Now is not the time to daze off!
Lu Yuan staggered forward, rushing to the nearest officer, pressing her fingers against his carotid artery to check for signs of life.
The pulse was still beating.
He was alive!
Lu Yuan’s heart, which had been holding its breath, finally relaxed. She quickly checked the other officers lying on the ground.
All of them showed basic signs of life. Rather than being dead, it seemed they had all simply fallen unconscious.
At this point, there was no plan left to follow. Lu Yuan pulled out her phone and called Su Li.
“Sister Su Li, something unusual has happened. The mission can’t continue. You need to come see this.”
***
The moment Lu Yuan ended the call, the police station’s main doors were slammed open. Su Li rushed in, wielding a scythe.
“Lu Yuan?!” She looked a bit flustered.
“Sister Su Li, I’m fine,” Lu Yuan reassured her, calming her down. “It’s just…”
She pointed toward the officers lying on the ground.
“What exactly happened here? Is this some kind of new Calamity?”
Seeing Lu Yuan unharmed, Su Li exhaled in relief but didn’t let her guard down completely.
“Calamity…?” Su Li crouched down to examine one officer and murmured.
If this were truly caused by a Calamity, the station would have turned into a bloodbath by now. Calamities have no intelligence; they wouldn’t spare humans, nor selectively attack places like the police station.
She lifted one officer and checked the back of his neck.
There was a small puncture.
Sure enough, a tranquilizer dart.
This wasn’t the work of a Calamity but a human.
Was it Chen Xin? Did she figure out our plan? Then why come to the police station and do this?
Su Li pondered the possibility of Chen Xin “slaughtering” inside the police station.
Chen Xin was an ordinary person. On the surface, it was almost impossible for a normal person to kill a Magical Girl, but if she wanted to increase her strength, even just on paper…
Su Li suddenly had a thought.
“The armory.” She said briefly, already striding toward the staircase.
Lu Yuan hurriedly followed, descending with Su Li.
The corridor on the basement level was even darker than the main hall. An emergency exit sign blinked faintly at the stairwell’s corner. Soon, they arrived on the basement floor.
At the turn stood two fully armed guards, also unconscious, their riot guns still hanging on their bodies.
The armory’s metal doors were wide open, the lock clearly showing signs of being cut. Su Li raised a hand to signal Lu Yuan to stop and slipped inside sideways.
“As expected…” Su Li’s voice came from within.
Lu Yuan peeked inside and gasped sharply.
The neatly arranged gun racks were now completely empty. Bulletproof vests were scattered on the floor, and the ammo boxes had been completely looted.
Su Li squatted down, picking up a spent shell casing. She gently traced the markings on its base with her fingertip, frowning deeply.
“It’s Chen Xin,” she said, standing. “She took enough firepower to arm an entire company.”
Such firepower was definitely excessive for one person. And obviously, using bullets against Magical Girls was impractical. What exactly did she intend to do with these guns?
***
“Sister Su Li!” Lu Yuan suddenly called out from a corner of the armory. “Look at this!”
Su Li quickly walked over. Lu Yuan held a piece of paper in her hand. The edges were torn roughly, like ripped from some notebook.
Su Li took the note, recognizing the handwriting instantly:
【The Transformation Crystal is in my hands, but don’t worry, it’s safe. If you want it back, come find me at my place — Chen Xin】
The back of the note had an address, presumably Chen Xin’s home.
“What is this?” Lu Yuan frowned. “A trap?”
Su Li looked silently at the note, her expression complicated.
She felt like she was engaged in a chess match with Chen Xin, move for move, and the outcome would determine Lu Yuan’s fate.
Su Li was starting to feel unsure about what to do, but her intuition told her she had to go to Chen Xin’s home.
An unclaimed Transformation Crystal was dangerous. If it fell easily into the hands of a suitable candidate with anti-social tendencies, a second Rose could appear, and the consequences would be unimaginable.
But she was currently Lu Yuan’s personal protector. It would be too dangerous to just send Lu Yuan alone into a trap.
Was there a way to provide Lu Yuan with an absolutely safe environment?
Maybe, she should stay at Headquarters. After all, many Magical Girls were on duty there. It would be harder for Rose to forcibly take Lu Yuan away…
***
“Ding-ling-ling—”
Another phone call came, this time for Su Li.
“This is Su Li speaking,” she answered.
“Captain Su Li! There have been numerous unknown criminal incidents in the city. Both the Magical Girls and police are short-staffed!”
The caller was a young Operator, clearly anxious.
“Unknown criminal incidents?” Su Li asked, confused. “Has a Calamity appeared in the city?”
By all rights, every corner of Tongmen City had been cleared by the Magical Girls. Calamities shouldn’t suddenly appear out of nowhere.
“No… no! It’s humans!” the Operator replied. “Many unidentified armed men have appeared on the streets! We don’t know where their guns came from, and Tongmen City has descended into chaos!”
“It seems someone is supplying them with weapons behind the scenes! If we don’t find the source, these armed groups will only grow!”
***
Su Li glanced at the empty armory. Clearly, those “unknown” weapons likely came from here.
“Is Headquarters already out of personnel?” Su Li asked.
“That’s right! Ms. Aoi Hoshino and Dr. Tian Aixing have depleted their magic after clearing Calamities all night… We’ve mobilized everyone, Captain Su Li.”
“Hold on a bit longer… I’ll deal with the source of the problem… Thank you all for your hard work.” Su Li responded.
“Yes, ma’am!” The Operator hung up.
Su Li felt a headache coming on and anxiously ran her fingers through her hair.
Chen Xin’s move had pushed her into a fire. There was no time left for hesitation. If Chen Xin was allowed to keep running, the chaos in the city would only worsen.
***
As for Lu Yuan…
Right now, the safest place in all of Tongmen City was by her side.
Su Li tucked the note into her jacket pocket.
“Let’s go.” Su Li said, her voice low as if speaking to herself. “It’s time to accept the invitation.”
Lu Yuan blinked in confusion. “Invitation…?”
“She’s waiting for us.” Su Li turned toward the exit. “From the stolen crystal to the armory, to this note… every step has been calculated by her.”
They walked through the silent corridors of the police station. The unconscious officers still lay scattered on the floor.
Lu Yuan had already called 120, so the rest would be left to the Medical Personnel.
As the police station doors swung open, the blinding sunlight made Lu Yuan squint instinctively.
Su Li’s Masarati was parked by the roadside, its body gleaming coldly under the sun.
“Get in.” Su Li opened the door. “Fasten your seatbelt.”
Lu Yuan obediently sat in the passenger seat and buckled up.
The engine let out a deep growl. The dashboard needles trembled violently. Lu Yuan’s fingers trembled slightly as she fastened her seatbelt. She stole a glance at Su Li’s profile.
“Sister Su Li…” Lu Yuan asked softly, “Since we already know it’s a trap… then why go?”
The car suddenly lurched out of the parking spot, tires screeching, Su Li’s hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.
“We don’t have a choice.”
Shifting gears and stepping on the gas, the Masarati’s speed surged. The outside scenery blurred beyond recognition.
“She knows my bottom line. Using the Transformation Crystal as bait, using the entire city as a stage — all of this is to force me to step into that trap I know about.”
The entire city was plunged into chaos. She couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.
“Will we win?” Lu Yuan asked quietly.
The fierce wind blew past the car window. Su Li kept her eyes on the road ahead.
“A chess player never stops moving pieces out of fear of losing.”
Su Li murmured. Turning points always happen in an instant, and she believed she would find the opportunity.
They would win.