Apocalypse, then transforming into a magical girl

Several hours ago, in the third-floor hallway.

Li Ding stood at his open doorway, drool dripping uncontrollably down his chin.

"Mom..." he called out indistinctly.

Due to its injuries and weakness, the deformed monster could only slightly raise its shapeless head and emit a meaningless hiss.

Li Ding walked up to the monster, opened his arms, and wanted a hug. He remembered that a long, long time ago, that blurry, fragrant "mother" had hugged him in the same way.

The deformed child seemed to sense some kind of kindness, or perhaps it was simply powerless to resist. Its tissues writhed, and several misshapen appendages slowly rose, as if clumsily responding to Li Ding.

"Mommy... I'm hungry..." Li Ding smiled happily, burying his face in the soft, slimy embrace of his insect mother.

The deformed monster's primitive nervous system felt a primal surprise at this food that had offered itself to it. It could sense the kindness emanating from this creature, which was completely different from that of its own kind.

But the instinct to feed quickly overwhelmed this insignificant confusion. It began to tighten its embrace, slowly enveloping and permeating Li Ding's body.

Soon, Li Ding sensed that something was wrong.

His body... ached a little? A pain that came from within, a pain he had never felt before?

Is his mother punishing him? Because he pounded on the door in anger just now?

But he didn't do anything wrong. He was just hungry and wanted to find his mother.

Li Ding stared blankly at his hands and feet, trying to understand what was happening.

He saw his left hand, that clumsy left hand that always missed grasping food, collapsing uncontrollably inward like a melting candle, slowly seeping into his stomach.

But his right hand, the stronger one, was rapidly growing longer and thicker. He saw his skin break open, revealing countless grayish-white appendages that were twitching slightly.

His legs were also twisting and deforming, eventually turning into a kind of anti-joint structure he had never seen before, covered in mucus.

"Hands...feet...moved..." Li Ding's face showed a look of novelty and sudden realization.

His mother didn't punish him; instead, it was his hands and feet that felt like they were moving, which made him feel a little pain. He completely understood everything.

Perhaps it was because the deformed monster itself was flawed, or perhaps it was because Li Ding's simple yet insane self resonated with the monster's instincts. In the end, the fusion ended in an incomplete form.

The newly formed Li Ding stood up unsteadily. It retained a roughly humanoid outline, but most of its body was covered by grayish-white monster tissue.

More importantly, Li Ding's consciousness, or rather his remaining self, was not completely devoured by the monster's instincts.

He—or should now be called "it"—has taken control of most of the body.

"Mother……"

Let's go back to the present, to the seventeenth floor.

As soon as she stepped out of the room, Xiao Lü began to complain in her soft voice: "I thought you were beaten to a pulp before, so why are you bragging about yourself now?"

"That...that was a complete accident! An accident, you know?!" Xia Zhaozhao's cheeks flushed instantly. "Mainly because the stairwell was too narrow, and I didn't have time to react at all, it happened so suddenly!"

"Actually, that guy is really weak. Even without your insecticide, I could definitely beat him. It's just a matter of time!" She became more and more agitated as she spoke, trying to justify herself with an attitude of "Although I am weak, it is unlikely that I am really weak."

As she spoke, her gaze swept across the hallway floor and landed on the kitchen knife that Zhao Jia had thrown out earlier, now covered in black stains.

Xia Zhaozhao's eyes lit up. She walked over, picked up the kitchen knife, and weighed it in her hand.

"Hmph! Since you say my greatsword is just scratching the surface, then I'll switch weapons and show you! The greatsword cult is utterly useless; I'm switching weapons now!"

As she spoke, a white transformation light shone from her body once again.

As the light faded, Xia Zhaozhao, who appeared to be fourteen years old, appeared. This time, she did not summon the ornate two-handed sword, but instead channeled her magic into the kitchen knife.

"Buzz—!" The blade of the cleaver was enveloped in a faint halo of light.

Soon after, the enchantment was complete. Wearing knight's armor, Xia Zhaozhao swung her glowing cleaver a couple of times with satisfaction, then proudly gestured with her chin towards Xiao Lü: "Watch closely! I'll show you the power of the cleaver style!"

After saying that, she didn't give Xiao Lü a chance to complain anymore. She walked to the fire door in the stairwell and pushed the door open forcefully.

They were on the seventeenth floor, completely unaware of the disaster brewing on the floors below.

Let's rewind to an hour earlier, on the third floor.

The newborn Li Ding is wandering aimlessly in the stairwell with its newborn limbs.

Its head, which retained most of Li Ding's mentally challenged features, was tilted to one side, its cloudy eyes blankly scanning the surrounding darkness, and its mouth constantly uttering incomprehensible syllables.

But as it walked, it seemed to sense that something was wrong.

A deeply ingrained rule, originating from the remnants of Li Ding's memory, slowly revolved within his chaotic thoughts.

No, that's not right.

He shouldn't be here.

Mom said he should stay home and behave, and not go inside the door. Now he's out, and it's so dark inside the door, not fun at all.

He broke his mother's rules, and she will punish him!

A chilling fear gnawed at the depths of his soul. He had broken the rules... Would "Mom" still bring him delicious food in the future?

Will his mother, who always fed him warm and delicious food, ever reappear?

An instinctive fear overwhelmed his aimless wandering. A powerful thought brought him urgently back to the third floor, like a child who had done something wrong, back to that small space filled with his own scent.

However, the moment it returned to this familiar environment, this intense obsessive thought and the chaotic energy emanating from the monster itself began to resonate and amplify in a bizarre way.

This was no longer just Li Ding's personal emotion, but had transformed into a... force field? An invisible, corrosive, and polluting force field.

Pollution spreads rapidly, like water.

On the fourth floor, behind a tightly closed door.

A man was curled up on the sofa, clutching a wrench tightly to his chest. He had been hiding there for half a day, listening to the incessant rain outside the window and the howling of the monster downstairs, and his mind was on the verge of collapse.

A strange thought appeared in his mind without warning.

He should go to the third floor. Only there is safety, only there is warmth, only by going to the third floor will he escape punishment.

He shuddered. This was very wrong. Why would he have such a thought? Downstairs meant closer to the monster; how could it possibly be safe?

His reason screamed frantically, warning him that this was an extremely dangerous illusion. But the thought grew increasingly alluring, telling him that liberation and peace lay hidden on the third floor.

Reason and obsession were tearing him apart, giving him a splitting headache, and sweat dripped down his face. He clenched his teeth, his nails digging into the armrests of the sofa.

He hissed softly, but he was completely powerless against the invisible pull.

In the end, obsession overwhelmed his remaining rationality. A twisted expression, a mixture of despair and pleasure, appeared on his face. He mechanically stood up, walked to the door, and turned the lock.

The darkness and stench of the stairwell assaulted his senses, but he was oblivious to it. He began to walk, like a puppet on a string, step by step, toward where Qian Ding was.

Almost simultaneously, on the second and fifth floors, doors were pushed open, and people with equally blank expressions emerged as if sleepwalking, wandering towards the stairwell.

Third floor.

Li Ding sensed his mother's presence. Not just one, not just two, he couldn't count them all.

Its face, covered in monster-like creatures, split into an exaggerated arc. His mother hadn't punished him; she still loved him! More mothers—male mothers and female mothers—came to bring him food!

It excitedly waved its deformed right hand, which was covered with appendages, and rushed towards the group.

With expressions of despair and pleasure on their faces, the group ignored the monster's terrifying form and each other's existence, and walked towards Li Ding like moths to a flame.

One man, not completely losing his mind, caught a brief glimpse of the monster and let out a piercing scream, which was quickly replaced by a viscous, merging sound.

The moment their bodies accepted the monster, they began to melt and deform like candles, enveloped and devoured by the greedy monster organization.