Saving the World? Someone Else Can Do It

"Bring them back to life?"

"The civilians who died in the Rift." Su Bai's voice was flat. "That time in West District, some people must not have gotten away before the giant whale came down."

Kabi shook his head.

"There's no way to do that."

"The Will of the World grants no salvation for free. Every life lost in an Abyssal Rift has had its very concept absorbed by the monster nest."

"What does it mean for their concept to be absorbed?"

"That person was struck from the world's ledger." Kabi's voice dropped. "Their name, their existence, every trace of them—it all belongs to Deep Space."

"Even if you put their body back together and restarted their heart, what woke up would be an empty shell filled with fragments of Deep Space."

Su Bai stared at the pile of powder on the table and said nothing.

"Master."

Kabi floated in front of him and spoke one word at a time.

"People who die in a Rift belong to Deep Space, down to their ashes."

"But you have a scythe. You can keep the people around you from becoming ashes."

Su Bai leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling.

The fluorescent light was still buzzing.

After a long while, he gave a short laugh.

There was no grand idealism in his eyes, only a cold, clear understanding.

"So after all that, I still have to risk my life killing monsters for money."

"Saving the world? Whoever wants to can do it."

"I just need to look after my own little patch."

"Your own little patch?" Kabi raised an eyebrow. "How little?"

"Happiness Lane, apartment 703." Su Bai counted on his fingers. "Me, Xiaoxiao, the mortgage, and boxed meals."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"You don't want the two million anymore?"

"Money grows on my patch." Su Bai kept a straight face. "The soil's good."

"..."

Kabi decided not to discuss philosophy with him.

In the next room, a mechanical keyboard clattered without pause.

Su Xiaoxiao's dramatic cries came through the door.

"What do you mean Lady Ziwei went to the supermarket to fight over half-price boxed meals?! Do you haters have no conscience? She was making an inspection! Checking on the people's lives! Get it?"

"And even if Lady Ziwei ate boxed meals, she'd do it with divine elegance! She could squat by the roadside eating a rice ball, and it would still be a goddess walking among mortals!"

Su Bai's chopsticks stopped halfway to his mouth.

Kabi floated beside his shoulder and lowered his voice.

"Master, your sister's telling the group you went to the supermarket to check on the people's lives."

"I heard her."

"Aren't you touched?"

"By what?" Su Bai stuffed a chicken drumstick into his mouth. "I really did go to fight over half-price boxed meals."

"..."

"But she got one thing right."

"What's that?"

"I do eat rice balls elegantly."

Just then—

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Three heavy, rhythmic taps of metal.

They came from the reinforced front door.

Su Bai put down his chopsticks.

It was nine at night. Building management wouldn't visit this late, and he hadn't ordered delivery.

The keyboard in the next room went quiet.

"Bro." Su Xiaoxiao sounded wary behind her door. "Someone's knocking."

"I heard." Su Bai stood. "Stay in your room. Don't come out."

He walked to the entryway. Instead of opening the door, he first looked through the peephole.

Three people stood outside.

They wore dark uniforms with Monster Hunting Bureau insignia on their shoulders.

The middle-aged man in front had a square face and stood ramrod straight.

His face was turned directly toward the peephole.

He knew someone inside was watching.

"Tianhai City Monster Hunting Bureau, Special Action Group."

The man's voice carried through the door, each word distinct.

"Is Mr. Su Bai home?"

The eye Su Bai had pressed to the peephole slowly widened.

He hadn't left any loose ends lately.

No one had seen him transform. He'd fenced his loot through an alternate account. Even Xiaoxiao had no idea.

So why was the Monster Hunting Bureau knocking on his door at nine at night?

One thought filled his mind.

Wait, did they find out I'm a Magical Girl?!

The thought had barely surfaced before Su Bai slapped it back down.

Impossible.

If they'd identified him, a full combat unit would have come tonight and kicked the door in.

They wouldn't politely knock and ask if he was home.

This was a sweep, the kind where they cast a wide net.

In three seconds, Su Bai ran through it all and settled his nerves.

"Master, Master!" Kabi floated up from the dining table, clutching his head with his short arms. "It's the Monster Hunting Bureau!"

"Quiet. Get in here."

Su Bai pulled open the back of his collar. The chubby sprite zipped inside and curled against his spine, hiding even his glow.

"Bro?" Su Xiaoxiao's voice tightened behind her bedroom door. "Who is it?"

"Building management. Checking the water meter," Su Bai said quietly. "Stay there. Don't come out."

He ruffled his hair into a bird's nest, then rubbed his face hard until he looked like a sleep-deprived working stiff.

The bright-eyed young man in the mirror was gone. All that remained was some poor bastard life had wrung dry.

Satisfied, Su Bai nodded and opened the reinforced door.

Three people stood outside.

In front was the square-faced middle-aged man, standing ramrod straight. Beside him, a young woman wore the same black Demon Hunting coat. A badge on her chest bore three stars, with "Enforcer" engraved beneath them.

Three-Star Enforcer.

Su Bai's stomach dropped.

Someone at that level had a Magic Power Scale reading of at least two thousand. On a battlefield, she could tear down a building single-handedly. And they'd brought her to knock on doors?

A young man who looked like a trainee hovered by the entrance, craning his neck to look around.

The woman moved first, flashing her credentials with practiced efficiency.

"Liang Bing, investigator with the Monster Hunting Bureau's Special Action Group. This is Team Leader Han Dong. Sorry to disturb you so late. It's a routine sweep."

Su Bai narrowed his eyes and yawned.

"Officers... a sweep for what? No Monsters here, just two boxes of leftover dinner."

"Last night's supernatural disaster in West District and the attack on Tianhai Savings Bank."

Liang Bing looked past his shoulder, scanning the apartment.

"There may be residual abnormal magic power in the areas affected by those two incidents. This building falls within our screening area. We need to come in for routine questions and testing."

Her gaze was so sharp it made his skin prickle.

Su Bai sneered inwardly, but his face fell.

"Officer, I was making deliveries until dawn last night, had classes all day, and I've barely had two bites of dinner. You're looking for Monsters at my dinner table?"

"Routine procedure," Han Dong said in a gravelly voice. "Ten minutes."

Su Bai studied them for two seconds, then stepped aside.

"Come in. No need to take off your shoes. The floor's dirty anyway."

The living room was small enough to take in at a glance.

A few half-price boxed meals sat on the dining table, and a delivery helmet rested on the shoe rack.

Han Dong carried a palm-sized device slowly around the room.

Its needle stayed perfectly still.

Su Bai leaned against the doorframe without so much as lifting an eyelid.

The first thing he'd done after transforming was force every trace of magic power deep into his body, compressing it into an impenetrable core.

Kabi had said this concealment technique was cleaner than the Monster Hunting Bureau's Shielding Chamber.

If that thing made a sound, it would be a miracle.