Apocalypse, then transforming into a magical girl

The two flew low side by side, with Xia Zhaozhao leading the way and Xiao Lü following closely behind.

"No doubt about it, that's the smell, the feeling of the Nightmare Barrier." Xia Zhaozhao said with certainty, leading Xiao Lü to the target location, like a drug-sniffing dog that has caught the scent of drugs.

Xiao Lü also experienced that feeling and sighed.

"So this is the kind of grotesque creature you usually deal with? I thought the monsters you fought before the apocalypse would be cuter."

"How could that be! Most of them... well, I should say the few times I encountered them were actually quite... cute?" Xia Zhaozhao tilted her head, her tone uncertain. "This is the first time I've ever seen someone start by ripping someone open like that."

"That's alright," Xiao Lü muttered, thinking that Kaka basically only signs contracts with minors. If they had to face this kind of bloody stuff every day, there would be a long line of psychologists. "You're probably one of the few with a strong heart."

"It's not just me! Don't underestimate our mental resilience!" Xia Zhaozhao said proudly.

"However, on another note, I have heard people say that nightmares built purely from malicious and brutal thoughts can produce this kind of disgusting stuff."

"But under normal circumstances, where does such intense, unyielding malice come from..."

"Especially in these times, it's hard enough for ordinary people to survive," Xiao Lü chimed in.

"Forget it! Whatever it is, since we've run into it, let's just smash it! Plus, it might drop some good loot!"

"nice one?"

"You'll find out once you try!"

As soon as they finished speaking, the air in front of them distorted, and the two discovered a vague spatial rift that exuded an aura completely different from the surroundings.

Xiao Lü had already experienced this feeling, the distinct scent of an "enemy".

"Well then, let's go in! This is Little Green's first time fighting a Nightmare!"

"Yes, the enemies we were supposed to fight, the magical girls."

The two exchanged a glance and stepped into the barrier.

The surrounding reality seemed to have been splashed with thick ink, quickly blurring and distorting, and a strange atmosphere enveloped them.

Then, the scene before her eyes quickly unfolded before Xiao Lü.

The entire barrier was shrouded in a rather dim light, and the space looked huge and empty, with various toys of severely disproportionate size haphazardly piled up here.

The toy was not complete; there were some broken pieces.

There were rag dolls missing arms and legs, cracked plastic building blocks, and most of all, "parts" such as hands and feet made of rough cloth and cotton, scattered all over the ground.

"How childlike!" Little Green said. "I seriously doubt your idea. This atmosphere... doesn't match that kind of twisted murder method at all, okay?"

"I'm wondering the same thing... Wait, Xiao Lü, look over there!" Xia Zhaozhao shouted, pointing to the corner of the wall not far away.

Even without her reminder, Xiao Lü had already noticed.

Something was huddled in the corner, and the magical girl form gave Green an even stronger "enemy" intuition.

Little Green prepared for battle, its magic quietly circulating as it looked in that direction.

Beside her, numerous icicles had already been condensed by magic. She lightened her steps and slowly walked in that direction.

Xia Zhaozhao summoned the longsword as well and gripped it in her hand. She walked beside Xiao Lü, equally vigilant.

As they got closer, the outline of the thing in the corner gradually became clearer.

It was a disproportionate doll with stiff joints.

The doll is only about half a meter tall. Its body is made of rough cloth with crooked stitches and cotton wool spilling out in some places.

The fabric covering its head is outlined with black lines to depict a terrified expression.

What caught Xiao Lü's attention even more was a noticeable, roughly torn laceration on its abdomen, stitched up with thick thread, revealing a hollow inside.

Little Green witnessed all of this and turned to Xia Zhaozhao, asking, "The way its body is disemboweled is not exactly the same as the corpses outside, it's practically a perfect replica. Is it... really related to the murder case outside?"

Right next to it hung some organ models pieced together from cloth, yarn, and other materials, such as a crooked red cloth heart and intestines made of pink cloth.

"No. It's not him." Xia Zhaozhao's wariness was replaced by confusion. "This...this aura is too weak, it's just a newborn nightmare baby."

"Nightmare Baby?" Little Green was taken aback.

"Yes," Xia Zhaozhao explained, "the form of the nightmare, and the appearance of the barrier, are all based on the negative emotions that gave rise to it."

Xiao Lü interjected, "You mean, this nightmare was born from the fear among those people in the mall who were afraid of losing their internal organs after their companions were disemboweled?"

"That's right! So its attack method must also be related to this fear." The two approached the somewhat miniature nightmare.

Nightmare seemed to sense the impending danger, stiffly moving its body and swinging its arm as if some kind of attack was coming.

Alarm bells rang in Little Green's mind, and she instinctively went on guard, preparing to face the anticipated attack!

However... nothing happened.

No, it's not that there's nothing at all. It's just... a strange chill ran down my spine for no apparent reason?

Xiao Lü looked at Xia Zhaozhao in astonishment: "That's it... finished attacking? It used 'fear' to attack? That chilling attack just now, was that its doing?"

"Yes." Xia Zhaozhao also looked puzzled. "It seems like this baby isn't very talented."

Compared to the fear instilled by those previous aggregates, this attack was nothing more than a tickle.

Little Green's tense nerves relaxed a little, so she simply condensed some of the icicles into an ice spear, gathered magic power, and tentatively threw it at it.

The doll was completely unresponsive to the incoming ice spears, or rather, it didn't have time to react at all.

With a "plop," it was nailed to the wall.

Then, another ice spear was fired and pierced the monster's body.

Then, both ice spears exploded simultaneously, destroying the monster's body. As the puppet dissipated, the barrier began to rapidly become ethereal and transparent.

"...So weak." Little Green was both amused and exasperated. "I even feel a little sorry for it."

"I already said it's a nightmare baby," Xia Zhaozhao shrugged. "But it'll still be quite troublesome when it grows up."

The barrier completely dissipated, and the familiar mall corridor reappeared before our eyes.

Xiao Lü didn't even ask Xia Zhaozhao any more questions about the nightmare, but instead prepared to quickly return to where Fang Lian and the others were.

"The killer is someone else! So, I'm a little worried about them!"

"Ah—wait a minute, wait a minute!" Xia Zhaozhao called out to her.

Xiao Lü looked back in confusion and saw Xia Zhaozhao picking up a small crystal from where the nightmare had been.

"Here, the spoils!" She handed the crystal to Little Green.

"Huh?" Little Green took it and looked at it. "What's it for?"

"Replenish magic power, or temporarily strengthen it a little! But," Xia Zhaozhao pouted, "this kind of Nightmare Baby, especially one born from Kaka's trashy emotions, will probably only drop so-so things, better than nothing!"

Little Green nodded, put the crystal away, and didn't linger any longer.

On the other side, Fang Lian and the others had not yet fully recovered from their previous shock.

The last time I saw Zhao Jia and Xia Zhaozhao, they acted like ordinary people.

This time, they didn't even bother with acting; they simply flew right past him. Only then did he realize that he had bet everything—these were two extraordinary individuals!

However, at this moment, Jiang Fu suddenly came running over, shouting something.

"Square face—! Something's happened again!"

"We'd only been gone a short while when the stomach of the third corpse was also ripped out!"

"What?!" the square-faced man exclaimed in surprise.