Chapter 40: The Unraveling Plan and a Bloody Interruption

“Hmm… the Rust-blooded bugs still proved insufficient. Such a protracted effort, merely to eliminate an insignificant combatant brat.”

The Division Chief leaned back in her chair, a wine glass in hand, gazing at the images projected in the conference room.

The experiment had progressed to its validation phase.

As the project she personally spearheaded, it was only natural that she meticulously observed its outcomes.

Ling Xing, that combatant brat, was her designated test subject.

Her plan was to reactivate the long-sealed experimental device, allowing Ling Xing to first consume the inexperienced apprentice Magical Girl, Chao Wu. Then, under the guise of an attack and the apprentice Magical Girl’s demise, she would requisition two pawns from the Pacific Front.

They would be left to their brutal struggle, for according to supercomputer calculations, Ling Xing had an 87% chance of eliminating those two pawns in combat.

At that point, the ultimate experimental outcome would be revealed: an experimental subject possessing three Magical Girl Crystals, pitted against the monsters pouring forth from the artificial rift. It would be a crucial observation to determine the full extent of an experimental subject equipped with three roughly D-rank crystals.

Concurrently, the narrative of a Dark Organization mobilizing monsters, leading to mass civilian casualties and the deaths of three Magical Girls, would serve to silence the worthless politicians attempting to undermine the Magical Girl Organization’s influence under the pretext of peace.

Should anyone remain stubbornly unyielding, the rift would simply be opened directly above their heads… Heh, imagine them clamoring to cut the Magical Girl Organization’s funding, declaring the war over, only to be devoured by “Dark Organization” monsters. The resulting public outcry, both collectively and individually, would possess terrifying destructive power.

By then, no one would be able to prevent the Magical Girl Organization’s expansion, allowing it to transcend national boundaries and become the true global ruling power.

Such was the original plan—beautiful and utterly convincing.

Yet, plans invariably succumb to the unforeseen.

The combatant brat, the sole compatible subject chosen by the experimental device worldwide, inexplicably failed to engage in a deathmatch with the Magical Girls, resulting in all three of them remaining alive to this day.

Furthermore, Ling Xing only possessed a single crystal, ultimately limiting her combat prowess to that of a D-rank Magical Girl.

This rendered the combat experiment utterly meaningless.

To make matters worse, the brat proved unexpectedly astute, somehow detecting a hint of conspiracy and turning the tables on her.

This forced the Division Chief to accelerate her plans, drastically altering the timeline and circumstances, and yielding entirely different outcomes.

After this debacle, it would undoubtedly require substantial effort, funds, and considerable networking to resolve the situation.

‘Honestly, everyone deviates from the plan… Thankfully, the artificial rift was indeed completed. While there’s room for improvement, it’s sufficient to validate the experimental results.’

The Division Chief settled back in her chair.

She no longer felt the same agitation as before.

What was done was done; no amount of words could alter the outcome.

Moreover, up to this point, all issues remained solvable with finances and connections.

Problems that could be resolved with her own resources and network were, in her eyes, no problems at all.

She was, after all, a Division Chief of the Magical Girl Organization, commanding a network and funds easily comparable to those of a provincial capital.

Such minor affairs were well within her capacity to manage.

“What should the next experiment entail…? Perhaps cultivating C-rank monsters? Hmm…”

It was essentially over.

The Division Chief couldn’t even be bothered to glance at the projected screen, already envisioning her next experiment.

A lone D-rank Magical Girl was only a match for a single D-rank monster.

The four D-rank monsters prepared for an experimental subject with three mixed crystals were, against Ling Xing, who possessed only one… entirely unnecessary for validation.

It was purely an execution.

Besides, as long as the rift remained open, monsters would continuously pour out. Even if Ling Xing were strong enough to defeat these few, they could simply send more.

The Division Chief harbored no fondness for such primitive, blood-soaked spectacles; she considered herself a rational and pragmatic woman.

“Ugh, what a mess… Where’s Qi Teng Shen Xue?”

“Report, Madam Qi Teng Shen Xue stated her concern about the monsters losing control and has descended to the lower levels, prepared to intervene at any moment.”

“She truly does love to fret needlessly. I specifically evacuated all personnel, granting them a long-overdue holiday… Never mind, it wouldn’t be Qi Teng Shen Xue if she wasn’t worrying.”

With Qi Teng Shen Xue present, even a C-rank monster wouldn’t be an insurmountable challenge.

Having set her next objective, the Division Chief set down her wine glass and stretched languidly.

‘There shouldn’t be anything else.’

The moment this thought crossed her mind, her subordinate interrupted her train of thought.

“Division Chief, satellite intel indicates the Magic Science Team is mobilizing.”

“Hmm? What’s going on? Didn’t I send them on leave?”

“It appears to be your command, ma’am? My access privileges do not extend to viewing it.”

The Division Chief acknowledged with a hum, a slight frown creasing her brow.

‘The Magic Science Team, the Magic Science Team… Ah, I remember now.’

‘To ensure those two pawns and the experimental subject fought fiercely, she had granted them authority to deploy the Magic Science Team.’

‘Yet, it had served no purpose whatsoever.’

‘What good was their deployment now, those useless Magical Girls from Neon?’

The Division Chief scoffed, waving a dismissive hand.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll contact them directly via the internal network once the servers are restored. But why is it taking so long to repair? Can’t they just activate a backup server in the meantime? After the disconnection, I can’t even view surveillance feeds; I have to rely on drones for live footage. What a nuisance.”

She grumbled offhandedly.

Before her words had fully faded, a knock echoed from the conference room door.

“Division Chief! We’ve apprehended the combatant causing the destruction!”

“Oh, good. What about the repair progress?”

“The repair progress…”

The source of the voice pushed the door open.

Within the conference room, where a diligent work atmosphere usually prevailed, air conditioning hummed, and clerks sipped red tea and wine, a scent utterly alien to the environment permeated the air…

Blood.

Someone instinctively glanced towards the doorway.

The scene that met their eyes was——

“————!”

A figure, clad in a shabby, skintight combat suit splattered with radial crimson, wore brainwashing goggles that emitted an eerie pink glow. A mixture of blood and sweat dripped from her hair, leaving sticky, scarlet trails on the floor and a long string of bloody footprints in her wake.

“I’d say it’s probably zero. I’ve eliminated them all, so I don’t think they’ll be lying around fixing anything.”

The lower half of the figure’s face, uncovered by the goggles, twisted into a smile brimming with utter madness.

In her hands, she casually held a heavy machine gun, pilfered from the Organization’s armory.

“You are————!”

“How did you bypass every security measure and brazenly infiltrate this most highly classified location!?”

The Division Chief’s eyes widened, but she ultimately failed to utter her demand.

Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat————————————————

A hail of bullets swept through the room.

Gunshots, strung together into a continuous line.

Bullets, transformed into a relentless downpour.

Every single person present was an elite, a high-ranking official within the Organization, a top-tier talent whose mere sight outside the tower would make outsiders tremble uncontrollably.

But now, under the barrage of this standard-issue machine gun, worth perhaps half a day’s wages to them, they were utterly worthless.

Nothing more than piles of mangled flesh.

Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat————————————————

Shooting, shooting, shooting.

Elegant antiques, advanced personal terminals, freshly brewed tea on desks, the fruits of their tireless research—everything, absolutely everything, was utterly destroyed, torn to shreds!

“Hahahahahahahahahahaha, ah hahahahahahahahahahaha! I am…? I’m a combatant, heheheheheheh, I’m going to kill all Magical Girls, all Magical Girl lackeys… Isn’t that perfectly reasonable?”

Click, click…

Having expended all her ammunition.

Even as the weapon emitted soft clicking sounds, signaling its depletion, the combatant continued to frantically pull the trigger, only discarding the now-useless gun after dozens of empty clicks.

“……”

No one cried out, no one wailed, no one resisted, no one begged for mercy.

Everyone had been equally reduced to a pile of mangled flesh.

Only the Division Chief, shielded by her subordinates who formed a human barricade around her, was perhaps not so equal.

—She had, astonishingly, not died on the spot, retaining a final flicker of warmth.

‘What a woman of extraordinary luck.’

“Ugh… ugh ah… Gulp, gulp…”

Her elegant, proper attire was drenched in crimson. The woman’s usually steady voice was now hoarse and ragged, like a punctured drum, and it took every ounce of her strength to force out even a semblance of coherent speech.

She struggled, desperately raising her hand.

Bang——

Her drawn service pistol emitted a puff of smoke.

In her dying moments, she fired a single shot at her assailant.

Then, she watched as the bullet was deflected by a faintly glowing shield, and as a light shimmered at her attacker’s fingertips.

It was a magical device, one that only Magical Girls could wield.

Only one person possessed such equipment.

“Gulp… Ah… You, you are…”

Thud.

“I already told you, I’m a combatant, heheheheh, to destroy everything, to ruin everything! Long live the Dark Organization!”

The woman’s chest was pierced.

Her self-proclaimed brilliant consciousness, along with all her plans and experiments, sank into oblivion.