My ex-girlfriend is a magical girl junior?

Chapter 269 Reflections, and the Third Meeting

Xingshuang stared at the crooked, deep blue streak of light in Liuli, which seemed as if it might fall from the sky at any moment due to its owner's unsettled state of mind, until it completely disappeared into the distant horizon before slowly withdrawing her gaze.

Three distinct yet surprisingly harmonious subtle fragrances lingering around her nose, along with the lingering soft touch on her cheek, all reminded her of the outrageous things that had just happened.

"With Yuqing around, I feel like my authority as a senior is somewhat precarious?"

"If it were before, how could Xingxian have ever done something like this?"

"well----"

A soft sigh filled with complex emotions escaped Xing Shuang's lips. She then withdrew her slightly helpless expression, and her deep purple eyes regained their usual calm and composure.

The next moment, a dazzling magical light emanated from her, completely enveloping her petite body.

After the light faded, Xing Shuang's figure had disappeared from the spot, leaving only a dazzling streak of light that sped towards the futuristic-looking Bureau of Extraterrestrial Intelligence building in the city center.

During the high-speed flight, her thoughts were also running at an equally astonishing speed, as she began to carefully review the series of events that had occurred that afternoon.

Looking back now, the battle with Jingjue in the northern suburbs is full of doubts.

The key to his true scheme lies with Xingxian and the others, while the methods he devised are merely to delay his own existence as Jiying as much as possible.

Starfrost had already reached this conclusion during the previous battles.

But----

Xing Shuang's brows furrowed slightly, and a deep sense of confusion flashed in her eyes.

Before revealing his true intentions, Jingjue admitted to his scheme to "delay the fight." However, when confronting him on the commercial street, Jingjue clearly stated that "today's objective has been achieved," and therefore he did not want to waste time fighting him.

But looking at the big picture, he clearly didn't get anything substantial, nor did he manage to capture or kill any of the three juniors, or even cause any effective damage.

So what exactly is his so-called "purpose"?

The previous reasoning had stalled at this point. This time, Xing Shuang slightly organized her thoughts and began to try to put herself in Jing Jue's shoes to re-examine this operation that seemed to have ended in a crushing defeat for the other party, as well as the situation earlier.

"In the battle a week ago, the independent mirror image that Mirror Lord sent out for an ambush was taken down by an unknown magical girl."

"The clues he could gather were extremely limited: the opponent's strength was most likely that a Crescent-level or Stardust-level being unable to defeat that mirror image, while a Rainbow-level being could easily crush it without leaving many traces of battle."

"Furthermore, the other party was wounded in the battle and left bloodstains."

"But he couldn't know that the 'new moon' at that time and his mirror image had almost mutually destroyed each other, and he temporarily lost his ability to transform afterward."

"Therefore, in Jingjue's view, this mysterious crescent moon may very well have been lurking in some corner of the city all along, becoming the biggest variable in all his plans."

"The reason why Jingjue triggered the infiltration of the Void Realm on the night I first transformed into Jiying was to use that Void Source as a beacon to lure out the mysterious crescent moon in his eyes."

"However, he hadn't expected that what appeared wasn't the crescent moon he anticipated, but rather the glass he had been paying special attention to, and another of his own kind who was completely unexpected and not easy to get along with." Thus, his plan to hunt the other fell through.

"And in the series of events that followed, this mysterious 'new moon' never appeared again, until—just now it intervened to save Xingxian."

Thinking of this, Xing Shuang's thoughts became clearer. No matter what Jing Jue wanted to achieve in this city, he had to eliminate the city's protective forces, especially those "variables" that he could not control.

The best proof is that he previously lured Yuexi and the others into a vicious trap and then launched a sneak attack.

So, with the situation gradually becoming clearer, and even the fact that "Silent Shadow," a fellow being, is also an enemy, "Starfrost" is, for him, the only remaining variable lurking in the shadows.

"From this perspective, is his purpose today simply to meet me and assess my abilities?"

The thought only flashed through Xing Shuang's mind for a moment before she immediately rejected it.

"No, Jingjue showed obvious signs of backing down before the fight even officially began. If his purpose was really to assess strength, then he should at least have engaged in a brief exchange before making a judgment."

"And just to see me," is it worth such a high price? Even going so far as to launch another operation the very next day after suffering such a huge loss—"

"There must be something more important and urgent driving him behind this."

"Meeting—Authority—Mirror Image—Wait a minute—"

A sudden flash of inspiration struck Xing Shuang, and she remembered an extremely important detail that she had subconsciously overlooked: from beginning to end, Jing Jue had only been manipulating the mirror images of the four Crescent Moon-level magical girls he had already captured—Yue Xi, Xiao Xing, Zi Qiu, and Fei Ying—to fight against himself.

Although Hoshino's mirror image appeared briefly, it disappeared immediately after observing her subconscious reactions through a sneak attack and confirming that she was on the magical girl's side, and did not participate in the subsequent battle.

And the mirror images of Liuli and Yinxue never appeared even once from beginning to end.

"When I was talking with Yuqing and the others last night, I made a guess that Jingjue wanted to use his authority to create a mirror image, which must have a similar precondition as the misjudgment to the creation of a shadow."

"And now it seems that one of the conditions must be—having personally seen the object that you want to replicate."

"So—what other conditions might there be?"

Starfrost began to think about the premise that Mirror Lord was trying to create his own mirror image, recalling what common conditions she, Star String and the four imprisoned Crescent Moon level magical girls had, besides having all been seen by Mirror Lord with their own eyes.

Immediately, her pupils contracted sharply, and she arrived at the answer that was already obvious—blood!

A week ago, in that battle with Mirror Lord's independent mirror image, which could be described as a lose-lose situation, he shed his blood in order to defeat his opponent.

For Jingjue, extracting blood from Xingxian, who had already lost consciousness at that time, or Yuexi and the others, who had been imprisoned by him, was an easy task.

Although he had met Liuli and Yinxue, he had never had the opportunity to obtain their blood.

"hateful----"

Starfrost cursed under her breath, and the pink-gold magical light surrounding her suddenly became even more dazzling, and her flight speed also increased.

It improved by several points instantly.

She now fully understood that Jingjue's unusual attack today was nothing but a ruse from beginning to end.

His real purpose was to complete the last condition for creating his own mirror image: "to witness it firsthand."

Although it is still impossible to determine why the other party went to such great lengths to create their own mirror image, this purpose must be closely related to the other party's next move, and they must also be vigilant.

I need to tell them the things I just deduced—I must do it right away.

Minutes later, at the headquarters of the Bureau of Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

Xing Shuang's figure landed lightly in the center of the spacious and bright circular hall, and then walked to the front desk with practiced ease.

Under the slightly excited and admiring gaze of the receptionist, she completed a brief briefing and, guided by the receptionist, once again boarded the sightseeing elevator that offered panoramic views of the entire city.

The elevator ascended smoothly and quickly, finally emitting a crisp "ding" at the top floor, and the metal doors slowly slid open to both sides.

Unlike the previous two visits, this time, a young woman dressed in a well-fitting business suit and exuding a capable air was standing gracefully at the elevator entrance, with a gentle smile on her face, as if she had been waiting for a long time.

Although she had seen Roland's appearance before when she used her ability as Shadow to enter Roland's office, Qin Yue would always leave the office before she appeared. This was the first time she had a face-to-face conversation with him like this.

"Welcome, Miss Xing Shuang." The moment Qin Yue saw Xing Shuang, a genuine smile immediately appeared on her face. "I am Qin Yue, Director Roland's secretary."

"I was away on the two previous visits you made because of other work. This time, I'm finally able to meet you in person."

"Hello, Ms. Qin Yue." Xing Shuang greeted her calmly.

"The Director is already waiting for you." Qin Yue smiled and nodded. She turned to the side, made a "please" gesture, and then began to lead the way. "Please follow me."

The two walked side by side down the wide corridor leading to the office, heading towards the familiar office door.

As she led the way, Qin Yue's gaze lingered on Xing Shuang for a moment without her noticing, and she couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

Although she had been mentally prepared for Xing Shuang's appearance based on Director Roland's description, Qin Yue was still amazed by her petite and adorable appearance when she saw her in person.

It really is—so tiny.

The girl before him, barely reaching his chest and with a petite and adorable appearance like a delicate doll, was the powerful demon who had single-handedly turned the tide of battle not long ago and subsequently created a "healing miracle."

Is she a French girl?

It's hard to imagine that such a seemingly weak and harmless child could possess such terrifying strength as to manipulate a powerful enemy like Jing Jue at will. The contrast is just too strong.

"Speaking of which," Qin Yue said, breaking the silence as she pulled herself out of her thoughts, her tone tinged with emotion, "Director Roland mentioned you to me almost every day during the time you were out of contact, and he was very worried about your safety."

"Until a few days ago, when Mr. Jiying took the initiative to visit and I explained your current situation to him, he finally—"

—Truly put your mind at ease.

"Silent Shadow—Sir?" Xing Shuang was slightly taken aback, but then immediately realized what was going on and a knowing smile appeared on her face. The other party had never seen her in her girl form before. If he had only seen her in her armored knight form when she was acting with Liu Li in a video, it would be normal for him to call her "Sir".

Her expression remained unchanged; she simply smiled and softly replied, "Yes, he mentioned it to me before, complaining that he was 'interrogated' by the bureau chief for a long time."

Qin Yue nodded and did not pursue the matter further.

The two quickly walked through the long corridor and arrived at the heavy metal door of the office.

Qin Yue placed her hand on the doorknob, preparing to push it open, but suddenly stopped. She then turned around, with an unprecedented...

He gazed at Xingshuang with unprecedented solemnity and bowed deeply.

"Thank you, Miss Xingshuang." Her voice was full of gratitude. "I really—rarely have I seen the Director so happy as he was this afternoon."

"Of course, it's not just about that." She paused, then gave a genuine smile. "All your efforts and sacrifices to protect this city deserve our gratitude."

Xing Shuang smiled and gently shook her head, responding modestly, "It's nothing, I just did what I should do."

"Then, please come in, Miss Xing Shuang." Qin Yue said no more, gracefully pushing open the office door. "Director—we've been waiting for you for a long time."