Chapter 43: A Morning Broadcast and a Mysterious Message

—[Due to a sudden rift attack, the head of D City’s branch sacrificed their life heroically in battle. The D City branch has partially suspended operations, and Magical Girl Scorching Blade will be transferred to D City…]—

Early morning, at the Dark Organization’s base.

Dal’s scavenged radio diligently hummed to life, broadcasting a station that few people listened to in this era. For the Dark Organization, which had no internet access, this was a rare source of intelligence, even if most of its content consisted of the Magical Girl Organization’s nonsensical ramblings.

It would have been even better if the switch wasn’t faulty, constantly jolting everyone awake at dawn.

“Haaah—”

Chao Wu stretched languidly, purring like a waking kitten, then reached out haphazardly towards the blaring radio on the bedside table.

Reaching, reaching…

*Smack—*

“Guwah!”

Her hand was elbowed away.

Her drowsiness vanished almost entirely as Chao Wu groggily opened her bleary eyes.

She found herself sprawled across Ling Xing like an octopus, limbs splayed, clutching her like a human pillow. Ling Xing, with puffed cheeks, was glaring at her with a look of aggrieved resentment.

“You idiot! That’s an advanced intelligence gathering device Dal worked so hard to get! Don’t break it over something as trivial as wanting to sleep in!”

‘Guh…’

‘Didn’t she call it an evil brainwashing device before?’

“And besides, you’re awake now, so you should let go of me! I only let you sleep because you seemed tired, don’t push your luck!”

“Guwuu…”

Chao Wu reluctantly loosened her grip, but couldn’t resist the urge to pinch Ling Xing’s plump cheek one last time.

Naturally, her hand was slapped away, and Ling Xing shot her another fierce glare. Only then did Chao Wu finally rub her sleepy eyes and obediently get out of bed.

“Alright, alright, but it’s a holiday, can’t I just sleep in properly?”

“Idiot, it’s precisely because it’s a holiday that the Magical Girls will be lax. The more they rest, the harder we must work.”

“Eh—?”

****

Days had passed since then.

The turmoil caused by the rift gradually subsided. Although many people still harbored lingering fears, life, ultimately, had to go on. The city quickly reverted to a semblance of normalcy, at least on the surface, as if nothing had ever happened.

The internet, however, remained a chaotic mess of arguments, conspiracy theories, online brawls, attacks, and strange videos circulating everywhere. Unfortunately, Ling Xing lacked such high-tech devices as a mobile phone, so she had no idea what kind of image she projected online.

From the surface, it seemed as if no significant changes had occurred. The biggest gain from these past few days was probably Chao Wu’s gradual integration into the life of the Dark Organization.

This wasn’t about attacking Magical Girl strongholds or capturing Magical Girls—the kind of one-step completion statistics you’d find in a game. Instead, it was simply about a growing sense of family.

Unlike the Magical Girl Organization, everyone here lived, ate, and worked together. Even Ling Xing and Dal, as superiors, simply squeezed onto the same small bed to sleep and shared the same table for meals, eating the same food.

In fact, most of the time, it was Dal, the executive, who personally handled the cooking.

“Nyahaha, Ling Xing, Chao Wu, today some kindhearted people supported our Dark Organization again! It’s delicious, fragrant bread! How wonderful, so many people care about our Dark Organization—”

Like today.

As always, the energetic young executive, Dal, beamed as she presented a tray of bread, proudly displaying her day’s haul to the two of them. Since that day, while everyone outwardly remained discreet under the Magical Girl Organization’s surveillance, Dal, who worked odd jobs and scavenged for scraps, often received aid for the Dark Organization in secret.

Unused furniture, old clothes, old boxes, and incidental food—these were all considered worthless junk by the Magical Girl Organization, but for Dal, each item brought her immense joy for hours. The uniform she wore, for instance, was clearly several sizes too large, the wide top almost reaching the floor like a sweeping robe, her tiny hands unable to emerge from the long sleeves. She looked as though she were draped in a large bedsheet.

“Oh! This is all a testament to everyone’s recognition of Dal! With everyone’s support, we will surely overthrow the evil Magical Girl Organization!”

Despite it being the result of her own life-threatening battles, Ling Xing casually attributed everything to Dal. She set down the tray, scooped up Dal, and spun around joyfully in celebration, much like a father doting on a child… no, more like an older sister, lifting Dal high and twirling her around.

‘How wonderful…’

Chao Wu recalled her classmates during her apprenticeship, who had fought tooth and nail for glory and used every conceivable method to snatch a D-rank Magical Girl position. Compared to that cold, data-driven atmosphere of mutual calculation and exploitation, this familial warmth felt far superior.

“Ahaha, you two are having fun, aren’t you? Well, I won’t stand on ceremony then.”

Chao Wu chuckled, reaching for a piece of bread.

*Rustle—*

As she pulled out the bread, a small slip of paper fell from the bag, landing on the table. It was neatly folded, like a piece of stationery.

“Hmm?”

“Hmm?”

Two curious little heads immediately leaned in.

“—‘A letter to the Darkrill branch. The Magical Girl D City branch has fallen into chaos. The Magical Girl Organization is urgently mobilizing personnel to deal with the mess left by the former branch head. Recovering experimental reports and results, they currently have no spare capacity to intervene in your branch’s issues…’—”

Chao Wu read the first line from the letter. The handwriting was so neat that if not for the indentations on the back from the pen, Chao Wu would have thought it was printed.

“Who’s Darkrill?”

“Eh, was it sent to the wrong place? Is it bad for us to read it?”

“…It’s probably a mistake. I’ll read it.”

Ling Xing snatched the letter, quickly scanning its contents.

“—‘This is the time to press our advantage. Your branch can seize this opportunity to deliver a heavy blow to the D City Magical Girl branch, preventing the transfer of the former branch head’s numerous secret research projects and evil plans. If your branch is willing to accept and shelter me, I can provide your branch with intelligence and internal support to jointly thwart the Magical Girl Organization’s evil schemes—’—”

“—‘—Former Dark Organization Researcher. Nuonuo.’—”

The letter’s content ended there. Flipping the paper over and over, only one side had these few lines written on it.

“Sounds… a little suspicious?”

Chao Wu muttered, still chewing on her bread, a hint of suspicion in her voice. Could such a powerful Magical Girl Organization really be in trouble?

“It does, but I happen to know a former colleague named Nuonuo…”

“Eh, eh, Nuonuo?! She was a researcher in our branch before!”

Dal flapped her tiny hands excitedly, her long sleeves waving back and forth. Indeed, there had once been such a researcher in this branch.

Verifying it would be quite simple, actually. Ling Xing held the letter and poured a cup of water over it.

As the paper became saturated, a dense script began to seep through the previously blank expanse.

“It’s Nuonuo, alright. This was her favorite method of information encryption.”

—‘As a token of sincerity, I offer your branch further research findings concerning the device used by Ling Xing, specifically the Magical Girl transformation method that utilizes a synchronizer as a transformation device.’—

A single paragraph, followed by a dense array of data and feasibility reports, filled the large blank area of the paper.