“The last thing Tian Aixing mentioned… is it the haunted house inside the amusement park?”
Captain Su Li recalled the final moment of communication before it was cut off, trying to grasp the only clue despite the lack of information.
“That’s right.” Lin Wan confirmed, her eyes vigilantly scanning the surrounding silent facility.
Su Li quickly weighed their options. Without Tian Aixing’s overarching perspective, they were like blind people stumbling about. Acting blindly was not only inefficient but could easily lead them into even more dangerous traps.
The haunted house—the only known anomaly—although obviously a potential trap, was currently their only clear direction for investigation.
“The risk is high, but we can’t hesitate any longer. Prioritize scouting the haunted house and maintain the highest alert. If anything feels off, retreat immediately.” Su Li made her decision, twirling the white Scythe once in her hand before gripping it firmly.
“Understood!” Lin Wan nodded, the seven long swords attached to the folding fan on her back already partially unsheathed—two of them drawn, circling around her body with a faint humming.
The fewer swords she drew, the more precisely she could control them, conserving magical power. So Lin Wan didn’t unsheathe them all.
The two of them moved cautiously, one leading and the other following, quickly heading toward the haunted house.
The amusement park’s facilities were still relatively new and were expected to reopen in a few days.
Lin Wan glanced at the passing carousel. She had never been to an amusement park before and this was her first time seeing such a thing.
As a child, her dream had been to come here, to ride the carousel or the Ferris wheel, but whenever even a hint of such a desire surfaced, her father would beat it out of her, crushing those desires in the cradle.
Even now, as a Magical Girl, she sometimes wished she could visit an amusement park, but she never had the time… She never thought her first visit would be like this.
“Be careful, don’t get distracted.” Su Li sharply noticed Lin Wan’s brief lapse and quietly reminded her.
“Mm.” Lin Wan immediately withdrew her gaze and focused.
***
Not long after they passed the carousel area and were about to step onto the path leading to the haunted house—
A tentacle suddenly struck out.
The attack came from the most unexpected direction.
The seemingly harmless carousel!
One of the cartoonish wooden horses’ round eyes suddenly cracked open, and several pitch-black, viscous tentacles shot out with a speed barely perceptible to the naked eye.
Their target was Lin Wan, who had fallen half a step behind due to Su Li’s warning.
“Lin Wan! Behind you!” Su Li’s perception far exceeded Lin Wan’s, detecting the lethal danger the moment the tentacles appeared.
With barely any time to think, Su Li spun around and forcefully shoved the stunned Lin Wan aside, simultaneously placing the Scythe horizontally across her chest.
“Clang!!!”
The sharp tentacles struck harshly against the Scythe’s long handle, producing a piercing screech of metal scraping metal! The immense impact sent a numbness through Su Li’s arm!
But this was only the beginning!
That horse seemed to be a signal—instantly, all the carousel horses around them “came alive”!
Countless twisted tentacles shot at them like a storm from all directions.
Within moments, Su Li found herself in a completely passive position. She had to defend Lin Wan while blocking attacks from nearly every angle.
She swung the Scythe like a whirlwind, sharp cold energy radiating outward, freezing and shattering the attacking tentacles one after another.
But the tentacles were just too many and too dense. Any slight mistake—
“Shraa!”
A searing pain shot through Su Li’s shoulder. She groaned softly, the sharp sting causing a brief hesitation in her movements.
***
At that exact moment!
The thickest tentacle, concealed among the numerous attacks like a coiled serpent ready to strike, suddenly lunged straight at Su Li’s abdomen!
At the critical instant, Su Li’s combat instincts surged to their peak.
The moment she was hit, ice magic from within her body rushed frantically to her abdomen, instantly solidifying into an incredibly tough ice armor.
“Bang!!!!”
A heavy muffled sound.
The ice armor shattered on impact, exploding into countless ice crystals, but it absorbed most of the terrifying force.
Even so, the remaining power was tremendous, throwing Su Li off her feet and sending her flying backward.
She gritted her teeth, enduring the throbbing pain in her shoulder and abdomen, struggling midair to regain balance. As she swung the ice Scythe behind her, the blade carved a long ice trail across the ground upon landing, trying to slow her descent.
“Boom!”
She finally slammed heavily against a hard, cold object, halting her retreat.
Half-kneeling on the ground, she panted rapidly, blood seeping continuously from the wound on her left shoulder, staining her white combat uniform red.
These creatures… only know how to ambush?!
Su Li frowned and immediately looked up, her ice-blue eyes sharply scanning the surroundings.
Something was wrong!
The environment had completely changed!
It was no longer the carousel area, and she could no longer see Lin Wan or the frenzied Calamity horses.
Now she stood in the center of a relatively open plaza, her back pressed against a huge metal support frame.
She turned sharply, her pupils narrowing.
The Ferris wheel.
This Ferris wheel was called Tongmen’s Eye, the amusement park’s iconic giant Ferris wheel.
And Su Li was standing directly beneath it.
***
At the very top of the towering Ferris wheel, on the roof of several cabins, stood two figures.
Su Li looked up and recognized their familiar faces.
Si An held a violin bow, a teasing smile on her face.
Rose was dressed entirely in black, her expression cold, her eyes watching Su Li like an abyss.
“Impressive reflexes, Captain Su Li.” Si An laughed softly, uncontrollably clapping her hands, “But alas, you’ve still fallen into our trap.”
“Welcome to the stage we prepared for you.”
Stage? Prepared for me?
Su Li was momentarily stunned, then instantly understood.
The ambush against Lin Wan earlier wasn’t really meant to harm her. Its true purpose was to separate them, forcing Lin Wan to defend and protect her teammate with full effort, leaving no attention to spare, thus making her vulnerable to the sneak attack.
That heavy strike at the end wasn’t meant to seriously injure Su Li either, but to forcibly pry her away from Lin Wan.
And Lin Wan was probably still trapped in the carousel area, facing those Calamity creatures alone.
They were completely divided.
***
Su Li slowly stood, pressing her hand against her shoulder, enduring the pain as she used ice magic to stop the bleeding.
The frigid air spread outward from her, freezing the ground into an Ice Domain.
She tightened her grip on the Scythe.
If it was a one-on-one fight with Rose, she still had about a seventy percent chance of victory, enough to then support Lin Wan.
But the current situation was that she had to face two monsters alone.
One a former Magical Girl, the other a girl whose source of power was unknown.
Fighting isn’t math; their combined strength clearly surpassed simple addition.
The hope of victory was slim.
But it didn’t matter. Their true targets, Lu Yuan and Qing, were both at Headquarters right now.
Su Li stood tall, Scythe pointed toward the sky.
“You’ve gone through all this trouble to trap me here, really putting in a lot of effort. But it seems you’ve overlooked something.” Su Li raised an eyebrow, “Lu Yuan and Qing never came here. Without your most important targets, this carefully arranged stage of yours is all for nothing.”
She tried to disrupt their composure with words while urgently searching for an escape route. Facing two against one with slim odds, she had to find a flaw.
***
In response, Rose let out a mocking laugh as if she’d just heard the most ridiculous joke.
“For nothing?” Rose’s voice sent chills down the spine, “Captain Su Li, do you overestimate yourself and underestimate us?”
She stepped forward slightly, standing on the edge of the cabin, the hem of her black coat fluttering in the wind. Her gaze looked down on Su Li, like a predator surveying a trapped prey.
“Our plan was never a simple multiple-choice question. Capturing Lu Yuan and Qing is the ultimate goal, but before that, clearing the biggest obstacles is the optimal solution.”
Si An plucked a string lightly, music playing as if accompanying Rose’s words.
Rose continued, each word like a nail hammered into Su Li’s heart: “Why do you think Tongmen City has been able to temporarily resist our advance? Because of Headquarters’ barriers? Or because of those unorganized remaining personnel?”
Rose snapped her fingers, pointing directly at Su Li.
“No. It’s because of you, Su Li. You are the absolute core of Magical Girl power in Tongmen City, the sole commander, and… the only one who poses even the slightest threat to us.”
“As long as you’re eliminated,” Rose’s voice became like final judgment, “Tongmen City’s defense system will be leaderless, thrown into chaos. What remains will be nothing but scattered sand.”
“At that time, without your protection and command, that girl named Lu Yuan, and that rebellious Qing… we have plenty of time and means to track them down slowly. Causing a little ‘commotion’ in the city to force them out doesn’t seem that difficult, right?”
“In short,” Si An paused then smiled, “Kill you, and Tongmen is ours.”
***
Su Li’s heart plummeted into the abyss.
She had thought of herself as the shield protecting Lu Yuan and Qing, never imagining that in their plan, the shield itself was the very first target to be shattered.
This was not a lure to draw the tiger away from the mountain—it was… a decapitation strike.