Once the affection level is maxed out, the rivalry begins!

[Defeat the witch twice, victory points +1000]

Even Bai Ze himself hadn't anticipated that the [Flesh and Blood Resonance], which was stacked to the highest level and then detonated, would cause such massive destruction.

Its ability to disrupt magic circuits was also taken to the extreme, with the direct victim being the unsuspecting Lin Tingwan.

As soon as she tore open her arm, she was met with a silvery light. Magic flowed out of control, and her vision went completely dark.

To use the guise of cooperation to attack allies is utterly despicable! The White Knight of Eternal Serpent is truly vile!

This was her last thought before she lost consciousness.

Looking at the girl lying on the ground, Bai Ze was also a bit overwhelmed.

So he first jumped into the giant crater created by the ghost nun and found the strange disc that created the ghost story.

The moment I touched it, just like when I came into contact with the core of the abnormal life form before, it merged into Bai Ze's body, and the parchment scroll sent a notification that I had obtained a new item in my inventory.

The dark red sky was pulled back like a curtain, revealing clear sunlight once again.

This space is essentially another world, so the damage caused by the aftermath of the previous battle did not leak into reality; the affected students were only in a coma because the degree of supernatural occurrence was not deep.

He left the unconscious Lin Tingwan where she was for the time being, and first removed his disguise and returned to the first-year teaching building.

"Senior! I saw an explosion and a surge of magical energy... How is the witch from the Spirit Disaster Bureau?"

Despite her sharp tongue, Lu Xingyao seems to care quite a bit about her fellow human beings.

"Have you already discovered her true identity, which you can use to blackmail her into doing this or that?"

No, her brain just slipped into an extremely bad place.

"No, she slipped away during the explosion," Bai Ze replied casually.

"Is that so..."

Lu Xingyao sighed regretfully, "But being able to narrow it down to other schools is already a pleasant surprise. Now let me think of a solution!"

It seems she still hasn't given up on her plan to find the witch's true form at the Bureau of Spirit Disasters.

"No, I think even if we win by finding out someone's true identity, it would be an unfair victory."

Bai Ze stopped the excited girl, "The Spirit Disaster Bureau will definitely be here to clean up the mess soon. Can you handle it?"

"It's alright, I've been hiding right under their noses for years."

Lu Xingyao gave him a playful salute. "I promise I won't reveal any secrets, sir."

"Very good, I also need to go back and prepare my explanation."

Bai Ze could already hear the fire sirens and police sirens coming from afar, "For the sake of the cycle."

"For the sake of the principle of cycles!"

The girl cheered, her eyes sparkling like stars in a clear spring.

...He had only intended to suppress his shame and cater to her preferences, but seeing his junior's overjoyed reaction made him feel a little guilty.

Perhaps her childish fantasy of establishing a behind-the-scenes organization as the protagonist of a novel is essentially a kind of inner defense mechanism to dispel loneliness.

Moreover, fantasy is gradually evolving into reality—they have already collected two anomalies, the Labyrinth and the Materialized Ghost Stories, so it wouldn't feel out of place for them to call themselves an anomaly handling organization.

After the two had made their decision, Bai Ze returned to his classroom and released the people wandering in the maze back to reality. Most of them were still confused about the spatial transfer, and their positions had been deliberately separated when they entered the maze, so no one noticed that he was not among them.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Bai Ze first chatted with the students around him about the situation inside the maze, in order to create proof that "he entered the maze with everyone and was only released now".

Then he "coincidentally" noticed that Lin Tingwan was not there, and out of concern for his childhood sweetheart, he immediately rushed out of the classroom in front of his classmates.

After arriving at the spot where Lin Tingwan had fainted, Bai Ze sat down on the ground and gently lifted the back of the girl's head, placing it on his knees.

He waited quietly for the arrival of the Bureau of Spiritual Disasters personnel to discover him.

------

"The War Witch has regained consciousness and claims that she was subjected to a despicable sneak attack by the White Knight."

In a spacious room resembling an interrogation room, Bai Ze listened intently to the conversation outside the one-way glass.

The room had only one small door, and the walls on three sides were painted white on top and pink on the bottom. The last wall was replaced by a blackboard. However, with his heightened senses, he could clearly hear the sounds coming from behind the blackboard and feel the gaze directed at him through it.

Therefore, he guessed that it was a one-way glass disguised to make it easier to observe the inside.

He is not currently under any physical restrictions, but he is not locked up with the other students waiting for memory erasure; instead, he is sitting alone behind a long table in the center of the room.

"Is he Bai Ze? The one who acts as a brake on the witch?"

A familiar female voice interrupted, and Bai Ze quickly recalled that it was Leticia, the blonde girl he had encountered in the maze last time.

She indeed held Lin Tingwan in extraordinary respect—Bai Ze couldn't even imagine what kind of fanatic she must be to still call her "Witch" after understanding her personality.

Another voice came from the middle-aged man in a suit who was also present at the time: "Is the Bureau of Spirit Disasters really that short-handed in Fuyuna City?"

"Yes, Lin Tingwan's parents disappeared when she was young. Even with the resources of the Spirit Disaster Bureau, no clues were found. Her childhood sweetheart, who grew up with her, is the best candidate to be the anchor."

The Anchor Point Project, or the Brake Valve Project, is a special containment measure implemented by the Bureau of Spirit Disasters for high-risk humanoid anomalies such as witches.

Starting with the social relationships of people with abnormal human forms, we should focus on and protect individuals who can stabilize their emotions and maintain their empathy for human society.

Therefore, Bai Ze's existence had long been recorded in the Spirit Disaster Bureau's archives, but he had always been regarded as an ordinary person unrelated to anomalies.

"Is he involved in this incident?" Leticia asked.

"At present, she appears to be innocent—although we haven't yet discovered how the Holy Trinity Order locked onto the witch's true identity, the information couldn't have been leaked from him."

The man in the suit said, "Furthermore, according to the testimonies of other students, he was probably imprisoned in the Minotaur's labyrinth by the White Knight, and only returned to reality after the anomaly disappeared, whereupon he found the unconscious War Witch."

"To fabricate a lie on this matter, he would need to convince the White Knight to cooperate—"

"Or are they the same person?"

Bai Ze's heart nearly skipped a beat when he heard Leticia's words, but thankfully she added uncertainly, "You see, he also has the surname Bai."

"What kind of evidence is that?"

The man in the suit said, his voice a mix of amusement and exasperation, "White Knight is a code name we gave him based on his color scheme, not his real name."

"Moreover, this doesn't make any sense at all. Even if we take a step back and say he awakened some kind of extraordinary power and discovered his childhood sweetheart's true identity, there's no reason for him to harbor any ill will towards the Spirit Disaster Bureau, right? What motive would he have to oppose Lin Tingwan and us?"

—These two people were also unaware of the negative effects of witch transformation, but that doesn't mean the Bureau of Spirit Disasters is trustworthy.

"Alright, we've done enough investigation. Let's go in and make contact with him."

As soon as he finished speaking, two footsteps approached, and the door to the room was gently pushed open.