Magical Girl Fan Bingbing

After watching Chu Ying disappear at the school gate, Jiang Ran sat on the steps for a while longer.

I did say too much just now.

He would never normally discuss such things with a magical girl within the system, such as the ideals of the Magic Alliance or freedom and choice.

But as people get older and their time is drawing near, many things that they couldn't say before can be said naturally.

Otherwise, it's uncomfortable to hold it in.

Jiang Ran shook her head, patted the dust off her pants, and walked towards the parking lot.

His secondhand commuter bike sat forlornly in a corner, covered with a thin layer of dust. It had been sitting at school for two days without being moved due to a series of incidents.

Jiang Ran opened the car door, got in, inserted the key, and turned it.

blah blah——

The engine coughed a few times but failed to start.

I twisted it again, but it still wouldn't light.

Jiang Ran looked at the steering wheel, took a deep breath, and turned the key for the third time. This time, the engine coughed violently for several seconds, like an old man being choked, before finally starting with difficulty, and a cloud of gray smoke came out of the exhaust pipe.

The engine sounded rattling and crackling, as if it might stall at any moment.

Sitting in the driver's seat, listening to the groans of the broken-down car, Jiang Ran suddenly had the idea of ​​getting a new car.

He bought this used car a few years ago. At the time, he was short of money and just picked the cheapest one to get around in, as long as it could run. But after driving it for a few years, he found that it had too many drawbacks: small space, high fuel consumption, and a persistent old leather smell inside. Most importantly, it broke down frequently. Last winter, it stalled on the road, almost making Jiang Ran late for class.

Before, when we didn't have much money, we just made do with what we had. Now, we're much better off. The initial investment we gave Leng Qiaoqiao to buy the RV has long been recouped, and we even have a considerable surplus.

Jiang Ran thought about it and realized that with new energy vehicles being so advanced now, it wouldn't be a luxury to switch to a car with more space.

When we have time in the future, we can take Jiang Li on a trip or camping trip.

Although he was unsure about his future, he could at least buy the car first.

Thinking of this, Jiang Ran pulled the handbrake, turned around, and drove out of the school.

……

In the east of the city, there is a commercial street specializing in automobiles, with stores of various brands lined up in a row. Jiang Ran picked a brand that sold new energy vehicles and went inside.

The car selection process went smoothly. Jiang Ran's requirements were simple: spacious interior, long range, and autonomous driving capability.

In the future, if someone suddenly faints while driving, at least the autopilot can pull the car to the side of the road, preventing it from hitting a random, lucky pedestrian and sending them to another world.

The salesperson enthusiastically introduced several models, and Jiang Ran quickly chose a white mid-to-large SUV. It had enough space, and the exterior design was aesthetically pleasing, making it more presentable when picking up Jiang Li from school.

Jiang Ran received 10,000 yuan in compensation for the used car, but he didn't haggle. He signed the contract and swiped his card.

It would take a few days to pick up the car. Jiang Ran finished the formalities and was about to leave when a piercing alarm suddenly sounded outside the dealership.

Waaah—!

The pedestrians on the street immediately fell into chaos, screaming and running to both sides. Some people stood still and looked around, while others reacted quickly and took out their phones to record.

Jiang Ran walked to the side of the street and looked in the direction of the commotion.

On a commercial high-rise building not far away, a huge monster that looks like an octopus is clinging to the building's exterior wall. Its deep red skin is covered with scale-like shells, and several thick tentacles are wrapped around the building's steel structure, trying to pry open the exterior wall and crawl inside like unpacking a package.

The citizens seemed to have gotten used to this scene. Apart from those who were running away from nearby, many people who were a little further away were taking pictures with their mobile phones.

There are many theories in academia about why Warcraft appeared on Earth, but one mainstream hypothesis is currently the most widely accepted: the world bubble theory.

Simply put, Earth, where humans live, and the world where Warcraft exists are two adjacent giant "world bubbles." For some unknown reason, the two world bubbles accidentally moved closer together, and the magic of the Warcraft world permeated Earth.

Some human girls with a high affinity for magic have thus gained the ability to transform into magical girls.

Meanwhile, monsters began invading Earth from the boundary between the two world bubbles, and only magical girls could fight against them.

This marked the beginning of the era of magical girls.

Although the world bubble theory has not yet been proven, it can effectively explain why the appearance of monsters is always elusive and almost unpredictable, because the interface between two world bubbles is constantly changing, and where a monster emerges from depends entirely on the location of the contact point at that time.

This theory was also adopted by the authorities, and a series of research and defense systems were established based on it.

However, none of these things are currently relevant to the situation at hand.

Jiang Ran leaned against a pillar at the entrance of the store, hands in her pockets, with no intention of transforming.

As a first-tier coastal city, Tianhai City has a considerable number of magical girls stationed here, and the official response speed is also very fast. There is no need to expose oneself in such a small matter.

Sure enough, less than a minute later, a dazzling blue streak of light pierced the sky.

The streak of light was incredibly fast, like a shooting star trailing a blue flame, slicing diagonally down from the city and piercing straight through the tentacle monster's body.

The sonic boom followed immediately, and the shockwave shattered the windows of several nearby buildings.

Some onlookers covered their ears, while others shouted excitedly, snapping photos of the sky with their phones.

The blue streak of light drew a beautiful arc in the air before returning and piercing through the base of the monster's tentacles once more, its movements swift and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.

In a few moments, the tentacle monster lost its fighting ability, and its deep red body slowly fell from the tall building.

The whole process was clean and efficient.

Jiang Ran raised an eyebrow slightly. This was most likely a magical girl with rich combat experience, and her strength was at least at the Bronze/Silver level.

However, just as the people around were about to cheer, several streaks of light flashed across the distant sky.

Magical trails of various colors converged from different directions, moving at a speed not much slower than the blue stream of light.

These should be the local magical girls stationed in Tianhai City.

Strangely, instead of dealing with the monster's corpse, they surrounded the blue streak of light.

The two sides confronted each other in mid-air, at a height of about two or three hundred meters above the ground. Ordinary people could only see a few blurry figures and flashing magical light, and could not distinguish who was who at all.

But Jiang Ran could see it clearly.

The blue magical girl was surrounded by four people, one on guard and the other on tension, the atmosphere clearly not friendly.

However, being too far away, Jiang Ran could only vaguely hear a few fragmented words: "unregistered," "cooperate with the investigation," and "transfer."

Jiang Ran roughly guessed what it was.

That blue streak of light belonged to a wild magical girl who wasn't in the official database.

She killed the invading monster, but the magical girl stationed in Tianhai City tried to stop her.

Because she was not registered, not subject to the jurisdiction of the ten-seat council, and used magic in the city without permission, it was a violation of regulations.

However, the two sides had only been locked in a standoff for a few seconds when the blue magical girl made her move.

Without the slightest hesitation, a blue light blade slashed out from her hand, directly shattering the encirclement formation.

A dazzling magical effect exploded in the sky above the street, with blue, gold, and emerald green magic intertwining and colliding, making half the sky colorful. The passersby below were confused for a moment. Some thought that magical girls were working together to fight against monsters and were clapping and cheering.

Fortunately, both sides seemed to be mindful of the busy urban area beneath their feet, and did not go all out, keeping the scale of their fight within a certain range so that it did not affect the ground.

After a brief standoff, the blue magical girl seized an opening, grabbed the falling tentacle monster's corpse, and with a burst of blue light, broke through the encirclement.

The magical girl from Tianhai City immediately gave chase, but at that moment, another streak of light appeared from the side and blocked their path.

The blue magical girl already had companions waiting nearby. This was most likely an organized operation: kill the monsters, steal the corpses, and then make a run for it.

The people who were supposed to be there to help entangled the magical girl from Tianhai City. The two sides fought back and forth for a while. By the time they managed to break free and continue the chase, the blue magical girl had already disappeared with the monster's corpse.

Then, the accomplice took advantage of the gap to descend from the sky into the city streets, deactivated his transformation, and blended into the crowd.

Magical girls have a built-in cognitive filter before and after their transformation, making it impossible for others to recognize their true identity. Unless they transform in person or admit it themselves, they cannot be recognized even if they look exactly the same.

The local magical girls searched the area but found no clues, so they had no choice but to leave.

The streets returned to normal, and pedestrians gradually dispersed. To them, what had just happened was just another Warcraft attack. Most people didn't understand what was going on at all; it was just material for their social media feeds today.

Jiang Ran, who witnessed the entire incident, never expected that there would be other wild magical girls in Tianhai City besides him.

Moreover, they were clearly acting in an organized manner, with a main force and support, and even had the strength and courage to break through four full-fledged magical girls head-on.

Jiang Ran had never heard of this group before. Logically, they should have been hiding well all along, so why did they suddenly rob people in broad daylight today?

Or perhaps... something has changed in Tianhai City, causing them to be willing to expose their own existence in order to obtain the monster's corpse?

Jiang Ran leaned against the pillar, turning her gaze away from the direction the magical girls had left.

"interesting."