The night was ink-black and utterly silent.
A red figure and a blue figure descended noiselessly in front of the entrance to a half-collapsed building.
Fei Xia scanned the surroundings under the faint moonlight.
Shattered tiles, rusted and twisted metal supports, and a half-broken, crooked sign that still faintly read “xx Station.”
This had once been a subway station.
The entrance was now completely blocked by all kinds of building debris.
Qinghai Starlight moved with practiced ease, skirting the rubble.
She crouched in front of an inconspicuous sewer manhole cover and knocked in a rhythmic pattern.
Dong—dong—dong dong dong—
A moment of dead silence.
Then came the heavy sound of scraping.
The manhole cover was pushed open from inside, revealing a pair of wary eyes.
The person who poked her head out was none other than the white-haired magical girl who had been distributing porridge in the outer city during the day—Bellflower.
“Senior Qinghai! You’re finally here!”
Bellflower’s voice carried barely contained excitement.
But the next second, when her gaze landed on the unfamiliar black cloak draped over Fei Xia, her entire body tensed.
The magic staff in her hand lifted slightly.
“Who is this?”
“One of us. She’s here to help.”
Hearing that, the vigilance in Bellflower’s eyes eased a little.
She gave a silent nod, pushed the manhole cover open with effort, and stepped aside to reveal the narrow passage leading underground.
The manhole connected to a cleared tunnel that led deep into the subway station.
The farther they went, the more stifling the air became.
Dim emergency lights buzzed overhead, barely illuminating the abandoned platform.
The air was thick with the smell of damp mold, rust, and a sour sweat odor mixed with despair.
Dozens of refugees huddled on the abandoned tracks and platform, shivering under tattered blankets.
Some were coughing, some were quietly sobbing, and most simply stared blankly into space.
“It’s gotten colder these past few days. At least underground we’re out of the wind.”
Bellflower led the way while quietly reporting the situation, exhaustion clear in her voice.
“We’ve barely managed the most basic warmth issue, but food… is still critically short. I only just arrived myself. The supplies I brought won’t last until the next delivery.”
Qinghai Starlight said nothing. She simply nodded with a grave expression.
She motioned for Fei Xia to set down the large hiking pack on her back.
The zipper opened to reveal neatly stacked metal cans bearing the General Bureau’s special-supply mark.
They were premium pure-meat canned goods—the kind Fei Xia would never have dared to dream of.
Without the slightest hesitation, Qinghai Starlight picked up a can and pulled the ring tab with a crisp click.
The rich aroma of meat instantly exploded in the enclosed space, overpowering every trace of mold.
She walked over to the large pot that was already boiling and poured the entire can—meat chunks and all the fat—into it without holding back.
One can. Two cans. Three cans…
The originally thin, watery porridge instantly thickened into a golden, fragrant stew.
Everyone on the platform couldn’t help but sniff the air. Countless sounds of swallowing echoed through the station.
After simmering a little longer, the aroma reached its peak.
“All right, line up and get your share.”
Qinghai Starlight took the long ladle from Bellflower and began serving.
The first person to receive a bowl was a gaunt old man.
His hands trembled as he accepted the bowl filled with meat chunks and hot broth. Muddy tears immediately streamed down his face.
“Thank you… thank you, ability users… thank you, living Bodhisattvas…”
The old man’s knees buckled as he tried to kneel and kowtow.
“Elder, please don’t.”
Qinghai Starlight reacted quickly, catching his arm. Even though the sleeve was filthy, there was no trace of disgust on her face. Her voice was gentle yet firm.
“This is what we should do. Eat it while it’s hot.”
Fei Xia stood in the shadows, watching silently, her emotions complicated.
She had thought that carrying two million in debt and being hounded by interest every day meant she was already living in hell.
But compared to the people in front of her… she was practically living in heaven.
She lived safely inside the wall, held a legal main-city residency, had a school to attend, and a bookstore to live in.
She even possessed power strong enough to change her fate.
Even if the wall collapsed one day and the world ended, she could protect herself with her magical girl abilities and fly to any safe shelter.
These people didn’t even have the right to run. They could only wait in the darkness for charity—or death.
This wasn’t hell.
This was her being spoiled and not knowing how good she had it.
‘Five thousand…’
Fei Xia watched the old man cradle the bowl like a priceless treasure, carefully licking the rim. She exhaled a long breath of turbid air.
She looked around at the faces that had been lifeless moments ago.
Because of this single bowl of hot porridge, a faint spark of light had finally returned to their eyes.
Fei Xia let out the knot of frustration in her chest.
The corners of her mouth lifted slightly in a faint, self-mocking smile.
Losing that money wasn’t a loss at all.
At that moment—
“Baobao! My Baobao!”
A heart-wrenching wail tore through the brief warmth like a knife.
“My child! My child is gone!”
A disheveled woman in rags burst out of the crowd like a madwoman.
She staggered over to the three magical girls and dropped to her knees with a heavy thud, slamming her forehead against the ground.
Blood immediately seeped out.
“Please… I beg you, ability users!”
The woman clutched Qinghai Starlight’s skirt hem with grimy fingernails, her eyes wild and unfocused.
“Help me find my little Baobao! I shouldn’t have scolded him… I shouldn’t have called him a burden… wuuu…”
“I deserve to die! I really deserve to die! Wuuu…”
Qinghai Starlight was momentarily stunned. She quickly tried to help the woman up.
“Ma’am, please calm down first. When did your child disappear?”
She turned to Bellflower, only to find that Bellflower’s face had turned deathly pale, fear evident in her eyes.
“Senior… ever since we left last time… children have been disappearing one after another.”
“At first we thought they had just wandered off or gone scavenging in the ruins. But… the parents who went looking for them disappeared too.”
“No bodies. No traces. It’s like… they were swallowed by the darkness itself.”
‘Children? Disappearances? Ruins?’
Fei Xia’s pupils contracted sharply.
All the fragmented clues she had seen earlier clicked together in her mind like puzzle pieces.
—The ruined laboratory from the old era.
—The childish yet eerie graffiti on the walls.
—The constant chilling sensation of being watched from the shadows.
An extremely ominous premonition surged through her.
At the exact same moment—
Sizzle—sizzle—
At the shelter entrance, the thick blast door hidden behind building debris suddenly emitted a teeth-grinding corrosive sound.
The hardened special-alloy steel melted like candle wax, dripping to the ground and releasing curls of green smoke.
Boom—
The half-melted door lost its support and crashed down. An icy wind rushed in instantly.
A nauseating stench of rotting corpses flooded the entire subway station along with the cold gust.
Gurgle… gurgle…
Accompanied by a sticky, slug-like crawling sound.
A massive, writhing shadow forced its way through the narrow entrance.
It was a giant Slime.
Its body was a sickly, murky dark green. Inside its semi-transparent form, yellowish-brown pus bubbles churned.
It moved like a slow, unstoppable tidal wave of sludge, steadily pouring onto the platform and sealing off every escape route.
And inside its translucent body… various “debris” floated up and down with its movements.
Fei Xia saw them clearly.
A tattered doll missing one eye.
A child-sized red sandal no bigger than a palm.
And…
Several small, pale limbs that had not been fully digested, still attached to scraps of torn fabric.