Apocalypse, then transforming into a magical girl

When Zhao Jia, Lang, and the forensic team arrived, Lü Rong's room was already completely blocked.

Before even entering, Zhao Jia had already keenly sensed an unusual, bloody aura.

After seeing them, the crowd gradually parted to make way for them.

Zhao Jia looked around and saw that the faces of most of the survivors still bore the numbness that had been welded onto their faces since the apocalypse.

After all, death has long lost its impact in this environment.

However, the expressions of a few people were not completely covered by this numbness.

One is a gleeful satisfaction tinged with schadenfreude, the other is a more pure fear.

The relief was natural, because Lü Rong had controlled the water supply and was known for his meanness and ingratitude; for some, his death was a relief.

The fear stemmed from the fact that his death was so unusual, completely different from being bitten to death by a monster or dying of thirst.

Forensic pathologist Lao Zhang gestured for the others to keep their distance, while he skillfully took out his tools.

He crouched down and began what appeared to be a very professional examination.

Zhao Jia's gaze passed over his shoulder and landed on Lü Rong's corpse in the center of the room.

Clearly, the gruesome bloody hole in the chest is the visual center of the entire image.

The expression on his face was less one of pain and more one of incomprehensible astonishment.

"Brother Lu! How could this happen!"

The burly man who had been following Old Zhang and was holding a makeshift flamethrower let out a wail.

It sounds like they've gone a bit too far, Zhao Jia thought.

Old Zhang ignored him. A moment later, under everyone's gaze, he used tweezers to pick out a severely deformed metal block from the bloody wound.

One bullet!

The entire venue fell into a deathly silence.

"...This was not a natural disaster, but a man-made one. His cause of death was shooting."

Old Zhang spoke in a tone as if announcing a final verdict.

The survivors began an uncontrollable uproar.

"A gun? How could that be! Who here has a gun?"

"Yeah! Even Brother Lü himself doesn't have one!"

Amid the murmurs of the crowd, the burly man suddenly realized something, turned around abruptly, and pointed the crude, makeshift flamethrower at Zhao Jia.

"Don't move!" His voice was hoarse with excitement.

However, at the same time he shouted, a figure silently took half a step forward, blocking Zhao Jia's path perfectly.

It's a wolf.

Her beautiful gray eyes were fixed coldly on the burly man. She didn't say a word, but her aura was terrifying.

The burly man was intimidated by her imposing presence, his Adam's apple bobbing involuntarily, but he still mustered his courage and pointed at the barely perceptible outline under Zhao Jia's raincoat.

"I saw it a long time ago! You had a gun hidden there, didn't you?"

"It must have been you! You had a conflict with Brother Lü during the day, and then took advantage of the rats causing trouble at night, distracting everyone, to sneak over and kill him!"

He spoke louder and louder, as if he was using the volume to encourage himself.

He then turned to the group of survivors.

"He has a gun! Think about it! In this godforsaken place, a stranger of unknown origin with a gun—what does that mean?"

"Today Brother Lü offended him, and he killed Brother Lü! What about tomorrow? If any of us accidentally dislike him, will we die too? Aren't all of our lives in his hands?!"

Zhao Jia was speechless.

This accusation is so low-level. It was clearly Lu Rong who provoked him unilaterally. He hadn't even paid any attention to him. Is that supposed to be a motive?

However, this flawed and even childish incitement, in his opinion, instantly stirred up ripples here.

"Yes! It must be him!"

"That's right! No matter how wicked Brother Lü is, he doesn't deserve to die! If he can kill Brother Lü today, he can kill us tomorrow!"

This can actually be incited? Something doesn't seem right.

Zhao Jia did not feel angry or panicked, but felt that perhaps something deeper was at play.

"But...but he gave us water..."

A timid voice came from the corner, attempting a feeble rebuttal: "Doesn't look like a bad person..."

However, the sound was immediately swallowed up by a larger and more turbulent wave of noise.

However, before Zhao Jia could expose the farce, a clear child's voice rang out.

"Impossible! I didn't hear a gunshot at all!"

It was the little boy who got the ice cube at the beginning.

Before he could finish speaking, his mother, her face pale, rushed over and used all her strength to cover his mouth.

Forensic pathologist Lao Zhang slowly stood up and looked at Zhao Jia with a gaze that was a mixture of scrutiny and suspicion.

Then, he let out a long sigh.

"Little friend, it's normal that you can't hear. Don't you even look at the weather outside?"

"Fire during thunderstorms; the sound will be easily drowned out."

He turned around to face the crowd, his voice filled with sorrow.

"Everyone, although Lü Rong had a bad temper, he was one of us, a comrade who had lived with us until today! But now, he has been killed."

He paused, then fixed his pained gaze on Zhao Jia.

"Just because he had a little argument with you?"

"Exactly!" the burly man immediately chimed in, as if they had rehearsed a two-person comedy routine countless times.

The wolf's gray eyes were now staring angrily at the forensic doctor.

She couldn't understand why someone would use such a complicated lie to slander another person, but she didn't know how to refute it.

She simply stood beside Zhao Jia and said in an unquestionable tone:

"Impossible, he can't hit it! I've seen him, his marksmanship is terrible!"

After speaking, she even turned her head slightly to look at Zhao Jia behind her, as if seeking affirmation.

"Poor marksmanship..." Zhao Jia was speechless for a moment, but being looked at with such trusting eyes was not a bad thing.

"But, magical girl, all of this can be faked."

The forensic doctor's tone became earnest and he began to patiently guide the patient.

"We respect your strength and appreciate your kindness. But people can be treacherous, and you are too naive; you are easily taken advantage of by such unscrupulous individuals."

"We just want to protect you, and ourselves. Please don't be fooled by him!"

The burly man, now emboldened, shouted again:

"That's right! He gained your trust with just a few pieces of ice, making you his protector in his murderous acts!"

"Stop being so arrogant."

A calm, almost icy voice interrupted the forensic doctor's clumsy performance.

Zhao Jia signaled to the wolf not to act rashly.

A faint hint of mockery lingered on his face. The way he looked at the forensic pathologist was as if he were looking at a dead man.

"Your performance was excellent," Zhao Jia said, his gaze sweeping over everyone and landing directly on the forensic doctor, "but there were too many loopholes."

"Now, let's use your logic to do a little reasoning."

"I've pretty much figured it out. Madness, rat infestation—most of the disasters that have happened at this base are probably related to you."

"Let's start from the very beginning."