Magical girls also have intensity anxiety

I vaguely remember that the two human traffickers I saw in Changming City before were like this middle-aged man, carrying a very faint filthy magic.

After finishing his meal, the middle-aged man wiped his mouth and prepared to leave, just like a normal customer.

A subtle black magic emanated from Mu Ming and adhered to the man's feet.

The man was a taxi driver who drove around with magic powers. It was only because Mu Ming's magic powers were strong enough that they would have been severed long ago.

He changed hotels, moving to a place closer to "Old Chicken," keeping an eye on "Old Chicken" while waiting for feedback from the middle-aged man.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month has passed.

Mu Ming's magic power didn't increase much, and the investigation made little progress. The man he was tracking was still driving for Didi as usual every day.

【60:42:37】

The idea of ​​reaching 15000 magic points before the countdown ends has failed.

Once he realized he was going to fail, he stopped being in a hurry.

"Anyway, there are only a few days left, let's wait until the very end."

Mu Ming shook his head, and a spear materialized in his hand, sharp at both ends and shaped like a cone, connected by an empty ring in the middle.

This is the "life-carving needle" he created. It has nothing to do with needles at all. It is now taking on a human form, but it is far from being successfully carved.

The original life-carving needle wasn't very big, at most the length of an arm. The one Mu Ming was holding, however, was nearly two meters long.

It's so difficult to carve; if you make a mistake in one place, it will break immediately. It's not something you can practice on.

We can only enlarge it first and proceed slowly.

According to the Sith AI, a magical girl named Azure Star practiced this skill and confirmed that it could be mastered at the third tier.

I wonder how talented a magical girl must be to be able to carve the Fate Needle at the third level?

There are twelve in total. The first one was already so difficult. Even though Mu Ming had completely memorized the structure of the "life-carving needle", he still made a lot of mistakes when carving it.

I feel like I've been tricked by that AI. In reality, this skill can't be learned at the third tier or during the flowering stage.

But Mu Ming didn't dare to go to her. If he logged onto the Bureau of Statistics website and confronted the Sith, a ghost would be waving a flower fan and shouting "Baby, keep going, meow~" to him the next morning.

While recalling the structure of the "life-carving needle", Mu Ming meticulously carved the loops and core of the "needle" bit by bit, just like embroidery.

A morning passed in the blink of an eye.

At noon, as usual, he ate at "Laojia Chicken" while chatting with Jin Yu:

[There's something strange about Qishan City. Some residential areas seem to have hardly any residents, and it's kind of creepy when you pass by at night.]

[After all, it's just a small town, and in recent years, many people from there have moved here, so the population will probably decrease even more in the future.]

There are so few magical girls here. Back home, you can bump into one just walking down the street, but here you can't find one even with the lights on.

Hehe, if you're feeling uneasy, you should have taken last week's train back. Don't forget to come back this week!

"The number of magical girls and monsters is unusually low," and "citizens are also disappearing in small numbers." Mu Ming had almost explicitly reminded him of these two issues several times.

Jin Yu's replies are always evasive, never revealing any inside information.

This frustrated him greatly, but Jin Yu was very talkative, and if he didn't chat with her for a few minutes every day, she would call him first.

Typing is more comfortable than talking to her on the phone.

After a brief exchange, Mu Ming turned to Li Huanhuan to inquire about the situation:

[Has anything happened over there lately?]

There haven't been any unusual events; however, there's something worth mentioning, would you like to hear it?

Speak.

Hey, be a little more enthusiastic!

Go ahead and say it.

【….】

"Have a lot of people from other places come to Changming City?"

"They're all from satellite cities of Changming City... Wutong City, Lianjiang City, and others are included, but Qishan City is missing?"

"Is the information accurate?" Mu Ming asked Li Huanhuan to confirm.

[It's true, my classmates have all said they've seen a lot of people from other places lately. I've confirmed it privately; some small neighborhoods in the southern part of the city have suddenly seen a surge in residents, mostly from other cities.]

"But Qishan City is missing... Has this place been abandoned?"

Although there are few people, most people's lives continue, so there's no reason for them to be abandoned, right?

"Or perhaps Qishan City actually relocated even earlier? Have the people in those empty neighborhoods already moved out?"

If this was done by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, then it makes sense.

Was it really necessary to move the Qishan City General Administration Bureau as well? Shouldn't the General Administration Bureau have been the last to leave?

I wonder what exactly is going on in the Qishan Command Bureau now...

pat-

Just as they were feeling confused, a faint signal came from afar.

The magic attached to the driver has been severed—the unclean magic in the environment he was in has increased!

They either ran into accomplices or returned to their hideout.

Mu Ming immediately got up, abandoned the half-eaten chicken pot, and ran towards the scene of the incident.

......

The western district of Qishan City is home to many small factories and is considered the economic zone of Qishan City.

If you were to ask where the most vibrant place in Qishan City is, it would undoubtedly be this place.

Following the direction where the magic mark broke, Mu Ming found a breeding farm.

"Giggle giggle—"

There were free-range chickens everywhere inside.

"..."

A sense of unease rose in my heart: Could it be that the "homegrown chicken" they sell gets its stock from this chicken farm?

"Laojia Chicken" is actually innocent; Zhu Huan's address actually points to the source of "Laojia Chicken".

Is Zhu Huan's second personality trying to test her detective skills?

So stupid...

Taking a deep breath, Wu An stepped into the chicken farm.

All that could be seen were farm workers, none of whom showed any signs of filth or magical energy.

However, under the [Vision of Filth Magic], the two guards at the chicken farm showed signs of filth magic.

We've come to the right place.

Wu An used magic to conceal his figure and surged towards the chicken coop under the cover of the grass.

The only sound of grass being shoved was drowned out by the clucking of the chickens.

As we passed the guard post, the two guards were each scrolling through their phones, looking utterly bored.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, no one noticed that she had sneaked into the chicken coop.

Wu An climbed up to the roof beam, looked down, and scanned the area several times. He discovered that it was a chicken coop, and the only smell in the air was chicken.

"Where exactly is the hidden room?"

Wu An climbed down from the roof beam into the chicken coop, searching for the place where the middle-aged man who had been targeted earlier had disappeared.

But after searching for a long time, they couldn't find it. They tried to trace the traces of the filthy magic, but couldn't find any signs at all.

Left with no other choice, she pulled out her "Good Luck" chip again, and the number on the chip had reached "10".

Wu An silently pondered, "Run or fight?"

The chip was immediately flicked up, and when it landed in his hand, the number was zero.

It seems there is danger here, but not the kind where you'd be instantly killed if you showed your face.

Without saying a word, Wu An kicked open the chicken coop door.

Bang! !

"Um?"

The gatekeeper in the pavilion thought he was seeing things. How did a magical girl walk out of that chicken coop? Wasn't it just locked up a moment ago?

Why are they heading so aggressively towards the guardhouse?

Click, click—

The sound of footsteps on the grass came quickly, clearly indicating hostile intent. One of the guards fumbled for the alarm, but was stopped by the other—ringing the alarm would only expose them, and they might be able to get away with it now.

But the magical girl seemed certain they were up to something. With a flick of her finger, a black arc swept through the air, pressing down on their necks and trapping them against the wall.

On the glass window in front of them, a clear scratch appeared.

Click!

The glass didn't break when it hit the grass, but it was trampled to pieces by the tall boots that followed.

Wu An entered the guardhouse and asked directly:

"Where is the Genko-kai's base?"

"What are you talking about?"

Snapped!

The security guard who spoke was slapped.

"I'll ask you one more time, where is the base?"

"What base? We really don't know what you're talking about!" The young guard got angry after being slapped.

Even though magical girls are amazing, you can't bully people like this!

Snapped!

Another slap.

The young security guard dared not speak.

Wu An stared at the middle-aged gatekeeper and said coldly, "Where is the stronghold?"

"Miss, we really don't know what the 'Ghost Child Society' is..."

Three strikes and you're out. Generally speaking, even if a magical girl investigates, if you don't have solid evidence, persisting a few times will make the other party mistakenly think they've misunderstood a good person and apologize.

Then, the two security guards' faces were swollen from being slapped.

The middle-aged gatekeeper looked at Wu An in disbelief, completely baffled.

They had only been guarding the base from beginning to end, and were peripheral members who did not participate in any activities. Logically speaking, there was no possibility of them being exposed.

But now she's been bitten to death by a magical girl and is a member of the Genko-kai.

"My patience is limited, if I don't speak up now, I'll be slapping you in the face."

Wu An took a picture of the two of them.

"Do you really think it's difficult to find out who you are?"

She waved the photos on her phone.

"Are you still a magical girl?" the young security guard couldn't help but curse.

Snapped!

"Where is the base?"

The middle-aged security guard knew he couldn't fool anyone anymore, and reluctantly said:

"There's a charging plug under the cabinet, and a hidden box on the floor to the right of the plug."

"Are you crazy?!" His companion couldn't help but yell when he saw his betrayal.

"Shut up!"

Wu An ignored their argument and smashed the floor, finding a dark box that contained neither a key nor a switch.

Instead, it was a transparent cube-shaped box with an eyeball sculpted with magic suspended inside. A green leaf covered the eyeball, blocking its view.

"Eh..."

Wu An had an impression of this unusually prominent green leaf. Although he had only seen it once, the timing of its appearance was quite special.

On the night the monsters attacked the city, after the red lightning tore the sky above Changming City apart, a single green leaf fell, almost obscuring the view.

But at the time, everyone's attention was focused on the crimson lightning; compared to that, a single green leaf was insignificant, so no one paid much attention to it...

Her appearance at the Genko-kai's base now seemed to bother her.

Wu An brought his eyes close to his eyes and found that his gaze, when looking through his eyes, was as if he were wearing sunglasses, covered with a light green layer.

Everything was pale green, except for the thick, purplish-black hue at the entrance to the chicken coop.

Wu An paused for a moment, and after seeing the entrance to the chicken coop clearly, she realized that when she activated [Filthy Magic Vision] earlier, she had also seen a purplish-black door...

But for some reason, even though I saw it, I completely ignored it as if I hadn't noticed it at all.

"strangeness..."

She muttered something to herself, then knocked out the two guards. As she walked towards the chicken coop, she looked at the eyeball in the box and pondered:

"What is this thing...?"

The black liquid covered the box, but bounced back, just like when the "blessing" was touched.

But the information was presented:

[Special Item: Lin Ye's Gaze]

[Effect: Immune to the protective effects of the Ninth Seat - "Forest Leaf" (ineffective against Tier 5 and above)]

[Summary: Searching for leaves in the forest, it's hard to find the real thing.]

It's not just the information about "eyeballs," there's also information about "■■."

[Two items from "■■" have been obtained]

[“Blessing” and “Lin Ye’s gaze” can be used as materials to piece together the truth of “■■”]

Wu An immediately tried to piece it together.

[Failed to piece together]

"I don't know what the point of sending this message is."

Wu An walked to the entrance of the chicken coop and released his magic, but did not enter the Huanzi Society's stronghold.

She turned to filthy magic.

A suction force surged in, and in the blink of an eye, Wu An found himself surrounded by a cold light.

In front of them was a spacious corridor connecting to a three-way intersection, and directly behind them was a wall.

The Genji Guild's base here is clearly much more advanced than the one in Chomei City.

This seems to be the regional headquarters.

Wu An realized that [Lin Ye's Gaze] could only be effective against those below the fifth rank, and he roughly understood why Huanzi hadn't set up her main base in Changming City.

After all, you can't guard against golden words.

"That's really impressive."

Wu An recalled that he had used both his magical and filthy magical senses when he passed by the chicken coop twice before, but he hadn't noticed the gate at all.

I clearly saw it, and I remember the door being there, but I just couldn't notice it.

What an amazing ability.

Wu An lowered his pace and moved through the corridor, his body behind while the tentacles of magic reached out first.

However, the magic was suppressed after only a few meters.

The source of the restraining force is... tainted magic?

An environment rich in filthy magic does indeed have a suppressive effect on magic, but she did not sense the presence of filthy magic in the environment she was in.

The filthy magic of the calamity beasts dissipates directly outwards, unlike magical girls who can contain it.

Wu An closed his eyes, amplified his perception of magic, and confirmed that there was no corrupt magic here, but there was a kind of magic that was very similar to corrupt magic, but slightly different.

This unclean demonic power was small, but it created a field in the corridor that strongly suppressed magical power.

It's somewhat similar to the Genko-kai's stronghold in Changming City... In fact, they're the same thing, just on different scales.

The sudden sense of strange magic was like a ray of light in the darkness, stirring up Wu An's memories.

"That drop of bodily fluid."

That drop will release a pink gas, which is a bodily fluid of [redacted].

Bodily fluids and the alien magic here share the same origin, both capable of stirring up resentment in one's heart.

"A third force, distinct from magical girls and calamity beasts..."

Although he had always had this idea, and even the human traffickers had told Wu'an about the title "witch".

Even if it is now confirmed that it is the name of ■■, it is still impossible to deduce the truth of ■■.

Wu An knows too little about the existence called "Witch" and is still a long way from truly understanding "Witch".

She had a vague premonition that she might be able to fill in the gaps in her knowledge about "■■" at this base.