel that albatross senior..."

"Even though she's about the same age as Sister Jiayu, I feel a... a very unfamiliar feeling from her..."

"She would play songs for me from more than ten years ago, saying they were very trendy pop songs."

"She dragged me to the photo booth to pose for pictures. I had never seen anything older than me before."

"She asked me what Qiuxi Road would look like in twenty years, whether everyone in Chengdu could ride the subway now, and told me to eat more vegetables for dinner and not just focus on eating meat."

"We don't have much in common... but why, why am I like this..."

Nan Xiaofeng's broken words suddenly choked up. She opened her mouth slightly, wanting to say something, but the unclaimed longing that rose in her heart overwhelmed her voice, leaving only a sob.

"After hearing her last recording, I suddenly had a feeling... as if I was going to lose her completely from now on..."

"I'll never see her again, never hear her nagging again, never eat her weird-tasting old-fashioned snacks again, I'll never..."

Su Tianqing stepped forward and gently hugged Nan Xiaofeng's head.

The girl's sobs turned into a hoarse hiss in her throat.

"I'll never see her again... Waaah... I'll never see her again..."

Su Tianqing gently patted Nan Xiaofeng's back, raised her head, took a deep breath amidst the girl's sobs, and slowly exhaled.

It was very quiet, so quiet that you could almost hear the distant flapping of waterbirds as they flew away.

Once her emotions had calmed down a bit, Su Tianqing held her head and spoke softly:

"It's okay, it's okay."

"You know what, Xiaofeng? Xiaoyue contacted me this morning. She and Bailing found a crucial clue."

The girl in his arms trembled suddenly, looked up in surprise at the little fox girl's face in front of her, and quickly wiped her messy face with her sleeve.

"Xiaoyue and Bailing? Why are they...?"

"The stargazer senior of Bai Ling has left us one last chance."

Su Tianqing said with a smile,

"The sad time is over."

"Call upon our trusted friends, and together we'll bring the albatross back."