Apocalypse, then transforming into a magical girl

The floodlight appeared to be a relatively ideal high-power LED light. After several people worked together to carefully disassemble it, they handed it over to Bai Shuyuan.

After Bai Shuyuan took it, she checked it and nodded, seemingly quite satisfied.

However, for Xia Zhaozhao, the biggest gain from coming to the bank's upper management was discovering several rather luxurious executive offices.

As she cautiously chose the most luxurious-looking one and slipped inside, her red eyes lit up instantly at just one glance.

This is a huge office occupying the best location on the entire floor, with an entire wall made of thick bulletproof glass, offering a panoramic view of half the city.

Although all that could be seen outside the window was a continuous and oppressive red rain, and although the entire city looked quite dilapidated in the rain, Xia Zhaozhao still felt a strange sense of satisfaction looking down at the scenery.

"Wow! That chairman who died in the plane crash, does he really live such a comfortable life?" She looked around curiously, touching this and that, her eyes practically sparkling.

She leaped onto the luxurious desk, hands on her hips, and loudly declared, "I've made up my mind! I'm going to spend the rest of my life here—!"

"...Is that all you've got?" Little Green said speechlessly.

However, after the major battle that Xinmao University had experienced and a series of travels, the two of them did feel a bit tired.

And these executive offices on the top floor of the bank are indeed quite good temporary resting places.

They decided to stay there for one night to adjust their condition.

The next morning, as sunlight streamed through the thick clouds into the office, Sasha woke the two women and excitedly handed them several sheets of paper.

The group looked at the list of various supplies needed, which had been discussed in last night's agenda.

This includes items such as oil, food, hygiene products, and various commonly used medicines, and even strange items like "survivors".

In addition, a piece of paper even had a simple map drawn on it, marking areas worth exploring such as hospitals and libraries, and even a crematorium—Bai Shuyuan said that crematoriums also consume a lot of diesel fuel, so there might be a good fuel reserve here.

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Xia Zhaozhao asked several times and was finally relieved after receiving Bai Shuyuan's assurance that "he would absolutely not secretly conduct any strange experiments on Sasha".

She finally withdrew the look she had given the prospective mad scientist, and was pulled away by Little Green, flying out of the bank's outpost to prepare for the next step of their exploration.

The two flew slowly in the low sky above the city. Xiao Lü held the map, which was sealed in a bag, and occasionally compared it with the streets and buildings below, adjusting the direction of their flight.

"...We've suddenly turned into a sandbox game." Xia Zhaozhao spotted an oil tanker, had Xiao Lü mark it on the map, and then casually complained.

"Yeah, it's a sandbox game," Little Green replied casually. "It was already a terrible game, and now they've added a post-apocalyptic DLC, making it even worse."

The two hovered low near the tanker truck for a while, carefully scanning the surrounding streets and buildings. After confirming that there were no other valuable supply points or traces of monsters, Xiao Lü unfolded the hastily drawn map again.

"Where do we go next? To the hospital?" Xia Zhaozhao looked at the map, pointed to the circled "Xinmao City People's Hospital," and asked.

"Yes. Go over there and find some useful medicines, antibiotics, painkillers, the more the better."

"Also, there's the veteran with liver cancer at the bank. I'd like to see how well the medical equipment there is preserved."

"If we're lucky, and with the help of the doctor at the mall, we might actually be able to consider operating on him. Although Ms. Bai only mentioned the early stages, it's always better to handle these things as soon as possible."

Xia Zhaozhao took the map and examined it carefully. Suddenly, she seemed to have thought of something.

She traced a line with her finger from where the two of them were, toward the hospital, and suddenly noticed something.

"Hey, Little Green, look! If we turn just a little, we can get to the mall on our way! Want to go check it out?"

Little Green also took a look and estimated the distance. Noticing that there was no need to take a detour, Little Green agreed to the idea.

"Actually, even though only a few days have passed, I'm still a little worried about their situation." Xiao Lü nodded. "It would be good to go and see, and also see if they've encountered any new troubles."

"Okay~ then it's decided!"

The two flew towards the mall.

The place was much cleaner than when the two had left. The mess left by the battle and fire had been almost completely cleaned up.

Soon, they all found people they recognized, but noticed that everyone's expressions were not good, and they carried an undisguised anxiety.

Only after seeing Xia Zhaozhao did the worry on his face temporarily disappear, replaced by a relieved and delighted expression.

Since Zhao Jia (in his green form) was right next to her, Xia Zhaozhao didn't dare to say anything strange.

She simply pointed and casually explained that they could call her Xiao Lü, and told the group that her relationship with Zhao Jia was extraordinary and that they were not allowed to offend her.

However, Fang Lian had no time to pay attention to Xia Zhaozhao's strange introduction. He just said excitedly, "You've finally arrived! Really, any later, I was afraid... I was afraid we wouldn't be able to hold on here."

Upon hearing this, Xia Zhaozhao's face was filled with deep confusion: "Huh? What's wrong now? It's only been a few days, and you've already eaten everything?"

"No, the food situation is fine." The square-faced man shook his head with a wry smile. "In fact, we haven't had much of an appetite these past two days and haven't consumed much food."

He paused, then added, "In fact... just a few days ago, we unexpectedly discovered a warehouse with a considerable amount of grain reserves."

"We don't lack food for now. If you need it, we can share some with you."

"Huh? Then why are you all looking so long-faced?" Xia Zhaozhao asked, puzzled. She looked around at the people around her and found that they all had the same expression.

Little Green also asked, "What went wrong? You can tell us about it."

The square-faced man took a deep breath, his voice trembling slightly with nervousness.

He held up three fingers: "Something's happened, something really bad. In the last two days... three people have died here."

"Huh? Three people died? How did they die? Were they monsters?" Xia Zhaozhao was shocked when she heard this, and her expression instantly became serious.

"No, it's definitely not a monster from outside! I think it's some kind of deranged killer!" He looked up, his eyes bloodshot.

"The first one was responsible for guarding the supply warehouse at night. When we found him, he was lying at the warehouse entrance... with a huge gash in his chest; his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys were all gone!"

"All that's left is an empty, bloody hole! I feel like throwing up just thinking about it!"

"The second one," the square-faced man continued, "was found collapsed in the toilet, his stomach cut open. Everything inside was gone."

Xiao Lü's face darkened.

"The third one... just died. They found him during the shift change... his head was completely pried open; his brain and eyeballs were gone!"

"We...we're going crazy! Who could have done this?! This is insane! There must be some psychopath taking advantage of this world, treating us like livestock to be slaughtered!"

Xia Zhaozhao's face was also filled with surprise. Such a move... it was like something those old magical girls, fueled by negative emotions, would do before the apocalypse.

"Could it be... nightmares?" she muttered softly.

"...So magical girls are such dark things? Didn't you say something like KIRAKIRA☆DOKIDOKI before?" Little Green heard her muttering and asked incredulously in a low voice.

"...In the vast majority of cases, no!"