Chapter 20: It Seems She Understood Everything

“Rarely do you care about the investigation after the fact. Is that all you want? It’s already being uploaded to your phone.” Just as Guan Mengyao was about to clock out and go home, her work phone on the desk rang. Seeing it was a work call made her feel a chill run down her spine.

Could it be another overtime day today?

With a heart sinking like stone, she picked up the call. Hearing Xia Kexin’s voice made her feel slightly better—at least it wasn’t her boss calling.

“Sounds a bit noisy over there. Are you on the bus?”

“Actually, I’m on the subway.” Kexin moved toward a less crowded car. “I had some things today, so I took a day off from self-training.”

The mysterious person using the nickname Kamura Mafuyu had sent Kexin an address more than twelve kilometers away in a straight line from her usual activity area, so she headed straight to the subway station closest to the school after classes ended.

Of course, no one would question why she was rushing like that. Qisi had left the classroom much faster.

“I see… Did you detect some anomaly?”

As an outstanding graduate of the Special Investigation Academy, Guan Mengyao had keen intuition and insight. Even though Kexin hadn’t said anything, she had already sensed something.

“It’s just a suspicion for now. I can’t be sure yet.”

“I understand. Keep me updated if anything comes up. By the way, taking the subway, are you heading toward the city center?”

Kexin instinctively glanced at the route map on the screen. This station wasn’t far from the line’s starting point. Not quite suburban, but the subway network was far less developed than in the city center.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then, as usual, a reminder: conceal your identity, and if you must fight a ‘strange,’ minimize the damage as much as possible.”

“Understood.” Although the car was sparsely populated, Kexin lowered her voice so that only Guan Mengyao could hear clearly through the noise-canceling headset.

Whenever she went out on investigation missions, this was always emphasized. Unlike operating inside a magic barrier, if one attacks indiscriminately in the real world, that day’s biggest national news is practically guaranteed.

Kexin herself wasn’t even sure how many buildings her full-strength attack could penetrate. It was terrifying, to say the least.

So for this operation, the priority was still this—Kexin looked down at the brown handbag in her hand. Earlier, placing it through the security scanner had made her quite nervous.

Inside was a real firearm with spare magazines and other equipment, topped off with a book to make it look ordinary.

The bag was custom-made so that regular equipment scans wouldn’t detect anything unusual. Most magical girls were students, so carrying weapons and ammo on public transport was a common need.

Though, admittedly, that reasoning sounded a bit strange.

“Can I ask how far your suspicion has progressed?”

Guan Mengyao’s question brought Kexin back to the files on her phone. She couldn’t exactly say a mysterious person had suddenly contacted her and provided an address—it sounded incredibly suspicious.

Even knowing how suspicious it was, Kexin still decided to see what it was about.

“I suspect yesterday’s ‘strange’ isn’t dead.”

“After the way you hit it? Is that even possible? Though we didn’t recover the key core at the scene.”

After the barrier collapsed, the strange’s core should have dropped in the corresponding spot in the real world. But after searching almost the entire neighborhood with nothing found, the residents were allowed to return home.

“Are you sure your attack didn’t just vaporize the core?”

During simulated battle training, many were shocked the first time they saw Kexin at full power. Even Beta-class monsters might struggle to survive; high-level Delta-class ones were uncertain.

Delta-class ‘stranges’ rarely appear, and they excel at hiding their magical energy signatures—detection without them appearing voluntarily in a crowd is extremely difficult.

Guan Mengyao wasn’t joking. The official report stated the core might have been completely destroyed by the magical girl’s attack and thus unrecoverable.

“I don’t think that’s the case.”

In video games, hitting a target gives feedback, confirming the strike and enhancing the feel. In reality, shooting or archery rarely produces a clear sense of hitting the target; at close range, only the sound might confirm it.

But Kexin felt that her 800%-charged attack yesterday didn’t fully hit the strange. Even if it had, the core wouldn’t have been destroyed—it was extremely tough, proven over time.

“Maybe… a magical girl’s intuition just works differently from ordinary people’s.”

“By the way, Agent Guan, could you check if any teleportation or transfer magic was used?”

“Is there such a convenient thing?”

“I don’t know.”

“Looks like overtime tonight again, huh…” Guan Mengyao grabbed her personal phone, canceled the movie tickets she just ordered, and reassured herself: there was still plenty of time before the release ended; missing the premiere was no big deal.

Hearing the helpless tone on the other end, Kexin paused for a moment. “…Thanks for your hard work.”

“Compared to you who have to be on the front line, this is the best I can do. Principle one: ensure your own safety. Understood?”

To both the Special Investigation Bureau and Guan Mengyao personally, magical girls were extremely precious.

They were all unique individuals, yet endearing.

Perhaps this was the biggest motivation for Guan Mengyao to stick with her job.

“Understood.”

As the subway neared her destination, the car became increasingly crowded. It was the first wave of the evening rush, and Kexin, under 1.6 meters, was quickly blocked from view.

Without the station alerts on her phone, she wouldn’t have managed to get off the subway.

So this is city-center foot traffic… terrifying, she thought, glancing back at the station she had just squeezed out from.

To push through the crowd, she even had to use a bit of magical power to strengthen her body.

Next time, she thought, taking a taxi might be better—though then traffic would be a problem. Walking along the streets, she realized just how inconvenient this area was.

This was the old district; roads were only two lanes, and traffic lights were frequent. How much faster a taxi would be wasn’t certain.

After leaving the subway, she still had a walk to the destination. She reviewed the documents on her phone, particularly the victim’s identity.

The Special Investigation Bureau focused mostly on how the strange killed the unfortunate man. But the mysterious person’s appearance gave Kexin a clue.

The fact that someone could predict the next attack location meant only two possibilities: either they caused it all, or they had fully understood the strange’s behavior logic.

Either way, it was remarkable.

The victim was a building materials supplier, already known from last night. His schedule had him meeting an old friend, who had also been summoned to the bureau overnight. This friend was both a personal and business contact.

The victim’s company wasn’t in great shape due to various reasons. According to the friend, they were discussing funding issues.

The company had good business, but one payment from a real estate developer remained unpaid. The developer’s company was called Fuwen Real Estate.

“That’s where I’ve seen it before!”

Seeing those four characters, Kexin shouted excitedly, causing nearby pedestrians to turn and look.

Her face turned bright red. She muttered “it’s nothing, it’s nothing” in a mosquito-like voice while hastening her steps.

So embarrassing!