Get off work and become a magical girl

Chapter 242 Thief
There are only two flights of stairs leading from the underground training ground to the first floor of the base.

An adult walking at a slow pace would take no more than ten seconds to walk across this staircase, and even with the girls' relatively short strides it wouldn't take much longer, but Delphinium felt like she had been walking up and down the stairs for several hours.

Adhering to the principle of "not being partial to either side, and not neglecting either side", she tried hard to maintain her balance between Lin Xiaolu and Bai Jingxuan. Even so, surrounded by two juniors, she took a lot of effort and finally squeezed out from the stairs with great difficulty.

Standing at the entrance of the stairs here and looking slightly to the side, you can see the restaurant not far away.

The dining table is particularly lively today.

It was not just because everyone was there, filling the entire dining table, but also because several people from the Baian City team seemed to be discussing something intensely. The sound of the argument could be heard from the restaurant, and could be heard clearly even if you were standing on the stairs leading to the first floor from the basement.

Judging from the sounds, the two parties quarreling seemed to be White Thistle and Lily of the Valley.

——"No, the team exists as a whole. Even if we have to act separately, it shouldn't be such a trivial reason. I can't agree to your request!"

"Why? Anyway, Bai'an City doesn't need a fighter like me, right?"

"That's not what I meant! This is not a question of combat effectiveness. You should understand that you are also a very valuable member of our team..."

"Yes, yes, yes. The team member who has always caused trouble for the team and always hindered us, isn't that what you said when you reported to Sister Yuanxiang before?"

"You... that's not right, I... I said that, but it's not what you think..."

"what does that mean?"

"I... just want her to push you a little more..."

"So you still dislike me? How did I misunderstand you?"

The sound gradually turned from arguing to quarreling, and the conflict between Bai Ji and Mu Baihe seemed to be getting more and more intense. Some of the onlookers tried to persuade them to stop fighting in a gentle manner, while others crossed their arms as if watching a show, but no matter what they did, they could not extinguish the anger between the two.

In such an atmosphere, Delphinium and the other two walked into the restaurant.

"what happens?"

Knowing nothing about the current situation, Cuiqiao immediately approached Aso Yuanxiang and asked, "What are they arguing about? Don't you want to try to mediate?"

It's not that she wanted to say anything more, it's just that Aso Yuanxiang was the one watching the show at the moment. Even though the two parties in the quarrel were members of her team, she acted as if it had nothing to do with her.

"Ah, quarrels. Such things are inevitable in a small group of young people."

Aso Yuanxiang still leaned back in her chair and said nonchalantly, "Anyway, it's not a very principled issue. Friction in daily life is always better than separation on the battlefield."

"Is this the reason why you, a senior, are sitting here like you are watching a show?"

Delphinium drooped her eyelids: "Even if friction and conflict are inevitable, it would be better if you could at least act as a lubricant?"

"There's no need for that. After all, lubrication and reconciliation are nothing more than delaying the outbreak of conflict."

Aso Yuanxiang just shook her head: "Don't always treat the juniors as children. Teenagers already have their own opinions. We, the third party, don't have the ability to make all the decisions about what they like and what they hate. It would be helpful for everyone to let go."

She spoke with a hint of meaning, her eyes sweeping between Lin Xiaolu and Bai Jingxuan intentionally or unintentionally, but finally she turned her head back unnoticeably and smiled twice as if nothing had happened.

"You're only good at making up stories."

Delphinium sighed helplessly: "Then let me, the host, mediate. We can't let the guests make a scene too embarrassing. Tell me, what exactly happened?"

"You too, you're only particularly diligent when it comes to being a good person."

Aso Yuanxiang glanced at her, but did not refuse. Instead, she clapped her hands and said, "Well, Bai Ji, you come and explain this to the senior inspector. We have to talk about this matter today anyway, so this is a good opportunity to explain it clearly."

"...Yes, Master."

Bai Ji, who was standing by, heard what Aso Yuanxiang said and immediately stopped arguing with Mu Baihe. He glanced fiercely at Mu Baihe's face, then turned around, collected his emotions, and said seriously: "I am very sorry, Senior Inspector, I let you see an unpleasant scene. I apologize to you. According to our original plan, we were going to say goodbye to you more decently today."

"Farewell?" Delphinium keenly grasped the key words in this sentence.

"Yes, goodbye."

Bai Ji nodded: "Because the holiday is about to end, our middle school in Bai'an City is about to start. Although the study of magical girls is relatively unimportant, we are still in school, so we plan to return to Bai'an City in the near future. As for the instructor, she said that she will continue to support the defense of Fangting City here, but this is not something that we, the younger generation, have the right to decide."

"Oh, yes, indeed, if it's about academics, there's really nothing I can do. Although I personally welcome you to continue to stay here, I won't force you to stay."

Influenced by Bai Ji's serious words and actions, Kui Ching also said something polite, and then asked, "Then, what exactly is the disagreement about?"

——"Of course it's because I don't want to go back!"

A voice interrupted from the side, taking over Bai Ji's words. Mu Baihe slammed the table and walked over angrily: "I've already said that you are just here for vacation in Fangting City, but I have my own things to do! Now that you have had enough of vacation, you want to drag me along with you. I haven't finished my work yet, why should I go back with you?"

"Then tell me, what are you going to do?"

Mu Baili's tone was unfriendly, and Bai Ji was immediately irritated by her: "You are as mysterious as a riddle man all day long. When you ask, you have something to say, but when you ask again, you won't tell you. You train for three days and rest for two days, and you are nowhere to be found during activities. And you still say we are here for vacation? You are the most undisciplined person in the whole team!"

"I've already told you, it's my private matter. It won't be too late to tell you when I really do it." Mu Lily said angrily.

"If you don't want to tell me, then come back with me." Bai Ji refused to give in.

"I don't want it, I won't go back!" Mu Baili continued to resist.

——"Well, then it became what you see."

Madoka Aso, who was standing by, looked at Cuique and spread her hands. "After all, it's just a quarrel. Once you're angry, you'll settle all the old and new grudges. You can bring up all kinds of trivial things. There's nothing I can do to persuade you."

"This……"

As a mature adult, when it comes to the argument between White Thistle and Lily of the Wood, the only word that can come to mind for Delphinium is "childish". However, her position does not allow her to just leave without saying these two words. Instead, she has to think about how to resolve the contradiction that has already been exposed.

Although she could make the decision and let Mu Lily stay as the host, as Bai Ji had said before, the several people in the Bai'an City team are a whole after all.

The other two people wanted Mu Baihe to go with them not out of ill intentions, and Mu Baihe herself could not come up with a convincing enough reason to stay. Under such circumstances, her forceful intervention would seem a bit meddling.

This is probably also the reason why Aso Yuanxiang didn't want to stop the fight at all and just waited for the two of them to come to a conclusion on their own.

After thinking about it, Cuiqiao couldn't come up with a proposal that was fair enough and respectful to both parties. She also heard that Lin Xiaolu's stomach was rumbling with hunger. Finally, she could only sit in her seat and change the subject awkwardly:
"This matter needs to be discussed. Let's discuss it after dinner."

In this way, Bai Ji and Mu Baihe finally shut up.

At the dinner table, while thinking about how to mediate the conflict between Baiji and Mubaihe, while dealing with Lin Xiaolu and Bai Jingxuan picking up dishes for her, she felt confused. She never thought that she really couldn't think of any good solution for such a trivial matter.

The turning point of this matter finally came on the morning of the next day.

Although the students were still on vacation, the adults had already returned to work early, especially for a special agency like the Special Policy Bureau. As the director, Lin Yun still had to go to work as usual the next day and still had to face countless field and internal affairs.

Just as he was busy with documents and phone calls as usual, there was a knock on the door of the director's office.

He raised his left hand like a muscle reaction, placed a few fingers on the silk thread to sense it, and after confirming that there was nothing abnormal, Lin Yun responded, "Come in."

As soon as he finished speaking, the door of the director's office was pushed open, and a male employee from the Intelligence Department walked in with a serious face: "Excuse me, Director, I'm sorry to bother you. There has just been an attack on the magic side in the bureau, and I need to report it to you."

"Attack?"

Lin Yun raised his head and raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "Who is it? A folk magician? Or is there another gray magic organization causing trouble?"

He didn't even think that the other party would be Black Cinder Dawn, because Black Cinder Dawn would definitely not be so blind as to come to the Strategy Bureau to cause trouble in broad daylight.

In the few months since he took office, his vigorous crackdown on Black Ember Dawn has achieved remarkable results. Not only have all the forces of Black Ember Dawn, both overt and covert, been eradicated, but even the remaining forces belonging to the "Moth" within Fangting City have been basically eliminated.

There were only a few Black Cinders Dawn's spies left in Fangting City, all of whom he used for sting operations. Those who were left were the weak-powered, insignificant Tingqian Cinders Army. Not a single member above the level of Cinders Guards was left.

So, when he heard that someone came to the Yi Ce Bureau to cause trouble, his first reaction was that the folk magician was arrogant and ignorant.

"No, it wasn't a magus, nor was it a vicious attack...or rather, it's not quite accurate to say it was an attack, because the other party's goal was strictly to steal."

The male employee replied: "It's just that because this thief tried to destroy the scene and escape after being discovered, and his identity is somewhat special, we feel that we need to report it to you."

Hearing this, Lin Yun had a strange look on his face. He felt that he seemed to have encountered a similar scene not long ago, and in such a scene, the other party's next words did not seem so unpredictable.

"Let me guess."

He put down the gel pen in his hand and tapped his fingers on the table: "You are not going to say that the person who came to steal this time is a magical girl, right?"

Then, he saw the employee in front of him widen his eyes, and then nodded with admiration:

"...Yes, the Director is wise."

……

……

Lin Yun saw the "thief" who came to steal through the surveillance camera in the interrogation room.

And this time, when he saw the thief's face clearly, he could say that his heart was finally at peace.

The person sitting in the interrogation room at this moment, dejected and looking as if he had lost his parents, was one of the people who had eaten at the same table with him last night - Mu Baili.

What kind of trouble is this?
Lin Yun frowned in front of the surveillance camera, puzzled.

"We have questioned this... magical girl, hoping that she can explain her origins and purpose, which will also help us restore the truth of the matter and eliminate misunderstandings and contradictions as much as possible. However, she is unwilling to answer anything."

The intelligence employee standing next to him explained, "We tried to contact the magical girl of Fangting City Team to see if there is any way to solve the problem peacefully, but the lady in the interrogation room was very resistant to this. She said that if we contact other magical girls, she would go out and sue us for molestation. Now other colleagues are having a headache..."

Indeed, if Aso Yuanxiang knew about this, this girl would probably have a candied haws growing on her head tonight.

Lin Yun pondered, but on the surface he remained businesslike: "Did she come up with any settlement proposal?"

"Yes, there is..."

The employee looked embarrassed. "But she asked us to open the bureau's archives to her, including the most confidential information, and release her as soon as possible."

It's no wonder that he looked embarrassed. After all, it would sound incredible to anyone: a caught thief not only refused to admit his fault, but instead threatened and acted arrogantly here. It was really hard to accept.

"……I see."

Lin Yun nodded, turned his head and said: "Okay, take me there, I'll talk to her." "Yes!"

The employee thought that the director would be angry after he reported these things, but after waiting for a while, he saw that Lin Yun did not mean to blame him, and he felt as if he had been pardoned. After hearing what he said, he immediately straightened his back and said, "I'll take you there right away!"

Soon, Lin Yun went to the interrogation room where Mu Baihe was.

The employee who led the way pushed open the door, explained a few words briefly to Mu Baihe inside, expressed his intention of "our director wants to see you", then stepped out and stood aside.

Lin Yun patted his shoulder, said nothing, and walked straight into the interrogation room.

As soon as he entered the door, his eyes met the girl inside.

Today, Mu Lily wore a formal outfit, a light blue waistless dress, a blue-gray dwarf down jacket, a pair of white round-toed shoes, and her long light yellow hair. She looked quite exotic, and at first glance one would wonder if she was from Xiluo State.

However, for Lin Yun, he was already quite familiar with the girl in front of him, and some changes in appearance could not shake his judgment of her at all, so he just glanced at her briefly with no fluctuation in his expression.

On the contrary, Mu Baili's face, which was not very good to begin with, suddenly became even darker after seeing Lin Yun walk in.

"Why is it you?" she said in a lost voice.

"Why can't it be me?" Lin Yun raised his eyebrows.

"So this is your territory... No, so the conspiracy in Baian City was also yours? No, could it be that even the rumors on the Internet were your plan? Did you arrange everything?"

She crossed her arms and stepped back against the chair: "What do you want to do?"

"…Although I don't know what you thought about in that brief moment, I feel that I need to explain your situation to you, little friend."

Lin Yun took two steps forward, pulled out the chair opposite the interrogation table, and sat down. "You are currently under personal restraint for stealing important secrets from the Strategy Bureau. Many people in the Strategy Bureau are quite uneasy about your purpose, and I am the director of the Strategy Bureau."

"Director?" Mu Baili blinked.

"Yes, if I remember correctly, we met once when I was on a business trip in Bai'an City last year."

Lin Yun kept a blank expression on his face to make his statement seem more fair: "Although there may have been some unpleasant misunderstandings during the process, because of that experience, I have no doubts about your identity as a magical girl."

"Ah, yes!"

Hearing Lin Yun say this, Mu Baihe immediately stood up excitedly: "Although the process is not very good, but uncle, you also know that I am indeed the magical girl of Baian City, right! In that case, you should be able to let me go..."

"Unfortunately, that's not possible."

Lin Yun interrupted her and said, "We are the Strategy Bureau of Fangting City. We do not have the right to cross the city to contact the magical girls in Baian City. Even if we can confirm your identity, we still need to follow a reasonable and compliant process to reach a settlement and release you."

"process?"

Mu Baili was a little confused: "What exactly is it?"

"We need to explain this matter to the Bureau of Strategy of Bai'an City first, and then your Bureau of Strategy will contact your teammates, and we in Fangting City will contact the local magical girls. Multiple parties will send representatives to negotiate, and then the relevant issues will be filed and reported to the Royal Court of the Magic Kingdom. Only then will it be completely over."

Lin Yun said seriously, completely ignoring Mu Baihe's increasingly pale face: "Of course, as long as you can contact your teammates, you can leave the Strategy Bureau and don't need to stay in this interrogation room any longer."

By the time he finished talking about this series of measures, there was no trace of blood left on Mu Baili's face.

"Do we need to notify so many people?" she hesitantly said.

"Yes, that's the rule." Lin Yun nodded.

What he didn't say is that this is the rule, but it is often not the case in practice.

For most cities' Special Policy Bureaus, since the most important security guarantee for the entire city is the magical girl, even if the magical girl commits a crime or causes trouble, the Special Policy Bureau will tend to make a big deal out of a small matter. With layers of protection, there is no city's Special Policy Bureau that would go so far as to deal with the magical girl.

After all, making a big deal out of it is just a small matter, but ruining the relationship with the local magical girls is a big deal. If it ends up at the national level, even if the Strategy Bureau is right, it will become unreasonable and it will be difficult to gain any benefit from it.

Over time, the "rules" that Lin Yun just mentioned became just rules, and the so-called "rules should be like this" gradually evolved into "actually it can't be like this". In other words, he was familiar with the two magical girl teams, and he was the captain of one of them, so he had the confidence to say such things.

Of course, Lin Yun said this just to shock Mu Baili, and he would not really do this to her. After all, if she did this, Mu Baili's reputation in the magical girl circle would be ruined. Even if "going to the Strategy Bureau to steal things" did not cause any bad effects, it would most likely become a joke for her for the rest of her life, and any magical girl who knew her well could make fun of it in the future.

In addition, Mu Baihe's actions were obviously taken without authorization, and she showed an attitude yesterday that she would never tell anyone the truth. If Lin Yun exposed this matter, she would not only be held accountable by the team, but also be forced to reveal her own "secrets". I'm afraid she would never want to accept such an outcome.

Considering all the above, Lin Yun chose to emphasize the consequences of this incident to see if he could intimidate the other party. And from the facts, the effect was very good.

"Can you please not do this?"

Mu Baihe, who had been resisting all this, suddenly panicked: "I just wanted to check some information in your database. There's no harm done. There's no need to be so serious, right?"

"I heard that when you were leaving, you almost blew up the filing cabinet next to you in order to avoid being caught up." Lin Yun pretended to recall.

"That was an accident! It was just an accident! I didn't mean to sabotage it!"

Mu Baihe clenched her hands and waved her arms vigorously twice: "It's all your people's fault for shouting something like 'Hands up and don't move'. I got scared and subconsciously wanted to use the magic suit to escape, but that's a magic suit, a magic suit! The power is too strong and I can't control it!"

"So?" Lin Yun looked at her.

“So I don’t think I deserve this!”

Mu Baili stood up and said, "Something like reporting it to the Bai'an City Strategy Bureau, or even reporting it to the country..."

"This is part of the rules." Lin Yun blinked.

"I just want to ask, can you please make an exception?" Mu Lily shouted desperately.

"Make an exception? Are you saying that you don't want me to tell the Bai'an City Strategy Bureau about this?"

Lin Yun continued to pretend to be confused: "But as far as I remember, when we were on a business trip in Bai'an City before, you said, 'The Strategy Bureau has no control over me.'"

"Of course the Strategy Bureau can't control me. I'm not talking about the Strategy Bureau. I'm afraid of you..."

Mu Baili stopped talking halfway through her words. She probably knew that she couldn't reveal her secrets here. She took two steps forward and came in front of Lin Yun, smiling: "Um, uncle?"

"What's wrong?" Lin Yun calmly moved back to avoid being too close to the other person's face.

"That is to say, I was wrong in Bai'an City before. I was too anxious and mistook you for a bad person."

However, Mu Baihe pressed on step by step until she grabbed the waist of Lin Yun's suit with both hands. She raised her head, tears flashing in her eyes: "This time I secretly ran to the Strategy Bureau to look at the information. I now know that I was wrong. Please give me a chance and forgive me. I will never do it again."

"It's good that you can admit your mistakes frankly. I'm very happy."

Lin Yun silently grabbed the hem of his clothes and pulled them out of Mu Baili's hands. "But this is not the follow-up to the previous incident in Bai'an City, so I think we should still handle it in a fair and impartial manner."

"No, no, please."

Seeing that she couldn't continue to grab Lin Yun's clothes, Mu Baihe ran to the side and held Lin Yun's hand, tears in her eyes: "I really beg you, please forgive me, I'm telling you the truth, if you tell this to our captain, I'm really finished, I will have a very miserable life from now on, please forgive me, uncle."

"Even if you say so..."

"I'll help you with something. As long as it's within my ability, it's fine. Is that okay?"

Mu Lily had an expression that said, "If you don't agree, I'll kneel down before you." "Is one thing not enough? Two? Three? I'm a magical girl. I can handle many enemies that your Strategy Bureau can't handle. I'm very useful. If you hand me over, I'll be finished, okay?"

"……forget it."

Lin Yun seemed to have compromised helplessly: "You don't need so many things. Just promise me one thing, and I can pretend that what happened today never happened."

"Really?"

"real."

"Well, then let's add one more thing, and write off everything that happened in Bai'an City..."

"Don't even think about it. This is bribery."

"Tch, stingy."

"I advise you to be a little nicer, little friend. As you said, if I were an adult with a worse temper, your behavior just now would be enough for me to report you to the police."

"I was wrong. I'm sorry." Mu Lily stood at attention and saluted.

"Oh, what is this all about?"

Lin Yun was really sighing this time. Thinking of the chaotic scene in Fangting City yesterday, he had to cheer up and said seriously, "Okay, let's talk about the thing you need to promise me."

"OK, all right."

Mu Lily nodded obediently, but then, as if she had thought of something, she blushed and shrank her head: "Well, it can only be legal things. That is, I won't do anything out of the ordinary."

"……what's on your mind."

Lin Yun resisted the urge to slap the little head in front of him and organized his words a little: "It is definitely a legal and moral thing, but it may be a little out of line for you."

"Eh?" Mu Baihe was stunned when she heard that, and almost instantly covered her shoulders with her hands.

"I've already told you what you're thinking about, you're so young."

Lin Yun finally couldn't help but patted her on the head: "Don't think about those nonsense."

"Then, what could that be?" Mu Baili's voice trembled slightly: "I, let me make it clear first, I'm only twelve years old, so no, the scope of illegality is very large... But if it is really legal, I am not completely unable to do it..."

Lin Yun was too lazy to explain to her.

He waved at the camera in the interrogation room, and suddenly, the employee who had led the way came in holding a stack of documents.

"This is the information you tried to read when you hacked into the archives of the Strategy Bureau."

After taking the documents, Lin Yun slapped them on the table, then gestured to Mu Baihe and said, "Although we can deduce your purpose by analyzing the content, I would rather get the answer from you."

"Could you please tell me what exactly you are looking for when you come to 'look through' these materials?"

(End of this chapter)