Off Work, Then I Become a Magical Girl
Chapter 97: The most difficult question

After that, the Fangting City Magical Girl Squad held another focused discussion regarding their secret base.

The discussion centered on two key issues: whether to seek help from the Countermeasure Bureau and how exactly to define the role of the secret base.

For the first issue, after Veronica had previously explained the situation, both Xia Liang and Lin Xiaolu had already made up their minds. After explaining the matter to Bai Jingxuan and obtaining her consent, all four members voted unanimously—time to milk the Countermeasure Bureau for resources.

The second issue seemed simpler but actually sparked some disagreement.

The main purpose of the secret base was, of course, to facilitate their activities—making it easier to meet up, train, and bond. Additionally, the magical girls could also choose to stay overnight at the base.

Among them, Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan had the clearest stance: since they would be gathering there most of the time anyway, why not just move in permanently and treat the secret base as their home?

Though it might sound a bit cold, for them, living in such a base might actually be more comfortable than staying at home or in the orphanage.

However, Lin Xiaolu and Veronica had their own concerns.

Lin Xiaolu worried about how to explain it to Lin Yun—whether he would even agree. Their relationship had only recently improved, and they were finally talking more. If she started staying out overnight frequently, wouldn't that be neglecting her father too much?

Veronica’s concerns were even more complicated: what if her identity was exposed?

After all, she and her daughter had a relatively stable home. Even if she occasionally stayed overnight at the base, she couldn’t live there permanently. And if she kept balancing between two identities—going home as a father and staying at the base as Veronica—things would eventually get suspicious.

She could make occasional excuses, like claiming a business trip as Lin Yun or saying she had solo missions as Veronica, but these weren’t long-term solutions.

If this continued, no matter how slow Lin Xiaolu was, she would eventually realize a strange pattern: Veronica and Lin Yun’s activities overlapped too much.

Veronica knew some spells but had never studied illusion or disguise magic. She could use her Magical Armor to create a decoy, but the decoy couldn’t act independently or be maintained remotely—too easy to see through.

Since magic couldn’t cover for her, and they couldn’t reach a conclusion in their discussion, the issue was left for Lin Xiaolu to discuss with Lin Yun directly.

When Lin Xiaolu hesitantly brought up the idea of staying out overnight, Lin Yun made a decisive call right away.

“No problem. I think it’s a good idea.”

The conversation happened over breakfast. As he casually placed eggs and milk in front of her, he encouraged, “If necessary, you could even move in with your teammates.”

“Huh? Wait… You agreed just like that?”

Lin Xiaolu, stunned, took the bowl of rice from him. “Your fourteen-year-old daughter wants to live away from home, you know? And I even ran away from home once because of a fight...”

That was exactly why she was so anxious about this.

After making up with Lin Yun, even though she wouldn’t openly admit it, she had reflected—at least a little—on how she had acted during their cold war. Looking back, she realized that running away had probably hit her dad pretty hard.

She was worried that bringing up a similar request now might remind him of those unpleasant memories and make him reject her outright.

But unexpectedly, Lin Yun agreed so easily—almost too open-mindedly.

“I don’t know much about magical girl business,” Lin Yun said calmly as he placed his own breakfast on the table, “but I do know a thing or two about how to support a magical girl from behind the scenes.”

“Your mom and I were good friends in our student days. Back then, she often traveled outside the city for magical girl missions. It’s perfectly normal.”

“You’re really not upset about this?” Lin Xiaolu still found it hard to believe. “I thought you’d at least try to stop me a little.”

“Veronica will be with you all, right?”

Lin Yun carefully controlled his expression, making sure not to give anything away. “She was close to your mom and is a reliable adult now. I trust she’ll take good care of you all.”

“Well, yeah, but...”

Lin Xiaolu narrowed her eyes. “Dad, are you secretly in contact with Veronica or something? You two seem awfully familiar.”

She had been suspicious for a while now—ever since she followed Lin Yun that one weekend. Though it turned out her wild guesses had been wrong, the doubt still lingered in her mind.

“We’ve only met a few times, but I learned some things about you as a magical girl through her.”

Dodging the question, Lin Yun said lightly, “She thinks highly of you, and it doesn’t seem like she’s just being polite.”

“Huh? Veronica thinks highly of me?”

As expected, Lin Xiaolu was immediately distracted by this and curiously pressed, “What did she say about me?”

“That you’re hardworking, serious, and full of potential...”

Lin Yun listed a few of her strengths while cracking the shell of a boiled egg. “Basically, in her eyes, you’re pretty impressive.”

“Ehh… is that so?” Lin Xiaolu lowered her gaze slightly, sipping her milk.

She tried to maintain a calm exterior, but under the table, her feet left the ground and swayed happily in the air, betraying her real emotions.

She had no idea about the complicated thoughts behind her father’s words.

“It’s not just that I trust you—I also have some things coming up in a couple of months,” Lin Yun added while her focus was elsewhere. “I might need to go on an extended work trip and won’t be able to stay in Fangting City. So, living with your magical girl teammates would be good for you.”

“How long will you be gone?” Lin Xiaolu blinked, still holding her cup.

“A few months, maybe.” Lin Yun kept it vague. “I was going to ask Aunt Hong to look after you, but it looks like that won’t be necessary.”

“I don’t want that woman taking care of me,” Lin Xiaolu muttered. “And I don’t really care, but you do seem awfully close to her.”

“It’s just business, stop overthinking things.”

Lin Yun sighed. “And don’t call her ‘that woman’ to her face. It’s rude.”

“Fine—”

With Lin Yun’s approval, Lin Xiaolu shared the news with the squad: she would be staying at the secret base, potentially even moving in for a few months.

With that, the plan for the secret base was set in motion.

Since the magical girls had made their decision, the Countermeasure Bureau quickly agreed. Not long after Veronica brought it up with Hong Siyu, potential locations were already under consideration.

Not only did the Bureau handle the base selection, but they also took care of negotiations with the orphanage. Given Lin Yun’s circumstances, neither his real identity nor his Veronica persona could be involved.

Things progressed faster than expected.

After discussions with Director Liu Wenqin, the orphanage easily agreed to let Bai Jingxuan move out under the pretense of a “special talent training program,” backed by the Countermeasure Bureau and Bai Jingxuan’s own request.

This meant that once the base was established, Bai Jingxuan could officially live in the Bureau’s dorms while actually staying with the magical girl squad.

She seemed genuinely happy about it.

Although she rarely expressed her emotions outright, Veronica could sense her excitement about living with the squad—so much so that she even trained harder.

With everything going smoothly, summer vacation passed by in this rhythm.

Even though their summer assignments were mostly completed, Xia Liang and Lin Xiaolu still had to prepare for the placement exams at the start of the school year, so they continued to study diligently.

Veronica used her extra time to review middle school coursework and was now capable of tutoring both girls across all subjects. She even contacted Lin Xiaolu’s school to obtain question banks, selecting and compiling problems to create practice exams for them.

The routine was simple but effective: lectures, problem-solving, and reviewing mistakes. As a well-established method in exam-focused education, it was undeniably efficient for catching up on studies.

After a summer of hard work, Lin Xiaolu managed to strengthen her weakest subjects—physics and math—bringing her scores above 70, and occasionally even hitting 80.

Xia Liang, on the other hand, was a natural-born genius, the classic “model student.” Starting with single-digit scores, she balanced her grueling magical girl training with her studies and managed to pull all her subjects above the passing mark.

Of course, such intense tutoring came at a cost—Veronica often had to stay up late grading their tests and refining her lesson plans. To keep herself alert, she even remained in her transformed state to prevent drowsiness.

In the quiet of the night, under the soft glow of a desk lamp, a small figure was often seen hunched over a desk, tirelessly working.

The three of them had put in extraordinary effort, and now they were beginning to see the results.

Still, while their progress was significant—borderline miraculous—such scores were only average in middle school. If they wanted to be considered true honor students, they still had a long way to go.

With less than a week before school started, another night of studying was underway.

Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang were both sprawled over their desks, scribbling away at the practice tests Veronica had prepared, while Veronica herself sat nearby, flipping through a textbook.

The peaceful atmosphere was suddenly interrupted by the buzzing of a phone.

Lin Xiaolu didn’t react, since she recognized her own ringtone.

Xia Liang also ignored it—she could guess who the caller was.

Veronica, however, was briefly startled. She put down her book and reached into the pocket of her dress, but just before she touched the fabric, she suddenly froze.

She realized that the buzzing wasn’t coming from her phone—it was coming from Lin Yun’s.

Veronica’s phone had been damaged during her fight against Sparrow, plummeting from high altitude onto the street. By the time she retrieved it, the screen was as shattered as her Heartstone Flower.

With the phone in such a state, it was completely unusable, forcing her to get a new one.

Because of the mix-up at the shopping center last time, she had taken extra precautions after purchasing her new device—setting both phones to silent mode, differentiating only by their vibration patterns.

Now, the buzzing sound clearly belonged to Lin Yun’s phone.

Realizing the source of the call, Veronica decided not to take it out in front of the two girls. Instead, she hopped off her chair, placed her book on the seat, and coolly announced, “I’ll be right back.”

She walked out of Xia Liang’s room, passed through the living room, and stepped onto the balcony. Only then did she pull out the phone and check the screen.

A somewhat familiar name appeared on the caller ID—it was a client from Gaosheng Corporation.

Not surprising. In fact, she had already anticipated this.

Lin Yun hadn’t been gone from the company for long. Even though he had sent a mass message on social media announcing his resignation and providing the new customer service contact, there were always people who didn’t check their messages.

Handling these calls was simple—she just had to inform them of the situation, and they would contact someone else.

But since she was still at Xia Liang’s house, answering as Lin Yun wasn’t an option. If she transformed back, her voice might carry through the balcony doors, and if the girls inside heard a man’s voice, it would be far too suspicious.

With her decision made, Veronica hung up the call.

She had already seen the caller’s name—she could just send a text instead.

As she opened the messaging app, a white text field appeared on the screen, waiting for her input.

But just as she was about to type, she heard footsteps behind her.

A chill ran down her spine. Instinctively, she pressed the lock button and stuffed the phone back into her pocket before turning around, feigning nonchalance.

It was Xia Liang.

“小前辈，我写完试卷啦。”
“Junior, I finished the test.”

Yawning, Xia Liang waved the test paper in one hand, not seeming to notice Veronica’s slightly stiff expression. “It’s pretty late. Can I take a bath and go to bed now?”

“You’re finished?”

Veronica kept her face expressionless, though she was slightly surprised. She remembered this test had only been handed out less than an hour ago. “This test should have a lot of questions. Did you skip any?”

“Nope. If you don’t believe me, you can check.”

Smiling, Xia Liang held out the test sheet. “Even the hardest question—I solved it.”

“…The hardest question?”

Veronica didn’t recall adding any particularly difficult problems. She found it odd, but still took the paper, instinctively scanning over the answers.

The moment her eyes landed on the test, she sensed something was off.

Only the first section—the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions—had been completed. The rest of the test was completely blank.

What was this supposed to mean?

Veronica frowned.

She didn’t think Xia Liang was the type to play pointless pranks, nor did she seem like she was slacking off. Which meant… she must have a reason for doing this.

She quickly replayed their conversation in her mind, and a realization struck her.

Her eyes widened slightly. She lifted her head abruptly and met Xia Liang’s gaze.

Bzzz—

At that exact moment, the phone in Veronica’s pocket vibrated again.

In her line of sight, Xia Liang withdrew the test paper, then took a step forward.

From behind her back, she pulled out her own phone.

The girl tilted the screen forward, revealing an active call interface. The glowing display showed the name of the person she was calling.

—Uncle Lin.

“Junior.”

Xia Liang’s face was filled with an unfamiliar expression of glee, a mischievous glint in her eyes as if she had just pulled off a successful prank.

Like a cunning little fox reveling in her victory, she leaned in close to Veronica’s ear, whispering in a soft, conspiratorial tone:

“This time, did Uncle Lin leave his phone at your house?”