Chapter 56: Part (5): Uneasy Leisure

“In your future missions, you’ll frequently encounter indoor combat scenarios. Your opponents may be anomalous, or they may be other unknown beings. The goal of this training isn’t to make you master every detail of CQB, but to help you familiarize yourselves with the relevant concepts.”

What had just happened was meant to be a joke, but the person involved—Ke Xin—didn’t feel that way at all.

She hadn’t even had time to protest before Instructor Jiang finished speaking, so she could only draw tiny curse circles for Instructor Jiang in her heart.

The ones in charge of guiding their training were members of the Air Force Base’s Special Tactics Squadron.

They first demonstrated, with practiced ease, how to properly breach a room and suppress enemies inside, then handed the practice opportunity over to the magical girls.

It sounded easy to imitate, but actually doing it proved extremely difficult.
They were corrected countless times just for forming up properly at the door.

Once they started moving, the problems only multiplied: Luo Anying leaned on Ke Xin’s back and fell asleep; someone tripped on the door threshold; someone else fired several shots at close range and hit absolutely nothing—one marking round even landed perfectly on the “hostage’s” forehead.

“We don’t need such precise marksmanship to fight anomalies anyway,” Yan Luofei argued. Maybe it was the prolonged physical exertion, or maybe something else, but her face was flushed bright red. The others weren’t doing any better. Even Ke Xin—normally the most familiar with firearms—found her performance lacking in this environment. She might still cope if the enemy only had ordinary weapons, but if they had something capable of damaging magical shields, then she’d likely be ambushed the moment she peeked around a corner.

As Instructor Jiang had said, expecting rapid mastery in such a short time was unrealistic.

After countless restarts, Ke Xin’s Team A finally barely completed the first objective, successfully rescuing the “hostage” from the “terrorists.”

“You can rest now. We continue with the next objective in twenty minutes.” Instructor Jiang announced while pressing the timer.
Only then did Ke Xin realize that two whole hours had passed—she was now desperately thirsty.

Everyone moved toward the water dispenser to line up for a drink.

At that moment, Ke Xin noticed a new figure in the training hall—Agent Guan.

She was speaking with Instructor Jiang, occasionally glancing toward Ke Xin.
A bad feeling rose in Ke Xin’s chest.

“By the way, Captain Xia, you seem weirdly experienced with this kind of training. The instructors rarely pointed out mistakes on your side.” Tang Yu’an suddenly blocked Ke Xin’s line of sight and leaned in to ask.

Ke Xin’s head immediately throbbed. She didn’t dare say much—if she slipped, Tang Yu’an would definitely connect the dots and figure out something Ke Xin wasn’t ready to reveal.

“Is that so…” Ke Xin replied helplessly.

“This isn’t something you can learn just by fiddling with a hunting rifle at home. Let me guess—is there a chance that Captain Xia’s real identity isn’t a high schooler at all, but someone from a law-enforcement agency, and due to special circumstances you were given a new identity?”

“How could she guess something that absurd? And do I look that old?” Ke Xin grumbled internally.
Tang Yu’an had guessed one part correctly, but her conclusion was entirely off the mark.

Ke Xin indeed became a magical girl due to special circumstances—but before that she truly had been an ordinary high school student… granted, a male one.

“No, no—once magic enters the equation, what’s ‘common sense’ may no longer be common sense. You have to think with an open mind. For example, that instructor—her real age is actually—”
Before Tang Yu’an could finish, she felt a wave of killing intent from behind and immediately shut her mouth.

“Ke Xin,” Agent Guan stepped out from behind Tang Yu’an, patting her lightly on the shoulder, “and Luo Anying—there’s something the two of you need to handle.”

Instructor Jiang Xuelu had come with her, and the look she gave Tang Yu’an was anything but friendly. Tang Yu’an wished she could dig a hole and bury herself in it.

Ke Xin silently sighed in relief—at least Tang Yu’an wouldn’t torment her for now.

But the task Agent Guan mentioned was likely not anything good either.

“Right now?” Ke Xin looked at her clothes. They bore marks where the “enemy” instructors had hit her, and splashes of paint from her teammates’ friendly fire. Sticky residue clung to her hair as well. She thought longingly of a shower—or at least a change of clothes.

“Yes. Just tidy up a bit and we’re leaving,” Agent Guan replied.

“Huh? More work? I need a break…” Luo Anying lifted her head when she heard her name, took one look, then flopped back down on the table with no intention of getting up.

Agent Guan sighed and named her price: “One week’s worth of fries. Homemade.”

“Deal.” Instantly, Luo Anying sprang to her feet and grabbed the sniper rifle from the equipment rack.
Since they were practicing CQB, nobody had touched this gun until now.

“You really do understand Luo-senpai best,” Ke Xin murmured, genuinely curious—were Agent Guan’s fries really that appealing?

“Senior Jiang, we’ll be borrowing this,” Agent Guan said.

“Do as you like. Just return it later,” Instructor Jiang replied.

“Probably won’t be necessary. We shouldn’t need a sniper rifle for this,” Agent Guan said, unsure. But Luo Anying insisted. With no room to argue, Agent Guan merely nodded: “Let’s go. You two change into your field uniforms first—I’ll get the car.”

Right after speaking, Agent Guan’s phone buzzed.
Her expression darkened the moment she read the message. She looked toward the rest area, her gaze sweeping the group before settling on two people.

“Gulian and Lanxing are coming as well,” she said.

“Got it.” Yuan Lingfeng finished her cup of water in one gulp, then executed a smooth pivot-jump-shot motion to toss the disposable cup perfectly into the trash can, flashing a victory sign to Yan Luofei.

Yan Luofei shook her head. “Idiot.”

“Heh heh, wasn’t that cool?” Yuan Lingfeng said proudly.

“Not at all,” Yan Luofei replied.

In the locker room, Agent Guan contacted logistics to deliver replacement clothes. They still had time for a quick shower first.
For field operations, they typically wore a shirt topped with a jacket bearing the large letters “SIA” on the back—both to signify they were with the Special Investigation Agency and to conceal their identities as magical girls. After all, appearing in a magical girl outfit in public would definitely draw unwanted attention.

With fries promised, Luo Anying no longer dawdled. By the time Ke Xin stepped out of the shower, Luo-senpai was already fully geared up.

“Here’s the situation,” Agent Guan said once she had picked them up in an ordinary-looking SUV. “Yesterday, when you intercepted the local police car on its way to Yunqi Village, you encountered two officers coming from the village. You didn’t notice anything unusual about them at the time, correct?”

“That’s right.” Ke Xin recalled. She hadn’t sensed any trace of magical energy from them—they had seemed completely normal.

Since the topic was brought up, it was clear the Agency had been monitoring the two afterward.

“I originally thought they were sent ahead by Deputy Chief Chen to scout the area—but that wasn’t the case.”

Linxi City wasn’t large, and the local police had limited manpower. When Deputy Chief Chen received the lead on Yunqi Village, a patrol car happened to be nearby and was sent over. Not impossible, but police typically wouldn’t drive deep into rural areas for no reason.

“So they went on their own?” Ke Xin asked.

“More or less,” Agent Guan replied. “The intelligence division found a clue from the telecom company. One of the officers received a call from someone claiming to be a Yunqi villager currently abroad. They said they couldn’t reach their family recently and asked him to check on them.”

“That is quite a coincidence,” Ke Xin remarked.

“There’s an even bigger one,” Agent Guan continued. “Just now, those two officers applied for a vehicle, saying they needed to go to Muzhou City. But their request has been deliberately held up so they can’t get the car yet.”

“If those two really are compromised, a blocked form won’t stop them,” Yan Luofei said.

“Which would make things even worse,” Agent Guan muttered with a frown.