Something's off about this magical girl.

Chapter 31 Epiphyllum Futures

The atmosphere on the return journey seemed more somber than when we set off.

Where the mountain road narrowed, Gu Bai slowed down.

Tao Zhuo leaned against the back window, her face pressed against the glass, her eyes half-open and half-closed. She watched the shadows of the trees outside recede one by one, and it was unclear whether she was daydreaming or contemplating some serious life question. Dong Chun sat next to her, flipping through a thin health guide. Perhaps she was tired, because after flipping through a couple of pages she stopped, put the bookmark inside, and rested it on her lap.

The silence came naturally, and no one felt the need to break it.

Once the mountain road was widened and the dirt road surface was replaced with smooth asphalt, Tao Zhuo finally moved, propped her drooping head up from the car window, and took out her phone.

The signal bar jumped up by one bar, and push notifications flooded in, piling up in the notification bar like a stack of long-overdue bills dumped all at once on the table.

"Damn it, if we don't pay soon we'll have to pay late fees—wait, what's the date? Have we been stuck on the mountain for this long?!"

Tao Zhu started complaining to herself, her fingers flying across most of the messages, but at a certain point she suddenly stopped.

She flipped back to the push notification, stared at it for a moment, and then clicked on it incredulously.

"...Ha, this news spreads way too fast, teacher, come and take a look."

Tao Zhuo held her phone screen forward and shoved it next to Gu Bai.

A quick glance out of the corner of my eye revealed the trading interface of Qixin Futures, a candlestick chart with white background and red bars, where a sudden large bullish candlestick pushed the price to a high level.

The greater focus, however, lies in its name—

"Epiphyllum?"

Tao Zhu curled her index finger and thumb against her chin, thought for a moment, and then spoke:

"Yes, there have been huge fluctuations in the futures market since the news broke two days ago. In my opinion, it can only be that Xi Ming deliberately released the news."

"You want to buy it?" Gu Bai guessed what she was thinking.

"I'd buy it, but it's clearly a scam, a bubble!"

Tao Zhuo raised her hand to push up the non-existent eye on her nose bridge, and offered her own conjecture in a pretentious manner:

"They've had diarrhea for two days now, but thinking about the scene when the Insect Magical Girl was resurrected, that's something no ordinary magical girl could withstand. Things will collapse as soon as the truth is revealed!"

"Be fearful when others are greedy. While they're all frantically going long, I'm going short with 5x leverage. One bite and I'm—ugh!"

"Are you alright? Eat something to calm down."

Dongchun took out a slice of hawthorn and handed it to Taozhuo, while reminding her, "But what that magical girl said also makes sense. The influence of 'immortality' on the job of a magical girl must be very strong."

"Hmm~" Tao Zhu pinched a hawthorn slice, rubbed her throat, and took a breath: "What Sister Dong said makes sense. Let's just open a double short position then, it'll be safer."

"No, where did you get the money? Didn't you say you were liquidated and in debt when you were trading Zhenyue Coin?"

"Money is like water in a sponge," Tao Zhuo said sheepishly. "As long as you nod and blink, what's meant to come will come."

"This guy is hopeless." Gu Baiteng raised his middle finger.

"Yes, that's the conclusion we can draw from all aspects," Dongchun nodded in support.

"Shut up, shut up! You two have no ambition. I'm already a five-star player. Once I sign the official contract, I'll have a guaranteed income. Besides, if I don't give it my all now, how am I going to realize my dream of making a million and retiring comfortably? A physical cultivator like me can't just make money by doing manual labor!"

Tao Zhuo, oblivious to anything amiss, spouted one fallacious argument after another: "If all else fails and I really can't pay back the debts, I'll just run off to Cangzhou or the Free Federation to hide from them~"

The topic has ended.

In the front row, Gu Bai focused his gaze on the road sign that was gradually becoming clearer in the distance.

Qixin Academy is 40 kilometers away.

After the playful banter, Gu Bai mentally reviewed Tao Zhuo's earlier explanation.

Strip away the flippant tone, and what's left inside is quite clear.

They had planned ahead of time; they had known about the value of the Epiphyllum for a long time and judged that this matter would eventually escalate into a bigger commotion. This also proves that the chain of events was longer than originally expected.

Xi Ming's position in this is obvious, but would a church directly intervene? If they were to push further outwards along the chain, who could cooperate with them? The answer is unknown.

Finally, Gu Bai was well aware that the resurrection of the Insect Magical Girl was no accident.

Was that Tao Zhuo? That's unlikely. Was it Dong Chun? That doesn't seem likely either. So it must be either myself or the sword in my hand.

Guanlan said that the magical girl would contact them.

Indeed, even if the Ximing Church didn't contact him, he would eventually come looking for them anyway. There was no doubt that they had information about Mo Xin.

It's difficult to get more clues on your own...

We need to find Xia Zhi, no, Qi Xin's actions will inevitably attract attention, and we have better cards to play right now.

He reached into his pocket with his left hand and felt a hard spot in the corner. There it was, the black metal business card he had accepted—Luoshui Heavy Industry.

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It was already evening when I returned to Qixin District.

The large screen by the roadside had changed its content for the day. Xiaoyue's crescent-shaped ahoge (antenna-shaped hair sticking up) was shaking in the wind as it broadcast the evening's activities. The daily gainers and losers list was scrolling on the marquee, and the top few names flashed by. Gu Bai didn't take a closer look.

The car was parked on the side of the road near the college, and the three of them got out.

Tao Zhu stretched out lazily, her joints cracking, and looked up at the sky, casually saying:

"Um, are there any other activities? Is the nightlife over already?"

"Yes, right, we also need to go to the academic affairs office to explain the week of absences," Dongchun reminded her.

"Oh, are you alright? I remember magical girls can use emergency missions as an excuse for post-mission reimbursement, right?"

"Not signing a contract doesn't count."

"This is rubbish! How can Qixin School be so inhumane? When will they let the whole world know that Lady Taozhuo is already a five-star official magical girl?!"

"..." At this moment, Dongchun blinked but did not speak.

"..." Gu Bai tapped his mouth with his index finger, equally speechless.

Oh no! Tao Zhuo also sensed a magical aura behind her. She realized then that someone was there!

"Dongchun, Taozhuo, come see me tomorrow morning."

The voice wasn't loud, but it abruptly cut off Tao Zhuo's second half of the sentence.

Tao Zhuo turned around, her mouth moving slightly: "Greetings, Senior Zhen Yue, I...I was just—"

"I know."

Zhenyue stood two steps behind Taozhuo. Her crescent-shaped hair ornament cast a small arc of shadow under the night light. Her blue eyes showed no particular expression as she calmly gazed at Taozhuo.

"Tomorrow morning at seven o'clock, in the administration building."

After saying that, Zhenyue turned around and walked steadily in another direction, quickly disappearing around the corner of the academy corridor.

Tao Zhuo stood there, staring blankly in that direction for a few seconds, then turned her head and looked at Gu Bai and Dong Chun with an expression that said she had completely given up:

"You two, did she hear what I just said, senior?"

"No," they both said in unison.

"You're all liars!!!"