Bai'an City Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau

Following the group of local magical girls from the new district of Bai'an City, Larkspur flew with them to a street in the old district.

The streets we visited were somewhat old, and most of the buildings along the roadside were quite old, but of course, this did not affect the normal lives of the people who had lived there for a long time.

Because it is an old town, the streets are lined with storefronts and all kinds of shops. Since music is a specialty of Bai'an City, a considerable number of shops have this element, including music restaurants, music stores, and performance halls.

The magical girls took Larkspur to a music store that looked quite old.

"This is our usual base of operations."

White Thistle introduced it this way, "It was founded by Lantern's parents. Later, her parents handed the music store over to her, so Lantern is now the store manager."

Although the exterior of this music store is somewhat old, the interior is clean and tidy, with a faint scent of wood in the air, showing that someone has put a lot of effort into it. The store's furnishings are nothing special, with various brands and models of musical instruments hanging on the walls, while larger items such as pianos are displayed in the inner area. Even though it was already evening, there were still quite a few customers lingering there.

Larkspur followed White Thistle and his group through the sales area in front. The group then entered through a small door at the back and arrived at the second floor of the music store. After passing through a somewhat narrow and steep staircase, the space suddenly opened up, and what came into Larkspur's eyes was a private space—an activity room full of life.

This place appears to have originally been a recording studio, with some old-fashioned recording equipment still placed in the corners, indicating its former purpose. However, it has now been transformed into a living area and furnished with various pieces of furniture.

It was here that Larkspur first met Polly, the Seeder of Bai'an City.

This Fairy Polly Poring has the appearance of a raccoon, all furry, and has a very honest and cute appearance.

When the Larkspur first encountered it, what it was doing was... playing the guitar.

This is a scene that is hard to describe: a cute little raccoon is sitting on the ground with a guitar spread out in front of it, and one of its paws is pressing a chord while the other is skillfully plucking the strings.

The song's melody was soothing yet melancholic, as if telling a tale of endless sorrow. At the same time, it felt somewhat familiar to Larkspur; she hadn't paid attention to pop music for many years, but this seemed to be a song that had been popular several years ago.

Seemingly noticing the people outside, the raccoon gradually stopped playing, raised its fluffy head, and greeted the magical girls, "Yo, you're back? You've worked hard, girls?"

Its very first words shattered the previously awkward atmosphere. Despite its raccoon-like appearance, it uttered a powerful, even slightly hoarse, male voice. Its tone exuded a nonchalant air, rhythmic and almost like rap.

Before White Thistle and the others could respond, it turned its gaze to the Larkspur: "Who is this big shot? Are you taking her home? Have you dealt with the Aberrant Beast? Have you found the Lantern?"

"Polly!"

White Thistle said with a somewhat helpless drawl, "Stop rapping! This is the Inspector General from the Investigation Institute!"

"Cool, baby, you actually told me this girl is a patrol officer..."

The raccoon had only uttered half of its rhythmic words when it suddenly realized the meaning of the White Thistle's words. It stopped, carefully sensing the Larkspur's magic, a bewildered expression appearing on its furry face in a human-like manner. Then, it cleared its throat twice and, pretending nothing had happened, spoke again, "Oh, my apologies, Inspector."

The Inspector of the Investigation Institute are mostly dispatched for special cases. During the investigation, they have the right to mobilize all Kingdom forces in the area where the case occurred, including the Seeder and magical girls.

Although the mandatory requirement for the position of Inspector is Flower Card), and no magical girl who can sit in this position would be so bored as to cause trouble for Fairy, it does not prevent the Seeder from generally treating them with respect.

In contrast, the higher-ups of the Magic Affairs Institute, though also powerful figures among magical girls, are often the targets of the Seeder's sarcastic and veiled remarks.

"Hello, I don't really mind how you talk to me."

The Larkspur bowed slightly, its eyelids drooping, then said in a cold voice, "I only hope you can provide sufficiently effective information."

"Oh, okay."

Wiping away imaginary cold sweat from his forehead, the raccoon, in its announcer-like voice, asked, "So, what exactly would you like to ask?"

The Larkspur then cut to the chase and directly asked about her doubts.

The communication went relatively smoothly. Although the raccoon's speech was somewhat comical, it was quite logical. After exchanging ideas with him, the Larkspur quickly obtained several useful pieces of information and clarified the entire sequence of events:

It all started ten days ago when the missing Cat-Tail Squad arrived in Bai'an City and went to the local Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau and Magical Girl Squad to ask them many questions. Two days before they disappeared, they had spoken with Lantern about "some unusual things happening in Bai'an City recently."

Then, about a week ago, the Cat-Tail Squad suddenly disappeared one day, and the last place they were seen was in the new district of Bai'an City.

Four days ago, when Larkspur received the notification from the Investigation Institute, given that the disappearance of the investigation team was already a fait accompli, Lantern, as the local team leader of Bai'an City, decided to conduct an investigation in advance, wanting to gather enough information before the Investigation Institute arrived.

Three days ago, Lantern led the team members from Bai'an City to the local Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, where the two sides cooperated to begin researching the trajectory of Cat Tail before its last disappearance.

Two days ago, she told the remaining three members of the team that she had discovered a possible suspect.

Finally, yesterday, the Lantern also disappeared.

The story has stalled again, all the arrows pointing to the truth have been abruptly severed. This is undoubtedly a very anxious matter, and even Larkspur frowned as she listened. No wonder the magical girls of the Bai'an City Squad looked so worried.

"If possible, I hope that Inspector, can also retrieve the Lantern."

After describing what happened, the raccoon said somewhat helplessly, "I clearly advised her not to act rashly, but she insisted that the disappearance of the investigation team was related to her, so she took the initiative to investigate. I never expected that now..."

"I will," Larkspur glanced at the blonde girl beside her, then turned and promised.

Whether for public or private reasons, for the greater or lesser cause, she now has to resolve this matter. She doesn't want her true self to continue being unjustly labeled as a bad person; finding the real culprit is the most effective way to clear up this misunderstanding.

Having received a promise from such an important figure Inspector, Polly the raccoon seemed much more relaxed. In high spirits, he started rapping in his announcer's voice again, offering incoherent flattery.

Of course, when it comes to flattery, it's far superior to Moko.

Larkspur didn't say anything more. Her next task was clear enough: to find the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau to obtain the final intelligence, launch an investigation, and find the missing Cat-Tail Squad and Lantern as soon as possible.

In fact, if she hadn't encountered the Magical Girl Squad from Bai'an City on her way here, she would probably have already gone to the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau to find out what was going on.

However, due to a last-minute change of plans, we ended up at the magical girls' hideout, and it's already quite late. It's past the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau's closing time, so it's probably too late to question them now.

After considering it over, Larkspur decided to go the next day and rest for the night.

While finding and rescuing the missing magical girl is crucial, given the lack of information, it's more important to conserve energy than to run around aimlessly like a headless fly.

After having the raccoon relay her message to the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau about her upcoming questioning the next day, and leaving her contact information with several local magical girls, Larkspur did not linger at their hideout and returned to her pre-booked hotel.

After a long day of travel and a series of troubles caused by a misunderstanding, Lin Yun was exhausted and mentally drained. After a quick wash, she lay down on the hotel bed and fell into a deep sleep.

Early the next morning, he once again went out in the form of Larkspur.

To avoid the possible morning rush hour, she didn't take a car like she did when she first arrived in Bai'an City, but instead flew directly to her destination.

She had already located the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, and given its location—the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau Music Park —was conspicuous enough from the air, she didn't need to worry about flying too far ahead. After checking the map, she headed straight for her destination in the new city area.

After landing in the Music Park, she found an exhibition hall in the park themed around local music masters. According to information previously provided by the Investigation Institute, one of the entrances was located here.

She followed a lone man in the crowd and sneaked into the exhibition hall without a ticket. She strode along the pre-arranged route and finally found the entrance through a safety passage: a rather hidden safety passage.

Unlike other safety passages in the exhibition hall, this passage had an extra staircase leading to the underground. Taking small steps, she followed the enclosed staircase to the third basement level, where a metal door with a combination lock appeared in front of Larkspur.

Larkspur knew that this was the road leading to the Bai'an City Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau.

She already knew the password beforehand, so this problem didn't stop her. She deftly and skillfully entered a string of numbers, and the metal door opened with a click.

Before her lay a bright yet deep passageway.

The entire passageway was a neat white, with clean walls, bright lights, and virtually no dust or trash on the ground, indicating that it was regularly cleaned.

To facilitate the movement of personnel from the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, the area surrounding the Bai'an City Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau is entirely composed of interconnected underground passages, linking nearly a dozen entrances and exits in the vicinity. This ensures that the flow of people at each entrance can be controlled to a certain scale, thereby achieving the purpose of concealment.

Maintaining the secrecy and security of these passages is a time-consuming and labor-intensive task, but now it seems that they even have the energy to keep the passages clean, which is enough to make Larkspur think more highly of their strength.

Consequently, I also have higher expectations for what I will gain from this trip.

Following the white passageway, at the end of the road, Larkspur saw another glass gate with a built-in sensor system. After passing through the gate, there was the hall of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau.

The Larkspur suppressed her urge to look around, and while trying to appear more composed, she walked into the hall.

However, as soon as she stepped into this space, she realized that she was doing something futile.

Because there was no one in the hall.

The hall was brightly lit, as bright as day, making it impossible to tell that it was underground. The only problem was that it was too quiet when no one was around; so quiet that you could faintly hear the hum of electricity.

Why is there no one here?

A hint of doubt arose in the Larkspur's heart.

After all, it's already working hours, and even the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau in Fangting City should be in its daily operations by now. Given the scale and strength of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau in Bai'an City, how could such a blunder occur?

Is it a meeting? Or a training session?

With some guesses forming in her mind, Larkspur did not linger in the same spot. Instead, she crossed the hall and headed towards the interior of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau: she could find an office with staff and ask what was going on.

What struck her as even stranger was that the offices along the way were also deserted.

Moreover, the offices were cluttered, with documents scattered everywhere and computers all on, suggesting that someone had been working there not long ago.

It was as if all the employees here had suddenly disappeared.

For some reason, the Larkspur had this strange association in its mind.

Her doubts grew stronger, and she continued to walk into the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau. She found the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau in Bai'an City to be incredibly large. She walked for nearly several hundred meters, but still hadn't reached the end of this floor.

Fortunately, after walking quite a distance, she seemed to hear some noise.

It sounded like something wet hitting the ground, making a clashing sound of liquid and solid, a churning sound, as if someone was mopping the floor.

The sound came from an office with its door ajar. Bright white light shone through the crack in the door, clearly indicating that someone was in the office.

When she arrived here, Larkspur was full of doubts, so she didn't hesitate and pushed open the door with a frown.

Then, she froze on the spot.

The entire office was stained red, as if it had been splashed with red paint, but it wasn't paint; it was blood.

The moment the door was pushed open, a strong stench of blood assaulted her senses, even reaching Larkspur face.

Various broken, unrecognizable remains of limbs were scattered everywhere, making the whole room resemble a giant slaughterhouse, even more gruesome than an ordinary slaughterhouse.

In such a bloody scene, naturally no living person remained.

The sole surviving individual could not be called human; it was actually an Aberrant Beast.

It was an Aberrant Beast that looked about two or three meters tall. It was squatting in the center of the office, holding a motionless employee of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, its sharp teeth clasped together as it leisurely ate.

The dragging sound the Larkspur had heard earlier wasn't actually dragging; it was the sound of it dragging a corpse, and... chewing sounds.

I fell asleep while writing an update last night, I'm so sorry (bows). From now on, no matter if I drink coffee or Red Bull, I'll finish the update before I sleep. There won't be a next time.

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