The night sky over Yunjing City was torn apart by a torrential downpour.
A pale figure streaked through the raging rain like a meteor flying backward.
Su Li’s pure white battle suit was already soaked through with rain and Disaster blood, clinging tightly to her body, outlining every taut muscle.
“Crack—!”
A giant centipede-type Disaster, attempting to scale a skyscraper, was instantly frozen solid halfway up, shattered into countless rigid chunks by the subsequent ice shards, crashing down with the rain onto the street below.
Her eyes were cold, her movements efficient and precise like a finely tuned machine, but her rapid breaths and distracted gaze betrayed the turmoil within Su Li’s heart.
***
“Tian Aixing! How’s the subway station situation? Any sign from Lu Yuan?” Su Li’s voice crackled through the communicator, urgent and barely audible over the rain.
“No good! Sister Su Li!” Tian Aixing’s voice was equally anxious, accompanied by rapid keyboard clacking and alarms blaring in the background. “That person you saw on the news—is definitely Lu Yuan, but I can’t track her magical power! It’s like she has none—”
“Captain Su Li.” Ling Yan’s tone sharpened sternly, “Do you need me to remind you of the consequences of insubordination? Yunjing City is bleeding. Every second of delay could mean more casualties. Execute your orders.”
“You are a Magical Girl, not a mercenary. Remember your identity.”
“Beep—”
The line was abruptly cut.
***
Su Li’s grip on the Scythe tightened, her ice-blue eyes burning with fury as she stood on a rooftop overlooking the chaotic city below. Disasters erupted everywhere, and distant cries and wails floated faintly through the storm.
She knew Ling Yan was right—duty called.
Over 70% of Disaster fluctuations in the city were disappearing at an astonishing rate. That was General Lingyan efficiently exterminating targets, bearing the heaviest burden.
But… what about Lu Yuan?
The one who was always stubborn yet soft-hearted, who would get irritated whenever Su Li overprotected her… she was now facing Rose alone.
“Damn it…”
Even the refined Su Li couldn’t help but curse under her breath, unsure whether at Rose or the damned situation and orders.
She swung her Scythe fiercely, unleashing a burst of frigid air!
“Rumble—!”
Within a hundred meters around her, raindrops instantly froze into countless icy shards, like a storm of bullets blasting into the swarming Disaster horde! They were riddled like a sieve in an instant.
“Stop bothering me!” Su Li was ready to go all out for a swift and decisive battle.
From this moment, she was truly the White Death God.
Her speed pushed to the extreme as she darted between city buildings, leaving behind cold afterimages. Wherever she passed, ice spread for miles.
All she cared about now was the fastest possible cleanup speed, terrifyingly efficient, driven by a furious urge to vent.
Each swing of her Scythe echoed in her mind: Faster! Even faster!
She kept trying to reconnect with Lu Yuan but only received silence in response.
***
The rain battered her face as Su Li fulfilled her duty to protect the city, transforming all her anxiety and worry into power to shatter Disasters.
Yet her gaze never left the woman a few meters away.
Rose sat atop an overturned security scanner, legs crossed, fingertips stroking a tentacle. A lazy smile played on her lips as she watched Lu Yuan’s desperate struggles.
Several sticky shadowy tentacles swayed behind her, occasionally lunging like teasing snakes, stabbing toward Lu Yuan but pulling back at the last second, the wind from their strikes slapping against Lu Yuan’s cheek in painful gusts.
“What are you still holding on for?” Rose’s voice echoed in the cavernous subway station, laced with playful pity. “Your reinforcements won’t come. Do you really think Captain Su Li can clear the feast I set up across the city in half an hour?”
Lu Yuan gritted her teeth, trying to muster even a shred of strength, but her body felt as heavy as lead.
All she could do was glare silently at Rose, her eyes screaming defiance without words.
***
“Tsk, don’t give me that look.” Rose chuckled softly, a tentacle snapping sharply against the wall beside Lu Yuan, scattering debris. “I know you’re buying time. It’s a smart move—your only move.”
She leisurely stood, high heels crunching over broken glass, each step edging closer to Lu Yuan.
“But you know what?” She bent down, her purple-black pupils locking onto Lu Yuan’s pain-constricted eyes, voice a venomous whisper. “I’m in no hurry at all.”
“The little cuties I planted all over Yunjing… they’re enough to keep the entire Magical Girl Headquarters in chaos all night. Especially that lofty General Lingyan. I’m not aiming to hold her off for an hour… but thirty minutes? That’s definitely doable. I bet she’s so busy now, she doesn’t even have time for tea.”
Her fingertips pinched Lu Yuan’s cheek. Rose’s fingers were damp, the cold malice making Lu Yuan flinch involuntarily.
“So, we have plenty of time.” Rose’s voice brimmed with the joy of total control. “I can take my time playing with you—let’s see if you bleed out first, or if your never-coming rescue arrives.”
A tentacle, like a lover’s caress, coiled softly around Lu Yuan’s ankle.
“Or…” Rose’s tone turned seductive, “we could play something else. Like telling me… why does Qing obey you so well? What little secret do you two share?”
Lu Yuan jerked her head away, eyes shut tight, expelling the last bit of strength into a single word: “Go… away!”
Weak, but resolute with a death wish.
***
Rose laughed, not angry but delighted. The tentacle tightening around Lu Yuan’s ankle threatened to snap her bones.
“I like a challenge. Hard bones to chew on.”
She straightened and took two steps back.
“Then, the game continues. Let’s see how you dodge next time.”
The tentacle rose again, coiled like a poised snake, aimed at Lu Yuan’s immobile body.
Lu Yuan shut her eyes in despair, her consciousness fading amidst the pain and cold. She knew Rose’s words were likely true—the outside situation must be terrible.
All she could do was endure this desperate cat-and-mouse game with her broken body and will, suffering moment by moment, waiting for that nearly nonexistent… miracle.
But those who believe in miracles are as remarkable as miracles themselves.
***
“Screech—”
The sudden sound of a bicycle’s brakes screeching echoed sharply.
“Bang!! Crash—!”
A bright yellow shared bike slammed hard into Rose’s back!
The attack bore no magical energy—purely physical impact—completely catching Rose, who was lost in the pleasure of toying with her prey, off guard.
“Ugh!” Rose staggered from the sudden blow, stumbling forward several steps before regaining balance. The tentacles behind her briefly faltered in confusion.
She whipped her head around. “What the—?!”
Who dared to insult her with such a reckless ambush?!
At that moment of distraction,
a disheveled figure in a suit dashed out from the shadowy subway passage, shouting hoarsely:
“Miss Lu Yuan!! Catch this!!”
It was Liu Zhe.
His expensive suit, still with tags attached, was splattered with mud, clearly having been running desperately all the way.
***
Using every ounce of strength, he hurled something tightly clenched in his hand toward the barely conscious Lu Yuan!
The object traced an arc through the air.
Lu Yuan’s unfocused eyes struggled to sharpen.
It was… the Transformation Crystal!
Her Transformation Crystal lost in the hotel, which she thought she’d never reach again!
By instinct alone, she summoned the last of her strength to raise her trembling hand and catch the crystal precisely.
“Snap.”
A faint, crisp sound.
The cold crystal landed squarely in her blood-stained palm.
The instant her fingertips touched it, a surge of familiar power flooded her nearly depleted body!
Lu Yuan raised the Transformation Crystal high and shouted:
“Transform!”