Chapter 335: Something That Must Be Done

—The dark turmoil.

In an instant, the white-haired girl felt as if she had been struck by lightning.

“Teresa...”

Vivi murmured, her voice full of confusion and conflicting emotions.

Like a tiny duckweed facing a wave about to sweep across all of Neon City, she could only drift along with the current.

Becoming a magical girl was the only dream she had ever had in her short life.

Though, as a bottom-tier orphan, she had never even heard of the people and events mentioned in the group chat, she could understand from the words alone just how terrifying they were.

With competition now many times fiercer than before and only two and a half months left to sprint toward her goal... Even she, stubborn as she was, suddenly felt as if hope and the future were slipping out of reach.

Could she really still become a magical girl?

Then, in the next moment, she heard that gentle, calm voice.

“Don’t overthink it.”

“Go do what you think you should do.”

“...!!”

For some reason, Vivi’s wildly pounding heart suddenly settled.

“Okay.”

The train had just arrived at the station.

“Rust Street Station. We have arrived.”

It wasn’t the stop for Peace Street.

But amid the crowd, the white-haired girl had already made up her mind.

She no longer cared about listening to the news, or watching the discussion flare up again in the group chat. A powerful force erupted from her small frame as she shoved her way through the packed crowd in the carriage.

She paid no attention to the chorus of curses around her. Her amber eyes were filled with an indescribable urgency as she clutched the bag containing Lin Guang tightly to her chest. The moment she got off, she took off running to transfer to another line.

She wasn’t stupid. Lin Guang’s words had let her intellect reclaim the high ground.

She absolutely could not go

</path> home now, because there was something more important to do.

Given the current trend, anyone with a normal level of intellect could guess one thing.

Everything related to becoming a magical girl, those potions, training programs, chips, even magical prosthetics and equipment...

Over the next two and a half months, prices were bound to skyrocket!

She had to go buy potions!!

………………

An hour later.

“Terminal station, Rust Street Station. We have arrived.”

The white-haired girl, one-shoulder bag on her back, stood by the doors and watched as the electric train slowly came to a stop at the terminal.

The doors opened, revealing a desolate landscape.

This place was in the outskirts, where the canopy barely allotted any sunlight. Day or night, it was almost always dark. Three-quarters of the streetlights were broken, and the place was lit almost entirely by the wild neon billboards, which crackled with electricity.

Some passengers who looked like trouble silently stepped off the train, replaced by another group of quiet, equally menacing people boarding it.

The white-haired girl watched the train pull away along the tracks. Then she turned and stepped onto the dark street.

Like the other lawless zones in the outskirts, Rust Street was lined with either makeshift illegal shacks made of corrugated metal or strangely tall buildings whose owners were anyone’s guess. The street reeked of a suffocating mix of all kinds of things.

She had barely taken a few steps when she felt several gazes from the dim alleyways around her, sizing up the private school uniform she wore.

Her amber eyes pierced the darkness. She could make out the hard, cold lines of magical prosthetics on their bodies, and their gazes carried unmistakable ill intent.

Yet the white-haired girl showed not the slightest surprise or alarm.

Though she had done everything she could to move to Peace Street and put on this prim-looking school uniform, that didn’t mean her true nature had changed.

For her...

As much as she hated it and wished she could never return, the darkness and chaos of the outskirts were still governed by the rules she knew best.

This was a paradise for demon-people, lunatics, magical prosthetic psychos, and those with nowhere else to turn.

And of course, she knew how to survive here.

Click.

Expressionless, Vivi unzipped her one-shoulder bag and pulled out the crude, homemade, large-caliber pistol. She conspicuously tucked it into the gun belt at her waist, while amber magic power glimmered in her eyes and she coldly stared back.

The heart-shaped tip of her black tail slashed coldly across her neck.

—If you want to die, be my guest.

The greedy gazes promptly backed down, retreating into the shadows once more.

The next moment, she began striding quickly down the street. Her expression was wary, but her steps were firm, as though she had a clear destination in mind.

After about ten minutes, she had crossed several blocks where sewage ran freely. Only when she turned onto a relatively wide street did her tense shoulders relax a little.

Compared with the chaotic streets outside, where a shootout could break out at any moment, this street seemed relatively orderly.

The streetlights were all in good repair, their dim yellow glow illuminating the road. There were hardly any gang members with brightly dyed hair to be seen by the roadside, and the shops beneath the neon signs looked much more normal, too. A strange sense of peace hung over the entire street.

It was as if an invisible barrier kept all the chaos outside.

“...Phew.”

The white-haired girl slowed her pace as she walked along the street, so at odds with the rest of the outskirts.

In her mind, she explained to Lin Guang, “This is where I usually buy potions.”

“That woman is called Sister Yi... I don’t know her actual name. Everyone calls her that, so I do too.”

“Supposedly, she’s been this street’s protector for decades. Officially, she runs a music bar here, but in reality, it’s an unlicensed shop that sells magic potions...”

“Since she doesn’t have to share the profits with pharmaceutical companies or pay taxes, her prices are quite a bit lower than those of the legitimate potions on the market. They work just as well, too, and unlike other underground potion shops, they don’t have severe side effects.”

Vivi paused, her voice somewhat conflicted. “Sister Yi isn’t a saint, but every now and then she’ll show some kindness and offer shelter or a meal to people with nowhere else to turn.”

“Generally speaking, she’s a good person who shouldn’t have to be in a rotten place like this.”

Lin Guang could hear the memories and emotion stirring in her voice.

“But she’s not some naive fool. On the contrary, she’s incredibly formidable, and ruthless when she strikes.”

“I heard from someone that a gang with a D-rank superhuman once coveted her potion business and tried to kidnap her... By the next morning, the entire gang, more than a hundred people, along with their base, had vanished. Not a scrap was left.”

“Anyway, for someone like me who wants to buy magic potions, she’s the best person to go to.”

As she spoke, Vivi stopped in front of a staircase leading down to a basement.

A crooked neon sign hung by the entrance, bearing the words 【END BAR】.

—End Bar.