Apocalypse, then transforming into a magical girl

Several figures dressed in outdated No. 3 Middle School uniforms were approaching the three people with the same stiff posture.

Their faces were as if they had been erased, devoid of any features, leaving only an unsettling smoothness.

Little Green took a deep breath.

She extended her finger, channeling the surrounding magic. An ice spike materialized out of thin air, and she tentatively shot it towards the faceless figure in the center.

The icicle pierced through the figure as if passing through a thin mist, and finally dissipated into the air without leaving any trace.

"As expected," Little Green muttered to herself. This kind of thing has no physical form.

"The energy fluctuations are no different from before. I think what you encountered was just an illusion, lacking physical cohesion." Bai Shuyuan's eyes remained closed, her voice cold.

"Even though I know it's an illusion, for some reason, I still feel a chill down my spine..." Xia Zhaozhao swallowed and said weakly, "I've played a lot of horror games..."

"I can feel it too." Xiao Lü's tone was also somewhat solemn. "As soon as my eyes meet their faces, a chill involuntarily rises in my heart."

"...I think this thing can directly trigger our inner fears."

"It's possible. Please don't let your guard down just because they are illusions," Bai Shuyuan's voice rang out again.

"Even if they cannot directly cause physical harm, prolonged exposure to this high-intensity cognitive interference will still affect mental interference."

The faceless men did not react to Little Green's attack. They continued to approach the three of them with unhurried, synchronized steps.

Their smooth faces even turned in unison towards the three of them, giving Xiao Lü and Xia Zhaozhao a chilling sense of being stared at.

"Let's retreat first." Xiao Lü pulled Bai Shuyuan and walked back the way they came, trying to distance themselves from these strange faceless people.

As she turned and backed away, Xia Zhaozhao glanced casually at a classroom next door.

However, in that brief moment, a clear image came into her view.

In the classroom, a girl wearing the same outdated No. 3 Middle School uniform and with a neat ponytail was sitting quietly on her desk.

The girl seemed to notice Xia Zhaozhao's gaze and turned around.

She...has a face?

"Little Green, look!" Xia Zhaozhao suddenly pointed in that direction, "There's someone there! She has a face... Ah, she's gone?"

Almost at the same moment Xia Zhaozhao pointed in that direction, the girl's figure vanished instantly, as if she had never existed.

"I didn't see anything." Xiao Lü cautiously turned her gaze to the classroom, but the classroom was empty, only deathly silent.

The three became more vigilant and continued to cautiously retreat, trying to return the way they had come.

However, as they passed by a bulletin board they had previously crossed, the sight before them made Xiao Lü's heart sink.

The path we came from had vanished. In its place lay an even narrower, darker corridor. On the walls on either side of the corridor, there were some unreadable symbols painted in dark red paint, which seemed to be some kind of slogan.

"Damn! Another scene change?" Xia Zhaozhao couldn't help but swear. "Aren't we walking back?"

It seems to be more than just a simple visual illusion; this area can distort people's perception of space to some extent.

"Perhaps... we've been going in circles, or we've been led to a specific area," Bai Shuyuan analyzed, her tone tinged with seriousness.

Xiao Lü and Xia Zhaozhao exchanged a glance and decided to continue exploring along this unfamiliar corridor.

The fluorescent tubes overhead were still buzzing, but the light they cast seemed dimmer, flickering and casting jagged shadows.

The corridor seemed to have no end, and the doors on both sides were tightly closed.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, just as their patience was about to run out, a stairwell finally appeared on one side of the corridor.

When they stepped onto the stairwell, they found that when they looked up, they couldn't see the top, and when they looked down, it was also bottomless.

"We have no choice but to... keep moving forward."

The stairwell was dimmer than the hallway, and the air was thick with the smell of decaying rust. The silhouettes of faceless figures appeared and disappeared around the corner of the staircase.

Noticing that Xia Zhaozhao didn't seem to be in a good state, Xiao Lü took a deep breath.

"Close your eyes and follow me."

She still gently rested one hand on Bai Shuyuan's arm, and handed the other hand to Xia Zhaozhao, guiding her direction.

As she brushed past those faceless people, the fear that surged directly into her mind was like a needle pricking at Xiao Lü's nerves.

However, alongside this fear that devoured her reason, there was an almost burning will. That anchor called courage compelled her to open her deep blue eyes and take a step forward.

I don't know how long I climbed this seemingly endless staircase, but the surrounding environment seemed to be trapped in a hopeless cycle.

"Miss Bai, how did you leave this place when you investigated last time?" Xiao Lü asked.

"That time, I didn't go deep," she replied. "After realizing that I couldn't get any useful information through sight and becoming aware of this strong cognitive interference, I took off directly and got out of the area's coverage from a high altitude."

"This is the first time I've encountered a situation where spatial perception is completely disrupted, and we might even be trapped in a loop."

"In other words, we currently have no idea whether we're going up or down, or even possibly standing still?"

"That possibility exists."

The three remained silent for a moment, and a tense atmosphere spread through the stairwell.

Just as they were preparing to continue their exploration, the emergency lights around them began to flash.

Immediately afterwards, the faceless people, who had only appeared sporadically before, suddenly emerged in dense numbers from both the top and bottom of the stairs, as if a hornet's nest had been stirred up!

"Oh no! How come there are so many!" Xia Zhaozhao sensed something was wrong, opened her eyes, and exclaimed in surprise when she saw the reflection in front of her.

"We're surrounded!" Little Green quickly assessed the situation. The previous brushes with a few scattered monsters had already put her under immense mental pressure; with this many, she didn't think she could easily resist.

Bai Shuyuan immediately took out a Molotov cocktail from her waist and handed it to Xiao Lü: "I think a strong energy burst might temporarily disrupt the stability of this field. Let's try this first."

Little Green took it, preparing to unscrew the cap and light the fuse made of rags.

Just then, a figure suddenly darted out from the corner above the stairs, ran a few steps, and landed on the steps not far in front of them.

She stood in front of the surging crowd.

It was the "faced girl" that Xia Zhaozhao had just glimpsed through the crack in the door, wearing the outdated No. 3 Middle School uniform and with her hair in a ponytail!

When the girl discovered their plan to set the fire, her face was flushed with anger and she looked visibly anxious.

She spread her arms, shielding the group of faceless men behind her.

Then, she forcefully made a big, resolute "X" sign at the little green man holding the Molotov cocktail.