New Clue: Ceruno

(Ceruno)

Caught off guard, the entire police station was occupied, and aerial footage from local reporters showed a scene of chaos and devastation.

More than 20 police officers were killed or wounded; it was almost a brutal massacre. The local magical girls who went to provide support were also detained by the drug lord. According to reports, this drug lord already has three Fake Magical Girl working for him...

This is already a terrifying level of combat power.

The police are currently negotiating with the other party, and since ordinary people have almost no chance of winning against magical girls, they are still seeking support from the Association's magical girls.

"Reckless and foolish."

Dantai Xue gave a bitter smile:

"This drug lord's motives are similar to Tiger Cub's; he's been suppressed by the police and magical girls for years, and now that he's gained magical powers, he's developed a desire for revenge... It's so irrational. If it were me, I would let these Fake Magical Girl become idols and make money."

An irrational terrorist attack.

This is exactly the outcome Old Man's inside man wanted to see: create a huge news story to instill panic in the public, and this panic would accelerate the process of Dark Erosion...

"Excuse me."

A short-haired waiter pushed a food cart into the narrow corridor, delivering the mysterious staff meal.

Dantai Xue flipped down a folding dining table and chairs from the wall and invited us to sit down. She didn't shy away from the waiter who brought the food and continued the previous topic.

"But this mentality is just a momentary impulse. He might be able to suppress the police and create panic, but it's only a matter of time before he's suppressed. If you compare magical girls to guns, he only has three guns, while the Association has more than ten thousand!"

Even if all these drug lords are eventually killed, the old man's goal will have been achieved.

I've been wondering, even if the results are minimal, even if there are zero casualties for a long time, even if the final destruction isn't as great as that of magical girls (Heat Haze -only), why do those Monster still launch invasions at such a stable frequency?

Looking back, it was all to maintain people's high-pressure emotions...

The war is not over yet.

Every attack from "the Other Side" reaffirms this reality.

The reason for always choosing to invade major cities is the same: people find it difficult to empathize with those far away. Even if they know that a country is at war, most people just have an indifferent attitude of watching with amusement. They express concern verbally, but secretly they want the war to get even more heated so they can have more fun.

Therefore, only attacks that happen in people's immediate vicinity can induce panic.

"Even if we knew their methods and goals, we couldn't stop them... It's a truly insidious scheme."

"People will get used to it eventually. Compared to twelve years ago, these Fake Magical Girl who pop up from time to time are nothing, right?"

As Dantai Xue, Fake Magical Girl, said this, she pushed the staff meal covered with a tray lid in front of me and Xiaoling.

"Let's have lunch first, then uncover it and see what's inside!"

As she spoke, she first opened the plate in front of her, revealing scraps of salmon sashimi (with skin on), a Caesar salad (extra large) topped with a huge spoonful of salted fish, or cake edges, broken cookies, and the like.

My portion and Xiaoling's portion were about the same, with only some minor differences, such as changing from chocolate cake to cheesecake, or vanilla ice cream to strawberry ice cream.

"Oh, it's delicious!"

Xiaoling placed her head on the edge of the tray, and then fed her spoonful by spoonful.

As she said before, these were all made from leftovers from cooking for guests. Most of the food was not in good condition and therefore could not be served to guests. Although the food was poorly made, the taste was fine, so it ended up as staff meals.

The only problem was that it didn't look very hot, but there was still steaming cream soup on the food cart, so it wasn't a big deal.

"Won't I gain weight if I eat this kind of food every day?"

"It's okay, my girls are very active. I got them gym memberships, and the trainers regularly report on their fitness levels. I guarantee they're all top-notch athletes!"

To be honest, I didn't see any security guards at this store...

That's all beside the point.

However, this platter-style employee meal gave me a bit of inspiration. Since I couldn't find any new clues here, I might as well reconnect the clues I already had and maybe I could put together a new "employee meal".

Besides Dantai Zhengchu and Tiger Cub's side, I also know about two of my father's inside contacts, Sister Extinction and Miss Anjie.

The former is known as the hacker "Ptolemy," who, despite living in the Imperial City, has access to intelligence from all over the world via the internet.

However, considering Xiaoling's feelings, I didn't want to bring it up in front of Dantai Xue...

As for Miss Anjie, as her father's secretary, even if she doesn't know the full details of his plan, she has been working at the Sky Branch for a long time, so she should know some secrets, right?

Once you have a direction, you must take action.

After quickly finishing my staff meal, I looked up at Dantai Xue.

"Snow Sis, I'm going back to the City School."

"Huh, so in such a hurry?"

She seemed a little surprised, so I replied:

"The Contaminated Crystal are still circulating in the underworld. If left unchecked, terrorist activities like Mexico' will increase, and more innocent people will die because of them... I'll take my leave now."

I know there's only so much I can do.

But my father's influence is behind all of these things, and I'll always feel uneasy if I don't do something...

"Ah! Ceruno, wait for me!"

Xiaoling hurriedly caught up with him.

"Ah! I forgot!"

He turned around again... to pick up the head from the table.

My head is spinning...

Returning to the City School's entrance hall via the Wormhole Device, there were quite a few magical girls coming and going since it was the weekend.

"Xiaoling, I need to go to the principal's office."

I said this to ask for her opinion.

"I'll go too. I'm going to see this through to the end."

"That's impressive," I thought for a moment and said.

"Okay! But I have a special task for you, and you're the most suitable person to handle it."

"What?"

I suddenly put my hand on her shoulder; she seemed a little confused.

"Could you ask your sister about the organizational structure of their informants?"

When I asked her that, she was stunned. Although she visited her sister in prison almost every week, she rarely talked about this with Extinction. In the end, she still found it hard to imagine that her sister would become a traitor to humanity.

"No pressure, okay? If you don't want to go, that's fine too."

"No, I'll go. I need to tell her about the harm those bad guys have caused. I can't let her remain so deluded."

I'm afraid that's impossible.

Sister Extinction also agreed with her father's philosophy, believing that it was reasonable to end the war with the sacrifice of a small number of people.

"I was planning to Past after meeting Miss Anjie... So, I'll leave Sister Extinction's side to you?"

Xiaoling nodded with a serious expression.

"Okay! Leave it to me!"