Chương 87: Another Visit

The busy tone was like a heavy drumbeat, striking Xing Shuang's heart again and again. The slight warmth that had just arisen from her closer relationship with Liu Li was now replaced by a cold, suffocating unease.

Yuexi... has also lost contact.

This realization was like an invisible giant hand, tightly gripping Xingshuang's heart.

With the disappearance of three new moon-level magical girls, and now with the addition of Yuexi, the city's protective forces have been virtually wiped out.

Xing Shuang took a deep breath, forcing herself to break free from the unease that was almost overwhelming her.

Now is not the time to wallow in negative emotions. Every passing second could mean the approach of danger or the annihilation of clues.

She needed information, but more importantly, she needed to find a way to deal with this sudden crisis.

Without the slightest hesitation, the moment she put her phone back into "Tears of the Stars," Xing Shuang's casual clothes, which she had changed into while shopping with Su Yuqing and Luo Bingli, were replaced by a combat suit adorned with stars and moons, and her black twin tails were once again dyed a dazzling pink-gold.

The next moment, Xing Shuang's figure transformed into a streak of pinkish-gold light, like a sharp arrow tearing through the night, shooting straight towards the brightly lit giant building in the city center—the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs.

A cold night wind brushed against her cheek, and the city lights flashed past her feet. Xing Shuang's eyes were unusually solemn.

Her mind was racing, connecting the known clues to try and sketch out the outline of the enemy lurking in the shadows.

The fact that this enemy could defeat several Crescent Moon-level magical girls in succession suggests that it possesses formidable strength, possibly even far surpassing that of ordinary Corrosion-level Void Beasts.

Moreover, the other party is clearly not an irrational monster, but rather possesses considerable intelligence, knowing how to choose targets and avoid risks.

However, Starfrost did not believe that this enemy was too powerful to be defeated. The fact that the magical girls disappeared one after another indicated that the enemy did not have absolute confidence in defeating all the Crescent Moon-level magical girls in one go.

Otherwise, the most efficient option would have been to eliminate all resistance forces simultaneously with swift and decisive action, but "it" chose to strike in batches, defeating them one by one.

So how did the enemy accurately locate the lone magical girl and ambush her?

The answer is almost obvious—virtual infiltration.

That's an event that magical girls will inevitably have to deal with, and it's also the time when they're most likely to expose their whereabouts and reveal their weaknesses.

The enemy must have taken advantage of this, pinpointing the location of the magical girls who were on their way to deal with the infiltration of the Void Realm, and then ambushing them when they were alone.

But a new problem arises: How did the enemy confirm that there was only one magical girl sent to deal with the infiltration of the Void Realm? And how did it confirm that no other magical girls would arrive to provide support?

If the enemy encounters two or more Crescent Moon-level magical girls during an ambush, even if they are no match for them, at least the enemy's presence will be completely exposed.

However, judging from Yuexi's description, the three magical girls who had previously disappeared seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving no valuable clues behind.

Unless... the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs' distress call mechanism itself contains a "pattern" that could be exploited by the enemy.

Thinking about this, Xing Shuang's eyes became even sharper, and she had new and deeper doubts about the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs' assistance mechanism and its operation.

Soon, the iconic skyscraper of the Bureau of Extraterrestrial Intelligence came into view. Without slowing down at all, Starfrost landed directly on the plaza in front of the Bureau building and then walked quickly towards the brightly lit lobby on the first floor.

Having learned from her previous experience, the receptionist immediately greeted Xing Shuang with a professional and respectful smile when she saw her, showing no surprise at her arrival at this time.

"Good evening, Miss Xingshuang. How can I help you?"

"I need to see Director Roland immediately." Xing Shuang's tone was direct and resolute, carrying an undeniable urgency.

The receptionist was slightly taken aback, but quickly realized the seriousness of the situation from Xing Shuang's solemn expression. Without asking any further questions, she immediately contacted the director's office through internal communication.

She quickly nodded slightly to Xing Shuang: "Miss Xing Shuang, the director agrees to see you. Please come with me."

It was still that completely transparent sightseeing elevator, and the same quiet corridor. But when Xing Shuang pushed open that heavy wooden door again, the scene inside the office was slightly different from the last time.

Director Roland was not sitting behind his desk. Instead, he was wearing loose, dark-colored loungewear and leaning on an antique wooden cane, standing in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, as if gazing at the dazzling city night view outside.

Hearing the door open, he slowly turned around, his face bearing the same warm smile as when they last met.

"Miss Xingshuang, it's so late and you've come to see this old man. It seems something terrible has happened." His voice was slightly hoarse, but still steady.

"Director Roland." Xing Shuang strode forward, cutting straight to the point without any pleasantries, "How exactly does Jiangchuan City's magical girl rescue mechanism work?"

"Upon detecting the infiltration of the Void Realm, will the Bureau of Extraterrestrial Affairs send a signal to all registered magical girls, or...?"

Upon hearing this, Director Roland's expression did not show much surprise. He raised his hand to indicate that Xing Shuang did not need to be anxious, and then slowly walked to the sofa next to his desk and sat down.

"Please sit down, Miss Xingshuang." He gestured to the sofa opposite him.

"This matter is a long story, but it's not complicated."

After Xing Shuang sat down, Director Roland slowly explained, "After detecting the infiltration of the Void Realm, the Bureau of Extraterrestrial Affairs will not immediately send distress signals to all registered magical girls in all directions."

"Our system will first conduct a preliminary level assessment of the virtual realm penetration based on the intensity of the detected energy fluctuations."

Then, the system will prioritize sending a signal to the magical girl closest to the infiltration site whose level matches the current infiltration threat.

He paused, then added, "The purpose of doing this is firstly to avoid unnecessary waste of combat power, such as having a Crescent Moon-level magical girl handle small-scale infiltrations that a Stardust-level rookie could handle."

"Secondly, it is also to reduce the pressure on the magical girls as much as possible, and to prevent them from being overwhelmed by too many distress signals, which would affect their normal lives as ordinary people."

Xing Shuang listened quietly; Director Roland's explanation basically matched her previous guesses.

This principle of "allocation based on proximity and tiered response" is very reasonable from the perspective of resource utilization and burden reduction, but it does leave an opportunity for the lurking enemy.

"So..." Starfrost's voice carried a hint of solemnity, "It's entirely possible that, after a Void Infiltration occurs, only one magical girl goes to handle it from beginning to end, without any follow-up support, that's entirely possible, isn't it?"

Director Roland was silent for a moment, then finally nodded slightly: "Yes, theoretically... such a possibility does exist."

With this affirmative answer, Xing Shuang finally put the last piece of the puzzle in her heart into place.

The enemy lurking in the shadows seized this "window of opportunity" in the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs' assistance mechanism, precisely ambushing those lone magical girls who thought they were no longer in danger after dealing with the incident, causing them to disappear one by one without any warning.

"Director Roland, I have something to tell you." Xing Shuang took a deep breath and told Director Roland everything about her meeting with Yue Xi a few days ago, the amazing information she obtained from her, and the current situation of the missing magical girls.

"... Including Yuexi, the four original Crescent Moon level magical girls of Jiangchuan City have likely all met with misfortune."

"Right now, the only ones active in this city who are capable of dealing with Erosion-level Void Beasts are probably myself, along with two other Stardust-level companions, Liuli and Yinxue."

Director Roland listened quietly to Xing Shuang's account, his expression growing increasingly serious with each word. When he heard that Yue tide, who had been active just a few days ago, had also lost contact, his fingers, which were gripping his cane, tightened suddenly, and his knuckles turned completely bloodless.

The air in the office seemed to have solidified, so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

After a long while, he let out a heavy sigh, his blind eyes revealing unconcealable sorrow and self-blame.

"It's gotten to such a dire situation..." he murmured, his voice hoarse.

"Actually, I had already suspected something was wrong regarding the recent sharp decline in magical girl activity and the abnormal frequency of energy core submissions, but I just didn't expect..."

He shook his head, his tone filled with worry for the city's future and concern for the remaining fighting force, including Starfrost: "Children, you... will face great difficulties ahead."

"It's just an erosion-level infiltration of the Void Realm, which my companions and I can handle." Starfrost's voice was firm and confident.

"The biggest problem now is the enemy lurking in the shadows, that unknown entity that targets the hunting of magical girls."

Upon hearing this, Director Roland looked up at Xing Shuang: "Is this why you came to see me so late at night? You want to use the power of the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs to fight that enemy?"

Xingshuang shook her head slightly, a determined glint in her deep purple eyes.

"I'll figure out how to deal with 'it' myself," she said, her tone calm yet carrying an undeniable determination.

"I came to you hoping you could help me with... something else."