Two days later, inside Miss L’s office.
Xiaoxi flipped through a thick stack of documents on Miss L’s desk, frowning as she skimmed through them.
“Are the people at the Association just freeloaders stealing their salaries? Such a serious large-scale monster attack, and the Association can’t find a single clue after all this time?”
With a sharp “slap,” Xiaoxi tossed the files back onto the desk. No wonder she was so dissatisfied—two whole days had passed, and the Association still hadn’t uncovered a single thread from the attack scene?
“Axing, it’s not entirely the Association’s fault,” Miss L sighed. “Other departments have been investigating hard too, but this time is different from that reckless Wolf Gang incident. The mastermind behind this hid themselves perfectly.”
Concealing magical energy fluctuations to instantly create monsters was a tricky feat.
That kind of technology used to belong only to the Church of Divine Summons, but the Church was wiped out by Eternal Star three years ago, along with all their mutant tech and mutant factories.
“The Association plans to start over and do a thorough carpet investigation this time. They’re sure to find something.”
Xiaoxi took the mission plan Miss L handed her and skimmed it briefly. The locations listed for investigation were all sites of previous sudden monster attacks. One of them even included Su Ying’s café?
Xiaoxi recalled it—indeed, the monster that attacked the café the night she went on a blind date with Ye Xinglan had appeared suddenly too. She wondered if there was any special pattern to the choice of attack sites by this mastermind.
“By the way, Axing, I heard you got injured in the last operation? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, just a minor injury. I barely felt it.”
Xiaoxi waved off the concern casually. She wasn’t about to admit to her old teammates that she’d been infected by the magic of a C-rank monster. That would be too embarrassing!
Come to think of it, she had been working a lot for Miss L without pay recently, and even got injured on the job. Who was going to compensate her for that?
“Listen—I thought we agreed that you’d share intel on the Blood Moon Witch before I helped you out?”
Xiaoxi curled her finger toward Miss L, making it clear she hadn’t forgotten.
Surprisingly, Miss L didn’t dodge the question this time. Instead, she pulled out her phone, searched for something, and handed it over to Xiaoxi.
Xiaoxi took the phone and looked—some kind of character profile? What was Miss L trying to show her?
The profile was about an entrepreneur named Moraner. Xiaoxi skimmed the page and noticed many titles like “Outstanding Entrepreneur” and “Social Figure of Excellence.”
Though she didn’t understand much, Xiaoxi knew that someone with so many titles had to be wealthy. And rich people were worlds apart from someone like her, a broke nobody.
“Who is this person?”
“You don’t recognize her?” Miss L took back the phone. “Well, Moraner might not ring a bell, but if I say Alanbel, you should know who she is, right?”
Xiaoxi’s expression instantly turned like she’d seen a ghost. “Moraner is Alanbel?”
That name was too familiar. Alanbel was a key member of the Church of Divine Summons, the Blood Moon Witch’s right-hand woman!
No, rather than right-hand, it was more accurate to say she was the Blood Moon Witch’s accessory or little sidekick.
The name Alanbel comes from Greek mythology, representing the gods of luck and happiness—her ability was related to this. Alanbel could manipulate luck.
Simply put, she buffed her allies with good fortune and cursed enemies with bad luck. Though not offensive in battle, her power was top-tier support.
Because of this, Alanbel became the Blood Moon Witch’s star support. Xiaoxi had suffered plenty of setbacks thanks to her, like nearly tripping over her own feet and falling into the Blood Moon Witch’s attack during a fight!
That’s how annoying this ability was. But after the Church was destroyed, Alanbel should have been captured by the Association like the Blood Moon Witch, right? How did she suddenly become a famous entrepreneur?
“That has to do with the Association’s mutant handling act. Axing, you should know about that, right?”
Xiaoxi nodded. The hateful thing about the Church was their complete lack of morality. They used their mutant tech to build factories and mass-produce mutants.
These mutants were innocent themselves, without intent to harm anyone, but after being “manufactured,” the Church forcibly controlled them as weapons.
So after the Church was destroyed, how to handle these mutants no longer under brainwashing became a huge problem after the chaos.
Out of humanitarian concern, the Mutant Handling Act was enacted. These mutants were sent to Association facilities for psychological treatment and evaluation. Once confirmed harmless, they were allowed to reintegrate into society.
But Xiaoxi knew that resistance and discrimination against mutants in society had been severe over the years.
Many people refused to live or work alongside potentially dangerous monsters, despite the Association’s repeated assurances that these mutants were innocent and harmless.
Public opinion was hard to change quickly, and Xiaoxi realized the mutant problem would require a long time to resolve.
“Releasing Alanbel was a decision made by the higher-ups,” Miss L explained. “Her power isn’t dangerous, and her attitude toward reform has been very positive.”
“Also, the Association wants to set an example—see? Even a former high-ranking Church member can reform and reintegrate into society as a businessperson. Mutants aren’t as terrifying as everyone thinks.”
Xiaoxi nodded. “So Alanbel’s entrepreneur status is supported by the Association?”
“No, I heard she started trying to launch a business after she got out, and everything went smoothly… that’s how she became who she is today.”
Xiaoxi felt a complicated mix of emotions. It wasn’t that she begrudged others’ success, but even her enemies had become famous entrepreneurs, while she—the strongest magical girl—still had to survive by working as a maid?
It was hard for her to come to terms with that!
Of course, Xiaoxi had learned how to achieve spiritual victory… or rather, self-comfort. It was normal for Moraner to succeed in business; not all mutants were doing as well as her… For example, the escaped Blood Moon Witch probably wasn’t living as well as she was, right?
“That’s not what I’m asking. I want information on the Blood Moon Witch. Why are you telling me this?”
Xiaoxi quickly frowned, sensing something was off. Was Miss L stalling her?
“The Association is investigating Moraner right now. After all, she was the closest to the Blood Moon Witch during the Church of Divine Summons days. When the Blood Moon Witch escaped, she should have been the first suspect.”
Miss L shrugged. “But the Association hasn’t found anything yet. That’s all I can tell you—for now, because that’s all I know.”
Xiaoxi let out a “Huh?” feeling like she’d just been played by Miss L.