Chapter 74: Has the Magical Girl Been Discovered?

The library was extremely quiet. The cool air carried the faint, distinctive scent of paper and ink. Sunlight filtered through the glass skylight overhead, casting bright patches of light onto the floor.

As they entered the main doors, Ke Xin and Luo Anying unconsciously lightened their footsteps and lowered their voices.

Ke Xin followed half a step behind Luo Anying, her gaze wandering uneasily until she finally fixed it on the tips of her shoes.

She still wasn’t used to such public places. When she looked around and saw nothing but people, she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her—even though, in reality, everyone in the library was busy with their own things.

Luo Anying headed straight toward a self-service search terminal. Her long fingers moved skillfully across the touchscreen.

Ke Xin stood beside her, occasionally sneaking a glance at the screen only to quickly look away, as if afraid of being caught peeking.

“Found it.” Before long, Luo Anying turned to Ke Xin and spoke softly. “Fourth floor… the special collections reading room.”

She glanced at Ke Xin and saw her spacing out at the bookshelves, so she gently patted Ke Xin on the shoulder.

“Let’s go.” She pointed toward the nearby staircase, her tone carrying a subtle trace of anticipation.

Ke Xin jolted back to herself as if startled. “Ah—o-okay.”

She hurried to keep up with Luo Anying. They arrived on the fourth floor, where it was even quieter—only a few people wandered slowly among the shelves, searching for whatever they needed.

The special collections reading room was near the staircase. A middle-aged librarian sat behind the service desk, immersed in a book.

Luo Anying stepped forward to show her reservation confirmation, while Ke Xin stood to the side, unconsciously swaying left and right, her gaze curiously drifting around.

Her eyes accidentally landed on a café across the circular corridor. It seemed to be doing good business, and she could almost imagine the faint aroma of coffee drifting through the air.

The librarian put down his book and scanned the QR code on Luo Anying’s phone.

When he saw the title displayed, he raised his eyebrows slightly and asked in mild surprise, “The Song of Stars and Wind? The 1924 edition?”

Luo Anying nodded, confirming that was the one.

The librarian stood and went into the back stacks. Soon he returned holding a thin, dark-blue booklet. The gold lettering on the spine was already worn, giving it a distinctly antique charm.

“According to the rules, this kind of book can only be read inside the library.” He handed them each a pair of pristine white gloves and added with solemn emphasis, “If you need a copy to take out, we can provide a reproduction. Please handle it carefully to avoid damage.”

“I’ll be careful.” Luo Anying took the book.

“Th-thank you.” Ke Xin stared blankly at the book she’d never heard of, only reacting once the gloves were pushed into her hands.

After putting on the gloves, Luo Anying delicately opened to the title page. Her movements were gentle, like touching a feather. Her focused expression made others reluctant to disturb her.

Ke Xin watched, wanting to say something but unable to find a way to start, so she remained quiet.

They sat at a table by the window. Outside was the courtyard connecting the library’s main and auxiliary buildings. A few trees swayed softly in the breeze, their leaves rustling—a perfect match for the tranquil atmosphere.

But once Ke Xin sat down, she quickly realized she was the least harmonious element here. She had nothing she wanted to read, wasn’t here to study, and pulling out her phone to watch videos seemed inappropriate.

She snuck a glance at Luo Anying. The latter was completely absorbed in the old book.

Ke Xin opened her mouth, closed it, repeated that a few times, and finally mustered the courage to whisper, “Um… um, Senior, is this book… very special?”

As soon as she asked, she regretted it. If it wasn’t special, why would she come all the way here for it…

Luo Anying lifted her eyes from the page and nodded lightly. “It’s nothing extraordinary… It’s just that my family had a copy when I was little… but it got lost later.”

“Oh, I see.” Ke Xin nodded, unsure how to continue and scrambling to think of the next topic.

Silence once again stretched between them.

After some thought, the safest topic was probably food—most people didn’t dislike talking about food.

Ke Xin took a breath and tried again. “Um… Senior, where do you plan to eat lunch later?”

Luo Anying thought for a moment. “…Anywhere is fine… What about you, Ke Xin?”

Caught off guard, Ke Xin’s mind went blank. She hadn’t thought that far ahead either, so she began speaking while trying to sort out her thoughts. “Uh, well, everyone’s out today, and I didn’t buy groceries, so I’ll probably eat outside… or order delivery…”

Realizing she might be rambling, she quickly added, “Is Senior going home to eat?”

“No…” Luo Anying shook her head gently. “No one cooks at home…”

“I see…”

The conversation died again.

Ke Xin anxiously bit her lip, feeling she’d only made things more awkward.

Aside from knowing Senior had a college-age sister—also a magical girl in the Special Search Bureau—she knew nothing about her family situation.

With nothing else to do, Ke Xin lowered her head and looked at her phone. She hoped something—anything—would break the tense mood, though she also feared some alarming notification might appear. At the very least, she could look up nearby restaurants.

Just as Ke Xin was debating lunch options, Luo Anying suddenly seemed to hear something. Her gaze shifted past Ke Xin toward the bookshelves not far away.

Almost simultaneously, Ke Xin noticed it too.

From behind several tall wooden shelves, a young man’s voice—urgently hushed but still brimming with excitement—leaked through: “…I’m telling you, this one’s absolutely real. My friend filmed it last night near the abandoned factory in the west suburbs!”

Another voice, skeptical, replied, “Come on, another one of those blurry ‘paranormal videos’? Anyone can add effects… and AI fakes are easy.”

“This one’s different. The experts in the group already checked it—it’s authentic. And it wasn’t just my friend. There were others there who saw it in person. People in the group have been saying that lately, at night in some places around the suburbs, they keep seeing magical girls…”

The voice dropped lower, but two keywords still reached them clearly:

…magical girl…
…anomaly…

Those two words hit Ke Xin and Luo Anying like a jolt of electricity.

The awkward tension between them vanished instantly. As special agents of the Special Search Bureau, both recognized the implications immediately.

They fell silent on cue, maintaining their posture but focusing entirely on listening, trying to catch every sound from behind the shelves.

From the conversation, it sounded like more than one person had witnessed magical girls.

The two exchanged a glance—neither of them had any memory of such an incident.

Ke Xin quickly opened the Bureau’s internal app, found Luo Anying’s contact, and typed in a secure channel: “Was there an anomaly cleanup report last night?”

Luo Anying’s phone buzzed softly. She checked it and shook her head.

If an anomaly was handled, the Bureau would have a record. Unless it was classified, magical girls would be able to look it up.

After searching the system, Ke Xin found that since most official magical girls had just returned recently, there were no patrols scheduled last night. Only a few top-ranked members stationed in Muzhou were covering tasks, assisted by other personnel.

The few Beta-level anomaly reports she found were all handled by the nearest available assistants, and all occurred within the city. Nothing in the west suburbs.

Magical girl training took place in the Bureau’s internal facilities, and even if someone was recorded during patrols, it was usually just some indistinct blur—often dismissed as a plastic bag flapping in the wind.

Meanwhile, the conversation behind the shelves continued.

The guy with the video seemed to be showing it now. “Look—yeah, it’s a bit far and blurry, but look at this blue-haired magical girl. See that? That speed isn’t human. And this energy attack—looks real, doesn’t it?”

His friend sounded shaken. “Hiss—so the stuff online… is it actually true?”

“Told you! And look at what the group’s been saying—not just the west suburbs, but the old industrial zone in the north, and the riverbank in the south. People have spotted similar things at night. Girls in weird outfits fighting things they call anomalies.”

The more she listened, the more Ke Xin felt the Bureau’s information control must be slipping. Not only did someone in her class participate in anomaly-hunting events, they’d now run into true believers talking openly about magical girls in a library.

She quickly messaged again: 【Senior, what do you think?】

After a brief moment of thought, Luo Anying typed rapidly—shockingly fast compared to her speaking pace.
【Highly suspicious. I think we need to investigate.】

Unlike her slow, gentle speech, her typing was swift and dense. Before Ke Xin had even finished reading, she sent over more than a dozen messages of analysis.

They exchanged messages in silence. The more Ke Xin read, the deeper her frown became.

If they ruled out Bureau magical girls being spotted, then it sounded like an unregistered magical girl—or something very similar—was active in Muzhou. And the Bureau knew nothing.

The thought was unsettling. What if it was some eccentric anomaly? It sounded far-fetched, but not impossible.

She had once encountered an anomaly disguised as a slit-mouthed woman, after all. If anomalies were understandable through normal reasoning, they wouldn’t be called anomalies.

Behind the shelves, the two men were still deep in discussion, completely oblivious to the eavesdroppers.

Ke Xin and Luo Anying met eyes once more.

Then Luo Anying sent a final message.

“Ke Xin… are you free tonight?”
Her invitation carried a seriousness that left no room for refusal.