Starlight Will Sweep Away All Evil!

A dark red glow seeped through the gaps in the clouds, casting an eerie light over all of Xinghai City.

Phone screens lit up one after another.

Major online forums and social media platforms had completely crashed.

Their homepages were flooded with videos of the blood-red sky, filmed by residents from every angle. Panic spread across the internet at breakneck speed.

"Everyone, stay inside! Even the streetlights are exploding in the West District!"

"A sky like this... Is the end of the world coming?"

"Please, Monster Hunting Bureau, send out your best people! I don't want to die!"

Monster Hunting Bureau, Xinghai Branch.

The machines in the internet monitoring department's massive server room ran at full power, their cooling fans roaring.

Alarming warning windows flashed across a huge holographic screen.

An intelligence officer, his face drenched in sweat, hammered at his keyboard.

"Captain, we can't contain this online! The panic index has passed the critical threshold!"

Scarface Captain gritted his teeth and slammed a hand against the edge of the desk.

"Issue the highest-level public alert with the Meteorological Bureau!"

He roared into his communicator, the veins in his neck standing out.

"Tell the public it's an extremely rare Abyssal-Origin Weather Belt, and that we've mobilized joint Demon Hunting teams from the surrounding cities and counties to meet it!"

"Tell them to stay indoors and keep away from the windows!"

After ending the call, Scarface Captain slumped back in his chair.

Only a commander of his rank knew the truth.

Forget the teams from nearby areas. Even the Xinghai Branch's elite forces had been reassigned three days ago to carry out the Top-Secret Offshore Clearance Operation.

Their defenses were an empty shell.

The two D-rank, ninth-tier Lord-Class Monsters had torn through space to descend from the sky.

The magic within each of them was closing in on the incredible upper limit of two thousand on the Magic Power Scale!

That was far beyond what an ordinary Star Mark Demon Hunter could withstand.

If they reached the city and fighting broke out on a large scale, nothing within ten kilometers would remain.

Xingfuli Apartment.

Su Xiaoxiao sat cross-legged on the sofa, her fingers flying across the screen of a private group chat.

"Xia Ning, can you feel it? The air outside is stifling."

"This is definitely not some weather belt like the authorities say. It's a catastrophe!"

Several other newly recruited superfans chimed in.

"Yeah. I can barely breathe, and I keep feeling like something's watching me."

Su Xiaoxiao gripped her phone, her eyes blazing with fervor.

"This is the sign that dark forces are about to fall! Lady Ziwei will definitely appear!"

"As long as she's here, evil won't set foot on this land!"

Just then, Su Bai came out of the bedroom.

He had changed into a black windbreaker and slung a faded canvas bag over his shoulder.

A black baseball cap was pulled low over his face.

"Hajige? You're going out?"

Su Xiaoxiao sprang off the sofa and grabbed the hem of Su Bai's jacket.

Her brows drew tight with worry, her voice urgent.

"Hajige, haven't you seen the news? The weather outside is so strange that even the authorities are telling everyone to stay home!"

"You can barely fight! Are you going out to serve yourself up as a midnight snack for the Monsters?"

Su Bai stopped.

He turned to her without expression, took out his phone, and opened the delivery app's order page.

"Because of the weather, orders are paying extra."

His voice was utterly flat.

"Two hundred yuan bonus per delivery. Five deliveries make a thousand. If I don't earn it, is the fee for your tutoring class test next week going to fall from the sky?"

Su Xiaoxiao faltered, her grip on his jacket loosening.

"But..."

"No buts. Finish your homework and go to bed. I'll take a safe route."

Su Bai pulled his jacket free, opened the door just wide enough to slip through, and stepped out.

He pulled the security door shut behind him with a dull metallic clang.

The hallway was dim.

Su Bai tugged down the brim of his cap with one hand and walked alone into the pitch-black night.

At Xinghai City's landmark attraction, the Xinghai Ferris Wheel, the hundred-meter-tall machine had come to a complete stop.

The top of its highest observation cabin lay fully exposed to the howling night wind.

Three young girls stood at the edge of the summit.

No—strictly speaking, three beautiful girls!

Lin Guoguo wore an elaborate dark red Lolita Dress trimmed in black.

Its layered lace skirt snapped in the wind, lending her an air of danger.

In her hand was a short wand with a ruby cherry hanging from its tip.

As the organization's second junior helper and its newest Magical Girl, Cherry, she now possessed a staggering power of over eight hundred on the Magic Power Scale—enough to stand against any E-rank Monster.

But before the figure nearby, she barely dared to breathe.

On the other side stood Xia Ning in a mint-colored gothic gown.

She clutched a staff topped with a heart-shaped gem, her face alight with excitement.

Magical Girl Ziwei stood ten paces away, behind the observation platform's frame, completely hidden in shadow.

She said nothing.

Yet the two girls took her calm, imposing presence for the unfathomable authority of a god.

Ziwei took two communicators engraved with star-shaped marks from her pocket.

One landed neatly in each girl's hand.

"These are Personal Communication Beacons."

"To deal with this catastrophe, we must establish a Barrier array."

Lin Guoguo—Magical Girl Cherry—cradled her communicator, her fingers trembling with excitement.

Pure adoration shone in her eyes.

"Big Sister! Give Cherry any order you wish! Even if I must cross mountains of blades and seas of fire, I'll clear the way for you!"

Xia Ning, Magical Girl Mint, hurried forward as well. She pressed her right hand to her chest and bowed solemnly.

"The wind will carry out your every command."

Magical Girl Ziwei merely nodded.

"Cherry, go to the highest point of the Abandoned Water Tower Complex in the West District."

She issued the order in a low voice.

"Mint, go to the Jiang'an District TV Tower. Once you reach your assigned position, channel magic into your communicator."

"Those will be the foundation anchors for the Starlight Barrier. Do not move from your positions without my order."

Her words rang with righteous conviction.

The two Magical Girls felt their blood stir as never before.

To them, this was what it meant to take on the great mission of saving Xinghai City.

Even if it cost them their last drop of magic, they could not let those two disgusting Monsters set foot in the city.

Little did they know...

Su Bai was already calculating his gains.

All he had to do was send those two troublesome girls off to pose as human array anchors.

Once the Starlight Barrier formed,

he could transform in the central zone and enjoy a large-scale physical harvest.

Forget the top-grade Abyssal Cores.

No one else was getting so much as a milligram of the remains those two D-rank lords left behind!

"Where the stars lead, there I shall be."

Xia Ning and Lin Guoguo answered in unison, "Starlight will sweep away all evil—!"

With that, the two vanished into the wind and shadows.

They sped away in opposite directions.

Ziwei was left alone atop the observation cabin.

Kabi drifted out of the shadows, his purple-gold spirit form giving off a faint glow.

He watched his master, who had prepared not only a high-capacity Magic Storage Bag

but had even taken out a phone to check which banks in Xinghai City were still open tonight.

Such a fierce obsession with money, coupled with such unabashed exploitation,

left Kabi, a Guidance Sprite born alongside the Will of the World, stunned beyond words.

The light above his head flickered erratically.

"Master, you really are a terrifying creature."

At first, Kabi had thought he had chosen the wrong person.

But looking at this man, who faced the end of the world thinking only about how to secure a monopoly—

No, this girl—

he found his core program might just fall completely in love with her blunt, straightforward values!

"No one is a purer Idealist than you. Your heart is made entirely of gold bars!"

Kabi flew two circles in the air, his voice more spirited than ever.

"Once you defeat those two Monsters with magic power readings near two thousand, every lucrative prize in this district will land in your pocket alone!"