Apocalypse, then transforming into a magical girl

The two left Old Man Sun's room and returned to Xiao Lü's rented room.

As soon as he put the things down, Xiao Lü deactivated his transformation. Almost the instant he reverted to Zhao Jia, a wave of exhaustion washed over him, and his body swayed uncontrollably, nearly causing him to fall.

"Hey!" Xia Zhaozhao reacted quickly, grabbing his swaying body and staggering herself under his weight.

"Wow, you look terrible! Go to sleep! I'll keep watch for you... even though it seems like it's almost dawn."

Zhao Jia nodded, hastily ate some biscuits and replenished his fluids, then collapsed onto the sofa in the living room.

Zhao Jia slept for a full ten hours.

When I woke up again, it was already noon the next day.

Although the continuous rain still shrouded the sky, which remained a sickly rusty red, Zhao Jia could tell that the rain seemed to be less intense than the night before.

The long sleep had relieved most of his fatigue, and he felt it was the best rest he had had in a long time—except for the omnipresent damp and sticky feeling, which still made him feel uncomfortable all over.

He sat up straight and yawned. Turning his head, he saw Xia Zhaozhao sitting cross-legged next to the sofa.

She was munching on the snacks she had just looted while engrossed in playing a game on a console connected to a power bank.

The oversized T-shirt clung tightly to her body due to the high humidity in the air, outlining the girl's shapely figure, which, if we disregard reality, could be considered quite attractive.

Hearing the noise, Xia Zhaozhao turned her head and saw that Zhao Jia was awake. Her eyes lit up instantly.

She immediately abandoned her game console and chips, yelling, "Holy crap! Zhao Jia! You're finally awake! Hurry up! Switch to air conditioner mode! I'm dying of heat!"

Zhao Jia sighed helplessly. A flash of light, and he transformed back into his green twin-tailed form.

"Ha—" A cool and refreshing breeze emanated from Xiao Lü, instantly dispelling the surrounding stuffiness and making Xia Zhaozhao let out a comfortable yawn.

"Ah—I'm saved! I'm going to give the Little Green brand air conditioner a five-star review!" She wanted nothing more than to pounce on the Little Green.

"...A meme will become a stale meme if it's used too many times."

Xiao Lü ignored her antics and turned her gaze to the corner of the living room where Xia Zhaozhao had roughly organized her spoils.

Various foods, medicines, and tools were divided into several piles, but it still looked somewhat messy. His gaze finally fell on the slightly worn radio he had brought back from Old Man Sun's house.

"Did you turn on that radio?" Xiao Lü asked. "What signal did you receive?"

"I tried it, turned it for ages, and all I got was a hissing noise," she replied, enjoying the air conditioning.

"Occasionally I can hear some intermittent broadcasts, but the signal is so bad that I can't hear anything at all."

"Have you tried all the frequency bands?"

"Yeah, yeah, I dialed AM, FM, SW, I dialed them all!"

"It's all just background noise..." Little Green said, somewhat disappointed. She then looked at the old map next to her, covered in markings: "What about this map? Have you seen it before?"

"Yes." Xia Zhaozhao nodded. "Too old, really too old..."

"Many places don't match up. The map even marks that old industrial area, but I remember that place was completely demolished five or six years ago..."

"However, the locations of several pharmacies and supermarkets, as well as a few... air-raid shelter entrances, were marked in red pen."

"We might consider checking out pharmacies, but forget about supermarkets. We've scavenged enough food to last us a long time."

"As for air-raid shelters... they're probably already flooded and turned into sewers, right? Unless you're a mermaid, they're completely useless."

"Actually, you can remove the last 'fish'!"

"How arrogant." Little Green carefully picked up the slightly damp map and examined it closely. She noticed some relatively new markings added to the edges of the map.

It appears to mark several roads leading out of the city, as well as the locations of several bus and train stations.

Xiao Lü sighed, "We might need it later, but for now... we know nothing about our surroundings, so running around aimlessly is pointless. We might as well stay here."

"...Indeed. Little Green, can you still sense the location of that guy who escaped last night?"

Little Green closed her deep blue eyes, concentrated her mental energy, and extended her consciousness to capture that faint, cold magical fluctuation.

"...I could sense a faint direction from which they were escaping, but it was very faint and intermittent, probably because we were quite far away."

"Excellent! Little Green is practically a police dog, its tracking and detection skills are top-notch!"

"?" Little Green wanted to tap her on the forehead, but gave up because he was too short.

She simply ignored her, turned around and walked to the window, pushed it open, and a gust of wind carrying a heavy dampness and odor blew in.

"The rain... seems to have lessened quite a bit." Xiao Lü looked up at the window. The crimson downpour that had been pouring down like a waterfall had now weakened to heavy to moderate rain.

Although it still blocked out the sun, at least it was no longer the eerie sight that made it impossible to even see through.

"Mmm..." Xia Zhaozhao also leaned closer to the window, "And those little black bugs in the rain... seem to have decreased significantly?"

Indeed, compared to yesterday, the density of the wriggling black nematodes in the rainwater has decreased, and they are no longer as densely packed as they appear to the naked eye.

With a thought, Little Green tried to activate her magic. The raindrops near the window instantly condensed into tiny ice particles the moment they came into contact with the magic.

Immediately afterwards, these ice particles gathered together as if attracted by a magnet, and quickly solidified into a thin, arched ice sheet.

Little Green carefully stretched her hand out of the window; the ice cap perfectly blocked the rain, and not a single drop fell on her hand.

"...Wow, so convenient!" Xia Zhaozhao exclaimed sincerely as she looked at the crystal-clear ice sheet.

Xiao Lü looked out the window, her thoughts drifting back to the battle that had taken place in the early hours of the morning. She frowned.

"Speaking of which... Zhao Zhao, do you remember? When did that intense mental pollution we experienced during our battle on the third floor finally end?"

"Hmm? Let me think..." Xia Zhaozhao tilted her head and pondered.

"It seems like it was... when we were beating that lousy boss to a pulp... when he started attacking himself? No, wait, it seems like it was a little later?"

"...That's too vague, isn't it?" Xiao Lü sighed and rubbed her forehead in exasperation.

"Oh dear, it was so chaotic back then, who can remember anything so clearly!" Xia Zhaozhao waved her hand impatiently, but still tried hard to recall:

"It was probably... maybe, possibly, seemingly, roughly... probably when you blew off the topmost head with that giant ice spear?"

She touched her chin with her finger and nodded: "Ah, yes, yes, that's right! As soon as his head disappeared, the whole ball of flesh completely crumbled! That feeling of being forced to go up and touch him vanished instantly!"

"So that's how it is..." Little Green mused.

"So, that intense mental pollution might be related to that head? In other words, that monster needs to devour a specific human to exert its mind control abilities?"

"If that's the case, we need to find it quickly and stop it from eating people... Who knows if it will come back for revenge? If it turns out like that again, it will be a real problem."

The two watched the rain outside the window in silence, their hearts heavy.

Xiao Lü glanced at the rain outside the window, walked to the supplies she had previously scavenged, found two disposable raincoats, handed one to Xia Zhaozhao, and kept the other for herself.

"Although I can keep out the rain, it's always good to be prepared."

"Hmm... okay, let's go."