Chapter 1: The Worst Region and the Nefarious Plot

In 2025, the city I resided in was designated the worst region in the entire country.

And why, you might ask?

Naturally, it was because I, Ling Xing, a combatant of the Dark Organization, was still active here!

As a righteous combatant, I was destined to confront the nefarious Magical Girl Organization and thwart their nefarious plot for world domination!

****

Under the cloak of night, Ling Xing stood solitary atop a dilapidated building, his school uniform concealed beneath a form-fitting red and black battle suit.

He tapped the sunglasses perched on his forehead, then pulled them down, clutching an old-fashioned tape recorder as he gazed down at the road below.

A convoy of several trucks crawled slowly along the dim street, flanked by heavily armed soldiers vigilantly scanning their surroundings.

At the head of the convoy, two young women in elaborate formal attire, their presence starkly contrasting with the soldiers around them, led the way.

It was as if they were the true combatants, far surpassing the soldiers, who appeared to be merely making up the numbers despite their seemingly well-trained demeanor.

“Can’t we move any faster? This area is riddled with vantage points; we need to get through quickly.”

The composed young woman leading the group gestured, her rifle sweeping across the surrounding derelict buildings, its muzzle darting between the windows.

Predictably, she found nothing, only the night wind rustling through her long white hair.

Qi Teng Shen Xue, captain of the Magical Girls assigned to protect this convoy, was once a B-rank Magical Girl.

After being demoted to C-rank due to injuries, she had been relegated to escort duties in the peripheral regions.

Ling Xing produced a small notebook from his battle suit, cross-referencing the pencil-sketched portraits and descriptions within to verify her identity.

Beside her stood…

“No, Captain, this place is just too dangerous! The tire mysteriously blew out while we were driving, and when we called for repairs, they only made it worse and even stole our fuel.

We have no signal, so we can’t communicate—wahh, I’m sorry, I didn’t notice it then…”

The flustered new Magical Girl, Chao Wu, with her long black hair, clearly hadn’t gathered any deployment intelligence; this must have been her first mission.

‘They really underestimate us, don’t they? A C-rank Magical Girl, a newbie, and a few grunts, brazenly waltzing past right under the Dark Organization’s nose.’

‘They deserve to be targeted by me. Hmph.

If that captain hadn’t been so vigilant, I would have already made off with the fuel.’

As the last remaining combatant of the Dark Organization’s branch, Ling Xing resolved to teach these Magical Girls a proper lesson.

“This isn’t the time to assign blame.

Maintain your defenses, try to…”

The captain’s words abruptly cut off, her rifle instantly swiveling skyward as she unleashed a rapid volley of shots before Chao Wu could even react.

Blazing lines of fire ripped across the sky, lasers illuminating the night as they tore through a falling object, yet—

“Smoke? An ambush! Disperse immediately and find cover!”

That was not Ling Xing, but rather a bag of urea he had thrown, which burst mid-air as the lasers pierced it, unleashing a vast, chaotic cloud of smoke.

Lime, flour, pigments, smoke bomb powder—a jumble of bags filled with miscellaneous contents rained down from the tall building.

In an instant, the chaotic smoke and pigments obscured everyone’s vision, plunging the once orderly convoy into immediate disarray.

Vehicles halted to prevent unnecessary damage and separation amidst the chaos.

Soldiers scattered, seeking refuge behind various covers and vehicles.

Everything unfolded precisely as Ling Xing had predicted.

The soldiers of the Magical Girl Organization moved with mechanical precision, their reactions entirely within his expectations.

Only Chao Wu, on her first deployment, remained frozen in place, momentarily bewildered, painfully covering her eyes as the smoke stung them, coughing blankly.

“Eh? What… *cough, cough*—”

Then, Ling Xing leaped from the tall building, his body, enhanced by the battle suit, landing lightly amidst the choking cloud, striking an ostentatious, arms-outstretched pose.

“I am the Chief Combatant under the Dark Cadre! Nefarious Magical Girls! Your wicked deeds shall be punished by me!”

“Fire! Fire! Shoot at the sound!”

An unknown soldier bellowed, and then gunshots and muzzle flashes rent the night sky above the street.

A dense barrage of bullets wove a curtain of fire, completely saturating the source of the sound, yet—

‘What imbeciles! Who could possibly speak with such vigor amidst this choking smoke?’

Ling Xing scoffed inwardly at their folly, watching them wildly fire at the truck where he had left the tape recorder.

Holding his breath, he stealthily crept behind another vehicle.

His sunglasses protected his eyes.

Although neither side could discern the other in the swirling dust, Ling Xing had already memorized the vehicles’ positions.

Within two seconds, he deftly picked the cabin door’s lock.

As he pulled open the door, a blast of cold air rushed out.

Inside the refrigerated compartment, a high-tech mechanical device, hidden among the chilled provisions, emanated a frigid aura and emitted a cold, mechanical hum.

[Eligible subject detected. Synchronization imminent.]

“Tch, they deliberately used food supplies as a cover, so how did word get out…?”

Having retreated from the cloud of smoke, Qi Teng Shen Xue mumbled to herself.

Yet, lacking intelligence, she dared not rashly plunge into the chaos.

Gunfire intertwined with erratically swaying headlights.

The chaos reeked of a mixture of gunpowder and dust, as countless shrapnel fragments sprayed in unknown directions, causing Qi Teng Shen Xue to furrow her brow slightly.

‘The newbie is still in the smoke. With all this commotion, if she gets hit by a stray bullet, I, as captain, won’t escape blame.’

“Chao Wu, get out of the smoke! Watch out for friendly fire, and don’t try to be a hero!”

“*Cough, cough*, Captain, I… I heard him open the door! I… I can do this—”

The bewildered, inexperienced Magical Girl wiped tears from the corners of her eyes, struggling to grope her way towards the sound.

Meanwhile, Ling Xing, the source of the sound, was at this very moment…

He didn’t spare a single glance for the seemingly super high-tech mechanical device.

Instead, he simply bypassed it, hastily stacking boxes of military rations, compressed biscuits, and frozen meat into a pile, ready to grab and make a swift escape.

A cold light extended from the device, calmly striking Ling Xing’s chest.

He flinched at first, but after a brief self-assessment, touching the illuminated spot, he felt no discomfort whatsoever.

“What in the world is this junk…? Never mind, who cares? This will feed me for another month or so! Gotta go, gotta go—”

As for the device, Ling Xing couldn’t be bothered to even glance at it from start to finish—it didn’t look like something he could carry away anyway.

The Dark Organization was simply so destitute they couldn’t even afford to eat, forcing him to raid a Magical Girl transport convoy for some food and drink.

He wondered what Qi Teng Shen Xue, who had cleverly used logistics transport to conceal the device, would think if she knew.

Before she could find out, however, Ling Xing had already leaped from the cargo hold, casually tossing a few more homemade, foil-wrapped smoke bombs towards a nearby alley.

All he needed to do now was dart into the alley and vanish; the Magical Girl Organization, unfamiliar with the local terrain, would never be able to catch him.

As Ling Xing mused this in his mind, his peripheral vision caught a flash of cold light within the smoke, and his body instinctively sidestepped—

Immediately after, a blade of light sliced past his eyes, tearing open a box of frozen meat and diagonally cleaving the entire box, contents and all, into two halves.

“*Cough*, I… I’ve got you, Dark Organization combatant! Draw your blade!”

The rookie Magical Girl, Chao Wu, her vision blurred by tears, drew her blade and pointed it at Ling Xing!

“My protein supply… Tch, you nefarious Magical Girl! I’ll remember this for the half-month I won’t have any meat to eat—”

‘Draw what? What kind of combatant goes head-to-head with a Magical Girl?’

As the smoke began to dissipate, Ling Xing, having caught his breath in the truck, delivered a fluent and practiced declaration befitting a Dark Organization grunt, then immediately turned and fled.

Normally, this would be the point where things concluded.

After the customary villain’s declaration and threatening words, everyone would go their separate ways, awaiting the next incident.

However, Chao Wu was clearly no ordinary person.

As an exemplary student, outstanding in academics and character, who had never known failure and had yearned to be a Magical Girl since childhood…

She absolutely could not accept such a humiliating defeat on her very first mission!

After a moment of stunned hesitation, Chao Wu unhesitatingly abandoned her teammates and pursued him alone into the alley.

“Don’t even think, *cough*, don’t even think you can run! You wretched, *cough, cough*, wretched Dark Organization!”

[Synchronization… complete. Welcome, Eligible Subject ‘Ling Xing.’]

After the two had departed, the device Ling Xing had ignored pulsed with a faint glow amidst the cold air, emitting a mechanical voice that no one heard.