As Emerald Sparrow rushed anxiously to the locationst marked by the positioning spell techniques, the personnel at the scene had already been evacuated.


    With their leader gone, the remaining robed figures were almostpletely no match for the few magical girls. Realizing the tide had turned, they scattered like birds and beasts, and aside from a few bewildered youngsters, no one chose to resist – they either fled or surrendered.


    Besides their leader, referred to as "Troop Touch Three" – the man in ck robes, the rest of their members were just magicians. Everyone knew that magicians stood no chance against magical girls.


    Most of the elderly and children in the orphanage had been rescued, but a few of the staff and security personnel had sacrificed themselves in the resistance, casting a somber mood over the scene.


    Emerald Sparrow descended from the sky to the entrance of the orphanage, focusing her attention on magical power perception, and quickly detected the remnants of the previous battle.


    It was indeed not hard to find, after all, the ground was littered with broken walls and ruins, the cracked pavement was barely recognizable, and everywhere were traces of magical power sts.


    Then, she saw the three magical girls gathered together.


    To be precise, it was Xia Liang who had undone her transformation and was lying on the ground, while another green-haired magical girl, whom she had not met before, was wrapping her own magic power around her; and Lin Xiaolu sat copsed on the side, watching.


    This scene made her heart tighten, and then she quickly descended and ran to the girls'' side with small quick steps.


    "I''veete, what happened?" she asked anxiously, looking towards Xia Liang on the ground, only to see Xia Liang enveloped in a green magical glow, eyes tightly closed, her face serene.


    "Ah, Emerald Sparrow, you''re here, have you beaten your enemies over there?"


    Lin Xiaolu, sitting on the ground, first brightened up with surprise upon her arrival. But then her head drooped somewhat despairingly, "Sorry, because of a mistake I made in the middle of the fight, Xia Liang... to protect me..."


    She couldn''t continue.


    The injury Xia Liang sustained did indeed stem from her own carelessness; if it weren''t for the white magic power she usedter from an unknown source, the magical girls present might have all perished because of that mistake.


    Although she was mentally prepared, she still didn''t want to see the look of disappointment in Emerald Sparrow''s eyes.


    "How could this…"


    On the other hand, upon hearing Lin Xiaolu''s words, Emerald Sparrow''s eyes widened with difficulty epting the news.


    She hadn''t expected that, even after dealing with the enemy as swiftly as possible upon receiving the news and hurrying to the scene, such an incident would still ur.


    Xia Liang had just sacrificed herself like that.


    Unsure of what to do, she could only gently kneel on the ground, sadly cradling Xia Liang''s hand, looking down at Xia Liang''s calm face without words for a moment.


    She remembered this girl''s usual smile, recalled the stories of her past, and remembered her once-expressed longing for love.


    But now, she had died here, and all that she had once longed for had nothing to do with her anymore.


    She had once epted Xia Liang as a magical girl, seeing her talent, and she had confidently thought she could protect this gifted sapling, but it was just such a crisis marked by an ident.


    "I''m sorry, if I had noticed something was wrong sooner, if I could have gotten here earlier..." she closed her eyes, her voice heavy with sorrow.


    —— "Uh... Junior? What are you talking about?"


    However, before she could finish her words, a familiar voice interrupted her,ing from the ground.


    Emerald Sparrow opened her eyes bewilderedly, only to see Xia Liang looking at her with confused eyes and a somewhat awkward smile, "Although I''m sorry to interrupt you, I need to rify, I''m not dead, okay?"


    Then Emerald Sparrow froze.


    She stared nkly at Xia Liang for a few seconds; then turned to Lin Xiaolu, who also had an embarrassed expression; and finally looked at the neer who, due to the sudden event, had not yet grasped what was happening.


    "...if I could have gotten here earlier, there wouldn''t have been so many innocent sacrifices."


    She repeated the words like reading from a textbook, emotionless, dryly finishing the sentence.


    Having said that, she straightened her face, intending to stand up: "I will go check the orphanage area over there, tally up the victims and remaining injuries, and notify the Abnormal Strategy Bureau."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "We''ve already informed the Abnormal Strategy Bureau."


    To their surprise, even that way was blocked. Xia Liang spoke with the calmest and most frivolous tone, "The battle here has already ended, and the first we notified was the Abnormal Strategy Bureau. We couldn''t get through to your cell phone, junior, and were nning to look for you in a bit."


    "It''s more like,"


    She squinted her eyes with some teasing and curled her lips up: "Junior, did you think I was dead just now? Were you sad? Were you grieving for me?"


    With these words, the scene instantly erupted into chaos.


    "Eh? Emerald Sparrow, you thought Xia Liang was dead?"


    Lin Xiaolu, finally understanding the inexplicable conversation from earlier, eximed in surprise. Then, seeing Emerald Sparrow staring at her expressionlessly, she realized she had spoken out of turn, and hastily waved her hands in exnation:


    "No, I didn''t say that! I just meant that she got hurt protecting me, and I''m reflecting on it!"


    But she waspletely unaware that by pushing off responsibility so cleanly, she had utterly dismantled thest step beneath Emerald Sparrow''s feet.


    Bai Jingxuan, who was standing to the side, finally caught on after hearing her words. She looked at Emerald Sparrow, who had just arrived at the scene, with her hair slightly disheveled and looking travel-worn, and her expression became a bit subtle.


    She wanted tough, but she remembered that the people before her should all be her seniors, and she shouldn''t be so disrespectful.


    Yet, in her eyes, the kid who seemed younger than herself and had misunderstood the situation upon arrival, nearly mourning for her still-being-treated teammate, looked somewhat adorable.


    Despite appearing somewhat aloof and seemingly difficult to get along with, the way she spoke told a different story.


    She thought so in her heart.


    "...I''m d you''re alright."


    On the other hand, knowing that she couldn''t wash away the embarrassment of the blunder, Emerald Sparrow could only nod her head in resignation and respond dryly.


    And she couldn''t help but nce at Lin Xiaolu again.


    "That''s not what you should be saying here, right?"


    Lying on the ground, Xia Liang shook her head and looked at Emerald Sparrow with clear eyes: "Junior, didn''t you notice? In this battle, Xiaolu was the one who yed a crucial role."


    Those words awakened Emerald Sparrow.


    Only then did she realize that the battle had already ended before she had arrived.


    Xia Liang was obviously incapacitated due to severe injuries; the green-haired neer seemed in a bad state as well; but Lin Xiaolu alone, apart from looking tired, was surprisingly unharmed.


    Without a doubt, what Xia Liang said was true—the three rookies had defeated an enemy whom Emerald Sparrow thought was unbeatable, and key to that victory was her own daughter.


    Looking around at the messed-up terrain and guessing the intensity of the battle that had taken ce, she then turned her head back to Lin Xiaolu.


    Lin Xiaolu, hearing Xia Liang mention her name and then seeing Emerald Sparrow looking at her, realized that she had forgotten to take credit for their victory out of fear of being criticized.


    She had wanted to say more, but recalling her thoughts and feelings during the battle, her ears began to burn with heat.


    In the end, under Emerald Sparrow''s gaze, she merely nodded modestly: "Mhm, we won, against that enemy."


    After hearing her daughter''s affirmation, Emerald Sparrow''s gaze softened.


    She had always been overly protective of the neers, so she truly hadn''t expected that they could defeat such an enemy without her.


    Perhaps her thoughts had indeed been too conservative. But having this notion disproved in such a way, she only felt relief.


    The earlier embarrassment seemed less significant; she remembered the Remnant Beasts she had casually dealt with on her way here and then looked at the three girls present, feeling somewhat enlightened:


    "Well done, you did very well, I am proud of you!"