Official damage control and a capable employee
Inside the underground storage room, four high-powered searchlights were set up.
The logistics officers, dressed in full-body chemical protective suits, were spreading white alkaline absorbent powder on the ground with shovels.
Several medics carried a stretcher and hauled the three Golden Scale Society assassins, which they had pried off the wall, out.
Liang Bing stood before the enormous, mutated beast corpse, her brows furrowed in a frown.
He crouched down, his tactical-gloved fingertips touching the severed neck of the mutilated beast.
The cut surface was as smooth as a mirror; all the keratinous scales and large blood vessels were severed at the same instant by some extreme physical blade, without even a trace of unnecessary pulling.
Looking further down, a large hole had been torn open in the center of the beast's chest cavity, and the most valuable mutated Abyssal Core inside was nowhere to be found.
"Boss, the test results are in."
A technician carrying Magic Power detector ran over, his face grim as he reported the situation.
"This mutated beast's peak Magic Power Scale reached 12,000 microluns during its lifetime, classifying it as a standard C-Rank Abyssal Sea Tier Monster, and it was forcibly catalyzed from Second Order living human."
"Twelve thousand microluns..."
Liang Bing stood up and glanced at the broken water pipe above her head.
If a monster of this caliber were to storm into a busy urban area, the Monster Hunting Bureau would need to deploy at least two full-strength Enforcer and heavy armored firepower to barely suppress it.
As a result, in the hands of that Magical Girl named Ziwei, she was not only instantly killed, but even her core was casually taken away.
This is treating C-Rank lords like stray dogs on the street, killing them like that.
Two streets away from the Third Welfare Home, on the seventh-floor rooftop of an abandoned residential building.
Su Bai removed the mask from his face and laid the unconscious Su Xiaoxiao flat on a worn-out fabric sofa.
He himself squatted by the concrete railing at the edge of the rooftop, hugging his knees, enjoying the cold wind.
"Kabi, switch the audio signal from Mint's end to save data; we don't need to turn on the video."
Su Bai issued the command in his mind.
"Received, connected to Mint's Magical Armor communication node."
Kabi perched on his head, his ears standing straight up, acting as a human signal receiver.
Su Bai rubbed his rumbling stomach, listening to the live broadcast coming from his mind.
In the Welfare Home hall, Mint stood straight in front of the old director and Clear Bell, holding the short staff with a chip in both hands.
Although her legs were still trembling and her Magic Power had only recovered to less than 10%, her back was very straight.
This was the last task that Senior Ziwei gave her through the internal channel before she left—to deal with official inquiries and pin the blame on the Golden Scale Society.
Liang Bing walked up from the basement, her gaze falling on the two young Magical Girl in front of her.
"Are you members of the Star Team?"
"Yes, my codename is Mint, and this is the new recruit who joined tonight, codename Clear Bell."
Mint answered calmly and humbly, then casually pulled Clear Bell behind her to shield her from view.
"Based on the traces of Magic Power left at the scene, you entered the Welfare Home around 8:10 PM tonight. Why didn't you report it to the Monster Hunting Bureau immediately?"
Liang Bing spoke sternly, trying to pry some details about the Star Team out of these seemingly naive young girls.
"We're just here to deliver supplies to the orphanage. The receipts are still in the plastic bag on the table; Enforcer Liang can check them himself."
Mint pointed to the bottled water and Compressed Biscuits scattered on the ground nearby.
"It was the Golden Scale Society thugs who suddenly cut off the signal and rushed in to try and kill us to silence us. We were forced to defend ourselves in order to protect the children here."
"Forced to defend oneself?"
Liang Bing pointed towards the basement and laughed in exasperation.
"You call crippling ten Second Order experts and casually slicing a C-Rank Monster in two 'forced self-defense'? What about the Abyssal Core inside that Monster? According to regulations, all Source Core must be handed over to the authorities for destruction!"
"What Abyssal Core? Senior, your scythe just blew open the monster's chest; we didn't see any core."
Mint lied through her teeth without batting an eye.
Anyway, the item was in Senior Ziwei's pocket, so even if the Heavenly King himself came, he wouldn't see it.
"You!"
Just as Liang Bing was about to have an outburst, the old hospital director next to him suddenly pushed away the nurse who was supporting him and took two shaky steps forward.
The old man pointed to the scattered blue bullet casings on the corridor floor, his voice trembling.
"Sir! Instead of investigating those beasts who kill with military-grade bullets, your Monster Hunting Bureau is interrogating the benefactor who saved dozens of our lives?"
The old dean pulled out a stack of medical examination lists, softened by mud and water, from his pocket and stuffed them directly into Liang Bing's hand.
"Those bastards from the Golden Scale Society came to force me to hand over the children with special physical conditions in the courtyard half a month ago, saying they wanted to send them to some laboratory as living fertilization materials!"
"If these Magical Girl hadn't arrived in time, we old, weak, and disabled would all have been burned to ashes tonight! Where were you officials just now? Now that you've finished the fight, you're here to collect your spoils?"
The old director became more and more agitated as he spoke, and the dozen or so children around him who had just been frightened also burst into tears.
The scene instantly descended into chaos.
Liang Bing looked down at the list in her hand, then glanced at the armor-piercing shell casings engraved with the Federation Defense Force's serial numbers that her adjutant had just picked up.
The corruption within the military industry, coupled with irrefutable evidence of live human experimentation by gangsters.
This accusation was huge and heavy, completely shattering the Monster Hunting Bureau's previous confidence in their questioning.
If we keep focusing on that one Abyssal Core, tomorrow's headlines in Xinghai City will be all about the government protecting gangsters and harassing righteous civilians.
Frustrated, Liang Bing scratched his head, ripped off his tactical gloves, and took the on-site handover confirmation form from his adjutant.
With a few quick strokes, he signed his name.
"Dismissal! Take all suspects and shell casings back to the headquarters interrogation room. Notify the Defense Forces' Discipline Inspection Department to come and collect them!"
Liang Bing handed the signed confirmation to Mint and took a deep breath.
"Tell your leader for me that the 700,000 bounty for the defense will have its special financial approval process completed within half an hour."
"Thank you, Enforcer. It's been a pleasure working with you."
Mint accepted the confirmation and nodded politely.
On the abandoned rooftop, the evening breeze rustled through the iron railings.
The old, worn-out mobile phone in Su Bai's pocket suddenly vibrated.
He took out his phone and turned on the scratched screen.
A notification popped up indicating a pre-processed deposit from a Switzerland virtual black market account.
"Dear customer, you have a payment of 700,000.00 Federal Coin undergoing interbank clearing, which is expected to arrive within ten minutes."
Looking at the long string of zeros, Su Bai slowly loosened his grip on the phone, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
"That Mint girl is getting better and better at fooling government officials. I'll have to give her a 500 yuan outstanding employee bonus later."
"Master, you just earned almost two million, and you're already giving someone five hundred?"
Kabi rolled his eyes in disdain.
"Five hundred is a good deal. It includes food and lodging and they even teach you skills. Where else can you find such a conscientious boss?"
Su Bai put her phone back in her pocket, stood up, dusted off her skirt, and turned to look at the person on the sofa.