Chương 236: Judgment and Crisis

Looking at the strange expression on Ji Ying's face, Roland asked with some confusion, "What's wrong, Miss Ji Ying? Could it be that—Miss Xing Shuang's injuries haven't healed yet?"

Jiying quickly came up with a response. She gently shook her head and explained, "—That's not how it is, Director Roland. The reason Xingshuang wasn't involved in the plan yesterday was mainly due to tactical considerations."

"After all, I had Liuli act with me to lure Jingjue out. At least at that time, he thought I was someone who wasn't easy to talk to, but someone he could try to win over."

"If Xingshuang appears in that place with me, Jingjue will immediately realize that our relationship is unusual, and then we won't be able to enter the mirror space where Xingxian is trapped."

"So that's how it is—" Upon hearing this, Roland's worried expression finally disappeared, replaced by a knowing smile.

"So, Miss Xingshuang's body has actually recovered?"

"Yes, she fully recovered a couple of days ago." Ji Ying answered without hesitation.

"Perhaps she will become active again the next time the Void Realm infiltrates."

What Jiying said was actually the truth.

Two nights ago, the system had already notified her that the damage to "Tears of the Star" had been completely repaired, and she could transform into Starfrost again at any time.

However, she has been acting in the form of "Silent Shadow" for the past few days, and due to that frustrating reason, she is unable to revert to the transformation, so she cannot transform into Starfrost.

And to be honest, she's still having a headache about how to meet Ye Zixuan, who idolizes the original Xing Shuang, as "Xing Shuang".

Judging from the intense reaction she had when she heard the code name "Starfrost," if I were to appear in front of her in that pink-haired, twin-tailed loli form, who was less than 1. 4 meters tall, and then tell her in a blank and innocent tone, "Sorry, I don't remember anything," it probably wouldn't be so easy for her to accept it.

Perhaps, he might even be mistaken for an imposter who has disgraced the reputation of his predecessors, and get beaten up on the spot.

Roland was unaware of Ji Ying's inner turmoil. Upon hearing the news that Xing Shuang had recovered, he nodded with relief: "I'm relieved. Once Lord Xing Xuan has also recovered, the protective power of our Jiangchuan City will rise to an unprecedented level, and Jing Jue should find it difficult to make any big moves in the open."

"Hmm————" Ji Ying didn't know what to say, so she could only nod slightly, which was considered as agreeing with Roland's opinion.

Roland seemed to notice her distraction, so he didn't continue the topic. Instead, he sighed and asked, "But why would Mirror Lord, this Void Realm Apostle who has faced the kingdom's pursuit for so long and has successfully escaped several times, infiltrate Jiangchuan City?"

"What's with the unusual attention he's shown to that child named Liuli? There are still so many things I don't understand."

"I still have no clue." Ji Ying shook his head slightly, his tone becoming serious again.

"But one thing is certain: he's plotting something extremely dangerous. If I get any new information later, I'll share it with you immediately."

"Understood, the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs is the same," Rodin replied solemnly.

"By the way, could you also please convey to Miss Xingshuang that I hope she can visit me when she has time?"

"I want to see her and express my gratitude to her in person."

"————I understand." Ji Ying's lips twitched slightly, while he silently complained in his heart.

Or you can just tell me directly, I can hear you anyway.

Just then, a system notification sounded in her mind.

[Virtual world infiltration detected] [Direction: Due North, Coordinates ————] [Preliminary Energy Level Assessment: Erosion Level] Ji Ying's expression instantly became extremely solemn. She suddenly stood up from the sofa, her relaxed aura vanishing in an instant, replaced by a sharpness like a drawn blade.

"What's wrong?" Roland asked alertly upon seeing Jiying's sudden action.

"There has been a dimensional infiltration in the northern suburbs, far from here," Ji Ying replied in a deep voice.

"Your instruments will probably need some time to detect it, so I need to get there immediately."

"A Void Realm infiltration has occurred in the northern suburbs?" Although Roland was somewhat puzzled as to how Silent Shadow had learned of the news earlier than the Bureau of Extraterrestrial Intelligence's advanced equipment, he chose to unconditionally trust the other party's judgment.

He nodded solemnly and instructed, "Please be careful in everything."

"Um."

Ji Ying responded, and his body instantly transformed into a dark shadow, disappearing into the corner of the office without a trace.

After Ji Ying left, Roland immediately pressed the button on his phone to contact Qin Yue.

The call was connected almost instantly, and Qin Yue's capable and composed voice immediately came through the receiver: "Director, has your meeting with the guest ended? I happen to have an urgent matter to report to you!"

A sense of foreboding rose in Roland's heart, and he asked in a deep voice, "Hmm, has a void realm infiltration occurred?"'

"—Infiltration into the virtual world?" Qin Yue's voice sounded somewhat doubtful, but she immediately replied, "No, Director."

"I just received an urgent report from the security department that a large-scale riot broke out in a commercial street near the city center just minutes ago."

"According to the street surveillance footage they urgently retrieved, many terrifying humanoid monsters suddenly appeared there. Based on the initial description of the scene, they are very likely—highly evolved humanoids!"

"What did you say?!"

Roland jumped up from his chair, his face showing undisguised shock.

Downtown, commercial street.

"Xiao Li! Xiao Li! Can you hear me?!"

Liuli seemed to hear someone calling her name in her ear, but everything around her was shrouded in a thick fog, making it impossible for her to hear or see clearly.

Ever since Xingxian revealed the true identities of those monsters in a slightly hoarse voice, Liuli has been in a dazed state, almost as if her soul had left her body.

—Humans who were —transformed into Void Beasts— She had seen humans who had transformed into Void Beasts before. When she was on a mission with Yin Xue, she had also come into contact with some people whose bodies had mutated because they had secretly kept Void Beast energy cores.

However, the cases she had encountered before were only those with a low degree of virtual beast transformation. They could still be identified as human at a glance, their bodies had not undergone too many twisted changes, and they could even retain their rationality and communicate normally.

Instead of like it is now — Looking at the "monsters" before her, whose skin was an ominous grayish-white, whose joints were twisted in the opposite direction, whose ten fingers had turned into sharp bone claws, and whose mouths were constantly emitting meaningless roars, Ruri felt a chill run down her spine.

They looked like they had completely lost their minds, no different from real bloodthirsty monsters.

More importantly, when she and Yin Xue dealt with similar incidents before, all they had to do was restrict the movements of those beast-like humans and then hand them over to the special staff of the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs for further treatment and isolation.

Just now—if it weren't for Xingxian's timely reminder, he probably would have—mercilessly severed the neck of one of the "monsters"—personally—killed a being who was once human.

The thought of this possibility filled her with an overwhelming sense of fear and nausea.

Liuli mechanically wielded the ice blade in her hand, saving innocent civilians from the claws of those ferocious "virtual beasts" one after another from harm.

However, her attacks became unusually "gentle." She simply froze their joints with frost and summoned thick blocks of ice to restrict their movements, not daring to use even a little force, for fear of causing irreversible damage to them.

She couldn't bring herself to take their lives with a clean and decisive attack, just like she could with real Void Beasts. Her close-combat skills, which Xingxian had just praised during special training not long ago, now seemed like a huge joke.

Since gaining the ability to transform into a magical girl, she has never hesitated or wavered as much when wielding the ice blade in her hand.

Even though she knew perfectly well that if she just increased her effort a little, she could slice their seemingly hard bodies in half as easily as cutting through delicate tofu.

In fact, these "void beasts" are really weak, even much weaker than the lowest-level juvenile void beasts.

Their grayish-white carapaces were so fragile that a single heavy blow could crack them; their sharp spikes were like useless decorations, offering no chance whatsoever to her.

But it was precisely because of this weakness that Liuli felt from the bottom of her heart— They—still lean towards "humanity".

They still have a chance to be saved.

Gradually, in Liuli's unfocused, icy blue eyes, the monsters' claws, which were waving at her, began to blur, as if they were desperately reaching out to her for help.

The meaningless roars they uttered turned into cries of pain and resentment.

Her movements became increasingly hesitant, and her expression grew more pained and conflicted.

Finally, as yet another hideous monster roared and pounced on her, Liuli could no longer bear the torment in her heart.

She gasped and instinctively retreated rapidly, even forgetting to summon ice blocks to restrict the other person's movements as she had done before.

"Xiao Li! What are you doing?!"

A familiar voice, sounding unusually anxious and worried, suddenly rang in her ears, instantly pulling Liuli back from that confusing gray world.

A vibrant green figure flashed in front of her in an instant, first precisely blocking the monster's attack, then summoning several tough vines to firmly bind the monster to its spot.

After doing all this, Yin Xue turned around with a slight frown and looked at her companion who was still trembling slightly behind her.

"I'm so sorry, Yin Xue—" Liu Li lowered her head, not daring to look at Yin Xue's face.

"Also, thank you for earlier—" Yin Xue paused for a moment, then shook her head helplessly: "I don't want to hear your thanks or apologies, Xiao Li. I'm asking you, what exactly happened just now? Why did you back away?"

"If I hadn't intervened in time, that monster would definitely have hurt you!"

"I—I can't do it." Liuli still didn't raise her head, but said in a trembling voice, "Thinking that they were originally human, I—I—" Yin Xue took a deep breath. She knew her friend's kindness and understood her pain at this moment, but now— This is not the time to hesitate.

"Xiao Li, listen to me," her tone became more serious than ever before, "We didn't harm them, we were just using our abilities to restrict their movements so that they couldn't hurt those innocent citizens."

"As for whether they can be salvaged or returned to their original state, that's something that can only be determined later; it's something we can't judge at this point!"

"Right now, in order to observe the overall situation, Xingxian must stay in the air at all times to ensure that those monsters do not leave this commercial street and cause greater trouble. There is no way to use more power to help us."

"In other words, we can only rely on ourselves now! Do you understand?!"

"I—I understand—" Liuli took a deep breath, gripped the ice blade in her hand again, and then said softly, "Yinxue, go help on the other side. I—I won't make the same mistake again."

"1

"Are you sure you're alright, Xiao Li?" Yin Xue asked hesitantly, looking at her distraught appearance.

Liuli forced a smile and nodded gently: "Yes, I'm fine."

Yin Xue was still worried, but she couldn't stay with Liu Li forever. Just as Liu Li had said, the other side of the shopping street also needed her help.

So, she could only remind herself to be careful again before transforming into a streak of light and rushing back towards Xingxian.

After summoning several more sturdy vines to fix a monster that Xingxian had bound in the air with magic threads and was violently flung at him to the ground, Yin Xue finally let out a long sigh of relief and flew to its side.

"Thank you for your hard work, Yin Xue."

Even while talking to Yin Xue, Xing Xian's gaze never stopped sweeping across every corner of the commercial street. Occasionally, he would wave his arm and shoot out a few pale purple magic threads, precisely binding the monsters that tried to attack ordinary people.

As she performed her precise operation, she continued, "My magic threads are a simplified version of the unique technique created by Senior Starfrost. Its functions are far less comprehensive than Senior Star String."

"Especially when binding the enemy for a long time, the continuous consumption of magic power is something I cannot afford in my current state."

"So, we can only do it this way for now, with me in charge of precise control, and you having to use the vines you summon to restrict their movements, and then we'll decide what to do next."

"This is nothing to me; you're the one under the most pressure." Yin Xue shook her head, then asked with concern, "Xing Xian, how are you now?"

"We haven't fully recovered from yesterday's battle with Mirror Lord, and the special training we did during lunch break also took a toll. So now—" Xingxian said in a deep voice, "For now, we can still hold on, and we've captured most of those monsters."

"The field agents from the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs should arrive soon. At that time, we can hand them over to the professionals."

"Can they really recover?" Yin Xue asked softly, looking at the monsters below that were still struggling and roaring frantically, bound by vines and ice.

"At the moment—it's impossible to judge." Xingxian shook his head heavily.

"Whether a person can recover after being transformed into a beast depends on many factors."

"How much ethereal radiation he was exposed to, how deep his ethereal transformation was, whether he had an affinity for ethereal energy, and the subsequent treatment methods—these are all decisive factors."

"Therefore, the situation of each individual must be judged separately, and generalizations cannot be made."

Seeing the worried expression on Yin Xue's face, she sighed softly and then comforted her, "As a magical girl, it's only a matter of time before you encounter something like this."

"Yinxue, you've done a great job, even better than I expected."

"In short, don't take this too seriously. Leave the rest to the staff of the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs. They have accumulated a lot of experience in dealing with humans who have become highly virtualized."

"Hmm—" Yin Xue nodded gently, then said, "I'm actually fine, it's just—I'm a little worried about Xiao Li. She's been acting strange since just now."

"Xiao Li—she's younger than all of us, so it's normal for her to be like this. Don't be too demanding of her."

"I understand—" Yin Xue sighed and said, "Let's comfort her properly after this is over."

"Afterwards—that's for sure." Xingxian's tone suddenly turned serious.

"But until the incident is completely over, never let your guard down, Yinxue."

"Hey? Those monsters aren't—" Yin Xue was slightly taken aback, then immediately realized what she meant and asked, "Are you worried that this was done by that bastard Jing Jue again, Xing Xian?"

"Hmm." Xingxian's eyes sharpened.

"This matter and Jingjue's actions yesterday are too close in time."

Moreover, the sudden appearance of a group of heavily transformed humans in a downtown area is itself highly suspicious, and I find it hard not to wonder—is there some connection between the two?

"Jing Jue knows that I am in a bad state right now, and he also knows that once my power is restored and I join forces with Xiao Ying, he will have no chance in a direct battle."

"Therefore, it's not impossible that he would immediately make this kind of probe."

"If it really was that bastard who did it, then the current situation seems far too minor." Yin Xue's expression also turned serious.

"He must be hiding something even more troublesome in the future!"

"That's why I told you to be careful," Hoshino reminded him again.

"Don't let your guard down until the incident is completely over!"

"Okay, I understand!"

Yin Xue nodded solemnly, her gaze unconsciously falling on the deep blue figure not far away. Then, her eyes widened suddenly, and the expression on her face instantly changed from worry to extreme terror. Before she could even give a complete warning, Yin Xue had already transformed into a streak of emerald light and rushed towards Liu Li without regard for anything else.

"Xiao Li—Watch out!!!"

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