Chapter 57: Part (1): Disturbance Inside the Police Station

The SUV carrying the four magical girls sped out of the training base through a dedicated exit, ignoring all speed limits along the way.

Agent Guan pressed the accelerator as far as safety allowed. Right now, the priority was reaching the Linxi City Police Station before things developed into an uncontrollable disaster.

“Sister Mengyao, c-could you slow down a little? I’m getting scared…” Qisi clung tightly to the overhead handle, eyes full of anxiety.

“What’s there to be afraid of? Even if we flip, you can just shield yourself,” Agent Guan said casually.

“Well, yeah, but it’s still scary!” Qisi muttered.

“You don’t trust my driving? Back in university, I ranked first in all professional driving courses,” Agent Guan declared with confidence.

Maintaining a steady 80 km/h, the car took another turn and entered the on-ramp.

From here, they merged onto the national highway. The road conditions improved significantly, and Agent Guan stepped on the gas without hesitation. The speedometer shot past 100 km/h and kept rising, and the SUV overtook one normal-speed vehicle after another.

Sitting in the front passenger seat, Ke Xin also clung to the handle above her head, jaw clenched, completely silent.

Her mind had just run through countless scenarios of vehicular loss of control—and corresponding responses.

Now that they were on the highway, she had an additional concern: the massive cargo trucks carrying dozens of tons.

Fortunately, Agent Guan wasn’t exaggerating her skills. When the car finally pulled into a roadside parking space near the police station, it was completely intact.

Watching the scenery outside slow down and finally stop, everyone finally loosened up a little.

“You girls fly around in the sky all the time without fear, but a little speeding gets you like this?” Guan unbuckled her seat belt and looked back at the others with amusement.

“That’s totally different!” the four protested in unison.

After all, when flying, everything was under their own control. In Agent Guan’s car, however, they had to worry about getting hit by other vehicles, or hitting stray cats, dogs, or even pedestrians that might suddenly dart into the road.

But since they’d arrived safely, they could only let it go.

Besides, they were about to take action—publicly, in front of people who didn’t know the truth. Doing anything inexplicable to normal humans would require cleanup afterward.

Ke Xin suddenly realized that she rarely performed missions during the day. At night, there were fewer people, and ordinary cameras couldn’t capture them clearly. That alone saved a lot of trouble.

Not to mention, anomalies loved showing up at night and disrupting everyone’s sleep.

“Gulian, confirm the locations of the two officers, and the police car they applied for,” Agent Guan instructed.

“Understood.” Yan Luofei, worthy of a B-rank magical girl, was annoyed by Agent Guan’s driving moments ago—but the instant she received an order, she switched into full professionalism.

She pressed a red button on the side of her watch. A holographic interface projected above the dial.

Everyone could see it and operate it as if it were a normal touchscreen—no special devices needed.

Under everyone’s gaze, Yan Luofei quickly connected to SIA’s system and pulled up the relevant data. Within moments, she had the results.

“Agent Guan, both officers’ phones show them stationary in their office. The car is still in the parking lot.”

“Good. Let’s go meet them.” Guan retrieved her sidearm from the center console, removed the magazine, checked it, then holstered the weapon under her jacket.

The bullets, marked with purple stripes, were anti-anomaly rounds with pre-inscribed spellwork.

They couldn’t kill high-level anomalies with one shot, but they were highly effective against Beta-class ones—and could terminate them instantly if the core was hit.

Seeing this, the magical girls manifested the basic forms of their weapons and carried them.

Ke Xin habitually scanned their surroundings—especially nearby blind spots—before opening the door.

Linxi City was a small place with less than 300,000 people. The tiled sidewalks, roadside trees, and residential buildings all reminded Ke Xin of her hometown. If she didn’t look closely, she might have mistaken this for home.

The difference was that this place was much quieter. According to the map, the police station was in a fairly central area, yet even during a long holiday, it was devoid of tourists.

Back in her hometown, the county seat would be packed with tourists every holiday. Seeing the crowded streets was enough to make Ke Xin give up on going out.

Thinking about it, she finally understood Deputy Chief Chen’s attitude.

A small city like this rarely encountered major cases. The local police mostly dealt with petty neighborhood disputes. Without major cases, promotions were difficult.

Now that something big finally happened, it was immediately taken over by the SIA. Without knowing the truth, resentment was understandable.

If not for the involvement of anomalies, even Ke Xin felt it seemed like the SIA was stealing cases from local police.

Still, how had a deputy chief of police managed to go this long without hearing about the SIA’s true responsibilities? What exactly had he been doing?

“Sister Mengyao, are you going too? What if—” Qisi walked close behind Guan, lowering her voice.

“If something happens, aren’t you all here? Besides, if I don’t go, who’s going to negotiate with the local police? You girls?” Mengyao countered.

“…Yeah, that’d be tough.” Qisi scratched her head, recalling her unpleasant encounter with Deputy Chief Chen yesterday.

After walking a few dozen meters, the police station’s gate appeared before them.
The guard immediately noticed their SIA jackets. His expression darkened as he picked up his radio and said something none of them caught.

Before he even spoke, Guan presented her credentials. “Guan Mengyao, Special Agent, Federal Special Investigation Agency. We are entering Linxi Police Station for investigative work. Please cooperate.”

“Sorry, I need to report to my superior,” the officer cut her off impatiently, turning away to radio in his report.

About five minutes later, he returned.

Any longer and Qisi might’ve stormed in by force—approval be damned.

“Deputy Chief Chen says he’ll personally bring you in. Wait here until he arrives,” the officer said coldly.

“And when will he be here?” Guan asked.

“He’s in a meeting. I don’t know when it’ll end.”

He was obviously picking a fight. Ke Xin felt her temper rise. At a time like this, he was still playing petty games—but there was nothing they could do. SIA work often meant enduring misunderstanding.

After all, how could they explain anomalies to regular people?

“Sister Mengyao, maybe we should just—” Qisi began, but Guan already knew where her thoughts were going. Anyone close to Qisi knew her straightforward tendencies.

Guan shook her head firmly. “We don’t even know if the two officers are compromised. Stay low-profile.”

“Fine…” Qisi agreed, though she kept glaring at the guard.

The guard felt the change in atmosphere and quickly retreated to the booth.

But Ke Xin wasn’t about to stand here doing nothing. She looked toward the police office building and tried to observe it remotely for abnormalities.

Using the information they had, she focused on the windows of the target room. Just as she prepared to activate a detection spell, a chilling sensation ran up her spine. Goosebumps erupted across her body, and she involuntarily shuddered.

“Ke Xin? Are you okay?” Seeing her frown and pale face, Qisi hurried over.

“A little…” Ke Xin took a deep breath and felt slightly better. She looked around, trying to locate the source—but even with enhanced vision, she found nothing strange on the street.
So it came from inside the police station?

“Are you carsick?” Qisi guessed.

“No.” Ke Xin was certain. She had never gotten carsick in her life.

And although Guan’s driving was wild, Ke Xin handled it fine. Besides, why would symptoms appear after getting out of the car?

What bothered her most was how familiar this sensation felt—like she had experienced it before.

Then it hit her. Her gaze snapped back to the window—just in time to see a figure move away from it.

Was it from there? She focused, but detected no magical energy in the vicinity.

“If you need to rest, sit in the car. Don’t push yourself,” Guan said when she noticed Ke Xin’s strange reaction.

“I’m fine. It was just a moment.”

Just as Ke Xin tried to show she was alright—

BANG!

A loud gunshot echoed from inside the police station.

By instinct alone, everyone—including the guard—knew exactly what it was.

A gunshot.
From inside the station.

Something had definitely happened.

“Qisi!” Guan barked.

“Okay, I’m on it!” Qisi understood instantly. She jumped on the spot and vaulted over the closed gate. Before the stunned guard could react, the others followed, easily clearing the three-meter gate with magically enhanced jumps.

“How did they—over a three-meter gate—?” the guard stared at Agent Guan, the only one still on the ground, as if expecting an explanation.

As an ordinary human, Guan certainly couldn’t leap like the magical girls.

“Why are you asking me? How would I know?” Guan spread her hands. “Open the gate already. Or are you waiting for your deputy chief to give permission first?”

“That won’t be necessary.” The guard’s attitude softened instantly. A federal agent was far above his pay grade.