“This place… it’s a reasonable distance from the city, sparsely populated—a pretty good spot for a base.”
She lifted her gaze and swept her eyes around at the surroundings.
The short girl cloaked in black gave a barely perceptible nod.
Her whole body was hidden beneath a thick black robe, with only a pale, bloodless little face exposed.
Her eyes were pure black, without any whites, like pieces of obsidian—completely devoid of life.
With features like that, anyone could tell at a glance that she wasn’t human.
But compared to her kin, who didn’t even look human at all, she was already quite close to a human form.
At least her facial features were neat and well-formed.
If one could overlook that intense sense of inhumanity, she was actually a rather pretty girl.
“Master, I sense a strong magical residue here. It’s possible a Magical Girl was just here…” The black-clad figure named Moe Two followed closely behind the girl, bowing his head and speaking in a low voice.
“Just one Initial Bloom and two Budding. They won’t notice our presence.” The girl shook her head, a flash of contempt in her eyes.
Without any Full Bloom-class Magical Girl around, she was confident that none of the lower-ranked Magical Girls would be able to detect her movements.
And the strong presence of Magical Girl aura here meant this was a place Magical Girls were familiar with.
When investigating here, they’d likely be lax—what humans call, ‘darkness beneath the lamp.’
Compared to those other places that looked more remote and safe, but would be the focus of Magical Girl searches, this place was clearly more suitable for hiding.
The girl trusted her own judgment, trusted the experience she’d gained from living in human society these past few years.
“We’ll hide out here and wait for Moe One and the others to retrieve the Sealing Card from this place. That way, I can recover my strength.”
As long as she could return to her peak, those Magical Girls who kept chasing her would no longer be her match!
Even after being defeated once, the girl was still full of confidence in her own strength.
After all, so-called Magical Girls were just a bunch of amateurs.
Compared to them—creatures born to coexist with magic—the Magical Girls were utterly inferior!
She would never lose to those amateurs!
After a day of special training, Xia Mo didn’t go home right away.
Instead, she was called back to the Magic Department, saying there was something urgent to discuss with her.
As soon as she walked into the Magic Department, Xia Mo saw the Director chatting and laughing with a silver-haired girl.
Both of them looked as if they were meeting an old friend.
That silver-haired girl had also left a deep impression on Xia Mo before.
“Senior Long Wen? What brings you…?”
Yes, the one chatting with the Director was none other than the Silver Radiance Dragon Princess, Long Wen, whom Xia Mo had met not long ago.
“It’s only been a month, but little Xia Mo’s strength has improved a lot. White Night’s special training really is something else.” Long Wen smiled kindly at Xia Mo.
Judging by her tone, it was easy to guess that Long Wen and White Night were old acquaintances.
“A Royal-Class Magic Beast escaped southwest and its whereabouts are still unknown. The Magic Department has limited manpower and can only focus its defenses on a few cities. According to the higher-ups, the Royal-Class Magic Beast is most likely to come to our Xinghai City.”
The Director picked up the conversation, explaining the current situation to Xia Mo.
After listening, Xia Mo looked confused. Why would a Royal-Class Magic Beast most likely come here? Did Xinghai City have something that attracted them?
“Xinghai City is big, has few stationed Magical Girls, and there are traces of White Night’s activities. With all these factors combined, it’s no surprise that the Royal-Class Magic Beast would choose here as the place to make a comeback.” Long Wen spoke as if this was perfectly normal.
The other cities along the way were either too small or had too many Magical Girls guarding them.
All in all, Xinghai City was a real prize.
A large area, mixed and complicated factions, only three resident Magical Girls, and none of them very experienced.
Wasn’t this just a big, juicy meat bun with a thin skin and plenty of filling?
On the escape route of a magic beast, it was like shouting, “I’m easy to bully! Come recharge here!”
“This time I came in secret. The others will spread out to the neighboring cities. Once the magic beast is found, we’ll act together. They’ll create the illusion that I’m active in their areas, to throw the beast off guard.”
The intelligence of a Royal-Class Magic Beast was no less than a human’s, but when it came to real schemes and tricks, they still couldn’t compare to humans.
After all, their heads were filled more with survival of the fittest and exterminating humans.
With Long Wen hiding her identity and standing guard in Xinghai City, she was providing an extra layer of protection.
As one of the Magic Department’s strongest, with her here, at least they could make sure the wounded magic beast couldn’t cause too much trouble.
Otherwise, with Xinghai City’s meager defense, they’d be wiped out by the Royal-Class Magic Beast in the blink of an eye.
“I see… So, Senior Long Wen, is there anything you need my help with?”
“The three of you should keep up your usual activities. It’s best if you act like you don’t even know I’m here…” Long Wen said she didn’t need Xia Mo to do anything.
She’d only called her over to give her a heads-up, so Xia Mo would know there was a big shot backing up Xinghai City now.
That way, Xia Mo wouldn’t be shocked and make a scene if she ran into her later.
“Oh, then Senior Long Wen, should I tell Dark Moth about this?”
After the last meeting between both parties led by Long Wen, Xia Mo and Dark Moth’s private contact had already become an open secret.
Otherwise, Xia Mo wouldn’t have been able to openly invite Dark Moth to her house before.
The Magic Department turned a blind eye to this.
As long as Rosemary didn’t sell out the Magic Department, it was fine.
If she could even win Dark Moth over, that would be a huge achievement.
“That’s fine. By the way, the intel you submitted about the Sealing Cards was very valuable. During our previous investigation, we found that the Royal-Class Magic Beast is also collecting White Night’s Sealing Cards. Be sure to tell Dark Moth about this too.”
“If possible, have her hand over the Sealing Cards she has. I’ll take care of destroying them.”
Why were magic beasts collecting Sealing Cards? That was still a mystery.
But it didn’t matter if they didn’t know why—the Magic Department just had to make sure the magic beasts didn’t get their way.
Since the beasts wanted the cards, the Magic Department just needed to destroy them before the beasts could get to them.
No need to keep them for themselves—there was always a risk of them being stolen.
Destroying them was completely safe.
Rustle, rustle…
“Lately, Xinghai City seems unusually calm.” Closing her book, Luo Shuangyue looked up at Xia Mo, who had just walked over.
“Who would dare cause trouble at a time like this? Do they have a death wish?” Xia Mo put a small bag down in front of Luo Shuangyue as she replied.
People in evil organizations were bad, not stupid.
With things so tense right now, who would dare poke the Magic Department’s tiger whiskers?
The Magic Department had just shown off its unmatched strength.
Going up against them now was suicide.
The Snake Fang from Huancheng was still hanging from the Big Crooked Neck Tree!
“True. So, what did you want with me? I haven’t bothered you lately, have I?” That was what puzzled Luo Shuangyue most.
She’d been keeping her nose clean these days.
Every day it was up early, wander around the Eternal Night Base, see if Monice had made any progress in her research, and ask her about any movement from other evil organizations.
If she got bored, she’d go pet the Catgirl.
After all, Jiu Ye was holed up in the base these days, practically bored out of her mind.
No work, but still getting paid—what a life.
“First, I wanted to ask if you’ve noticed anything suspicious. Second… the Magic Department has come up with a Lure the Snake Out of the Cave Operation, and I wanted to ask for your help.” Xia Mo gave an embarrassed smile.
“You want me to fight a Royal-Class Magic Beast? No way, no way. Last time, that Fake Royal-Class Magic Creature almost killed me. If I run into a full Royal-Class now, I’d be done for.”
Upon hearing that, Luo Shuangyue shook her head immediately.
Even the Mad Python-turned Fake Royal-Class Magic Creature was more than she could handle.
If Xia Mo hadn’t broken through, she’d have been finished.
With this new plan from the Magic Department, who else could it be targeting? Of course, it was aimed at the Royal-Class Magic Beast!
Could she beat a Royal-Class Magic Beast? No way!
“My advice to you is to be practical. If the Royal-Class Magic Beast doesn’t show up, just leave it be. Let those Full Bloom-Class seniors investigate. Why risk your life?”
Xia Mo was still weaker than Luo Shuangyue.
If they really ran into a Royal-Class Magic Beast, the two of them together wouldn’t stand a chance.
Royal-Class could only be handled by Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls.
What were the two of them, both Initial Bloom, doing trying to join in?
“No, no, you misunderstood me!” Xia Mo realized after hearing Luo Shuangyue’s words that she’d gotten the wrong idea about the plan.
Who said they were going to fight the magic beast?