Jiang Si was taken to a private room.
With the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau located somewhere so strange, normally no one could infiltrate it.
But as everyone knew, wherever there were people, there were loopholes. The Disaster Countermeasures Bureau was no exception.
Otherwise, the Azure Cloud Sect would never have managed to plant a mole in the bureau.
Besides, since this world had magical girls, it could also have other strange supernatural powers.
Disguises, invisibility, teleportation-any of them could exist. Infiltrating this place was hardly a fairy tale.
As a new magical girl, Jiang Keke's standing in the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau went without saying.
The bureau had waited for a newcomer until its eyes ached. With such a precious treasure, they naturally dared not show her the slightest neglect.
Much less arrest her.
Even when taking Jiang Si away, they had taken care to talk Jiang Keke around, saying they merely wanted to ask him a few questions in private.
Then they turned around and locked him in a room that looked like an interrogation room.
Naturally, Jiang Si was not particularly worried.
In her years of collecting magical girls, Bingtang had naturally acquired plenty of bizarre abilities.
Spatial abilities such as swapping positions, for example.
Magical girls had all sorts of abilities, with no particular pattern to them. As those abilities improved and were developed, even the simplest mechanism could ultimately produce incredible powers.
The position-swapping magic, for example, had initially been nothing more than a physically offensive ability like a magical hand.
Somehow, it had later been developed into position swapping,
For Jiang Si, if his identity really was exposed, he could simply swap positions and leave.
But that would confirm his identity beyond any doubt, and he probably would not be able to live normally in BH City anymore.
Unless he had absolutely no choice, it was best not to do that.
Besides, Bingtang had also told her that they had someone inside the bureau who would lend a hand if anything unexpected happened.
So Jiang Si was in no hurry. He would take his time and see how things developed.
"Su Shan, he's Jiang Keke's older brother. Jiang Keke is the newcomer the bureau finally managed to get after all that waiting, and you arrested her brother the moment you arrived. What will she think of us from now on? If word gets out, what new magical girl would still come to us?"
"Then we just have to make sure word doesn't get out."
"Jiang Keke is a magical girl. That memory-erasing technique of yours won't work on her."
"I know. I have plenty of ways to keep her from talking, Miss Yinluo."
"You're not planning to lay a hand on a magical girl, are you?"
The speaker was a tall woman with long red hair, wearing dark-framed glasses and a very office-lady outfit.
Her features bore some resemblance to Yinlian's, though she looked more mature. She held a stack of documents in her left arm and occasionally adjusted her glasses with her right hand, looking somewhat exasperated.
She was Yinlian's older sister and also a member of the bureau's administrative staff. When Jiang Si had been arrested, Yinlian had immediately contacted her sister for help.
That was also the main reason Jiang Si had not been interrogated yet.
Facing her was none other than the blonde girl in military uniform who had arrested Jiang Si.
Susan.
Judging by her appearance, she was probably of mixed heritage. She had an imposing air, with a measure of arrogance in her eyes and expression.
Hearing the other woman's question, she raised her chin. "I'm not that stupid, Miss Yinluo."
"I need to be present during your interrogation."
"That's against regulations."
"Arresting Jiang Si without authorization was also against regulations. We have no authority to imprison the relatives of magical girls, Miss Susan. He only just signed Jiang Keke's employment contract for her."
After the argument outside continued for a while, Susan and Yinluo finally came in together.
One was expressionless, her gaze icy. The other wore a kindly smile and spoke gently. "You must be Jiang Keke's older brother, Mr. Jiang Si."
As she spoke, she poured Jiang Si a cup of hot water and pushed it over. "Please don't be nervous. We'll only ask a few simple questions, and afterward, you'll be free to go. As Jiang Keke's older brother, you're an honored guest to us. We won't make things difficult for you..."
"Earlier, at 2:41 this afternoon, when you got off the broom carriage, you passed through the clouds and fell, correct?"
Although he had not seen any surveillance cameras, there were probably similar devices around the bureau, given how precisely she had stated the time.
In fact, the exact time he had failed to step onto the clouds and fallen through was 2:41:29.
Jiang Si's long years of training and meditation had given him a simulated clock in his mind, making him extremely sensitive to every minute and second.
So he knew Susan was not making things up. She really had watched surveillance footage or something similar.
"Yes." Naturally, Jiang Si did not deny it. "I passed by Beihai No. 2 Affiliated Secondary School yesterday and happened to encounter the bat Calamity Beast. Its blood contaminated me, which is why I couldn't stand on the clouds. That's what Yinlian said."
Yinluo also glanced at Susan and smiled. "That's true. A magical girl once came here without cleaning off her Calamity Beast contamination and nearly fell through too."
Susan remained noncommittal. "Contamination doesn't last a whole day."
"People have different constitutions. Besides, he's an ordinary person. Magical girls also purify contamination faster, don't they?"
This time, Susan finally stopped objecting.
Yinluo also breathed a sigh of relief. "In short, ordinary people should stay away from Calamity Beasts. Prolonged contamination from their magical power not only causes illness but also makes people hot-tempered and irritable."
"I understand."
"There's also an agreement here we'd like you to sign. We hope you won't disclose this interrogation to anyone..."
"Wait. I haven't said we're finished."
Susan immediately interrupted Yinluo's attempt to end the interrogation. "Don't take matters into your own hands. There are still plenty of suspicious things about him. We need to keep testing whether he can pass through the clouds."
"Miss Susan." This time, Yinluo's tone finally grew sterner. "Contamination can last up to half a month in an ordinary person. Are you going to imprison him for half a month?"
"We can perform a purification ritual on him."
"He's an ordinary person, not a magical girl. A purification ritual would cause memory loss and damage his body." Yinluo tapped the table. "I have every right to bring legal proceedings against you, Miss Susan!"
Susan refused to yield at all. Chin raised, she stared coldly at her. "We lost three seeds, Yinluo. If the person sitting here is the culprit who stole those three seeds, none of us can shoulder the responsibility of letting him walk away."
"I'll vouch for him. He absolutely isn't the person who stole the seeds."
The two had completely ignored Jiang Si, absorbed in their own argument. Rather than helping Jiang Si, Yinluo now seemed more intent on winning some pride for herself, as though she had gotten carried away. "I stake my position on it. If he's the thief who stole the seeds, I'm willing to take full responsibility!"
Even Jiang Si could not help giving her a sideways glance. At first sight, she seemed like a mature office lady, but she was actually far more emotional.
Only a few exchanges into the argument, she had gotten carried away and offered a guarantee outright.
Susan, whose expression had remained icy all this time, finally curled her lips before nodding swiftly. "Since you've said that, write a report to the director afterward. If any problems turn up in the investigation into Jiang Si later, you alone will bear all responsibility."
Yinluo was smiling too. "Sure. No problem."
Then she touched her glasses, though her hand actually trembled slightly.
Jiang Si knew that Yinlian's older sister probably was not nearly as composed inside as she appeared.
A few provocative words from Susan, and she had made a promise, taking the burden of this matter onto herself...
"Can you release him now?"
Clearly unwilling to keep wrangling over this, Yinluo simply stood up. "I'll take responsibility for anything that happens. Since you're so afraid of trouble, you might as well resign sooner rather than later."
"It won't be easy to get me dismissed. You, on the other hand, Miss Yinluo-if there's anything abnormal about Jiang Si, not only will you lose your position, but your younger sister will probably be stripped of her captaincy too."
Her expression stiffened slightly, but Yinluo remained forceful. "That's none of your concern."
With that, she stepped forward, unlocked Jiang Si's handcuffs, and took his hand, leading him out of the interrogation room. "If there's nothing else, we'll be leaving."
"As you please."
As they stepped through the doorway, Jiang Si instinctively wanted to look back.
Ahead of him, Yinluo immediately lowered her voice. "Don't look back."
Jiang Si had wanted to check whether Susan would follow them, but that warning immediately made him behave,
Only when they reached the stairwell and were about to head downstairs did Yinluo explain, "That woman is incredibly suspicious. One extra glance at her could get you hauled back in for another round of questioning."
"She's that unreasonable?"
"Susan used to be a magical girl too. Later, she lost her Miracle Seed because of a few little mistakes by the bureau and couldn't transform anymore. To compensate her, the bureau made her head of the security department, which gives her a lot of authority. And ever since she lost her ability to transform, she's been acting like she's going through menopause, always picking on people. All because her life isn't going her way..."
Hearing Yinluo's rather cutting assessment, Jiang Si laughed inwardly. Sure enough, official organizations were all the same, riddled with infighting.
Even one bearing the name of magical girls could not escape that cliché.
Yinluo also felt she had gone a little too far. Turning back, she said, "Anyway, she and I have never gotten along. This wasn't just about helping you. Mostly, I wanted to win some pride for myself."
I could tell. She wears her heart on her sleeve.
Jiang Si did not offer any commentary on that. Instead, he asked, "If I really am a suspicious person, you'll suffer for it, won't you?"
"It doesn't matter. I've never liked this position anyway."
A forlorn look appeared in her eyes. "Who would want to stay in the rear if they could be a magical girl..."
Then, apparently realizing she had let something slip, Yinluo immediately changed tack. "Haha, sorry. That was unnecessary. Everything you've done since arriving at the bureau has been recorded. I checked it, and there was absolutely nothing unusual. Besides, my sister Yinlian also said you're definitely not suspicious. I trust Yinlian, and I trust you."
"I'll do my best not to become a suspicious person."
Yinluo smiled, simply finding Jiang Si rather humorous.
When they reached the ground floor, they found that the two Incubators at the counter were gone, leaving the entire lobby empty.
Jiang Keke was sitting on the bench opposite the counter, holding the employment contract from earlier, as quiet as though she were in class at school.
Yinlian, meanwhile, was pacing back and forth nearby, clearly somewhat agitated.
As Jiang Si came downstairs, he heard Keke complaining to Yinlian, "Can you stop pacing around? You're making me dizzy."
"Your brother got arrested, and you're not worried at all."
"Nothing's going to happen. The bureau is an official organization. What's there to be afraid of?"
"You're only not scared because you don't know! Senior Susan is terrifying!"
"It's not like they can kill him. Locking him up wouldn't matter much either. It'd probably let him focus on his training instead."
"I'm starting to think you bear a lot of responsibility for your bad relationship with your brother, Keke..."
"Say whatever you want."
When the two girls noticed Jiang Si coming down with Yinluo, Yinlian was the first to run over, happily grabbing her older sister's arm. "That's my big sister! You actually got him out of Susan's clutches!"
Jiang Keke rose briefly, her gaze resting on her brother for a second before she sat back down without approaching.
Yinluo found the younger sister's cold attitude a little odd. Then she patted her own little sister's head. "There wasn't anything wrong in the first place. Susan was the one in the wrong. Still, the Miracle Seeds are missing, and a divination from higher up said the Witch Association has located the bureau. You need to be careful, Yinlian."
"Don't worry, Sis. Once we find them, I'll hit them head-on!"
Yinlian threw two vigorous punches.
Beside them, Jiang Si frowned slightly.
The Witch Association, an organization that spread Grief Seeds and raised Calamity Beasts.
Jiang Si had heard Bingtang mention them before. These people had caused the Azure Cloud Sect no small amount of trouble too.
Their objective was to hunt magical girls, and naturally, the Azure Cloud Sect's members fell within that scope.
Because their initiation ritual was too cruel, Bingtang had been unable to get Azure Cloud Sect members to infiltrate the Witch Association.
In terms of scale and reputation alone, the Witch Association could not actually compare to the Azure Cloud Sect or the bureau. At least, that was true in Beihai.
Just some roadside nobody, yet they had actually managed to steal Miracle Seeds from the bureau.
The bureau really was trash.
But why had Bingtang been a step slower than the Witch Association? Or had the divination been wrong?
As he pondered, hurried footsteps suddenly came from upstairs.
Susan came down again with three soldiers.
Yinluo frowned and was just about to step in front of him when Susan suddenly brandished a document.
"The application for a cloud test has been approved. The higher-ups have instructed me to test Jiang Si alone."
Furious, Yinluo immediately pointed at Susan. "You!"
A faintly contemptuous smile appeared on Susan's icy face. "What about me? If you have any complaints, take them to the director and the others. You have the document, and you've seen it too, Yinlian. This test is fully lawful and compliant. If you keep obstructing me, you'll be the ones violating regulations."
Yinluo clearly had not expected Susan to immediately apply for a cloud test even after she had already made that promise.
But the document was right there in black and white. Even with her considerable standing in the bureau, there was nothing she could do for the moment.
Yinlian also looked utterly helpless.
Jiang Si knew there was no avoiding the situation now, so he stepped forward of his own accord. "It's fine. I'll just take the test. Wait here for a while, and don't leave without me. I don't know the way back."
That eased the atmosphere a little. Still looking down at the employment contract she had read who knew how many times, Jiang Keke replied indifferently, "Then hurry up. No one's waiting for you if it gets too late."
"Hey, hey, hey, I'll wait! I'll wait! It's fine." Yinlian patted her chest. "I'll definitely take you back!"
"Mm."
Hearing Yinlian, a magical girl, speak so earnestly was reassuring.
Susan sneered beside him without saying anything, merely tugging at Jiang Si. "Shall we?"
So he followed Susan toward the second floor once again.
This time, they went to a different room, the last one on the eastern side. It was more tightly enclosed, almost lightproof.
Only after Susan shut the door, leaving the other soldiers outside, did she slowly sit down directly opposite him.
The pitch-black room was thick with pressure. Just as Jiang Si was considering how to deal with the cloud test,
Susan suddenly tilted her head. Her lips moved slightly in the darkness, her voice barely audible. "Heaven and earth are unfeeling."
Jiang Si froze, then likewise lowered his voice. "They treat all things as straw dogs."
The woman, icy a moment ago, immediately cupped her hands in greeting, her expression softening. "Fellow Daoist, forgive my offense."