"——Why would a Remnant Beast appear at a time !"
Muttering, she released the hand she had been pressing on Xia Liang's hand. She unfastened the seatbelt in front of her, opened the car door, and shouted to the two girls in the back:
"What are you looking at? Get out of the car!"
"Wait a second, you're going to get out here?"
The driver's voice trembled a little: "Didn't you see what's outside the car? Sit tight, we need to escape!"
Unfortunately, his advice didn't reach the girls' ears at all, because before he could finish speaking, the three girls had already filed out, running from the car. Only two ten-yuan notes remained, thrown onto the seat, presumably to pay for the ride.
He wanted to look for traces of his young passengers, but to his dismay, he couldn't see even a shadow of them. Then, seeing the Remnant Beast had noticed him, clawing its way toward the highway, he clenched his teeth, abandoned any thought of rescuing them, and pressed the accelerator to leave.
After that, the fully transformed Magical Girls swarmed up, fighting with the Remnant Beast in a flurry.
The battle was fated to be unfair.
This suddenly emerged Remnant Beast was merely an ordinary Inchworm-class one; a terribly dangerous monster to average citizens, but to the current Fangting City squad, it was nothing but a punching bag.
Furthermore, because of its emergence, the girls had been embarrassed to a greater or lesser extent and were especially annoyed. Thus, they struck with extra force. In a few minutes, the unlucky Remnant Beast lay wailing on the ground, transforming into an Echo in Lin Xiaolu's hands.
Having dealt with the Remnant Beast with an annoyed expression, Lin Xiaolu hadn't forgotten the purpose of her trip. She quickly stood atop the remains, looking into the distance, but unfortunately, Hong Siyu and the vehicle were nowhere to be seen.
Now, she had to admit a fact — that her tracking had failed.
Not because of a misstep in the operation, nor a traitor leaking information, but because of a Remnant Beast that had unexpectedly appeared out of nowhere.
"Aiyah, if we've lost them, we've lost them, I already said just look in that direction, Sister Hong likely just went to work."
Xia Liang patted her shoulder, comforting her, but the smile on her face didn't give away her real intentions: "We're off for half a day, why don't we find somewhere else to have fun instead?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Bai Jingxuan, who had gotten her phone back, swiftly deleted her drafted message, then nodded like a good baby next to them.
Even though it was her own decision, Lin Xiaolu was so frustrated she stamped her feet: "How can you be so happy when we've failed! Where's your backbone? Where's your ambition? What about team spirit?"
"It's not our fault; it's not a defeat in battle."
Xia Liang continued to mediate: "We've done our best already, it's just unfortunate, don't be hard on yourself."
"Xia Liang is right!" Bai Jingxuan nodded her head vigorously.
"What do you mean 'unfortunate'? We were almost successful!"
Lin Xiaolu was choked with frustration, pointing at Bai Jingxuan: "And you, what do you mean 'Xia Liang is right'? You little traitor, were you planning to tip someone off just now?"
Bai Jingxuan's nodding suddenly stopped, turning into intense head-shaking.
"You're overthinking it, how could Xiaoxuan, such a well-behaved child, do such a thing?"
Xia Liang pushed Lin Xiaolu's shoulders, her smile becoming even brighter: "There's really no helping it; we've failed already. Let's just find a nearby place to have fun, I've already made up my mind!"
Lin Xiaolu turned and glared at Xia Liang and after a long while, her attitude softened slightly. Perhaps realizing that the situation was indeed beyond salvage, she hung her head dejectedly: "Fine, tell me, where shall we go have fun?"
After all, it was a rare vacation, and she didn't want to waste the remaining time wallowing in negativity.
"Let's see... The name is Fangting World Trade Shopping Mall, near the Abnormal Strategy Bureau."
With Lin Xiaolu's agreement, Xia Liang opened her phone and brought up her notes: "It's a shopping mall funded by the government, recently opened. I've heard there are lots of interesting shops; I haven't had a chance to check it out myself."
"Near the Abnormal Strategy Bureau?"
"Yep, just about a twenty-minute walk from the Abnormal Strategy Bureau."
Xia Liang flashed her phone screen: "If you're willing, we can play until office hours are over, then head to the Abnormal Strategy Bureau to check if Sister Hong is indeed working. If she does come out of there, that will prove I was right all along, won't it?"
"And if she doesn't come from there?"
"Then I'll accompany you next time, is that okay?" said Xia Liang, hands on hips, feeling content with achieving her goal.
As for Lin Xiaolu, who had to concede to the failed plan, she felt sullen and could hardly muster interest in anything, but still, begrudgingly nodded her head in an almost damage-control attitude: "...I hope you keep your word."
The girls, who, due to various coincidences, couldn't continue their pursuit, didn't know that Hong Siyu's car was indeed driving towards the outskirts, towards the direction of the Abnormal Strategy Bureau. However, just before reaching the destination, there was a slight change.
The car, turned a corner to the side.