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

Like witches, this world is home to a variety of unusual races.

【Phantom Thieves】are also a type of life-related anomaly, and their numbers far exceed those of the nearly extinct witches. They have even reached the point where they can form gangs to steal, making them an international nuisance.

Different phantom thieves have different abilities. For example, some phantom thieves have causal-level stealth skills and can disappear from everyone's sight as long as they crouch down; some phantom thieves have magic that allows them to enter the supernatural realm; and some phantom thieves can even do incredible things like sneaking into people's subconscious space, stealing their minds, and changing their personalities.

However, anomalies often have rules that even the anomalies themselves must abide by. For phantom thieves, this means that they must give prior notice before stealing.

A thief who steals without permission is just a petty thief, and will lose all his supernatural powers.

The Fuyuna City Disaster Bureau branch recently received such a pre-announcement letter from a phantom thief.

"Your very existence is a calamity for the world. Witch who controls war, your power is a burden. In the name of the Eternal Serpent, we will turn you back into a human and take away the abnormality known as the Witch."

The text was probably pieced together from cut-out newspaper fragments and pasted onto a hard postcard.

"Yesterday morning, it bypassed the seven anti-spirit barriers, thirteen exorcism spells, and all the surveillance cameras set up outside the Bureau of Spirit Disasters building, and infiltrated the daily mail out of thin air."

What Rhea gave to Bai Ze was this postcard sent in the name of the Eternal Serpent.

It seems the mastermind has been found, and Bai Ze has no choice but to obediently submit to the law and confess his crimes—or so it seems!

"I didn't do it."

He shook his head in denial.

"But Bai Ze probably also hopes that the witch will lose her power to some extent, right? After all, he's worried about the side effects of becoming a witch."

"You've got two things wrong: First, I don't trust the supernatural easily; second, just because I worry that a witch's ultimate fate is to become a calamity, do I have the right to disregard my friend's opinions and forcibly take away the identity she has already accepted?"

Bai Ze said firmly, "I'm not that kind of fussy person!"

If Lin Tingwan despises her identity as a witch, he will help her find a way to strip her of her power;

But now that she has accepted the personality called witch, he will never fight back, but will only focus on how to suppress or even eliminate the negative impact in the future!

"Then, could it have been done by another girl?"

Rhea accepted his point of view and then asked, "Is it that girl... named Lu Xingyao, the one chosen as the target of the Witch's Anchor Point Expansion Project?"

No wonder she was so enthusiastic towards the witch after the ghost story incident—she was trying to find out information!

The thought that not only her childhood sweetheart, but also the friends that the Bureau of Spirit Disasters had prepared for the witch were members of other supernatural organizations made Rhea want to smile bitterly.

This is too coincidental, right?

If she knew that Lu Xingyao was a witch like Lin Tingwan, she would probably be even more surprised.

"Xingyao, I will take this notice to her and ask her about it."

Bai Ze stroked his chin. "She hasn't been in good shape lately, so it's even less likely she would do something like this; however, she's skilled in divination and prophecy, so she might be able to glean something from the notice."

Since the Yin Chen incident, Lu Xingyao has fallen into a rather depressed state of mind.

The reasons will be explained later; having received the guarantee, Rhea gave the final, inevitable answer:

"In other words, someone impersonated the Eternal Serpent and issued a phantom thief's notice that they were going to steal the witch's power."

"Did you show this to her in person?"

Bai Ze flipped the postcard over and found no pattern.

Rhea shook her head: "Once the phantom thief accepts the warning, it's equivalent to forming a contract—the victim will certainly be more vigilant, but the phantom thief's success rate in stealing will also be boosted."

Bai Ze immediately thought, "Wouldn't keeping it from her be a ready-made anti-theft measure?"

"The phantom thief will definitely deliver the trailer to the person in question; it's just a matter of time."

Rhea sighed softly, "This is what they mean by 'you can be a thief for a thousand days, but you can't guard against thieves for a thousand days.'"

In other words, the only solution is to capture this audacious thief who claims to be able to steal the witch's power.

With their goal set, the two decided to split up.

"Because it involves the Witch, the Bureau of Spirit Disasters takes it very seriously and has hired the Phantom Thief's Nemesis."

Rhea got up to pay the bill. "She'll be arriving in Fuyuna today, and I'm going to meet her."

Is the phantom thief's nemesis... also an anomaly?

"Then I'll take the notice to Xingyao for help with the prophecy."

Bai Ze carefully put away the postcard with the text attached.

"By the way, Bai Ze."

As they left the coffee shop, Leia suddenly suggested, "How about we invite Lu Xingyao to become an unofficial member of the Spirit Disaster Bureau as well?"

Bai Ze's first reaction was, "Wouldn't our organization be swallowed up by the Spirit Disaster Bureau?"

But then I thought, with Rhea as a cover, this seems like a good option for legally clearing my name about my supernatural powers?

If the Hydra-in-S.H.I.E.L.D. scenario repeats itself, an internal possession is not impossible.

"I imagine you're always spending time with the Witch, even if you can't reveal the secret of forming cliques behind her back. But if you interact with her as assistants hired by the Bureau of Spirit Disasters, you'll probably have more in common, right?"

But that would mean Lu Xingyao would know that her dear senior was the witch she had fought with, and it was hard to predict how she would react.

So Bai Ze thought for a moment and said, "You can tell her about hiring me—but didn't you say last time she would be angry?"

Rhea's expression was resolute: "I am prepared... for death."

There's no need to make such a big decision!

After parting ways with the dream girl, Bai Ze did not go home immediately, but instead went to Lu Xingyao's house while the iron was hot.

He knocked on the door but received no response from the girl. Accustomed to this, Bai Ze raised his palm, and the Blade of Judgment flowed into the keyhole as fluid. A moment later, a crisp snap was heard.

Is it really a bad habit to break into a female student's house by picking locks?

The entryway, which was fairly tidy when I last visited, was now covered in dust, as if it hadn't been cleaned for several days. Drink cans and snack bags were carelessly tossed around in the living room, along with several pieces of women's underwear.

The kitchen door was tightly shut, as if sealing off some terrifying demon king with talismans and tape.

To be honest, it was a truly mind-blowing sight.

The door to the girl's bedroom, which he had visited before, was also closed, with a sign hanging on it.

No disturbances please. Let me, useless as I am, rot away. Senior, you're not allowed in.

That's roughly the style, full of resentment.

That's right, as everyone can see.

It's like a great white shark turning into a fucking little goldfish;

Lu Xingyao now;

She became a shut-in, reclusive woman.