Witch Special

Taste aside, the biggest difference between sake and beer is probably their alcohol content. Even the highest-proof beers are between 3 and 8% alcohol, rarely exceeding 10. Even if they were available, Hayashi Maki wouldn't drink them; her favorite barley beer is around 4.5% alcohol. And what about sake? Sake's alcohol content is generally around 15%, with some even reaching 19%, which is half the alcohol content of low-proof baijiu.

Normally, Lin Zhenxi only drank beer; one or two was no big deal. But today, she suddenly switched from beer to sake, and even ordered two bottles straight. The second one was even from a secret collection, so the alcohol content was probably even higher than regular sake. After two bottles, although she hadn't felt any effects while eating, the cold wind blew out of the shop and the alcohol started to take over.

Hmm... It's not a very good feeling. Lin Zhenxi shook his head, feeling as if his head was half filled with water, swaying constantly.

However, it did not affect her thinking. The most basic quality of a magician is to be able to keep a calm mind at all times, so even if she is in a state of mild intoxication, she can still clearly know what she is thinking and doing.

However, being drunk, it was no longer suitable for me to wander around the city. Now that I had finished my meal, I quickly returned to my rented house.

Lin Zhenxi tilted her head and looked at the long strip of lush green urban parkland across the street. She estimated the distance and found that crossing the park seemed about the same distance to work.

She'd taken a taxi after get off work because she was lazy, but now she didn't because she wanted to walk to help digest her food. She was just feeling dizzy, not drunk enough to pass out on the street.

The park becomes even quieter after dark, with only the ball lights floating quietly beside the sidewalks providing faint light, which connect with each other and barely illuminate the road in the middle.

Green Park is a completely different place during the day and at night. Due to its massive size and lush vegetation, walking inside, one is surrounded by towering trees. Fear of the dark is human nature, so at night, only the outer area near the road sees people, and no one ventures deep into the woods.

But Lin Zhenxi clearly wasn't considered an ordinary person. Ordinary people, how could they hold a wand and a witch's book? So, crossing Green Park late at night wasn't something she felt any pressure to do.

She even passed through the Forbidden Forest of the Magic Academy, where there was no road at all and monsters were running around everywhere and there were only animal paths. With such experience as a foundation, her nerves were so strong that they were beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Walking through the park's jungle, the city lights were completely obscured by the trees. Aside from the continuous array of maglev lights lining the sidewalk, there was no other light. With the decline of human activity, the natural elements in the environment have increased. The chirping of insects, once virtually impossible in the city, gradually emerged and grew denser.

Meanwhile, small insect-eating animals, and even predators that prey on them, scurried about in the dark jungle. While safety concerns meant that no large beasts posed a threat to humans existed within the park, in the now-silent darkness, even the slightest movement could startle anyone. Those small animals, while seemingly adorable in person, were certainly adept at frightening people.

Lin Zhenxi stepped on the sidewalk tiles, gently pressing her hands against her temples. It had been so long since she'd experienced being drunk. Beer was hard to get drunk on; after all, she just enjoyed it, not a complete alcoholic. She only tried it briefly. The aftereffects of sake, or rather the next bottle of sake, seemed even stronger than she'd anticipated.

Go home quickly and go straight to bed

"Maki, something's wrong, meow." The black cat, which was supposed to be lying on Lin Maki's shoulder pretending to be dead, stood up with its legs kicked, arched its back, and took a alert posture.

"There must be something wrong. Didn't you see that the chirping of insects has disappeared? That hider doesn't seem to be very good at concealing his own breath." Lin Zhenxi wiped away the laziness on her face, and with a flick of her hand, the seal on the bracelet was unlocked, and the magic wand slid into her palm.

At some point, the omnipresent chirping of insects had inexplicably vanished. The atmosphere around them grew thicker, as if the air had suddenly become denser, making it difficult to breathe.

With a wand in hand, Lin Zhenxi has nothing to fear. She may not be the best fighter among the company's special agents, but thanks to the systematic nature of magic, she's the most versatile. Having integrated the magic systems of several worlds, she has few obvious weaknesses, aside from a weakness in healing due to her wand type. No matter how dire the situation, she can always find a magic trick to cope with it from her repertoire. This is her foundation and her confidence.

"Come out, don't make me force you out. My methods are not very gentle." Lin Zhenxi raised the wand in her hand and shouted at the enemy who was hiding and seemed to have ill intentions towards her.

At the same time, she couldn't help but feel a bit suspicious. In the early days of New Blue City, fierce conflicts did occur due to the differing values ​​between humans and aliens, and between aliens themselves. However, with the recent advancement of New Blue City's technology, the chances of successfully escaping a crime have become increasingly slim, and the costs of crime often outweigh the benefits. Therefore, after weighing these two factors, serious violent crime has become less and less common.

And the "person" targeting her now didn't hide his murderous intent at all. Having traveled through so many worlds, Lin Zhenxi had certainly encountered life-threatening situations, so she was very sensitive to murderous intent. Therefore, she could easily be sure that the other party was not joking with her and really intended to kill her.

What had she done to deserve the assassin's murder? She had no romantic ties with anyone else, and aside from her somewhat unique identity as a company employee, she didn't seem to have any other labels attached to her, right?

So, the other party is not targeting her, but the company behind her?

Not sure, but it doesn't matter. As long as she catches the killer soon, she can pry open his mouth and get the answer she wants.

"Aren't you going to come out? You asked for it if you didn't accept my invitation." Lin Zhenxi waited for a while and found that the killer was still releasing murderous intent but had no intention of coming out, so he gave up waiting and decided to strike first.

"Birds flock!"

A large cloud of smoke erupted from the front of Lin Zhenxi's wand. Immediately afterwards, a large number of tiny hummingbirds flew out from the smoke, their wings fluttering at high speeds. Like small fighter jets, they spread out evenly in all directions and flew into the surrounding woods.

This is a kind of enemy-detecting magic used by Lin Zhenxi. If these emerald birds discover hidden targets nearby, they will not only give Lin Zhenxi feedback, but will even summon nearby companions to attack together. Therefore, it not only has the function of reconnaissance, but can also be an effective deterrent to the enemy.

There were countless hummingbirds with sharp beaks. Not only humans, but even lions and tigers might not be able to withstand the siege of these little guys. There was no other way except to flee in panic.

But it was clear the other party wasn't foolishly waiting for Lin Zhenxi's magical flock to find them. Just as Lin Zhenxi's flock began to disperse, several small objects shot out from the nearby bushes with a whistling sound, accurately striking all the streetlights around Lin Zhenxi. The outer covering of the maglev streetlights was just a layer of translucent plastic, with almost no strength. At best, it could only block wind and rain, and could even be damaged by falling branches, let alone these obviously fast projectiles. Then, accompanied by the sound of several shattering plastic shells, Lin Zhenxi's surroundings instantly became pitch black.

Even in a dimly lit environment, there was still light. After suddenly losing all light sources, Lin Zhenxi's eyes inevitably needed a period of adjustment to the darkness. And the "killer" wanted this moment.

Lin Zhenxi realized the other party's plan when the lampshade was completely shattered, but perhaps this was also her opportunity. Deliberately creating a dim environment to launch a sneak attack showed that the other party was a creature that was very suitable for moving in the dark, so...

"Rainbow Shine!"

Lin Zhenxi raised her wand high and closed her eyes. The next second, the tip of her wand erupted with a light comparable to the midday sun. Even with her eyes tightly shut, the intense brightness still cast a vast expanse of white across her eyelids.

Even Lin Zhenxi, with her eyes closed, was not immune to the effects of this intense light magic. The enemy, rushing towards her in the darkness to finish her off, certainly wasn't immune either. The enemy was affected far more than Lin Zhenxi. To adapt to the near-blind darkness, their pupils inevitably dilated, enhancing their ability to capture light. The sudden release of a powerful point light in this environment was an absolutely devastating visual shock.

Lin Zhenxi only heard a very sharp and miserable meow, and then vaguely saw a thin figure flying past his body and falling heavily to the ground with a thud.

At this moment, the light at the tip of the wand completely went out. Lin Zhenxi shook the wand, which had heated up a bit due to the instant release of a large amount of magic power, and lit a slightly softer light again.

"Fluorescence."

Throwing the small ball of light at the tip of the wand above his head, Lin Zhenxi finally saw the appearance of the person who attacked him.

Unexpectedly, Lin Zhenxi found the image of this "person" quite familiar.

Like Kanali whom I met this morning, he is also a cat beastman.