"Be careful of the Brutal Beasts tonight."
This sentence made Lin Yun restless for the whole afternoon.
There was a reason for it. The information revealed in this sentence was too much for him to consider it a simple prank call or joke. His daughter was a Magical Girl, and besides himself and Hong Siyu, no one else should know about it. As for the fact that he used to be a Magical Girl himself, only a few people knew about it. Moreover, he could confirm that only his comrades or former comrades would know this information.
So, could this phone call be from Hong Siyu?
It was possible, but what reason would she have to play tricks and make an anonymous call? As an official, she had promised to take care of his daughter seriously, and this topic could be discussed openly.
With the attitude of believing rather than doubting, he sent a message to Hong Siyu:
[Did you call me?]
[?] was the reply.
It didn't seem like her.
Several candidates crossed his mind, but one by one, they were ruled out, and Lin Yun still couldn't find any clues.
So, was it just a prank call by chance?
This possibility was not small, and it could even be said to be quite large. After all, many scam calls these days followed this pattern. Even if they rambled on, as long as they targeted enough people, they would eventually encounter some who believed it for various reasons.
Lin Yun tried to convince himself with this, but his heart was still not calm.
And so, the evening came. Lin Yun, who looked burdened, was noticed by his long-time colleague, who asked if he had encountered any trouble. Lin Yun shook his head and didn't share this seemingly hysterical topic with the other person.
He took the subway and didn't return home until it was dark. Lin Yun looked worriedly at the shoe cabinet in the entrance, and he was relieved to see his daughter's shoes placed there. Passing through the living room and seeing the washed dishes in the kitchen sink, he walked to his daughter's room and saw the light coming through the crack in the door. All these signs indicated that Lin Xiaolu was still at home.
This made Lin Yun breathe a sigh of relief.
Even if there were dangerous Brutal Beasts, as long as his daughter was still at home, her safety was guaranteed.
Moreover, if there were Brutal Beasts, there was no reason for Hong Siyu not to inform him.
With a strange mood, Lin Yun finished dinner and entered his study to continue working on the unfinished tasks from the company. While working, he also kept an eye on his daughter's room, making sure that Lin Xiaolu wouldn't secretly slip out without his knowledge.
Until midnight, nothing unusual happened. When the clock struck 12, Lin Yun, who had worked hard all day, felt that he couldn't stay awake any longer. He lay down on the bed after the long wait and fell into a deep sleep.
In the haze, he didn't know how much time had passed.
But at a certain moment, he seemed to hear some kind of strange sound.
So, in the darkness, Lin Yun woke up from his bed.
His heartbeat accelerated inexplicably, and his breathing became rapid. He didn't remember if he had been dreaming, but after waking up, he felt that even his mood had become much worse.
In the dark, he reached for his phone and the screen lit up, showing that it was 2:10.
Although he had just woken up, after understanding the situation, Lin Yun felt a very strong premonition in his heart.
This premonition was so strong that it felt familiar to him, and he instantly remembered when he had a similar experience before.
- The day his wife passed away.
"...It can't be, right?"
The words came out of his mouth, filled with a sense of uncertainty that he could hear himself.
Lin Yun got off the bed and hurriedly opened the bedroom door, looking towards his daughter's room. No longer caring about taboos or hesitation, he rushed to her room door, knocking on it.
Nothing happened.
Lin Yun didn't give up, he kept knocking on the door repeatedly, the empty knocking sound echoing in the dark corridor, but still, there was no response.
"It can't be, right?" he repeated this sentence again.
Glancing at the door and the blurry note in the dark night, Lin Yun gritted his teeth and directly started turning the doorknob.
Creak.
The door was locked.
He didn't know if his daughter usually locked the door, as he had never tried to open it before. But now, this situation made him have some negative thoughts.
Could she have secretly run away?
He picked up his phone and dialed Hong Siyu's number, but all he got was the response of "no one is available to answer."He opened the search engine and began to input keywords like "Fangting City" and "Brutal Beast". However, it was like finding a needle in a haystack. Even the events of last week had been covered by various new hot topics, leaving no trace.
It seemed that in an instant, all the coincidences collided together, and he suddenly lost all clues about the movements of the Brutal Beasts in Fangting City.
Naturally, he also lost all control over his daughter's whereabouts.
He tried to calm himself down, telling himself that no one answering the door didn't mean his daughter had gone out alone in the middle of the night to deal with the Brutal Beast. It was just that his daughter, as always, disliked him and didn't want to deal with her neurotic father who knocked on the door in the middle of the night. This explanation was quite reasonable, much more so than the baseless speculations in his mind.
However, he inexplicably believed in the premonition in his heart.
So he looked at his call history, the second page, the third from the bottom. It was a completely unfamiliar number that had called him at noon.
His finger hovered over the option for a long time, and with a certain expectation, he dialed the number.
It connected.
His breath hitched.
Every second of the dial tone seemed to last a century. Listening to the long "beep-beep" sound, Lin Yun gripped his communicator tightly.
Then, the other side picked up.
"Hiss hiss."
It was still heavy with static.
Like the signal was severely interfered with, the call was intermittent, assaulting Lin Yun's eardrums. Then, at some point, all the noise dissipated.
"In the suburbs, Wetland Park."
A few short words, and the call was hung up.
The surroundings returned to silence, as if it was still an ordinary night.
Putting down his phone, Lin Yun turned to look at the living room inside the house. The faint moonlight cast a hazy white glow on the floor, pure and tranquil, plain and peaceful. It seemed to be another image, another voice from deep within his heart, telling him at this juncture, "Don't go."
Once he stepped out of the house at this moment, everything he had sacrificed so much to maintain would cease to exist.
But for Lin Yun, such a decision was meaningless. When his child's safety was at stake, the chips on the other side of the scale were irrelevant.
Taking a step, he rushed out of the house at the fastest speed.
Opening the door of his SUV, which he hadn't driven for a long time, he jammed the key in. Then, with a roar, he hit the road at a speed far exceeding the city's driving limit.
"I have to go."
As if instilling a concept into himself, he muttered to himself.
Now, he could even feel the flow of his own blood, buzzing in his brain.
The speed of the car was still increasing. He floored the accelerator with a speed comparable to a street racer, running through countless traffic lights, racing all the way. Whether it was traffic violations or accidents, these risks were insignificant at this moment, because he knew that no matter what, he had to get to his daughter first.
He took the long-silent Flower of the Heart with him. Although he had tried before and couldn't transform into a Magical Girl, he still harbored some unrealistic hope.
Or rather, there was a thought in the back of his mind, telling him that he could do it this time.
His mind was a mess, and he couldn't articulate his current state. The chaos of emotions, memories, and physiological tension made his thoughts illogical.
The only clear thought was, "I don't want anything to happen to my daughter."
