Apocalypse, then transforming into a magical girl

Maintaining the transformation is no longer necessary.

After another burst of light, Xia Zhaozhao's waist-length silver-white hair quickly shortened, turning back into her previous slightly messy, upturned black short hair. Her gorgeous combat suit also changed back into a loose black T-shirt, which clung tightly to her body due to the moisture.

That familiar sticky, damp feeling enveloped her once again. She pouted unhappily and tugged at the fabric that clung tightly to her chest and back, trying to let her skin breathe.

She looked up at Zhao Jia, who looked like the sky had fallen, tilted her head, and tried to find some words to comfort him.

"Well... it's not that bad, really."

She scratched her head. "So what if I lose my magic? Anyway... to be honest, I haven't really used it much since I gained it."

"Mainly because the magical girls in the next city are incredibly strong, and they're also very easy to talk to, so I outsourced all my work here..."

Before she could finish saying "I gave it to her," Xia Zhaozhao suddenly felt dizzy, her vision went black, and countless stars seemed to dart around in her field of vision.

Her knees buckled, her body swayed uncontrollably, and she fell straight down onto the cold, dirty stairwell floor!

"Hello!"

Zhao Jia was still reeling from her words when he saw her suddenly collapse. Almost reflexively, he rushed forward and caught her swaying body.

"Why are you dying?" He looked at Xia Zhaozhao, whose face was pale. "Didn't you say you were just going to become an ordinary person? Why are you turning into a dead person?"

Xia Zhaozhao weakly opened her eyes and said in a shallow voice, "No...it's nothing...it's just an old ailment."

"I probably... played games for twenty hours straight... didn't eat, and then did a little physical activity, so I got low blood sugar..."

"You call this nothing?" Zhao Jia was both amused and exasperated. So that's how he got those dark circles under his eyes all the time. He really was playing games with his life on the line.

He carefully helped Xia Zhaozhao to his home, let her lean against the sofa in the living room, found the shopping bag from before in the dark, tore open a pack of compressed biscuits, and poured some water for her to eat something to tide her over.

Xia Zhaozhao didn't stand on ceremony at all, taking the biscuits and munching on them like a hamster. After more than ten minutes, her complexion improved significantly, and her eyes regained some of their sparkle.

She swallowed the last bite of the biscuit, took a big gulp of water, let out a long sigh of relief, feeling somewhat revitalized, then sat up abruptly, raised one hand, and shouted with all her might, "Resurrect!"

After announcing that she had recovered, she seemed to suddenly remember something important and looked at Zhao Jia curiously: "By the way, what was that sticky thing just now? Why was it here? Did you mess with it?"

"You still haven't figured out the situation?"

Zhao Jia paused for a moment before slowly speaking, "...not here."

"I mean, it's not just here, that thing is everywhere in the city now."

"ha?"

She stood up, ran across the dark living room, pushed open the glass door leading to the balcony, wiped the condensation-covered glass window with her hand, and looked downstairs.

The crimson rain continued to relentlessly wash over the world.

By the last glimmer of daylight and through the thick rain, she could vaguely see many things moving in the murky, blood-red waters of the street below.

Similar to the creature seen in the hallway earlier, a twisted and grotesque black shadow staggered through the rain. Further away, there seemed to be even larger, more indescribable entities.

Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened unconsciously wide enough to fit an egg.

It took her several seconds to react before she suddenly turned around and ran back to the living room, grabbing Zhao Jia's shoulders and shaking him violently.

"W-wh-what's going on? I...I'm dead? I died from playing games for too long?"

"I was transported after death? And to some Cthulhu fantasy world?"

"No way—being transported to this kind of world is worse than being dead!"

Zhao Jia sighed, and after she calmed down, she told Xia Zhaozhao everything that had happened in those few hours.

"You didn't die, nor did you time travel."

He recalled his previous experiences, telling Xia Zhaozhao about the soaring humidity, the writhing thread-like things in the blood rain, and the twisted monster downstairs.

After Zhao Jia finished speaking, the living room fell into a deathly silence, with only the incessant sound of rain outside the window.

After a long while, Xia Zhaozhao finally understood everything and let out a long sigh: "It's over, completely over."

"Looks like there's no way to get you to that guy in the next city."

She looked up, her eyes fixed on the dark ceiling: "There are too many monsters downstairs, I definitely can't beat them. Even if I wanted to fly over, my magic wouldn't allow me to carry you for hundreds of kilometers."

"And with this heavy rain... if you get wet, bugs will grow, and it'll be impossible to find anyone."

She completely gave up thinking, couldn't help but let out a big yawn, and rubbed her eyes.

"I'm sleepy. I'm going back to get something."

"And please close the hallway door while you're at it."

"1".

A short while later, the sound of rummaging through drawers and cabinets came from next door. Five or six minutes later, she returned, having changed into a slightly drier T-shirt and shorts, wearing slippers, carrying a slime pillow that looked quite nice, and with an air conditioning blanket draped over her shoulder.

She walked to the sofa, threw down the cushions and blankets, pounced on them, buried her face in the cushions, and let out a long, satisfied sigh.

"It's still damp, but oh well..." Her muffled voice came from inside the cushion. "I'm so sleepy. Anyway, I still have one day until I turn eighteen. I'll just leave it at that and figure out what to do tomorrow..."

She shifted to a more comfortable position, lying on her side on the sofa, hugging the cushion tightly, her eyes half-open, and said to Zhao Jia beside her, "Um... I'm a little embarrassed, could you wait until I wake up before you go to sleep?"

"It wouldn't be good if another monster sneaked in and killed us both."

Although looking at her dark circles, it's clear she might really die from overwork if she doesn't sleep soon, it's amazing she can sleep in this situation; she's incredibly carefree.

"...You really are quite adaptable."

"Hehe..." She seemed to take this as a compliment, chuckling foolishly twice, then, as if remembering something, she said in a deliberately serious tone:

"And also, you're not allowed to touch me while I'm sleeping! Even though I'm almost expired... I'm still a magical girl, and I'm really strong!"

"Hmph~ If you dare to do anything reckless... Of course, unless a monster comes, then don't hold back, shake me hard and wake me up!"

"..."

A brief silence fell over the dark living room, broken only by the incessant sound of the torrential rain. Zhao Jia pulled up a chair and sat down, wary of any movement around him.

However, this calm did not last long.

About ten minutes later, the sound of someone turning over came from the sofa again, followed by Xia Zhaozhao's complaint, which was tinged with a heavy nasal tone:

"That... Zhao Jia?"

"Um?"

"I'm so sleepy, but I can't fall asleep..." Her voice sounded a little annoyed. "It's so hot... sticky and uncomfortable."

"Can't sleep? Okay, let me tell you a bedtime story."

"?"

"Just imagine that when you pushed the door open, it wasn't a monster standing there, but Old Man Sun. And then, you pushed the door so hard that Old Man Sun shoved you and hit the back of his head on the ground."

"ha?"

"Old Deng suffered a brain hemorrhage and was admitted to the ICU. His children came to your door demanding huge sums of money in medical expenses."

"etc……"

"Since you can't afford that much money, they put all your computer, phone, game console, all your electronics and accessories—even this pillow of yours—on a second-hand platform and sell them at rock-bottom prices. And that's not enough..."

"Stop! Stop! Stop—"

She hugged a cushion, curling up in a ball: "Thank you so much! I'm not hot at all now, I just feel ice-cold all over!"