Chương 25: Reversal

Outside the door, the roars of the virtual beasts grew closer. Lin Che shielded the little girl behind him, his back pressed firmly against the metal cabinet in the storage room.

He lowered his voice and gently covered the little girl's ears with his hands: "Don't be afraid, this room is much sturdier than the last one, they can't get in..."

As if mocking his promise, before he could finish speaking, a deafening explosion rang out, the storage room door suddenly dented, the metal hinges groaned under the strain, and dust fell in a flurry.

Lin Che's heart sank to the bottom. Even though he had already moved the little girl to the most secluded storage room in the mall, these monsters were still chasing after him like sharks that had smelled blood.

Even more bizarrely, they seemed to be able to pinpoint their location precisely—as if the two of them were emitting some special signal.

"Big brother..." The little girl looked up, her face streaked with tears, glistening teardrops still clinging to her eyelashes.

"Will we die?"

This naive question pierced Lin Che's heart like a knife. He gritted his teeth and said, "You forced me to do this."

Now that things have come to this, he no longer feels much aversion to transforming into Starfrost. The only thing he wants to avoid is that so-called punishment state—just thinking about the possible scenarios makes him want to crawl into a hole.

However, at this critical moment of life and death, what does this little bit of shame matter?

With this resolve in mind, he suddenly roared at the system in his mind, "I don't want that transformation device anymore!"

[Warning: Discarding the transformation device will be punished]

"Whoever wants it can have it!" Lin Che continued fiercely, "I'll throw it in the landfill when I get back!"

He kept reinforcing this thought in his mind, even imagining himself throwing the transformation device into the incinerator with his own hands, and finally— [Host's intention to actively discard the transformation device detected; punishment begins] A pinkish-gold light exploded without warning in the cramped storage room. The transformation device defied the laws of physics and instantly appeared in front of Lin Che, maintaining a suspended state and emitting a dazzling light.

Unlike his previous shocked reaction, Lin Che calmly accepted the forced transformation, though his face was filled with utter despair: "Looking like this... how am I supposed to go to school tomorrow..."

His voice grew softer and softer until it was almost a soliloquy.

After the light faded, the little girl's round eyes widened— The older brother who had just been protecting her had now transformed into a petite, pink-haired girl. The star and moon embroidery on her skirt shimmered with light, and white stockings encased her slender legs. Her fluffy twin ponytails swayed gently in the aftershocks of the magic.

"Ugh..."

Xingshuang—that's how she should be addressed now—knelt helplessly on the ground, her pearl-white gloves clutching her skirt tightly.

Compared to the forced transformation last time, this time she seemed to be able to feel the effects of the punishment mechanism more clearly. Her mind was like being soaked in warm water, and her emotions became sensitive and sentimental. Even her anger was wrapped in a layer of sweet grievance.

Even more frightening is that some unfamiliar way of expressing herself is trying to take over her language system.

"No! I absolutely cannot say those shameful lines!" She struggled against the influence, but tears still welled up in her eyes.

An eerie silence suddenly fell outside the door. The Void Beasts were clearly unable to understand why the aura of their prey in the small space in front of them had suddenly changed from that of an "ordinary human" to that of a "moving natural disaster."

This overwhelming magical pressure caused them to instinctively retreat, their claws leaving messy marks on the ground.

"It's all... it's all your fault..." Xing Shuang's voice trembled noticeably. She tried to make her words sound fierce, but unconsciously added a feminine ending, "Why did you force me... to transform!"

By the end, she was practically sobbing as she spoke. The thought of not only having to avoid her family tonight, but also being forced to skip school on the first day of the new semester overwhelmed her with grief, and she slammed her fist into the warped door.

boom!

The magical ripples exploded in a ring, and an unlucky void beast that was directly facing the door was reduced to dust before it could even scream. In the dust, Xing Shuang slowly stood up, her skirt fluttering in the wind.

"You guys..." She sniffled, tears welling in her eyes, but she stubbornly held them back. This desperate attempt to hold back her tears was unexpectedly endearing.

"You're going to be in big trouble!"

As if in response to her declaration, a dense buzzing sound came from the distant passageway—more Void Beasts were being attracted by the commotion.

In contrast, the phantom beasts that had just been gathered outside the door and escaped the brunt of the attack exhibited a dazed state, like intelligent beings, and then began to retreat desperately, looking as if they had seen a ghost.

Starfrost raised her small hand, clad in a pearl-white glove, and a pink-gold sphere, larger than the passageway in diameter, appeared above her wand. The sphere's surface shimmered with adorable star effects, but its interior contained terrifying energy capable of vaporizing steel.

"Die!"

With a tearful cry, the ball of light shot out, and wherever it passed, the floor tiles, walls, virtual beasts, and even the dust in the air were all broken down into basic particles.

The blinding light illuminated the entire passageway as if it were daytime. After the intense light dissipated, it had turned into a dark red ravine in a molten state, with hot liquid dripping from its edges.

Xing Shuang clapped her hands, turned to look at the little girl who was already in a daze, and meant to say "It's solved" in a cool way, but what came out was: "Come on, let me take you to find your mother..."

"Damn it! This damn feminine influence!" she roared inwardly, but outwardly maintained a gentle smile and gently picked up the little girl.

At the edge of the illusory bubble, the mother remained seated, her voice hoarse and almost dry. She mechanically stared at the spot where her daughter had disappeared, like an empty shell devoid of her soul.

Listening to the evacuation sirens that kept echoing in the empty mall, she couldn't muster the slightest thought of leaving, until— A flash of light suddenly appeared beside her. She turned her head blankly, but her eyes widened in surprise the next moment: her daughter was being held in the arms of a petite magical girl, and the two figures slowly emerged from nothingness.

"Xiaoya!" She hugged her child tightly, tears welling up again in her already dry eyes.

"Thank you, Magical Girl!"

"You're welcome~" Xing Shuang subconsciously used a cute ending tone, then mentally slapped herself hard, "This is what I should do."

She gave a serene and elegant smile, her gaze towards the mother and daughter filled with tenderness, perfectly embodying the image of a magical girl.

"It's still very dangerous here, let's quickly take her to safety."

"Okay, I understand!" The middle-aged woman seemed to wake from a dream and immediately picked up Xiaoya, trying to rush towards the emergency exit.

After taking two steps, she suddenly turned back, her eyes full of gratitude: "Please be careful too."

"I will." Xing Shuang waved to the two of them, maintaining a perfect smile as she watched the mother and daughter leave. Just as she turned to return to the battlefield—

"Go for it, big brother who will become a magical girl!" The little girl's clear voice echoed in the empty shopping mall.

"Xiaoya, what nonsense are you talking about!" The middle-aged woman hurriedly covered her daughter's mouth, her gaze unconsciously turning to the spot where Xing Shuang's figure had disappeared, her eyes filled with a hint of confusion.

For a fleeting moment, she thought she saw the elegant and kind magical girl stagger.

"It must be my imagination." Without thinking too much, she picked up the little girl and left the nightmarish mall.

Inside the illusory bubble separated by a "wall", Xingshuang, who had fallen to the ground with a "thud", mechanically propped herself up and expressionlessly brushed the dust off her skirt.

Magic perception instantly covered the entire Void Bubble, sensing the aura of the distant Corruption-level Void Beast, as well as the two already somewhat weak magical fluctuations beside it. Starfrost's lips revealed an extremely cold smile that was completely opposite to her cute appearance.

Those small fry were not enough to quell her anger...