Hall

Almost at the same time that the Larkspur spotted the Aberrant Beast, the Aberrant Beast, which was eating, also spotted the Larkspur.

The two stared at each other briefly from a distance. Suddenly, the Aberrant Beast dropped the corpse in its hand, leaped up from the desk, and flew straight towards the Larkspur at the door.

"Roar!"

The Larkspur's expression turned slightly cold. As she opened and closed her hand, her wand appeared. Just as the Aberrant Beast rushed in front of her, she forcefully lashed out at its head.

Clang! Boom!

The wand slammed the Aberrant Beast heavily onto the ground.

The defeated Aberrant Beast immediately struggled to get up, letting out defiant roars, but the Larkspur gave it no chance to recover. It turned its wand around and aimed it at the beast's head, unleashing a barrage of Mana Beam that reduced the beast's head to ashes.

After dealing with the Aberrant Beast, she quickly flew to the corpse that had been abandoned earlier and examined it, discovering that the unfortunate employee of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau had indeed lost his life.

The Aberrant Beast that appeared in the office wasn't particularly powerful, probably only at the Egg Rank. However, to ordinary people, and even Mage, it was a monster akin to a natural disaster, which explains why it caused such a tragic scene.

Apart from the employee whose body was still intact, the other victims' corpses could not even be pieced together completely, demonstrating the atrocities committed by this Aberrant Beast.

After searching the office without finding any useful information, Larkspur returned to the doorway and opened his palms to the Aberrant Beast on the ground, trying to reclaim its Echo Aberrant Beast.

However, with the Larkspur's attempt, the remains of the Aberrant Beast vanished into a wisp of black smoke right before her eyes, leaving nothing behind.

This is an Aberrant Beast that leaves no Echo.

It took Larkspur several seconds to come to her senses, but even seeing it with her own eyes, she still found it hard to believe.

Based on her past experience and understanding, such an Aberrant Beast could not possibly exist.

An Aberrant Beast that doesn't Echo is almost equivalent to one that has no Mana Source. As a purely magical creature, an Aberrant Beast without Mana Source simply cannot survive.

The Mana Source is to Aberrant Beast what the heart is to a human. A human without a heart cannot sustain life; how then can Aberrant Beast exist without Mana Source? And how can it still hunt and fight itself as before?

The Larkspur couldn't understand.

However, after a brief moment of confusion, she quickly put those feelings behind her. She knew that now was not the time to dwell on that question.

She was very clear about her current task. Rather than studying why the Aberrant Beast was not Echo, investigating the current situation of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau was the top priority.

For example, why did the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau not react at all when attacked by the Aberrant Beast? Even if they couldn't win the battle, they could have escaped or taken refuge. They should have notified the local magical girls to come and defeat the Aberrant Beast.

This problem didn't bother Larkspur for long, because when she took out her phone and tried to ask the team in Bai'an City, the symbol displayed at the top of the screen gave her the answer.

--[No signal].

Larkspur wasn't surprised; in fact, she was relieved because she had a better understanding of the situation: the signal was cut off, and messages couldn't be transmitted.

She didn't know if the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau in Bai'an City had any special means of external communication, but she figured it probably didn't.

In other words, from the moment the attack occurred, the headquarters of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, located underground and originally a safe fortress, became a huge, sealed cage, imprisoning the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau's employees and the Aberrant Beast together.

What is the current situation of the Bai'an City Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau?

Where did all the other employees go, except for the office where someone was murdered?

How many people are still alive? Are there any other Aberrant Beast here?

Larkspur needs to investigate these issues first.

She put away her wand, laid the dead employee of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau flat on the ground, closed his eyes, Larkspur left the office. She continued searching the first floor of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, but no matter how hard she searched, she couldn't find a single occupied room.

Her footsteps Echo through the empty corridor. The bright lights shone directly on the tiles on the floor, reflecting off countless white dots. These dots formed a line, seemingly leading to an endless distance, as if the space itself had become a labyrinth without end.

In the underground space where there is no distinction between day and night, no one can tell the difference between day and night; the surrounding silence seems to swallow even time itself.

Larkspur began to feel a sense of oppression in the place. Even though the surrounding environment was bright and open, she couldn't shake off the pervasive feeling of unease. Most of the offices were as she had seen when she arrived: the doors were wide open, and various furnishings were scattered everywhere, but there was no living creature in sight.

This is very wrong.

The Larkspur thought to itself.

Even after being attacked by the Aberrant Beast, there was no reason for the Bureau of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau to become as bizarre as it is now.

She could understand why the place was so quiet and deserted. After all, most people would choose to run away when faced with an attack from Aberrant Beast. In this respect, the employees of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau were no different from ordinary people.

However, if things were really that simple, the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau wouldn't be in its current state.

Its biggest inconsistencies are twofold: the buildings are too well preserved, and there aren't enough corpses.

It wasn't that the Larkspur deliberately cursed the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau; rather, judging from the facts, the Aberrant Beast she dealt with had likely been ravaging the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau for quite some time.

The office where the Aberrant Beast was located was hundreds of meters away from the lobby of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau. Given such a long distance, it was impossible for the Aberrant Beast not to cause destruction and killing.

As a creature born with a violent instinct, an Aberrant Beast's action logic is often to kill any living thing that is alive, and destroy everything around it when there is no living thing.

Even the Aberrant Beast that appeared in Fangting City before, transformed from the evil followers of the Black Ash Dawn, could not control their Aberrant Beast, and their behavior logic would become completely Aberrant Beast.

There's no reason why such a life form could advance hundreds of meters and still completely suppress its instincts without causing any destruction.

Perhaps that Aberrant Beast was truly exceptional?

Larkspur thought this way, but she still couldn't convince herself.

If the initial situation was merely unexpected for Larkspur, the current situation has deviated from her expectations, and its full picture is becoming increasingly elusive.

Filled with many doubts and questions, which were not answered during the investigation, Larkspur finally left the office area and returned to the lobby of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau.

Just as when she arrived, the hall remained empty. Rows of lights were embedded in the huge dome, their bright white glow far exceeding that of the office corridors.

Looking at the extensive network of glass gates surrounding the hall, and imagining the usual bustling scene here, the Larkspur paused briefly, then shook her head.

She decided to go and take a look at the other floors.

She entered the elevator next to the lobby and observed it for a moment. She noticed that the elevators only went down. The top floor was [-1F], and the other floors went down sequentially. Considering that this was an underground building, this arrangement made no problem, so Larkspur didn't think much of it and pressed the button for [-2F].

Shortly after, the elevator doors slowly closed, a gentle breeze blew through the cabin, and with a series of rumbling sounds, the elevator slowly descended, stopping a moment later and displaying the information [-2F].

Nothing unexpected happened during this time, which surprised Larkspur.

With a blank expression, Larkspur stepped out of the elevator as the doors slowly opened, surveying the so-called basement level and trying to make out its general outline as soon as possible.

However, when she took a clear look at the surrounding furnishings, the scene before her made her head spin.

Because she didn't see any second basement level. What she saw was still the bright first basement lobby.

Is the elevator not moving?

With this question in mind, Larkspur turned back and entered the elevator car, looking up at the screen above. However, the screen that read [-2F] in her memory had changed, now displaying [-1F].

Did I press the wrong button? Or did I misread it?

Larkspur raised her head, trying to find the button from her memory, and only after she did so did she realize how naive her previous idea had been.

In fact, not to mention the previous [-2F] button, she couldn't find any other numbers.

[-1F]

[-1F]

[-1F]

[-1F]

[-1F]

All the buttons I saw had the same number written on them.

A series of buttons for the basement level covered the control panel, and only one number could be found in the entire elevator car, as if silently mocking the Larkspur.

Standing still, after briefly glancing at the control panel, Larkspur didn't say a word. He took a leap and sprang out of the elevator shaft, running towards the stairwell entrance.

With tremendous force, she pulled open the stairwell door and slammed it aside. Before her lay a stairwell that led to both the upper and lower floors. Without a second thought, Larkspur ran downstairs. Reaching the next floor's platform, she flung open the stairwell door again and rushed into the space outside.

--The first thing you see is the lobby.

The unchanging first-floor lobby of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau.

The empty hall, the bright white lights, the buzzing of electricity—everything was exactly the same as the space she had come from, unchanged.

The Larkspur remained expressionless and continued running.

This time, her destination was the main entrance to the hall—the same glass gate she had entered through.

After passing through the gate, she was greeted by the same white passage she had come from, as if she had finally arrived in a brand new space. However, Larkspur's mood did not improve at all, and she continued running forward expressionlessly.

She had a growing feeling that things weren't so simple.

Indeed, that was the case. As she returned to the same space she had come from, what she saw was not what she had expected at all.

What she saw was still that glass gate.

A sandblasted glass gate, its hazy surface allowing light to filter through, obscured the view behind it. It was exactly the same gate she had seen when she arrived.

Larkspur stared intently for a while, showing no sign of panic, and simply continued forward. After passing through the glass gate, she looked up and gazed once more at the space beyond it.

Of course, this time, the scene before her eyes did not surprise her either.

This is still the main hall of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau.