Chương 68: Shadow Tide

Xing Shuang sat quietly in her chair, without interrupting Director Roland.

She felt her heart beat slightly faster, and her intuition told her that the information Roland was about to reveal might touch upon the deeper secrets of this world, or even be related to some special aspect of her.

Roland leaned forward slightly, his tone becoming more serious: "Besides providing logistical support for magical girls, another important responsibility of the Bureau of Paranormal Affairs is to deal with the anomalies that arise in the human world itself."

He paused, as if organizing his next words: "After humanity and Esmeralda reached an agreement, a new kind of energy began to emerge in this world—magic. It was a sharing from the Magic Kingdom and an important way for magical girls to replenish their magic after battles."

"In this process, many people with an affinity for magic naturally emerged." Roland "looked" at Xingshuang with a faint smile on his face.

"Take me for example. Although I can't reach the level of magical girls, I can still use magic to construct some simple spells and do things that technology can't do."

Xing Shuang's heart stirred slightly. She had obtained relevant information about the "construction formula" that Roland mentioned through the system when she first practiced magic.

Constructing spells is the most basic ability of magical girls. Magic beams and magic barriers are different manifestations of this ability and are among the most basic spells.

As their abilities improve, magical girls can master more complex spells. For example, Crescent-level magical girls can create their own unique spells, and these unique spells are closely related to the final form of magical armor that Rainbow-level magical girls can create.

The technique that Director Roland mentioned was clearly much more basic than a magic beam; it was probably just a simple application of perception or sensory enhancement, something any newly minted magical girl could do with a wave of her hand.

Roland did not delve into his magical affinity, but instead steered the conversation in another direction.

"And since there are people who are affinity with magic, there are naturally people who are affinity with ethereal energy." His voice lowered, tinged with worry.

"Ethereal energy is the power contained within the energy core of a ethereal beast."

"There are some people in our world who have a morbid worship of the Void Realm, believing it to be a higher and purer existence," Roland continued.

"They gathered some people who are not compatible with Void Energy but still fanatically worship the Void Realm and formed an organization that calls itself...

'Shadow Tide'."

Yingchao, Xingshuang silently murmured the name in her heart, feeling that it carried a dark and lurking meaning.

"Since they fanatically worship the virtual world, the members of 'Shadow Tide' naturally regard Esmeralda, magical girls, and even the entire human society as their mortal enemies."

"Based on past cases, there are many members within it who wield considerable power or wealth, and they will use the power they possess—whether it be authority, wealth, or their charismatic aura—to oppose us."

"They will use every means to collect the energy cores of the Void Beasts that were left behind after the Void Realm infiltration, for use by their own members." Roland's tone became somewhat heavy.

"For this, they will even resort to rather extreme measures."

Xing Shuang felt a chill run down her spine, immediately recalling several incidents she had seen online while gathering information that had caused numerous deaths and injuries but lacked a convincing official explanation.

The existence of the Shadow Tide organization seems to have created a secret connection between those scattered pieces of information.

"Does this organization have any connections with forces within the Void Realm?" Xing Shuang immediately asked, as this was her biggest concern.

Roland hesitated for a moment, then shook his head: "Probably not. At least for now, there is no evidence to prove that." He paused, "Their behavior appears to be spontaneous, stemming more from their fanatical worship of the virtual world and their hatred of the existing world."

"Many members of 'Shadow Tide' crave power and yearn to merge with the Void Realm." His tone carried a hint of regret.

"Often, some people absorb a large amount of Void Energy in a short period of time, turning into Void Beasts and mindless monsters, disrupting the stability of this society."

Upon hearing the term "virtual beast transformation," Xing Shuang was once again shocked. This fact was consistent with his previous guesses. The effects of the virtual beast energy core on humans went far beyond physical discomfort or the consumption of medical resources.

"Dealing with 'Shadow Tide' and dealing with these phenomena is another major responsibility of the Bureau of Extraordinary Events, besides providing support for magical girls," Roland said.

Xing Shuang took a deep breath. She seemed to understand why the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs wanted to retrieve the energy core, and why they were so professional and did not interact with magical girls.

"So..." she concluded, "the Bureau of Paranormal Affairs reclaimed those energy cores to weaken the power of 'Shadow Tide'?"

Roland shook his head, denying Starfrost's claim, a more complex expression on his face.

"Not entirely," he said.

"Those who worship the Void Realm do generally desire to be compatible with Void Energy, or even to become high-level beings in the Void Realm, but not all those who are compatible with Void Energy worship the Void Realm."

"In fact, there are many field agents with affinity for virtual abilities within the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs. They have played a significant role in past operations, whether it was handling the aftermath of the virtual realm infiltration or fighting against the Shadow Tide organization."

"In my opinion, they are no different from the operators of the Affinity Magic. They are all fighting to protect the human world and are our comrades."

"The energy cores we recovered were mostly used to replenish their ethereal energy," he explained.

"After all, ethereal energy and magic are two completely opposing energies. Whether it's the magical girls or Esmeralda, obtaining the energy cores of the ethereal beasts is of no use to them."

Roland paused, a smug smile appearing on his face: "We recover the energy cores and store or utilize them safely, killing two birds with one stone."

Hearing this, Xing Shuang recalled the magical girls exchanging energy cores for rewards. Since energy cores were useless to the magical girls, how did the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs assess and pay the rewards?

"So... what is the process by which magical girls exchange energy cores for rewards?" she continued to ask.

"We have an internal evaluation standard within our Bureau of Extraordinary Events," Roland replied.

"The rewards are based on the quality and quantity of the energy cores provided by the magical girl, as well as the level of the void beast she defeats."

"These payments are all pre-prepared, untraceable old cash bills," he said.

"They can certainly request that the payments be deposited directly into the bank account they provide, but the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs advises against doing so under any circumstances."

"We have repeatedly emphasized that you should protect your true identity as much as possible and not tell it to anyone other than your companions."

Roland's tone turned serious: "Because once our true identities are exposed, danger may follow."

"What will happen if I reveal my identity?" Xing Shuang pressed, though she already had a vague idea of what would happen.

Roland was silent for a moment, his expression becoming deep and worried, with a hint of pity.

"... You wouldn't want to know."