Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

She squinted, scanning the surrounding smoke and eerie plumes. The smoke, along with the scattered sparks in the air, was slowly converging towards the source of the flames drifting in the night sky.

This wasn't the first time Xiangzi had encountered things from the other side of the world, so seeing something so counterintuitive no longer surprised her.

But why is it cold?

If it were smoke from an explosion, shouldn't the surrounding temperature be slightly higher? And then the explosion would back up, completely lowering the temperature... No, that was the case last time I faced that other man with the gunblade; the flames spewing from the gunblade were surprisingly cold.

Temperature, temperature, temperature... Could it be that the temperature on the other side is the opposite of that on this side?

Not just time, but all vectors—momentum, energy—are reversed? This shore and the other shore are two completely opposite lines...

She felt that this phenomenon was somewhat consistent with a conjecture she had once heard as a topic of conversation after dinner, but she couldn't quite recall it for the moment.

Woohoo——!

The piercing sound of a horn rang almost against Xiangzi's ear, interrupting his thoughts.

Xiangzi covered his ears, only then realizing that he was right at the front of the train, and the train's whistle was not far from him.

......

Let's ignore the temperature for now.

As its train drew closer to the overturned locomotive lying in the middle of the road, the self-driving freight train detected the obstacle ahead and began to sound its horn and slow down.

Xiangzi looked up and saw the flames flickering in and out of the billowing smoke growing stronger. He swallowed hard.

Her heart was pounding; she was a little nervous.

coming soon.

Just at this time.

As the dispersing smoke condensed to a certain extent, fierce sparks burst forth from nowhere, converging towards the wreckage of the train, and the locomotive lying on the ground began to roll over without warning.

—rumble rumble

The overturned locomotive emitted an unpleasant and unnatural sound, spinning several times in mid-air. Scattered rubble, parts, flames, and other miscellaneous objects knocked over by the locomotive all began to converge towards the overturned locomotive.

A fierce gust of cold wind blew past Xiangzi from behind, and the rolling locomotive suddenly generated a force that drew the cold wind toward itself.

The train on the other side was reflected in Xiangzi's pupils.

She saw flames suddenly appear in the sky, and watched as the flames converged on the fragments of the locomotive. She watched as the locomotive began to tumble, and as it tumbled, it gradually pieced itself back together, restored, and finally became a complete locomotive that was still in operation.

—Ching ching ching ching ching.

The locomotive on the other side made a reversed, inverted sound as it rolled between the rails, distorting all the sounds of the train into an unpleasant noise.

The locomotive that was reversing started from a switch, and the transmission system reversed. Sparks in the internal combustion engine were generated out of thin air, and the fuel was restored to its most primitive form and returned to the fuel tank. From the perspective of this side, it was the rotation of the wheels that generated the fuel. This energy appeared out of thin air.

The backward-moving locomotive was located on the adjacent railway line, about 100 meters away from Xiangzi.

With the obstacle removed from the track ahead, the autopilot determined it could continue, so it accelerated again, gradually returning to its original speed and slowly climbing forward.

Xiangzi could only wait for his train to slowly move forward, eventually catching up with the locomotive that was moving in the opposite direction.

At the same time, another rumbling sound rang out, and another train was approaching from the other side of the locomotive on the other side.

The train coming from the opposite direction passed by the locomotive going in the opposite direction, throwing something onto the roof of the train, but it was too far away for Xiangzi to see clearly.

As the distance gradually closed, Xiangzi could see two blurry figures appearing on top of the train.

Sure enough it was her.

Xiangzi was not surprised at all.

That's... Mami Tomoe, and Homura.

The appearance of the person was as expected, but the actual situation was somewhat unexpected. Mami's current state was, rather than being, quite unexpected for Xiangzi.

The moonlight barely illuminated Mami's appearance. She was wearing a mask, covered in blood, and had a large hole in her chest. She looked so wretched and on the verge of death.

What happened? Who did it? Who could have made Mami, who owns flowers, look so disheveled?

Xiangzi stared at the extremely disheveled Mami, his mind going blank for a second.

"Give me the stuff." Mami's voice came from under her mask, sounding as if it had been electronically processed. It was already a little hard to hear, and it became even more muffled under the white noise of the train with its two different sounds.

"I know." Xiangzi swallowed. "Wait a moment."

"Hurry up! I'm too lazy to play negotiation games with you anymore!" Mami suddenly became fierce and shouted at Xiangzi.

Separated by the gap between the rails, Xiangzi saw Mami pull out a double-barreled shotgun, point it at Yan's head which was tightly bound, and make a five-pointing gesture towards her.

五？

Four.

Xiangzi immediately realized that Mami was threatening her, demanding that she hand over the flower or she would kill Yan.

A classic threat tactic.

Tsk.

Xiangzi gritted her teeth, glanced at the flower in her palm, and at the briefcase she always carried with her. The night was deep; at this hour, Mami shouldn't be able to see the flower in her hand, not in the briefcase.

But is it really necessary to do this?

Just as Xiangzi was thinking this...

——Whoosh!

A bullet from the other side flew from behind, almost hitting Xiangzi's hand that was holding the flower.

Damn it, she knew the flowers were in her hand, not in the box.

The number in Mami's hand turned into three.

Xiangzi's mind was in turmoil, but time was running out, and she didn't have time to come up with a solution.

two.

Time is running out.

One.

Xiangzi grabbed a handful of Lament Seeds from his pocket, mixed the flowers with them, and threw them at Mami.

Wow——!

The flowers, mixed in with the seeds of lamentation, fell into the locomotive's carriage.

Mami angrily raised her head and looked at the train opposite, but she did not see Xiangzi.

Her gaze continued upwards, and she saw that Xiangzi's figure had also appeared in mid-air at the same time, the muzzle of his M1911 pointed at Mami's forehead.

"Take it if you want it!"

boom--!

The bullet left the barrel and flew towards Mami.

The Tale of Reincarnation: The Forgotten Shore: Chapter 500 Lost

Since Mami wants it, let's "give" her the things first.

Xiangzi mixed the flowers with a pile of seeds of lamentation and scattered them toward the locomotive opposite him. At the same time, he took two steps back, pushed off with his calves, and his whole body soared into the air along with the scattered seeds of lamentation.

Xiangzi's figure leaped high into the air, drawing a perfect arc.

It seemed that Mami's attention was drawn to the countless seeds of sorrow, and Xiangzi took advantage of her distraction to draw his pistol from its holster and aim it at Mami's forehead.

boom--!

The bullet was fired at Mami, but she dodged it in an awkward way just before it hit her.

At this moment, Xiangzi realized that something was wrong.

"Senior!" Yan shouted at Xiangzi, "Don't worry about me, take that thing and leave quickly!"

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Xiangzi glared at Yan. "How could I possibly leave you here unattended!"

She raised her head and swung the blade at the gap between Mami and Yan.

——Whoosh!

Another bullet from the other side!

Xiangzi turned his head to avoid the counterintuitive bullet and watched it fly into the chamber of the flintlock musket.

No, it's not just bullets from the other side.

Xiangzi could finally see through the darkness that the splattered blood was converging on the huge and hideous through wound on Mami's chest.

This Mami is from the other side! Then how could she have a normal conversation with me just now—with a mask on!

The mask was meant to play her words backwards; no wonder there were such strong traces of electronic processing. Xiangzi's pupils suddenly contracted to their smallest size, and a prickly sensation suddenly came from his back.

She saw the flame gathering at the muzzle of the flintlock rifle.

——Whoosh!

——Whoosh!

Several more bullets from the other side flew out from behind him. If it weren't for the muzzle flash, Xiangzi would have been hit.

There's also Mami's action.

Although she was on the other side, Mami's actions just now were consistent with the logic of this side—she deliberately did the actions backwards, and even if they were a little unnatural, they were enough to fool Xiangzi when put together with normal voices.

when--!

The blade deflected the bullet that came from the side, and after bouncing and changing its trajectory, the bullet flew into the muzzle of the double-barreled shotgun in Mami's hand.

Xiangzi found an opening between shots and swung the blade of his gun at Mami.

Several flashes of silver light passed by, and Mami, with a few awkward movements, managed to graze the blade and avoid it.

Although she avoided it, she was still completely different from the Mami Tomoe that Xiangzi met at the art museum.

It was indeed because she was injured.

Mami was seriously injured from somewhere, and several faint cracks appeared on the Soul Gem between her eyebrows.

Ha ha.

They're in the same boat now.

After several rounds, Mami on the other side of the river had to take care of Yan, who was also on this side of the river, while simultaneously defending against Xiangzi's attacks.

For someone who was already seriously injured, this was bound to be difficult.

click-

Mami picked up a newly made flintlock pistol, only to find that it had been cut in half by something.

At the same time, Xiangzi pulled the trigger, and the flaming gun blade suddenly burst out with several times the force of before, slashing through the broken flintlock musket. The remaining half of the flintlock musket flew up from under the cart, piecing the broken gun back together, and then scattered into a loose tuft of ribbons.

Xiangzi had become quite accustomed to fighting the enemy on the other side. Moreover, her long-term self-imposed restrictions and time spent as a half-crippled person had also made her used to fighting in a way that consumed the least amount of energy.

Mami had never suffered such a serious injury before. Not only could she not fully exert her magic, but her mobility was also weakened to some extent. Compared to Shoko, who had entered her comfort zone, she was at a disadvantage.

However, Xiangzi also remembered a problem.

The reason I'm in the right now is because Mami is injured. The Mami in front of me is the Mami from the other side. If she was already injured when I first met her, then the time when she was injured wouldn't be the "past," but the "future." For this side, the point at which she was injured will actually heal her wounds.

At first, Xiangzi didn't need to worry about this issue because she didn't know that Mami was on the other side. But now, she's starting to wonder who from the future delivered such a fatal blow to Mami. Was it herself? Or was it someone else?

Just then, a rolling black shadow suddenly appeared in Xiangzi's peripheral vision.

She saw the tumbling black shadow fly up from the ground at the same speed as a train engine, heading towards Xiangzi's location.

"what?!"

Are there people from the other side?!

The shadowy figure moved too fast and was too unexpected. Xiangzi only had time to see it; his body had no time to react. He watched helplessly as the blurry shadow grew larger and larger in his eyes, until finally—

Boom-!

——Boom!

The dark figure and Xiangzi's head collided with each other, making a loud noise like two bells colliding. Xiangzi lost his balance and rolled twice on the roof of the rickshaw before sliding down.

"Uh... what... what's going on..." Xiangzi dazedly grabbed the edge of the train, barely managing to stay on and not fall.