In the dark corner, a mixture of bloodied sewage pooled on the ground.
Lu Liang leaned against the rock wall, breathing heavily.
Beside him, the half-dead Tentacle Monster slumped against Lu Liang’s side, its deadfish eyes staring blankly as it exhaled quietly.
Logically, these two should be enemies, but under the influence of the Magical Girl, they were unusually peaceful, their expressions remarkably in sync at this moment.
“Tch.” The Tentacle Monster spat out a mouthful of blood foam.
It was already close to death, so it didn’t care whether the Magical Girl would kill it or not.
It was using its remaining life to complain.
“These damn Magical Girls are all crazy—each one worse than the last. I don’t even know how desperate that old hag must be for achievements to want to use humans as trophies.”
After finishing, it waited a long time for the human beside it to retort, but seeing none, it turned its head with some struggle and noticed Lu Liang’s disheveled hair and dazed expression.
It seemed he was still trapped in the previous scene, unable to pull himself out.
“Hey, you—human, what’s wrong?”
After hesitating for a moment, the Tentacle Monster spoke.
“Is my life… over now? If I get caught, I’ll go to prison, right? I’m still young, I have so much time ahead of me, so many jobs to work. By the time I finish my sentence, I’ll be old, and society will have left me behind…”
Lu Liang’s mind was in chaos, his emotions tangled and worn thin, as if he had aged decades in an instant.
Moments ago, he had been inches from death; if he had reacted a moment slower, the Magical Girl would have beheaded him on the spot.
Brushing so close to death, the worst outcome flooded Lu Liang’s mind.
He would be captured by the Magical Girl—his identity discovered by the Government—imprisoned—his Younger Sister, as a direct relative, wouldn’t be able to enter the Magical Girl High School.
How could this happen!
Such a thing could never be allowed!
The shadow of death combined with the fear of the future suddenly overwhelmed him with a sharp nausea.
He crouched down, dry heaving, but nothing came out.
“Hmph, serves you right. Who told you to want to dismember and sell my body?”
The Tentacle Monster suddenly felt a burst of unpleasant cheer.
It laughed maliciously, the knife wounds on its tentacles causing it to grimace in pain.
But that didn’t stop it from continuing its spiteful laughter.
Then it heard Lu Liang continue:
“If something happens to me… what about my Younger Sister’s tuition? I promised my parents I’d make sure she becomes a Magical Girl… If I’m gone, who will support her?”
The Tentacle Monster stopped laughing, inexplicably feeling a bit guilty for mocking Lu Liang just now.
“You… human, you came to the sewers to raise money for your sister’s school fees?”
The Tentacle Monster asked cautiously.
Lu Liang turned his face toward it, tears streaking down, and nodded.
“What school?”
“Magical Girl High School.”
“Damn.”
The Tentacle Monster flicked out a tentacle in anger but stopped just before hitting Lu Liang’s face.
“If I heard you say that during my prime, I would’ve skewered you and cooked you like a string of sausages.”
“But now, hmph. Consider yourself lucky. While you were running, I sprayed a lot of ink to confuse the whole sewer. There’s my scent everywhere. That Magical Girl definitely won’t find us. Now hurry and run!”
At these words, Lu Liang looked at the Tentacle Monster.
As it said, its backside was shriveled and pitiful, no longer plump as before.
It seemed it really had sprayed a lot of ink.
“Alright.”
Lu Liang nodded, feeling much more at ease.
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest where his heart was.
Though he hadn’t known this Monster long, in a way, it had saved his life.
As Lu Liang moved to leave, the pain in his heart intensified, overwhelming him.
Could it be… guilt?
Stopping in his tracks, Lu Liang scooped the Tentacle Monster into his arms, preparing to carry it out and sell it.
His “conscience” immediately stopped hurting.
Oh, it wasn’t his conscience—it was his steadfast love for money.
Seeing Lu Liang’s intentions, the Tentacle Monster rolled its eyes, grumbling in dissatisfaction but said nothing more.
Though it still had a breath or two left to kill Lu Liang, as it said, it was close to death.
Dying at the hands of a rookie Scavenger Rookie was better than being used by a Magical Girl to pad her achievements.
Just as the two prepared to find a way out of the sewer—
Duang, duang, duang.
From afar, the sound of metal striking rock echoed unevenly, as if someone was hammering the rock walls.
“Could it be we’ve been found? But how is that possible!” The Tentacle Monster’s face went pale, color draining instantly.
In the unsettling silence, a soft, cute voice called out from the distance.
“Hehe, Pixing, I can smell them nearby; they must be right here.”
Following the voice, Lu Liang’s blood instantly froze.
At the end of his vision stood a white fairy resembling a rabbit, capable of human speech—what those familiar with Magical Girls called a White Familiar.
Familiars obey the Magical Girl’s commands and are responsible for interpreting and tracking Monsters, creatures from other realms.
The White Familiar scampered across the ground like a dog, sniffing for the Monster’s scent.
In the sewer filled with the Tentacle Monster’s pheromones, only the Familiar could guide the Magical Girl to the target.
Beside it, a Magical Girl in a pink poufy dress stopped hammering the rock wall, raising a huge butcher’s blade, her cheeks flushed deeply.
Her gaze was deep and far-reaching, extending along the dark tunnel to its end—until it met the eyes of Lu Liang, hiding in the shadows.
“Found you.”
The whispered words sounded like a coquettish murmur.
The flush on the Magical Girl’s face deepened as she closed her eyes gently, like a shy, naive schoolgirl saying goodbye.
But when she opened her eyes, her pupils were wide and bloodshot, filled with murderous intent and madness, shattering any illusions of innocence.
“Demonic Armament, Butcher’s Blade.”
With a manic laugh, the incantation fell, and the butcher’s blade in her hand transformed into countless knife shadows, floating around her on both sides.
From the void, faint sounds of blades clashing and swords whistling could be heard.
“Human, get out of the way!”
Sensing the impending danger, the Tentacle Monster’s eyes widened as it shouted.
But before it could finish, the knife shadows solidified in the air—countless massive butcher’s blades poured out like bullets, shattering the concrete wall before them into rubble.
Dust billowed as the Tentacle Monster coughed, crawling from the debris.
“This is bad. Didn’t expect the Magical Girl to bring her hound. Hey, human, looks like your plan to sell me is falling through…”
The Tentacle Monster glanced at Lu Liang and suddenly fell silent.
Lu Liang’s chest was pierced by a huge butcher’s blade, but the moment it reached his heart, it dissolved into specks of light—an imitation created by the Magical Girl’s power, but still capable of fatal damage.
“You…”
Lu Liang’s head lolled to the side as blood poured out like a fountain.
“Hey, human, are you okay?” The Tentacle Monster panicked, desperately pressing its tentacle over Lu Liang’s wound.
“You rookie Scavenger, how did you get hit so fast?”
The tentacle quickly became soaked with sewage and red liquid; the blood gushed uncontrollably.
The Tentacle Monster was frantic like a charcoal-grilled octopus, terrified that Lu Liang would die in front of it.
At that moment, it saw Lu Liang’s mouth opening and closing, lips moving; it hurried to listen.
“Monster… am I going to die here? Just became a Scavenger Rookie, haven’t even earned a dime… and now I’m dying here?”
He still had a Younger Sister. What would happen to her?
Thinking this, Lu Liang’s expression stiffened, as if making a firm decision:
“Monster… I heard you can heal yourself by drinking human blood.”
Lu Liang’s breath grew weaker.
“I only bought 200,000 in Accident Insurance for myself. I’ll give you my blood, Monster. Please, if you manage to escape, buy me another 400,000 Accident Insurance policy with my Younger Sister as the beneficiary. Her name is Lu Xiaoling. My name is… Lu Liang.”
Under the Tentacle Monster’s complex gaze, Lu Liang turned his neck, presenting his most vulnerable spot.
Closing his eyes, he felt his breathing grow more difficult, quietly awaiting death.
“Hmph, there are indeed those who can heal by drinking human blood, but unfortunately, I’m not one of them.”
The pain he had imagined never came.
Lu Liang opened his eyes in surprise to see the Tentacle Monster place a pulsating mass of suspicious flesh, resembling a giant alga ball, before him.
“This is Monster Cell.”
Before Lu Liang could struggle to speak, the Tentacle Monster explained hurriedly:
“It’s the thing you humans see on TV.”
“You don’t need me to say what it’s for. If you want to survive, eat it. The choice is yours.”
Lu Liang was stunned, silent.
At that moment, outside the rubble, the manic laughter of the Magical Girl rang out again:
“Hehehehe, got you! Are you dead? Dead? Dead yet? Dead yet?”
Hearing this, the Tentacle Monster couldn’t hold back any longer.
Struggling, it propped up its shriveled backside with its remaining tentacles, springing out like a rubber band: “Kids these days are so arrogant. Let me teach you a lesson, brat!”
Soon, the sounds of metal clashing and the Monster’s screams echoed beyond the rubble.
Lu Liang looked at the pulsating Monster Cell before him without much thought.
If people found out he’d become a Monster, his sister might never become a Magical Girl.
But if he didn’t become a Monster and died here, then she definitely wouldn’t get to be one!
With this thought, Lu Liang stopped hesitating.
He twisted his body toward the pulsating Monster Cell and opened his mouth, swallowing it whole along with the sewage!
…
“Pft!”
The Tentacle Monster was cut in half at the waist, its upper body stomped into the sewage by the Magical Girl’s foot, its deadfish eyes staring hopelessly at its submerged backside.
“Hey, Mr. Monster, where’s your friend? Tell him to come out quickly, and I can make this quick for you.”
The Magical Girl leaned on her huge butcher’s blade, asking innocently.
“Hmph, just a brat, thinking they can command me?”
The Tentacle Monster snorted coldly, stubbornly retorting.
Then it saw the Magical Girl’s heel crush the half of its octopus-like rear in front of it into mush.
Its deadfish eyes turned even more desperate.
“Don’t want to talk? Fine, it’ll just take a bit more time.”
The Magical Girl didn’t care about the Tentacle Monster’s answer.
Seeing it unwilling to cooperate and losing interest in further conversation, she tilted her head, raised the huge butcher’s blade, and swung it down.
But she didn’t cut off the Tentacle Monster’s head.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
The Magical Girl’s beautiful eyes suddenly widened. In front of her stood a new Monster, blocking her path.
Just by lifting one foot, it parried her massive butcher’s blade, preventing any further advance.
It was a Monster enveloped in black mist, its bulky form cloaked in suspicious fog that covered its entire body, with only a pair of blood-red eyes shining ominously.
“That’s enough.”
The Monster said, its deep voice laced with a chilling edge that sent shivers down the spine.