Fangting City outskirts, villa district.
As the girls pushed open the gate together and stepped into the foyer, the first to exclaim was Mubaihe, who was at the very front of the group.
"What's the situation? It's so big!"
Although the exclamation lacked substance, it represented the genuine thoughts of the group from Bai'an City.
A four-story standalone villa was indeed much larger in space compared to the second floor of a piano shop where the magical girls from Bai'an City gathered.
"Why is your secret base so big? Bribery?"
Mubaihe ventured into the foyer, looking around, and ultimately couldn't contain her curiosity. Turning to Lin Xiaolu, she asked, "Or is this your family's property?"
"It couldn't possibly be bribery," Lin Xiaolu replied somewhat helplessly, "this is a site Emerald Sparrow found through negotiation with the Abnormal Strategy Bureau."
"The work of a patrol emissary? Ah, I see. That makes sense. If I think about it like that, it's not so surprising."
Mubaihe nodded in understanding, "But the fact that your mentor could secure such an impressive setup, and you get to live in such a luxurious base, while we still have to huddle in the piano shop after school like an after-school band, it seems our mentor really is—mmf mmf?"
She was cut off before she could finish, her mouth covered by Bai Ji beside her.
— Don't say such foolish things in front of outsiders.
Although not a word was spoken, Bai Ji's gaze conveyed exactly that.
Indeed, calling Asou Haruka useless in this regard, or saying she hadn't made an effort, was misunderstanding her and the Bai'an City Abnormal Strategy Bureau.
Although it was true she hadn't negotiated for such a matter, the Bai'an City Abnormal Strategy Bureau operated quite differently compared to the Fangting City Abnormal Strategy Bureau. For the Fangting City Abnormal Strategy Bureau, acquiring a property was a simple task; for Bai'an City's agency, while not impossible, it would certainly involve more complications.
The Abnormal Strategy Bureaus in each city differ in how they function; some operate openly as government institutions like in Fangting City, while others disguise themselves in various organizational forms. The Abnormal Strategy Bureau in Bai'an City was, in a literal sense, an underground organization.
In terms of both personnel allocation and geographical location, Bai'an City's Abnormal Strategy Bureau was completely "underground." Although constantly active within Bai'an City, it made every effort to erase its traces within the city.
It was precisely because of such covertness that almost no one knew they were nearly wiped out by Black Ash Dawn, which in some sense was like shooting themselves in the foot.
For an Abnormal Strategy Bureau with this style of operation, securing a large operational base for magical girls in the city and concealing all the loose ends would indeed be much more problematic.
That's why neither Asou Haruka nor Lamplight had made such a request.
Thus, a peculiar situation arose: while the Bai'an City team had more experience in magical girl affairs, upon seeing the luxurious facilities of the Fangting City team's base, they seemed like Grandmother Liu entering the Grand View Garden, incessantly asking questions here and there.
The four-story villa had plenty of space, with many spare rooms to begin with, so housing a few more people posed no issue at all. Before long, the Bai'an City magical girls had chosen their rooms and moved in with their belongings.
For the foreseeable future, they might all stay here.
Bai Jingxuan was responsible for arranging the training spaces for others in the underground training area, while Xia Liang dragged Moke to prepare the upcoming dinner. Guiding the Bai'an City team around the rooms naturally fell to Lin Xiaolu.
However, her expression remained somewhat glum.
Bai Ji was the last in the squad to choose a room, so after everyone else went off to busy themselves, only she and Lin Xiaolu were left in front of the empty room.
"Then, I'll choose this room, thank you very much for the hospitality,"
Bai Ji, still maintaining the demeanor of a leader, expressed her gratitude to Lin Xiaolu politely, "We might occupy some of your space for a while, and if it brings you any inconvenience, I apologize in advance."
"Hm? Oh, it's fine, the place is really vacant anyway,"
Lin Xiaolu responded listlessly, "But what about you guys? All of you coming to Fangting City, is that okay? What will you do about the Remnant Beasts in your city?"
"Don't worry about that. Although it's quite embarrassing, we still have a senior with a title certificate who continues to stand guard,"
Bai Ji explained, "Besides, our city… some things happened a while ago, and at least for now, the frequency of Remnant Beasts appearing in the city is very low, so we don't need that many magical girls."
"Black Ash Dawn?" Lin Xiaolu cocked her head slightly, digesting the information in the other's words, and came to a conclusion that cut to the heart of the matter.
"Ah... yes, that's true, Fangting City had encountered it before too,"
Caught off guard by the other's directness, Bai Ji was a little late in her response and covered her mouth reflexively, "I'm terribly sorry, it was instinctive to think it wasn't something to be disclosed. It wasn't meant to be a secret."
"So, did you fight them?" Lin Xiaolu asked rather abruptly.