Ningfeng Harbor First Private Hospital building, luxury single room.
Jin Ruochu, dressed in patient clothes, took 4 different medications and received an IV injection under the supervision of doctors making rounds. After 10 minutes of observation with no adverse reactions, they left. Throughout the process they talked among themselves, cold as if viewing a lab animal. Even the chairman's daughter was just precious research material in the eyes of these mad scientists.
"So be it."
The girl lay flat with her head pillowed on crossed hands, staring at the ceiling and sighing, feeling a warm breeze blow in through the window as seagulls cried, embodying freedom.
In her boredom she began flipping through comic books, but couldn't focus on reading at all.
Jin Ruochu was extremely nervous about the upcoming surgery. Those people wouldn't reveal any information yet expected her to hand over her life as if it were natural. After establishing the plan, her father didn't come visit, always busy expanding company operations. During their previous meeting he seemed quite tense—probably officials had detected signs of Disaster Beasts crossing oceanic spatial rifts again, just suppressing the news for now.
None of my business. The girl's mind, filled with calculations about surgery success rates and consequences, couldn't hold other thoughts—except one:
Was that female hero safe?
She hoped Changfeng Financial Group's chairman could fulfill his promise to settle the situation, but reportedly the one targeting the masked customer was Special Attack Forces hero Jin Yulu, famous for her stubborn persistence in pursuit. This link would be hard to resolve.
Speaking of which, the female hero was definitely related to mysterious abilities...
Jin Ruochu glanced at the water glass on the bedside table. The water inside rippled and nearly spilled out. No mistake—this was due to some kind of telekinetic manipulation.
So that night at the Dock Gang, the female hero charging through gunfire seven times in and out definitely possessed supernatural abilities, only stronger than her own, not weaker.
The current environment didn't allow her to experiment and investigate deeply, because she had no trust with those doctors.
The spacious hospital room somehow always carried a sense of wrongness, as if being watched by something. Since discovering telekinesis, Jin Ruochu trusted her intuition—there probably really were surveillance eyes. With this thought, she slowly got out of bed and felt around the opposite wall, indeed finding a pinhole camera. No need to guess it was her father's instruction.
Actually conducting surveillance!
Strange, why could she actually see the rough circuit distribution within the wall? Perhaps touching this thing would trigger an alarm.
Just as the girl's form filled the camera's field of view, the world lost its color. All phenomena remained motionless except for silver-white sand slowly flowing.
Hibiscus was also somewhat surprised by the hospital room's surveillance situation. With superior perception, she detected more watching eyes, especially unmistakable during time stop. Incidentally, repeatedly using magic gave her completely new experiences.
Her weakness was "contact immediately lifts the stop"—unable to "keep targets in stopped state while affected"—but actually this could be accomplished, perhaps called inertial time.
One second.
Brief enough to carry the girl before she could lift the stop and reach outside the window.
In a daze, standing on the side of a high-rise building feeling high-altitude winds, Jin Ruochu turned pale with fright. Just as she was about to scream, she felt her hand firmly grasped and, seeing the familiar figure, felt such strong security that she wasn't afraid of heights anymore. How magical—what kind of power could instantly transport someone from a hospital room, without any sensation, even memory seeming to suddenly black out without reaction.
"Not crying or making a fuss—quite brave."
"If I embarrassed myself in front of you, I'd never be able to lift my head again."
"Not that serious." Hibiscus's mouth twitched—good thing she wore a mask and sunglasses or this barely contained expression would be laughable. "I have real business with you. Let's go to the rooftop first."
Before finishing, she embraced the girl and in one stride stepped on smooth glass as if on level ground, walking quickly forward, then leaped to stand on the rooftop—empty and perfect.
"You're about to undergo modification surgery to cure your congenital disease. Though there will probably be complications, I guarantee you'll ultimately be fine. Your illness will definitely be cured, you'll regain freedom and embrace many things... I can't provide any evidence, but that's how things are."
"I believe you."
Actually right now I wouldn't doubt anything you said. Jin Ruochu added mentally, having long set thinking aside.
"Good, saves me effort explaining. Another thing—keep this safe, have it with you during surgery and don't let it leave your side."
Hibiscus took out a small piece of Evil-Repelling Incense. Because she'd cut it from the original, performance was greatly reduced, but suppressing Disaster Beast remains contamination effects was sufficient. Besides, she could see the girl was awakening Origin and should be able to handle it.
No, definitely possible—Manjusaka was stronger than the original storyline.
Netizens said magical girls attracted each other, with one person's awakening easily accelerating the process for surrounding qualified individuals.
As history's first magical girl, arriving at least a month early, she'd already opened the situation. Under Hibiscus's interference, many key nodes would probably be completely transformed.
The moment Jin Ruochu grasped the finger-sized incense, she understood its effects. The Disaster Beast substances previously injected in her body for adaptation had their rejection reactions suppressed, unable to stir up any waves, saving her life. With her increasingly strong physical condition, she could absolutely endure what came next—not only that, she'd reach new heights.
She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, whole body trembling, making Hibiscus worry.
"How is it?"
"This is bad—I couldn't repay you in a lifetime."
The girl rubbed her forehead and sighed, thinking what repayment are you talking about? In the future, just not beating me up would be burning incense.
"...I need you to do things. You've noticed the changes in your body, right? That's called magical girl power—it'll be useful in the future. Get well quickly, we'll contact each other later."
"Are you going to invite me to save the world?" Jin Ruochu's eyes lit up.
"Actually yes, but let's start with saving Ningfeng Harbor."
Hibiscus nodded emphatically, not only answering the question but making a promise, sketching a corner of future goals, becoming clearer and clearer. Actually, chaotic times had two meanings: first, frequent Disaster Beast incidents causing normal order to collapse; second, new transcendent powers taking the stage to reshape ruling structures. She would inevitably participate, so might as well gather people and recruit troops. What was most precious in the 21st century? Talent. The protagonist was indispensable talent.
Even through sunglasses, Jin Ruochu felt that aura of "none but you will do." Being recognized was so wonderful—heart surging, sky high and sea wide.
"It's a deal. As long as you don't do anything against my principles, I'll definitely help with all my strength."
"Not adding 'within my power'?"
"More than within my power—I consider my life yours."
"See you later."
Just as she finished speaking, the figure who had been waving goodbye disappeared from Jin Ruochu's sight. She deliberately observed the ground dust—no disturbance traces. Even the sensitive sparrows weren't startled. Probably wasn't simply fast speed.
The girl stretched and stopped investigating. Anyway, the day of fighting side by side would definitely come. Miss Masked Customer would reveal her mysterious veil—no need to rush.
She casually returned to the hospital room and turned a deaf ear to the bodyguards' questioning about the "strange frame loss phenomenon in the video footage."
A bunch of useless people, not as good as the female hero.