Lu Yuan was immersed in the soothing warmth of the bath, while Qing stood silently guard outside the door. This brief moment of tranquility allowed Lu Yuan’s mind to fully relax.
Suddenly!
“Ding dong——”
The hotel room’s doorbell rang abruptly.
Outside, Qing’s body stiffened, her pale green eyes turning toward the door, but she made no move.
Without an order from Lu Yuan to open the door, she remained rooted in place.
The sound of water stopped inside the bathroom, followed by Lu Yuan’s slightly puzzled voice: “Qing? Is someone ringing the bell? Has Liu Zhe come back?”
***
She thought it might be her manager returning after finishing some business.
Qing didn’t respond, nor could she—she only stared more warily at the door.
“Ding dong—— ding dong——”
The doorbell rang again, this time more urgently.
Lu Yuan wrapped a bathrobe around herself, drying her hair as she stepped out of the bathroom. Seeing Qing’s tense, battle-ready stance as she stared at the door, Lu Yuan also felt that something was off. “Who is it?”
She walked over and peered through the peephole before opening the door.
Through the peephole, she saw a young man in a hotel staff uniform pushing a cart.
“Room service,” the man outside said flatly.
“I don’t need anything,” Lu Yuan frowned.
“It’s an order placed by a Mr. Liu for Miss Lu Yuan,” the man said. “Are you Miss Lu Yuan?”
“Uh… yes?”
Lu Yuan was taken aback. Liu Zhe? Was he really so thoughtful?
As she hesitated, the man outside suddenly lifted his head and smiled into the peephole.
Those eyes… instantly turning into a familiar dark purple-black!
Rose!
Lu Yuan’s pupils contracted sharply as she stumbled backward!
***
But it was already too late.
Several jet-black, viscous tentacles, as if alive, burst through the crack beneath the door, striking toward Lu Yuan like lightning!
Boom!!
A tremendous crash rang out as the heavy hotel door shattered inward like it was hit by a battering ram, wood chips flying everywhere.
Lu Yuan was slammed backward, crashing hard into the wall.
Rose’s figure appeared in the doorway, her face wearing a cold smile. Her right hand was still extended from the strike, the black tentacles writhing behind her like living creatures!
A sudden, lethal ambush with no warning.
Amidst the shattered wood, several black, viscous tentacles, moving faster than the eye could track like venomous snakes, lunged straight at Lu Yuan—wrapped only in her bathrobe and completely defenseless on the floor.
Lu Yuan didn’t even have time to transform; she was forced to endure Rose’s strike in her untransformed state.
“Ugh!” A gush of blood spilled from Lu Yuan’s mouth.
That attack should have broken her ribs at least. Without transformation, a Magical Girl was no different from an ordinary person, and that single blow was enough to end her life.
***
“Maybe I hit a little too hard…” Rose murmured, stroking her tentacles as if speaking to a lover. “Well, whatever. I’m not interested in your powers anymore. You’re just annoying. Die.”
Rose lightly pointed with her finger, and a tentacle shot out like a bullet, aiming straight for Lu Yuan’s heart.
Just as the terrifyingly powerful tentacle was about to pierce through her, a pale blue figure suddenly charged from the side, knocking Lu Yuan away!
It was Qing!
At the moment the tentacle attacked, she reacted instinctively.
Protecting Lu Yuan.
“Pchhh—!”
A piercing sound echoed!
That most deadly black tentacle rammed deep into Qing’s chest!
Time seemed to freeze.
Lu Yuan stumbled and fell to the ground, looking up.
“Qing—!”
Qing’s body was impaled by the black tentacle, the immense force pinning her like a butterfly pierced on a pin.
But… the expected blood spatter never came.
Where the tentacle pierced, there was no blood, no bone—only a violently fluctuating, translucent blue gelatinous mass.
The gelatin seemed alive, trying to envelop the black tentacle and merge with it.
Qing’s face showed no pain; instead, a flicker of fear appeared. She lowered her gaze to the wound on her chest, then looked up at Rose, who was equally stunned by this unexpected scene.
When Rose found Lu Yuan, she had sensed the magic power of a mimic-type Disaster nearby—an experiment she had conducted—but she had thought it was just the Disaster energy she carried herself and didn’t pay it much mind.
But… this girl named Qing before her was the mimic Disaster that had gone missing in Tongmen City?!
And she had evolved to this extent?!
***
While Rose was shocked, Qing slowly turned her head to look at Lu Yuan, who was staring at her with a face full of shock and confusion.
For the first time, emotion appeared in Qing’s eyes. She was afraid Lu Yuan would discover her identity, afraid Lu Yuan would hate her.
Don’t be abandoned by Lu Yuan.
Absolutely not.
The cold smile vanished from Rose’s face, replaced by an expression of unbelievable ecstasy and greed.
“You… really did it?” Rose’s voice trembled with excitement as she stared fixedly at Qing. “Perfect mimicry! No! Even more perfect… you can imitate human emotions?! A miracle… this is the true miracle!”
She abruptly pulled her tentacles back.
Qing’s body staggered forward as the tentacle withdrew. The terrifying impalement wound on her chest began healing at a visible speed, liquid flowing back to rapidly fill the gap.
Her skin smoothed over, leaving only torn clothing to prove what had just happened.
As long as her Core remained, she wouldn’t die.
***
Lu Yuan collapsed onto the floor, her mind blank, staring blankly at Qing and the incomprehensible healing process.
Was it… to save her?
Qing… wasn’t human?
The one she’d been protecting… was a Disaster?
Rose’s triumphant laughter echoed through the shattered room: “Hahaha! Wonderful! What an unexpected bounty! Lu Yuan, it seems you’ve given me an incredible gift!”
Her joyous laughter reverberated in the ruined room as her eyes greedily admired Qing like a priceless treasure.
“Capture them!” Rose ordered. More shadowy tentacles poured out from behind her and from the room’s corners like a black tide.
Still dazed by shock and confusion, Lu Yuan stared as the tentacles surged toward them again, forgetting even to dodge.
Qing moved instantly.
She didn’t try to fight the horrifying tentacles. Instead, she lunged at the dazed Lu Yuan.
Before Lu Yuan could react, Qing’s body transformed into a large mass of translucent pale blue liquid, like a giant jellyfish, quickly enveloping Lu Yuan.
“Ugh!” Lu Yuan felt the sudden chill as she was completely wrapped in the cold substance, the sights and sounds around her blurring.
She could still breathe but felt as if submerged in the deep sea—a strange sense of suspension, no pain, only the sensation of being firmly protected yet restrained.
This was Qing’s true form, the original shape of the slime mimic Disaster.
“Trying to run?!” Rose’s eyes narrowed as countless tentacles stabbed at the slime wrapping Lu Yuan like javelins!
However, these tentacles, which could easily pierce reinforced concrete, suddenly slowed upon touching the slime as if trapped in a highly viscous non-Newtonian fluid, their strength dissipated in layers.
Though they pierced the gel, they couldn’t reach Lu Yuan in the core.
Taking advantage of the moment, the enormous slime mass didn’t hesitate—it sprang backward like a giant elastic jelly, hurtling toward the already shattered hotel window at high speed!
Crash—!
The already broken window was fully shattered, glass shards flying everywhere.
The slime encasing Lu Yuan leapt out from the high floor.
***
“Not if I can help it!” Rose rushed to the window, more tentacles shooting out like black giant pythons chasing prey, trying to pull them back from midair.
But during the fall, the slime changed form again.
Its surface quickly flattened into a huge glider-like shape, using the high-altitude airflow to swiftly glide away.
The black tentacles writhed wildly in the night sky, but they were one step too slow, barely grazing the pale blue gliding figure.
Rose stood at the broken window, watching the blue figure slide away.
“Slime… her name is ‘Qing’?” she murmured, her fingers trembling with excitement. “Lu Yuan… you really do keep bringing me surprises!”
From now on, Rose would no longer just hunt Lu Yuan—she also had to reclaim Qing, this perfect experimental creation.
The hunt would require a more meticulous plan.