Chapter 6: One Shot Kill

“Then how about this — my apartment is nearby. Do you want to come back with me for tonight?”

As she said this, Ke Xin took a step forward, almost pressing up against the other girl. From Ruolin’s point of view, she couldn’t see that the bracelet on Ke Xin’s left wrist was faintly glowing with a soft pink light.

She had quietly deployed a basic magical barrier around them, enough to fend off normal anomalies.

“Is that okay?” Ruolin was clearly a bit hesitant in the face of Ke Xin’s invitation.

Ke Xin pulled out her phone and glanced at the time — it was already close to 10 PM.
“It’s getting late anyway. By the way, did you call your family?”

Ruolin shook her head. Reminded by the question, she quickly realized she needed to let her parents know where she was. She pulled out her phone, only to find it was completely dead.

“Ah, my phone’s out of battery.” Ruolin helplessly showed the dark screen.

Talk about bad timing. Ke Xin couldn’t help but sigh.
“Your parents are probably already out looking for you.”

A high school girl not coming home without any explanation would definitely seem strange to her parents. And from the looks of her, Zhang Ruolin didn’t seem like the type to sneak out for fun at night.

As this thought crossed her mind, Ke Xin looked Ruolin up and down again.

Even calling her appearance “ordinary” didn’t quite fit. Her slightly dry, fluffy short hair looked a bit dull, with two longer locks hanging down by her ears. When she walked under the streetlamp, the light made the split and curled ends at the tips even more obvious.

Of course, the most memorable part was still her old-fashioned black round-frame glasses. Ke Xin didn’t even know what store still sold that kind of thing.

Even in her own small hometown, they were rare to see.

“That’s not really a problem,” Ruolin said, completely unconcerned.
“My parents are both away on business trips. They won’t be home these few days.”

“I see.” Ke Xin nodded and walked slightly ahead. Meanwhile, she was using magic to sense the edge of the anomaly’s domain.

Even weaker monsters would often create their own magical fields. If someone accidentally stumbled into one of these special points, they’d get trapped.

So, one of the basic skills of a magical girl was finding the domain boundary and forcefully prying it open.

“Um, Ke Xin, your bracelet… it’s glowing?”

“Huh?”

Hearing this from behind her, Ke Xin immediately raised her left hand. Compared to earlier, the glow had grown brighter due to the increased magic usage.

“This? What do you think? Pretty, right?”

The bracelet was actually a magical transformation device — something the Special Investigation Bureau had issued specifically to her. The glowing part looked like a gemstone and acted as an indicator light.

But here was the catch: only people who could perceive magic could see the glow. In other words, normal people shouldn’t be able to see it.

Most of the time, Ke Xin didn’t bother hiding the device. To most people, it looked like a simple accessory — and in this day and age, it wasn’t unusual for girls to wear cute things.

But if Ruolin could see the glow, it meant she could perceive magic. Sure, it was possible some people were born with that ability… but was it really just coincidence?

Outwardly, Ke Xin still looked calm, but internally her mind was racing with possibilities.
Should she erase this girl’s memories of tonight? That might be for the best.
If Ruolin’s family wasn’t home, the Bureau could easily retrieve her home address from the database and send her back. She’d just think she slept deeply when she woke up the next day.

“Is there something on my face, Ke Xin?”

Ruolin noticed the pink-haired girl was staring at her. She instinctively touched her cheeks and mouth. After eating earlier with Violet, she’d come straight here — but a quick check found nothing stuck to her face, not even rice.

“No, no. I just… wanted to get a better impression of you. Let’s say that.”

“Is that so?”

For some reason, Ke Xin noticed the girl’s face flushed slightly red. But it was so brief, she might have missed it if not for her enhanced magical night vision.

After walking a few hundred meters, Ke Xin sensed something ahead — a sort of invisible barrier. To the eye, the path ahead looked normal, but if you tried to walk through, you’d find you were still several hundred meters away from the intersection.

Usually, Ke Xin would just summon a magic circle and tear the weak barrier apart.

But now, with someone next to her who could see magic, every magical inscription and glyph — normally invisible to the human eye — would be fully visible to Ruolin.

Suddenly, Ke Xin stopped walking. Behind her, Ruolin asked:
“What’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing. It’s just—”

Just as Ke Xin was thinking of how to explain, she felt a presence approaching from behind. She spun around instinctively and pulled Ruolin behind her.

Ruolin gave a surprised cry: “Eh?”

Ke Xin’s eyes scanned the surroundings quickly, but found nothing.

Still, she could clearly sense a strong, foul magical presence close by.

What now? Transform? Here? In front of her?

Ke Xin’s mind was flooded with questions. This hadn’t come up in training.

If she transformed, she’d need to deal with Ruolin — and if she couldn’t handle that herself, she’d have to call the Bureau to take over. But if she didn’t transform, her magic would be severely limited.

“What’s going on?”

Even someone less perceptive would sense something was wrong. And Ruolin wasn’t exactly dull.

“How should I put this… I’m not sure how to explain. Just don’t stray too far from me.”

“Huh? Okay.”

Still unsure what was happening, Ruolin just nodded vaguely. Then she took off her outdated glasses and closed her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, she opened them again.

In the darkness, with no light source, a shapeless mass began to condense into a distorted humanoid figure. Memories buried deep in Ruolin’s mind surged forward, and she quickly shut her eyes again, clutching tightly onto Ke Xin’s arm, trying to hide behind her.

However, Ke Xin was slightly shorter than Ruolin, so hiding behind her wasn’t very effective.

“Ugh…”

Ke Xin could feel not only the pressure of the girl clinging to her, but also her trembling.

Of course — anyone who could see magic could probably see anomalies too. She herself had been terrified the first time she saw one of those things.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of. I’ll take care of it.”

First, deal with the threat — the rest could wait.

Ke Xin placed her right hand on the glowing gemstone of the transformation bracelet. She took several deep breaths, then called out:

“Magical Girl — Transform!”

In an instant, a surge of magic poured from the gem and enveloped Ke Xin’s entire body. Her school uniform from Crescent Academy vanished and was replaced with a magical battle outfit.

It all happened in a blink. To most people, it would’ve looked like a sudden flash of light.

Now fully transformed, Ke Xin looked forward again. The monster was clearly visible now:

A tall, two-meter-tall humanoid creature — emaciated, its skin pulled tight over bones like a sickly monkey. Its mouth bore giant boar-like tusks, and its body was covered in grey fur.

Its sunken eyes glowed with an unsettling orange light, and it crept toward them.

“Ke Xin?” Ruolin stared in a daze at the transformed girl glowing with a pink aura.
In fact, aside from the color, she didn’t look that different from the monster.

“Sorry, could you let go of my arm?”

“Huh? Ah! Sorry!”

Once her arm was freed, Ke Xin quickly shook it out and limbered up.

If there hadn’t been someone else here, she wouldn’t have minded toying with the creature a little. But tonight, speed was the priority.

Ke Xin raised her right hand toward her waist, adopting a gun-drawing stance. A handgun appeared — its design a mix of pink and white.

The girl raised it, aiming straight at the approaching anomaly. Sensing the magic building in the weapon, the creature slowed down — but its intelligence clearly wasn’t enough to grasp what was happening.

Not that it would matter anymore.

Ke Xin poured the maximum amount of magic into the gun and pulled the trigger. A massive beam — thicker than the barrel itself — blasted forward, piercing through the monster’s body and tearing its form apart.

“Gamma-class anomaly — neutralized.” Ke Xin stepped forward and picked up a black marble-like orb left behind. It looked like an ordinary toy marble, but it was extremely dangerous and had to be sealed in a special container.

Once the monster was defeated, the surrounding domain dissolved as well. The street, previously dark, lit up again — the streetlamps had always been working.

At the nearby intersection, a few silhouettes appeared — and Ke Xin couldn’t help but find them familiar.

Several people sprinted over and immediately surrounded her.

“Ke Xin, are you alright?”
“Are you hurt? That anomaly’s field was really strong. We couldn’t get in for a while.”

They circled around her, checking for injuries. Once they were sure she was fine, they relaxed.

“Hey, I think you guys should help me figure out how to deal with this.” Ke Xin spoke in a low voice, her eyes drifting toward Ruolin, who had been completely ignored.

Ruolin didn’t look too great herself:
“Anomalies… Magical girls… So they’re real.”

With that, her body went limp and she collapsed.

One of the girls with orange hair closest to her caught her just in time.

“She fainted.”