At this point, someone might ask, “Su Mu, Su Mu, can’t you get it together?”
‘What do you mean “get it together”? I’ve never been together to begin with.’
‘Also, stop pretending to be my inner voice. Don’t think I won’t recognize you just because the voice sounds identical.’
“Heh heh, now that you know I’m back, stop talking so gloomily. Guess why I suddenly popped up?”
Su Mu didn’t want to guess.
She was so sleepy she could hardly keep her eyes open, and she had no interest in having a lucid dream.
“Don’t sleep. I only came back because there’s something important.”
‘Something important?’ Su Mu grumbled discontentedly.
Although she missed Irina a little, she certainly wasn’t in the mood to deal with this right now.
‘I have an 8 AM class tomorrow.’
“I know that. Oh, come on, does it even matter if you attend Situation and Policy?”
‘Skipping class… even then, I need to sleep.’
“What if I said I found Mom’s trail?”
‘How did you find her?’
“Don’t worry about that. Anyway, head over there first. It’s at the Sihuanzhonglu Digital Mall, around number 200. She’s heading there right now. If you don’t go now, it’ll probably be too late… Wait, are you listening to me?”
Irina called out several times without receiving a response.
Only then did she realize a serious problem.
Su Mu had fallen asleep but under these circumstances, how on earth did she manage to fall asleep?
Irina felt more bewildered than speechless.
Su Mu had clearly shown signs of excitement just a moment ago, but she had gone silent the next second.
This was definitely not normal.
However, Irina couldn’t enter Su Mu’s Dream World to investigate thoroughly, so she could only touch it slightly to gather information.
The moment Irina’s fingertips passed through Su Mu’s loose mental barriers and was about to probe inside, she felt a wave of intense dizziness.
A burning, fire-like sensation exploded within her.
Although it only took a moment to shake off the discomfort, Irina quickly realized what the feeling was.
Alcohol.
An extremely intense drunkenness had taken over the entire Dream World for the first time, causing Su Mu to lose consciousness completely.
Since Su Mu rarely touched alcohol, this sensation couldn’t possibly appear in her dream on its own.
There was only one possibility.
‘Su Ya did this but how did she do it?’
At that moment, Irina suddenly thought of the Witch who often met Su Ya at the Bar and she happened to know that person.
“Hmph, isn’t she afraid that Su Ya will pin her down the moment she wakes up? That girl usually keeps quiet and looks like a closet pervert; anyone who didn’t know better would think she’s honest. Turns out she’s a troublemaker… Well, for now, I’ll pray for your good luck.”
The Bartender of the Black Cat Bar, that chestnut-haired Witch.
She almost never spoke when Irina was around, maintaining a fairly cold appearance, looking exactly like a so-called “ice beauty” from a novel.
But Irina, who was well-versed in the habits of Witches, knew that none of them were easy to deal with.
People might say this girl looked nothing like a Witch when she was quietly mixing drinks, and they wouldn’t be wrong.
In a place with abundant Magic Power like a Bar, a Witch wouldn’t have the urge to reveal her true nature.
But the moment they left for even a short while, you could see just how crazy they were.
Irina wasn’t curious about what these people were like in private.
She only cared whether they could complete their tasks.
As for the methods used, it didn’t matter.
After all, she held their weaknesses in her hands, and she had the final say on how to handle them.
She had learned these tactics from Tang Nai.
Didn’t that woman also rely on photos to blackmail “future Witches”?
Perhaps blackmail wasn’t the right word.
Those seemingly frivolous photos were actually the medium for her ability.
To others, they were just heart-racing portraits, but in her hands, they were more effective than any other leverage.
The Combat Division had always tried to condemn Tang Nai’s behavior of cultivating “witches” regardless of the risks.
It sounded reasonable: “You know how dangerous witches are, so how can you be sure you can control them?”
Just like the virus outbreaks in zombie movies, aren’t they always caused by mad scientists who recklessly develop dangerous viruses only to have an outbreak due to “improper storage”?
But Tang Nai did it anyway, not only because she didn’t want the “Witches” to be harmed, but also because she was certain that no “Witch” could cause a disaster under her watch.
However, these wild Witches weren’t under her jurisdiction, so Irina tried to manage them.
The results weren’t outstanding, and it even made her reputation among Witches quite terrible… but at least she had subdued a few.
This Bartender wasn’t among them, but she was an acquaintance of Irina’s.
She was the focused type of Witch who spent most of her energy on mixing drinks, so Irina hadn’t paid her much attention.
But now, it seemed this had led to no small amount of trouble.
Looking at the chaotic Dream World, Irina gave a bitter smile.
Things have become quite troublesome.
***
“Are you a Magical Girl?”
After hesitating for a long time—perhaps because she was too shocked and her brain wasn’t working right—the woman asked 007 a question that was hard to judge.
Could a man like this—six feet tall, wearing a crisp suit, with sharp facial features and clean-cut short hair—have even the slightest connection to a Magical Girl?
007 fell silent for a moment, appearing to deliberate on how to respond, before giving his answer a while later.
“Yes, I am a Magical Girl. Code name 007.”
The existence of the Combat Division could not be revealed to the public, especially those in B City.
This was what his superior had told him.
He had never wondered why, nor did he feel the need to.
Just do your job; why think so much?
This rigid way of thinking led to his current answer.
“Oh, I see. That’s wonderful then.”
Upon hearing 007’s affirmative answer, the woman’s scrambled brain suddenly seemed to have found a pillar of support, and she perked up instantly.
She didn’t even doubt it.
Should one call her simple-minded?
007 breathed a sigh of relief.
He answered the question mainly to prevent the woman from overthinking; otherwise, he would have refused to answer anything at all.
Now that he had said that, she probably wouldn’t have any more questions.
However, things didn’t go as planned.
The questions didn’t end; instead, they became more numerous.
“I was scared to death. You must be here specifically to save me, right? Did you see that livestream too? That person is truly terrifying, wanting to harm people over such a small issue. Did we at GHG do anything wrong? They kept talking about judgment and all that, but I clearly haven’t done anything wrong, have I?”
‘What are you talking about?’
007’s head was full of question marks.
He understood every word coming out of the woman’s mouth, but why didn’t they make sense when put together?
“What is GHG?”
“It’s girls help girls.”
“Huh?”