Chance Encounter

Bai'an City is a well-known tourist city in the southern Eastern Hua Prefecture, boasting abundant mountain and water scenery and natural attractions. More importantly, it is also a famous music capital, hosting numerous world-class music festivals and exhibitions every year.

This place boasts the largest concert hall and the two largest music schools in the entire Eastern Hua Prefecture, and the whole city is filled with an artistic atmosphere. Not only are the buildings along the streets full of various tributes and ingenuity, but you can also often see huge music venues on the streets, as well as musicians performing on the street.

Therefore, tourists and music lovers from all over the world often stay here, making the tourism and hospitality industry very prosperous.

When Lin Yun told the driver his destination, which was the Music Park in the Economic Development Zone of Bai'an City, the driver treated him like a tourist from out of town, and talked at length about the local attractions of Bai'an City and how to buy local specialties.

Lin Yun didn't mind the misunderstanding and chatted casually with the driver about things to note when traveling in Bai'an City, acting as if she were really there for a trip.

Of course, he wasn't actually a tourist, and his purpose in coming to Bai'an City wasn't tourism. So, the Music Park he went to was actually the real destination of his trip— the Bai'an City Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau.

There's a common understanding in the Magic Side of the Material Realm: the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau in each city exists in a different way.

The Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau in Fangting City is the most common type. It makes no attempt to conceal its status as a government agency and its management function over Mage, and it owns a huge complex of buildings as its headquarters.

The Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau in Bai'an City is different. According to the information provided to Larkspur by the Investigation Institute, its address is located underground in Bai'an City Music Park, and all entrances and exits are in an extremely secretive manner. If this is not known, then ordinary people would never be able to find the location of the Bai'an City Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau.

As for why it's located underground in the Music Park, the reason is quite practical: when the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau set up its headquarters here, the economic development zone of Bai'an City was still a desolate suburban area.

However, as the city developed and expanded, this piece of land was eventually designated as a new urban area. With the construction of various real estates and public facilities on the surrounding land, the vacant land above the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau became particularly conspicuous.

At this point, if the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau doesn't add any more buildings above its headquarters, it will only make things look more suspicious.

Thus, this place was eventually transformed into a Music Park that suited the city's character.

If Lin Yun remembered correctly, the Music Park was heavily promoted online around the time it was completed. Anya even asked her then if they should bring Xiao Lu along for a family trip.

Lin Yun didn't agree immediately, wanting to wait until the controversy died down and the reputation of the attraction stabilized before considering whether to use it as a family trip destination. However, by then, there were no more family trips available.

Sitting in the taxi, gazing at the bustling street scene outside the window, Lin Yun's thoughts drifted for a moment.

As evening fell, the taxi drove out of the port area and officially entered Bai'an City. When it arrived at the location of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau marked on the map, the sun was already setting, and only a faint orange-red glow remained in the sky.

Traffic moved slowly through the congested roads, forming a long queue, waiting impatiently at each traffic light. Every now and then, a vehicle would weave through the gaps, attempting to overtake or change lanes, making the situation even worse. The incessant honking of horns added to the unease and frustration.

As time passed, the afterglow of the setting sun gradually faded, and the city sky began to darken. But almost simultaneously, the dazzling neon lights began to shine, illuminating the entire Bai'an City with colorful lights, making Bai'an City seem even more lively as night fell.

This bustling scene transformed into a painting reflected on the car window, taking in Lin Yun's entire view.

If Lin Yun only felt the simple atmosphere of everyday life when he first arrived here, then after he actually entered Bai'an City, he could feel that everything here was so warm and real.

Did the Cat-Tail Squad disappear in a city like this?

He couldn't help but have this thought.

As if in response to his thoughts, a tremendous roar resounded ahead of the road the next moment.

The noisy honking of cars, the music playing on the street, and the voices of drivers inside cars were all dispersed by the roar of the engine.

Lin Yun immediately turned her head and looked out the car window, but under the cover of night, the neon lights made the scene ahead blurry, making it impossible to see what was happening.

The roads remained blocked, and traffic remained stagnant, as if the earlier roar had been merely an illusion, and nothing had actually happened.

Before long, the music from the roadside once again drowned out the unease in people's hearts. The passersby, who were initially somewhat surprised and confused, started moving again. They looked around somewhat bewilderedly, unsure whether they should continue walking forward.

"Driver, stop the car."

But Lin Yun was different from them. His experience as a magical girl allowed him to make a judgment immediately: what situation must have occurred ahead?

Even though she was in a foreign land, as a magical girl, she couldn't just stand by and watch the crisis unfold. She definitely had to go to the scene to check the situation, so she quickly decided to get out of the car and walk.

Ignoring the driver's grumbling, "What are you afraid of, bro?", he paid the fare, grabbed his bag, opened the car door, and ran along the sidewalk toward the sound of the engine.

After running for several hundred meters, he finally ran into a stream of people walking in the opposite direction.

"Don't go any further! Turn around and run! There are Aberrant Beast!"

The young man running in front shouted at him, then tried to pull Lin Yun away with him.

"The Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau"

Lin Yun didn't move, but calmly said three words to him. The young man opened his mouth as if he understood, let go of her hand, and then continued to run away on his own.

Following the flow of people, Lin Yun finally arrived at the scene and saw the sight on the street in the distance: a huge, Aberrant Beast was rampaging on the road and trying to drag the people out of the car.

Several pedestrians have already been injured by it, lying on the roadside clutching their bodies and groaning in pain; the scene is shrouded in gloom.

Lin Yun stood there for two seconds, then immediately turned around, grabbed her bag, and rushed into the convenience store next door.

The convenience store was deserted; both employees and customers had fled due to the Aberrant Beast's attack. He locked his bag in the storage room, glanced at the security camera in the corner, frowned, and had no choice but to climb out the window again.

He needs to find a secluded place to transform.

Lin Yun climbed over the wall from the convenience store into the back alley. The alley was deserted, and the dark, cramped space blocked the view of those around her. Even if someone looked out of the window, they wouldn't see Lin Yun.

After confirming that no one was around, he took the Flower of the Heart from the inside pocket of his coat and placed it against his chest.

Then, he stopped what he was doing.

Almost simultaneously, he felt several strong magical fluctuations rushing past his head at high speed. One of them stopped after traveling a short distance, then turned back and returned to his head.

"Uncle, what are you doing here?"

A clear, crisp female voice came from above the alley.

Lin Yun looked up and saw a girl radiating a pale yellow light, wearing a layered princess dress, Hover in mid-air, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

The magical energy emanating from her clearly revealed her identity—she was a magical girl.

Lin Yun didn't say anything, but silently put away her Heart Gem, then pretended not to know anything and jogged quickly along the alley.

"Stop! Don't run!"

But before he could take two steps, he heard a voice above him again, and the magical girl in pale yellow clothes landed in front of him. "I sensed it! There's a fluctuation of magic power here!"

The girl had long, light blonde curly hair, with her bangs parted to the sides, revealing a smooth forehead. She was currently staring at Lin Yun with a pair of clear yellow eyes, looking at him with a hint of arrogance.

"Who are you? Are you Mage? Sneaking around in this dark place, with the Aberrant Beast causing trouble just across the street, what's your connection to this?"

This is bad.

Lin Yun thought to himself.

Although he was alert enough to stop his transformation in time and prevent the other party from seeing the truth, fluctuations in magical power were unavoidable. Since both of them were using magic, if he could sense the other, there was no reason why the other party wouldn't sense him.

Even so, he was still slightly surprised, because despite his old injuries, his perception as a magical girl was still at the Blossom Rank. The fact that she could sense each other's magical energy fluctuations at the same time meant that her perception was also quite excellent.

However, judging from the magical fluctuations emanating from her, she is far from reaching the Blossom Rank standard.

Was he hiding his true strength? Or did his perception abilities surpass the level of Blossoming's?

These doubts arose in Lin Yun's mind, but she quickly put them aside. She knew that these trivial matters were not what she needed to think about now.

He attempted to transform in the deserted alley, but the fluctuations of his magic were detected by the other party. If he didn't reveal his identity as a magical girl now, there could only be one explanation—he was Mage.

However, if I admit that I am Mage, then I will face the next question, the same one the other party just asked: What am I doing here?

You see, there was an Aberrant Beast causing trouble in the direction he came from. Mage encounters Aberrant Beast, whether they watch or run away, those are all normal behaviors; but to secretly use magic in a nearby alley is indeed too suspicious.

Putting himself in Lin Yun's shoes, if he were to discover such a Mage near the scene of the Aberrant Beast attack, he would also immediately suspect that the magician had some connection with the Aberrant Beast.

But when it came to him being the one suspected, he couldn't help but feel a bit of a headache.

Should he directly reveal his magical girl identity to her? Putting aside the difference between his true form and that of a magical girl, even without that factor, he had no reason to reveal his true identity to a strange magical girl.

The true form of a magical girl is a very private and confidential matter, and usually no one except her teammates knows it. He shouldn't make an exception so easily.

So, if you don't acknowledge your magical girl identity, what's the most appropriate explanation? Should you lie and say you're Mage, or continue pretending to be an ordinary person and claim the other party has made a mistake?

After a brief deliberation, Lin Yun decided to use the latter.

If he claims to be Mage, he will inevitably face questions about what he was doing hiding in the alley, which is undoubtedly harder to explain. But if he claims to be an ordinary person, he can simply insist that he doesn't know anything about "magic."

He was confident he could conceal his magical power without using it, and no matter how the other party tried to verify it, they would only find him to be an "ordinary person."

I don't know what you're talking about.

So, Lin Yun put on a stern face, feigning displeasure, and turned the tables. "Judging from your appearance, are you a magical girl? There are Aberrant Beast hurting people behind you, why don't you go fight Aberrant Beast instead of blocking me, a mere passerby?"

"Ha?"

His rebuttal made the blonde magical girl raise an eyebrow, then she said with displeasure, "There are three of us on this trip. My two teammates have already gone to deal with the Aberrant Beast. Is there a problem with me stopping you, Mage doesn't look like a good person?"

... Is this child a little slow on the uptake?

Lin Yun couldn't help but have this suspicion in his heart. After all, he had only asked the other party one question, and the other party had quickly revealed how many of his companions there were.

"Do I not look like a good person?"

However, he couldn't voice this suspicion, so he continued to accuse the other party, saying, "If you really are a magical girl, how can you make such baseless guesses without any evidence? Don't you feel ashamed to so easily frame innocent people?"

"How is this a frame-up!"

The blonde girl's eyes widened as she pointed at Lin Yun and said, "I clearly sensed magical fluctuations here!"

"Fluids of magic?"

Lin Yun looked directly at her, a hint of confusion on his face. "What is that?"

"You don't know?" The blonde girl was somewhat taken aback, slowly lowering her outstretched finger. "You don't even know what magic is?"

After a brief moment of shock, she paused, then suddenly raised her eyebrows and, as if provoked, raised her voice. "Do you think I'm a fool?!"

"Hmph, fine, I'll arrest you first, and let White Thistle and the others determine who you really are later."

The blonde girl relaxed her brows, then said with a hint of arrogance, "If you surrender now, I might spare your life."

"I've already said I don't know what you're talking about!"

Sensing something was wrong, Lin Yun retreated while pondering his next move, saying, "Be careful, or I'll report you to the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau!"

"The Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau has no jurisdiction over me!"

The blonde girl charged aggressively towards Lin Yun: "Don't even think about running away!"

It seems there's no room for maneuver; I'd better transform.

Lin Yun sighed inwardly and reached out to touch the Flower of the Heart on her chest.

Whether it's dealing with the opponent's attack or proving his identity, he might need to transform to continue. So he placed his hand on the Flower of the Heart, preparing to activate it.

--Thump!

"Waaaaaah!"

However, this preparation ultimately proved useless.

Before he could make his next move, he heard a sharp crack and a scream.

The blonde girl in front of them tripped over a trash can that had somehow ended up blocking the alleyway, lost her balance, hopped a couple of steps, and then fell to the side.

The direction she fell was the same direction as the obstacle that had tripped her.

Bang!

In Lin Yun's view, the blonde girl fell straight into the trash can, her upper body completely submerged, with only her legs dangling outside.

The alleyway fell silent again for a moment.