Chapter 45: Actually Just Laying Low

After afternoon classes ended, Kexin sent a message to Agent Guan to confirm whether she had been to the school office today. Even though she was technically a homeroom teacher, her formal duties were still as a Special Investigation Bureau agent, so having her run back and forth every day was obviously a bit much.

After receiving an affirmative reply, Kexin said goodbye to Ruolin and the others, slung on her not very full backpack, and left the classroom.

The conversation at the clubroom during lunch still lingered in her mind. Whether it was the so-called “big shot” posting strange clues in the group chat out of goodwill, or the magical girls who had been repeatedly spotted, there were many uncertainties.

“They’ve already discovered so much,” she thought.

Agent Guan’s office was a standalone room; there were no other ordinary classrooms nearby, and for confidentiality, the Special Investigation Bureau had installed additional security systems.

After listening to Kexin’s report, Agent Guan also showed a trace of surprise.

During previous incidents, the Bureau had already taken the four girls in for a friendly questioning. For the Bureau, this was routine—there were many people obsessed with uncovering the truth about anomalies.

However, after reviewing the report, Agent Guan also had a little admiration for the four’s anti-interrogation skills.

“But what concerns me more is their mention of magical girls.”

Probably because few people were willing to discuss anomalies with them, Kexin was given a full account of their past experiences after lunch, including several times and places where magical girls had been sighted.

Yet the Bureau’s system had no record of corresponding reports.

“They probably just mistook mages for magical girls,” she speculated.

“Mages?”

Kexin felt she had heard the term before but didn’t really know what it referred to.

“You clearly haven’t read enough materials. Kexin, do you know who were the main force in the Bureau’s early days against anomalies?”

“Let me see… if I remember correctly, were they called hunters?”

Even though she had participated in multiple real operations, Kexin was still considered a rookie, along with other magical girls who joined at the same time. Besides combat training, reading through all those files was a bit of a torment. Basic theory classes were enough if she could grasp a little.

Agent Guan nodded and began introducing a mandatory course for Bureau agents: “Before magical girl transformation techniques were developed, those who fought anomalies were people naturally capable of using magic. Their families had engaged in anomaly elimination for generations. Similar people exist all over the world, calling themselves hunters within their circles.”

In East Asian Federation history, hunters might disguise themselves as Taoists, immortals, or onmyoji. But hunters generally avoided leaving precise records, making modern research and historical tracing quite difficult.

This wasn’t because hunters preferred low profiles—it was out of necessity. Although hunters could wield magic, facing high-level anomalies could still be fatal. And such anomalies wouldn’t wait around for hunters to deal with them.

“But not everyone with abilities chose such a dangerous path with little material gain. Many used their powers to commit crimes. That’s where the term ‘mage’ appeared. A mage might be good, but there’s also a high chance they’re a criminal—an illegal mage.”

For various reasons, mages often hid their existence, so even now, the Bureau couldn’t claim to have information on all mages within the Federation. They could only encourage registration through certain channels, but only a minority complied.

“Mages also need to replenish their magic using anomaly cores, so secretly hunting anomalies is understandable.”

Agent Guan offered her speculation. For ordinary people, it’s hard to distinguish between magical girls and ordinary mages in combat since both unleash dazzling magic. Only those with full understanding of magic can see the difference.

“So, these mages are indirectly easing our workload?”

“…You could say that. But don’t expect much from them—they can at most deal with Gamma-class anomalies and below.”

“That makes sense.”

Within the Bureau’s classification system, anomalies aren’t rigidly graded numerically; they are assessed based on actual threat. The most common are Alpha-class ghosts, known colloquially as spirits.

These anomalies rarely harm humans directly but often induce fear or mental breakdown.

Beta-class anomalies undergo a qualitative change. Commonly, they appear as beasts with sharp teeth capable of easily tearing people apart.

However, such anomalies have limited magical attacks. Well-trained hunters can eliminate them with ordinary weapons, and even ordinary humans may have a chance to retaliate.

Agent Guan briefly noted this in her memo, then turned her attention to another matter Kexin mentioned: “As for the so-called ‘big shot’ in your group chat, the Bureau has some intelligence, but I need to check before concluding. Don’t worry too much about those four kids—they’re already under protective monitoring by the intelligence department.”

“I’m not really worried—”

Before Kexin could finish, Agent Guan began tidying up the files on her desk, most of which were just teaching props.

“Aren’t you leaving, Agent Guan?”

“Oh, right, it’s your off-duty time too.”

Upon hearing the word ‘off-duty,’ Agent Guan sighed, “I’d like to, but apparently the leadership doesn’t agree.”

“Oh, so you’re going to work overtime?”

Agent Guan didn’t respond verbally. She stood and picked up a shoulder bag from the cabinet. Kexin realized it wasn’t appropriate to speak, so she quietly followed her out.

Recently, the Bureau’s workload had increased. Besides daily affairs, the most troublesome task was the upcoming magical girl training.

To secretly gather participants from across the country, the Bureau went to great lengths, even creating detailed cover stories for competitions or training courses, making participants’ temporary absences from their usual lives appear reasonable.

That’s why the Bureau preferred large-scale recruitment during summer breaks—it was naturally a good excuse for travel, especially for teenage girls.

Kexin checked her upcoming schedule and found nothing pressing, so she went downstairs toward the school gate. Living nearby, she only needed to walk home, with a chance to stop by a convenience store on the way.

Just as she was about to reach her apartment, her phone in her uniform pocket vibrated. Even though she didn’t like wearing skirts, school uniforms left no choice. Surprisingly, the skirt had pockets. She shifted the two bags in her left hand and used her free hand to pull out her phone.

Good news: it wasn’t an urgent call to action, which made Kexin breathe a sigh of relief.

But opening Mchat, her most used messaging app, a friend request instantly made her gasp.

In the note section of the request, there were only three simple characters: “Shui Xiyue.”

The name immediately brought memories flooding back. Back then, she was still “he,” had not yet come to Muzhou, and didn’t even know about anomalies—she never imagined she would now be at a private girls’ school.

In Kexin’s understanding, the Bureau had already sorted out her identity information, and all her previous accounts had been canceled.

How did this person find this account?

She quickly thought of a suspect.

“Ugh, Mom’s doing unnecessary things again.”

Originally, Kexin wanted to wait for a better moment to explain, at least she didn’t know how to respond now. Looking at the profile picture, she tapped “accept.”

Almost instantly, multiple messages popped up:

【Where are you】
【I went to Muzhou No.1 High to look for you. They said you had already transferred.】
【Two or three months without a call, and now you’ve got the nerve.】
【Why did you delete your old account】
【Read it, now reply!!!】

…She regretted opening the chat outside.

After thinking for a moment, Kexin typed a single line:

【I’m dealing with something, not convenient to meet right now】