Transform into a magical girl after getting off work

These Remnant Beasts were mostly the size of ordinary people, which compared to common Remnant Beasts could be said to resemble children, but their numbers were so great as to send shivers down one's spine.

The noise in the darkness was none other than the collective hissing of these Remnant Beasts as they gathered together in the dark.

At this moment, the Remnant Beasts that had been hit by the silk threads were clearly becoming agitated, and the pain started to unsettle them. Unwilling to continue squeezing into the same spot, many of the Remnant Beasts were already shifting their bodies, trying to detach themselves from the crowded ceiling.

As these Remnant Beasts thrashed about, something else fell from the ceiling and crashed to the ground.

Emerald Sparrow moved forward in silence, looking at the object on the ground under the glow of magic power—it was a square object, small like a card.

Picking up the object with the silk thread, it revealed its true identity: an Abnormal Strategy Bureau staff ID card.

The ID card was perfectly preserved; the plastic casing was undamaged, allowing Emerald Sparrow to clearly see the photo and personal information on it.

Only, the owner of the ID card was likely already in dire straits.

Emerald Sparrow stared at the ID card silently for two seconds before looking up again with an icy countenance devoid of any emotion.

She raised her hand, and the silk threads in the air hummed with her movements, responding to her actions, ready to unleash a slaughter upon the horde of monsters on the ceiling at the next moment.

Kill these monsters, and let them pay for the sin of killing humans.

It was as if a voice inside her said so. Stay updated with empire

Yes, kill these monsters, it is only right—they should—

Suddenly, Emerald Sparrow let go of her hand.

No, that wasn't her own inner voice just now.

She clutched her chest and said.

That was a voice that had suddenly appeared in her mind, and its first sentence was to have her kill the Remnant Beasts on the ceiling.

Something was wrong, Emerald Sparrow told herself.

It was only natural for a Magical Girl to kill Remnant Beasts, so why would it urge her to do so?

The dream she had that afternoon seemed to have an inducement of its own, skewing her mentality. Why?

At this thought, Emerald Sparrow suddenly looked up once more, finally realizing that there was something off about these Remnant Beasts as well.

Ordinary Remnant Beasts, acting on instinct, are devoid of rationality. The instincts of Remnant Beasts are to destroy and to feed; if a target as saturated with magic power as a Magical Girl came into their sight, they would definitely attack.

That is to say, if there was nothing abnormal about the Remnant Beasts on the ceiling, Emerald Sparrow should have been under relentless attack from the moment she stepped into the Abnormal Strategy Bureau.

But they hadn't.

Even when Emerald Sparrow wounded them with her magical gear, they still had no intention of attacking, merely moving their bodies, trying to get away from the attacked position.

These Remnant Beasts were just curled up on the ceiling, hissing, screaming, threatening, as if they didn't have the impulse to destroy and feed but were instead... frightened?

Why were they frightened? What were they afraid of?

At this moment, Emerald Sparrow felt she was closer to the truth than ever before.

She looked down again at the ID card stained with mucus on the floor, stared at the unfathomably clear employee photograph on it, pondered for a moment, and suddenly remembered something.

An incident that had occurred not long ago.

She had been to Bai An City, fell into a Remnant Beasts' nest, and in a lair resembling the Bai An City Abnormal Strategy Bureau, she found an office with the corpse of an Abnormal Strategy Bureau staff and a Remnant Beast.

The incident wasn't that unusual; Abnormal Strategy Bureau staff straying into a nest and getting killed by Remnant Beasts is a common occurrence.

But there were some details that were very strange.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Firstly, the door of that office was ajar.

With just their savage instincts, Remnant Beasts have no reason to leave a door intact, let alone politely close it after entering an office; similarly, if an Abnormal Strategy Bureau employee discovered there was a Remnant Beast inside, there's no reason to go in and even close the door.

Under such circumstances, neither Remnant Beasts nor humans have any reason to close the door.

Secondly, in the Bai An City nest, the lantern had told her that it had protected those Abnormal Strategy Bureau employees and sent them to find a room to hide in.

That is to say, those Abnormal Strategy Bureau staff should have actively found that office and hid inside together.

Thus, the Remnant Beast must have appeared after the fact, appearing before the hidden victims only to catch them all in one fell swoop.

These two facts were contradictory.

If it was the Abnormal Strategy Bureau staff who found the vacant office first and then hid inside, how did the Remnant Beasts that came later enter the office without destroying the door?

Could she speculate that the door which was ajar might not have been that way originally, and that the innocent victims tried to escape the office, opening the door from the inside before dying?

So, what did that imply?

—That the Remnant Beast had somehow appeared in the office due to some trigger?

Appeared suddenly?

This phrase sent chills down Emerald Sparrow's spine.

Even Remnant Beasts at the chrysalis stage cannot teleport freely through space, so a single Remnant Beast certainly couldn't have suddenly appeared. If it truly did "suddenly appear", then what form might that appearance take?