Yes, I did all this!

Looking out the window again, it was already late. It turned out that Duanmu Mo had been so absorbed in his investigation that he didn't even notice Yu Zhi getting out of school.

"What's the matter?"

"I was just passing by."

In fact, Yu Zhi didn't know why he came to Duanmu Mo's office. When he came to his senses, he had already knocked on his door.

But since he was here, he had to find a reason: "Mr. Duanmu, have you found any clues about Sakurai Lingman?"

"I don't know much, I just know that she is dead now."

Duanmu Mo stood up, picked up the windbreaker hanging on the hanger opposite the desk, and put it on.

Seeing Duanmu Mo was about to go out, Yu Zhi told him what she knew at school: "Well, classmates at school said that Senior Lingman was a friend of Senior Xia Yan and died at the hands of a weirdo."

"These are recorded on the computer."

Duanmu Mo was not surprised at all. After stuffing a sundae to Yu Zhi, he pushed the door and walked down the stairs. Yu Zhi followed him: "Mr. Duanmu, where are you going?"

"Go out and investigate in person. Some things can't be found on the Internet."

After going down the stairs and turning left, Duanmu Mo walked into the first floor.

In Yu Zhi's common sense, this is where motorcycles are placed, but Duanmu Mo's motorcycle had been destroyed by the vampire. What is he going to do?

In the space on the first floor, a large box appeared in the center of the workshop that should have been empty. Feeling Yu Zhi's gaze, Duanmu Mo turned around and patted the box with a smile.

"Let me introduce it. This is my new car."

Using a knife to cut open the cardboard box, a motorcycle appeared in front of Yu Zhi. Steady and wild, flamboyant and restrained, even Yu Zhi, who didn't understand this motorcycle, was deeply attracted by it, and finally stopped at Duanmu Mo.

Putting on the goggles, Duanmu Mo said goodbye to Yu Zhi.

"That's it, you go back first."

"Wait a minute, Mr. Duanmu..."

Waving his hand, Duanmu Mo rode away from the gate on his motorcycle, leaving Yu Zhi alone here.

Holding the sundae alone, Yu Zhi stared at Duanmu Mo's back, wanting to say something but not saying it.

I wanted to ask Duanmu Mo to accompany me, knowing that Duanmu Mo might refuse on the grounds that children need to do homework, but Yu Zhi still couldn't help wanting to say it, but she didn't expect Duanmu Mo to leave without giving her time to talk.

"..."

The fingertips holding the sundae turned white. I don't know if I'm too sensitive. After getting to know Xia Yan, Yu Zhi felt that Duanmu Mo was no longer so caring for me.

"Senior Xia Yan... Senior Xi Niang..." In this space, only Yu Zhi's murmurs echoed.

......

Thinking about the information in the computer, Duanmu Mo turned the car around and accelerated after reaching the road from the distant apartment.

The roar of the fierce beast Black Knight, which was obviously different from the wilder form, sounded. The violent wind blew his hair. The roar of the engine was like the beating of a heart, and the continuous sound was accompanied by a never-ending vibration.

Passersby all paid attention, but only saw a shadow quickly passing by and disappearing at the other end of the road.

——It didn't take long, accompanied by a brake sound, Duanmu Mo stopped in front of a dilapidated apartment.

This kind of rotten place can be seen everywhere in Shendai City. It is really amazing that so many ruins are preserved under this engineering technology that can easily restore any rotten things.

Maybe it's because no one wants to live here because of the attack by monsters. The surroundings seem empty.

Without taking off his goggles, Duanmu Mo straightened the messy hem of his windbreaker, got out of the car and looked around.

The apartment that was violently destroyed by something was piled with large and small rubble, and was also covered with a lot of dust, which looked really bleak.

"Apartment 304... is here."

Bypassing the rubble, Duanmu Mo came to the room with only a few wooden boards left. This was the most severely damaged place. Judging from the diffusion marks on the wall, this should be the center of the destruction.

He kicked the door open with one foot, and the goggles blocked the dust. Under the dark lenses, Duanmu Mo's eyes observed the surrounding situation, not missing any details.

——Crack.

Suddenly, Duanmu Mo stopped and looked at his feet. He moved his feet and a crushed dead leaf appeared in his sight.

He picked up half a dead leaf, squinted his eyes behind the goggles, and observed the texture on it.

Judging from the time, it seemed that it fell when the apartment was destroyed, but on the third floor and under the premise that there were no trees around, how could this leaf fall here?

——After half a day of searching on the computer, Duanmu Mo had a vague answer in his mind. Now he came here just to confirm his guess.

He took out an energy card, and brought the card containing the energy of the monster close to the leaves, letting it release a little breath.

The next moment, the dry leaves suddenly stretched out as if they had touched nectar, and began to spread rapidly at a rate that violated the growth rate of plants. Soon, this small piece of dry leaves turned into a whole piece of verdant green leaves, and it was even growing rapidly. A vine extended from the root and entangled Duanmu Mo's arm.

At the same time, the green leaves also exuded a weird feeling, which was the same as the breath in the energy card.

Looking at the vine that was wrapped around his arm like a python, Duanmu Mo made a judgment in his heart - ordinary green leaves definitely don't have this effect. They avoid this kind of weird energy, so how could they actively absorb it? Only substances that belong to the same weird will like this energy.

Looking at the vine that was almost wrapped around his neck, Duanmu Mo remained calm, and the black fog gun appeared in his hand, releasing corrosive smoke towards himself.

The vine decomposed instantly, and he was unharmed. Duanmu Mo threw a gun flower and turned to walk out the door.

Vine, Lingman, poison vine, the answer is already obvious - Sakurai Lingman did not die, but turned into a weirdo named Poison Man.

And if I guessed correctly, she disappeared for a while, but she will be back soon.

Volume 1: Chapter 35: The Choice of Two Lives

......

"--So, you are hiding something, right?"

In the parking lot on the first floor of the office, Duanmu Mo was washing his motorcycle while holding his phone and talking to the person on the phone:

"In my investigation, your friend was attacked and killed by a monster a few years ago, but since you asked me to find her, it means that she is still alive, and she turned into a monster and disappeared. That's right, right?"

"......" Xia Yan's voice fell into silence on the phone, and she replied after a long while:

"Your judgment is too arbitrary."

"'Exclude all impossibilities, no matter how incredible the remaining ones are, they are also facts'." Duanmu Mo pulled a water pipe from the side, sprayed water on the car, and washed away the foam: "If you hide anything again, it will not be conducive to my investigation, and it will be difficult for me to deal with it."

Sprinkle--

Water drops fell on the ground and gathered in the sewer beside the ground.

Xia Yan didn't say anything for a long time. Just when Duanmu Mo turned on the faucet, Xia Yan spoke:

"I don't plan to tell you this. Keep investigating... If you really can't find anything, forget it."

"You still don't want to say anything more?" Duanmu Mo sighed and twisted the handle of the motorcycle.

A low roar sounded, and the temperature of the motorcycle began to rise instantly, and the high temperature emitted evaporated the water.

Xia Yan also hung up the phone and stopped talking.

Duanmu Mo could feel that Xia Yan was rejecting contact with others, and was disgusted and afraid of something.

He could guess that all this had something to do with Ling Man's student or a weirdo named Du Man, which made him more interested.

Putting the phone back, Duanmu Mo came to the table and looked at the severely damaged motorcycle helmet. The claw marks left by the werewolf were extremely clear.

The damaged helmet was not thrown away casually, but left here as a decoration. Duanmu Mo picked up the goggles on the side, and the glasses that he could carry with him were used as protective gear for his next ride.

Wearing glasses, Duanmu Mo rode on his motorcycle and rushed out of the office.

Today, there were no attacks by strange people, no fighters making trouble, and no news that made people panic. It was a rare peaceful day.

Duanmu Mo had no special plans, just riding a motorcycle to give back this peaceful day.

—— Of course, it is also possible that he wanted to experience the tranquility on the eve of the storm.

......

"This time, the classroom test papers will be distributed to everyone. I hope you can remember the mistakes and not make them again next time."

In the classroom, the teacher looked at the people who received the test papers, and his eyes swept over Yu Zhi intentionally or unintentionally:

"In our class, the grades of some students have declined to a certain extent. I will not call out their names. I hope those who know themselves will not repeat the same mistakes."

After speaking, the bell for the end of class happened to ring, and the teacher left the classroom without hesitation.

The classroom was quiet for a moment, and then it became noisy again. Many people did not care about the teacher's words at all.

"......"

Yu Zhi looked at her test paper, her eyes lowered and she remained silent in her seat.

In order to take care of her identity as a magical girl, she had little time to review and study. On the night before the exam, she was invited by Duanmu Mo to deal with the monster, so her grades also showed a significant decline.

"Hey, Yu Zhi, what are you daydreaming about~" Huizi came over and asked curiously.

She looked at the grades on Yu Zhi's desk, and her smile was still bright: "Not bad, you are worthy of it!"

Huizi's grades were not outstanding, and the reason she was chosen as the class monitor was just because of her lively personality. She was naturally not clear about Yu Zhi's usual level because her grades were always in the middle and lower reaches.

"It's still a little lower..." Looking at the test paper, Yu Zhi sighed and shook her head.

"What are you afraid of? It's just a little bit. It doesn't matter. Just improve it next time, right?"

Huizi smiled and waved her hand, not caring about the grades.

Seeing her appearance, Yu Zhi also showed a forced smile: "Well, you are right..."

Before she finished speaking, the vibration of the incoming call interrupted their conversation. After saying "sorry", Yu Zhi looked at the name on the phone and the smile on her face disappeared instantly.

The phone number marked "father" appeared on the screen. Yu Zhi stood up silently and went to the corridor to answer the call.

"...Father, it's me."

"Did your grades drop in the recent exams?"

A man's majestic voice came from the phone. Although it was an inquiry, the tone was affirmative.

Yu Zhi bit her lower lip and leaned against the wall to make a subtle sound:

"Hmm..."

"What's the reason? Your teacher said that your grades shouldn't be so bad. Have you found the reason yourself?"

"I--" Yu Zhi opened her mouth, her heart beating violently. She couldn't tell the truth, and she didn't dare to lie to her parents.

In the end, she could only remain silent, with a low voice: "I'm sorry... Next time, I will restore my grades."

"I need not only recovery, but progress." The voice on the other end of the phone revealed a hint of disappointment: "Yu Zhi, you are the child of me and your mother, and you will inherit our family business in the future. Do you think you can do well in your current state?"

"I'm sorry..."

"We gave you the best education when you were a child, not to let you be proud and indulge yourself with these foundations when you go to school. We want you to continue to improve yourself, understand?"

"Yes, I know I was wrong..."

In addition to apologizing, Yu Zhi couldn't say anything else and passively accepted the blame from her parents.

"That's good to know. Let's leave it at that for now. I don't want you to give such a grade next time."

"I will work hard..."

Beep, beep, beep--

The phone has been hung up. Yu Zhi leaned against the wall of the corridor, looking down at her black screen phone. Her lips, which were unconsciously pursed when chatting with her family, opened and closed slightly at this time, as if she wanted to say something.

But facing the dark screen, Yu Zhi didn't say anything in the end.

"Mr. Duanmu..."

For some reason, Yu Zhi wanted to tell Duanmu Mo about what happened today, but before she made a decision in her hesitant heart, the school bell interrupted her thoughts. She sighed deeply, forced a smile and returned to the classroom.

-- Class started, Yu Zhi turned her head and looked out the window, staring at the blue sky. The clear blue sky in the past was now covered with a dark shadow, like a precursor to the coming of wind and rain.

......

She didn't listen to the content of the whole day. After school, Yu Zhi walked quietly on the road, as if her legs were wearing heavy shackles.

She suddenly stopped and looked at the dim sky.

She didn't know what to do, and Xi Ri's voice sounded in her heart again.

Should she give up her identity as a magical girl and become what her parents wanted her to be, or continue to fight monsters and let her image in her parents' eyes continue to degenerate?

Yu Zhi respects her parents, respects the person who gave her life and education; but at the same time, she is unwilling to give up this identity that brings her real happiness, as if after giving up becoming a magical girl Huang Yi, "Cang Ming Yu Zhi" will no longer be complete.

Both are difficult to choose, and both identities are difficult to give up.