If it were on the open surface, she could get there in about five minutes. With the Wind Barrier up, she could even cut it down to two minutes, maybe one. But the twisting Subway Tunnel made it hard to pick up speed.
Yin Lin had already passed the train that was set on fire and flew deeper.
She had crashed many times. Even at just 120 kilometers per hour, she kept scraping against the walls, unable to turn in time.
This time she had wasted a bit too much time. Not only did traveling take time, but supporting Jin Luan earlier had also cost her some time.
When she was still about one kilometer away, she was also spotted by a Demonic Creature. She slowed down and spent some time preparing.
Yin Lin’s mind was struggling to work as she scanned the surroundings to see if there were any other dangers.
She knew full well that the attack on the Industrial Zone was suspicious. The enemy had many schemes.
She just couldn’t figure out what arrangements the enemy had made.
She moved a bit closer, to a distance of 300 meters.
She found the three Demonic Creatures wreaking havoc, punching and kicking the factory buildings and machines to pieces. To be honest, their destructive power was far inferior to that of the Star Summoning Society members who had set the fires.
If those three kept up the destruction, they would probably take several days to demolish the factories within this several-kilometer radius.
Very inefficient.
So it seemed that the three Intermediate Evil Demons were indeed bait, a tactic to lure the Magical Girls here.
And it wasn’t to lure Huan Hong or Jin Luan, as they would have a hard time dealing with these three Intermediate Evil Demons.
This was a fishing operation specifically targeting Yin Lin.
So, what strategy would the enemy use against her?
In the art of war… which strategy was the enemy currently using against her?
As Yin Lin realized this, she began to grow nervous.
‘Lure the tiger away from the mountain? Besiege a city to strike at reinforcements? Let the enemy off to catch them later?’
Once lured here, what strategy would they use against her?
She racked her brains but couldn’t figure it out, until she sensed a vast aura.
A Cadre-level Demonic Creature!
It was here again. The aura was familiar—it was the same one she had encountered in the Dungeon before.
And it wasn’t alone. It was emitting a strange Mana source, the same thing that had been taken from the Dungeon.
Yin Lin immediately retreated.
To avoid excessive power, she had earlier stopped charging her Magic Power Cannon, keeping it at 80%.
Since a Cadre-level Demonic Creature had arrived, 80% was no longer enough. She had to fully charge.
Her combat sense had grown a lot over these past months, becoming more professional.
The tactic of running first was correct, but this time it wasn’t that simple.
After running just a few hundred meters, a strange Mana spread out in a circle, like a transparent sphere that enveloped everything within a one-kilometer radius, including Yin Lin.
‘What the hell?’
‘Another Heavy Gravity Pearl? Or a trapping Absorption Barrier?’
Yin Lin didn’t know what it was, only that she had to escape its range.
No matter what move the enemy made, it certainly wasn’t for her benefit, and it didn’t seem like they wanted a friendly conversation.
Just as she was about to fly out of the one-kilometer range, her body suddenly fell into a semi-out-of-control state. She couldn’t fly forward anymore; instead, she kept moving backward.
The strangest thing was that she didn’t experience the inertia that Physics would dictate. She stopped instantly and started flying backwards.
Yet her body still maintained the posture of flying forward.
Her silver hair didn’t show any signs of blowing in the opposite direction either.
Yin Lin gave the impression of flying forward, yet her body kept moving backward.
Her own sensation was also strange. It was like the feeling of flying forward from a few seconds ago was being recreated, with every action identical.
She remembered a term that was popular decades ago during the VCD era:
Rewind.
She indeed felt that way. Her mind was unaffected, but her body was being rewound like a Puppet.
She couldn’t even control her eyeballs; they maintained the viewing angle from when she was flying just now.
She was rewound from a position over 900 meters to a position only about 300 meters from the Demonic Creature.
It took the same amount of time to rewind back as it had taken to go forward.
Suddenly, she regained control of her body.
Terrified, she continued flying, retreating forward again.
So, a few seconds later, she was pulled back again, encountering the Rewind once more.
This time, she took the opportunity to observe the surroundings.
Her own Magic Power Cannon’s charge level was also being rewound.
It had reached 86% charge, but with the Rewind, it went back to 80%.
The flames that had just started burning from the Demonic Creature’s destruction were also rewound to one second ago, turning back into small fires.
The rocks that had been thrown around also rewound backward.
After being pulled back again, Yin Lin shouted instinctively:
“Damn! That’s impressive!”
Then she flew away for the third time. When she reached 800 meters, she was rewound again, and her mouth automatically opened to say the same words in reverse.
But she noticed something funny, and it made her laugh.
When speaking the sentence backwards, it wasn’t something like “modnar siht s’tahW,” but rather sounded like an alien language, something like:
“iab……nIu……em……enz……”
When she was pulled back for the third time, it really made her laugh. While laughing, she tried to escape for the fourth time.
Of course, she was pulled back again and forced to laugh another round.
‘Fine, I give up.’
She stood at attention in midair, staring at the Cadre-level Demonic Creature about a hundred meters away.
This time, she didn’t fly away, and the Demonic Creature didn’t use the Rewind magic again.
She had thought the other party might want to talk, and that something friendly might happen.
But then the thing suddenly charged at her, kicking off with a burst of speed.
By the time Yin Lin reacted, it had already covered 50 meters.
She quickly started flying, also escaping.
As she accelerated, her speed was about to surpass the Demonic Creature’s, allowing her to escape its attack range.
Just then, the Cadre-level Demonic Creature activated that mysterious technique again.
Everything around them began to rewind again, including the creature itself.
‘No end to this, buddy. This tug-of-war starts again.’
The Cadre-level Demonic Creature also looked extremely strained; it was clearly not having a good time.
This magic was definitely not that simple. In the past, it had easily handled any target.
But Yin Lin was an exception.
What the Demonic Creature didn’t know was that Yin Lin’s resistance was very high.
She could move slowly in a Time Stop environment; even Diamond’s Time Stop hadn’t fully trapped her.
Here in the Subway Tunnel, the Cadre-level Demonic Creature seemed to be using a time-related magic as well.
Facing Yin Lin’s ultra-high resistance, this move seemed a bit comical.
Like they were performing a comedy sketch.
Because it couldn’t close the distance with Yin Lin, they looked like they were putting on a comedy sketch.
So, time was rewound again.
This time, it rewound to the moment when Yin Lin had just arrived at the scene, before the Cadre-level Demonic Creature appeared.
The three Demonic Creatures were still wreaking havoc, and Yin Lin had just arrived, still observing the scene.
Though her body was rewound, the contents of her mind remained. She remembered clearly what had just happened.
So she didn’t need to observe anymore. She immediately fled!
But after flying just a few dozen meters, the aura of the Cadre-level Demonic Creature appeared behind her again.
That thing appeared again, this time instantly close by, instead of a hundred meters away.