Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

It raised its hand and reached for the "ghost" that was passing in front of it.

Da da, da.

Two strange sounds rang out in succession, paused briefly, and then a third sound followed.

Xiangzi's coat had three holes, from which wisps of blue smoke drifted out. Two bullet holes appeared on the familiar's chest, and the third corresponding bullet hole was located in its helmet.

Her marksmanship wasn't as good as when she was a magical girl, so she had to first shoot the familiar in the torso twice to disable it, in order to ensure the third shot hit.

After the familiar died, its body stood upright for a second before it began to sway.

Xiangzi ducked into the shadows of the body, avoiding the camera, braced himself to prevent it from falling, grasped the doorknob, and gently opened it.

The monitoring room has dozens of screens at different angles, and Xiangzi can even see the door of the monitoring room.

The small commotion had already caught the attention of the Stormtroopers in the monitoring room. They turned around immediately when they heard the door open.

Four gunshots rang out in succession, their timbre altered by the silencer.

Two enemy soldiers in the monitoring room fell to the ground.

Xiangzi stepped forward and fired a shot into each of their foreheads.

"(I've taken care of the surveillance cameras for you, so don't worry about them.)"

"(Efficient, you're a great client.)"

"(Most of the enemy soldiers are dealing with Chu Hua, so no one will notice the problem in the monitoring room within ten minutes; there's plenty of time.)"

"(Thanks so much to Ms. Triangle, congratulations!)"

Xiangzi leaned on the monitoring console and roughly scanned the entire interior of the bank.

The enemy soldiers summoned by the grenade entered a state of hesitation, and it is estimated that the alert will be lifted soon.

"(No, there won't be many; the guards who came out to stroll are about to be relieved of their duties.)"

"(How long does it take?)"

"(It's hard to say.)"

"(Holy crap, is the temperature 37°C yet?)"

"(soon.)"

"(How fast is 'very fast'?)"

"(I'm starting to feel stuffy, it should be almost time.)"

Xiangzi pulled the white soldier leaning against the door into the monitoring room, closed the door, and pretended nothing was wrong, following the ghost that kept circling around into the monitoring room area.

Just as he turned the corner, Xiangzi heard the heavy footsteps of the White Soldiers again.

"(Hey, isn't it ready yet?)"

"(...Are you always so talkative?)"

"(No, I was just expressing my enthusiasm for my work.)"

"(You've been proactive enough. Please be quiet for a moment, and I'll let you know when you're done.)"

Xiangzi opened the nearest door and went inside.

Behind the door is the bank's front desk, which still maintains a structure similar to that of the real world. There is a row of booths in the room, and the booths face the bank lobby. Through the glass windows, you can see rows of ghosts queuing outside.

The sounds of fighting and killing caused by Chu Hua could be faintly heard coming in from outside the door.

On the other side, Miaomeng clicked her tongue in annoyance, wrapped the whip around her waist, found a place to secure it, and then opened the ventilation duct grille.

Looking at the white-glowing floor below, Meowmon waited for the temperature to rise to a suitable level while also observing the structure of the entire vault.

The ventilation duct is in the center of the ceiling, some distance from the large safe. To reach the safe without touching the ground, she has to swing herself across, which is a great test of her balance and core strength.

Of course, she's a magical girl, so her physical abilities are definitely not a problem. She can easily perform the most difficult gymnastic moves. But the problem is that she also has to be careful not to make any noise and not to disturb the airflow.

That's the real problem.

"(It's reached 37°C, get ready to go down.)"

Xiangzi glanced at the central air conditioning controller at the front desk and wiped his sweat.

The temperature in the entire bank was rising, but thankfully it wasn't a real bank, so neither the familiars nor the ghosts could feel the temperature.

"(Watch your sweat, don't let it drip onto the ground.)"

"(Don't worry, since magical girls can block out pain using the Soul Gem, they can certainly do something as simple as not sweating.)"

Miao Meng had already anticipated the heat dissipation problem caused by the high temperature, and adjusted the parameters of the Soul Gem as soon as the hot air hit her face.

She now feels no pain, cannot sense temperature, and does not sweat to dissipate heat.

Once Miaomeng confirmed that the whip was securely fixed, she jumped out through the lattice opening. The whip, whose length could be freely controlled, lowered her down smoothly and slowly.

Miao Meng began to act, but Xiang Kun Jiu Lin Liu Si Liu v Qi Ba Er Xia Zi had not yet shaken off the familiar behind him.

She pressed herself against the door, listening to the footsteps outside.

The footsteps outside came closer and then faded away, eventually almost disappearing from sight.

Xiangzi breathed a sigh of relief and was about to open the door.

But at that moment, they heard footsteps coming back.

The footsteps grew closer and closer to the bank counter door.

Finally, they stopped just a door away from Xiangzi.

The Tale of Nirvana: Keeping Your True Self: Chapter 53 Dead or Alive

As the lowest-ranking familiar, the White Soldiers do not have any consciousness or brain, only a fixed set of behavioral logic. However, above the White Soldiers are three elite familiars: White Horse, White Elephant, and White Chariot.

They are far more powerful than the lowest-ranking soldiers and possess the most basic consciousness, capable of recognizing and analyzing the clues they perceive.

The footsteps Xiangzi had just heard were not those of a soldier, but those of a white chariot. Its helmet was shaped like a chariot in chess, and its armor had more details. It was also taller and more imposing, making it appear more powerful and robust than an ordinary soldier.

It was originally stationed inside the vault, but was lured out by a grenade. It is the highest-ranking familiar in the bank besides Amoris.

In the spot where Xiangzi had just walked, the white car smelled a very faint smell of gunpowder. Its behavioral logic included the smell of gunpowder in its clue database, connecting it with the person who threw the grenade and the sound of a door closing that it had heard while passing through the corridor earlier.

It left and turned back, arriving at the place where the door had closed.

Grasp the doorknob and open the door.

Not all the front desk windows were open; there were a few empty seats. Even though the fighting outside was raging, and the clanging and rumbling noises occasionally drifted into the lobby, these diligent ghosts showed no panic or any other reaction.

The same goes for the ghosts who come to the front desk to conduct business.

They are replicating the reality that the owner of the barrier once witnessed, rather than actually going to work and conducting business.

Familiars are different; they have their own mission, which is to protect the barrier created by the witch.

The white car lacks the five senses in the conventional sense; it analyzes information by relying on traces left by magic. Following the magical traces of "gunpowder" in the clue database, the white car went straight to the ghost that was emanating the smell of gunpowder, had its back to it, and was processing business for the ghost outside the glass window.

It stood behind the ghost, its helmet glowing as if it were identifying something.

A few seconds later, the white car drew its long sword from its waist and beheaded the person who had been the source of the gunpowder smell.

Wearing a cleaner's hat, a ghostly head with a large X on its face rolled twice on the ground.

The white car picked up the head from the ground and threw it aside.

wrong.

That's not it.

It continued to walk to the side.

Xiangzi glanced furtively in the direction of the white car.

Ding.

The ghost outside the glass window stepped forward and pressed the bell.

Hello, what service would you like to conduct?

Xiangzi immediately turned around and asked in witch's script.

She draped the stolen cleaner's uniform over the back of the ghost that had just been beheaded, then found an empty spot, changed the "closed" sign to "open," and pretended to be a bank teller.

The white car located the garment immediately, proving that its immediate action was correct.

Next, I need to find an opportunity to leave.

Xiangzi stared at his reflection in the glass window, thinking silently.

The reflection in the glass window wasn't Xiangzi's face, but rather, like the ghosts around him, a faceless figure with an X symbol on its head.

She looks the same way in the eyes of the familiar.

I... am saving money...

The ghost held a ball of air in its hands and handed it to the person through the small window under the counter.

Xiangzi took the "money" handed to him by the ghost and pretended to fiddle with it at his counter.

The front desk is also a form of customer service; it's fine to just get by.

With a thud, another ghost fell down next door, its second head rolling on the ground and bumping into Xiangzi's feet.

She looked down and saw a head that was neither bleeding nor expressionless, even more fake than a mannequin in a shop window. Cold sweat covered her back.

"(I've come across the biggest safe ever, but where's the promised combination?)"

Miaomeng's voice came over at a very inopportune time.

"(You have to open the outer layer yourself; it's too complicated.)"

Xiangzi answered.

"(Sigh, I knew it wouldn't be that easy. Isn't there a more convenient way? How about we figure out how to move the whole vault? Like in Fast and Furious, find two cars to tow the safe...)"

"(Please be quiet.)"

Xiangzi closed his eyes, clenched his fists, and the veins on his forehead bulged.

Why does she talk so much?

"(I'm having a bit of a problem here, please let me have some peace and quiet.)"

"(Well, I was just kidding... I'll focus on my work now, you better watch out and don't die.)"

"(Thank you for your concern.)"

Xiangzi glanced at the third ghost with its head hanging from the corner of his eye.

Even though three people have already lost their heads, the surrounding environment remains as quiet as ever. The ghosts outside the glass window line up silently. After the white car cuts off the head of a receptionist, it will flip the sign to "closed," and the ghosts in line will automatically move to the window that is still marked "open" to queue up.

Then the fourth person at the front desk lost their head, the window's "open" button changed to "close," and the ghosts scattered once again into the remaining queue.

The remaining receptionists remained unmoved, silently awaiting their deaths.

There are a total of twenty windows at the front desk. Including the seat where Xiangzi is sitting, there are eighteen windows that are open. The first person to lose their head was at window number 1, the second person to lose their head was at window number 3, the third person to lose their head was at window number 4, and the fourth person to lose their head was at window number 8.

There's no pattern to it; it's a random sampling.

Hello... I'm withdrawing money...

Okay, I'll process it for you right away.

The number of ghosts queuing at Xiangzi's window was increasing, so she had to pretend to be working diligently while praying that the random checks on the white cars wouldn't target her window.

[Saving money...]

Okay, just a moment.

[Withdrawing money...]

Please wait a moment, we will process your request immediately.

[Saving money...]

......

Every time a clerk's head was chopped off by a white rickshaw, the ghosts queuing at Xiangzi's window would grow longer, and before long, the end of the queue had become a long line in the lobby.

The room temperature was 37°C. Whether it was from hot or cold sweat, Xiangzi's clothes became soaked and semi-transparent.