My Superpower Is Piloting Magical Girl Corpses?

It was exactly sunset time.

The afterglow of the setting sun scorched the sky fiery red, intertwining with the neon lights just flickering on in the center of Wind Capital, creating a hazy, ambiguous purple-red hue.

The weather was clear today, visibility excellent. From this angle, one could even vaguely make out the city center dozens of kilometers away.

Skyscrapers stood densely packed, elevated highways coiled around the city's body like arteries, with the evening rush hour traffic flowing endlessly upon them, just like the city's blood vessels.

Yet.

Before the colossal building at the very center, all the surrounding structures seemed to shrink and sink low.

At the top of a gray tower reaching nearly a thousand meters high, four enormous white metal blades slowly rotated, driven by the wind.

Whether in the bustling central business district or the suburbs, as long as one looked up, they could basically see this building called "Wind Capital Tower."

Eighteen years ago, this structure was completed, and it was from this that Wind Capital got its name.

To outsiders, it was an industrial miracle difficult to replicate. To locals of Wind Capital, however, it was a landmark they had long grown accustomed to, a city totem etched deep into their bones.

The two walked along the crowded street, and before long, they arrived at an old apartment complex.

As they passed the shade of the trees downstairs, a few old men who had been playing chess immediately gathered around Lin Guang enthusiastically the moment they spotted him, chattering excitedly in admiration.

"Ah Guang! That Wang Dapao hasn't dared to show his face around this block since he lost to you a few days ago!"

"Ha! He was bragging about being an amateur ninth-level player, and then you crushed him in five minutes."

"The look on his face—I, this old man, still remember it clearly!"

One of the old men chuckled and rubbed his bald head. "If something like that happens again, we'll have to trouble you again. Of course, I won't forget the usual arrangement."

Lin Guang nodded and walked toward the stairwell with his bag.

"Amateur ninth-level... Are you talking about chess?"

Following behind Lin Guang, Xia Yao's eyes were practically bursting with curiosity. "You won against an amateur chess player?"

Lin Guang neither confirmed nor denied.

Or rather, he simply couldn't be bothered to prove himself.

Xia Yao's eyes widened. "I thought you were just bragging about being a gaming expert or having a chuunibyou episode, but I didn't expect you could actually beat an amateur chess player. Where did you learn your skills? Did you start training as a child?"

—Amateur only referred to those relative to professional players. Between amateur players and ordinary enthusiasts, there was often a massive gap in skill.

"Everyday Chess."

Lin Guang pulled out the keys he had prepared long ago, answering without turning his head.

"Is that... the name of a chess academy?" Xia Yao was confused.

"In QQ Games."

"...Huh?"

What was QQ Games?

Was it something like a game shop after school? Or some kind of arcade?

Xia Yao blinked, feeling like she had roughly figured it out, but that only made her even more excited. "You taught yourself just by playing in games, and you can still beat amateur players? Could it be that you're some kind of novel protagonist? You found a bloodstained chessboard in your hometown's storage room, and then got possessed by the soul of a thousand-year-old chess sage, all for that legendary 'divine move'?"

"You're overthinking it."

Click.

With the soft sound of the key turning, Lin Guang pushed open his apartment door.

Xia Yao, who acted as if she owned the place, slipped right in and stood at the entrance, her big eyes darting around as she sized everything up.

The interior decor was surprisingly simple, even somewhat empty. There was no clutter, and the wooden floor had been mopped spotless, exuding a cold, monotonous air.

But that cleanliness couldn't hide the overwhelming sense of age in the apartment.

In the center of the living room sat a dark red solid wood square table, bulky in design and looking like one of those old-fashioned items popular over a decade ago. The varnish on the tabletop had long peeled off, revealing mottled wood grain beneath, and the corners had been worn smooth from long-term use. The cushions on the matching wooden chairs were also slightly sunken.

Only the area by the wall looked more robust—neatly stacked there were a pair of adjustable dumbbells, a power rack, a few resistance bands, and a grip strengthener polished to a shine.

While she was taking all this in, Lin Guang had already entered the kitchen. Xia Yao turned to close the door, but when her hand touched the handle, her movement paused slightly.

In the dim lighting of the hallway, she hadn't noticed earlier. The outside of this door was plastered with cheap advertisements for "Professional Lock Picking," "Drain Unclogging," and "ID Making," looking dirty and perfectly blending in with this rundown apartment building.

But now, standing inside the apartment, Xia Yao realized this was actually a brand-new, sturdy security door, with extra reinforcement on the door frame, all cleverly disguised.

She gently closed the door, listening to the heavy, muffled sound of it latching shut, and a meaningful smile curled at the corner of her lips.

Lin Guang, dear classmate, you're practically screaming "I have secrets" just by looking at this place.

But... if that's the case, why are you still willing to let me in?

Xia Yao, for some reason, suddenly felt in an excellent mood. She kicked off her sandals, completely ignoring whether the floor was clean, and padded over on her bare, pale little feet with a slap-slap sound to where Lin Guang was busy in the kitchen. She asked curiously, "Lin Guang, what did that old man mean by the 'usual arrangement'?"

"Go put on the slippers in the shoe cabinet. I just mopped the floor before I left."

"Hmph."

Xia Yao stuck out her tongue but obediently went to put on the slippers.

"He's the landlord here. He owns this whole building."

Lin Guang began organizing and putting away the groceries he had bought, answering as he worked. "He made a deal with me. Win one game, and next month's rent gets cut in half. I just did it on the side."

Lin Guang suddenly blurted out a sentence that would sound baffling to ordinary people. "Simply put, just doing a side quest that doesn't take much time."

Xia Yao, however, understood what this guy was talking about. Her eyes suddenly lit up.

"Since you play real-life games and like doing quests for rewards, why not play the 'Boyfriend Game' with me? I'll give you the rewards instead!"

"The rent around this old place is barely fifteen hundred a month. I'll give you eight hundred for five minutes—that's nine thousand six hundred an hour, how about that? Of course, during that time, you'll have to obey any of this young lady's commands."

"And if you perform well and manage to make me happy, I might even double it."

As she said this, she lifted her chin, a beautiful curve forming at the corner of her lips, looking like she had Lin Guang by the tail.

But what she saw was only the boy's pitying look as if he was looking at someone "Are you stupid?" He said with complete justification:

"Playing games is for entertainment, not to make myself miserable. And relationships or whatever aren't worth my time."

"..."

The smug expression on Xia Yao's face froze for a moment. She ground her small canine teeth, thinking to herself that this guy was truly unyielding, and had no choice but to forcefully change the subject. "So, have you really never considered going pro as a chess player?"

"It's meaningless."

Lin Guang, who had witnessed the development of artificial intelligence in his previous life, shook his head. "And I'm not particularly good at pure brain games like this."

In his past life, the top Go player, the youngest eight-time champion, had also ended up developing in an abstract direction.

Xia Yao seemed to catch on. She looked at the chicken breast he had taken out of the fridge and the cut-up vegetables, lost in thought.

"So that's why, as a 'gaming expert,' you still exercise? Because you want to master games that require body coordination and neural reflex speed, like darts or bowling?"

"Not entirely."

Lin Guang's expression was calm. He took four eggs from the egg holder with one hand, applied pressure with his fingertips, cracked the shells lightly against the rim of the bowl, and let the egg liquid slide into the bowl. His movements were precise and steady, without any unnecessary trembling.

"Then what for?"

"So I can transform into Ultraman."

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