Off Work, Then I Become a Magical Girl
Book 2: Chapter 16: Secret Movement

Vol 2 Chapter 16: Secret Movement

"She can use beast magic without relying on a Beast Core. That girl's talent is one of a kind. So, we have to find a way to bring her back."

Under the blazing midday sun, Bingfeng-7 lit a cigarette, clenched it between his teeth, and took a deep drag.

"Fangting City is no longer safe. We need to act quickly—while we still have any forces left—to break out."

It was the 25th day of being trapped in Fangting City, and Bingfeng-7 had never felt this anxious.

The remnants of Black Cinders Dawn's power in the city were rapidly shrinking. The Countermeasure Bureau hunted them relentlessly, like a pack of hyenas. By now, only a few core squads were still hanging on.

If “The Moth” were still around, there was no way Black Cinders Dawn would have ended up like this. But ever since the Moth was defeated by a Magical Girl, control of the Countermeasure Bureau in Fangting City had shifted, and everything changed overnight.

Once, they could move openly, not even bothering to hide their tracks. Now, they had to stay hidden at all costs, terrified of being discovered by Magical Girls.

For good reason. Any Magical Girl strong enough to kill the Moth could kill the rest of them with ease.

The Moth had been one of Black Cinders Dawn's Pre-Cinder Knights—right at the center of their power structure. Even though she wasn’t the strongest in combat among them, she could easily handle soldiers like them.

And now, she was gone. Her beastified forces had been nearly wiped out overnight by strange threads falling from the sky. Just a few scattered squads remained, now hiding like rats throughout Fangting City.

These remnants didn’t have many beastified fighters left—and even those weren’t strong. Without leadership, they couldn’t coordinate, and the Countermeasure Bureau picked them off one by one.

Of course, Bingfeng-7 and his squad were an exception.

Because they were never the Moth’s people. They hadn’t taken part in that night's operation.

Thanks to her concealment and protection, Fangting City had once hosted up to three separate groups of Cinder Soldiers at the peak of Black Cinders Dawn's influence: the Moth’s Bingmoth and Gongmoth, the Longhorn Beetle’s Bingchu and Gongchu, and the Bee’s Bingbee and Gongbee.

The Moth’s troops were her direct subordinates, stationed in Fangting City and under her command. The Longhorn Beetle’s forces had a different origin—they wandered all over Donghua Province, looking for high-quality resources and potential Sacrifices. As for the Bee's soldiers, they were part of a deal.

The Bee had paid a price to let his people enter the Moth’s territory and take certain “items” he wanted. Among them was a specific target: a girl named Bai Jingxuan.

Bingfeng-7 was the one tasked with retrieving her.

He was one of the few Cinder Soldiers under the Bee who had reached Chrysalis-tier strength. He arrived in Fangting City a month ago. But upon arrival, they realized the Longhorn Beetle's troops had already messed up the operation, disrupting everything. They were forced to hold back, trying to figure out a new plan—when suddenly, the Moth was killed by a Magical Girl.

Bingfeng-7 couldn’t help but wonder if he should’ve gotten his fortune told before setting out.

Too late now. Everything happened so fast that they didn’t even have time to react before ending up trapped.

“You talk like it’s so easy. Take her away? That girl’s already a Magical Girl now. That lunatic Bingchu-3 stirred things up and ruined everything. It’s gonna be nearly impossible to act from here on.”

Squatting in the corner, Bingfeng-25 stared into space. “If we ever get out of this hellhole, I’m filing a full report on the Longhorn Beetle. What kind of idiot trains subordinates like that?”

“Forget about that for now. Focus on how we’re getting out of here.”

Bingfeng-7 exhaled a stream of white smoke through his nose and shot him a glance. “The Countermeasure Bureau’s got some new gear. We’ve already lost beastified fighters to them. If we wait until all of the Moth’s troops are captured, we’re next.”

After several waves of attacks and investigations, their activity range kept shrinking. In the end, they had no choice but to hide out in a tiny house.

They’d taken control of the original homeowner, forcing them to supply food and necessities. But even that couldn’t last long. With this many people, it was impossible to stay totally off the radar.

“Then let’s move. Fangting City’s huge—we can play guerrilla warfare.”

Bingfeng-25 clearly had little hope for a breakout. “You wanna throw everything into one last push and even take a Magical Girl with us? That’ll definitely bring down a Flower-tier monster on us... You sure you’re not dreaming?”

“I’m sure.”

Bingfeng-7’s face was calm. “A plain escape is meaningless. If we can’t bring the girl, we’re dead either way. This might be our last shot. If we wait any longer, getting out will only get harder.”

“Why?” Bingfeng-25 looked surprised.

“Because the Moth’s gone. This city belongs to the Magical Girls now.”

Bingfeng-7 pointed out the window. “Like flowers blooming in a field—once there’s one, others follow. They’ll draw more Magical Girls here, and it’ll get crowded fast.”

“...Tch, what a pain.”

“Yeah. What a pain.”

Bingfeng-7 murmured almost to himself, “So if we’re going, it has to be now.”

“You got a plan?”

“Just came up with one.”

“What is it?”

“Hostage.”

Bingfeng-7 lowered his head. “According to the undercover agents inside the Bureau, their new Director has close ties to the Magical Girls. The Moth’s leftover intel said he’s connected to that Blue Flower-tier girl—and possibly has a personal relationship with our target.”

“…So you’re planning to kidnap the Bureau Director?”

Bingfeng-25 looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “At a time like this? You’re not afraid that Blue-tier monster will tear you to pieces?”

“That’s why I’m planning to ‘kidnap’ our target.”

Bingfeng-7 stared at him like he was the idiot. “We’ll use her life to threaten the Director—pretend to demand something, maybe those leftover Beast Sources. That way, the Blue Flower-tier won’t dare act rashly. But it’s all a bluff. What we actually want is the girl herself. While they scramble to react, we slip away.”

“I still don’t think kidnapping a Magical Girl is a better plan. Isn’t there anything safer?”

“She’s only Bud-tier. If you’re against grabbing her, the only other option is to kill that Flower-tier first.”

Bingfeng-7 flicked away his half-finished cigarette and crushed it underfoot. “So, which one sounds more doable to you?”

“…Guess we’re kidnapping the kid.”

Bingfeng-25 watched the smoldering butt under his boot. “Then what? How exactly are we going to kidnap her—and escape after that?”

“There are two remaining moles in the Bureau. Since they haven’t acted yet, they haven’t been found. We’ve only got one shot.”

Bingfeng-7 folded his hands behind his back and paced. “We need a decoy operation. Like you said, we’ll split up. The main team watches our target. The rest fake an attack on the Bureau Director—preferably led by someone at Caterpillar-tier or above—to lure the Magical Girls away.”

“Then we grab the girl and ‘negotiate’ with the Director: if he wants her alive, hand over the Beast Source and call off the pursuit. We’ll hold position until the exchange is complete.”

“Finally, the moles tweak the Bureau’s schedule—give us about five minutes to breach the city barrier and flee across the wasteland.”

“Ha? The wasteland?”

Bingfeng-25’s voice shot up. “You serious? That’s a suicide run!”

“If I’m still alive by then, I’ll make it. We’ll have a chance.”

Bingfeng-7’s voice was steady, rough, laced with madness. “They’re not letting us board a landship. Our only path is crossing the wasteland on foot.”

“What if we die out there?”

Bingfeng-25 swallowed. “We’ve got the girl. If we die, she dies too. The boss’ll grind our souls into feed.”

“That’s why I’ll send word to the boss before we head out—have him send people to pick us up.”

Bingfeng-7 moved to the window. “Even if we die, as long as we leave her a way to survive, the boss’s team will take her.”

His words left Bingfeng-25 silent.

The two had worked together under the Bee for a long time. He knew Bingfeng-7’s personality and strength. This might really be their last option.

Live like frogs in boiling water, waiting to die—or bet everything for one last chance. It wasn’t much of a choice at all.

Everyone who joined Black Cinders Dawn carried their own desires. And for those, life was often just another bargaining chip.

Gambling had always been part of the job.

“I never know if I should call you a smart lunatic, or a crazy genius.”

He leaned against the wall again. “You always manage to talk me into things with your twisted logic. This time’s no different. You win.”

“I just want to survive.”

Bingfeng-7’s tone was flat. “Any creature will find a way to survive when cornered. Even beasts—let alone humans.”

“So, when do we move?”

Bingfeng-25 shook his head, not bothering to comment on his rambling. “Since you’ve got it all planned out, I’m guessing you’ve already picked a date.”

“Two days from now.”

Bingfeng-7 turned from the window. “We’ll bait out the Moth’s remaining troops—feed them to the Bureau to create a window to grab the target.”

“So that’s when we go die, huh? Better have one last good meal.”

Bingfeng-25 rubbed his stomach. “Speaking of, we’ve been rationing for days. The food in here’s all gone. Why hasn’t the homeowner brought more supplies?”

“There won’t be any more.”

Bingfeng-7 walked back inside.

“Why not?”

“Because there’s no homeowner anymore.”

He pointed toward the living room where black garbage bags were piled in the corner. His tone was detached.

“I heard their phone ring yesterday. Figured they were trying to call for help—so I ended their part early.”

“Ah, makes sense.”

Bingfeng-25 nodded. “No wonder it always smelled like something in there. My Beast Core’s been itching like crazy.”

“Perfect. Even meat pigs can be useful after death.”

Bingfeng-7 took out another cigarette, lit it with a flick of his lighter. The fire danced in his hollow, pitch-black eyes.

“This way, we won’t need to look for more supplies for the next two days.”

Lin Yun returned to the Countermeasure Bureau alone.

In the end, he didn’t accept Emerald’s “product trial”—not even after she kept lowering the conditions, from taking off his clothes to just his socks.

Emerald claimed everything she’d done earlier was just to collect data on Veronica’s abilities, and the sock thing was simply for easier access to his skin for examination. Still, Veronica felt something fishy was going on and politely declined before leaving the lab.

That said, since it was about his injuries, Veronica didn’t flat-out refuse. He merely said he’d “think about it.”

As soon as he got back to the Bureau, Tian Sheng was already waiting outside. He followed Lin Yun into the director’s office, moving like he was used to the place, and handed over a file:

“Director, here’s the latest operation report from the past few days.”

Lin Yun took the file, sat behind his desk, and gave it a quick glance—his eyes catching a key detail.

“You already captured two beastified individuals? That fast?”

“We have the magical weapons to thank for that.”

Tian Sheng scratched the back of his head. “Our squad leader’s been singing your praises for days. I tried them out myself—the performance is seriously next-level.”

“In the end, a weapon is just a tool. It's the people who use it that matter. You used it well and got results—that’s your own credit. No need to butter me up.”

Lin Yun waved dismissively, brushing off the compliment. “From the looks of it, your squad’s been the top contributor in the Special Operations Division lately. Got any requests or next steps in mind?”

“Oh, actually—our squad leader did ask me to submit a request on his behalf.”

Tian Sheng scratched his head again and handed over another document.

“According to feedback from the other squads, there might be traces of Black Cinders Dawn activity in a residential area of Lixing District. He’d like to apply for a search warrant.”

“A residential area? You sure?”

Lin Yun didn’t doubt him. He took the file and scanned it quickly, then read the printed name aloud:

“...The neighborhood’s called ‘Lakeside Spring’?”