Chapter 40: Aftermath:

The troubles brought by the anomaly didn’t disappear just because the battle was over. Before the whole city fully woke up, the Special Investigation Bureau staff still had to work hard to erase the traces left behind by the fight. But for Kexin, a magical girl, this had nothing to do with her anymore.

Carried all the way back to her apartment, Kexin collapsed onto her bed as soon as she entered her room, like a puppet with its strings cut. Apart from the faint rise and fall of her chest with each breath, there was no other movement—it looked as if she were dead.

Qisi and the blue-haired girl adjusted Kexin’s position together, covered her with a blanket, then quietly closed the door and left.

“You should get some rest too, Lu Qisi. I should head back and sleep as well—completely exhausted,” the blue-haired girl said, yawning as she headed straight for the entrance without lingering.

Although she was also a magical girl under the Special Investigation Bureau, she didn’t live in this building. At least Qisi had no impression of her. Qisi’s memory might be poor in some areas, but when it came to recognizing people, she never forgot a face.

As the girl was halfway out the door, Qisi quickly took a step forward. “Um… may I ask your name, senpai?”

After that incident, the magical girl personnel structure in Muzhou City had undergone a huge change. Some left, some were assigned to other branches of the Special Investigation Bureau, and others were transferred from elsewhere.

For Qisi, who had only been a magical girl for less than a year, it was impossible to know every magical girl in the city.

“Oh, this? I’m Luo Anying, third year, Class C, Xingyue High School. Nice to meet you,” the blue-haired girl replied, and like the wind, she vanished from the doorway, leaving only the sound of the door closing behind her.

Qisi stared at the closed door, seemingly deep in thought. Then she suddenly realized—wasn’t that one of her school’s seniors?

Her school actually had such a distinctive senior? She had never noticed before, and it hit her a little. She wanted to catch up and ask more questions, but at that moment, she wasn’t the only one sleepy—Luo Anying was clearly exhausted too.

Glancing at the time, it was already 4 a.m., which was a rare experience for Qisi.

“Better get some sleep today,” she muttered, yawning, and returned to her room. Soon, the apartment became completely quiet.

Since the senior was from her school, Qisi realized she would have plenty of opportunities to approach her. After all, she had been active in all kinds of school sports clubs and prided herself on knowing nearly everyone in school. A magical girl senior, and a school senior—she definitely needed to get to know her properly.

Meanwhile, in the elevator, Luo Anying’s eyes were also lifeless, her eyelids fluttering. Even she couldn’t stay fully alert in this state. After pressing the button for the first floor, she leaned back, resting her back against the metallic wall that shone like a mirror.

As the elevator started moving, she sighed heavily. “So sleepy~”

Although it was only a few minutes, she had been observing Qisi’s expressions and movements the entire time, trying to understand her thoughts and ensuring her own words wouldn’t cause unintended consequences. In battle, she didn’t need to worry about so many things at once.

Suddenly, the elevator doors opened. A tired Bai Xihan entered with two small companions trailing behind, their heads drooping. Bai Xihan, relying on muscle memory, found the floor button and pressed the fourth floor, then looked up to notice someone else in the elevator.

At the same time, Luo Anying realized they had already reached the first floor and quickly moved aside. “Sorry, excuse me—”

Bai Xihan instinctively shifted half a step to make room. As she looked at the person passing by, she felt a vague sense of familiarity but couldn’t place it.

“Do we know this person?” Yue Tu asked. She often stayed in the apartment and knew most of the magical girls, except the few recent arrivals. The person who had just left was completely unfamiliar.

“No idea,” Neko Zaki shook her head, then the two of them looked toward Bai Xihan, who seemed deep in thought.

Bai Xihan considered the current magical girls, the usual staff, and the so-called freelance magical girl assistants, then shook her head. “Haven’t seen them, probably.”

Given the recent chaos in Muzhou, it was possible that magical girls from elsewhere had just passed by.

Since no one recognized her, the topic was dropped. After saying goodbye, the three returned to their rooms immediately.

Before sleeping, Bai Xihan sent a reminder in the team group chat: “So much happened today, everyone’s tired. Get some rest—after waking up, we still have to write the operation report.”

“Sure.”

“Seriously, meow.”

For the Special Investigation Bureau’s post-battle cleanup team, the work wasn’t over. Besides cleaning the affected areas, they had to monitor online activity. If someone had captured the battle on video, it needed to disappear quietly.

However, this wasn’t something magical girls had to worry about.

When Kexin finally opened her eyes again, sunlight poured straight onto her face. She couldn’t look at the sun, so she rolled to the window side and drew the curtains.

Finally, she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Uh—ah.”

Gradually becoming fully conscious, Kexin stretched on the bed, raising her arms. This might have been the most comfortable sleep she had in a while—she had slept straight until 2 p.m.

She picked up her phone. It hadn’t been charged last night, and there was less than 30% battery remaining. Her first reaction was to plug it in, and only then did she notice the unread messages.

After dismissing a flood of advertisements, the rest were mostly messages from her mother checking in, since the family farm was now managed only by her grandparents and mother, even with temporary workers, it was busy. Kexin briefly replied, updating them on her situation.

Next were messages from her class group. She had forgotten to mute it, and after a night of discussion—mostly about last night’s events—her phone was filled with messages.

Even though the Special Investigation Bureau had worked hard to erase the incident, some people had made a lot of noise. The dazzling light and loud noise had caught the attention of the entire city, giving rise to all kinds of rumors.

Kexin wanted to join in the discussion but realized that some “anomalies” had been caused by her, so she quietly left the chat.

Next were messages from Ruolin, asking to confirm if she was alive. Having had no news the entire morning, Ruolin sent several messages in succession, her increasing urgency clear from her wording.

Kexin didn’t know how to describe this girl, having known her only a few days.

Still, she replied that she had stayed up all night playing games and only just woke up, knowing nothing about what had happened.

Ruolin, seemingly glued to her phone, immediately sent a flurry of messages, mentioning things she had heard from certain sources about what occurred last night. Aside from the fact that an anomaly appeared, most of it had been exaggerated.

Then Kexin saw a message from Agent Guan. Opening it, her smile froze:

“There’s a meeting in the headquarters conference room tonight at 7. Complete your operation report before the meeting.”

Although it was just one sentence, it was enough to make Kexin feel suffocated. Seven o’clock tonight—there were only five hours left, less than that!

“I—”