Chapter 171: Seeing Through Once Again

Luo You lifted the heavy object pressing down on the woman into the air and pulled her out from underneath.

She didn’t know any Healing Magic, but she did have an ‘Optimization’ ability—though she certainly wasn’t going to use that in this sort of situation.

After placing the woman in a relatively safe spot and notifying Qiu Yu and the others to come in for rescue, Luo You climbed up through the hole in the ceiling that had just collapsed.

Luo You didn’t intend to rush in to save people or subdue the criminals immediately.

Instead, she began to observe her surroundings.

At times like this, you had to check if there were any kittens or puppies around.

If she ended up facing off with the criminals, there was always a chance that some little girl or boy would barge in to save the small animals, and that would just complicate things for her.

Then, she reminded her teammates once again to standby either below or outside, not to barge in and cause trouble.

Finally, she checked to see if there were any functioning cameras in the area.

If she found any that still worked, she destroyed them on the spot.

If there weren’t any, well, her approach in a while would hardly be magical-girl-like.

After confirming these three things, Luo You began to observe the spot where the criminals were.

“Psionic?”

Hiding behind cover, Luo You caught a clear look at the three attackers and immediately made her judgment.

Now that Fusion Warriors had become the standard combat force for all the major factions, Psionics had started to show signs of fading from the stage of history.

They weren’t the best, but not the worst either—however, they still made up the largest number among special groups, so their crime rate remained high.

If these people were here for a robbery…

Even then, why would they choose a shopping mall for that?

Judging by common sense, this terror attack was likely a ‘Passion Crime’—a sudden impulse for a thrill, or simply lashing out at society.

Such people were usually just a rabble, easy to handle, but…

“Their moves are clearly amateur, and their technique is sloppy—except for one person.”

Luo You muttered, focusing on one of the three: a man wearing a sunhat.

His movements were extremely precise.

Unlike the other two who were rampaging wildly, he killed with brutal efficiency.

“Well, if I take care of him, that’ll be the end of it.”

Luo You pointed her finger at the trio’s rear—

“Residual Image Magic.”

One of the masked men, gleefully wreaking havoc, suddenly shouted at his companion: “Hey! Watch your back!” Instinctively, the other turned, didn’t even aim, and fired wildly as he spun, laughing and screaming, “Is it the magical girl? Come on! Let’s see how many you can save!”

Automatic gunfire spat fire as it riddled Luo You’s residual image with bullet holes.

As expected of a passion crime—garbage like this could be dealt with at a whim.

“No! That’s just a decoy! Watch your surroundings!”

The masked man in the sunhat realized something, shouting as he looked in the opposite direction.

At the same time, his eyes began to glow and the air in front of him surged violently, preparing to unleash a psionic power that would turn the entire Third Floor into a living hell.

But he never got the chance.

A pink line of light swept horizontally from below the line of sight, extremely fast and utterly silent.

It severed their legs.

As they tried to step forward, their bodies suddenly toppled, only then realizing their legs had been sliced clean through.

“Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh—”

All three dropped their weapons, their pained wails merging with this earthly hell.

The gap in fighting strength was too great.

Psionics were already no match for a magical girl, let alone one who wasn’t squeamish about blood.

“My legs…! My legs!! Aaaaaaaaahhh!”

“My remote control, where’s my remote control!? Here it is! Hahaha, since the plan failed, then you won’t live either! Die, magical girl!!”

A few more faint flashes of light streaked past—this time, their arms were severed as well.

Blood gushed forth like an artist’s brush, splattering across the ground, blindingly bright and vivid.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Their shrieks now drowned out even the screams of ordinary bystanders nearby.

One of them, panicked, yelled at the man in the sunhat: “What the hell!? Wasn’t it supposed to be a magical girl? Didn’t you say the Mobile Unit would arrive late? Is this something a magical girl can even do!?”

“Oh? I can’t just ignore that remark.”

Only now did Luo You step boldly from the shadows.

Yet even now, she kept her body shrouded in shadow.

“Were you specifically waiting for a magical girl to show up?”

But only the man in the sunhat still had enough energy to answer her—the other two were still shrieking in pain, which irritated Luo You.

She kicked each of them in the head, sending them flying several meters, knocking them out cold.

The Sunhat Man’s brow twitched furiously.

When he saw the white mask with gold patterns on Luo You’s face, his eyes widened.

He stretched out his remaining arm, pointing at Luo You.

“You’re Golden Scale! As a magical girl, how can you do something so cruel!?”

“Oh? So you could tell, even though I’m not wearing that explosively flashy outfit? Looks like you’re a diehard fan of mine.”

Luo You had no patience for more nonsense.

She pressed her foot down on his bleeding stump, applying pressure as she listened to his sobs of agony.

“Now, tell me—do you have any accomplices?”

“You, you did this—! I’ll expose you! I’ll make sure you’re utterly disgraced!”

Luo You activated her skill: Dance Party, stomping on all his severed limbs in turn with spinning, leaping force.

With every stomp, a gush of bright red blood spurted out, a sight to make one’s heart race in terror.

“In… on the Fourth Floor… Meat Freezer… we have someone guarding the hostages…”

The Sunhat Man, tears and snot streaming down his face, couldn’t help but spill everything.

“How many accomplices? How many hostages? There aren’t any bombs, right?”

“F-five… hostages… I can’t remember… maybe more than thirty…”

“Oh, well, you can go unconscious now.”

Luo You gave him a rewarding kick.

Then, she stepped over the bloodstained corpses, across the desolate ruins, past the pleading survivors, and made her way toward the Meat Freezer.

It should have been almost over at this point, but just as Luo You rounded the last corner to the Meat Freezer, she stopped in her tracks.

Ah… that’s a stench…

The stench of evil.

Luo You stared at the wall beside her, feeling as if an overwhelming malice lurked just beyond.

If she broke through, that malice would instantly taint her.

What could be inside?

A King-class Fusion Warrior?

Or perhaps a Super Bomb with a yield of over one ton of TNT?

Or maybe something else entirely?

It wasn’t that she feared any threat at this level—she was only concerned about the more than thirty Human Hostages inside…

Pa! Pa!

Luo You slapped her own cheeks hard.

Whatever it was, as a magical girl, she should charge forward without hesitation—“Nope, I’m out, let’s pretend I was never here.”

Without hesitation, Luo You retreated to a safe distance.

At the same time, she activated magic hidden on the Sunhat Man, ensuring he was thoroughly dead, and then called her teammates.

“Qiu Yu, you can come in and rescue people now. Remember, I wasn’t here today, got it?”

“Eh? Uh, but why—”

“Don’t worry about it. Just get in there and save them. Make sure everyone puts up Defensive Magic—there might be bombs or something hidden. Got it.”

“Got it.”