Apocalypse, then transforming into a magical girl

Chapter 212 is here!

Time seemed to stand still.

After roaring out everything he wanted to say, the dwarf was utterly despondent and collapsed to the ground, awaiting the end.

However, none of his expectations came true.

The bespectacled man, his former companion, simply stood there silently. The initial shock had faded, and he seemed to accept it all with incredible speed.

As for the black-haired woman, she didn't even bother to glance at this place.

She had already left and was interacting with her companions and the two monsters in some way.

All of this tormented him. However, faced with such overwhelming power, he dared not make any move.

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally turned around.

Then, still not paying attention to himself, he simply raised his hand and pointed to the patch of soil near the flower bed where he had buried his organs.

"Is this where you bury the bodies?" The voice was extremely calm.

"----ah?"

Upon hearing this, the bespectacled man instinctively shook his head.

However, he then added, "But actually, it's not that far off."

Bai Shuyuan's gaze met Sasha's.

Sasha immediately understood.

She seemed to have given orders to her two aggregates.

Instantly, the harpy and the harpy lizard received the command. Then, they took steps, walked to the patch of earth where the entrails were buried, staggered a few meters apart, and began digging a hole.

It was used to bury that enormous corpse.

Sasha watched with great interest, like a supervisor.

Then, she discovered something that made her a little proud. Haki's new ability, because of its instinct, was actually quite useful when digging in the dirt.

Each swing of its front paws causes the soil in front of it to collapse rapidly to both sides, like a hot knife cutting through butter.

And so, a huge pit took shape at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Sasha felt that this depth was enough to bury the obese corpse very, very deep, deep enough that nothing would be able to bury it anymore.

Dig it out.

In contrast, the harpy lizard next to it doesn't have such abilities; its job isn't even assisting, and it looks pitiful.

"Hmm, in that case, Haki's abilities are still quite valuable," Sasha thought to herself.

However, what bothered her was the constant hunger pangs that Hakiwang was transmitting, like microwave background radiation; it was so annoying.

Sasha frowned and immediately ordered Haki to be patient and not to touch the things buried nearby.

After all, through this period of observation and learning, she had come to know that people shouldn't eat "meat".

Moreover, humans don't seem to like eating raw meat that hasn't been cooked.

Unless—that piece of raw meat is sliced ​​extremely thinly, placed on an elegant plate, and served with something called soy sauce and wasabi.

What was buried there clearly violated both of these rules.

So, let Haki go hungry. Let him use up his biomass first, and when we get back to base, there'll be plenty of algae in the bank.

The two men, the bespectacled man and the dwarf, stared intently at Bai Shuyuan.

Bai Shuyuan knew exactly what they were thinking; their eyes, filled with confusion and fear, were easily read.

"The body is quite large," she explained succinctly.

The survivors had a lot of trouble digging it out, but it was just a piece of cake for the canine aggregate, nothing more.

However, this emotionless explanation left the dwarf, who was slumped on the ground, completely bewildered.

It was just a small favor? That's all?

But—why?

Why not do anything to myself? No punishment? No interrogation? Not even—no condemnation?

Faced with a murderer, a sinner, shouldn't we—

Countless possibilities flashed through his mind. Would they take him back to the stronghold and execute him to establish their authority, or...? The dwarf resigned himself to his fate. He dared not resist, nor escape; after all, the fate of that cat-like monster was still vivid in his mind.

He seized the opportunity and used all the courage and scheming he had ever possessed to assassinate that beast—that was his limit.

He is now just an empty shell.

However, Bai Shuyuan had absolutely no interest in any of this.

She was neither a judge nor a police officer, and had no interest in trying this guy.

More than these things, she cares about the truth, and the interesting or useful information derived from that truth.

The moment she first saw the headless corpse, she used her abilities to notice the condition inside the corpse's abdominal cavity.

In that instant, the general outline of the entire incident was already sketched out in her mind.

Now, Sasha has deciphered the anomaly in the alley and verified the killer's identity and methods.

Therefore, this place has lost all its research value and appeal.

"This is your own business."

Bai Shuyuan glanced at the two people and said this indifferently.

"Let's go back."

After saying that, she turned around and took the lead, heading towards the location of the stronghold.

After giving the order to her harpy and harpy lizard to stay put, Sasha started running to catch up with Bai Shuyuan.

Bai Shuyuan and Sasha arrived at the entrance of this stronghold.

The man on guard at the gate was taken aback when he saw them return, then immediately got up and ran deeper into the stronghold, clearly to report.

Not long after, an old man came out.

He was very old, with gray hair, and used a cane, making it seem difficult for him to walk.

Behind him, some survivors also peeked out and curiously observed the four people returning from the alley.

Bai Shuyuan's gaze lingered on the old man for a brief moment.

Unlike the usual post-apocalyptic rule where strength reigns supreme, this stronghold chose an elderly man with limited mobility as its leader.

This suggests that this small group of survivors may still retain pre-disaster social logic and some traces of human kindness.

The old man slowly walked up to the group, and Si Ping also noticed the strange atmosphere in the group.

It was easy to tell that something was wrong.

Although everyone returned, no one wore a look of joy at having solved the problem.

Especially that dwarf, whose face was no different from that of a dead man.

"Don't you understand?" The old man's voice was hoarse, with a hint of obvious disappointment.

But he still waved his hand, forced a smile, and said, "It's alright, it's good that you're alive, it's good that you're alive."

The bespectacled man remained silent, seemingly engaged in some kind of internal struggle.

His lips twitched a few times, and finally, he spoke.

He told everyone he had seen.

From Sasha's abilities to Bai Shuyuan's reasoning, and the dwarf's methods and motives for murder.

He spoke calmly, as if he were retelling a story unrelated to himself.

Subsequently, this outpost fell into silence.

Dead silence.

Then, the silence was completely ignited.

Shock, fear, and anger surged like a tide; arguments, accusations, and defenses intertwined and mingled.

Bai Shuyuan, of course, had no desire to get involved in this chaotic conflict. She simply stepped aside, remaining silent, pondering matters outside the dispute, waiting for them to resolve it themselves, or else she would take matters into her own hands and cut the Gordian knot.

She simply observed the outpost, noting the various irrationalities and inefficiencies in its resource utilization and defensive fortifications.

Let them finish arguing for now. After that, I can offer some advice, she thought.

Meanwhile, Sasha showed great interest in the argument.

She squatted to one side, tilting her head, trying to decipher the complex and ever-changing expressions on those human faces.

Anger, fear, pity, confusion. This time, she seemed to understand all these expressions, though she couldn't fully empathize with them yet.

and----

She felt that these expressions seemed more genuine than the sadness the dwarf had previously feigned.

The chaos did not last long.

The discussion was abruptly ended by the old man's forceful banging on his cane, and then the focus shifted to more practical issues.

For example, after the alley is secured, there's the issue of how to allocate the supplies in the warehouse.

After some time, the argument gradually subsided.

The old man with the cane slowly walked up to Bai Shuyuan.

He first bowed deeply, using all his strength to express his sincerest gratitude.

Then, he straightened up and got straight to the point.

"You can have 60% of the food in the warehouse."

Bai Shuyuan could tell from his tone that there was a deep sense of reluctance and heartache.

"We still have quite a few people here, and we need to leave some behind until we find new food sources."

He felt that these people had risked their lives to come here and solve problems they couldn't solve themselves, so they couldn't just give up everything, could they?

However, the only decent reward this base could offer was a warehouse full of uncontaminated food.

"Food is unlimited."

Bai Shuyuan interrupted him.

The old man was stunned.

He raised his head, his cloudy eyes filled with confusion and bewilderment.

Infinite?

What does this mean?

Bai Shuyuan did not offer any further explanation.

She chose to take direct action.

The hand wearing a black glove reached directly under the wide cloak.

When he reached out again, he had two bottles filled with a viscous green liquid in his hand.

Refined Chlorella.

The supercritical fluid extraction equipment, which was recovered from the health product factory, has already been put into use at the base.

Although production capacity is extremely limited due to its high power consumption, at least this deodorizing version of Chlorella concentrate is now being produced.

She handed one of the bottles to the old man.

The old man hesitated for a moment, then reached out and took it.

Under the dim lighting of the outpost, the liquid inside looked utterly unappetizing, even nauseating.

Seeing the mixture of suspicion and wariness on his face, Bai Shuyuan understood.

In any case, trust is a luxury in this era.

She didn't say anything, but simply unscrewed the bottle in her hand.

Then, in front of the old man, he drank the rather ominous-looking liquid in one gulp, without changing his expression throughout the entire process.

—Of course, she was the kind of woman who wouldn't even flinch when she vomited.

Seeing this, the old man's suspicion finally subsided a little. He also unscrewed the bottle cap and carefully took a small sip.

A strong, fishy smell of seaweed exploded in his mouth instantly. The texture was quite sticky, somewhat greasy, and even a little difficult to bite through.

It was definitely not a delicious drink, but as the viscous liquid slid into his stomach, the old man's intuition told him that it was indeed a kind of food.

Clearly, this stuff is enough to sustain life.

"This thing is infinite."

Seeing that the old man was finally willing to accept it, Bai Shuyuan explained further.

"However, in order to improve the food rations for our survivors..."

She paused, seemingly choosing her words carefully: "I would be happy to accept some of the food from the warehouse in exchange."

The old man just stood there, holding the bottle, seemingly unable to process the enormous amount of information.

Unlimited food?

He continued to listen to Bai Shuyuan's words, and the expression on his face gradually changed from fear at the beginning to a complex emotion mixed with worship and disbelief.

"What we're giving you is processed Chlorella. However, we can also provide you with this type of Chlorella as well."

The breeding methods.

"However, this type of algae, if left untreated, tastes quite—nauseating. It may require forced methods such as gavage to ingest it."

"However, this problem should be solved before your food runs out once we solve the energy issue," Bai Shuyuan continued.

"Of course, rather than relying on external supplies, I would suggest that you take the initiative to explore and deal with the aggregates near this stronghold to obtain resources."

"We will provide some homemade shotguns and matching ammunition, mainly simple dragon breath rounds."

"The only requirement is that internal strife is absolutely prohibited."

With the promise that the two cornerstones of survival—resources and security—would be initially resolved, Bai Shuyuan revealed her ultimate goal.

Teach how to prepare food? Provide weapons?

Was all of this real? The old man felt like he was dreaming. In this apocalyptic world, how could such a miraculous encounter happen?

"My only requirement is to survive."

Bai Shuyuan didn't offer any tender explanation; she simply looked at him quietly and said directly, "This is quite important."

"Try to avoid any casualties, and if you have any news of other survivors, try to rescue them."

"----ah?"

Ren was completely stunned.

However, she then thought of something else that contradicted her previous statement.

Although the bespectacled man had said that the woman in the black robe wasn't interested in their internal affairs, he felt it was still necessary to bring this up.

"Then you're a dwarf—we finally decided to exile him."

"After all, there's a lot of controversy within the base about how to deal with him. Some think he doesn't deserve to die, while others want him killed immediately—"

"In the end, everyone reached a consensus that he could not be allowed to stay here any longer."

After listening, Bai Shuyuan simply indicated that she understood, without agreeing or disagreeing.

However, she then seemed to suddenly remember something and unilaterally suspended the conversation.

She took something out of her cloak once again.

A strange golden box.

She spoke to the box in an extremely standard and fluent tone, using a foreign language that the old man couldn't understand at all.

"Even in death, I will love!"

Inside the Wuling Hongguang van heading to the Nani Hydropower Station, the noise pollution from the lion echoed.

For some reason, she was able to sing this song with a distinctly Northeastern accent.

The little green stool remained silent.

This woman sings very well when she's serious, but she never actually sings seriously.

However, at that moment, something suddenly came out of your communication box.

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Little Green immediately interrupted the one-sided concert.

"Miss Bai has sent a message!"

"Huh?" Xia Zhaozhao in the back seat immediately leaned over.

"Xiao Bai contacted us on her own initiative? That's rare!"

Xiao Lü nodded in agreement; such stools were indeed rare. Then, she looked at the piece of paper that had been ejected from the box.

"—It's about your new survivor base."

She looked at the paper and succinctly recounted the information Bai Shuyuan had sent her—from Sasha's wondrous adventure to the deduction of the murder case and the reactions within the base.

"—Huh? Useless hamster."

Xia Zhaozhao's first reaction was, "You."

"No, can't it transform into Hiromi's twin-tail form?"

"With such a great ability, why not just jump around and start grabbing wildly? What's the meaning of not knowing how to use it? What's wrong with its 'hagi brain'?"

It seemed to make some sense, and Xiao Lü found herself unable to refute it.

However, that was clearly not the point. She forcefully steered the conversation back on track: "What we're talking about is the handling of your man's situation at your base."

Bai Shuyuan said, "Then your man's information stability is not low. From the perspective of maintaining the stability of reality, it's always good to have one more living person. You can keep him."

"But exile and death should be no different," Xiao Lü added.

After all, you can't survive alone out there. So, should we put you with Fang Shou? Or—

Just as Little Green was pondering a resettlement plan, Lion gave you a disdainful, big yawn.

Then, he said decisively, "Send it!"

"----ha?"

"Why don't you just send it to me?"

"Oh, oh!" Xia Zhaozhao immediately understood and nodded.

"Oh right, you still have a bunch of D-level personnel here that you can use to raise poison! One more won't make a difference!"

"However," the lion's voice suddenly took on a sly quality, "simply sending one prisoner like you is rather boring, isn't it?"

'

"How about we send over all those homemade guns from your base as well? We'll need a whole trainload!"

"---It's true that our base has weapons in stock, even if you didn't say so, I would still give them to you."

"But do you really need that much firepower?"

"Oh dear, this is the rent for our little sister! Look how good and strong she is—" Lion said with a smile.

However, Xia Zhaozhao quickly realized what was happening.

"Wait, why did you yawn just now?"

"Huh? So you're sleepy, what kind of silly question is that?" Lion replied matter-of-factly.

"Wow! No wonder you were driving so erratically just now!"

Xia Zhaozhao's voice instantly rose: "Little Green, Little Green, hurry up! Help her stay energized!"

"Freezing cold on a mountain road? — Do you want her to jolt and crash the plane with us?" Xiao Lü complained.

"It's okay, we have our little sister to save the day!" Xia Zhaozhao said.

The wolf nodded.

—Wait a minute, when did Xia Zhaozhao start calling wolves "sister-chan" along with the lion?

Moreover, the wolf himself accepted this title as a matter of course.

Bai Shuyuan relayed the decision from Longshan to the person in charge of this stronghold.

When Deng heard that "this dwarf will have to stay here for a few more days before being sent to Longshan," a small commotion arose among the survivors.

Some people clearly showed their displeasure on their faces.

Bai Shuyuan can understand.

Making them live under the same roof as a criminal, even one with despicable motives, even for just a few days, is enough to make some people uncomfortable.

However, they did not refuse, or rather, they dared not refuse.

In addition, there are some people who think further ahead, but their lifespan has undergone complex changes.

They realized the hidden meaning behind those words: the person in front of them possessed the ability to safely transfer people across cities in the apocalypse.

On the other hand, they were having trouble even leaving their own base.

And then to think that they could so effortlessly clear out that alleyway that they themselves couldn't possibly clean up, that one that could only survive by clinging to the cracks of the rules —

The gap between strength and ability can only be described as tragic.

However, these people showed goodwill by uniting all the survivors, and said they would provide weapons and unlimited food.

Clearly, the outpost didn't offer any substantial supplies as a reward.

After a brief exchange of whispers, the crowd finally chose the only thing they could offer.

information.

Some scattered information about potentially useful or extremely risky locations nearby.

Finally, that person gave Bai Shuyuan a final warning in an unprecedentedly solemn tone.

"It would be best to stop heading south."

"If we head south, the monsters there seem to become even more terrifying."

"Hmm." Bai Shuyuan simply nodded. She had realized this herself.

According to the Shannon counter, the further south you go, the more precipitous the drop in information stability becomes.

And that direction you're heading is exactly the only way to the South District Cross-River Bridge.

Could it be that something even more powerful has already crossed the river from the other side?

In the end, I had to say goodbye to this place.

What needed to be processed has been processed, and what needed to be collected has been gathered.

Bai Shuyuan returned to the overpass and mounted the large-displacement motorcycle that the shopping mall had given her.

Sasha sat in the back seat and grabbed Bai Shuyuan's cloak.

The two aggregates, however, clearly did not have this kind of patience; they were simply running desperately behind them.

However, when they were still some distance from the base, Sasha in the back seat suddenly tugged at Bai Shuyuan's clothes.

Bai Shuyuan understood that she wanted to go on an adventure.