“Lunch break?”
Qu Sinan tapped a finger. At her gesture, a virtual screen shimmering with magical energy appeared out of nowhere. The interface looked straight out of a sci-fi movie, but Jiang Cha spotted a pink app on it.
‘As expected, NSFW really is the ultimate driving force.’
Cha Bao kept smiling as if she hadn’t seen a thing.
“It’s 1:21 p.m. You’re supposed to be at work already.”
“Oh~! Work? What’s that? I never work. Research is my passion. You know what passion is, don’t you, my darling Sinan?”
The woman called Molin kept up that irritating tone, but in the very next moment her expression changed, and she began cursing furiously.
“That damn principal! It’s 2121, and she’s still using that dogshit 996 work schedule. Who does she think she is? Some kind of people’s entrepreneur? And she calls this a blessing, says these are research opportunities she ‘fought for’ the researchers! Bullshit! She’s exploiting us! Exploiting us, do you understand?”
Then, in the next instant, she picked up her teacup and became elegant and refined again. Such an air of sophistication radiated from her that Jiang Cha could only stare, too stunned to speak.
“That’s why I’m brewing tea. It’s a display of elegance and restraint. A young, cute girl like you, Sinan, wouldn’t understand.”
‘Young...’
Jiang Cha took a careful look at the woman the mechanical voice had described as someone who should probably be taken to a hospital. If you ignored her filthy lab coat, stained with oil and soup, and her unkempt appearance, she was just an ordinary red-haired high-school beauty. She had the sharp features and bright blue eyes of a Westerner, but the delicate skin of an East Asian—practically the perfect mixed-race look.
“Yes, yes, yes. You are a three-hundred-year-old lady, after all. Anyway, I brought the new junior here to test her magic. Get to work already. I still have to take her to the dorms afterward, and there’s no magic door over there. It’s a long way.”
Qu Sinan rolled her eyes. She didn’t feel like dealing with the old woman who’d gone stir-crazy cooped up in the research institute, so she simply changed the subject to Jiang Cha.
“Tch. Fine.”
Molin clicked her tongue, then turned her attention to Jiang Cha. She stared at the girl’s dewy eyes for a moment before smiling gently.
“This year’s new students are quite impressive. You already look this good before your second growth spurt. Come along, cutie. I’ll take you to test your magic capacity. I hope it’s high enough, or you won’t pass the freshman initiation.”
“The freshman initiation... what is that?”
The unfamiliar term caught Jiang Cha’s interest. After following Molin, she tilted her head up slightly to look at her profile, smiling with pure, innocent sweetness.
“It’s a bit of a hassle to explain.”
Molin couldn’t help glancing at Jiang Cha, meeting her dewy-eyed gaze.
In a sudden move too fast for Jiang Cha to react to, Molin grabbed her hand and pinned her against the wall beside them. She pressed a leg against Jiang Cha’s lower abdomen, then reached out and gently stroked her cheek.
Just as a faint blue glow began to rise around Jiang Cha and she frantically tried to figure out how to get away, Molin suddenly let go. She lightly kissed her own index finger, then laid it over the girl’s lips.
“That’s the most basic part. Got it, my little darling?”
“I-I think so.”
Jiang Cha withdrew her magic, letting just the right hint of alarm show as she pretended to suppress her pounding heart. The mist in her eyes grew even thicker.
Like a startled fawn, she was impossible not to feel sorry for.
“What an adorable girl. Go on in. The testing chamber is inside.”
Molin smiled and pushed Jiang Cha into a room made entirely of silvery-white metal. Blue light glowed at her fingertips as she operated the floating control panel and turned on the intercom.
“See that crystal ball? Fill it up, and the screen beside it will show your magic capacity.”
Her voice echoed through the vast, empty silver-white room, growing a little indistinct in the reverberation.
The moment Jiang Cha entered, she spotted the enormous, murky-white crystal ball—bigger than her head—resting on a sci-fi-style metal pillar in the middle of the room. A blue-glowing, crystal-like cable connected it to a sleek, futuristic screen.
‘What kind of mash-up aesthetic is this...’
She’d thought witches here wouldn’t be surrounded by crystal balls, potions, and wands like the ones in her memories. It seemed she’d thought too much of them.
‘Wait, did I just jinx myself?’
Jiang Cha didn’t linger. She went straight to the crystal ball, then dug the piece of common knowledge—reclassified as “somewhat useful, in a weird way”—out of the trash heap and gave it another look.
‘I see. I understand completely now.’
She cautiously reached out and placed a hand on the crystal ball. A sudden pull startled her so badly that her whole body tensed and she nearly wet herself, but she soon relaxed.
“Now release your magic, sweetheart. Give it everything you’ve got~”
Molin had clearly seen Jiang Cha’s reaction; her voice carried a hint of laughter.
Jiang Cha ignored her, closed her eyes, and tried to summon the magic inside her.
A faint blue glow gradually lit up around the black-haired girl, soft and gentle.
Then, without warning, the blue light flared, illuminating all 500 square meters of the room. It was so blinding that no one could make out what was happening inside. All they could hear was a mechanical female voice.
“Magic detection device activated. Receiver starting. Beginning magic value scan. Value rising: 100... 1,000... 5,000... 10,000... 20,000... 50,000... Value stable. Subject: Jiang Cha. Total magic value: 68,430. Rating: Grand Witch. Data uploaded to the Great Library. Thank you for using our service.”
At the end of the test, the mechanical female voice suddenly changed its style. A voice that sounded like a middle-aged woman deliberately trying to act cute rang out.
“Remember to leave us a good review, dear~”
“Huh?”
Jiang Cha let out a puzzled sound.
No, seriously, are all witches like this? You go seamlessly from fantasy to sci-fi to some little online shop, all mashed together? Or are people a hundred years from now so bored that they have to show off their sense of humor in the middle of such a serious situation?
In silence, Jiang Cha gave the screen one star and left a review.
‘The product’s great, my kid loves it, and it works for sensitive skin too. Leave us a five-star review and pay in installments, dear~’
Then she decisively turned off the screen before Molin could see.
“Not bad. You’ve only just awakened, and you already have Grand Witch-tier magic capacity. No wonder the principal personally picked you as a transfer student.”
Molin’s voice came through the intercom. She didn’t sound exactly surprised, but she wasn’t indifferent either; there was a hint of teasing in it.
“The principal?”
At last, Jiang Cha had found a clue that might tell her something about her own background. She certainly wasn’t going to let it slip by, and hurriedly pressed for more.
