Chapter 293: I laughed in anger

However, the children seemed to be drawn in by some powerful attraction, and even those who had been crying stopped, staring straight at the screen.

In the footage, the young girl slowly raised her hand, grasping the gem on her chest, then crossed her fists over her chest in a folded gesture. Her cold, pretty face suddenly broke into a beautiful smile capable of captivating any heart.

"Smile, full marks—"

A crisp and sweet voice like a bell, accompanied by a suddenly impassioned BGM, clearly reached the ears of everyone present.

With that line, the girl's dress suddenly vanished, transforming into a mysterious red-and-white holy light that wrapped around her petite figure, yet vividly outlined her graceful and lovely silhouette through its lines.

The sudden holy light caused countless people in front of their televisions to squint instinctively.

"What the heck is that..."

In a small roadside eatery, a middle-aged man holding a beer mug rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

In a certain rental apartment.

A young man had just been dismissive of this strange special-effects movie.

But his eyes had already gone wide when the girl appeared, and now he was staring fixedly at the screen, as if an inexplicable urge to shout a certain two-character phrase was surging in his chest.

Meanwhile.

At the center of the light, the girl's waist-length cherry-red hair and her eyes both transformed into a dazzling crimson hue.

"Fighting spirit, one hundred percent!"

The girl lightly rose onto her tiptoes, spinning an elegant circle in place, her slender arms swaying gently as if in dance.

The red-and-white holy light began to condense, forming an ornate crimson idol outfit that wrapped her delicate, beautiful figure perfectly.

"..."

And at this moment.

Xia Yao, sitting across from Lin Guang's wooden doppelganger, stared dead at the large screen, her eyes blank, her mouth hanging open so wide it felt like it might dislocate.

—T-t-t-t-this is!!!

"Burn your heart, strike down the body."

The girl lowered her voice, then suddenly swept her hand forward, fingers spread wide.

Countless crimson sparks gathered before her palm, converging into a red microphone staff that she grasped steadily in her hand, the crimson five-pointed star at its tip gleaming brilliantly.

Light flowed down the staff to her feet, transforming into a pair of red-white knee-high boots adorned with cute bows.

"Are you ready?"

As that final line landed, the transformed girl pressed the crimson microphone staff to her lips.

She elegantly tilted her head, closed one eye, and flashed a WINK gesture at the broadcast camera.

(＜ゝω·)~☆

A voice identical to the girl's, yet on closer listening noticeably cuter, as if deliberately trying to be adorable, sounded in the narration:

"Magical girl Mengmengxiang, reporting in~"

At this moment.

Qin Shengshi felt as if she could hear the sound of a divination demon laughing breathlessly in her ear, and the blood-stained handkerchief clutched in her hand slipped to the ground, condensing into words that even she herself hadn't seen.

—Great fortune.

In the luxurious office.

That tall, slender figure suddenly stiffened, and the hand holding the wine glass trembled uncontrollably.

What the hell...

"Magical girl?"

What kind of niche term was "magical girl"?

Wasn't that the content of cartoons shown to little girls?

At this very moment.

All the viewers felt an extremely absurd sensation rise irresistibly in their hearts.

At what seemed to be a crucial turning point for everything, at a moment when something vaguely felt impending... a magical girl of unreal beauty had suddenly popped out of nowhere.

Everyone wanted to speak but held back, wanted to say something but swallowed it, full of question marks, completely at a loss for how to react.

It could probably be described as...

So absurd they could only laugh.

Meanwhile, in the center of the battlefield.

The Pollution Demon snapped back to its senses as if waking from a dream, turning around.

It looked at that seemingly frail young girl, yet for some inexplicable reason, a wary expression crept onto its face.

Meanwhile, Wu Nuo, collapsed amidst the rubble, struggled to raise his head, his eyes shaking violently as he stared at the girl's crimson eyes, as if recognizing something, his astonishment beyond words.

—Those eyes, without a doubt!

In the torrential downpour, the Pollution Demon turned around, the smile on its face dissolving into bewilderment as it muttered:

"You... who are you?"

Watching the crimson girl draw closer, and the stirring music gradually swelling, an extremely absurd sense of dissonance surged inexplicably in its heart, as if it were witnessing something incomprehensible.

Though it sensed not a single trace of curse power fluctuation, the rainwater itself seemed to fear the exquisite girl, refusing to fall on her, actively veering away from her.

That crimson spirit outfit was so dazzlingly beautiful, so sacred and mysterious, that even it couldn't perceive the girl's true depth or level.

The other party didn't answer, merely approaching step by step, her gait elegant and casual, as if taking a stroll.

"..."

The smile on the Pollution Demon's grotesque face began to fade.

It had lived for far, far too long, from the time humanity first formed a concept of pollution to the present, already over a thousand years. Even if much forbidden knowledge had been lost, whether by necessity or accident, when it had slashed its own cultivation realm, it still counted as an old antique who knew countless hidden secrets.

So naturally, it could tell that the transformation just performed wasn't something as shallow as a new-style superhuman's transformation.

That was a special spell requiring chant incantations, specific movements, and even emotional alignment, one that could only succeed if every step was executed without omission.

But if it were only that, it wouldn't have shown such an expression when it was already confident of victory.

Because the real anomaly was happening to itself.

Previously, this ritual representing [Pollution] had been approaching its climax, having received the fear and negative emotions from the veteran superhuman factions who knew the truth.

This was because the Pollution Demon had defeated the Strongest of Wind Capital in front of them during the live broadcast.

And the next step it had planned... was to further expose superhumans to the general public, contaminating their subconscious perceptions, making them believe that this world truly contained an [unconventional] side.

From this process, the Pollution Demon could harvest fear, negative emotions, and the feedback gained from enacting the concept of [Pollution], and could even raise the ceiling of superhuman allowance in this city, killing three birds with one stone.

And in this process, it would soar to new heights, even potentially becoming the first existence to formally break through the third Energy Level in this era, seizing the initiative firmly in the coming great age.

Yet now...

In its perception, the terror and dread that had been surging toward it from all directions of Wind Capital, like galloping river waters, were rapidly diminishing.

As if someone had suddenly twisted off a faucet that had been turned to maximum.

What was happening?

It had just announced the truth in front of the entire city... even the most dull-witted mortals should have sensed something wrong under the ritual's influence.