After the violent impact, what slowly materialized before them was a massive monster—over three meters tall, more than a meter wide, with bulging muscles.
It had no skin, no fat, the muscle fibers beneath exposed and dripping with blood, every detail clear to the eye.
A clear sense of being stitched together covered its body.
Its leg bones had five segments, no toes, but a massive foot formed from scattered bones supported its heavy body.
On such a giant frame sat the head of an ordinary, delicate girl.
Just like the previous Marionette Monster, the nose and eye sockets had been carved away, creating an eerie, disturbing sight.
Its broad arms were also divided into several segments.
Though the grotesque figure looked as if it might fall apart at any moment, it was perfectly suited for battle.
In the instant Jiang Yin snapped back to reality, a stitched-together arm swung down like a nine-section whip toward the silver-white car.
Anyone who knows the nine-section whip knows that its structure delivers a far greater blow than an ordinary fist.
Even a person who has never trained could easily crack a skull with it.
Although the car Jiang Yin and the others were driving was a bulletproof modified version, under such an attack, its only fate would be to become a compressed package, with the three people inside transformed into the most delicious tomato sauce in a monster’s iron hamburger.
“Boom—!”
The massive whip-like arm abruptly halted above the silver-white car, producing a thunderous roar but causing no damage.
Instead, the muscle tissue on it shattered under the immense recoil, bursting apart and releasing wisps of black smoke that sizzled, blending the aroma of roasted rotten flesh with stench—a nauseating combination.
A crimson bracelet on Jiang Yin’s wrist glowed with blue light, sustaining a lifesaving Magic Barrier.
At the same time, her left hand slammed the steering wheel, right hand shifted into reverse, and her foot floored the accelerator.
The silver-white car, wrapped in a blue barrier, engine roaring illegally, pressed forty tons of weight against the tires, generating massive friction as it spun within the four large craters the monster’s strength had punched into the asphalt.
With a jolt, it shot away from the massive creature, gaining nearly twenty meters in a blink before drifting elegantly to correct its course.
The enormous monster seemed drained from its earlier attack, remaining motionless, while a dozen ordinary Marionette Monsters sprinted forward with roars.
Considering that the biological structure of this thing shouldn’t even function as it did, Jiang Yin could only guess that the earlier strike had expended too much Resentment Energy, and it needed time to recover.
“Do we still need to get out?”
First came the crash, then being smashed by a monster’s fist like a battering ram, followed by a sudden airborne drift.
Though they weren’t injured, Miss Lu’s misfortune saw her head collide with the car roof again, stacking another lump atop the previous bump.
Still, for two ordinary girls to experience all this without fainting was already a miracle.
Their legs were weak, their voices powerless.
Only adrenaline kept them awake; telling them to run from the car now would be suicide.
“Forget it.”
Jiang Yin drove with one hand, using her right to tug the collar around her neck, then tossed it to Lu Zhizhi, who was still barely conscious.
“Take this.”
“Isn’t it a bit much to joke around at a time like this!?”
A collar, of all things—sure, she was interested in such stuff under normal circumstances, but to pull it out in a life-or-death situation was just absurd.
Lu Zhizhi couldn’t help but get angry.
“It’s a protective Magical Device. Detects attacks and activates automatically. Three-meter radius, ten-minute duration.”
Lu Zhizhi tore off her platinum necklace, put on the collar, and completed the swap in less than three seconds, demonstrating both quick thinking and proficiency with equipment.
Meanwhile, as unfamiliar sounds echoed around Jiang Yin, she felt none of the relief of escape.
Though it appeared she had blocked the monster’s attack with a Magical Device, the car had suffered internal damage, the engine emitted ominous noises, and wouldn’t last much longer.
The red bracelet on her right wrist had also dimmed, its stored mana more than half spent.
The Magic Barrier wouldn’t hold much longer.
Therefore, the optimal decision now was…
The white-haired girl executed a sharp drift, leaving a black arc on the asphalt, turning the car to park sideways and unlocking the door safety locks.
“Get out. Miss Lu, make sure you protect her.”
“…And you?”
“If the engine’s shot, and we abandon the car like this, we won’t get far in your current state.”
“….”
Lu Zhizhi was silent.
Then she quickly opened the door and stepped out, moving to the passenger side to pull Qv Si Nan—whose door was warped—from the seat.
Qv Si Nan, having just barely regained some strength, seemed to want to say something.
But Lu Zhizhi had already closed the door.
“Come back alive.”
“Promise~”
Jiang Yin flashed an ok sign, smiling as she started the car.
Qv Si Nan, leaning weakly on Lu Zhizhi for support, reached out helplessly.
She watched the battered car speed toward the setting sun, wanting to speak—but suddenly, her stomach heaved.
“Ugh—!”
Vomiting is the most powerless state for a human.
She couldn’t say anything.
She couldn’t do anything.
Even her fingertips had lost their strength, and all she could do was emit a rough, animal-like death throe.
Tears and snot mixed together.
Overwhelmed by helplessness.
——She could do nothing.
Stomach acid scorched her throat, bile traced a bitter pattern in her mouth.
With the last of her strength, through blurred tears, she looked to the end of the road.
Then…
“Ugh—!!!”
She could do nothing.
In every sense of the word.
The joys and sorrows of people do not truly connect.
Perhaps, in Qv Si Nan’s eyes, the girl charging a car into a mob of monsters was as tragic as a martyr throwing themselves onto a machine gun.
Yet this was the best strategy after careful consideration.
“Next time, I need to file a complaint with the Technical Bureau. Magical Devices that can’t be turned on or off freely are just too inconvenient.”
After all…
A forty-ton car wrapped in a Magic Barrier barreling at over two hundred miles per hour would flatten even a monster weighing more than a ton.
Therefore, this wasn’t a Don Quixote-style tragic charge against windmills.
Quite the opposite.
The ones who should be afraid were the monsters.
——To those ordinary Marionette Monsters, being rammed by Jiang Yin now was akin to taking a hit from a hundred-ton king.
Even that giant three-meter monster, Jiang Yin was confident she could shatter everything below its waist.
And this decision wasn’t made on a reckless impulse but from rational judgment—it was the most appropriate and least risky move.
Fully utilizing the remaining time of the Magic Barrier, and launching a decisive strike with the car’s last burst of speed to cripple the Stitched Abomination was the right choice.
Otherwise, once the barrier faded and the engine died, Jiang Yin would be left surrounded by monsters with Qv Si Nan and Lu Zhizhi, both nearly incapacitated—a complete disaster.
——Besides, even if this move failed, there was still Ning Rong’s prior warning that a Magical Girl would be secretly watching their backs.
She’d already done so much to prevent Xiao Zi’s position from being exposed—if she let the Puppeteer Hunter escape at the last moment, everything would be for nothing.
Maximum throttle.
Maximum speed.
Maximum Magic Barrier output.
All systems ok.
The white-haired girl screamed wildly.
“Crush it, Kelisina!”
“BOOM—————!!”