Apocalypse, then transforming into a magical girl

The monster that was once Li Ding is no longer the bizarre creature that barely managed to maintain a human form.

Now, it looks more like a giant ball of flesh haphazardly piled and forcibly glued together from countless human remains and grayish-white monstrous tissue. Human heads with various distorted expressions, some terrified and some ecstatic, are spread forward on the surface of the flesh ball like strawberries on a cake.

Li Ding's foolish face was now enshrined high atop the fleshy mound. Being in a safe place, having satisfied its gluttonous instincts, it felt an unprecedented pleasure.

Along with the mutation of its form, the mental pollution originating from Li Ding's obsessive thoughts and the monster's energy also became more powerful and more bizarre.

This bizarre mental fluctuation was no longer just radiating a false sense of security, but was mixed with Li Ding's current frenzied and joyful mood, distorting into a cognitive bias with strong hypnotic characteristics.

Fourteenth floor, hallway.

A man in pajamas, his hair disheveled, holding a flashlight, pushed open the door and mechanically walked downstairs. Just as he reached the thirteenth floor, a woman in casual clothes, her complexion equally unpleasant, came out.

Upon seeing the woman, the man offered a stiff but friendly smile and greeted her in a flat voice, "Oh, Aunt Zhou, where are you headed?"

The woman addressed as Aunt Zhou turned her head at the sound of her voice, her face bearing an expression that was completely unnatural, yet not exactly contrived, as she replied in a light voice:

"Oh, it's Xiao Wu. I was just about to go downstairs to see him."

"Going downstairs? What a coincidence, I was just about to go downstairs too!" Xiao Wu's face showed a look of surprise.

"That's great! We can keep each other company!" Aunt Zhou said to Xiao Wu.

"It's a pity that the power is out, so the elevator can't be used and we have to take the stairs."

"Oh, taking the stairs is good too, consider it exercise! Also, Xiao Wu, you're not getting any younger, don't just stay home all day. You're in your thirties and still single, how about I introduce you to someone?"

……

Downstairs, in that murky marshland.

Rainwater had already reached the windowsills on the first floor. Some monsters that had been wandering aimlessly seemed to be attracted by the distorted mental fluctuations emanating from the third floor, and clumsily climbed up the stairs to the first floor.

They too moved toward the ever-expanding ball of flesh, awaiting the same fate as those pitiful humans.

Meanwhile, on the seventeenth floor, a door was gently pushed open, revealing Old Man Sun, who lived at the end of the corridor.

He wore a faded blue old shirt, his hair was gray and sparse, and his cloudy eyes were devoid of any spirit, only empty and blank.

He ignored the pile of monster remains at the doorway that reeked of burning flesh, and completely ignored the sounds of fierce fighting coming from the rooftop, and walked straight toward the stairwell.

"What? There's really only one on the rooftop?"

At the entrance to the rooftop, Xia Zhaozhao muttered, her face full of dissatisfaction.

She gestured for Little Green to hold up an ice umbrella over her head, shielding her from the falling red raindrops and black nematodes. Then, she cautiously peeked out and found only a few scattered clumps of nematodes, which didn't seem like a significant threat.

Xiao Lü casually unleashed several streams of cold air, blasting those wriggling little clusters to smithereens.

Xia Zhaozhao withdrew her gaze, sighed, and said, "Never mind, let's leave it at that."

"I can see you haven't slept in a long time either. Go back, I'll keep watch for you."

"Do you really think you're that much older than me now?" Xiao Lü glanced at Xia Zhaozhao, who had turned into a 14-year-old magical girl because of her wish, and teased her, earning a fierce glare from Xia Zhaozhao.

However, after experiencing these events, Xiao Lü was indeed quite exhausted.

A soft green light flashed, and Little Green transformed back into Zhao Jia. Almost the instant he transformed back, a heavy sense of exhaustion washed over him like a tidal wave.

He forced himself to stay awake and prepared to go back to his room and fall asleep immediately.

But at the same time, a mental fluctuation with a strong seductive meaning had silently spread from downstairs to the rooftop.

Zhao Jia suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He said to Xia Zhaozhao beside him in a calm tone, "I have to go downstairs first."

"Huh? You want to go down and practice against some monsters? Isn't that unnecessary?" Xia Zhaozhao was stunned for a moment, not quite understanding. "Besides, it's the middle of the night, and the hallway is pitch black..."

She subconsciously reached out and patted Zhao Jia's shoulder, trying to bring him to his senses, but suddenly felt something was wrong.

Using the faint magical light emanating from his body, she could see Zhao Jia's face clearly—his expression was blank, and there was even a strange smile on his lips.

He strode off and headed straight for the stairwell!

"Hey! What are you doing?" Xia Zhaozhao's heart skipped a beat, a sense of foreboding washing over her. What's going on?

Just as she was filled with doubt and uncertainty, that strange mental fluctuation also enveloped her. A powerful, almost irresistible thought whispered in her mind:

"Third floor..."

Xia Zhaozhao trembled. The mental resistance brought about by the transformation prevented her from being instantly controlled like Zhao Jia, but she still felt a considerable amount of pressure!

"Oh no, it's a mental attack! Zhao Jia, transform quickly—" Xia Zhaozhao instantly realized that Zhao Jia had been controlled!

Seeing that Zhao Jia had already gone down one floor and was completely ignoring her, she was extremely anxious.

Finally, she stomped her foot angrily, "Damn it, I'm going all in!"

She stopped resisting the downward pull, gave in to it, and quickened her pace as she rushed down.

At the same time, she mobilized the little magic power she had left, purifying and compressing it in a special way. Before rushing to Zhao Jia, she suddenly stretched out her right hand and poured the magic power into Zhao Jia's body.

"Transform!"

"Huh?" Zhao Jia, who was walking mechanically, suddenly shuddered and transformed unexpectedly.

After the light faded, Little Green with her green twin tails reappeared. She blinked blankly, and then, realizing what had happened, broke out in a cold sweat.

"...Zhaozhao, thank you, you saved my life again." Xiao Lü's voice was filled with lingering fear.

"It's no big deal! We're sworn brothers!" Xia Zhaozhao waved her hand dismissively. "Just turn on the small green air conditioner more often—wait, what?"

Her brow furrowed as she felt the insidious mental pollution: "This fluctuation... it's so strange, much stronger than it was on the rooftop!"

"not good!"

The two simultaneously realized an even more terrifying truth—even in their transformed magical girl forms, they couldn't completely resist this mental pollution. The pollution surged in from downstairs like a tidal wave, and its intensity continued to increase!

Their minds continued to resist stubbornly, but their bodies, like puppets on strings, walked down the stairs step by step, with the downward pull increasing with each step they took.

Because of her anchor of courage, Little Green's mind was unusually clear, but what good was clarity? She found herself completely unable to control her body's steps. She tried using ice magic to freeze her legs, but with little effect.

Xia Zhaozhao, standing beside her, was in even worse shape. Her face was deathly pale, and her lips were trembling.

"Damn it, we're really going to die on the same day, month, and year... I haven't finished my game yet—and there's still stuff on my hard drive that I haven't deleted—"