The villainous magical girl's daily mission is to find fault.

Chapter 488 Xia Taotao's Nightmare

"Astral magic is a very magical thing."

"It can faithfully reflect the inner desires and expectations of the thing it is attached to, and show them on a macro level."

"A barrier that carries magical energy can generate powerful magical effects and can operate on its own without the need for a spellcaster to maintain it."

"However, barriers also have their limits."

"Once the magic of the surrounding environment exceeds its inherent limits, dangerous situations will arise that even the spellcaster cannot predict—"

"I call it 'Magic Overload'."

Inari described the barrier that Kalia had set up in this way.

Although Su Tianqing couldn't fully grasp the meaning behind her words, she could roughly understand the reason:

Kalia, this Russian magical girl, sets up a barrier that relies on sheer force—a powerful brick flying through the air! As long as it works!

Under normal circumstances, it can operate normally without any problems. In fact, due to its large redundancy, it is more robust and durable than ordinary barriers.

However, under the powerful magical influence of the magic storm, such a powerful barrier that can send bricks flying can encounter unexpected problems.

"Its magical effects will undergo a dramatic change—the puzzle room, originally used to store treasures, will exhibit a completely different effect due to the excessive magical energy it absorbs."

"For example?" Su Tianqing pressed.

"...for example, it could become an endless corridor that stretches on indefinitely, or a huge maze from which there is no way out."

"It could even become a haunted house room that presents the things that enter the person's deepest fears."

"This thing will be repeatedly amplified by the magical storm, and may even become a materialized nightmare, haunting everyone who enters it."

Upon hearing this, Su Tianqing's heart skipped a beat.

What is your deepest fear?

If this applies to Xia Taotao, then it means...

……

"Waaah... Youyou—Sister Taotao—, where are you—!"

Jin Lanshuang, panting heavily, gripped the cold handrail of the corridor and shouted loudly to those around her.

In this deathly silent corridor, apart from her own fading echo, Jin Lanshuang could not hear a single other sound.

Before him lay a corridor stretching into the endless distance, its end shrouded in mist, obscuring the view of its path.

Apart from the handrail along the corridor, there were neat rows of wooden doors to the rooms along the wall. But even if you pushed open one of the doors and went inside, there was still an endless corridor that you couldn't see the end of.

"Where exactly is this place...?"

The girl's face turned deathly pale, her heart pounded, and her whole body trembled uncontrollably.

Haven't I reached the final stage of my treasure hunt?

After opening the door to room 105, shouldn't the treasure left behind by the magical girl Kalia be stored inside?

Why... why is it such a terrible place...?

"If... if we just keep walking forward... maybe we can escape from here...!"

With this thought in mind, the girl mustered her courage, stopped lingering, and stepped into the mist-shrouded corridor ahead.

Strolling turned into brisk walking, brisk walking into jogging, and jogging into running.

Apart from footsteps and her own panting, there was no other sound around. It was like an endless prison, trapping the girl inside, unable to escape.

The running gradually turned into a frantic, terrified run.

The footsteps didn't travel far before echoing in the girl's ears through the reflections on the corridor walls, making her feel as if countless people were chasing her, urging her to run forward with even greater fear.

She dared not stop, she could not stop. A faint, ethereal whisper seemed to echo in the girl's heart.

If we stop, we'll never be able to get out.

But how long can this frantic run last?

Gradually, her legs stopped obeying her commands, and the white mist from her heavy breathing obscured the road ahead.

After running for an unknown amount of time, Jin Lanshuang finally couldn't hold on any longer, her legs gave way and she collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness.

……

Xia Taotao woke up with a start from her daze.

What just happened?

The brief loss of consciousness left Xia Taotao somewhat disoriented. She looked around, trying to figure out where she was.

A snowflake landed on Rabbit Girl's nose, melting into a cool droplet of water from her body heat, making Xia Taotao shiver.

It's snowing?

Ah, I remember now. I just opened the door to the treasure, and then I was pulled inside by a powerful force. When I woke up, I was standing here.

Where is this place?

It's like a highway with withered flowerbeds on the side. Snow has piled up in a thick layer on the road and flowerbeds. Snowflakes are falling in the distance. Only the blurry outlines of city buildings can be seen. Beyond that, nothing can be seen at all.

A strong sense of déjà vu suddenly overwhelmed Xia Taotao's mind.

This place... could it be...?

The scene before her eyes seemed to open a tightly closed door deep within her heart. An inexplicable sense of fear froze Xia Taotao in place, unable to move, staring blankly at the dilapidated street in the snowy weather.

He heard a noise behind him.

That was the sound of a woman arguing and hitting her child.

Why would such a sound be heard in this dilapidated neighborhood?

Xia Taotao instinctively wanted to turn her head to look, but her subconscious was frantically shouting one sentence:

Don't look back.

Don't look back.

But reason ultimately prevailed over the subconscious.

After hearing a worried, soft call, Xia Taotao finally turned around to look:

"—Sister Tao Tao."

Behind them was a dilapidated little clinic.

Inside the clinic stood a doctor in a white coat with a serious expression, a nurse standing by the bedside, unsure of what to do, and a mother and daughter from the rabbit tribe arguing fiercely at the door.

"Why didn't you save her? She has a high fever! If she doesn't get to a hospital in the city, Youyou won't make it through the night!"

"You stubborn fool, do you think city hospitals are charities? Do you think we can afford to treat this brat's illness at home?"

"Don't think you're so great just because you studied in the city for a few days! You still have so many younger siblings to feed, how can you afford medical treatment?"

Xia Taotao took a step back, but the slippery sidewalk caused her to slip and fall, landing hard on her bottom in the muddy, wet snow.

As if hearing the noise outside the door, the fierce-looking rabbit-woman turned around and glanced at her, her face full of disgust and hatred.

"—Okay, so you've been watching, haven't you?"

The rabbit-woman turned to look at him.

Do you feel like a hero, capable of protecting everyone?

"Open your eyes and take a good look. Who can you really protect?"

Xia Taotao instinctively wanted to stand up and run away, but the terror of the scene before her made her unable to take a step. She could only struggle to retreat in the snow, trying to avoid it.

The "mother" reached out to herself.

The hands, shrouded in darkness, became ferocious and terrifying, threatening to crush him on the spot.

Can I fight against it myself?

Xia Taotao remembered the Guardian Star in her pocket.

However, when he tried to grasp that last straw, the Guardian Star turned into dust in his hand and scattered away.

"Why...why?" Xia Taotao tried to grab the clump of drifting dust, but couldn't grasp anything.

"To save her, I sold my guardian star."

Behind the "mother," the rabbit-girl stepped forward and calmly gazed at Xia Taotao.

That was me in the past.

"I gave up my dreams, I gave up everything, just so I could save everything I could."

"But in the end, I found out... I couldn't save anything."

Xia Taotao was stunned.

Even with that hideous hand right in front of him, he no longer had the will to resist.

This is a nightmare that has been haunting me for many years, appearing in my most terrifying nightmares.

I have never escaped its grasp, and I am not now.

—Until another voice appeared.

"Sister Tao! Run!"

The girl's cries.

At the end of the road beside her, the petite girl rushed around the corner and charged forward at a speed unimaginable to ordinary people, kicking the hideous alien hand!

"Crack!!!"

The black monster resembling a "mother" was kicked away and crashed into the precarious wall by the roadside, where it was buried under countless bricks and tiles.

Xia Taotao looked up blankly, her eyes wide open.

The person standing in front of him was no longer his crying younger sister.

It was a pinkish-purple magical girl, her formal hat covering two rabbit ears on her head, her wand tightly gripped in her hand, wary of the roaring black monster in front of her.

At this moment, the figure of the younger generation overlapped with the smile of the younger sister, shaking Xia Taotao's will. A thousand words could be summed up in one sentence:

"--long?"