Under the Surface

Magical Girl Association City Branch, conference room.

The ashtray was already piled with seven cigarette butts.

The Branch Director stared at the two crime-scene photos projected on the screen, pressing his left hand to his temple and his right hand against his blood pressure medication.

The one on the left showed an abandoned factory in the western part of the city: half the factory had collapsed, and a fan-shaped trench had plowed through the ground for eighty meters.

The one on the right showed People's Park: the fountain plaza had been turned upside down, and two stone sculptures had been smashed into several pieces.

"Old Wei." The Branch Director's voice was weary. "Tell me the truth. When was the last time a Fallen Beast appeared in our city?"

"Four months ago." Old Wei flipped through the records. "Rank One. It was spawned by a homeless man's emotional breakdown while drunk. Knight handled it alone. It didn't even make the news."

After all, the combat power of a Rank One Fallen Beast was roughly equivalent to the limits of the human physique, and a Firefly Rank Magical Girl like Knight could deal with it effortlessly no matter what.

"What about anything higher?"

"More than half a year ago. Also Rank One."

"And before that?" The Branch Director slammed his blood pressure medication onto the table. "Two in four days! One suspected Rank Two, and one confirmed peak Rank Two! That frequency is far too high! Is this really the kind of data a city where even Knight has enough free time to visit a neighboring province for an exchange should have?!"

"Our livable-city title is going to be gone! Think of something, quick!"

The city they lived in had little pressure from workplace competition, while housing prices were relatively low and stable. Its environment was also extremely pleasant.

Because living conditions were so good, the Magical Girls who had previously been stationed here had all been transferred away, leaving only Knight behind. Magical Girl-related activities had also been suspended for quite some time.

What had happened all of a sudden to cause the citizens' stress to explode?

No one spoke in the conference room.

Lin Guo huddled in the corner, staring fixedly at the documents laid out in front of her.

"There's something even more off." Old Wei brought up two waveform charts. "The Monitoring Department reviewed the emotional field data from before the two incidents. Look here—under normal circumstances, negative emotions slowly accumulate before a Fallen Beast is born, like water coming to a boil. But these two times..."

He pointed at two nearly vertical spikes on the waveform charts.

"They exploded straight away. Like someone tossing two lit matches into a calm pan of oil."

The Branch Director's pupils contracted.

"You mean... it was done by someone?"

"I can't be sure." Old Wei fell silent for several seconds. "But if it was done by someone, there's only one organization in the entire country that comes to mind capable of something like this."

He typed two words onto the projection.

Liberation Faction.

Lin Guo raised her hand and asked quietly, "Brother Wei, what's that?"

Old Wei glanced at the Branch Director.

The Branch Director waved his hand, signaling him to explain.

"An... organization rather like a cult." Old Wei carefully chose his words. "Their belief is that positive and negative emotions are both part of human nature. Love, hatred, hope, despair—once released, none of them are right or wrong."

"That sounds kind of reasonable?"

"It does." Old Wei let out a cold laugh. "But do you know how they 'release' them? They developed a method to agitate and amplify ordinary people's negative emotions artificially, forcibly pushing them past the threshold—creating Fallen Beasts."

Lin Guo drew in a sharp breath.

"They say Fallen Beasts aren't disasters, but 'the fruits of the human soul.' They claim that when Magical Girls purify Fallen Beasts, they're 'stifling human nature.' Over the years, several provinces have experienced incidents suspected to be their doing—a quiet city suddenly sees Fallen Beasts appearing one after another, the people panic, and then their members blend into the fear, spreading that twisted nonsense about 'releasing human nature' and harvesting believers."

"Hyenas taking advantage of chaos." The Branch Director reached a conclusion. "And they specifically target the weak. Did you notice? The first factory incident happened precisely on the second day after Knight went to the neighboring province for an exchange."

The temperature in the conference room seemed to drop by several degrees.

"Does the Association have a response protocol?"

Knight suddenly spoke.

She had stood by the window with her sword in her arms ever since entering, silently listening.

"We do." The Branch Director let out a relieved breath. "The standard procedure issued under Headquarters' guidance—the Emotional Guidance Program. Little Lin, you explain."

"Huh? Me?" Lin Guo jolted and hurriedly opened the documents. "Er... according to the 'Public Emotion Management White Paper,' the most effective way to prevent Fallen Beasts is to reduce the concentration of negative emotions among citizens at the source. The method commonly adopted in various places is... is..."

She read somewhat haltingly:

"Magical Girls take the lead in holding concerts, meet-and-greets, charity events, and so on. By leveraging the positive influence of Magical Girls, they boost citizens' morale and foster a sense of security that they are 'being protected.' Statistics show that in urban districts where such activities have been held, the average rate of Fallen Beast births drops by forty percent over the following three months..."

"A concert?" Knight's brows knitted together.

"Yes, a concert." The Branch Director nodded. "Magical Girls are the best 'emotional stabilizers' in the world. When you stand on a stage, you're making a declaration in yourself: this city is protected, and everyone can live in peace. That punk guitarist from the neighboring province held an outdoor concert last month that drew more than a million online viewers. The provincial branch there treats her like a national treasure now."

"She was already the lead singer of a proper band..." Knight rubbed her forehead. "But what about me? What am I supposed to do up there? Perform swordsmanship?"

"That's still better than doing nothing. You're the only mascot our city has."

"Couldn't..." Knight ventured, "couldn't we invite someone else? Like that 'Pure Love Warrior'? She's so popular right now. If we could get her to come out of hiding—"

"Find her first!" The Branch Director's blood pressure rose again. "A Dawn Rank Magical Girl has somehow vanished off the face of the earth! Old Wei, what is your Field Operations Department even doing?!"

"We're looking, we're looking..." Old Wei wiped away his sweat.

"Anyway—" The Branch Director made the decision. "We'll put the concert on the agenda first. Knight, you're the resident Magical Girl, so this matter can't go around you. What do you think?"

Everyone in the conference room turned their eyes toward her.

Knight was silent for a while.

"You can decide."

She spoke.

"A protocol is a protocol. I'll follow the arrangements. If you need me onstage, I'll go onstage."

With that, she turned and walked toward the door.

"Huh?" The Branch Director was stunned. "Where are you going? The meeting isn't over yet."

Knight stopped at the door, her back to everyone.

"Sorry." Her voice lowered. "I... still have something to do today."

"Don't worry, I'm not throwing a tantrum. That's not something a knight should do... Just notify me once the arrangements are made."

With that, Knight left the conference room.