Apocalypse, then transforming into a magical girl

The two stepped over the slowly dissolving black slime on the ground and walked out of the hellish room on the third floor.

The hallway was deathly silent, save for the patter of rain outside and the patter of slippers and boots.

The rain seems to have lessened compared to before.

Fourth floor.

Xiao Lü walked towards a half-open door, gently pushed it open, and the door creaked open. It was the typical residence of a single male office worker, with simple furniture and a faint smell of smoke.

The living room was piled high with takeout boxes that hadn't been thrown away yet, and a simple clothes rack stood in the corner, with a few wrinkled shirts hanging on it.

"So much instant coffee." Xiao Lü found a clean plastic bag and collected all the coffee sticks from different brands.

Xia Zhaozhao opened the refrigerator, which was empty except for a few bags of potato chips and a few cans of beer lying forlornly in the corner.

"Tsk." She showed obvious disgust on her face and closed the refrigerator door without any interest. "It's all cucumber flavored."

"Tasteless." Little Green grumbled, walked over, reopened the refrigerator door, stood on tiptoe, and struggled to reach out the beer and potato chips. "It's good enough that there's anything to eat!"

Moreover, cucumber flavor is clearly the best.

"This lighter looks really high-end."

"It's windproof, take it with you."

The seventh floor.

"Ah... so much foam and cardboard boxes..."

"No problem." Xiao Lü pointed to the senior citizen card on the coffee table. "Would you like to take this chess set with you?"

"Whatever, I only know how to play Gomoku anyway." Xia Zhaozhao shrugged and started rummaging through other things.

Then, Xiao Lü's gaze was drawn to the beautifully packaged tin can on top of the refrigerator. She moved a small stool over, climbed up, and stood on tiptoe to finally take the tin can down.

"Oh! Good stuff!" She opened it and saw that it was full of fragrant tea leaves.

"...Why are you always like this? It's so difficult for you to even pick something up. Could it be... that you've started to like this feeling? This is terrifying, so terrifying."

"...What do you think we're relying on for lighting right now?" Xiao Lü wanted to punch her, but seeing that she had the energy to joke again, she felt much more relaxed.

"Oh, right. It's all thanks to those little green light bulbs."

"And I think if I were to turn back, I would be so tired that I would fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow."

The tenth floor.

"Little green light bulb, could you adjust your reflectivity slightly?"

Xia Zhaozhao opened a box of what looked like a beautifully packaged health supplement and curiously flipped through the instruction manual.

"...Didn't you just steal a flashlight from the boss?" Little Green rolled her eyes at her.

"Too lazy to open one, it's so convenient to use what's readily available... Polymeric glycosides... What's that?"

Xiao Lü stopped fiddling with the unusually high-end fishing rod in her hand, glanced at the price tag of the health supplement, and her eye twitched violently:

"...Take it. Starch that costs 8,888 yuan a box is still starch, and you can eat it."

"Wow...this looks really expensive..." Xia Zhaozhao moved closer to the wine cabinet, looking at the dazzling array of red and white wines inside. "They look like they're worth a lot of money..."

"What is the alcohol content of this baijiu?"

"It seems to be... 53 degrees Celsius?"

"That's not bad, take it too, it might be useful for disinfection in a pinch."

Thirteenth floor.

"...This is Aunt Zhou's home." Xia Zhaozhao's voice trembled slightly.

She stood at the doorway, looking at the homey furnishings inside, her gaze finally settling on the slightly yellowed family photo on the wall before turning her head away.

With several plastic bags in her hands full, Xiao Lü quietly rummaged through the kitchen and found an old woven bag with red and blue colors.

She stuffed all the dried goods in the kitchen, such as scallops, sea cucumbers, and dried shrimp, that looked like they could be stored for a long time into the bag.

"Band-aids... Vitamin C... a few boxes of cephalosporin... this thermometer looks usable..."

Xia Zhaozhao found a small medicine cabinet in the corner of the living room, carefully rummaged through it, and picked out some medicines and medical supplies that looked usable.

Xiao Lü found a small notebook on the coffee table in the living room. Curious, she opened it and discovered that it was filled with all sorts of gossip about the neighborhood, written in neat handwriting.

For example, "That Xiao Wu upstairs is too introverted. He's over thirty and still single. I need to keep an eye out for him," or "Old Zheng's son next door improved on his final exams again. I need to go congratulate him," and so on.

Looking at these mundane, everyday records, Xiao Lü felt a mix of amusement and sadness.

Xia Zhaozhao stared silently at the notebook, thought for a moment, and then put it into the plastic bag in her hand.

"It's good to keep it as a memento," she said softly.

Fourteenth floor.

Pushing open the door to Xiao Wu's house, Xia Zhaozhao immediately exclaimed, "Wow!"

"This gaming chair...it's so much more comfortable than mine! It's a brand name product!" Xia Zhaozhao said enviously, touching the leather surface of the chair.

"And this graphics card is a whole level better than mine! Once my magic power recovers tomorrow, I'm going to move all of this back!"

"...What's the point of moving all this stuff now?"

"You don't know anything!" Xia Zhaozhao turned her gaze to the huge glass cabinet next to her: "So many game discs! This is ancient otaku stuff, too bad I don't have a CD player."

"...There's no electricity either." Little Green spotted several power banks lying on the table and took them all.

The two then went into the bedroom, where Xia Zhaozhao exclaimed in amazement once again—an entire wall was covered with model figurines.

"This one was already being resold by dealers for three or four thousand!" Xia Zhaozhao excitedly pointed to one of them and reached out to open the cabinet.

"There's no need." Xiao Lü pressed her hand down. "He's gone now, so it's fine to leave everything here. After all, we can come down and see him anytime we want."

"……Um."

Seventeenth floor.

After looting along the way, the two men's hands were already stuffed with all sorts of supplies, heavy with their own.

Fortunately, Green still maintained her magical girl form, making her much stronger than an ordinary person; otherwise, she really wouldn't have been able to lift these things.

Xiao Lü first returned to her rented room, temporarily placing the looted supplies in the corner of the living room, and then went to the end of the corridor, to the door of Old Man Sun's house.

Pushing open the door, a faint scent of herbs wafted out. Unlike the previous houses, Old Man Sun's home was exceptionally tidy, down to the smallest detail.

The floor was gleaming, and everything was placed in its designated spot with an almost obsessive-compulsive air. A schedule, accurate to the minute, was posted on the wall.

Xia Zhaozhao deliberately avoided looking at the old photos of heroic figures and high spirits on the living room table, but her attention was quickly drawn to another hardcover notebook on the table.

She flipped to a page almost without thinking, and her pupils dilated instantly, her expression becoming incredibly interesting:

"On June 1st at 11:05 PM, an unexplained noise was heard from room 1703, disturbing my rest. If this happens again, I will file a complaint with the property management."

Xia Zhaozhao's face twitched a few times, then she turned a few more pages, looking at the various trivial matters of daily life, and fell silent again.

Xiao Lü made a discovery on the other side of the coffee table. It was an open map of Xinmao City, covered in circles and drawings. It looked quite old, and next to the map was a radio that looked to still be working.

"By the way, Zhao Zhao, do you have offline maps downloaded on your phone?"

"How could that be...?"

Xiao Lü casually put the two items away. The map was old, but it was better to have something than nothing, and the radio might be able to pick up some information from the outside world.

The two were about to leave, but as Xia Zhaozhao reached the door, she caught a glimpse of a... machete leaning against the wall behind the door?

The machete looked quite old, but the blade was gleaming and shimmered with a cold light. Although it didn't appear to have been used much, it was clearly well-maintained.

She walked over, picked up the machete, weighed it in her hand, and found it to be of moderate weight and well-balanced.

Although the blade wasn't long, it was clearly much more effective at slashing in the narrow stairwell than her longsword and kitchen knife. She swung it a couple of times with satisfaction, making a whooshing sound.

"...Hmph, at least you're still somewhat useful, old man."