Chapter 23: The Ambush at the Cold Storage

The path ahead was clear.Most members of the Magic Science Squad had been reassigned, and the administrative staff had largely clocked out, leaving the vast building almost deserted.Ling Xing casually brushed aside the few remaining idle personnel, ensuring their progress remained utterly undisturbed.Their advance was so remarkably smooth that it defied belief this was the headquarters of a Magical Girl organization within the city.What should have been a grave and perilous mission had, until this point, felt as effortless as taking a leisurely stroll through their own home.With practiced ease, the two navigated their way to the basement—or more accurately, Ling Xing effortlessly guided the tense Chao Wu, who was clutching her gun and scanning every shadow, deeper into the facility.

“There’s no need to be so jumpy,” Ling Xing remarked. “Which room is it in? We just need to grab the item and go.”

The subterranean corridor lay deserted, illuminated solely by a cold, sterile white light that imbued the space with an unsettling lack of warmth.A slight inhalation revealed an unpleasant concoction of disinfectant and chemical reagents lingering in the air.Ling Xing wrinkled her nose subtly as she surveyed the rooms lining both sides of the passage.There were no signs of anyone; even the researchers should have been at dinner by now.

“I can’t shake the feeling that this is *too* easy,” Chao Wu murmured. “It should be in the cold storage… yes, the captain told me that was our destination.”

Unlike Ling Xing, Chao Wu displayed no such nonchalance.Likely due to her inexperience, a persistent unease gnawed at her, causing her to grip her rifle tightly, her eyes darting restlessly around the surroundings.It was hardly surprising; despite her role as a combatant, she had never actually set foot in this particular facility.To her, this was entirely unfamiliar territory.

“Don’t overthink it,” Ling Xing reassured her. “If anything truly goes wrong, I, the elite combatant, will bear the brunt. How could we possibly expect a rookie to solve problems or shoulder responsibility?”

Ling Xing lightly patted her own rather modest chest.This elicited a slight, relieved chuckle from Chao Wu, who then nodded.Indeed, the Magical Girl organization… what that particular young lady had done was truly beyond human capability.In comparison, the Dark Organization almost seemed more humane.

“Right, I must have been overthinking things. Let’s go; the cold storage should be…”

As they continued deeper into the corridor, Chao Wu, her spirits buoyed by Ling Xing’s encouragement, relaxed her posture. She took the identification card from Ling Xing’s hand and approached the cold storage door.The most challenging part was already behind them; now, all that remained was to enter the cold storage, retrieve the machine, and the entire mission would be successfully completed.So much for the formidable Magical Girl organization… they were nothing special after all.The young woman allowed her tense, anxious state to ease slightly, lowering her rifle’s muzzle. A faint smile touched her lips as she pressed the identification card against the recognition device.

[Welcome, Magical Girl…]

*Click…*

The cold storage door creaked open a fraction.A torrent of tangible white frost billowed forth from the narrow opening.Yet, in that very instant.

*Zzzzt—zzzt—zzzt—*

An abrupt crackle of electricity suddenly drowned out the notification chime.The lights flickered erratically, plunging everything into a chaotic dance of light and shadow in sync with the electrical surge, until, in a single terrifying instant, all illumination was extinguished.

“—!”

Chao Wu froze for a split second, then instinctively moved to raise her rifle.Before she could even lift her weapon, however, her body was forcibly shoved aside by an unseen power.

*Bang—bang, bang—*

Three gunshots echoed, their muzzle flashes briefly illuminating the darkness as the bullets whizzed past the very spot where Chao Wu had stood moments before.The lights flickered back on, revealing a revolver aimed precisely at the level of Chao Wu’s forehead, held within the slowly opening door.The weapon was clutched in the hand of a purple-haired girl.

“…!”

Ling Xing had pushed her.Had it not been for Ling Xing’s instantaneous reaction, those three bullets now embedded in the wall would undoubtedly have splattered Chao Wu’s pretty head.

“It must feel quite good, playing the fox who borrows the tiger’s might, Ling Xing. You seem to be enjoying yourself immensely.”

“Just a little, I suppose. Though, I must ask, are all you Magical Girls so eager to ruthlessly eliminate your own kind? It certainly makes me even more hesitant to join—”

Where Chao Wu had once stood, Ling Xing now faced the petite girl, subtly lifting her outer garment to mask the pistol she gripped at her waist.Being slightly shorter than Chao Wu, the three bullets aimed at Chao Wu’s forehead had merely grazed Ling Xing’s hair before embedding themselves in the wall behind her.This allowed her to maintain a tense standoff with her adversary.

“Guh… Hane.”

After rolling once on the ground, Chao Wu scrambled to her feet, raising her rifle to join the tense confrontation.But it was futile.Could firearms truly harm a Magical Girl?This mission was meant to be a stealth infiltration, carefully avoiding any Magical Girls while they were absent.Yet, with the mission on the verge of completion, a Magical Girl, clearly lying in wait, had appeared before them.They had no idea why their opponent was here prematurely, nor how they had been exposed; all they knew was the undeniable fact of her presence.This was, without a doubt, the worst possible scenario.

“Don’t do anything pointless, you idiot! Go get the machine!”

“Do you truly believe you still possess the luxury of caring for others, Ling Xing? Perhaps my skill as a combatant doesn’t match yours, but my experience as a Magical Girl—”

The girl’s voice stretched, elongated.The lights flickered wildly once more, casting the corridor into a disorienting rhythm of light and shadow, an ominous prelude to whatever was about to unfold.In their sight, the girl’s figure blurred, then vanished.Neither of them fired; among those present, only Chao Wu was vulnerable to gunfire.Naturally, Chao Wu was acutely aware of this fact.No matter how deeply she cared for Ling Xing, she was powerless to assist in a battle against a Magical Girl.Therefore, just as Ling Xing had instructed, there was only one course of action available to her.Seizing the brief lull in the standoff, Chao Wu ducked low and swiftly darted into the cold storage.The moment she stepped inside, the cold storage door began to slowly close behind her.The flickering cold light faded into silence, and everything behind her plunged into darkness, rendering her unable to discern anything, even if she were to turn around.

‘You have to win, Ling Xing…’

All she could do was trust, trust in Ling Xing, just as Ling Xing had once trusted in her.

****

*Clang.*

Blades clashed, emitting a violent, sharp clang.A Magical Girl could manifest magical armaments simply by transforming.Ling Xing, however, was no orthodox Magical Girl; the weapon she wielded was merely the ornamental katana Chao Wu had been ordered to use for suicide earlier that morning.This very katana was now held horizontally, blocking just behind Ling Xing’s neck.A short sword, thrusting directly from behind Ling Xing towards her side neck, was intercepted by the katana’s flat.The brittle, mundane steel suffered a deep gouge from the clash with the Magical Girl’s armament, and even though it had fully blocked the attack, it had only managed to deflect it by a mere fraction.What would have been a fatal stab instead became a mere graze across her collarbone, leaving only a shallow streak of blood.The lights illuminated the corridor once more.Ling Xing sidestepped, widening the distance between them.Before Ling Xing’s eyes stood the figure of a young woman, cloaked in an inky-black cape.In the girl’s hands, she wielded a pair of translucent short swords, forged from pure magical energy.

“Transforming in public isn’t ideal, but here, there’s no one to stop me, Ling Xing. Allow me to formally introduce myself once more.”

From the keen edge of the short sword and Ling Xing’s grazed neck, a few drops of crimson blood dripped.The girl twirled her short swords with a light, almost playful motion, flicking the droplets of blood from their blades.

“Domo, Ling Xing-san. I am Hane, the Magical Girl who once exterminated seven monstrous beings in a single night. DESU.”

Even high-ranking combatants, beings classified as ‘monsters,’ had been effortlessly dispatched by this girl—seven of them in one night alone.And Ling Xing, merely a combatant armed with a pathetic, mundane weapon, dared to believe she could withstand a D-rank Magical Girl?The cloaked girl regarded her with utter disdain.From its very inception, this battle held not a shred of suspense.