To help residents better understand the strength of the Failure Squad, the TV station aired a special VCR segment.
The Failure Squad members were shown training—running across the training field in their advanced exoskeleton suits.
Even in such a lightweight configuration, they managed to reach a speed of 100 km/h.
They also equipped strange-looking jet boosters to their suits, enabling them to fly at speeds around 60 km/h—and not just low-level gliding either, but real flight, soaring hundreds of meters into the air.
Yao Ruoning was mesmerized.
This was just too cool.
Few men—or women—could resist the allure of such badass tech.
As for how those jet boosters achieved such high thrust-to-weight ratios, or what kind of scientific principles allowed those exosuits to run at 100 km/h?
She had no idea.
And didn’t care.
Fatty Zhou and the others were drooling too, constantly exclaiming in awe.
Even though the Failure Squad was somewhat hostile toward magical girls, they couldn’t help but praise these beastly men and women.
Next, the news showcased the Failure Squad’s high-tech weapons.
One of them looked like an assault rifle—though with a large caliber—and could fire visible light projectiles.
The rate of fire was moderate, as was the projectile speed.
Still, it looked cool.
Like something out of Star Wars.
But something felt off…
The glowing projectiles looked eerily similar to the magical attacks used by magical girls.
If you hid the shooter and only saw the glowing blasts, anyone would assume it was a magical girl firing them.
They also demonstrated a capture weapon—a massive net gun that could fire an electrified net.
To show its effectiveness, they brought in a pig.
Once fired, the net completely ensnared the pig and electrocuted it so badly that… well… everything came out.
The voltage wasn’t enough to kill a person, but it was high enough to make them contort and twitch, maybe even make that… ahegao face.
Who this weapon was meant for?
Well… you don’t need a genius to guess.
That was the end of the demo.
They didn’t show any other equipment—clearly, they were still hiding some cards.
But even what was shown was enough to get their supporters fired up.
The broadcast returned to the press conference.
The Failure Squad members were giving their final statements.
“We will give everything for humanity!”
The squad leader pressed his right fist against his left shoulder.
“Drive out the demonic beings and magical girls!”
The rest of the team mirrored the motion, shouting in unison:
“Give everything for humanity!”
The press conference ended.
Yao Ruoning felt her phone buzz.
She’d just finished making a cup of milk tea, so she glanced at her phone.
It was a message in the Gold-Silver-Red Sisters group chat.
Xia Shiyao had asked:
“What do you think about the Failure Squad?”
Even though she was sitting just a few meters across from her, she still had to ask in the group chat.
Yao Ruoning didn’t reply.
She’d answer after work.
Late Night.
After getting off work, she changed into casual clothes and left together with Xia Shiyao.
About that question—what do you think of the Failure Squad?
“Hard to say. Based on my years of anime-watching experience, there’s definitely some big secret behind their energy weapons.”
— Yin Lin, flying high above in magical girl form, chatted with her.
The tech level of the Failure Squad didn’t seem to match the modern world.
It felt like they were decades ahead.
She and Jin Luan chatted in the air for half an hour.
Nothing important—just casual talk.
Then they split up and went home.
After de-transforming, Jin Luan slowly walked back to her house.
When she entered, a servant approached and whispered something to her.
She rushed to her bedroom, excited.
Next to the bed—was that a person?!
A quick glance—it looked just like Yin Lin!
Why was she here?
As Xia Shiyao stepped closer, standing about half a meter away, she finally realized:
This “Yin Lin” didn’t react.
Didn’t blink.
Because… there was no one inside.
It was just a silicone replica.
The craftsmanship was incredible.
Even though it was made of silicone, it looked almost lifelike.
From the shoulder width, to the arm thickness, to the face shape, and even the size of the bust—it was a perfect match to the real thing.
The magical girl uniform it wore was flawlessly replicated, not a single visible error.
Xia Shiyao rubbed her hands together and slowly lifted the skirt of the silicone Yin Lin.
She took off the panties and studied it for a bit.
Half a minute later, she crawled out, shaking her head slightly.
She recalled that band-aid she saw on the real one the other night, and compared it to the silicone version in front of her.
As she thought—there was a slight mismatch in that particular area’s accuracy.
But—
“No problem!”
She hugged the silicone Yin Lin and laid on the bed, rubbing her face all over the replica’s face.
Meanwhile, Song Wuli hadn’t made it home yet—something had happened.
He’d slacked off today, and instead of taking the bus, he used his magical girl form to fly home.
But just before he arrived—only a few kilometers from home—he suddenly sensed something.
A magic surge.
Far away—about 10 kilometers off.
He immediately dropped altitude, found a safe spot, took off his clothes, de-transformed, then instantly re-transformed into his magical girl form.
The outfit auto-equipped.
Then, he flew toward the source of the magical surge.
His shield had already been activated, and he stayed fully alert.
He also pre-charged an attack—nothing big, just 10% power.
When he reached an altitude a few hundred meters above the location—
He sensed no demonic beings.
No magic.
It was eerily quiet.
He began descending slowly, dual wands aimed at the ground—ready to fire at a moment’s notice.
One minute later, Yin Lin regretted her powerful senses for the first time.
She could see the ground in fine detail from high up.
Below her was a very ordinary street and residential area.
But—
A perfectly circular area had been cleared.
Everything within a 50-meter diameter was completely destroyed—cleanly, precisely, in a way that would satisfy the worst OCD sufferer.
It was too neat.
Like someone had pressed a 50-meter-wide silver coin into the area, flattening everything, even pushing the ground down over ten meters, creating a perfect, round crater.
Yin Lin landed carefully, scanning the area.
With only the moonlight to guide her, what she saw made her retch—she had to hold onto a wall and dry heave.
She wasn’t about to suffer this horror alone.
She took out her phone and sent pictures of the scene to the Gold-Silver-Red Sisters group chat.
As expected, Xia Shiyao saw it and also threw up—but she couldn’t bring herself to blame Yin Lin.
Huanhong, however, only saw the message the next morning.
One glance and she couldn’t eat breakfast.
She spent a full minute throwing up in the bathroom.
Morning.
The news crew arrived to report on the scene.
90% of the TV footage was covered in heavy mosaic blur.
Barely visible were funeral home staff, forensics, and paramedics, trying to piece together chunks of flesh.
Reporter Yu Wubo only lasted a few minutes on air before running off-camera to vomit violently.