: The Limits of Thought

"I'm so sorry... we had a preconceived notion and accidentally mistook you for a bad person."

Jin Yu placed her hands on her rather ample chest and bowed solemnly, showing no airs of a powerful figure.

"Bad people... what kind of bad people are like me?" Wu An asked.

The gentle woman coughed twice, her gaze shifting.

"Because you are tainted with unclean magic, I mistakenly identified you."

This explanation makes sense, after all, Wu An had just fought against the Calamity Beast.

But... the girls who were abducted to this room were also previously suppressed by filthy magic, and their bodies are still surrounded by the aura of filthy magic.

Only Wu An and the Disaster Beast were suppressed by Jin Yu's magic.

She could clearly tell the difference.

Just as Wu An was thinking about how to gather intelligence, Jin Yu blatantly changed the subject:

"Anyway, thank you very much for your involvement. You don't seem to be from the General Affairs Bureau, would you be interested in coming here?"

Wu An did not answer, but simply watched her silently.

Perhaps realizing that she had changed the subject too blatantly, Jin Yu looked a little embarrassed.

"It's okay if you don't want to join. In fact, it's precisely because of the activity of the general public that many problems haven't arisen in areas we haven't been able to cover."

Since the topic of being accidentally injured couldn't be discussed for the time being, Wu'an wanted to inquire about the Huanzi Association:

"Why would the head of the General Affairs Bureau come here... Is it actually very dangerous here?"

Wu An had called for backup before coming in, but he really didn't expect to get such a big surprise.

"Well, I happened to be nearby, and the liaison officer said it was a kid I knew who sent the alarm, so I came to check it out."

However, I don't know if he encountered another magical girl, but I didn't see any disaster beasts or him when I came to the vicinity. Instead, I discovered this suspicious base.

"Speaking of which... there seems to be residual aura of a C-level disaster beast in the plaza below..." Jin Yu said.

"Not only are there calamity beasts, but there's also a strange gas," Wu An added.

Jin Yu avoided any hints about Wu An, instead focusing on the questions that concerned him:

"How did you deal with that C-rank disaster beast?"

Seeing her "rascal" appearance, Wu'an gave up on trying to get information from Jin Yu.

She answered truthfully, "My companion is a third-tier being."

"Is that so? I can't find her."

"Her name is Zhu Huan, and she claims to be an undercover magical girl from your General Affairs Bureau, specializing in handling these kinds of more subtle issues."

Wu An is now very suspicious of Zhu Huan's identity and wants to see Jin Yu's reaction.

"Ah... I think there was such a child." Jin Yu said thoughtfully.

"Does the General Staff Department have 'plainclothes officers'? I didn't see her information in the personnel database either."

"No...no?" She tilted her head in confusion, making it hard to tell if she was genuine or just pretending.

"?"

Wu An was a bit confused. Even if Jin Yu said something like "After all, he's an undercover officer," she would accept it. But it was this reaction that made her seem out of the loop.

Jin Yuming is clearly the person in charge of Changming City, yet he seems to have no recollection of such an important and secretive position.

Does she spend all her time visiting orphans instead of going to work or dealing with the monsters?

She doesn't seem like someone who neglects their duties...

Wu An was puzzled, but couldn't delve into it further, so he simply said:

"Please convey my gratitude to Miss Zhu Huan for me. If it weren't for her help, I don't think I would have survived the calamity beast."

"Mmm." Jin Yu nodded quickly, like an obedient student. "Don't worry, I'll trouble you to take care of our Bureau members from now on."

They chatted briefly about the "Ghost Child Society" and the "underground base," but didn't get any useful information.

As for the specifics of the Huanzi Association, Jin Yu only said that it was a small, hostile force and not worth mentioning.

How was the teleportation at the entrance to the underground base achieved? The only answer was magic—of course, if it wasn't magic, could it be space technology?

Jin Yu didn't even ask about the condition of the two human traffickers who died...

It seems like they really don't care about these things.

The Bureau of Statistics acted quickly; realizing there was no place for him here, Wu An prepared to leave.

As they were about to leave, among the group of girls comforted by Jin Yu, one particularly noticeable gaze turned towards them.

It is Nan Shiyu.

When their eyes met, her eyes lit up noticeably, and she quickly clutched the hem of her dress and took small steps toward him, saying timidly:

"Miss Wu'an, you've saved me again."

"It was Miss Jin Yu who saved you. I don't have the ability to kill two C-level disaster beasts."

"No...no, you have so many wounds, you must have fought a lot..." She quickly waved her hands.

Wu An was indeed seriously injured and had lost a lot of blood. Even though Jin Yu treated her, she desperately needed to rest.

Adding to Zhu Huan's problem, his already dizzy head throbbed even more, and all he wanted to do was leave as soon as possible.

"I have some things to take care of, so I'm heading back now. Please wait here for a bit."

"Uh, please wait a moment!" Seeing that Wu An was about to leave, Nan Shiyu disregarded her shyness and quickly grabbed her clothes.

"Will we ever meet again?" she asked anxiously. She knew it wasn't the right time to stop Wu'an, but she couldn't help asking.

"If you keep having bad luck, then yes." Wu An didn't say what he really thought, but instead used what Li Huanhuan had said before:

"We'll meet again if fate allows."

Actually, as long as you add each other's contact information, you can meet without any special connection.

"Well... I told my family about being bullied, so we decided to move to Yunze City. We might not see each other again."

They're actually moving!

Yunze City... Wu An vaguely remembered that it seemed to be a big city in Jiangbei, far away from Jiangdong where Changming City was located.

I was originally planning to develop a "companionship" with Nan Shiyu, but unfortunately that didn't happen.

"I see. Take care in the future."

"We're so far apart, is it really possible for us to meet?" Nan Shiyu insisted on asking.

"If all else fails, just give me your contact information, and I can contact you whenever I want..." Wu An said casually, eager to leave.

"I fell when I was discharged from the hospital yesterday, and my phone fell into the river... Because it was a new phone... I haven't memorized the number yet." She looked at Wu'an with tears in her eyes.

Wu An didn't know whether to focus on her recovery speed—"she just fractured her bone the day before yesterday and was discharged from the hospital yesterday"—or on her extremely bad luck.

Nan Shiyu couldn't provide her contact information, and Wu An wouldn't give her his either.

"I see. Then let's see if fate allows," Wu An said.

"How much fate would it take?" she asked.

"I don't know. There's a saying, 'Where there's a will, there's a way.' For magical girls, that's the truth. If a thought is strong enough to reach its limit, it will naturally come true..."

"But..." She took out the Seed of Heart and presented it to Wu An. The Seed of Heart was dim and without light, with only a layer of seemingly ethereal magic floating on its outer surface.

"I have magic... but for some reason, I can't transform... Can I even be considered a magical girl?"

"It's all calculated, it's all about the Seed of the Heart and magic."

Nan Shiyu seemed completely oblivious to the perfunctory tone in Wu An's voice, and simply asked earnestly:

"Then... what is the limit of thought?"

Wu An paused for a moment, then thought of a number.

"Let the magic circulate within you two hundred thousand times. Once you reach that number, it means your will is strong enough, and then we will meet."

"real?"

"I never lie."

One cycle is a complete "cultivation", which takes about four hours and will increase magic power slightly.

The 200,000 points represent the minimum magical power required to break through to the sixth rank, as listed by the system.

Without the system's help, Nan Shiyu only has a little magic power at a time, which adds up to 200,000 over four hours...

Even with tireless cultivation every day, it would still take nearly a hundred years. By then, she and Nan Shiyu might both be buried long ago.

"I see. I will diligently circulate my magic."

"Well, then, see you again someday," Wu An said, preparing to leave.

"Please wait a moment..."

Wu An couldn't help but frown. The girl in front of him was as annoying as a puppy, but it was inconvenient to just shake her off.

Nan Shiyu carefully took Wu An's hand and placed something warm into it.

It was a coin with the character "幸" (luck) engraved on both sides; I had never seen such a coin before.

Is Nan Shiyu's family involved in counterfeiting?

In this world, the only way to get from one city to another is by public transportation, but the fares are ridiculously expensive.

The fact that Nan Shiyu's family was able to move to Jiangbei suggests they are quite wealthy.

"This... comes out along with the Seed of the Heart, and it brings good luck." She smiled shyly.

It wasn't counterfeit money after all.

"Why give it to me?" Wu An asked.

"Because...you were the first person besides my parents to lend me a helping hand."

"Haven't you been saved by other magical girls before?"

"Last time was the first time I directly ran into a monster."

Nan Shiyu revealed something that made Wu An jealous.

She's incredibly unlucky; she's only been attacked by a monster once in her entire life. Is she lucky or unlucky?

"Well... goodbye until we meet again, Miss Wu'an." Nan Shiyu took a step back.

"Mm." Wu An nodded.

Although it's annoying, the attitude is so humble that it's hard to refuse.