Jin Changfeng was indeed troubled by why the fairy remnant shell's energy was becoming increasingly abnormal.
Actually, during this period his primary focus had been on managing other fields. The waters in infection treatment were too deep, involving numerous interests, and each held military power—those violent groups didn't care about benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, or trust. Better to withdraw early. His company should wisely protect itself and find other paths. This field could be left to Five-Color Narcissus Company, which had both strong technology and hard fists.
So he sought out Hibiscus and Jin Ruochu both to reveal his trump card and hope that Magical Girl professionals would handle professional matters—everyone taking what they needed.
Honestly, Jin Changfeng still opposed his daughter participating in so many dangerous missions with Salvation Church, but he'd made peace with it.
Where in the world was still safe?
By comparison, the strongest Hyacinth was somewhat reliable. Might as well proactively confess and offer something good, counting as one benefit exchange. Thinking this, he saw Hibiscus's scanning gaze, and the two smiled knowingly.
"...Can't make judgments based on current information alone. Would it be convenient to provide research materials? There should be clues."
Jin Changfeng pointed to the laboratory safe: "Jin Ruochu, you go get it. Those are your mother's manuscript records from back then. Must be carefully preserved..."
"There's such a thing? From now on it'll be my bedside treasure."
Bang!
The girl transformed fully and hammered the safe hard, her violent action making him hold his forehead and sigh.
Fortune and Misfortune magic quickly operated—a series of perfectly timed screw loosening, gear misalignment, and password errors actually made the super safe open its door by itself. Inside were countless research materials, each worth its weight in gold as business intelligence. But Jin Ruochu immediately took a fancy to one yellowed research notebook that indeed matched her mother's handwriting.
"I meant for you to listen to me input the password to open it."
"Actually, you never tell me about accounts related to money. Password? Never even heard of it." Amid complaints, the girl opened the notebook murmuring: "Very detailed records, much more serious than me."
She gripped the research materials and sighed deeply, reminiscing about the past with Jin Changfeng. Without a lubricant role, the two inevitably argued when talking.
Hibiscus watched this family drama with her chin in her hand, unsure whether to interrupt or observe.
Jin Changfeng continued: "Also, the fusion modification surgery performed on you earlier was thanks to using remnant shell energy based on notebook descriptions to reduce aftereffects. I'm telling you now—in some sense, it also mixed in a wisp of fairy magical power."
"You added this inexplicable stuff without telling me? Really a mad scientist!"
"Wasn't it because your magical power control was too poor?"
No matter what topic they started with, it would lead to mutual criticism, eventually escalating to arguments over time. As an outsider seeing clearly, Hibiscus suffered greatly.
Really complicated. Too bad my family scattered long ago—can't relate at all.
She turned to observe the fairy remnant shell. Indeed, that strange contaminating magical power still existed and was gradually intensifying.
Worthy of being the undisputed protagonist of the original storyline—look at this configuration: complex background, orphaned since childhood, fused with multiple powers... Opportunities weren't rare for Magical Girl Manjusaka. Of course, it could also be explained as Fortune and Misfortune's karmic retribution result—paying costs upfront for everything later. Perhaps she'd already noticed this point, so she dealt with magic with a slightly manic attitude. Uninformed bystanders just thought her simple and strange.
Pitiful yet adorable.
Dark-toned worldview protagonists didn't have it easy, with another layer of "causality system buff" destined for lifelong troubles and twists.
According to netizens, truly grown-up causality magic users in the main story were few and far between. Even when finally standing alone, they were somewhat afflicted with serious problems, eventually having to pay the bill.
But now Jin Ruochu had Hibiscus around—she would never allow tragedy.
"Deal with your matters later. I must warn you: the remnant shell has problems. Are there other Disaster Beast samples preserved in the lab? Be careful."
Before finishing, the fairy phantom in the jar released ripple after ripple of magical power, spreading in all directions.
A Growth Stage Magical Girl's full transformation made surrounding magical power increasingly active, also causing the fairy remnant shell to emit dark, profound aura—vastly different from those pure, bright figures in World Tree Realm. Even Hibiscus felt her scalp tingle.
Her understanding of fairy town was too limited. Perhaps there had been some changes all along. Now it finally revealed its face and bared its fangs.
"...People who contacted remnant shell energy for long periods develop certain resistance to infections. Similarly, it can make Disaster Beast remains samples more active to support experiments, saving much procurement funding. I saved a large sum this way." Cold sweat on Jin Ruochu's back. "But the price might be coming."
"Be careful."
Jin Ruochu dove to push her father away. Almost simultaneously, the wall behind her shattered—a Disaster Beast remains actually crawled over and extended claws, cold light flashing.
The next moment, silk threads swept past, cutting this zombie body into pieces.
The two couldn't help looking at the silver-haired girl who'd just acted, as that magnificent magical power proclaimed incomparable presence.
The hourglass hair ornament bound her waist-length hair neatly, half-red jacket cape fluttering, golden sash gleaming. Black military-style uniform appeared cool and dashing, short skirt pleats exquisite as artwork. White over-knee socks tightly hugged tender skin, accentuating curves. Thick leather boots stepped amid rolling oppressive aura that made further approaching Disaster Beast remains prostrate motionless.
Hyacinth full transformation.
The sweeping magical power was stern yet didn't oppress, instead making the Jin father and daughter feel refreshed.
As her life level increased, Hibiscus controlled her oppressive aura more freely, no longer always stirring celestial phenomena lest others not know where she was. Her control had long reached perfection.
Jin Changfeng was left conflicted. Regardless, everyone's paths were diverging. In his lifetime, the world faced such changes with loved ones swept in—blessing or curse? Or perhaps everyone was already involved.
"You two stay back."
Mere Disaster Beast dregs naturally didn't warrant full-status response, but somehow the fairy remnant shell before her gave a strong threatening feeling.
Prepare for rainy days—if you have power and ill intentions, I'll have to make you die again.
Development proceeded as expected. The next moment, the fairy remnant shell phantom actually shattered the glass tube thunderously, magical power mixed with shrieks becoming blood-red so thick it couldn't dissolve—just like a former Catastrophe Disaster Beasts.
"Is there a possibility: we were wrong? She's not some hero but inviting wolves into the house."
Hibiscus seemed to mutter but was actually concluding. After all, World Tree Realm was strictly speaking in civil war state, divided into two factions—dark elves loved war and slaughter.
Then the fairy remnant shell slowly raised her hand, runes flowing to construct totems. This move wasn't unfamiliar to Magical Girls—bombardment technique. But the complexity, magical power quantity, and instant-cast efficiency were incredible. In an instant, torrents tore through underground laboratory bunkers, vowing to destroy the entire building complex.
"Leap forth."
Almost simultaneously, a silk thread cut through time's concept, all attack consequences treated as within time leap range, deleting lethal influences.
Hibiscus's reaction was superior, so she launched skills first to avoid the worst outcome.
After a snap, all was silent—nothing happened.
Time Slash's large-range action on conceptual attacks, leaping to delete certain processes, inevitably caused massive consumption. During this period, magic couldn't activate—basically equivalent to cooldown.
Understanding this, Jin Ruochu and Hibiscus tactfully switched positions.
Protected Jin Changfeng was dumbfounded throughout. Experiencing top Magical Girl combat at zero distance for the first time, he simply couldn't process the information. Just now his vision seemed filled with silver sand that drowned the torrent, then attacks were dissolved light as a feather—gentle breeze, not a hair harmed.
Strongest magic, Sands of Time.
The world-renowned power of Hyacinth displayed before him, unfathomably deep fairy remnant shell covered by another exaggerated force.
Now it seemed various companies' fusion warriors were too outdated, increasingly insufficient—unless the newly appointed Chief of Staff Bull promoted new technology...
The magical power sword carrying calamity shot from the pink-haired girl's hand, penetrating the fairy remnant shell's magical shield unstoppably. Powerful curses flowed through air, water, sound, and all media, converging on the target.
Crack!
The dark fairy phantom showed fissures, even emitting shrieks as countless vessels shattered into fragments.
It seemed very sensitive to Magical Girl aura. Twisted, rampaging magical power represented its anger, wishing to tear everything apart. Destructive desire undisguised, rushing straight at Hibiscus and Jin Ruochu. If facing ordinary Magical Girls, they'd probably be intimidated into inaction, but Growth Stage powerhouses who'd seen mountains of corpses and seas of blood didn't fall for this—just fighting a somewhat special enemy.
After roaring, the fairy phantom's aura rapidly dropped, revealing flaws. After all, it was broken energy that couldn't even be called a corpse—must escape quickly.
"Pure magical beings can conveniently penetrate realm boundaries. Must stop it immediately."
Noticing this, Hibiscus warned.
Sands of Time magic's cooldown ended. Almost immediately, surging magical power around her condensed new attacks, ready to strike.
Time magic was often powerful but costly with cooldowns—stronger skills harder to fire continuously. But for her, weaknesses became increasingly negligible. As long as you're versatile enough, environmental limitations don't exist.
Hibiscus kicked off, raising a circle of origin-condensed force that scattered the fairy remnant shell's energy, then casually swung out a mirror fragment without aiming.
Originally prepared to take a hit, it was slightly stunned—what accuracy? Ridiculous.
Whoosh!
Suddenly wind blew in the sealed space, making the remnant shell lean sideways just right to expose the other end of its magical shield. Temporal Cross-Section swept past, splitting the target in half from the waist without suspense.
The remnant shell, barely a meter tall, immediately became two pieces falling to the ground. Even now it hadn't realized what strange event occurred.
Victory decided. Temporal Cross-Section completely blocked magical flow—even real fairies probably couldn't withstand it. Seeing this, Hibiscus felt overly cautious. Actually, directly cutting would work the same. Of course, two magics cooperating was more economical. That instant, Jin Ruochu provided bad luck making enemies guaranteed hits plus calamity curses, easily defeating targets. With frequent daily training, they could produce combination techniques anytime, anywhere—one plus one doubled effects.
Witnessing the silver-haired and pink-haired girls' elbow bump celebration, Jin Changfeng sighed and sat limply on the ground, even more powerless. Heart-tired.
Hibiscus was about to help him up but was refused.
"I can stand up myself." Finishing, the man dusted himself off and made emergency calls. After hanging up: "I told everyone to stay calm and block news. Today's lab accident will become another secret or urban legend."
"Also, another matter—many new infection symptoms appeared in Ningfeng Harbor. It finally spread here. If development isn't quick, consequences will be unthinkable."
The three felt tense, understanding such transmission speed was quite exaggerated. Further delays would be disastrous.
They looked toward where the remnant shell fell but found only a handful of emerald ash—pure magical beings ultimately returning dust to dust.
Storm subsided.
But more questions remained without leads.
Hibiscus bent down, using her right index finger to dab some ash, murmuring: "Healing curses flow more smoothly. Using it as a medicine catalyst was indeed correct, but you've always lacked corresponding activation methods. With Church technology, it should support next-generation new medicine development, and quickly."
Fortunate in misfortune. Though her mind was full of complex thoughts, good news was good. Especially Jin Changfeng wiping forehead sweat—finally helped, not wasted effort.
"Speaking of which, according to Lady Hyacinth, those magical fairies also have evil sides, even suspected of summoning catastrophes?"
"Just speculation. I don't recommend further investigation."
"Fair enough. You're professionals—I trust the Salvation Church. Anyone witnessing Magical Girl power firsthand develops miraculous thoughts, right?" Jin Changfeng took a deep breath. "Will you also become pure magical beings in the future, maintaining that form even in death..."
"No problem."
The pink-haired girl who answered first smiled comfortingly: "I'm very open-minded. Doesn't matter how I die. Even if someone uses my ashes as cement, it's fine."
"Jin Ruochu, every time I try to give you more respect as a father, you open your mouth to speak."
Actually, everyone knew Jin Changfeng worried Magical Girls were transforming into another life form. They themselves knew this was true, and explaining was complex. Might as well joke around—nothing worth deep investigation. Regardless, they'd already walked this path. Only moving forward boldly remained. Retreat or wavering weren't allowed, just like dark fairies whose obsessions couldn't be stripped even by death.
Its excessive reaction to Magical Girl aura was intriguing but uninvestigable. Priority was developing new infection medicine.
Roar!
Suddenly a low roar interrupted the three's thoughts. Influenced by fairy remnant shell awakening, some Disaster Beast remains still crawled out with incomplete bodies, emanating super-high concentration contamination.
"Wait, don't you think it's very similar to Fallen Zone aura?" Jin Ruochu hit the nail on the head—dark fairies connected to new infections.
Admittedly, Disaster Beasts killing and devouring each other played key roles, but other seasonings weren't ruled out.
"Mr. Jin, I suggest immediately sealing the park and evacuating personnel. The reason can be infection prevention and related research. We'll also cooperate with cognitive processing. We must act quickly—research new medicine while clearing out these guys." Hibiscus said seriously.
All three agreed.
The urgent situation couldn't tolerate hesitation—decisive action required.
The difficulty wasn't eliminating these small fry but not knowing how many unstable factors remained hidden. Mobilizing Salvation Church was relatively safer—counting as training.
"Also, I'll publicly announce Changfeng Group and your company jointly cooperating to develop new specific medicine, using this to silence media. We'll withdraw from specific medicine business this way, avoiding further trouble."
Jin Changfeng lit a cigarette. Actually, he was very disciplined and rarely used indulgences, but today felt stuffy inside.
Smoke surrounded the middle-aged man's face, adding melancholy. His gaze fixed on the flickering laboratory after devastation, slightly lost in thought.
"What do you think of this decision?"
"Retiring at the peak is business wisdom. You have good vision and probably guess future military-specific medicine landscape will change dramatically."
Rather than answering, Hibiscus was previewing her own plans. Since becoming a true military-industrial complex member, other sheep-in-wolf's-clothing specific medicines should disappear. If those guys wouldn't gracefully exit competition, she'd give them grace.
Great minds think alike. In the same position, Jin Changfeng would also kick opponents out, so he asked to confirm the future monopolist's attitude.
Both exchanged glances and nodded—leave it to you, I'm at ease.
"Hey, why do you two always seem so in sync without listening to my opinion?" The pink-haired girl held her notebook. "Mother was also doctor-born hoping to save more lives. These ideals established the group. Now forget business crises or funding chain breaks—clearly smooth sailing, why run away? Are you old and tired?"
"Goading won't work on me. Besides, we're only withdrawing from specific medicine fields while maintaining other aspects."
"Can we manage without the largest income source?"
"Saying that—haven't I discussed with you how much the fairy remnant shell should be valued at?"
Jin Changfeng laughed heartily, still the confident big businessman. Now it was time to formally discuss prices—after all, such treasures were more expensive than ordinary relics.
He chose the buyer who best understood collectible values while being most sentimental with him—thoroughly deliberate, highest-level bamboo shaking.
Hearing this, Jin Ruochu was stunned then understood the connections, immediately looking toward her boss. Strictly speaking, she was a senior executive and shareholder, but real decision authority belonged to the Chairwoman.
This wasn't about emotions—organizations needed clear authority and responsibility. When procedures were needed, follow procedures. Otherwise, neither surface company nor inner Church could develop.
"Should we acquire it?"
Hibiscus said frankly: "Honestly, I can't evaluate fairy remnant shell value. Let's use original shares for exchange."
"Deal. So I'm aboard too. Anyway, please take care of each other from now on, Chairman Mu and Manager Jin. I'm certain the Five-Color Narcissus business will reach new heights, and you're among the few enterprises with truly safe assets in modern times... Of course, I mean you have power to protect industrial assets, not those terrible financial assets full of holes."
Jin Changfeng appeared triumphant but everything was planned. Communicating with smart people saved effort—both sides were satisfied after exchanges, everyone getting what they needed, cooperating happily.
"Dad, your awkward style is really roundabout."
"Right, never learn this from me, or you'll probably stumble later."
If he directly asked for shares to join Five-Color Narcissus interest consortium, both daughter and Boss Mu would welcome him with open arms, but dignity wouldn't allow it. Conveniently having two things to hand over, might as well go with the flow.
Really troublesome.
After all this, Jin Changfeng wanted to slap himself, also losing lab and numerous materials, but felt good.
He took a deep drag, finishing the cigarette, then crushed the butt between index finger and thumb, shrugging: "What? Want me to personally see you out? You two go back where you came from. Just send share transfer documents later."
Sensing Jin Changfeng needed solitude, the two left the experimental park.
Unknowingly, they'd spent the entire night. When entering, it was clear skies with galaxy spanning overhead. Now eastern dawn appeared—Ningfeng Harbor would welcome the sunrise.
Jin Ruochu held the notebook, letting sea breeze flip pages until stopping at a cross-page painting—similarly an ocean sunrise scene.
"After the Crimson Tsunami subsided, mother was stationed long-term in South Africa for research. This is the Cape of Good Hope scenery."
"I never told you—doctors said my special constitution might relate to my mother's infection there. Though she returned home for long pregnancy care, effects aren't ruled out. So I don't fundamentally reject magic—it's a gift. I carry my mother's inheritance and encountered you, Hyacinth. I became strong through this—I'm the world's first causality magic user."
She faced the sea wind, long hair dancing, back to spring light with a bright smile.
Very beautiful.
Truly beautiful Magical Girls making Hibiscus feel pretty were definitely those most accepting their own power, radiating firm temperament from within. This charm belonged uniquely to Magical Girl Manjusaka.
"Usually I've heard your experiences from various places. This is the first time mentioning Cape of Good Hope. Logically, you should have gone long ago."
"It's my never-met sorrowful place."
"...Sorry, but I guess you gradually don't think so anymore." She gently hugged Jin Ruochu's shoulder for comfort. The latter simply nuzzled into the embrace.
The pink-haired girl gently stroked book pages, murmuring: "Including this painting and enthusiasm overflowing between lines won't fake. I once obsessively thought my mother had to go due to duties, missions, obligations, etc. Actually, she was very pure and greater."
She let go of some grievances, surging tides seemingly inexhaustible magical power.
Parental gifts nourished Jin Ruochu across time. No moment was better than now.
"Since so, let's visit Cape of Good Hope someday—sailing Hidden Island for sightseeing. That area is still stable."
"Right, the Indian Ocean war zone is the most peaceful."