Apocalypse, then transforming into a magical girl

When Bomo led his terrified underlings back to their lair like stray dogs, they were met with an even more utter mess.

The doors to all the rooms were wide open. The mountains of food, water, and even useless luxuries that had once been piled up inside had vanished without a trace.

The ground was littered with crumpled and broken pieces of debris, as well as various packaging boxes.

All the hostages have disappeared; all the supplies have been taken away.

Bomo felt a surge of heat rush to her head, and her vision went black. This extreme anger—from being fooled, betrayed, and utterly stripped of everything—distorted her features.

"My things! My people! All gone!" Like a rhinoceros that had been completely enraged, she roared inhumanly and began to smash the worthless junk that could be found everywhere in the stronghold.

Her frantic curses and the ear-piercing sounds of shattering objects echoed throughout the stronghold, causing her underlings to flee from her side out of fear.

At that moment, a sudden change occurred.

A wave of scorching heat suddenly surged in from all directions. Immediately afterwards, acrid smoke quickly filled the entire space.

The flames roared throughout the stronghold, turning the entire shopping mall a fiery red.

"Boss—it's terrible! Fire! The whole outside is on fire!" A bewildered henchman rushed over, his voice distorted with fear.

All the loose, flammable materials that Zhao Jia had arranged beforehand were now completely ignited. Cardboard boxes, rags, and old wood spread like wildfire almost instantly.

The temperature rose rapidly, and the air became scorching hot.

"Cough cough cough... Damn it, they actually dared to set fire! Did they want to burn the whole mall down?" Bo Mo coughed repeatedly, choked by the thick smoke.

"Everyone, perk up... cough cough—those who want to live, charge out!"

Bomo roared and charged ahead towards the area where the fire was relatively smaller.

However, the situation outside the outpost was worse than she had imagined.

Zhao Jia and his men, along with Ah Long's former underlings and those who had just been liberated, armed themselves with various hastily assembled weapons and set up checkpoints at each exit of the stronghold.

Bomo's group of underlings were now completely disorganized. Faced with the raging fire and the well-prepared enemy, they were utterly thrown into disarray.

The thick smoke blinded them completely, and the scorching flames burned their skin. They desperately tried to escape, but one by one they were riddled with holes.

Relying on her thick skin and fearless ferocity, Bomo forcefully overturned several men who tried to stop her and rushed out through a gap.

At this moment, her body was charred black and covered in wounds, yet she could barely feel the pain. However, her survival instinct still drove her forward, using every ounce of strength to escape Zhao Jia's encirclement.

Still shaken, she stumbled and plunged into an empty shop outside the encirclement, leaning against the cold wall and breathing in the fresh air.

There was no one around her anymore. However, when she looked around the room, she suddenly froze. She wondered if she was hallucinating from inhaling too much smoke.

In the innermost corner of the shop, a familiar figure was limping along, seemingly fiddling with something.

The figure was none other than her missing treasure, that effeminate man!

The effeminate man's thigh was immobilized with a makeshift splint and bandages. Beside him were several canvas straps that looked like they had been taken from a fire hydrant.

He looked up slightly and saw Bomo. A series of complex expressions flashed across his face: astonishment, excitement, tension, resentment, and exhaustion.

However, he quickly adjusted, his face plastered with the familiar obsequiousness, and a surprised smile appeared on his lips.

"Sister Bomo! That's great! I thought I'd never see you again!" he exclaimed, feigning surprise.

All the anger and despair in Bo Mo's heart vanished the moment she saw the effeminate man. A layer of moisture even welled up in her eyes, which were red from the smoke.

She stumbled forward, her voice choked with sobs, "Baby! You're alright! Those bastards, they didn't do anything to you, did they?"

"No...no." The effeminate man lowered his head. "I escaped, and I was just thinking about how to escape through the window!" He pointed to the canvas strap beneath him.

"Great! Great! You truly are my darling!" Bomo was overjoyed; in her eyes, this was a stroke of good luck.

As long as she could escape from here, as long as the effeminate man was still around, there was still hope. She glanced out the window; it was only three or four stories high.

She seemed to have regained her former confidence: "Haha! Don't worry, it's a piece of cake! As long as we get down there, I can still lead you through a bloody path and take down those blind monsters!"

Upon hearing this, the effeminate man's face showed an expression of "deep gratitude," and he nodded repeatedly: "Then please... tie these strips of cloth properly first! I... I have difficulty walking, and I'm not strong enough."

"No problem, I've got it covered!" Bomo agreed immediately.

With her back to the effeminate man, she began laboriously winding the canvas strips around the window frame. As she tied them, she fantasized about how she would take revenge on Zhao Jia and Xia Zhaozhao after escaping, and reclaim everything she had lost.

However, just as she was envisioning a bright future, she suddenly felt a heart-wrenching pain in her back.

"Pfft—"

A sharpened steel pipe pierced through her chest from behind.

Excruciating pain swept over her entire body like a tidal wave.

Bomo's body stiffened abruptly, her smile freezing instantly, replaced by utter astonishment and disbelief.

She turned her head with difficulty, inch by inch, and saw the effeminate man holding the steel pipe. His face, which usually wore a fawning smile, now seemed completely unfamiliar.

"Why...why?" Blood and foam welled in Bomo's mouth. "I've never...mistreated you..."

"You haven't mistreated me?" The effeminate man seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world. "You beast, you have the nerve to say you haven't mistreated me! Do you know how disgusting it has been for me to be tied up here and forced to serve you, this pig-and-dog-like creature, like a dog every day?!"

He gripped the steel pipe tightly with both hands, and with all his might, he thrust it forward!

"Ah—" The steel pipe went even deeper into her body, and Bomo let out a muffled groan of extreme pain. Blood gushed out from her mouth and nose like a fountain.

She felt her life force rapidly slipping away, her consciousness gradually blurring, and the shadow of death looming over her. But even then, her already fading eyes were filled with resentment and malice.

"Fine...fine! Since you want me dead..." Bomo grinned maniacally, "then you won't live either!"

"Even in the underworld, you'll still have to be my slave and serve me for the rest of your life!"

With her last ounce of strength, she gripped the effeminate man tightly, like an iron clamp. Then, she jerked backward, pulling him along with her, and plummeted towards the hard concrete ground below!

Bomo exploded.

-----------------

Shortly after, Zhao Jia and Xia Zhaozhao arrived at the scene outside the mall after clearing out a few scattered monsters.

Bomo's enormous body had already covered the ground within a radius of several meters, emitting a pungent and nauseating odor.

At the edge of that pile of flesh and blood, the effeminate man's body lay in a contorted position. He was bleeding from all seven orifices, his chest heaving violently, and he was not far from death.

Seeing his miserable state, Zhao Jia's face showed a complex expression. He asked softly, "...Leave a name, at least let us remember you."

The effeminate man struggled to move his eyes, his cloudy gaze focusing on the two men. His lips parted as if he wanted to smile, but more blood and foam welled up from his mouth.

"Ha—I... won't tell you." His voice was weak, like the chirping of insects.

"From now on, whenever you think of my name, you'll think of the fact that I was always clinging to that...that guy. That's worse than death for me..."

After saying this, he seemed to have used up his last bit of strength, his head tilted to the side, and he fell completely silent.

-----------------

The fire that burned down the Bomo stronghold has now been largely extinguished.

The air was still filled with the pungent smell of burning and the acrid odor of dry powder fire extinguishers.

Thanks to Zhao Jia's prior efforts to clear away all flammable materials around Bomo's stronghold, the fire ultimately only reduced Bomo's lair to ruins and did not spread to other areas.

Fang Lian was holding a fire extinguisher, working with others to put out the remaining flames; Xiao Shen and several others were pointing and arguing, seemingly discussing which place to choose as their new base.

Meanwhile, Jiang Zi was meticulously treating the wounds of several survivors who had sustained minor injuries in the earlier chaos, while his father, Jiang Fu, assisted him.

Although the scene appeared quite chaotic, many people were doing what they could, and the beginnings of order were beginning to emerge.

A damp night breeze blew in from outside, dispersing some of the smell of smoke. Zhao Jia and Xia Zhaozhao stood side by side not far from the crowd, watching groups of people ahead begin to clear the fire scene on their own.

"Speaking of which, you're quite the rebel leader, aren't you? A reincarnation of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang? Remember that when you become emperor..."

"Pah! I don't want to be emperor." Zhao Jia glanced at him.

"I just feel that things are different here compared to Old Qian's place. They're either thugs or slaves. If we don't let them do it themselves, but instead have them switch to their magical girl forms to take down those two guys..."

"I think those guys will probably just cower in a corner, waiting for our next order."

"Oh, it's just like taking a newbie through a dungeon. If you just use your main character to crush them, they still won't know anything. The next time they encounter the same boss, they'll still be clueless."

As they talked, the two walked towards the direction where the crowd was gathering.

As they watched them come down the stairs, Fang Lian and his former underlings, including A Long, stiffened, their faces showing a mixture of awe, gratitude, and obsequiousness.

"Brother Zhao!"

"And also, the white-haired lady!"

"My name is Xia Zhaozhao!" Xia Zhaozhao shouted.

"Stop calling yourself 'big brother' or 'big sister' all the time. Bo Mo and Brother Long are both dead, and I'm not your new boss," Zhao Jia said with a smile to the people in front of him.

"Besides, we're just passing through, complete strangers!" Xia Zhaozhao added. "We won't be staying here forever; we have other things to do and are leaving soon~"

"What?" The square-faced man was stunned upon hearing this. "Then... what do we do?"

"Huh? What? What do you mean, what do we do? You'll have to figure it out yourselves."

"It's not that we won't come back, but you'll have to maintain order here yourselves," Zhao Jia added.

……

In the end, the former Brother Long's henchmen and the rescued civilians each picked a few representatives who seemed relatively intelligent and gathered together for a meeting.

Initially, the scene was quite chaotic. People from different backgrounds argued incessantly over interests and suspicions, and some even started forming cliques.

However, perhaps due to the invisible pressure brought by those two great Buddhas, after a long period of wrangling, they finally managed to assemble a makeshift team and come up with a few basic rules.

For example, it is forbidden to harm others without cause, and any form of internal fighting and looting is prohibited; food, weapons, medicine, etc., must be centrally managed; all healthy people must participate in labor within their capabilities...

Although these rules are still very crude and will likely encounter many difficulties in implementation, at least they represent an attempt to move from disorder to order, a new sprout emerging from the ashes.

Furthermore, regardless of the circumstances, people have at least reached one crucial consensus:

Those monsters are the real, imminent threat, while the previous infighting was just wasting everyone's lives.

-----------------

A new day has finally arrived after being baptized in blood and fire.

Having stayed there for the night, Zhao Jia asked before leaving, "How long will the food here last?"

Upon hearing this, the square-faced man said with a grave expression, "The situation is not optimistic. Those two beasts, Bomo and Along, squandered too much money before."

"Xiao Shen calculated that if he counted all the edible things and ate sparingly, he could probably last for about ten days."

"I understand. I will come back in ten days and bring you a solution to the food shortage problem."

"Really?" A look of surprise instantly flashed in the square-faced man's eyes.

"Of course it's true! Don't fight amongst yourselves again. If we come back and find you fighting again, I'll break every single one of your legs!" Xia Zhaozhao made a fierce expression.

"Oh, and also, the weather is very hot and humid now, so we should quickly gather the corpses together and burn them to prevent any plague from breaking out," Zhao Jia added.

"Alright, alright, let's go, GOGOGO~" Xia Zhaozhao pushed Zhao Jia, urging him to hurry home.

"How was your birthday?" Zhao Jia asked after walking a short distance.

"Wow! I forgot!" Xia Zhaozhao was stunned. "At first, I just wanted to go on the Ferris wheel, but then it turned into something more exciting: infiltration, betrayal, and arson. It was even more thrilling than a game."

"Of course, the biggest find is this!" Xia Zhaozhao grinned and pointed to a sack of comic books she had collected from the mall.