Meanwhile, at the Magical Girl Headquarters Monitoring Room.
Tian Aixing’s eyes scanned dozens of surveillance screens, each detecting magical power around Tongmen City and its outskirts. Whenever there was an abnormal source of magic, it would appear on these monitors.
After last night’s thorough clearance, the surroundings of Tongmen City were spotless. Not a single red dot remained on the screens.
Aoi Hoshino had been asleep in the rest room for about half an hour now. That girl always fought fiercely on missions—there was no stopping her. The result was that she’d crash into sleep as soon as the mission was over.
But Tian Aixing couldn’t afford to rest. She had to rely on Ming Snake to monitor suspicious areas. Tongmen City was already a mess; this was not the time to relax.
Suddenly, she smiled as if she had just realized something.
“What the heck… I tell Captain Su Li not to push herself too hard, but here I am, forcing my body to keep going,” she muttered hoarsely to herself.
The coffee beside her had long since gone cold, a layer of undissolved sugar settled at the bottom of the cup. When Tian Aixing reached out for the cup, her fingertips suddenly trembled uncontrollably.
“Clatter!”
The cup fell to the floor, the brown liquid spreading across the ground.
***
“Do you need help?”
A timid voice came from behind. Tian Aixing, exhausted, turned around to see a young girl with a ponytail standing at the doorway.
It was Xiao Lin, the operator still on duty at Headquarters, clutching a stack of files.
Tian Aixing recognized her—she had joined the Logistics Team only a few months ago.
“No, I’m fine,” Tian Aixing reflexively refused. “I can hold on a little longer…”
Xiao Lin didn’t leave. Instead, she took a few steps closer. “But… your hand is bleeding.”
Only then did Tian Aixing notice a small cut at the base of her right thumb, likely caused by the shattered cup just now.
Fresh blood was slowly trickling down.
“I brought some bandages…” Xiao Lin pulled a cartoon-patterned Bandage from her pocket. “And some hot coffee. The microwave in the duty room just finished warming it up.”
“Please don’t push yourself too hard,” Xiao Lin urged gently.
Tian Aixing opened her mouth to refuse, but the words turned into a sigh instead.
She rubbed her eyes and said, “…Thank you.”
As the warm, sweet coffee slid down her throat, Tian Aixing realized just how tired she truly was.
Xiao Lin was already crouched on the floor, gathering the broken pieces of the coffee cup, her hair swaying slightly with her movements.
After a moment, Xiao Lin finished clearing the debris and mustered her courage to speak to Tian Aixing.
“Minister Tian Aixing, please take a rest,” Xiao Lin said firmly. “I can take over the monitoring. The duty roster shows you haven’t rested for eighteen hours straight.”
“It’s fine. The Logistics Team is used to this. I’ll hold on a little longer,” Tian Aixing replied.
“Please rest.”
“No… I…”
“Please rest.”
Xiao Lin repeated the phrase insistently, and Tian Aixing could only give a bitter smile. She seemed to remember how she herself had tried to urge Captain Su Li to rest.
“Alright… I’ll rest for a bit,” Tian Aixing finally gave in. “Notify me immediately if there’s anything unusual…”
Her voice grew softer and softer, and before she finished speaking, her head involuntarily drooped forward.
Xiao Lin quickly caught her. “Senpai!”
Feeling the even breath against her chest, Xiao Lin hesitated for a moment, then gently laid Tian Aixing down on a nearby rest chair, taking off her own jacket to cover her.
“You’ve worked hard. Please rest well,” Xiao Lin whispered, then turned to sit in Tian Aixing’s chair.
She took a deep breath and looked at the map on the screen.
“Let’s check the northern part of the city first…” Xiao Lin murmured softly as her fingers tapped the keyboard.
Just then, a red light suddenly blinked in the northern suburbs.
“What is this…?” Xiao Lin quickly zoomed in on the screen. At the location of an abandoned amusement park on the outskirts, a faint red dot was gradually brightening.
The system automatically popped up a notification: 【B-Class Magical Power Reaction, Magical Source: Rose.】
Rose…
Xiao Lin sighed. Recently, many magical disaster fluctuations have been similar to Rose’s frequency. The detection device’s magical source results had become nearly meaningless.
If it’s Rose, how could it be merely a B-level Disaster?
Still, it’s better to report it.
Xiao Lin reached out toward the sleeping Tian Aixing but stopped halfway.
She couldn’t bear to wake her, seeing the pale face and dark circles under her eyes.
The Minister had only just fallen asleep…
After some thought, Xiao Lin bit her lip and opened the Action Squad’s tracking system.
If there was any spare field team, she’d ask them to check it out.
Although everyone at Headquarters was overwhelmed, and it was practically impossible to find an idle field team…
There was actually one.
Captain Su Li’s coordinates showed her speeding toward the northern city.
“Communication channel [Starlit Glass]…” Xiao Lin recalled her training and nervously pressed the call button.
“Beep beep…”
“This is Su Li, go ahead.”
Connected!
“Ca-Captain Su Li! This is Xiao Lin in the Monitoring Room! A B-class Disaster response detected at the northern amusement park! It’s near you!”
Wind howled and the engine roared through the comms. Xiao Lin didn’t know why Su Li was rushing out there, but she dared not ask.
Talking to such a top-tier Magical Girl took all of Xiao Lin’s courage; she certainly wouldn’t ask unnecessary questions.
After a brief silence, Su Li’s calm voice came through: “Received. I’ll handle it shortly.”
Xiao Lin exhaled deeply but suddenly heard Su Li ask, “Where’s Tian Aixing?”
“The Minister is too tired and just fell asleep,” Xiao Lin said nervously. “I’m monitoring in her place for now.”
“Well done,” Su Li’s voice softened. “Continue monitoring, notify me immediately if anything happens.”
“Yes!”
The communication cut off, and the monitoring room returned to silence.
***
Su Li glanced at the ended call and casually tossed her phone onto the back seat.
“That call just now was…?” Lu Yuan asked.
“From Headquarters. There’s another B-level Disaster nearby we didn’t have time to handle. Once we finish with Chen Xin’s situation, we’ll go deal with it.”
“Got it.” Lu Yuan nodded and then looked ahead.
They had been out of the city for a while. A Maserati sports car wasn’t ideal on dirt roads, so their speed had slowed.
But even flooring the accelerator, they couldn’t find Chen Xin’s location quickly—there were just too many houses here.
“Bang bang, bang bang bang!”
Just as Lu Yuan and Su Li grew anxious, a series of rhythmic gunshots rang out.
The sound was especially clear in the open suburbs. Su Li sharply turned the steering wheel, the Maserati drifting beautifully on the dirt road as it sped toward the source.
“Is that a signal?” Lu Yuan shouted in confusion. “Why would she expose her location?”
Su Li didn’t answer. The sports car’s engine howled.
***
On a distant dirt embankment, a black motorcycle suddenly burst out.
Chen Xin gripped the handlebars with one hand, the other raised high clutching the unclaimed Transformation Crystal.
Her coat billowed in the wind, and the handgun hanging from her waist swayed with the bumps.
“Hold on tight,” Su Li shouted, slamming the accelerator down. The Maserati roared like a beast.
The two vehicles began a wild chase through the wilderness. Chen Xin’s motorcycle weaved nimbly between abandoned houses, suddenly changing directions several times. She deliberately slipped through extremely narrow gaps, forcing Su Li’s car to take detours.
“She’s leading us to the cliff by the sea!” Lu Yuan gripped the overhead handle, feeling her insides tossed about.
“Then don’t let her get there!” Su Li shouted. “Lu Yuan, transform!”
“Got it!”
In an instant, Lu Yuan’s Black Spear was in hand. She climbed out through the window, leaping onto the roof. Her black high heels pierced through the car’s roof, steadying her stance while providing a sniper’s support point.
“Click.”
The scope popped out, and the spear shifted into sniper mode.
Lu Yuan took a deep breath, raised the spear, and aimed at Chen Xin’s motorcycle.
“Bang!”
The bullet didn’t hit the motorcycle directly, but it disrupted Chen Xin’s control. The motorcycle began swaying uncontrollably.
Chen Xin struggled to regain control, but the fatal wobble was irreversible.
In the end, she fell hard to the ground, sliding several meters before stopping at the cliff’s edge.
The sports car braked sharply and drifted to a halt right in front of Chen Xin.
Chen Xin staggered to her feet, her body bearing multiple fractures from the fall.
She struggled to stand, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Her trembling hand still gripped the Transformation Crystal tightly.
“It’s over, Chen Xin,” Su Li stepped forward calmly, her white scythe gleaming coldly. “Hand over the Transformation Crystal.”
Chen Xin suddenly laughed, the smile tinged with sorrow. “Over? Captain Su Li, since when did you become so naïve?”
Lu Yuan stood behind Su Li, her Black Spear’s sight locked firmly on Chen Xin’s forehead, though her finger trembled slightly.
She still couldn’t bring herself to strike a human.
“We can still find a way regarding your daughter,” Su Li continued. “Rose is using you, she—”
“Silence!” Chen Xin sharply interrupted.
“What do you know, Magical Girls?!” She staggered back, her heel hovering over the cliff’s edge. “I’ve tried every method… every single one!”
***
At that moment, the ground beneath Lu Yuan suddenly cracked open!
Su Li whipped her head around.
“Watch out!”
But the warning came too late.
Several tentacles burst from the earth, instantly wrapping around Lu Yuan’s limbs. Covered in barbs, they easily tore through her Combat Suit.
Lu Yuan’s spear clattered to the ground. She struggled fiercely but more tentacles wrapped around her neck.
“Ugh…” Lu Yuan gasped, choking.
“Lu Yuan!” Su Li rushed forward, but the tentacles tightened sharply. Lu Yuan let out a painful groan.
“Su Li… sister…”
“I suggest you don’t move,” a woman’s voice drifted up from below the cliff. “Or this little cutie won’t just choke…”
Black mist rose from the cliff bottom, gradually forming a human shape.
It was a woman dressed in a Gothic dress, a captivating smile playing on her alluring face.
“Rose…” Though Su Li’s expression remained calm, the fire of rage in her eyes threatened to consume Rose entirely.
“Surprise~” Rose said, using her tentacles to lift Lu Yuan by the neck, bringing her close. “Didn’t expect me to personally come as this ‘B-Class Disaster,’ did you?”
“The wolf is coming, the wolf is coming…” Rose revealed a triumphant, sinister grin.
“Now, the wolf really is here~ What will happen to a helpless child when I devour her?”