Natasha advanced along the route her father had given her, her sky-blue high heels clicking crisply against the stone ground.
The curves of her feet, wrapped in white silk, were clearly defined, and the ornate magical girl attire shimmered with a faint blue glow in the dim surroundings.
[Natasha-sama, 1,567 meters remain to the destination. Please be careful for the rest of the journey.]
Isabella’s indifferent voice echoed in Natasha’s ear.
She nodded, but seemed unconcerned:
“Mm, I know.”
Aside from Bai Jia, Natasha was the least experienced among the modern magical girls, yet her performance was the most advanced.
It seemed that, drawing from previous experience, the Leonard Corporation had intentionally adjusted the humanization weight in the magical girl AI when creating Isabella.
As a result, among the current AIs, Isabella had the strongest sense of being mechanical.
Perhaps that was exactly why Natasha and Isabella’s relationship was more like master and tool; the two didn’t have much interaction.
Fortunately, this AI assistant wouldn’t spout nonsense like “I understand you so well.”
Boom!
Suddenly, a thunderous sound spread from deep within the labyrinth, like a startling clap of thunder.
The sheer force of the impact caused even the stone walls beside Natasha to tremble slightly.
Natasha stopped in her tracks, her gaze shifting toward the source of the commotion.
After thinking for a moment, she said with a hint of speechlessness:
“…I’d bet a dollar this is Annie’s doing again.”
[89% probability, Natasha-sama]
Expecting that old hag to quietly navigate the maze was indeed wishful thinking.
The moment the group was forcibly separated upon arriving here, she should have realized this.
It was no easier than expecting Kong Nue to love peace or Se Nie to be devoted to pure love.
She could only hope that Annie’s actions hadn’t triggered some tricky mechanism in this ruin.
Otherwise, she’d dock that girl’s bonus when they got back.
Otherwise, if there was any danger, the modified human squad they’d brought along wouldn’t have an easy time surviving.
Natasha sighed, then rallied her spirits again, her high-heeled steps quickening.
She needed to hurry along the route her father had given her…
But wait, why would her father know there was a ruin here, and why did he have a map of this place?
These questions had been buried in Natasha’s heart for a long time.
Every time she thought of the subtle smile on her father’s face when he issued missions, Natasha felt like she was looking at a thick book filled with secrets.
She knew that her father probably wouldn’t tell her the source of his intel; he’d just smile and tell her to follow orders and complete the mission properly.
That being the case, she’d set these doubts aside for now.
With Natasha’s steps, a faint golden glow finally emerged on the path ahead, like a ring of golden outline.
Natasha knew that was their destination.
……
At this moment, Xia Lan suspected she’d been set up.
After her maggot entered the pitch-black hole that Annie had blasted open, the connection between the two was severed in an instant by some strange force.
The image came through intermittently, only flickering blackness, like a TV with poor reception.
But even though the transmitted image was cut off, Xia Lan could still feel the bloodline bond between mother and child, sensing that maggot wriggling its body and crawling forward along the center of the stone wall.
Just now, Annie had mentioned she was still about 2 kilometers away from Natasha in a straight line.
Assuming it was heading straight toward Natasha’s direction, then 2 kilometers in that direction, plus some adjustments and error margin…
Xia Lan quickly outlined a range in her mind, and with a thought, an exact number of maggots immediately turned around, following Xia Lan’s orders to search that area, hoping to discover Natasha’s trail.
Although as a magical girl, Natasha’s experience was undoubtedly no match for hers or Annie’s, when it came to troublesome and thorny matters, Xia Lan felt that Natasha’s [Jian Qi] was clearly more threatening.
Advanced technology, an excellent pilot.
If not for the particular nature of her “crafting method,” Natasha’s strength would undoubtedly be above hers.
And most importantly, Natasha always gave Xia Lan a vague sense of crisis, as if she were a wasp hiding a venomous stinger.
Suddenly, Xia Lan froze for a moment.
“Huh? That’s…”
In that pitch-black cave, the poor maggot, while wriggling, had unexpectedly discovered an open area resembling a plaza.
Stalactites jutted out from the towering dome above, and a massive crystal stood on the ground, radiating an azure glow that provided limited illumination for the space.
At the center of that plaza stood a colossal stone monument over ten meters tall.
Its surface was covered in complex, interwoven patterns, and its mirror-smooth, reflective face bore intricate hieroglyphic text—characters so bizarre in form they resembled no existing language on Earth.
The monument stood like a towering giant, looking down at everything around it in silence.
Annie was nowhere to be seen in the vicinity; it seemed she hadn’t found this place yet.
[That is… is that the monument of the magical girl [Destruction]?]
Since [Destruction] had never ultimately been born, even Liu Hua currently didn’t know the monument’s exact origin.
[The text on it is a ceremonial script used by the Chaos Faction ten thousand years ago. Xia Lan, have your child move closer.]
“Mm.”
Xia Lan nodded, and soon, the text on the monument grew larger and larger in the transmitted image.
[Let me see… “This monument is erected solely to record the power of the gods.”]
Liu Hua’s voice sounded like an archaeologist appraising a document.
If she had a physical form, Xia Lan was sure she’d see her frowning deeply right now.
“Liu Hua Jie, what is this thing?”
[From what I can tell, this appears to be a monument dedicated to recording the deeds of the Chaos Goddesses. What’s inscribed on it is a hymn of praise to the goddesses… Strange, why would something like this appear in a magical girl’s ruin? None of us four have gotten this kind of treatment.]
Liu Hua sounded helpless, like an older sister who’d found evidence of her mother favoring her younger sibling.
A monument related to the Chaos Goddesses…
A flash of insight suddenly sparked in Xia Lan’s mind, but that thought vanished like lightning before she could grasp it, disappearing before she could react.
[Well, Xia Lan, do you want to go take a look?]
“No.”
Xia Lan’s tone grew sharp.
“I’ve already found Natasha’s location.”
Just now, among the information relayed back by tens of thousands of maggots, Natasha’s figure had finally appeared in one of their sights.
She seemed to have walked into a space radiating golden light, leaving only a blurry silhouette.
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