Chapter 36: A Narrow Victory?

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“Hiss… ugh, strange, why can’t I find the way?”

Annie squirmed against the stone wall for a moment, scratching her head as she stared at the unchanging, endless darkness around her.

No end, no walls, only her face filled with a dull, bewildered expression.

“Annabelle, your navigation shouldn’t be malfunctioning, right?”

[……Lady Annie, my sensors are functioning properly. It’s likely that your reckless decision to break through the stone wall and barge into this unknown domain triggered some sort of countermeasure in the ruins, preventing you from successfully approaching your destination]

“Oh, dear.”

Annie sighed, plopping herself down on the pitch-black ground.

“How boring, not even a single mob around.”

Her petite frame stretched lazily, revealing the pale, slender waist against the pitch-black space.

A faint, bloody red gleam shrouded her skin like a thin film, pulsing rhythmically, like flowing crimson water.

[Please hold on a little longer, Lady Annie. Perhaps Lady Natasha is in need of your assistance right now]

“Her? That child is in her rebellious phase now, she doesn’t listen to me much anymore.”

Annie gave a wry smile.

“She used to be so small, so cute, waddling around like a little penguin.”

Even as she muttered this, Annie still stood back up.

But still, I can’t just let that child handle the mission alone while I sit here doing nothing.

Annie’s mind conjured Natasha’s face—that dusk-like wine color soaking into her eyes, calm, indifferent, like the sun silently setting.

That was Annie’s enduring impression of Natasha’s eyes.

At least, it used to be.

After becoming the magical girl [Jian Qi], that child’s eyes had grown silent, as if hiding countless words.

It was also from that point that Natasha seemed to become a different person, full of her own little secrets.

Annie always felt that making Natasha a magical girl hadn’t been a good decision.

But it was her own choice.

Annie had tried to dissuade her, to no avail.

“That child Natasha is working hard, so how could I, a mature and reliable career woman, just lie down here?” Annie stretched again, steeling herself anew.

[Lady Annie, in fact, your current win rate against Lady Natasha is approximately 45%. With the performance of [Jian Qi], you’re the real underdog here]

“Ugh, Annabelle, can you stop undermining me—”

Annie replied to Annabelle in her mind, taking another step forward.

This time, she tried walking back, to see if there was anything she might have overlooked.

And sure enough, after dozens of steps, something slightly inconspicuous caught her eye—a faint protrusion in a dark corner, drawing her attention.

Strange, was this thing here before? I walked right past it just now and didn’t notice it at all.

…

The mana in Natasha’s hands churned, sky-blue light sweeping through the middle of the thousands of steps like a storm, obliterating all the filth and the power of Na Gou that tried to surge forward.

Countless disgusting armies fell before the barrier of mana.

Then, Natasha’s hand transformed once again into a mana bow, aiming at Xia Lan’s form in the fissure.

Whoosh!

A sound like thunder, like a thousand birds crying, wrapped in endless storm fragments, raced toward Xia Lan at Mach speed.

The arrow’s shaft spiraled, distorting the very form of space, like a massive, razor-sharp drill.

With a tremendous boom, the arrow blasted off half of Xia Lan’s body—arm, abdomen, chest… green flesh flew everywhere, rot filled the air, and mangled meat writhed at the cross-section of Xia Lan’s body, like stacked insect eggs.

Could it be… that Natasha had won?

The next moment, reality denied it.

Xia Lan, whose half body had already been blown away, actually showed a faint smile on her face.

In an instant, the bulging insect eggs at the cross-section swelled and multiplied, turning into massive swaths of flesh, restoring even the magical girl’s outfit along with it.

“Your destructive power isn’t quite enough yet, little Natasha.”

“Tch, I’m older than you, so you should be calling me big sister.”

Natasha furrowed her brow, growing impatient.

Xia Lan had clearly come prepared.

Not by much, but it was enough for this impromptu skirmish.

The fluids splattered by the burst insects earlier were still affecting Natasha’s body.

The burning sensation forced Natasha to endure it constantly—even using [Jian Qi]’s power couldn’t eradicate it immediately.

It seemed those insects were specially crafted by Xia Lan as a weapon targeting [Jian Qi] users.

“Just because you’re older, I should call you big sister? No way.”

Xia Lan tilted her head.

“Now then, Natasha, you still have a chance to run away. I won’t beat you up like yesterday~”

Natasha didn’t respond.

She answered with her actions.

She pressed her hands together, blue strands of hair floating gently under the influence of mana.

A blue light flickered in her eyes, and the power of [Jian Qi] was steadily gathering and accumulating within her body.

Something was coming.

Xia Lan’s smile vanished as she stared grimly at Natasha in the distance.

The fungal carpet instantly coalesced into a shield of flesh and blood before her.

“I didn’t waste these six months of training at the company.”

Natasha revealed a slight smile.

“I was holding back before, but I can’t keep it bottled up any longer now.”

“About 648PB of knowledge and information—try receiving this.”

The moment she finished speaking, Natasha’s palms abruptly parted.

Blue light bloomed like a flower in full blossom, and a fierce gale swept through the entire golden hall, composing a howling symphony.

Every bit of energy carried an unimaginable amount of information, compressed with countless pieces of knowledge, all converging toward Xia Lan.

“What!”

Caught off guard by the form of the attack, Xia Lan’s defenses were rendered useless before this tidal wave of information.

A flood of chaotic data rushed into her brain all at once.

The overwhelming information clogged her nerves, leaving her unable to make any effective response.

This massive stream of information was like a giant hammer, viciously churning Xia Lan’s brain.

Blood trickled from her nose, her thoughts turned to blankness, and she plummeted into emptiness within the endless sea of data.

Now!

Natasha’s foot stamped down, her body surging forward, the blade in her hand thrusting toward Xia Lan’s head.

If she missed this opportunity, Xia Lan would certainly be on guard against this move next time, and its effectiveness would never be this good again.

She had to be fast—

Xia Lan’s brain was still frozen from the massive amount of information, seemingly powerless to stop Natasha’s attack.

It looked like Natasha had won… hadn’t she?

Just as Natasha was about to strike Xia Lan’s brow, the body that should have been immobile suddenly moved.

Her right hand shot up with lightning speed, firmly gripping Natasha’s wrist mid-strike.

“What!?”

Natasha’s eyes went wide.

Impossible.

The amount of information she had prepared would take at least ten seconds for even a magical girl’s AI to process with overclocked assistance just to barely regain movement.

But it had only been a little over three seconds—how could Xia Lan move?

“Mm… Using the traits of [Jian Qi], storing information and releasing it at a designated target to control or even destroy the opponent’s brain?”

Xia Lan spoke slowly.

“A good idea. [Jian Qi] might actually take a liking to you, little one.”

Natasha froze.

She stared directly into Xia Lan’s eyes at this moment—those eyes were still gentle, but the aura had changed. No doubt about it…

“You’re… that Liu Hua!?”

Natasha understood.

Xia Lan’s consciousness was indeed still affected by the information flow and couldn’t respond to the outside world, but Liu Hua, acting as support, had taken over control of the magical girl [Na Gou] at this critical moment, successfully counterattacking.

“Hello, Natasha. This should be our first time talking, right?”

Liu Hua, controlling Xia Lan, smiled faintly, like she was looking at a mischievous child.

“Speaking of which, thanks to that little notebook you gave me, I’ve got some leads now.”

Natasha was drenched in sweat.

She could already see the nauseating filth gathering in “Xia Lan’s” other hand, clearly about to attack her face with it.

She made a split-second decision, leaping back with all her might to break free of “Xia Lan’s” grip.

She stared deeply at the “Xia Lan” before her.

The pressure radiating from her now made Natasha gulp.

Elegant, composed, motherly—like the mother of all things—yet concealing a blasphemous killing intent.

“Tch, troublesome.”

After a brief moment of deliberation, Natasha decided to temporarily retreat for now.

After all, if Liu Hua truly was the existence she suspected, then under Liu Hua’s manual control, the magical girl [Na Gou] might very well kill her for real.

Natasha’s figure flickered and vanished at the doorway.

“Xia Lan” made no attempt to pursue.

After confirming Natasha had truly left, she let out a long sigh of relief.

The damage that Natasha’s attack had just dealt to Xia Lan’s brain far exceeded Natasha’s own expectations.

For Xia Lan’s consciousness to wake up now would probably take a long while.

And Liu Hua, at this moment, clearly couldn’t maintain control over Xia Lan’s body for that long.

She could feel that thirty seconds of control was her absolute limit.

Beyond that, the current Xia Lan would have no means of resistance whatsoever.

Therefore, Liu Hua’s attack just now was a complete bluff.

Fortunately, it successfully scared Natasha off.

“Didn’t expect there to be a move like that. I almost capsized in a ditch, Xia Lan.”

Liu Hua smiled helplessly.

While she could still manipulate Xia Lan’s body, she had to hurry and find a safe spot for her.

She raised her hand, first sealing the entrance to the [Destruction] hall with the power of Na Gou, then moved to a corner, where her entire body gradually dissolved into a pool of green sewage, slowly sinking into the ground.

Now, it was just a matter of waiting for Xia Lan’s consciousness to recover.

Wait.

Liu Hua suddenly thought of something.

She hesitated for a moment, then finally raised her right index finger toward the sky.

A streak of green light shot across it, as if transmitting some kind of message.

Sometimes, you should learn to rely on others a little, Xia Lan.