chapter 03
“Sorry, we refuse to provide any services. Please leave.”
In the spotless white outpatient hall, the nurse at the reception desk didn’t even look up as she spoke. Her fingers continued flying across the keyboard, the uninvited guests doing nothing to slow her rhythm.
“I say,” Golden Alice handed the unconscious girl to her companion and rolled her neck before slapping a palm down on the desk. Though she deliberately held back her strength, fine cracks still spread across the surface. “We haven’t even said or done anything yet. Isn’t it a bit hasty to kick us out like this? I thought hospitals were supposed to save lives.”
“May I ask if you can read?” the nurse replied coolly. The desk—and even the computer—had jolted from the impact, yet she only paused briefly before resuming her typing.
“Heh. What kind of stupid question is that?” The girl, clearly catching the provocation, sneered and popped another lollipop into her mouth. “The war interrupted my schooling before I could finish high school, sure. But I graduated middle school top of my class. I’m not illiterate.”
“Unfortunately, it seems you failed to comprehend the very conspicuous sign over there.” The nurse finally stopped typing and adjusted her black-framed glasses, speaking slowly. “If you’re so illiterate that you need me to read it aloud for you, I can make an exception and provide that service.”
Golden Alice lazily glanced toward the sign that read:
“Magical Girls and Pets Not Admitted.”
Only then did she notice that the once-noisy hall had fallen silent. Every single person—young, old, sick or healthy—was staring at them. Whispers buzzed back and forth.
A swarm of mosquitoes. How annoying.
“Please leave immediately.”
Several heavily armed security guards had already surrounded the girls. The tall Black captain at the front issued his command through a gas mask, his voice stern and authoritative.
“Can’t we at least explain why we came?” The red-haired girl crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at the armed men towering three or four heads taller than her. She showed no fear.
“No. Please cooperate to avoid unnecessary conflict and inj—”
A furious roar cut him off.
“You monsters! Demons! Inhuman beasts!” A young man leapt to his feet, pointing at them with shaking rage. “If it weren’t for you, Xiaoxuan—she, she wouldn’t have died so miserably! How dare you come here asking for medical help!”
“Executioners!”
“Aliens!”
“Scum of humanity!”
“Get out!”
“We don’t welcome heretics here!”
It was like a stone tossed into a still lake—waves exploded outward. The young man’s outburst ignited the entire hall. The crowd surged forward in fury, and even people from outside the hospital were drawn in by the commotion. The security guards, who had originally been there to expel the magical girls, now found themselves forming a desperate human wall to block the enraged mob.
“At least they’re braver than those parade protesters from before,” Golden Alice leaned casually against the reception desk, unfazed by the chaos, chatting leisurely with her companion. “Though I’ll bet you a skewer of candied hawthorn they’re only this bold because the guards are here.”
“One skewer.”
Mo had remained silent the entire time, cradling the unconscious girl as blood seeped from the girl’s wounds, darkening her Gothic Lolita dress. “Let’s go. We’ll try another hospital. If this turns into a new wave of large-scale conflict, escalates tensions, damages the peace treaty, and triggers a second full-scale war, it won’t be worth it.”
“That won’t do. This is the best hospital within UN territory.” The red-haired girl pulled out a thick stack of bills and tossed them onto the desk. Leaning close to the nurse, she said, “Our purpose is simple. Treat this little sister. Clean up her wounds and the grime. Look closely—she’s human. Not a magical girl.”
“Please do not insult our dignity.” The nurse’s lenses reflected the harsh overhead lights as she pushed the money back untouched. “This has nothing to do with money. No amount will change our position. We will never compromise with beasts like you—invaders who destroyed our homeland, slaughtered our loved ones, and ruined our future.”
Sigh. All we wanted was to see a doctor. And it turns into this. Humans really do think in fascinating ways.
Smack.
A rock, seemingly from nowhere, struck Golden Alice square on the top of her head.
A mosquito bite?
She touched her head in confusion—until more stones flew toward her.
Tch. Bullets can’t hurt me, and you’re picking a fight with rocks? Oh—steel pipes now. Glass shards. Plastic bottles. Rotten eggs and spoiled vegetables. Looks like city folk eat better than the small-town crowd we met before.
Probably just venting their anger. The so-called impotent rage.
“Let me in! Why are you stopping us?!”
The young man at the front was now slamming himself against the wall of guards, eyes bloodshot, roaring like a rabid beast. “You’re human, right? You have consciences, right? Then why protect those monsters? Shouldn’t your guns be pointed at them? Take my advice—if you’re still human, let us through and let us beat those inhuman whores to death!”
“We’re stopping you to protect you!” the Black captain shouted back helplessly. “One finger from them could cripple everyone here! Understand? Just let them leave under the peace agreement. If this escalates, nobody wins!”
“Then let them kill me! I don’t want to live anymore anyway! Let them kill me so I can join Xiaoxuan!”
Hmm?
Golden Alice, already bored of the farce and about to force her way inside to speak to a doctor directly, was suddenly nudged by her companion. Mo gestured for her to hold the girl.
What is it—what’s going on—
Before she could finish the thought, Golden Alice watched as Mo transformed into a silver whirlwind.
In a single charge, she blasted through the guards and the crowd, splitting the dense mass of bodies like a knife slicing tofu. In the blink of an eye, she reached the center of the mob and stopped sharply before a bearded man.
A perfect shoulder throw.
The man slammed into the ground before he could even react. A stomp crushed his left arm. A swift twist dislocated the right. The entire sequence—from charge to finish—took less than three seconds.
Everyone Mo had collided with was sent flying backward, crashing into others in a chain reaction. People fell in dizzy heaps; some unlucky ones even lost teeth simply for standing in her path.
Screams erupted. Some retreated in panic, others fled outright. A few, eyes bloodshot, clutched makeshift weapons and rushed forward recklessly, howling as if ready to die fighting.
The security guards, stunned at first, quickly raised their firearms and aimed in unison at the silver-haired girl.
But the boiling chaos froze in an instant when Mo tore open the bearded man’s coat.
Strapped to his body—
was a massive quantity of high explosives.
