Chapter 24: No Escaping the Manual Inspection

Seeing guns aimed at her from both sides, Kexin let out a sigh. “What on earth is going on here?”

“Special Investigation Agency, Special Agent speaking. This is an operation conducted by the Special Investigation Bureau.”

Kexin pulled her ID card from the satchel at her waist. To be honest, aside from using it as an access card to enter the Special Investigation Bureau’s headquarters, she had hardly ever taken it out.

If she hadn’t used it now, she’d probably have been invited inside for a talk.

She flashed the bureau’s badge and her identification, yet the surrounding SWAT officers didn’t lower their weapons. The reputation of the Special Investigation Bureau was well-known across the Federation; once it decided to intervene in a case, local police had to cooperate unconditionally.

But officers still had to report to their superiors and wait for instructions. After a back-and-forth, by the time Agent Guan drove to the scene, Kexin could finally leave.

Night had fallen, and the flashing red and blue police lights illuminated the street. They drew a small crowd of onlookers, though at this hour it was hard to see anything clearly.

Once in the car, Kexin noticed that Qisi was already seated.

“You handled that like a pro, nice work,” Qisi said, giving a thumbs-up.

Kexin ignored him, keeping her head down as she replayed the chase in her mind. Perhaps she had been too eager to take down the anomaly, neglecting even basic operational rules. She hadn’t immediately reported the anomaly to the bureau, but her phone had been damaged in the confrontation.

“I got a notification from Eriko about a strong magical surge in the city center, so I guessed you were in trouble. I found Qisi first, in case you needed backup. Looks like things went smoother than I thought?” Agent Guan observed Kexin through the rearview mirror.

“I let the anomaly escape.”

“That’s understandable. This anomaly’s magical power is already at the lower end of Delta-level. It’s not something you could handle yet.”

Agent Guan tried to comfort her. For Kexin, still a relatively new magical girl, she had never let an anomaly escape before. But he was right—if anomalies were easy to eliminate, they wouldn’t be top targets for the Special Investigation Bureau.

“However, when we get back, there will be a lot you need to explain.”

“Understood.”

The three of them arrived at the magical girl-specific area of the bureau, where a few trainees were in session. Gunfire could be heard from the shooting range as soon as they entered.

Sitting down in the meeting room, Kexin recounted the day’s events, though she was reserved regarding the mysterious person. She only mentioned that her phone had received a message, which deleted itself after being read.

“So someone already had knowledge of the anomaly’s movements but didn’t inform the bureau directly. What do you think of this mysterious person?”

Kexin shook her head. “They’re clearly highly skilled in hacking. Even the voice was synthesized—I don’t know this person.”

“But they found you accurately.”

“Yes.”

Calming down, Kexin finally realized why the voice sounded familiar—it was modeled after the virtual magical girl Kagura Mafuyu. Not only did they use the avatar and nickname, but the voice was AI-simulated. Clearly, this was targeting her personally.

“However, the mysterious person mentioned that the anomaly would take a train out of town, though they didn’t say the destination.”

Kexin wanted to ask, but the person wasn’t planning to tell her, and with her phone broken, she couldn’t contact them proactively. She would have to wait for the next message.

“Taking a train, huh? That’s not impossible,” Agent Guan said, thinking along the same lines as Kexin. He hadn’t expected the anomaly to do so either, but on reflection, it was a reasonable tactic.

However, this made things more complicated.

“This time, the victim was the owner of a real estate company in Muzhou City. His brother is a city council member—this won’t be handled lightly.”

“That old man… the victim actually died?”

“Yes,” Agent Guan said, opening the conference room’s large screen. Multiple TV stations were reporting on the death of the real estate mogul at his home.

These media outlets were good at gathering material—they even linked the case to deaths of other real estate executives: suicides by jumping, accidental car crashes, and falls into rivers after drinking.

At first glance, the incidents seemed unrelated. Claiming this was a serial murder would be a stretch—but it was clearly not a coincidence either.

“Agent Guan, was this victim also from Fuwen Real Estate?”

“No. He was actually the main competitor. Everyone knows Fuwen Real Estate is facing financial trouble. Why? Did you figure something out?”

Kexin nodded. “Like the broadcast suggested, I think the core of all this is Fuwen Real Estate—more specifically, the company owner.”

She explained her reasoning. The bureau’s records included cases where curses were used to summon anomalies, though such claims couldn’t hold up in court.

Legends also spoke of humans using certain anomalies to achieve personal goals.

“If I’m right, this person somehow gained control of an anomaly through special channels and had it eliminate people who annoyed him. That’s probably it.”

Qisi’s expression lit up in understanding. So that’s how it was. He had been playing basketball in the club, and suddenly he was called in. Hearing there was an anomaly, he didn’t hesitate to strip off his jersey and hop in the car.

“Coincidentally, that’s also our assessment. We’ve tracked this person’s movements,” Agent Guan said, turning off the news and displaying files received on his tablet with a slight smile.

“Really?”

“Our colleagues have been monitoring him. This afternoon, he drove to Muzhou Station, then, with two bodyguards, went to a private villa in a neighboring city.”

Images from the bureau’s intelligence department were projected on the large screen. To avoid alerting the target, no close surveillance was conducted; only drones and satellites were used.

The satellite images showed a massive estate. The main building resembled the White House in North America, backed by a hill with what seemed like an astronomical observatory. A flat area extended to a lake, with a dock and a speedboat.

“He’s really rich,” Kexin muttered. Buying property from him could leave people with unfinished homes—a grimly funny thought.

“So, are we raiding it?” Qisi asked eagerly.

Agent Guan poured cold water on the idea. “The bureau’s stance is to observe. We don’t have enough evidence yet. Acting rashly could cause more trouble.”

“But we must remain ready; no one knows when an operational order might come.”

“Yes, understood.”

“First one to know, remember?”

As Kexin rose to leave, Agent Guan called her back. “Oh, Kexin, make sure to write a report this weekend. Any violations of operational rules can’t just be ignored.”

“Ah… alright.”

Kexin sighed—luckily, she had written similar reports before.