Su Shengzi was keen on collecting urban legends and ghost stories, and after thorough research, she fused her findings into a theory that sounded utterly nonsensical yet held a shred of reason: over seventy percent of the urban legends reportedly "seen with one's own eyes" originated from Remnant Beasts.
The reason this theory was considered nonsense was that it lacked any rigorous statistics; it was merely something Su Shengzi came up with one afternoon while sitting at home, drinking tea, and suddenly clapping her hands on her head.
It held a bit of reason because this theory subtly aligned with the evolutionary logic of the Remnant Beasts: once Remnant Beasts evolved to the "pupa" stage, they needed to "build nests" to store sufficient Magic Power and nutrition to kick-start the evolution of the next stage.
After nest building, the pupa-stage Remnant Beasts would designate a certain area as their stronghold, causing the entire region's space-time to warp and form their nest, which was also their "pupa." Afterward, they would hunt with their nest at the center.
By the pupa stage, Remnant Beasts were no longer brainless like in the egg stage, acting purely on instinct, but now they possessed a kind of intelligence akin to wild beasts. They began to operate more covertly, evading the tracking of the Magical Girls and the Abnormal Strategy Bureau and fulfilling their need to feed.
The strength of the pupa-stage Remnant Beasts and the abundant food within their nests also attracted many lower-level Remnant Beasts to parasitize within, although these lower-level Remnant Beasts were not in a feudal relationship with the pupas; if they were spotted by the pupa-stage Remnant Beasts, they would simply be devoured as snacks.
The diet of the Remnant Beasts was all-encompassing, naturally including other Remnant Beasts as well.
As such, the behavioral logic of the pupa-stage Remnant Beasts made it very likely for urban legends to arise in the city areas they inhabited.
If it were a city normally guarded by Magical Girls, relying on normal communication with the outside world and extensive, long-term patrols by many Magical Girls, it would be nearly impossible for pupa-stage Remnant Beasts to hide within the city.
Their pupa served as a protective shell for themselves, but also as a cage locking them in place; once the nest was discovered, they essentially had nowhere to run, and could only wait to be mobbed by a group of Magical Girls showing up at their doorstep, or fight to the death against elite Magical Girls called to the scene.
But Fangting City was different.
Lin Yun now suspected that there might be pupa-stage Remnant Beasts hidden in Fangting City, and they could be related to the series of strange occurrences here.
The long-term absence of Magical Girls was enough time for the birth of pupa-stage Remnant Beasts, and the vastness of Fangting City provided them with space to hide. Moreover, the fact that "Remnant Beast attack incidents ceased to exist" could also be explained by the existence of pupa-stage Remnant Beasts, so this suspicion was not unreasonable.
He shared this speculation with Hong Siyu, and Hong Siyu also treated it as important and promised to assist in the search. However, considering it involved Remnant Beasts, he did not want to just wait idly for news.
Now, since the news provided no information, it seemed he really needed to start with urban legends.
He used key phrases like "Fangting City," "urban legends," and "ghost stories" to extract information on various forums and media, and he already found quite a few dubious and strange rumors from them.
For example, "the singing in the sewer," "the mirror-reversed abandoned construction site," "the flickering streetlight," and many more half-true, half-false supernatural stories made Lin Yun shiver in broad daylight.
But these messages lacked solid evidence, and to really find clues, he feared he might have to personally verify them one by one to know which were more credible.
Thinking this, he was about to move the mouse to switch web pages when he suddenly felt a vibration from his pocket.
It was his phone, and it was the "Emerald Sparrow's phone." He determined this by its position within his pocket.
It looked like he would have to assume the form of a Magical Girl again, he thought.
Three days ago, he and Lin Xiaolu had found Xia Liang in the electronics district and smoothly got her to become a Magical Girl. After a quick check of Xia Liang's condition, they exchanged contact information and disbanded on the spot.
After that, every evening, two days apart, Lin Yun would gather the two of them at the usual place to impart knowledge related to Magical Girls.
This included how to train and enhance Magic Power and the common knowledge that a Magical Girl should possess, but most importantly, it focused on combat awareness when battling with Remnant Beasts.
He discussed common instinctual behaviors of Remnant Beasts, where usual weaknesses appeared, what moves to be wary of, and so on.
Many of these are the wisdom handed down by our predecessors, and quite a few are lessons Emerald Sparrow summarized from her own experience. The rationale should be sound. However, according to her plan, after a few days of theoretical teaching, she might still have to wait for an opportunity for a battle and practical application.
She pulled out her phone and glanced at the screen, indeed it was a call from Lin Xiaolu. Lin Yun thought for a moment and then sighed softly as she transformed into Emerald Sparrow, before answering the call:
"Hello? What's up?"
"Ah, Senior Emerald Sparrow?"
Unlike last time when Moke snatched the phone, this time, the voice Emerald Sparrow heard truly belonged to Lin Xiaolu: "Sorry to bother you, but Moke just found a Remnant Beast!"
As expected.
Emerald Sparrow wasn't surprised; it was pretty much what she had anticipated. Several days had passed since the last Remnant Beast attack, and it seemed about time for the next one to appear.
So without saying much, she got the location and the current status of the Remnant Beast from Lin Xiaolu and got ready to leave.
But just as she was about to hang up, she heard a voice outside the door that made her catch her breath.
—"Minister, are you there?"
Someone had come.
She could tell whose voice it was, without a doubt, it was from a subordinate in her department.
What to do? Was there enough time to undo the transformation? It seemed not!
A string of thoughts flew through Emerald Sparrow's mind, and just as she was pondering these, she saw that the door handle to the office had already been pressed down.
A young man counting the documents in his hands pushed open the door, then raised his head and looked around the room—
Only to see an utterly empty room.
"Huh? When did the minister leave?"
He felt somewhat strange; if he remembered correctly, he had seen his own department's minister enter the office.
He poked his head out and looked both left and right again, confirming that the office was genuinely empty. He then scratched his head, looking puzzled, before turning and leaving.
What he didn't realize was that just behind that empty desk, in the space beneath it, a petite girl was curled up, looking uncomfortable, staring at her phone screen, her thumb resting on the spot where she had just hung up the call.
Until the footsteps faded in the distance did she finally breathe a sigh of relief. It was lucky her reactions were fast, not only had she hung up the call in time, but she had also swiftly hidden under the desk.
Otherwise, whether it was the conversation that Lin Xiaolu might have heard afterward or being seen by the person entering the office as Emerald Sparrow, either situation would have been quite troublesome.
It seems she'd have to lock the door before taking calls next time.
Thinking so, she peered through the gap under the desk, waited until she was sure no one was at the office door, then undid the transformation and clumsily crawled out from under it.
She casually straightened her clothes, walked out of the office as if nothing had happened, and once out of view of others, she immediately quickened her pace, hurrying to the reported location of the Remnant Beast.