Cruel…

“Hey, Chengzi, don’t rush in so recklessly!”

Lilia waved her wand, casting two spells in succession.

One was a buffing spell that provided encouragement to her companion in the form of music, making their attacks faster and sharper.

The other was a simple sonic vibration. Compared to Ye Huasheng’s powerful wide-area attacks, this spell could only take out one or two stragglers.

Sister Lin had told her that her magic was more suited for support.

Compared to Chengzi, who could gather magic power into projectiles for powerful attacks, she at most had the ability to protect herself.

Therefore, she could only provide support from the back.

She had no complaints about this.

Compared to Chengzi, who was always at the forefront, she preferred to provide help quietly from the rear.

Because then, no one would notice her embarrassing outfit… This skirt is really drafty!

Sometimes, she really admired Chengzi.

She could wear these kinds of clothes and shout such embarrassing lines without batting an eye, even though she was only going into her second year of middle school next year…

But one thing she was very sure of was that Chengzi’s figure at the front lines was indeed very cool and reassuring.

But for some reason, today’s Chengzi was rushing forward with exceptional vigor, unleashing her magic even more fiercely.

At this rate of spellcasting, her own magic could barely keep up.

Yet, she rushed faster and farther, until only a single silver spider remained before them.

“See? I can do it by myself!” Ye Huasheng shouted excitedly, her eyes practically burning with fire. “We don’t need Leng Xuan at all! I can save the city too… I always could!”

The last silver spider trembled but didn’t pounce forward like its brethren.

Instead, it let out a strange cry and scurried towards a dark corner of the city.

Its dazzling silver body was swallowed by the night in just a few breaths.

Seeing this, Ye Huasheng was about to give chase when a hand reached out from behind and grabbed her. It was Lilia.

“Don’t chase it. Sister Lin is coming soon. Let’s wait for her.”

“Aiya, by the time she gets here, it’ll be long gone. I can handle it myself!”

With that, Ye Huasheng shook off Lilia’s hand and, before she could say another word, transformed into a streak of light and shot off into the distant darkness.

“You…!” Lilia looked anxious and was about to follow when a series of flashes illuminated her.

She turned to see a group of ordinary citizens running over, holding up their phones and cameras.

[Wow, the magical girl is so cool!]

[Are you a new magical girl too! May I ask your name? Is it Lilia?]

[Magical girl, look at the camera!]

A tide of people surged forward, taking photos of her without her consent.

Lilia was instantly flustered, her face turning bright red.

She wanted to leave quickly but found herself completely surrounded.

She could only hold down her skirt while dealing with the overly enthusiastic crowd.

Faced with a barrage of questions, all she wanted was to escape.

She wondered how Chengzi could face these people and strike poses without blushing or getting out of breath.

Just then, her peripheral vision caught something on the ground.

She noticed many tiny silver droplets rolling away into the distance…

Due to the alert, the entire East District was under lockdown.

There wasn’t a single person on the streets, let alone in this old residential complex.

This area was supposed to be demolished and redeveloped last year.

But because of an Anomaly, the investors went bankrupt, and it became a deserted, off-limits zone.

The silver spider crashed through the old buildings, scurrying about in a panic like a human.

But high above it, a dazzling light pursued relentlessly, occasionally firing a magic projectile to bombard it.

Finally, in a large open space, the silver spider was sent flying by the explosion of a magic projectile.

“Running so fast, what a waste of time.”

The light landed, and Ye Huasheng raised her wand high.

The moment the spider got back up, another series of bombardments followed.

This long-abandoned residential complex became “lively” once again, until the silver shadow was blasted into a shower of water droplets.

“Phew, mission complete!” Ye Huasheng deliberately turned her back, raising her wand high with one hand while tilting her head down at a forty-five-degree angle.

The fierce explosion served as her backdrop.

If a professional photographer were here, they could surely capture an award-winning photo.

“A perfect finishing pose. It’s a shame no one is here to see it, otherwise my ranking would have gone up again.”

Feeling the heat from the explosion gradually subside, Xia Cheng finally relaxed her pose and snapped her fingers in disappointment.

Despite her words, she was still quite excited inside.

This was her first perfect solo operation.

This afternoon, she had only been assigned to clean up stragglers.

But now, she had completed a battle all by herself.

Clearly, she now had the ability to fight independently, and she was getting closer to her goal of being on the first page of the rankings!

‘Also, I’ll show that idiot. Without magical girls, what a mess this world would be.’

‘An idiot who can only hide in a safe zone and give empty commands.’

‘When the news broadcasts this later, let’s see what he has to say!’

As Xia Cheng thought about this, she couldn’t help but start humming softly, already fantasizing about Bai Hai being at a loss for words under her questioning.

However, just as she was reveling in her own happiness, a sudden gust of wind blew over, giving her goosebumps.

Only then did she notice the desolate scene around her—

An abandoned, empty old residential complex, littered with craters from her magic.

A cold wind howled through the buildings.

Dark clouds slowly gathered, obscuring the only clear moonlight in the sky, making the area even darker.

Magical Girl Ye Huasheng shivered violently. She raised her wand and said, “I should hurry home. This place is creepy.”

With a wave of her wand, the girl transformed into a streak of light, preparing to shoot into the sky.

However, she didn’t notice that a nearby manhole cover had been buzzing for some time.

Just as she was about to leave, the cover was suddenly thrown open with great force.

An arm-sized silver tentacle shot out from the sewer and wrapped tightly around the streak of light!

“What!”

Ye Huasheng looked down in horror and saw a scalp-numbing scene—from all directions, silver droplets that had appeared out of nowhere were rolling into the sewer.

But when she looked closer, she realized they weren’t water droplets at all, but thumb-sized little spiders!

“Damn it, damn it, let me go!”

Ye Huasheng struggled desperately to break free.

She fired several magic projectiles, but her fear made her miss completely.

Suddenly, the mercury-colored tentacle tightened its grip on her legs and yanked hard.

The next moment, Ye Huasheng was overcome with an unbearable wave of dizziness!

Boom—!

The world spun, everything turning into a chaotic reflection.

The wind howled in her ears.

The light that was regarded as a savior was spun around by the tentacle and then mercilessly flung out, slamming onto the hard, dark asphalt road!

“Ugh…”

Ye Huasheng let out a pained cry. The sound of broken bones and internal bleeding echoed within her.

Her small body twitched on the ground.

If it weren’t for the fact that a magical girl’s physique was far superior to a normal person’s after transformation, and that she could quickly recover even from severed limbs as long as she had magic power, she would have been turned into a pile of mush after being thrown from a dozen meters high!

However, the pain was very real!

Ever since becoming a magical girl, Ye Huasheng, who had always fought as part of a team, had never felt such agony before!

‘Why is this happening…’

Amidst her groans, this thought subconsciously flashed through Ye Huasheng’s mind.

“Hiss… Hiss…”

Under the moonlight, more tentacles emerged from the manhole.

They looked soft but were incredibly hard, piercing into the surrounding ground and pulling a huge shadow out of the manhole—it was a giant silver spider.

The silver spider, over ten meters tall, emerged from the narrow manhole.

Its mercury-colored shell had a jelly-like texture.

Several tentacles on its abdomen waved in the air like a primate’s tail.

Countless spiders of all sizes crawled all over its body.

Its scarlet eyes, unlike those of the other Anomalies Ye Huasheng had faced, held a hint of cunning, human-like expression!

Anomaly: its meaning is “that which is outside the bounds of normalcy.”

They are not simply monsters, but an unknown that exists outside of fundamental laws, a strangeness that does not abide by any physical law of the material world.

Someone once said: As beings of the material world, we can never form a correct understanding of Anomalies. Therefore, no matter how many patterns we summarize about them, only one pattern is correct: there will always be Anomalies that exceed our understanding.

Clearly, Ye Huasheng did not understand this very popular contemporary “Anomaly law.”

At this moment, she had no time to ponder its true meaning.

She just frantically waved her wand, unleashing one powerful magic projectile after another, trying to destroy the monster before her!

Brilliant explosions shot into the sky.

Soon, half of the spider’s body was blown away.

But the joy on Ye Huasheng’s face didn’t last for more than a second before she saw the blasted flesh turn back into liquid in mid-air and rapidly reconverge.

In the blink of an eye, it was restored to its original state!

‘It’s useless!’

Ye Huasheng finally panicked, her eyes filled with disbelief.

She had never imagined that her magic would one day be ineffective, nor had she ever considered what other tactics she could use besides bombardment.

She had never thought that the invincible magical girls could one day be defeated!

The giant silver spider let out a low hiss, which was mixed with a very human-like, sinister laugh, almost like a form of mockery!

Ye Huasheng had lost all strategy and strength.

She could only mechanically fire magic projectiles, bombarding it.

Brilliant explosions followed one after another, but Ye Huasheng was completely unaware that this fighting style was rapidly depleting her stamina.

The giant spider faced the explosions, maintaining its state of being blown apart and re-forming, and then simply waved a tentacle from behind it.

Boom—!

A huge impact sent the petite girl flying, even knocking the wand from her hand.

Her figure flew over ten meters before bouncing three or four times on the ground and landing limply on the spiderweb-cracked concrete.

“Ugh…”

The pain from her body constantly stimulated Ye Huasheng’s brain.

Widespread fractures and internal bleeding made her hurt so much that she couldn’t even scream.

There was only darkness before her eyes, so she couldn’t see the silver spider waving its tentacles and lunging at her, its gaping maw like an abyss!

“Chengzi!”

Just in the nick of time, an urgent shout accompanied by a tangible sonic wave arrived.

The silver tentacle’s momentum was deflected, and a blue light quickly scooped up the fallen Ye Huasheng!

“Nan… Nannan…”

“Chengzi, don’t be afraid, I’m here!”