Something's off about this magical girl.

Chapter 12 The Agreement

Outside the window, the streetlights are turning on one by one.

The stars twinkled in the distance, as if announcing that today was another beautiful day.

Gu Bai put down his teacup, glanced out the window, and then his gaze naturally returned to the table.

Dongchun's phone rested on the edge of the table, the octagonal grass pendant on the lanyard hanging quietly in the warm light.

The thin green lines interlock and connect at the ends, forming a horizontal closed loop.

Gu Bai stared at the knot for a while.

The surrounding noise gradually faded away.

My thoughts drifted back to the orphanage, back to that rainy evening, to that dimly lit but dry little house.

The tabletop in front of me disappeared, replaced by a pair of fair and nimble hands, pinching a few blades of grass and weaving and knotting them little by little.

Gu Bai leaned against the door and asked what the meaning of this thing was to the girl.

The girl turned her head, a sly smile in her eyes, and shook the horizontal figure-eight knot in her hand: "It's a secret. You might find out about it someday in the future."

Mo Xin, you...

"Hello, teacher? Teacher?!"

Gu Bai came to his senses as the warm-toned light once again enveloped his vision.

Tao Zhuo waved her hand in front of her eyes: "What are you thinking about? The food is here."

The orphanage hut had disappeared, and sitting in front of it were the noisy Tao Zhuo and the quiet Dong Chun.

He looked away from the pendant, then picked up the now-cold tea and drank it all in one gulp: "It's nothing."

Joining a company and praying for success is just a process.

His purpose has never changed.

"Tsk, it seems the teacher is quite a genius, although I suppose everyone in Qixin Academy is a genius."

Tao Zhuo seemed to have completely forgotten about her conversation with the girl before coming here, and at this moment she had completely returned to normal.

"Eat your food." Gu Bai picked up his chopsticks and tapped her head lightly.

"Hey~" Tao Zhu shrank her neck, then casually stuffed the tofu into her mouth, chewed it a couple of times, raised her drink cup, and waved it in the direction of Gu Bai and Dong Chun respectively:

"Then, shall we toast the teacher? I don't drink alcohol, so how about just a soft drink?"

"What?" Gu Bai asked.

"About what happened yesterday," Tao Zhuo said casually, placing her cup on the table. Her eyes flickered. "Was it the teacher who warned me about the second beast, not that shout? If something had really happened to Dong-mei, the consequences would have been... terrifying!"

Dong Chun picked up a piece of vegetables and nodded quietly.

Gu Bai's gaze lingered on Tao Zhuo for a few more moments.

By saying this now, she subtly suppressed yesterday's abnormality and today's emotions. It has to be said that Tao Zhuo has a very high EQ and is also very flexible.

Aside from choosing to take a shortcut by trading cryptocurrencies to achieve her million-dollar goal and then getting wiped out, she really has some ideas.

"Oh, right."

Tao Zhuo took another bite, then pulled out her phone, glanced at the screen, and made a drawn-out nasal sound: "Hmm, Dong-meimei, didn't you tell me the academic affairs office released the school opening arrangements?"

After saying that, Tao Zhuo took out her phone and opened the Qi Xin APP, her face instantly darkening.

"This is the most crucial semester, so all subjects will be tested at the start of the semester for senior high school students, running directly from Monday morning to Friday morning? Huh? I think the academic affairs office is really something else!"

"Don't be upset, this really is the most crucial year." Dongchun offered Taozhu a rare word of comfort.

"They say the same thing every year. Luckily, the weekly mock exams have been removed, so I'll have some free time to review tomorrow. Let's see, Monday is the general cultural exam, Tuesday is the magic theory study, Wednesday is the spell practice, and Thursday and Friday should be the practical test. Ugh."

"Shouldn't Winter Sister's practical test be focused on combat?"

"Mm." Dongchun nodded.

Tao Zhu tilted her head: "Actually, I was thinking of going for the functional route, but since I chose body cultivation, I can only go for combat."

Gu Bai ate his food without interrupting, and there was no need to ask any more questions; he would naturally find out once it started.

"I guess the teacher doesn't know this either."

Tao Zhuo turned her head: "Hmph, I'll show you the magical girl competition later! I hope I can do well on the test, then they should be able to get the new drug from An Yu Medical. If I take a couple more doses, I feel like my total magic power should be able to reach five stars."

"Is enough total magic power? Then what is the automatic barrier?" Gu Bai really didn't understand.

"Total amount and efficiency." Tao Zhuo sighed, putting her phone face down on the table: "The total amount of magic power is still a bit lacking. As for the automatic magic barrier, it represents the efficiency of magic power usage, but why is this thing so difficult? It doesn't seem to work any particularly well for others."

Then she turned her gaze to Dongchun: "Little Dong, how do you open this?"

Dongchun put down her chopsticks and thought for a moment: "Like that breathing."

"Tsk tsk tsk, teacher, look! This is the classic magic of 'difficult for those who don't know, easy for those who do!'"

But Tao Zhuo probably felt that Gu Bai still didn't believe her, so she raised her hand again and stuck out a finger to poke Dong Chun's cheek.

The moment her fingertips touched the skin, a thin white film of light quietly floated on the surface of her skin. It was almost transparent, as if there was nothing there, yet as if everything was blocked inside. Tao Zhuo's fingers were ultimately separated by this film of light and did not actually touch the other person.

"..." Tao Zhuo withdrew her hand, stared at her fingertips for a second, and said, "Sigh, I wish I could do that too."

"Sooner or later," Dongchun said, shaking her chopsticks. "It's just a matter of time for you."

"Then I'll make a wish: to learn it soon."

"Yes."

After eating most of the food, the atmosphere at the table became much more relaxed than at the beginning.

"So you're leaving after the exam on Friday?" Tao Zhuo suddenly spoke, then glanced at Dong Chun halfway through her sentence, "Wait, you're taking me with you, right?"

But neither Dong Chun nor Gu Bai replied.

Seeing this, Tao Zhuo put down her chopsticks, looking aggrieved and abandoned: "Hey, you're so quick to kick me away after I've served my purpose! Are you leaving me all alone?!"

"You're afraid of starving to death, aren't you?" Gu Bai said without changing his expression.

"Um, well, well, anyway, I might have a little bit of that concern, just a little bit, but just kidding, magical girls can go a week without eating."

After pausing to finish her opening statement, Tao Zhuo leaned closer to Dong Chun and added, "It's just that I'll be a little hungry, and I'm sure Dong-chan can't live without me!"

"That works too." Dong Chun dodged Tao Zhuo and steered the conversation away from the other's self-defense, looking at Gu Bai and saying, "Maybe I can be of help."

"What do you mean, 'maybe'? Of course I can help! So how do we get there? If I finish my exam on Friday morning, I feel like I can leave in the afternoon!"

Tao Zhuo immediately integrated into the small group: "But, is there any transportation? I don't know flying magic."

Gu Bai decided, "I'll make the contact."

Zhang Fu's words can be seen as Qi Xin's thoughts.

He believed that Qi Xin would offer help for such a small matter, and he would talk to Xia Zhi about it next week.

"The teacher is so reliable!" Tao Zhuo nodded in satisfaction. Now that she had built a good relationship with the teacher, she was sure that everything would go smoothly for her when she entered Qixin University in the future!

Gu Bai didn't say much, but his gaze lingered for a second when it passed over Dong Chun's phone.

The octagonal grass ornament still hangs quietly on the edge of the table, shimmering and folding, symbolizing the light of the past and present.