Chapter 60: The Mystery Grows

Kexin returned to her room. Senior Luo Anying was curled up under the blanket, completely still, showing no reaction to Kexin’s arrival, as if she were asleep.

Kexin glanced at Luo, whose head peeked out just halfway from the covers, then quietly tiptoed past the foot of the bed and stood by the window. Peering through the window screen, the holographic camouflage system outside made everything beyond a short distance appear pitch black. Not a single light could be seen. Only nearby were a few newly recruited magical girls gathered in small clusters.

It had only been a few months since Kexin had stumbled into becoming a magical girl herself, yet her experiences felt entirely different.

The Corpse Mother… what kind of monster could she possibly be?

Agent Guan had updated the mission briefing, which had already synced to Kexin’s terminal. Clearly, Kexin was now part of the task to eliminate the Corpse Mother. This wasn’t surprising—after all, it had been pretty explicit at the restaurant earlier.

Yet the intelligence on the Corpse Mother was pitifully sparse. There wasn’t even a clear image of her; the records contained only her abilities and related case files.

Facing such an entirely unknown foe, Kexin felt a subtle unease.

The Special Investigation Bureau would surely deploy sufficient firepower for a battle like this, such as an A-rank magical girl. Even within the Mu Zhou headquarters, A-rank magical girls were rare. Each of them was said to be capable of single-handedly defeating a D3-level monster.

Kexin had never seen one in action herself, but she understood—if an A-rank magical girl were present, it would at least instill some confidence.

As she thought this, she kept flipping through the terminal, hoping to find any other useful clues.

It wasn’t that she was afraid of fighting. The battle against the spider monster had made her realize her own magical power exceeded her expectations. Even if she couldn’t defeat an opponent, she could always raise a shield and run.

But facing an unknown enemy brought other, more pressing worries.

Scrolling down the mission briefing, Kexin saw the long list of personnel assigned to the operation. Almost everyone on it was someone she knew. Considering the incident mentioned during dinner, there was no telling how many of them might not return.

With a sigh, Kexin tossed her terminal onto the nightstand and closed her eyes, trying to shove all these troubling thoughts from her mind.

“Feeling nervous?”

The voice beside her startled Kexin, and she blurted out immediately, “I guess so.”

Only a second later did she realize there were just the two of them in the room. Her eyes shot open, and she turned toward Luo’s bed—but what met her gaze was a huge face.

No… it was Luo Anying, leaning over the edge of Kexin’s bed. When Kexin turned fully, their noses were only a few centimeters apart.

When had she gotten so close? Lost in her thoughts, Kexin hadn’t noticed the movement at all. She had truly let her guard down.

“Senior… you’re not asleep?” Kexin scrambled to sit up, her eyes darting nervously around the room for something to focus on.

“Just woke up.” Luo’s voice was calm, even, with no hint of emotion. She yawned, as if to confirm she was indeed still a little tired.

Kexin’s gaze eventually fell on Luo Anying’s sleepy eyes, and suddenly she found herself at a loss for words.

The room was so quiet she could hear each other’s breaths. Only the cool air from the ceiling vent stirred the stillness.

Luo blinked at Kexin, noticing her flustered expression, and a faint curve tugged at the corner of her lips. “Thinking about something?”

The question was casual, almost offhand—but it struck straight at Kexin’s heart.

Kexin froze for a moment, lowering her head. Her voice was hesitant. “Nothing… just… about this mission.”

Luo didn’t press further. She simply let out a soft “Hm,” then stood and reached out to lightly pat Kexin on the head, a gesture meant to soothe.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got you.”

Kexin lifted her head and looked into her eyes. The words seemed almost magical, calming her racing nerves. For the first time in a while, she felt some of her anxiety melt away.

Luo, a B-rank magical girl, was recognized within the Special Investigation Bureau as highly skilled. She usually operated alone as a sniper and rarely sought opportunities to prove herself. Some even speculated she should be an A-rank.

If Agent Guan brought her along for this mission, it certainly wasn’t just because she hadn’t passed basic training.

“By the way, Senior… you were there that time, right? You know what I’m talking about?”

Luo nodded.

“So… did you find any clues related to the Corpse Mother?” Kexin asked, not expecting much. After all, everything discovered after the operation would have been included in the reports, which she could access in the files.

“It wasn’t there.” Luo’s reply was absolute. Her face remained unreadable, but Kexin sensed the conviction in her tone.

“Wasn’t the Corpse Mother the core monster behind that incident?”

At least, according to the files Kexin had read, that was the case. Although other monsters had interfered with the reinforcements, they clearly were just distractions to shield the real culprit.

Kexin couldn’t think of a reason Luo would lie to her.

Could it be…? Kexin felt a dangerous thought creeping in. Or perhaps… a conspiracy.

“The aura… it’s different. This one compared to that one.”

“The aura… you mean the magical fluctuations?”

Luo nodded again, confirming Kexin’s suspicions. If that were true, it would mean the Bureau’s intelligence was seriously flawed. Any operation based on such plans would be far from guaranteed to succeed.

Thinking this, Kexin picked up her terminal to message Agent Guan. But just as she opened the chat window, Luo pressed down on her arm. Her puzzled eyes shook their head slightly.

“It’s too troublesome. Not something we can handle.”

“But…”

Luo’s gaze didn’t waver, not an inch.

“Alright… but I need more information.”

“You will, just not now.” With that, Luo returned to her bed and immediately wrapped herself back up in the blanket. “Good night.”

“G-Good night?”

She had just woken up… Kexin couldn’t figure out what her senior was thinking. She looked down at Agent Guan’s name in her contacts, then back at Luo’s head, and decided to trust her.

Though it felt a little guilty toward Agent Guan, if he were unknowingly dragged into whatever shadowy plot might exist, sharing the information could get him caught up in a heap of trouble.

And as an ordinary person, he didn’t have the battle capability of a magical girl—who knew what could happen.

So, careful steps were necessary.

The incident had grown even murkier. What really happened? If only they could find someone who had actually experienced it firsthand…

Someone like Oteni Iori, who remained missing to this day. What had happened to her, after all?