Chapter 66: The Monster Reveals Itself

Lead-gray clouds hung low over Yunqi Village, pressing down like a thick velvet soaked in sewage, filtering the noon light into a dull, oppressive gloom.

The air carried the damp, earthy scent unique to rain’s approach, mixed with a faint, almost imperceptible stench of rot—thick, suffocating, and clinging.

At this moment, Ke Xin stood atop a residential roof. The wet, cold tiles beneath her boots seemed to transmit chill directly into her bones. Her eyes scanned the holographic screen projected by her tactical goggles, moving back and forth without needing to touch anything manually.

She cross-checked the last few flashing scarlet points on the map with the building at the center of the village—the Yunqi Village Cultural Hall—for the final time.

Under the gloomy sky, the hall’s gray-white walls and the shadows of its eaves felt especially oppressive, like a massive coffin standing in the middle of the village.

The small square before the hall seemed even emptier under the gray sky, scattered with objects silently testifying to the villagers’ panic during the disaster.

Overturned tricycles, spilled grains, and even a lone blue sandal with a cartoon print lay abandoned on the cobblestones… Ke Xin’s gaze swept over these jarring traces with a heavy heart, finally locking onto the hall’s double dark-red wooden doors, their paint peeling and mottled.

Above the doorway, a brand-new banner reading “Happy Federation Day” fluttered weakly in the damp breeze, rustling with a sigh-like lament.

Ke Xin let out a barely audible sigh, the warm breath forming a small mist in the cold air. A sense of helplessness seeped into her bones alongside the chill around her.

An entire village had vanished.

If she could, she would have saved this one building—the only one still mostly intact, clearly holding countless collective memories of the villagers.

But the cold reality was as heavy as the weather. The magical girl allies skilled in constructing special barriers weren’t on site, so they couldn’t trap the anomalies inside safe barriers for combat. A direct assault could easily turn the last landmark into rubble.

She raised her hand and lightly touched the tiny earpiece hidden beneath her pink hair, speaking in a low, clear voice through the silent air and communications channel:

“This is Ke Xin. Team A has completed the encirclement of the remaining anomalies. The targets are concentrated inside the Cultural Hall. Requesting further instructions.”

Almost immediately, Agent Guan’s reply, steady despite faint electronic distortion, came through:

“Command center acknowledged. All units maintain standby. Repeat: maintain standby.”

In the background, the rapid tapping of keyboards, the hum of communication devices, and the muted, hurried conversations of other agents created an invisible tension over the airwaves, merging seamlessly with the heavy atmosphere outside.

All eyes were fixed on the hall’s doors. A damp, tense silence hung in the air, ready to snap.

The magical girls held their breath, fingers hovering over cold triggers or floating over spell activation buttons. The chill made every movement slightly stiff.

Suddenly—

“BOOM! CLANG—!”

The seemingly solid double doors of the hall were violently smashed from within. Shards of splintered wood scattered like an explosion, the heavy doors twisting as they hit the side walls, shattering the oppressive quiet.

Several figures staggered out from the darker shadows inside.

They were the Gamma-level zombie anomalies detected by the system.

Even in the uniform gray light of the cloudy sky, Ke Xin could clearly distinguish them from the Beta-level crawling mutants encountered on the village outskirts.

These Gamma-level monsters maintained a near-human upright posture, though their movements were stiff, like marionettes, walking on two legs.

Their tattered clothes, darkened by indistinct stains, clung wetly to their bodies, revealing they had once been ordinary villagers. In the pale light, their skin appeared nauseatingly gray and bloated, like drowning victims.

Ke Xin raised her magic-assisted assault rifle the moment the doors burst open. The cold metal of the gun pressed through her gloves.

Through the high-performance scope, even in the low-contrast light, she could clearly see their twisted features: eyes completely white, no pupils, just lifeless milky glass; mouths unnaturally stretched toward the ears, showing black-yellow jagged teeth; veins protruding beneath gray skin, glowing with a dark purple-black hue.

Oddly, upon reaching the muddy square, the anomalies automatically formed two neat rows, freezing in place like obedient soldiers.

Their heads turned simultaneously (the creepy sound of bones grinding echoing through the damp air), eyes staring hollowly northwest—toward some unseen focus. This eerie discipline was more terrifying than mindless attacks.

“What the hell… are they doing?” Tang Yuan’s voice crackled in the comms, tinged with suppressed confusion and caution.

“Shall we engage, Captain Ke Xin?” On the other side, Yan Luofei raised her intricately crafted magical crossbow, the arrow wrapped in flowing pink mana that glowed conspicuously against the gray backdrop, low hums like bees emanating from the charging energy. “Looks like they’re lining up to welcome someone… disgusting.”

Ke Xin parted her lips, ready to give the order to fire, when—

RUMBLE…

The ground shook violently without warning. At first, it was a subtle vibration, like a heavy truck passing, but soon escalated into furious shaking.

Roof tiles rattled and slipped from all directions, thudding into the muddy square below. The sound was dull and oppressive, not crisp.

This was no earthquake. Something colossal was approaching.

All eyes turned toward the shaking’s origin: a two-story building on the village edge collapsed as if crushed by an invisible hand. Bricks and wet wood flew, dust suppressed by the damp air. From the haze, a massive shadow slowly stood—over thirty meters tall.

A giant anomaly, its body a grotesque fusion of pale, distorted bones and dark red, pulsating muscle fibers, covered in rough, wet, gray-black keratin that dripped unknown viscous fluids.

Each step made the ground tremble; houses, brick or wood, shattered and collapsed like twigs.

Even more terrifying, on its right shoulder stood another figure: a humanoid anomaly draped in tattered black robes, soaked and darkened by moisture. Beneath the hood was not a human face but a pale skull, shining with ominous wet light, two blue flames flickering in the eye sockets, seeming to absorb all surrounding light.

Its bony fingers rested lightly on the giant’s neck, exuding a calm, sinister control utterly at odds with the surrounding destruction.

“Beep! Beep! Warning! Delta2-level anomaly detected! Multiple signal sources! Repeat, multiple signal sources!” The tactical display flashed red, alarms blaring, drawing suppressed gasps and shocked exclamations across the comms.

“Delta2-level?! Two of them?!” someone shouted in disbelief.

Ke Xin suppressed her shock, refocusing the scope on the skeletal figure.

Despite the dim light, the high-magnification scope revealed fine details: countless almost-transparent, blue threads of magical energy intertwined between the skull’s bony fingers, extending down like puppet strings to the frozen Gamma-level anomalies below.

“All units, fire at will. Prioritize Gamma-level targets on the square. Avoid the giant and that skeletal controller.” Ke Xin commanded clearly through the comms, firing without hesitation.

Pink magic rounds erupted from her rifle like a storm, striking a nearby Gamma-level anomaly.

Bullets tore through its chest and arms, puncturing bowlsized holes, spraying dark viscous fluids onto the muddy ground. Yet the creature didn’t collapse like lower-level anomalies. Its wounds grotesquely regrew, quickly knitting back together—clearly the work of the skull controller.

Ke Xin clicked a button on the tactical interface, transforming her rifle into its mage-gunner mode, the barrel extending and a grenade launcher deploying with tripod. Each shot now required more mana, energy glowing brighter, damage multiplied.

The recently revived Gamma-level anomaly roared, lunging at her rooftop with terrifying speed.

Bang!

A streak of pink light shot from her rifle, striking its heart. The shot tore through both body and protective mana shield. The monster froze midair, then fell like a marionette, hitting the ground with a thud, convulsing, and finally turning into an unidentifiable substance merging with the mud.

“Ke Xin! Focus on that skeleton!” Qi Si’s voice came through, background sounds of magical charging and metallic assembly audible. “It’s feeding mana to the little monsters below! It’s their battery and remote!”

“Understood,” Ke Xin replied tersely. She had sensed this herself but had been too busy handling the Gamma-level swarms.

That skeletal figure was likely the ultimate target—the Corpse Mother.

Although its appearance differed slightly from expectations, its abilities perfectly matched the characteristics of controlling zombies and transmitting magic.

Yet a question remained: how could one Delta2-level anomaly control another Delta2-level giant? Completely beyond standard Special Investigation Bureau knowledge.

“Just watching?” Ke Xin asked through comms, firing precise shots to protect nearby teammates.

She glimpsed a metallic shimmer and intense mana gathering atop the mountain—Hasegawa Kana and Takahashi Riko had apparently set up a 155mm mage-gun cannon, its power temporarily clearing the gloomy mountaintop.

“I want to help~” Qi Si’s lazy, teasing voice replied. “Though I’m not good at ultra-long-distance sniping… maybe I’ll just fling a rock with a sling? Might be more accurate.”

Ke Xin rolled her eyes, changing her empty magazine. Other team members reported ready firepower support, and the silent Ye Ziyue’s mana signature was palpable on the mountaintop.

“Fire at your discretion. Prioritize that skeletal controller. Things are about to get very busy here.” Ke Xin ordered, eyes back on the looming giant, whose shadow almost completely swallowed her.

The monstrous giant approached the rooftop, shaking the ground with each step, emanating a nauseating mixture of decay, magic, and wet stench. Ke Xin activated her suit’s air filtration system.

The skeletal figure on its shoulder opened its jaw and raised a bony finger. A screeching, grinding, glass-and-bone sound pierced the air, louder than all surrounding noise:

“Magical girls… is that what… you are?”

Two ghostly blue flames burned steadily in its eye sockets, locking onto the pink-haired girl in front.

Ke Xin felt the chilling gaze pierce her bones. She activated a detection spell but hit an invisible, frost-covered wall, repelled with backlash causing pain in her temple.

Even a mana-constructed body could be mentally attacked—no wonder it was a Delta2-level anomaly.

Every teammate held their breath, gripping weapons, eyes on Ke Xin, waiting for her next command.

Time seemed frozen in that moment.