LRAB Chapter 192 New Enemy
Chapter 192 New Enemy
Chapter 192 New Enemy
Yes, the middle-aged man who appeared in front of Qin Nan at this moment was none other than Chang Lei, whom she had just met not long ago.
After a brief chat with the law enforcement officers, Chang Lei pulled a bewildered Qin Nan into a black Hongqi minivan.
Seeing that the red booklet didn't seem fake and that the magical girl did indeed know him, Uncle Hat didn't stop her and let the car drive out of the night market.
Inside the car, Qin Nan stared at Chang Lei in utter shock. "What the hell?! Old Chang, when did you become a leader?!"
"Show me some respect. I'm the deputy director of the Magic Safety Supervision Bureau now, the kind of person who doesn't even need to show ID to watch the flag-raising ceremony." Chang Lei grinned as he gripped the steering wheel.
"Tch!" Qin Nan gave him a sour look. "Using deception to fool ordinary people, aren't you afraid of being discovered? What will you do if the other magical girls find out?"
"Can't you wish me well for once?" Chang Lei said helplessly. "Besides, this was ordered by the boss."
Upon hearing this, Qin Nan became quite agitated. "What do you mean? Is Tang Zijun planning to have you sideline that...what...what bureau?"
"The Magic Safety Regulatory Bureau, which was just renamed at a meeting five hours ago, is now abbreviated as MSRA. They said it sounds more formal and that's what we'll be called from now on."
Chang Lei sighed softly, then continued.
"And it's not some fictional world. Our goal is to ensure the stability of real society. The boss's idea is to weed out those with ulterior motives as much as possible and prevent them from causing any trouble."
"Someone with ulterior motives?" Qin Nan frowned.
"Simply put, they are spies, or other incompetent individuals, or even people who want to use the power of magical girls for personal gain. And you know what, this organization is newly established, and there are quite a few of these people."
With a light laugh, Chang Lei licked his lips and continued, "Most magical girls are, after all, children with immature minds. If they encounter someone with a romantic mindset, it will be even more troublesome, so we need to deal with these problems in advance."
Hearing Chang Lei's words, Qin Nan nodded thoughtfully.
To be honest, she hadn't thought that much about it at first. She just thought that Tang Zijun let Chang Lei in so that she would have someone of her own in the bureau, which would make things easier for her in the future.
Unexpectedly, Tang Zijun's actions were for the sake of the stability of the entire magical girl group and the human department.
Come to think of it, such a large regulatory bureau is full of law enforcement officers with real power. If they are wholeheartedly serving the people, that's fine, but if any of them have ulterior motives, then the problem is huge.
The corruption and bribery are minor issues compared to the fact that some people might secretly solicit bribes from other magical girls, which would have extremely negative consequences.
Chang Lei's deception skills not only allow him to infiltrate the organization effectively, but his greedy nature also enables him to distinguish between lies and deceptions, making him perfectly suited for these tasks.
Even if some people are gradually corrupted by power and darkness during the process of law enforcement, Chang Lei can easily correct their minds and make them always act in accordance with their true feelings.
Thinking of this, Qin Nan couldn't help but admire Tang Zijun.
That guy really took everything into account. Working under a leader like that would definitely save you a lot of trouble.
After a pause, Qin Nan looked at Chang Lei again. "By the way, Lao Chang, isn't the Magic Safety Supervision Bureau in Yandu? What are you doing here?"
Chang Lei's face was full of displeasure whenever this was mentioned.
"And you know what? The main task the boss gave me this time was to investigate that newly emerged force. I sensed its presence in Stone City last time, so I went to Yandu on the way. But I didn't expect that it would inexplicably come to Snow City."
"A newly emerged force?" Qin Nan narrowed her eyes, suddenly recalling the strange figure from earlier. "You mean that...?"
"Hmm." Chang Lei nodded slightly. "I sensed it when you were fighting that thing, but something came up and I was delayed. By the time I got here, it had already left."
"She left? She should still be in the shadows of those people."
"Are you sure?" Chang Lei countered, then said calmly, "That thing is elusive; it can move to another place the instant its shadows intersect."
"Besides, with so many people's presence masking it, I can no longer sense that thing's presence. I think you probably can't sense it either—that thing has probably already left."
Qin Nan opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing.
Chang Lei was right. Given how strange that woman was, if she wanted to leave, he might not be able to stop her. And even if she didn't leave, how could he possibly attack Shadow with his abilities?
Shaking his head in frustration, Qin Nan asked curiously, "You just said that thing is a newly emerged force, what's going on?"
"You've fought that guy, so you should be able to tell, right? That thing's energy fluctuations are very strange, and they're somewhat similar to mine."
"Indeed, now that you mention it, it does seem to be similar to the Greedy Ones." Qin Nan stroked his chin. "But weren't the Greedy Ones all wiped out by Tang Zijun long ago?"
"It's a fact that the Greedy Ones were wiped out. Although we don't know where that guy came from, we can be sure that he definitely didn't come from the Reverse World. In addition, we've never heard of those guys before, so we guess that they most likely emerged in the last seven years."
"Tang Zijun wants you to investigate them?"
"Hmm." Chang Lei nodded. "Similar to the Greedy Ones, but completely different. We can't determine how strong they are yet, but their elusive abilities are ultimately a problem."
"Could they have escaped from other secret realms? Like Hyacinth and the others, if they are products of the mythical era, it's normal that we haven't heard of them," Qin Nan guessed.
"impossible."
Chang Lei rejected the conjecture without even thinking. He turned and glanced at Qin Nan warily before speaking calmly.
Do you know the difference between the superhumans of the mythological era and the superhumans we have today?
Qin Nan didn't speak, but simply shook her head slightly.
Chang Lei explained, "Actually, there's only one difference, but that one difference is enough to divide two completely different eras. The answer is—negative energy."
"Negative energy..." Qin Nan blinked. "You mean, the origin of all evil creatures is the negative energy generated by humans in the real world?"
"Yes." Chang Lei nodded slightly. "Although I have never seen the existence of the gods with my own eyes, I have gained some insights from the fleeting glimpse of the Tree of Life. The gods of the mythological era were all beings with divine power."
"And what about us? Whether we are driven by greed or heretics, the power we wield may be called 'divine power' by humans, but there is ultimately a difference."
"Life forms born from negative energy naturally use negative power as well, and this ability varies from person to person; different negative energies will create different existences."
Qin Nan raised his head. "No wonder. So, according to you, that woman is indeed very likely a new being created by negative energy."
Chang Lei sighed and remained silent. In fact, there was something else he didn't say: this energy was just too similar to that of the greedy one, as similar as twins born of the same egg.
Considering the seven years of blank space in the Reversed World ruled by Tang Zijun, it's hard for Chang Lei not to suspect that there might be some connection between them.
What if the negative energy that should have flowed into the reversed world was cut off? What if that negative energy instead created a new world?
So, in that unknown dimension, will a god just like Tang Zijun also be born?
Just as Chang Lei was deep in thought, Qin Nan suddenly remembered something and frantically rummaged through her pockets for her phone. "Oh no, oh no, I forgot about Tangcao!"
So engrossed in chatting, Qin Nan almost forgot that Tang Cao was still in danger.
"Don't worry, Miss Ziyi is fine." Chang Lei glanced at the rearview mirror out of the corner of his eye and replied casually.
"Ziyi?" Qin Nan was taken aback; it was the first time she had heard this name.
"The boss's sister was originally named Tang Ziyi, but she changed her name to Tang Cao. Aren't you curious why their names are so different as siblings?"
"Ah...haha...I didn't think that much..." Qin Nan chuckled, then curiously looked at Chang Lei. "By the way, how do you know so much?"
"Oh, I specifically looked into Tang Zijun's family background when I was dealing with him before. I was planning to start by exploiting his weaknesses."
"and then?"
"Then we discovered that what we saw as a weakness was actually a switch that could trigger the end of the world, so we gave up."
Hearing Chang Lei's serious answer, Qin Nan's lips twitched, unsure of what to say.
And just as Chang Lei had said, Tang Cao's slightly excited voice came through the phone after it was connected.
"Sister Nan, I've taken care of all those bad guys."
On the dimly lit street, Tang Cao was on the phone, while beside her, Xiao Bai licked its little paws with a cold smile.
"Hmph, just a bunch of henchmen. I can take care of them with a flick of my finger, meow hahaha~"
"Yes, yes, yes, Master Xiaobai is the best!" Tang Cao gave Xiaobai a thumbs up, then continued into the phone, "And Yao Yao isn't in any real danger, it's just...:"
On the other end of the phone, Qin Nan frowned.
"Just what?"
"only."
Tang Cao silently turned around and looked in Su Siyao's direction, her expression somewhat strange.
But Su Siyao's face was flushed, her body was writhing on the ground, and she was moaning in her sleep.
"...I...I don't know how to describe it..."