Chapter 52: Don’t touch me! ☆ Hmph (╬ಠ益ಠ)

In the power distribution room, a deathly silence reigned.

The air was thick with the metallic tang of blood.

The gunshot that had just torn through the stillness seemed to echo endlessly, pounding again and again against Lin Yu’s already taut nerves.

(…It’s over.)

That thought struck her heart like a cold, heavy bell.

She couldn’t even feel the sharp pain from her wrist anymore— only a despair deeper than any simulated death she had ever experienced, rising from the soles of her feet and swallowing her frantic heartbeat whole.

A familiar voice pulled her back from the abyss.

It was Luo Shaotian.

He hadn’t hesitated for even a second— the moment the gun fired, he had thrown his tall, solid body in front of her, shielding her completely.

“Don’t be afraid…”

His voice came from above her head.

Though low and steady, it carried an unshakable calm and reliability.

“Listen—when I find an opening, I’ll rush out and draw all their attention. When that happens, you head for the window and jump. We’re on the third floor, but there’s something below to break your fall. You won’t die from it… That’s the only way they won’t catch you, understand?!”

His plan was simple—brutal even— yet it didn’t account for his own survival.

(And what if you get caught?)

Lin Yu didn’t ask, because she already knew the answer.

“Hey, hey! I think I’ve guessed what you two are whispering about, huh?” The Butcher’s beastlike laughter sliced through her inner turmoil.

“Cop, you fried your brains back there when we shocked you, didn’t you? Look at yourself! Still trying to play the hero? Worry about your own damn life first!”

“…Too noisy.”

From the doorway came Ah Que’s voice— cold and grating, like metal scraping against metal.

She gave Luo Shaotian no chance for his ‘hero saves the beauty’ act.

Before the Butcher’s mocking laughter had even faded, she coolly, decisively pulled the trigger again.

“Bang! Bang!”

Two sharp, clean shots cracked through the air— and two bursts of blood bloomed brilliantly from Luo Shaotian’s knees.

“Argh—!”

A cry of agony tore from his throat.

His face twisted in unbearable pain.

He regretted it now…

He should have emptied his magazine when he had the chance.

Who would’ve thought— the girl before him, who looked barely fifteen or sixteen, could be so ruthless?

A born killer.

“Thud…”

His tall, upright frame could no longer hold.

His knees buckled, and with a muffled groan, he crashed heavily onto the concrete floor before Lin Yu, sending up a thin puff of dust.

“Hahaha… HAHAHAHAHA!”

The Butcher and his men finally reacted, their laughter brimming with cruelty and gloating delight.

“Holy shit, Butcher! Did you see that cop’s face just now? Looked like he swallowed a fly!”

“Hero my ass! He should’ve looked in a mirror first! This is Red City territory— even a dragon has to crawl for us!”

One of the thugs cracked his massive knuckles, the popping sound sharp and eerie. Then he spat a bloody glob contemptuously at the trembling figure on the floor.

“Heh… Officer, still not awake yet, huh?”

He stepped forward, and with his oil-stained steel-toed boot, kicked mercilessly at Luo Shaotian’s bleeding knee.

“Still thinking of playing hero? You can’t even stan—”

But his words were cut off by a sudden roar!

The instant he leaned down to mock him, the man who had been sprawled on the floor surged up violently— and slammed into the thug with terrifying force!

“Wha—?!”

The sneer on the thug’s face froze in shock as he was lifted clean off the ground by the sheer, desperate strength of the man’s charge.

The impact was so fierce, so final, that both men went tumbling over the unguarded metal platform’s edge together!

“THUD——!!!”

A sickening crash echoed from below, like a watermelon shattering on concrete.

They had fallen.

The Butcher and his two remaining lackeys stiffened, moving as if under a spell, slowly stepping to the edge of the platform to peer into the abyss below.

“…Damn. That cop’s got guts. Jumping from that height…”

One of the men swallowed hard, his throat dry with shock.

“It’s your fault for not stopping him!” the other snapped, instinctively passing the blame.

“How was I supposed to know he’d lose his mind like that?! You think… they’re both… dead?”

“Dead! Definitely dead! It’s the third floor, man— he went headfirst! Not even a god could save him—he’s mush by now!”

(Dead…?)

(Just like that?)

As their careless verdict echoed in her ears, Lin Yu’s mind went blank, a single white noise buzzing through her skull.

She couldn’t bring herself to confirm it.

All she could see— was the dark red smear that trailed from her feet all the way to the platform’s edge.

That was the mark left by Luo Shaotian, dragging his wounded legs with the last of his strength— his final effort for her sake.

He really…

(…No.)
(…He can’t be.)

He was gone.

“Forget them—get back to business!”

Cruelty was second nature to gangsters.

After a cursory glance, the Butcher and his men turned back, their mocking, disdainful gazes locking onto the trembling maid huddled in the corner.

“You’ve sure been a pain in the ass, girl. I thought you two had grown wings and flown away, but turns out you were just a pair of rats hiding in the ventilation ducts.”

The Butcher seemed to savor the thrill of victory— the way a cat toys with a mouse. He raised his voice on purpose, recounting in detail how they had tracked the two of them down, each word scraping against Lin Yu’s frayed nerves like a dull knife.

“At first, we couldn’t find you at all. But then…”

He pointed toward the red-haired girl at the door— Ah Que, silent as a ghost.

“Our Ah Que’s nose is sharper than a police dog’s. She said she could smell it— that sweet, flowery scent you city girls always have on you.”

Expressionless, Ah Que reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, translucent fiber—no larger than a fingernail.

It was a thread of nylon, scraped from Lin Yu’s white over-knee socks by the rough metal vent. Under the light, it shimmered faintly.

“Just from that little thing, she managed to sniff you out from dozens of ventilation shafts. Tell me—aren’t you two the dumbest mice ever to run straight into your own trap?”

The Butcher’s taunting words drew another round of raucous laughter.

To Lin Yu, they sounded like a death knell.

(It was… my socks? Because of that?)

She instinctively looked down— sure enough, a small tear marked one of her white over-the-knee socks.

A wave of humiliation and chill constricted her chest.

The Butcher looked delighted by the fear draining the color from her face.
He stepped closer, his towering frame casting a shadow that swallowed her whole.

“Well, the rat’s caught. Time to get down to business.”

From above, he looked down at her— no longer amused, but filled with raw, filthy desire.

“Damn, you’re a pretty one.”

He licked his cracked lips.

“Big Sis Fox said to keep you alive… but she didn’t say we couldn’t have a little taste first, did she?”

One of the thugs—his face pitted with scars—snickered lewdly.

“She’s way better than that college chick we grabbed last time! Look at those legs—hell, I could play with her for a year! And that waist… tsk, tsk! Those clothes too—classy! Not like the street trash we’re used to!”

Another goon rubbed his palms together eagerly.

“Bet she’ll sound real sweet when she screams. Just thinkin’ about it’s makin’ me hard already!”

“HAHAHAHAHA!”

The filth pouring from their mouths splattered against Lin Yu’s soul like a bucket of rancid slop.

(Disgusting…)
(So disgusting…)
(I’m gonna be sick…)

Nausea roiled violently in her gut— a choking, suffocating disgust that was both physical and mental.

It was worse—far worse— than the cold, slimy touch of the monsters’ tentacles she had once faced.

This was humiliation.
Fear.
Revulsion.

She wanted to run.

But behind her loomed the metal cabinets— and before her, three sneering faces twisted like demons from hell.

“D-Don’t… don’t come any closer!”

She clutched her bleeding wrist tight against her chest, backing away step by step, her trembling voice like that of a cornered animal.

But her fear only seemed to inflame their cruelty.

“Heh heh, don’t be scared, sweetheart.”

The pockmarked thug reached out with a filthy, oil-stained hand, aiming for her delicate face.

As his hand neared, Lin Yu’s eyes hardened.

“Go to hell!”

Her right leg tensed— then, with all her strength, she lashed out with a fierce sweeping kick!

Crack!

A sharp, nauseating sound of bone snapping filled the room.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHH—!!”

The thug screamed in agony, his body twisting as he crashed face-first onto the dusty concrete floor. Clutching his leg—now bent grotesquely out of shape— he writhed and howled like a wounded beast.

“f*ck?!”

The Butcher and the remaining goon froze, stunned.

They hadn’t expected it— that the timid-looking kitten could bare such sharp claws.

Even Lin Yu herself was momentarily stunned by her own power.

(I… I did that?)

She looked at the man writhing on the ground, then at her leg, still poised mid-kick— and a strange rush flooded through her— a mix of shock… and the fierce thrill of strength.

“b*tch! You dare fight back?!”

The remaining thug snapped out of his daze, roaring as he yanked a gleaming knife from his belt.

Even though he had a weapon, the spark of hope had already ignited in Lin Yu’s heart.

(If I can just use this body’s agility right… maybe, just maybe…)

Bang!

A sharp, searing pain exploded in her right thigh.

“Ah—!!”

A cry of agony tore from her throat as her body finally lost balance and crumpled to the side.
She forced herself to look down—and froze.

A gaping hole had been punched through her once-white thigh. Blood welled out in a steady stream, staining that pristine skin a shocking, violent red within seconds.

“Nice one, A-Cui!” One of the pock-faced thugs jeered approvingly.
“Heh, heh… thought she’d be more trouble than that!”

“Son of a b*tch!” The one who’d been injured earlier gritted his teeth, snapping his twisted ankle back into place with a sickening crack. Step by step, with a murderous limp, he closed in.

“Got you now, you little whore!”

A coarse hand seized her arm through the thin sleeve of her maid’s dress, the roughness biting through the fabric.

Lin Yu felt as though her skin were being scrubbed raw by rusted sandpaper—goosebumps erupted instantly across her arms.

“Let me go!”

She struggled frantically, but her left arm was already useless, and his grip was like a pair of iron tongs.
(This strength… he’s not normal—he’s using that stuff—!)

Rrip—!
The sharp sound of tearing fabric cut through the air.
Her already tattered sleeve was ripped wide open, exposing a stretch of pale, delicate skin.

(…No.)
For an instant, Lin Yu’s mind went completely blank.
(So filthy…)
(Let go of me…)

That pure, visceral disgust—compressed to the breaking point—erupted like a volcano deep within her soul.

And at the very moment that thug’s filthy hands reached for the front of her white lace dress—

“Don’t touch me—!!!”

A scream burst out of her throat, raw with terror and revulsion, slicing through the foul air like a blade.

Almost at that same instant—

Vmm!

A pale pink shockwave exploded outward from her small frame, visible to the naked eye.

“Wha—?!”
The thug clutching her arm didn’t even have time to react before a violent force blasted out from her body.
It hit him like an invisible truck—bones cracked with a sickening crunch, and he was hurled backward with a strangled cry!

Bang!
He slammed into the wall nearly eight meters away, slid down to the floor, twitched twice, and went limp.

The butcher’s grin of greedy delight froze solid.
The other henchman who’d been about to move forward stopped dead, his hand suspended mid-air.

They all stared at the girl in the corner—
The trembling little maid who shouldn’t have had an ounce of strength left in her.

And Lin Yu herself… was just as stunned.
She stared blankly at her slender, gloved hand, faintly haloed in pink light. Her mind was utterly blank.

(…What was that?)
She couldn’t comprehend what had just happened.
That power hadn’t come from her will—it was more like… an instinctive, physical reflex.

Just as a body recoils when pricked by a needle—
When her skin felt that disgusting, nauseating violation, the body of the “magical girl” she wore had simply… retaliated on its own.

As she stood there in shock, a familiar, bubbly pink interface flickered across her mind—complete with sparkles and cute UI elements.
It was from the “House of Dawn” app—her personal source of shame: The Witch’s Training Manual.

And in that interface, one particular skill icon—a pink shield with a pouty emoji—flashed stubbornly in her memory.

[DP-02: Don’t Touch Me☆Hmph!]

(That… that self-defense spell?! No— the anti-harassment skill?!)
(Did I… actually use it? Wait—no…)

At once she remembered what the “senior players” had written in the guide threads:

“—Girls, the secret to this skill isn’t power, it’s emotion! You’ve gotta feel it—imagine some gross bug invading your personal space and be furious about it! Then, with all the confidence you can muster—ideally with a cute little huff—shout ‘Don’t touch me☆Hmph!’ and poof! You’ll get a sparkly ‘(☥益㋥)’ shield popping up!”

(…An emoji? I didn’t see anything like that just now…)
(So that means what I did was just… a half-formed version? Triggered because I lost control?)

That realization struck her mind like lightning, cutting a faint glimmer through the chaos and fear.

(…Which means…)
(I… still have a chance?!)

The thought took root—wild, desperate, and growing fast.

(Please… please… I’m begging you—this time, it has to work!)

She no longer cared how humiliating the skill was. She no longer cared whether she was still “a man” inside.
Like a drowning person clutching a final straw, she prayed with everything she had—replaying in her mind the move she’d sworn she would never, ever use.

“Hooh? Got some fight in you, huh?”

The brief moment of shock passed, and the butcher’s confusion twisted into something darker—an almost ecstatic thrill.
He glanced at his fallen henchman, then at Lin Yu’s pale, trembling face—so scared, so defiant—and let out a low, savage laugh.

“Heh… interesting. Real interesting.”

His eyes gleamed with a predatory hunger that was more beast than man.

He no longer swung his hands in idle threat.
Instead, the butcher began to close in—step by deliberate step—toward the petite “prey” who had nowhere left to run.

“Let’s see what you’ve really got!”
He growled as he walked, one meaty hand reaching up to undo the top two buttons of his work jacket.
Beneath it, the lamplight caught the thick, scarred muscle of his chest—tattooed with the grimacing face of a snarling demon.

“You little wildcat with claws… let’s see how wild you really are!”

His massive figure cast a mountainous shadow across the flickering white light of the utility room, swallowing Lin Yu’s trembling form whole.

Her breathing stopped.
She could smell the stench of his sweat—thick, acrid, nauseating.
She could see the scar on his face twitching with excitement.
And she could hear the frantic hammering of her own heartbeat inside her chest.

(Work… work… please, just this once—work!)

The next second, that calloused, fan-sized hand came slicing through the air toward her with irresistible force.

In that instant—Lin Yu jerked her head up!
The terror and panic that had flooded her green eyes were suddenly consumed—burned away—by a fierce, desperate resolve.

Her small, round face tightened; she puffed her cheeks in determination, mimicking the pose of the virtual idol she once mocked online.
Then, in a trembling, soft, and unbearably cutesy voice that made her scalp crawl, she shouted with all her might at the monster before her:

“Don’t touch me☆Hmph!”

The words had barely left her lips when—

BOOM!!!

This time, it wasn’t a faint ripple of force.
It was a full, tangible detonation—an immense, shimmering sphere of pink light erupting outward from her body like a balloon suddenly overinflated to its limit!

Across its semi-transparent surface flickered a gigantic, gleaming emoji face—adorably furious, sparkling with contempt—

(☥益㋥)!!!

“What the hell—?!”

The butcher’s hand never even touched her cheek.
Instead, it smashed headlong into that deceptively soft-looking “emoji barrier.”
A shockwave of power—at least ten times stronger than before—erupted from the shield.

His scream was strangled midway as he was hurled backward like a broken doll, slamming into the far wall with a bone-shattering crack!
The thug standing behind him was caught in the blast as well, sent flying like a bowling pin and crashing to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

“W–What the hell is that thing?!”

The butcher staggered to his feet, trembling.
The arm that had touched the barrier hung twisted and useless, the bone clearly shattered.
His eyes were wide with disbelief and horror.

“Hold it back! Don’t let it spread!”
He roared, half-mad with pain, pointing at the still-expanding pink sphere.
“I don’t care what kind of freaky trick it is—no way that bubble’s that tough!”

Ignoring the agony, he braced himself with his good arm.
Together with the last conscious thug, they threw themselves at the glowing barrier from opposite sides, ramming it with all their strength like desperate rugby players facing down a tidal wave.

“AAAHHHHH—!!!”

Lin Yu let out a cry—part pain, part panic.
She could feel her psychic energy draining away like water from a burst dam.
Her head was spinning; the light of the barrier flickered wildly, threatening to collapse.

Then—her eyes fell upon the smear of blood on the floor.
And something inside her snapped.

From the very core of her soul, a surge of raw, feral power erupted.

“Go to hell—AAAHHHH!!!”

The pink light blazed brighter, expanding in a blinding flash.
The force was no longer merely repulsion—
It became compression.
A merciless, pink hydraulic press.

“My—my hand! My hand’s breaking!!!”
The remaining thug screamed first.
His arms, pressed against the barrier, bent the wrong way with a series of sharp, wet cracks.

“Help! Somebody help me! My bones—my bones are breaking—!”
The butcher howled, his voice cracking into terror.

They could hear it—
The sound of their own skeletons creaking, splintering, beneath the deceptively cute pink glow.
They could feel their muscles and organs being crushed, inch by inch, against the cold, unyielding wall.

They kicked, clawed, and thrashed in futility, faces twisting in agony, veins bulging like cords.
But all that struggle was meaningless—
A pair of insects flattened beneath a steamroller, pitiful and absurd.

Then came a sickening, wet crunch.
Like overripe tomatoes stomped underfoot.
Their screams ended mid-breath.

Pink light bloomed—mixed with splashes of scarlet—
and in that grimy utility room, a flower from hell unfurled.

Moments later, the massive pink barrier burst with a soft pop.
Like a balloon filled with blood, it vanished into the air.

Silence.
Only Lin Yu’s ragged breathing remained.

She collapsed to one knee, completely spent.
Sweat soaked her gray hair, strands sticking to her cheeks.
Her delicate face was drained of color, her green eyes wide and unfocused as she stared at the nightmare she had created.

The walls were splattered with blood.
What had once been the butcher and his two men was now an unrecognizable smear of flesh and bone slowly sliding down the tiles, leaving streaks of crimson in its wake.

The stench of blood filled the air.

(I… I killed them…?)

Her mind went blank.
She stared at her slender hands, now stained with blood, and nausea rose like a tide from her gut.

“Ugh—”
She clamped a hand over her mouth, gagging violently.

But before she could even process the horror and self-loathing—

Bang!

A gunshot cracked through the silence.

Clink!
A bullet whizzed past her ear, sparking against the power cabinet behind her.

[Residual Passive Defense Field: Unstable Integrity]

Lin Yu flinched violently, jerking her head up.
At the doorway stood Ah-Que.
Her dust-smeared young face was twisted with confusion… and fear.

The moment she saw her bullet bounce harmlessly off the pink barrier, Ah-Que didn’t hesitate.
Relying purely on an animal’s survival instinct, she turned and bolted.

Her small figure shot down the dark corridor like an arrow loosed from a bow.

“Can’t… can’t let her escape!”

The thought detonated in Lin Yu’s head.
If that dangerous little “sparrow” got away, she’d report everything to the [Akagi Gang]—
And next time, there’d be more of them. Stronger ones.

The fear of survival drowned out everything else—shock, guilt, exhaustion.

She pushed herself upright.
Even her wounded leg found strength she didn’t know it had.

She didn’t chase.
Instead, she brought her trembling hands together before her chest, palms facing inward.

In her mind, the Witch’s Training Manual opened once more—
And there it was: the skill tutorial she had sworn she would never, ever learn, the most humiliating and absurdly powerful attack in the entire spell list.

(Damn it—why does it have to be this one?)
(Couldn’t I get something cooler, like “Dark Flame Dragon Wave” or “Ultimate Radiant Blast”?)
(Why does a magical girl’s finishing move have to be so… cute?)

Even as she complained, the sight of Ah-Que’s retreating silhouette crushed every last trace of hesitation.

(Kill her… kill her… just kill her…)

With a voice so soft and syrupy she wanted to die of embarrassment, Lin Yu began reciting the forbidden chant she would remember for the rest of her life:

“Bad—children—”
She drew out each word, sweet and sing-song, like scolding a naughty child.

**“—must be punished!
So let Gray Crystal’s fist of love—
teach you a proper lesson!
Take this! The strike of justice—
Target locked—

‘Heart Bomb!!!’”

As the final, unbearably cringeworthy line left her lips—

A brilliant pink light bloomed between her palms.
A heart-shaped bomb spun rapidly, radiating a dreamy glow.

In just a few seconds, it stabilized—
and Lin Yu could feel the terrifying energy thrumming within it.

She pushed gently forward.

“Chuu~❤”

The bomb let out an absurdly cute sound effect as it launched, trailing a glittering stream of pink light like a guided missile, racing down the corridor toward Ah-Que.

“?!”
Ah-Que, sprinting through the darkness, froze at that sound.
Every hair on her body stood on end.

She turned just in time to see the most surreal and horrifying sight of her life—
A spinning pink heart screaming toward her at impossible speed.

“Shit!”
Even her iron composure cracked.

She zigzagged wildly through the narrow hallway, moving with desperate, snakelike agility, trying to shake the thing off.
But the heart bomb followed relentlessly—tracking her every move, curving through the air with eerie precision, almost toying with her.

At last, at the end of the corridor—
Ah-Que turned, eyes wide with pure despair.

And the heart caught up.

BOOOOOOM!!!

The explosion roared like thunder.
A gigantic, rose-pink mushroom cloud bloomed, filling the narrow passage with blinding light.
The shockwave ripped jagged cracks down the walls.

Ah-Que’s small body didn’t even have time to scream.
She vanished—devoured by the storm of pink light.

When the smoke finally cleared,
only a black, human-shaped scorch mark remained on the far wall.

“Haah…”
Lin Yu sank to the floor, staring blankly at the devastation before her.

“This is… the power of a magical girl?”