Magical Girl Fan Bingbing

Tianhai City Public Security Bureau, Magic Element Management and Law Enforcement Team, Magical Girl Investigation Detachment.

In recent years, the illegal production and sale of magic essence has become increasingly rampant. The ten councils have added dedicated law enforcement agencies within local public security departments to manage magic essence. Considering the special and dangerous nature of magic essence, the officers in charge are usually drawn from local magical girls who are already employed.

As a developed coastal city, Tianhai City's Public Security Bureau's Magic Element Management and Law Enforcement Chief is directly promoted to the rank of Director-General. Chu Ying, as a branch captain, has already climbed to the rank of Director-General, a position that many people would never dare to dream of, at less than twenty years old.

Although she only had a few magical girls around her age under her command, no one dared to underestimate this young squad leader.

Third-floor conference room.

Chu Ying sat at the head of the long table, with a newly printed on-site investigation report spread out in front of her and a transparent evidence bag next to her containing A-Qiang's heavy gold necklace.

There were five people sitting in the conference room.

The first one on the left is the twin-tailed girl codenamed "Little Deer," who is in charge of intelligence processing and information support. She's the one who used a water tornado to wake Ah-Qiang up today.

At that moment, she was resting her chin on her hand, poking the cover of a report on the table with the pen, looking as if she hadn't yet recovered from the exhaustion of working overtime continuously.

The second one from the left is the bespectacled girl codenamed "Amber," who is in charge of on-site investigation and technical identification. She is the quietest person in the entire team and doesn't talk much, but whenever she does speak, it's usually important information.

The other two were field team members, codenamed "Yuque" and "Youlan". They were looking down at the surveillance screenshots of their respective areas. The table was covered with a large number of images, all of which were white RVs of various models.

Chu Ying looked around to make sure everyone was there, then cleared her throat.

"Everyone witnessed what happened downstream of the North Second River today, so I won't repeat it. I'll get straight to the point."

She picked up the evidence bag and held the gold necklace up to the crowd; the metal refracted a cold light under the fluorescent lights.

"This is a recording device that Ah Qiang carries with him. It was personally engraved by a magical girl senior in the team, and theoretically it has extremely high concealment and anti-interference capabilities."

Chu Ying placed the evidence bag back on the table and looked at Amber: "Amber, you've examined it, right? Tell me the results."

Amber adjusted her glasses, stood up from her seat, and held a technical analysis report filled with dense annotations in her hand. She opened one of the pages: "After detailed analysis, it is confirmed that the recording magic in this necklace was indeed deliberately erased. During the period from activation to erasure, no image or sound data was retained."

"But what is even more noteworthy is that I did not find any trace of brute force or forced alteration in the structure of the recorded magic. The entire magic array was intact, as if someone had used a key that matched the keyhole perfectly to open the door, taken the contents inside, and then closed the door as before."

Amber closed the report and looked up.

"This means the perpetrator either possesses extremely high magical skills and is well-versed in recording the underlying principles of magic, or..."

"Or we could simply learn how this recording magic works," Chu Ying chimed in.

"Yes." Amber nodded and sat down.

Chu Ying frowned, her fingers tapping the table unconsciously. Amber's analysis basically confirmed one thing: this was not something an ordinary person could do; ordinary people could not possibly possess such precise magical manipulation abilities.

It can only be a magical girl.

Chu Ying turned to look at Xiao Lu: "Have you matched the traces of magic left at the scene with the database?"

"no."

Xiao Lu shook her head, put down her pen, and turned the tablet in front of her to show everyone. The screen displayed a long string of red marks indicating failed comparisons.

"I compared the magical characteristics collected on-site with the national magical girl registration database one by one, and found no match."

She swiped the screen and added, "If the perpetrator is indeed a magical girl, then she can only be someone who accidentally awakened her powers and didn't register with the relevant authorities; otherwise, there would definitely be a corresponding record in the database."

This answer brought a brief silence to the meeting room.

Since the dissolution of the Magical Alliance and the rise of the Ten-Seat Council, magical girls have been subject to far stricter management than before. Every awakened magical girl must register with the relevant department within a specified timeframe after awakening and accept the jurisdiction and command of the Ten-Seat Council.

Those who are unwilling to be governed must either voluntarily give up their transformation abilities or wear anti-magic ankle bracelets to restrict their use of magic, and must also report their whereabouts to the governing department regularly.

In the early stages of its implementation, this system did encounter considerable resistance. However, thanks to the long-term combination of incentives and coercion by the ten councils, wild magical girls in the community have now almost disappeared.

The ten-seat council offered only two choices: either enter the system and accept a respectable and well-paid job, or give up your power and become an ordinary person again.

Want to protest?

Then go talk to the Ministry of the Interior, which is under the ten-seat parliament, and see if you can run faster or if the Ministry of the Interior can wave its staff faster.

"If she's an unregistered magical girl, then this is troublesome..."

Chu Ying crossed her hands on the table, her fingers clenched. This kind of unruly troublemaker on her own turf could easily lead to a major incident if not handled properly, which would be bad news for both the Public Security Bureau and her personal resume.

"Youlan, Yuque, what did you find in the surveillance footage?"

Both of them shook their heads when asked.

Yu Que spoke first: "That area is sparsely populated, with hardly any fishermen. The surveillance coverage is too low, and there is almost no useful information."

Youlan added, "As for the white RV mentioned by the informant, Aqiang didn't even remember the license plate number. He could only guess from his description that it was a popular recreational vehicle on the market. Tianhai is so big, there must be at least tens of thousands of RVs, both from outside and local areas. If we were to check them one by one..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but her meaning was clear: the workload was ridiculously large, and it was impossible to finish screening everything in a short time.

With all directions of investigation blocked, the conference room fell into a suffocating silence once again.

"or……"

Little Deer suddenly spoke, pointing her finger at the ceiling.

"Should we report this to the brigade headquarters or the department?"

The implication is that this matter is probably quite tricky, so we should submit the report to our superiors first, and whoever is in a higher position will have a headache while we can eat and sleep as usual.

"A report will definitely be submitted, but not now."

Chu Ying decisively rejected the suggestion, her tone resolute.

"Our team is still short of meeting this year's targets, and there are only two or three months left until the year-end assessment. If we push this case up to higher authorities now, what will happen to our targets?"

She glanced at everyone's expressions and continued.

"But if we find the suspects ourselves, lock onto the target, and obtain key clues before reporting to the headquarters and having the bigwigs from headquarters bring people to carry out the arrest, then..."

"We conducted the investigation, and the head team arrested the people. Both sides got results, and everyone saved face. We did the dirty work, and the head team was only responsible for the final takeover. The higher-ups got the credit, so they naturally didn't treat us unfairly. Do I need to say more?"

"You guys can't just bury yourselves in your work; you also need to have a holistic perspective."

Upon hearing this, the people in the conference room exchanged glances for a moment, then all showed expressions of sudden realization, nodding their heads incessantly like chickens pecking at rice.

"The captain is right!"

Yu Que was the first to stand up and express her opinion, her eyes almost sparkling: "A major case involving a magical girl is rare not only in Tianhai City, but also in the whole country. Once the case is solved, it will definitely be reported nationwide. When our team's name is on the report, we will be showing our face in front of our colleagues across the country."

"That's right, that's right." Youlan couldn't help but chime in, "With such a great contribution, Captain, your position might even be promoted."

The others chimed in, and the previously somber atmosphere in the meeting room was instantly dispelled, replaced by a cheerful one.

"but."

Chu Ying spoke, her voice not loud, but it was like a bucket of cold water, silencing the entire conference room.

"It's too early to be happy. Whether we can catch that magical girl is still unknown." Chu Ying rested her hands on her chin, her gaze sweeping over everyone present. "The case is currently at a standstill. Let's discuss from all angles how to proceed with the investigation."

Yu Que was the first to raise her hand: "You Lan and I will continue to investigate the vehicles. Although there are a lot of them, we can narrow down the scope first. For example, we can prioritize screening RVs that were purchased in the last three months and have been in Tianhai City for a long time without leaving. As long as she is still active in Tianhai City, we will find that vehicle sooner or later."

Chu Ying nodded and turned her gaze to Xiao Lu.

Xiao Lu sat up straight: "I suggest we can't just focus on people, we should also start with the sales channels. Qiang said that the purity of that batch of magic essence is unprecedented, it's crystal-grade. Such high-purity goods are very rare, and they are definitely hard currency in the market. As long as she wants to sell and make money, she will inevitably come into contact with buyers. Once it enters the market, we can follow the trail."

She paused, then added, "To put it bluntly, if you make it and don't sell it, isn't that a waste of time? She'll show her true colors sooner or later."

Chu Ying nodded, agreeing that this line of thinking was correct.

Finally, Amber adjusted her glasses and said, "We can also approach this from another angle, which is the list of students in the various magical girl talent classes."

"Most magical girls who are able to awaken have received some form of training, whether long or short, before awakening. Information about students in special talent classes is on file. If a suspect has attended a special talent class at a certain school, it can help us quickly determine the scope of our investigation."

After finishing speaking, Amber sat down quietly, her remarks brief and concise.

"Good, let's do it that way."

Chu Ying nodded with satisfaction, a slight smile playing on her lips.

With such a group of quick-witted and capable subordinates, how could she not catch the suspect?

Even if that magical girl hiding in the shadows is stronger than her, a Gold-level cultivator, so what?

Could it possibly be stronger than the diamonds above?

If that doesn't work, there are still a group of gods flying in the sky; the mortals below can't overturn the heavens.

Chu Ying stood up, placed her hands on the conference table, and looked bright.

"We'll split up and report any progress immediately."

"yes!"

Four voices rang out in unison.

Chu Ying glanced at the evidence bag containing the gold necklace on the table, and the corners of her mouth curved upwards even further.

Chu Ying was determined to claim this enormous credit.