Tokyo: Magical Girl Shatters My Dream of Going Public

No. 3 Xiapu Lake Environmental Observation Station.

Floor B1.

The wall is wriggling.

That's not a metaphor.

The concrete surface was covered with a pulsating, dark red fleshy membrane.

It looked like the entrails of some enormous creature had spilled out, and it was spreading along the corridor at a visible speed.

The six special forces soldiers, forming a wedge formation, were now squeezed into the center of a passage less than three meters wide.

(Wedge formation)

Bang Bang Bang!

Gunfire flashed and deafeningly loud.

"Keep the firepower up! Don't let it get close!"

Captain Kanzaki Jin growled.

He was nearly forty years old, his face mostly obscured by a tactical helmet and protective gear, revealing only a pair of resolute eyes that were fixed intently on the front.

The bullets tore through the flesh, creating holes the size of bowls.

But it didn't work.

In just two or three seconds, more fleshy tissue surged up to fill the gap.

The monster's forward speed only slowed slightly.

"Captain! The bullets are useless!" The voice of the team member at the front trembled, completely lacking the composure typical of a special forces soldier.

The six-man special operations team led by Jin Kanzaki has experienced real battlefields and dealt with the most dangerous terrorists.

But the scene before them, which defied all common sense, still sent every team member's adrenaline soaring to its peak.

Fear often stems from the unknown.

"Alternating cover, retreat to the B-2 junction!"

Kanzaki gave the order, while simultaneously glancing quickly to both sides out of the corner of his eye.

There is no escape route.

The passage we came through was already sealed off by the fleshy membrane, like a closed esophagus.

They were gradually forced into this direction.

Just then, from the shadows on the right wall, the fleshy membrane suddenly bulged out, hardened into sharp spikes, and pierced through the calf armor of a team member with a "plop".

"ah--!"

The screams instantly drowned out the sound of rifle fire.

The team member's body swayed, and he knelt on one knee.

Almost simultaneously, the surrounding membranes surged wildly toward his injured leg, attempting to engulf him entirely.

"Cover me!"

Kanzaki's reaction was surprisingly fast.

He was still firing a gun with his right hand, while his left hand had already taken a white phosphorus incendiary bomb from his waist and hurled it toward the monster in the passage ahead.

The incendiary bomb shattered, and the pre-loaded thermite, upon contact with the air, instantly exploded into a blazing white fireball.

boom--!

A wave of heat hit us.

"Squeak!"

The screams sounded like the shrieks of countless insects.

The spreading membrane contracted violently under the high temperature, temporarily clearing a space.

Kanzaki quickly rushed to the side of the injured team member.

Kanzaki rushed to the wounded man's side and slashed the flesh with his dagger.

"Drag him away!"

He yelled at his teammates behind him, then knelt down, changed to a new magazine, and continued firing to suppress the enemy.

The flames continued to burn, but the living tissues were secreting large amounts of mucus in an attempt to extinguish the fire.

The fire curtain is thinning at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Damn!

Is this all it takes to delay the monster for such a short time?

Even with his extensive experience, Kanzaki felt powerless in the face of this monstrous creature that defied all reason.

"Retreat! Quickly!"

Kanzaki fought and retreated.

He quickly recovered; the lives of these team members were all in his hands.

If even he despairs and gives up the fight, how can we explain this to the families of the team members?

We must retreat to a safe place!

His gaze swept across every corner of the dimly lit passageway.

Any possible gap, vent, or unsealed door could be their hope for survival...

However, it was this brief moment of eye contact that lasted less than half a second.

In the center of the fire curtain, a blood-red fleshy spike, much thicker than before, silently gathered and accumulated power.

Then--

call out!

It's almost as fast as the muzzle velocity of a bullet.

The aura of death instantly enveloped the area.

At that moment, all the hairs on Kanzaki's body stood on end.

Without thinking or weighing the pros and cons, his body was driven purely by the instinct that had allowed him to survive countless dangerous missions.

Suddenly, the neck muscles tensed up, and the head tilted violently to the right!

A sharp sensation grazed the outer corner of his left eye.

The pain came a beat late; it was burning hot, and blood immediately blurred my vision in my left eye.

But his right hand, holding the knife, followed suit, the dagger slashing upwards with deadly force.

when--!

When the knife struck the fleshy splinter, it produced a clanging sound similar to metal!

The team members exclaimed, "Captain!"

"Don't worry about me! South! That gray door at the far end! Let's get out!"

Kanzaki shouted.

He did gain something, though, in the brief moment of dodging.

He saw it.

About thirty meters away, at the end of the passage, there was a heavy gray metal door. It was a military-grade protective door, and it was connected to high-voltage electricity.

That's the safe house at this testing base!

As he spoke, he pulled out another incendiary bomb with his left hand and smashed it onto the dying fire line in front of him.

A new flame rose again, temporarily forcing back the restless membrane.

"Walk!"

The six of them ran desperately toward the door.

Footsteps, panting, the wounded's groans, and the rustling of flesh pulsating mingled together.

ten meters.

five meters.

The flames behind them dimmed again.

The terrifying wriggling sound caught up again.

They rushed to the door.

Kanzaki lunged at the panel and quickly entered a set of emergency backup codes.

beep.

The green light comes on.

The heavy metal door slid open to one side, revealing a narrow passage about ten meters long inside, at the end of which was another identical door.

The walls on both sides of the passage were smooth and covered with tiny holes, and a faint smell of fuel could be detected.

"Go in! Quickly!"

The team members filed in.

Kanzaki was the last to retreat into the passage, and immediately reached for the close button on the inside.

Just as the door was about to close—

Bang! ! !

A dull thud slammed against the outside of the metal door.

The door, which was about to close, was suddenly jolted open, and was forced open by half a palm's width!

An indescribable force struck, knocking Kanzaki's hand off the door-closing button, and he staggered backward.

Through the crack, he saw a monster made up of countless pieces of flesh and blood frantically ramming against the door in the dimly lit corridor outside.

High-voltage electric arcs flickered and crackled on the door frame.

The automatic defense system has clearly been activated.

But the thing seemed to have a high tolerance for electric shocks; it just slowed down a bit, but the impacts didn't stop.

"It takes time to get the power on! Hold on!" Kanzaki roared, and he and another team member used their shoulders to brace against the inward-bulging door panel.

But the difference in strength is too great.

Bang!

Another impact.

The gap in the door was widened to the width of a fist.

Several slippery tentacles suddenly squeezed in from the gap and rolled toward the teammate who had recently fallen to the ground due to a leg injury.

Kanzaki's pupils shrank suddenly.

He lunged to the side at a speed that exceeded his physical limits, grabbed the rescue rope behind the fallen teammate with one hand, and pulled him backward with all his might!

The whiskers grazed the soles of the team members' boots, then slammed into the ground, leaving a small dent.

However, Kanzaki himself lost his balance completely because of this lunge.

A thin, fleshy barb silently pierced through the gap below, striking precisely the outside of his right calf.

The excruciating pain caused his vision to go black.

It’s over.

The thought had barely crossed his mind when he ruthlessly extinguished it.

"Close the door! Activate the purification system in the passageway! Quickly!"

He roared at the vice-captain who had already rushed into the depths of the passage and was opening the inner security door.

"That's an order!"

At least he could buy himself a few seconds, allowing the inner door to close.

But the team members did not follow the orders.

"Cover the captain!"

Amidst the roar, the remaining three members who were still able to fight simultaneously turned their guns around, no longer conserving ammunition, and unleashed firepower at the writhing mass of flesh outside the door crack.

The bullets hit the active tissue, and although they were not fatal, the continuous impact and tearing did cause the monster's movements to slow down briefly.

It was just those two or three seconds!

The vice-captain rushed out from the inner door, grabbed the rescue rope on the back of Kanzaki's bulletproof vest, and with all his strength, dragged him violently towards the inner door.

Under the cover of a hail of bullets from the team members, the monsters behind them had already broken through the outer door and entered the passage.

Even at a distance of less than two meters, Kanzaki could smell the stench, which was nauseating.

With everyone's cover, they finally secured their only hope of survival.

The two practically fell into the safe house.

"Close the door!!" the vice-captain roared.

One team member pressed his entire weight against the safety door, trying to slam it shut.

Bang-!

The monster rammed into the protective door again.

The immense force forced the inner door open again, creating another crack.

Without a second thought, the vice-captain scrambled to his feet and helped hold the inner door shut.

He growled, "Quickly! Activate the purification system!"

Upon receiving the order, one of the team members slammed his fist into a prominent red emergency button on the wall.

Beep beep beep—!

A piercing, bright red alarm instantly resounded throughout the passageway.

next second.

"boom--!!!"

At the same time, all the tiny holes on the walls on both sides of the passage spewed out high-temperature flames!

The temperature spiked instantly to a level high enough to melt metal.

The tentacles and fleshy membranes that were trying to squeeze through the crack in the door convulsed and curled up violently in the sudden high temperature and flames.

Flames simultaneously seeped into the gaps in the inner door, and the high temperature immediately burned the vice-captain's exposed skin.

But it was all worth it.

The monster in the passage was fleeing and retreating.

"Now!"

The vice-captain and the team member used their last bit of strength to close the heavy inner door.

In an instant, the roars of the monsters outside were completely cut off.

Several tens of seconds later, the sound of burning outside finally disappeared completely.

Inside the safe house, the emergency lights struggled to come on, emitting a pale white glow.

In the silence, fear spread through everyone's hearts.

As the adrenaline subsided, excruciating pain struck, and Kanzaki nearly fainted.

But he still forced himself to stay calm and ordered his team, "First aid kit! Quickly!"

"yes!"

With their leader still there, the chill in the team members' hearts dissipated considerably.

Team members who were still able to move immediately helped with first aid and bandaging.

It took four or five minutes for the damage to be fully assessed.

Five team members, one of whom suffered a severe leg injury.

The vice-captain was burned, Captain Kanzaki had an eye injury and a swollen lower leg, and the others also had abrasions and burns to varying degrees.

The situation is worse than people imagined.

However, at this very moment...

Suddenly, a clanging sound came from the ventilation ducts of the safe house...

A sudden, strange noise shattered the oppressive silence inside the safe house.

Almost instinctively, all the team members who could still move tensed up.

The gun muzzles rose simultaneously within a fraction of a second, locking onto the dark, square ventilation opening in the ceiling.

Something was striking the sheet metal, making a dull "clang, clang" sound that came from afar.

Kanzaki's heart sank.

Could it be... that thing... is planning to come in through the ventilation shaft?!

His left eye was covered in blood, and he stared intently at the darkness behind the ventilation grille with his right eye, while his right hand silently reached for the last incendiary bomb at his waist.

The air freezes.

Just as Kanzaki was about to order a preemptive strike, covering the ventilation shafts with firepower—

"...Just slide down from here."

A steady voice came through the pipe clearly.

The special forces soldiers inside the room were stunned.

Then another person spoke, their voice filled with extreme reluctance.

Equally young, but even more crisp, her tone was full of accusation that "this plan is unreliable."

"Hey—! President, are we really going to slide down? This slope is over ten meters long, we won't be able to come back up if we go down!"

Inside the safe house, the six people looked at each other, almost wondering if they were hallucinating from blood loss.

"Idiot, if we don't go down, we'll never be able to get into the facility."

Then, they clearly heard a dull "thump".

It felt like someone had given a light kick to the pipe.

"Hmm!"

The girl let out a short, low gasp.

next second.

Bang! ! !

The vent cover above was knocked open, and a figure fell heavily to the floor with a "thud".

Every moment was filled with extreme tension.

Raise your gun and aim immediately!

The tactical flashlight beam of the rifle focused instantly.

In the center of the beam of light, the figure seemed dazed from the fall, rubbing its buttocks in a daze, and clumsily trying to stand up.

Then, all the special forces members, including Kanzaki, saw it clearly.

The girl was wearing a Western-style school uniform, with a bow tie, a knee-length mini-skirt, and black over-the-knee stockings...

She looks exactly like a... high school girl?!

An even more eerie silence fell over the safe house than before.

In a place like this, a high school girl appears?

Are you kidding me?!