Chapter 298: L

Boom!!

Her figure shot forward, and her foot slammed into the opponent’s head.

The next moment, brilliant crimson flames engulfed the battlefield, the blaze transforming into the shape of a heart.

…

At the same time, more than a dozen kilometers away from the research institute, deep within a dark and foul-smelling sewer.

A gigantic rat with ghostly green light glowing in its eyes was gnawing on garbage when it suddenly froze. It seemed to regain consciousness, and its black-bean-sized eyes abruptly flashed with an intensely venomous expression.

—It worked?

—Thank goodness... I survived.

After all... as an incomparably cunning Pollution Demon, how could it possibly not have left itself a backup plan?

Those final words just now had seemed like the desperate ramblings of someone on the verge of death. In truth, they had been deliberately meant to distract the other party into thinking about what would happen in the future, while concealing the connection between itself and its clones as much as possible.

However, in the next instant...

It seemed to sense something. Its fur instantly stood on end, and an extremely horrified, almost human expression appeared on its rat-like face.

Bang!!

In the blink of an eye, an invisible force descended from thin air and blasted this clone into a cloud of blood mist.

At the same time.

A weasel on a mountain in the wilderness, a homeless man slumped in the corner of an alley, and even an ordinary-looking man in a small town hundreds of kilometers from Wind Capital...

Every clone that still retained the Pollution Demon’s soul and consciousness was completely erased by that force through the links of karma. Not a single one remained.

This was the power of Pride.

…

And at this very moment.

In the eyes of all the spectators in Wind Capital, whether they knew the truth or not...

This abrupt “movie” had finally ended.

A lively ending theme began to play, interwoven with the pleasant singing of a young girl.

The image gradually darkened.

In the end, a cluster of dazzling crimson flames burned in the center of the pitch-black screen, elegantly outlining a highly stylized silver-edged capital letter:

【L】

…………

The crimson magical girl turned her head and glanced at the Elevated Bridge and the ruins of the research institute, both damaged beyond recognition, then lightly snapped her fingers.

Whoosh—

It sounded as though the wind itself were ringing.

Time seemed to flow backward. The shattered concrete, snapped steel bars, and outer shell of the research institute that had been sliced apart and corroded rapidly flew together under the pull of some mighty force, reassembling themselves and returning to their original state.

Even the section of the Elevated Bridge where Chen Yujie stood, which had collapsed across more than two hundred meters, began to recover. The collapsed asphalt roadway, the support pillars beneath it, the streetlights... all of them began to reassemble, becoming brand-new.

In no more than a dozen seconds, everything representing modern civilization seemed to have been restored.

Although the interior of the research institute was most likely impossible to restore, its exterior at least looked completely undamaged.

After finishing all this.

The crimson girl stood before the intact entrance of the research institute and gazed at her handiwork, seemingly preparing to vanish and leave.

“Wait!!”

However, the next moment, a loud shout rang out from behind her, bringing her footsteps to a halt.

It was that pink-haired young man.

At this moment, the black tattoos on Wu Nuo’s body had already faded, and he had fallen back to his true realm.

His upper and lower bodies had barely been joined together, and he leaned against the wall as he stared fixedly at the red-haired girl before him. He spoke each word clearly: “I understand now!!”

“You are Lin Guang’s—”

“...”

The crimson magical girl did not pause in the slightest, but her right hand had already begun silently gathering magic power.

—Looks like I have to silence one more person tonight.

Then...

The other party continued with the second half of his sentence.

“...master!”

Wu Nuo stared brightly at the crimson magical girl. With an utterly certain expression, he said, “If it weren’t for you, I really would have been done for tonight. I acknowledge this favor.”

“But don’t misunderstand.”

“I am the Strongest of Wind Capital’s younger generation!”

His trademark arrogant smile appeared on his face once more. “Sooner or later, I’ll catch up to you.”

“When that day comes, we’ll fight at the same realm!”

The crimson magical girl ignored him. Her figure transformed into a dreamlike illusion and dispersed without a trace in the night wind.

Wu Nuo threw his head back and laughed. “This world truly is filled with countless outstanding heroes! Hahahahaha!!”

Before long.

Several figures hurriedly arrived at the scene.

Yan Jing, carrying his wooden sword and pressing a hand against his earpiece as he spoke with someone.

Chen Yujie, carrying Chu Tianjiao on her back, the wounds across her chest and abdomen seemingly already closed as well.

And Luo Xi, holding the bruised and battered “Sand Crocodile” by the collar as though she were carrying a chick.

The three of them were initially shocked. Then they saw the pink-haired young man, who for some reason was clutching his forehead and laughing maniacally. They felt both helpless and relieved.

—By the time the sun rose, this fellow would probably have forgotten all about the Pollution Demon.

“What the hell...”

Looking at the rebuilt research institute and the surrounding buildings, which were almost no different from how they had been before the battle, Chen Yujie instinctively blurted out a curse.

Even with all her experience, she was completely unable to understand what kind of method that girl had used.

The only thing she could guess was that the other party had done this to clean up the aftermath.

After all, Wind Capital had never been short of detectives.

Many people would probably be able to identify the terrain shown during the livestream and determine that this was the outskirts of Wind Capital. When that happened, many of them might come looking for this place.

As long as the battlefield was repaired, it would further prove that everything tonight had “just been special effects for a blockbuster,” with the location merely being used as a filming site.

Yan Jing’s eyes were equally filled with shock and complexity as he spoke to the person on the other end of the communication channel:

“Section Chief, you should be able to see it. This is basically the situation here.”

As he spoke, the blue-haired sorcerer raised his head and looked toward the sky.

The dark clouds had already been dispersed. Silver moonlight poured down from the full moon, illuminating this empty place and allowing him to somewhat calm the emotions caused by tonight’s dizzying series of ups and downs. A deeply moved expression appeared on his face.

“I suppose... it can be considered over.”

Not long afterward, Qin Shengshi’s capable voice rang out across the communication channel shared by everyone in the Sixth Division, carrying a certain reassuring quality.

“The television station is already under control. I am working with the Fifth Division to find a way to deal with it.”

“But our Sixth Division has not yet reached the point where we can relax completely. That demon must still have countless hidden measures in place, and we must deal with them as quickly as possible.”

“Moreover, handling the civilians is also a major problem...”

At this point, she paused.

When she spoke again, her voice carried indescribable bewilderment and relief.

“But... no matter what, we must thank the powerful reinforcement that appeared tonight.”

“In any case, thank you for your hard work, everyone.”

The next moment, waves of cheers suddenly erupted through the communications channel.

Chen Yujie revealed a complicated smile, then felt somewhat troubled and fell into deep thought.

—Chu Tianjiao, whom she was carrying on her back, still showed no sign of waking up, but he was no longer in any danger of losing his life. The bronze longsword was quietly fastened at his waist, while the fluctuations of curse power within his body had already stabilized.

What exactly had that magical girl done? How had she managed it?

Had Chu Tianjiao really become a superhuman now?

Forget it.

She would leave the others to deal with the headache after they returned. She did not want to get involved in the affairs of this former classmate. After all, he had just stabbed her with a sword, and she was still in pain.

The next moment, she patted her face and looked toward Luo Xi, seemingly wanting to say something to lighten the mood. However, she discovered that the other girl had already gone completely rigid where she stood.

Her adorable, slightly baby-faced features had frozen. Her nostrils kept twitching, as though she had smelled something in the air, while her golden eyes were filled with the blank, stunned look of a system that had crashed.

“Huh?”

Under Chen Yujie and Yan Jing’s gazes, she let out a startled cry, as though she had realized some unbelievable, earth-shattering secret.

“Huh!!!!”