“Screech—”
The car came to an abrupt halt beneath Officer Chen Xin’s apartment building.
The stairwell was dimly lit, and their footsteps echoed through the empty hallway.
Chen Xin’s apartment was on the sixth floor. When Su Li and Lu Yuan finally stood before Chen Xin’s door, Su Li’s hand paused for a moment above the doorknob.
The door was ajar.
She gently pushed open the slightly open apartment door. The hinges let out a faint creak. The entrance hall was pitch black, except for a few slivers of sunlight filtering through the gaps in the living room curtains, casting long, narrow beams across the wooden floor.
Chen Xin was nowhere to be seen.
***
“Stay close.” Su Li lowered her voice, her right hand already transforming into that silver Scythe.
Lu Yuan nodded and followed closely behind as they stepped inside the entrance.
Su Li scanned the surroundings. Without the help of Tian Aixing Ming Snake, she had no knowledge of the layout and didn’t know where Chen Xin might be hiding—or if there was an ambush.
She took a slow step forward.
***
“Click.”
A barely audible mechanical sound came from underfoot, followed by the trembling twang of a crossbow string releasing an arrow.
Su Li didn’t hesitate for a moment. She spun around sharply and knocked Lu Yuan to the ground.
“Whoosh!”
A sharp arrow grazed her hair and embedded itself in the doorframe. The fletching quivered slightly.
Su Li glanced at the arrow, which was nearly fully lodged in the frame. It was clearly meant to kill them.
Lu Yuan held her breath. It seemed Chen Xin had already set many traps in the apartment.
***
Su Li pulled a Coin from her pocket and tossed it. The Coin rolled softly into the living room, bouncing a few times before several red infrared beams flashed across the floor.
“Infrared sensors along the left wall, one every thirty centimeters,” Su Li analyzed.
She swung her Scythe, a streak of white light flashing. The sensors on the wall shattered at once.
“This should be safe now…”
***
Before Su Li could finish, the ventilation grate in the ceiling suddenly opened, and several Tear Gas Grenades rolled out.
“Hold your breath!” Su Li clamped her hand over Lu Yuan’s mouth.
No good! They hadn’t brought a Gas Mask!
Except for specific Magical Girls, most Magical Girls have terrifyingly strong bodies that can withstand brutal attacks, but their mental endurance is the same as ordinary humans. Tear gas still affects them greatly.
Lu Yuan’s vision blurred gradually.
No, if this keeps up, she’s definitely going to pass out here!
Squinting, Lu Yuan scanned the room. Her gaze landed on the tightly shut living room window.
Got it!
She yanked the Transformation Crystal from her chest. The Black Spear reformed in her hand.
“Bang!”
A gunshot cracked, and the window shattered.
But the tear gas still lingered inside, unmoving.
“Captain Su Li!” Lu Yuan shouted.
Su Li glanced at the broken window and immediately understood Lu Yuan’s plan. She raised the blade of her Scythe vertically and swung it like a fan with a fierce horizontal slash!
“Whoosh!”
The tear gas billowed out from the window in a rush as fresh air poured in, clearing their vision bit by bit.
“We’re… saved…” Lu Yuan panted heavily.
***
Watching the out-of-breath Lu Yuan, Su Li gathered her thoughts.
Too many traps, one after another. The risk was too high to charge in recklessly.
She pondered for a moment, then planted the Scythe’s handle firmly on the floor.
Frost slowly began to spread from the handle, creeping outward. Lu Yuan stared, dumbfounded, as the ice seemed almost alive, enveloping the entire apartment—except for the floor beneath her own feet.
“Since they’re mechanical, as long as the temperature is low enough, they’ll stop functioning,” Su Li murmured.
After all, Chen Xin was human, not a Magical Girl. Her attacks were mostly mechanical. Disarm those, and her threat would decrease.
Moreover, if the temperature dropped enough, Chen Xin would have nowhere to hide.
Right now, the whole apartment’s temperature had plummeted instantly to minus forty or fifty degrees Celsius. No matter how well Chen Xin hid, she couldn’t stay silent.
“Clack.”
Suddenly, a noise came from the wardrobe in the bedroom.
Su Li signaled Lu Yuan with her eyes to follow, and the two moved silently toward the bedroom.
Su Li yanked open the wardrobe door—and found it piled high with steel balls.
“What is this…?” Lu Yuan leaned in curiously. She couldn’t understand why Chen Xin would keep such things in a wardrobe. Most people would keep incense or something.
The steel balls began making “pop pop” noises, as if they were about to burst.
Su Li was stunned for a moment, then her senses snapped back. She immediately shielded Lu Yuan behind her.
“Bang!”
The steel balls exploded, sending countless shards flying.
Su Li blocked most of the fragments but still got slashed across the arm, leaving several cuts.
***
“Captain Su Li?!” Lu Yuan was shocked.
What was that just now? A grenade? But at minus forty degrees, the internal mechanism of a grenade would have been destroyed already! How could it still detonate?!
Su Li looked at the steel balls in the wardrobe. Most had cracked open, revealing several ice bombs inside.
It seemed Chen Xin had prepared these traps long ago.
“She knows me too well…” Su Li gritted her teeth and pulled out the metal shards embedded in her arm, tossing them to the floor.
These things… it looked like Chen Xin had sealed water inside high-carbon steel spheres as traps.
When Su Li used her powers, the water instantly froze, causing the steel balls to explode, creating shrapnel grenade effects.
Chen Xin knew Su Li all too well. Years of working together gave Chen Xin full knowledge of Su Li’s combat habits and techniques, while Su Li knew nothing about Chen Xin.
Suddenly, the TV in the living room turned on by itself, flickering a few times before showing Chen Xin’s figure.
Su Li and Lu Yuan heard the noise and came out of the bedroom.
On screen, Chen Xin sat in a simple room surrounded by guns and ammunition, nearly fully armed.
“Captain Su Li,” Chen Xin’s voice was calm, as if this was just a casual conversation and not a deadly game of chess, “I knew you would come.”
Su Li’s Scythe rose slightly, her gaze anxious. “Chen Xin, do you know what you’re doing?”
At this moment, Su Li wished Chen Xin was forced or controlled by Rose, but unfortunately, the moment she saw Chen Xin again, her mind already told her the truth.
Chen Xin was acting of her own free will.
***
On the screen, Chen Xin held a photo, her eyes soft like water. “Of course I know.”
The sunlight slanted across Chen Xin’s body, casting a shadow on the floor.
“We can still try to find a solution for your daughter’s situation,” Su Li said, trying to persuade her.
“Whatever the problem is, we’ll figure it out together,” Lu Yuan stepped forward.
***
“A solution?”
“What solution? It’s been ten years. I’ve seen every doctor I could find, even prayed to every god I could think of. What other solution is there?” Chen Xin smiled bitterly. “I’m a sinner, Captain Su Li. I know.”
“But I can’t turn back, and I won’t.”
Her words just finished when the TV abruptly shut off with a beep.
“Damn it!” Su Li punched the wall behind the TV.
“Captain Su Li… what do we do now?” Lu Yuan asked.
Su Li stared at the now-dark TV for two seconds, then suddenly turned and dashed for the door. “Get in the car!”
Chen Xin was definitely not in the apartment. The video call just made her location clear.
Throughout Tongmen City, there was only one place with such dilapidated, abandoned houses.
That was the Komen Suburbs.
And judging by the direction of the sunlight casting Chen Xin’s shadow on the ground, she was in an abandoned house somewhere to the north of Tongmen City.
***
The two burst through the door only to find the elevator already in use.
“We have to take the stairs…” Lu Yuan headed straight for the stairwell.
“No, that’s too slow!” Su Li said. “We don’t have to take the stairs, or the elevator.”
“Captain Su Li… what do you mean…?”
Before Lu Yuan could react, Su Li swept her up in a princess carry.
“Hold on tight!”
Before the words had even left her mouth, Su Li leapt down from the sixth floor, holding Lu Yuan tightly.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”