The villainous magical girl's daily mission is to find fault.

Chapter 271 The Vanished Familiar is the Best Familiar

The sound of sirens filled the Central Mall in the port city.

Zi Yingshi wandered aimlessly through the ruins, the piercing sirens and ambulances around her seeming to pierce deep into her heart.

"Hurry! Move quickly!"

"The sniping position of the Wheat Squad is over there! All four of them have been confirmed!"

"...No, Red Zircon is also collapsed on the rooftop; they need more medical support!"

Medical personnel surrounded the office building exit, and ambulances kept arriving, quickly closing the doors and leaving to rush the collapsed magical girls to the association hospital.

The association headquarters is contacting Bai Lili's team, who are still staying in Suicheng, to come and provide support—mortal medical technology is ineffective against magical girls with astral magic.

"Now we can only hope that Bai Lili and the others can use advanced healing magic... Sigh..."

As she passed a worker in a first aid uniform, Ziyingshi overheard his conversation with the person next to him.

"Yes, but they're doing pretty well, it's just..."

"..."

Upon spotting Ziyingshi passing by, the two quickly greeted her.

"Miss Ziyingshi, how are you feeling? Do you need our help?"

"Ah, no, no need, I'm fine."

The purple-clad magical girl quickly pulled her hood and face mask tighter, shyly declining as she hurried away.

People had grown accustomed to the local magical girl's usual style and simply watched her leave.

But only Ziyingshi knew in her heart that all of this was just the calm before the storm.

The fear in her heart was even greater when she walked to the front of the mall and met Hyacinth's gaze as she received emergency treatment from Nightingale.

……

"...Let's begin the regular meeting discussion now."

Later, in the conference room at the Hero Association headquarters.

The magical girls gathered here, but only six remained:

Aquamarine, peridot, fluorite

Hyacinth, iris, nightingale

The original large team of eleven people was reduced to five in an instant, and all of them were admitted to the Port City Association headquarters hospital. This was an outcome that could not be accepted under any circumstances.

Not to mention, the remaining few are not in a very optimistic state either:

Hyacinth sat expressionlessly beside Nightingale, her entire body wrapped in bandages and plasters imbued with continuous healing magic, making her look like a bandaged mummy.

The iris and the nightingale were in relatively good condition, but they still had injuries of varying degrees—the result of being brutally beaten by the hellcat.

As for aquamarine and peridot...

"...Would anyone like to speak first?"

In the head seat, Aquamarine sat upright.

This wasn't her trying to appear profound—Aquamarine had a restraint on her neck and jaw, triangular bandages on both shoulders, and her arms were firmly fixed in splints; it was hard to imagine what she had been through.

Even Hyacinth couldn't fathom what kind of horrific hellish scene Aquamarine had encountered.

Keep in mind that Aquamarine is facing Hellcat! A melee magical girl with the power of Starry Shadow!

Although both sides are forbidden from using magic, Hellcat is undoubtedly the most terrifying person in the world when it comes to pure melee dominance, without exception.

If we really had to say... perhaps Mercury, the Azure Reaper, could rival Hellcat? But the former has long since vanished into the Astral Plane and can no longer be found, so let's leave that topic aside.

However, in any case, Aquamarine's strength is absolutely insufficient to fool Hellcat. The fact that she was able to hold off Hellcat in the furniture store for twenty minutes is already an extraordinary feat.

"I... I have something to say."

Hyacinth was the first to raise her hand.

"After our team stormed into the mall, we were ambushed by Hellcat and had a big battle with her in the furniture section on the third floor."

"But when I arrived on the rooftop and confronted Xinyuehu, she had already captured Iris Nightingale and Peridot, using them to threaten me into a gunfight with her."

At this point, Hyacinth looked at the three people beside her. The three hostages nodded seriously, agreeing with Hyacinth's statement.

"After that, I faced off against Xin Yuehu on the rooftop. Although I lost, Mai Sui, who was waiting in the building to the north, provided sniper support, which successfully resolved my crisis and allowed me to turn the tables and pursue them."

"!!..."

Ziyingshi was startled and looked up at Fengxinzi, her eyes full of confusion.

Did Wheat Ear Sniper provide support for Hyacinth?

This is impossible! [Wheat Ear] She was the mole she herself defeated! How could she possibly be the one supporting Hyacinth?

Seeing that the amethyst was eager to try, the aquamarine raised its hand to stop it.

"Our meeting rules are that everyone speaks in turn. If you have anything to say, you can start after Hyacinth has finished speaking."

"Ah... okay, sure."

Ziyingshi quickly composed herself, but still couldn't suppress her unease as she waited for Fengxinzi to speak.

What happened after that is well known; the preview version of the video was even uploaded by Kokoro to the Magical Girl Fox Official account:

The Great Demon King Fox somehow summoned a Ka-52 attack helicopter, piloted by Cheshire Rabbit, and chased after Hyacinth.

It didn't stop until Hyacinth performed a historic suicide jump from the mall's exterior wall.

"What I know about this place is similar to what I know about hyacinths," Iris said.

"Me too," Nightingale replied.

"+1" Peridot repeated.

"Then... Purple Stone, tell me about the situation on your end."

Everyone turned to look at Ziyingshi, who had been eager to try his luck since the beginning.

The purple-clad magical girl pursed her lips and hesitated for a moment, but quickly gathered her thoughts and removed the veil covering half of her face.

The girl's youthful face, exposed beneath her veil, shone with a luminous light as she looked at Hyacinth, who was seeing her true face for the first time. As the latter paused slightly in surprise, she said:

"Red Zircon and I were assigned to the sniping position on the east side to support Hyacinth."

"Miss Hyacinth contacted me earlier, I wonder if you remember her."

"...Yes, that's true."

Hyacinth nodded, acknowledging Amethyst's statement.

"After that, Red Zircon and I encountered suppression from the northern buildings."

"I thought it was a good opportunity to catch the mole, and with the suppression of sniper fire, I was forced to abandon my support position and go with Red Zircon to check on the situation of the Wheat Squad."

"We were blocked by enemy fire inside the building. When we chased them to the corner of the rooftop, Red Zircon was ambushed and knocked unconscious by a Claymore mine. I confronted the traitorous familiar of Heart Moon Fox on the rooftop and shot it to kill it."

After briefly explaining the cause and effect, Ziyingshi continued:

"That traitorous familiar has the ability to change her appearance; she even transformed into my likeness right in front of me!"

"I felt we absolutely couldn't let it get away, so I decisively opened fire and destroyed it."

Everyone frowned, but remembering Xin Yuehu's earlier statement about the familiar's abilities, they weren't too shocked.

But just as Ziyingshi finished speaking, Iris suddenly raised her hand.

"I have something to say."

"Miss Ziyingshi, you just said that you eliminated the familiar traitor disguised as wheat ears on the rooftop. Besides you, who else was present at the time?"

"Red zircon, she was there."

"But Red Zircon was already knocked unconscious by a landmine when you defeated the familiar, right?"

The nightingale immediately raised a question.

Ziyingshi was somewhat anxious, but there was nothing she could do, so she could only nod in agreement.

"So that means everything that's happening in the North Building right now is just your side of the story, am I right, Miss Purple Stone?"

Iris slowly voiced her thoughts, her eyes narrowing as she stared intently at Amethyst, whose expression suddenly tightened.

"I... but I'm telling the truth... I really was with Red Zircon... with her..."

"Calm down, Ziyingshi."

Peridot tried to calm them down, but he also had to consider the very reasonable questions raised by Iris and the other person.

Now, Zi Yingshi finally understood why Xin Yuehu had made the familiar say what it had said back then.

This is a perfectly legitimate, open scheme!

The so-called familiar traitor's mission is to gather intelligence, then deliberately expose itself, lure the user into a one-on-one duel, and ultimately eliminate it.

Only in this way can this familiar complete this perfect logical siege:

As the only person in the northern office building who can tell the truth, his own description of "Wheat Ear being the mole" contradicts the sniper support Hyacinth received...

In this way, regardless of whether she actually revealed the truth, in the eyes of those who hadn't experienced it, she, as the Purple Stone, would inevitably be the first to be suspected!

Zi Yingshi suddenly realized the true meaning behind the familiar's cunning smile.

This is a perfect... [Infernal Affairs]!