Chapter 2: The Commander’s Secret World

Ring, ring, ring.

“Ah, class is dismissed. Where should we go next?”

“The library, the training room—either works.”

“Still, a detour for some fries sounds good.”

With the advent of supernatural abilities, standard school hours in this world had significantly shortened. After a few afternoon classes, students were free to allocate their time to training and studying as they saw fit. Consequently, it was a common sight to see students bustling about in the afternoons, either heading to the library to read or to the training rooms for physical exercise.

Of course, Bai Li was not one to squander this newfound freedom.

While others ambled through the campus and the bustling streets nearby, she silently slipped into a narrow alleyway.

Dim lighting and a chaotic environment—everything here starkly contrasted with the vibrant prosperity of the main thoroughfare. In a city like Tiangong, which boasted an above-average standard of living, this place felt less like an alley and more like the clandestine lair of some nefarious organization.

Considering her undisputed status as a campus beauty, one could only imagine what such a young woman might encounter venturing into a place like this alone…

Yet, nothing of the sort occurred. Bai Li reached the deepest recesses of the alley without encountering a single soul, disappearing into a nondescript building.

Unlike its dilapidated exterior, the interior of the building showed signs of having been meticulously cleaned, though the occupants were certainly not human.

Before a set of stairs, a demon—its body a deep violet, twin horns protruding from its head, and a pair of bat-like wings unfurled from its back—perched atop a stone pillar, a perfect replica of a gargoyle from a world of magic.

“…Where did this little brat come from? Do you even know what kind of place this is?”

The gargoyle, blocking the entrance to the basement, peered down at Bai Li.

“Enough talk. Move aside. I don’t have time for a minion like you.”

Even with the stone pillar, Bai Li was considerably shorter than the gargoyle, yet she showed not an ounce of fear.

The gargoyle, having been dismissed as a mere minion, felt its veins throb with indignation.

“A minion? You little punk, you’re asking for death—”

Before it could finish, the gargoyle’s world suddenly spun, everything blurring into a dizzying vortex. It felt as though its very brains were being shaken loose.

Before it could even react, with a resounding ‘thud,’ it was violently slammed against the very stone pillar it had been perched upon, shattering the column into dust.

“Ugh…”

“You must be new here, aren’t you? Haven’t the other anomalous creatures warned you not to provoke the white-haired girl?”

Bai Li lifted a foot, clad in a black stocking and a small leather shoe, and casually kicked the unconscious gargoyle aside before descending the stairs.

If the upstairs interior was a cleaned-up shell of a room, then the basement below was a fully furnished living space—though, once again, its inhabitants were far from human.

From towering werewolves whose fur blazed with red flames, to octopus-headed monstrosities cloaked in black wizard robes, none bore any resemblance to humanity.

If one were to categorize them, the weakest among them were at least E+ class, with even D-class anomalous creatures present, capable of obliterating an entire street with a single full-power attack. This was, in essence, a true nest of anomalous creatures.

“…Lady Bai Li, why have you arrived so swiftly…?”

Yet, these powerful anomalous creatures, capable of wreaking havoc the moment they stepped outside, now knelt before Bai Li with utmost deference, like small-time thugs facing a formidable boss.

“I shouldn’t have to spell it out, should I? And replace your guard dogs.”

“Ah… My subordinate disturbed your mood. My deepest apologies.”

“Pay more attention next time.”

As Bai Li spoke, she moved to a chair at the far end of the space and sat down, as if she were the undisputed leader of all the anomalous creatures gathered there.

In truth, she was.

“So, where’s the merchandise?”

“Right away. Xiao Er, Xiao Si, come up!”

At the octopus-head’s command, two winged, alien-like creatures emerged, their bodies bearing several bullet holes. A closer look revealed them to be the very anomalous creatures recently subdued by the magical girl, Shio Kaze.

“Leader, the item is here.”

The anomalous creature handed a USB drive to Bai Li, who snatched it and immediately plugged it into her phone to inspect its contents.

“As per your instructions, Leader, we’ve fully documented that esteemed individual’s valiant combat with the highest definition 32K quality.”

The USB drive contained nothing but battle footage of the magical girl Shio Kaze fighting anomalous creatures—all captured in ultra-high definition, with extremely high frame rates, and from nearly 360-degree angles. So comprehensive were these recordings that they could be used to regenerate a complete holographic projection with the right equipment.

“…Mm, so when you were filming…”

“No problems! As per your request, all sensory input was blocked during filming, and the contents were not reviewed.”

“Excellent.”

Bai Li gave a slight nod, and the anomalous creatures before her visibly sagged with collective relief.

There was no doubt: if they had accidentally crossed this seemingly harmless—or perhaps, not *entirely* harmless—young woman’s red line, they truly could have been annihilated in an instant.

Their former leader served as a stark, living example!

“You’ve done well. Go find the octopus-head for your reward later, and get those injuries treated while you’re at it, or it will affect your work.”

“Speaking of which, that esteemed individual felt surprisingly delicate. The places targeted weren’t vital points, but they were the most painful ones.”

“Yes, almost as if deliberately…”

Suddenly, the two anomalous creatures felt a gaze upon them, and their survival instincts instantly compelled them to shut their mouths.

Fortunately, the owner of that gaze seemed to disregard them, turning instead to their boss, the octopus-head.

“Oh, right. I heard the black market has the latest recording devices. You should switch to those.”

“Uh… that might be a bit… difficult…”

The octopus-head used a tentacle from its head to pull out a handkerchief and dab away cold sweat.

While the black market didn’t overly scrutinize the identities of its traders, the danger involved in anomalous creatures like them conducting transactions there was extraordinary.

“Unwilling? If you’re unwilling, then scram back to the Otherworld.”

“Understood. We’ll switch completely tomorrow.”

“That’s more like it.”

Withdrawing her murderous aura, which could easily fell a human, Bai Li rose from her seat.

“Um, are you going to…?”

“Where else would I go?”

Bai Li pulled out her phone, opened the DD chat application, and began scrolling through the conversation history.

“She’s already off work. I need to go pick her up.”

With that pronouncement, Bai Li vanished from her spot in the blink of an eye.

“…Boss, do we really have to risk going to the black market?”

After a moment, a tiger-headed anomalous creature, seemingly quite formidable itself, asked the octopus-head.

“What else can we do? If we don’t comply, all of us will be wiped out. We’re only alive now because we’re useful to her.”

“Why can’t we just…”

“Don’t talk nonsense! Can you even defeat her? Besides, compared to constantly facing annihilation before, this situation is quite good. We have stable lodging and a certain degree of safety.”

“Are we just going to be that person’s slaves? We anomalous creatures will never be slaves…!”

“Unless room and board are included.”

“…”

Watching the speechless tiger-headed creature, the octopus-head merely gazed at the spot where Bai Li had vanished, letting out a soft sigh.

“Though she is human, she commands anomalous creatures—who should be her enemies—as if they were servants. And all of this, merely for the sake of a single magical girl… truly, she is a ‘witch’ in every sense of the word.”