A Second Transformation! A Random Event!

"Shh!"

Mo Zhen immediately raised a hand to shush him and frowned. "Can you keep it down? Don't wake Dad up!"

He was terrified that the more Dad thought about him secretly injecting Compound Nine, the angrier he would get, and that he would drag him out of bed halfway through the night for a beating.

Mo Xiaochuan immediately lowered his voice and carefully closed the door.

Mo Zhen asked, "Where's Xiaoxiao?"

Mo Xiaochuan replied, "She said she was sleeping at a friend's house tonight."

Mo Zhen nodded.

They had once had a wonderful family: a gentle mother, a father devoted to his family, and obedient, sensible children.

But not anymore.

The story went back a ways.

Their mother's name was Bai Qiushi.

When Mo Zhen was fourteen, two years ago, Bai Qiushi died at the hands of an unknown S-rank criminal, leaving their whole family behind.

To this day, that criminal remained at large, never brought to justice. No one even knew his name or what he looked like.

Before she died, Mo Chou and Bai Qiushi had five children in all.

The first three were adopted, and the last two were their biological children.

Their eldest brother, Mo Jin'an, was a genius with excellent grades and a somewhat withdrawn personality. He was the first child the couple had adopted from the orphanage.

He had just graduated this year with a master's degree in law from Heidelberg University in Germany, then passed Taiping Prefecture's notoriously hellish judicial examination. He now worked at a law firm and was kept busy.

Even so, he stayed in touch with the family and came home for every holiday.

Their second sister, Bai Zhixia, was an average student but a hard worker. She had recently secured a position with the Pacific State United Government and was a diligent civil servant.

But he was a little different from his eldest brother and second sister, who had been adopted from the orphanage.

In both his previous life's timeline and this one, the couple had suddenly brought him home from outside one day.

According to Mo Chou himself, he and Bai Qiushi had been volunteering in a disaster zone struck by natural disasters and calamity beasts, where they rescued Mo Zhen while he was still in swaddling clothes.

The fourth child in the family was Mo Xiaochuan.

He was the couple's first biological child, only a year younger than Mo Zhen.

And in Mo Zhen's memories, no matter the timeline, his mother had always been the same gentle woman, treating him and Mo Xiaochuan equally.

Sometimes, perhaps because he was frailer and prone to illness, he could even tell she favored him a little more.

As a result, Mo Zhen and Mo Xiaochuan had always gotten along well. They did quarrel, but those were just normal disagreements between brothers.

Their 100% favorability said as much.

Another year later, the family's fifth child was born: a girl named Bai Xiaoxiao, two years younger than Mo Zhen.

At Mo Chou's insistence, she took Bai Qiushi's surname. According to Mo Chou, it was a tradition in their hometown for all girls to take their mother's surname.

If Mo Xiaochuan was a half-Viltrumite, then Bai Xiaoxiao should be one too.

Mo Zhen sighed inwardly. After all that, he had ended up as a child in a superhero family.

Unfortunately, like his eldest brother and second sister, he wasn't the offspring of superhumans, nor was he a Kryptonian who had fallen from the sky.

If he hadn't awakened the memories of his previous life and the Raising System, he probably would have spent his whole life as an ordinary person.

"Bro, are you still drinking your milk?"

Mo Xiaochuan came over with the milk.

"No. I've brushed my teeth."

Mo Zhen's coldhearted rejection left Mo Xiaochuan crestfallen. He gloomily took a gulp himself and sat down by the bed.

"So, Bro, where did you actually go yesterday?"

Mo Zhen gently closed his notebook and looked at him helplessly.

"I went to the New European Continent, and then... I signed up for the Incubation Project and injected Compound Nine. After that, my eyes changed color."

There was no hiding the change in his eye color from his family, so Mo Zhen told him straight. If he was going to get an earful tomorrow, so be it.

Whatever! I'm done caring!

"The Incubation Project? That experimental project that's still in phase three and hasn't been approved for market by the Earth Alliance?"

Although countries around the world intended to turn Taiping Prefecture into a superhuman metropolitan area, the artificial superhuman project had always remained in the experimental stage and was considered taboo.

After all, humans breaking through their genetic limits through their own efforts and humans getting injections to gain the Power of the Nine Dragons that was never theirs to begin with were two entirely different things.

On a smaller scale, it would undermine human morality. If it were allowed, presumably everyone would want a shot.

On a larger scale, it would threaten the livelihood of global finance. If you really produced artificial superhumans, how could people keep speculating on hero stocks and the "Hero 100"?

People in the stock market were willing to pay for superheroes because superheroes inherently possessed the concept of being "chosen."

On average, only one superhuman was born among every million people.

That unparalleled scarcity was what had driven Taiping Prefecture's stock market composite index to 100,000 points, almost single-handedly holding global finance hostage.

On the religious side, countless people regarded them as chosen by God and gifts from him.

So when Mo Xiaochuan heard about the Incubation Project, he immediately became a little anxious. "Bro, are you really not feeling unwell?"

"How about getting checked tomorrow?"

"Don't worry, I'm really fine."

Mo Zhen patiently reassured him. "All right, I'm going to sleep. You should get to bed early too. You have school tomorrow."

"All right..." Mo Xiaochuan had no choice but to leave his room.

After he left, Mo Zhen lay under the covers a little longer before getting up to lock the door.

Then he sank his consciousness into his own domain of the heart.

In the world where sea met sky, only the Tree of Calamity's sapling swayed gently in the wind.

"Release!"

Mo Zhen unleashed his magic and completed his transformation amid a surge of grayish-white magic.

He hadn't had time before, but now he could finally take a good look at his transformed state.

He would have been lying if he said he wasn't curious.

After all, in her previous life, she had only finished the game's underlying framework. The artwork hadn't progressed nearly as far, so she had relied entirely on the system to fill in the gaps itself.

Mo Zhen lowered her head and looked at herself in the clear, rippling water.

In the reflection, the girl had grayish-white hair that fell to her waist, a pure gold laurel-leaf ornament pinned to the left side of her head, and deep crimson eyes like gemstones.

Aside from that, her facial features hadn't changed much; they merely looked a little softer after the transformation.

Mo Zhen stared at herself. As she watched, her earlobes gradually reddened, and her gaze shifted from stern scrutiny to uncertain wandering.

"Good thing magical girls all come with a perception filter."

She looked away, blushing, and muttered under her breath.

Seriously, if her family found out about this, she really would find a building and jump. Heaven knew how hard her eldest brother and second sister would laugh.

Not to mention her younger brother and sister. If they found out, her authority as their older brother would probably be gone for good.

Just thinking about it was embarrassing...

After calming herself down, Mo Zhen continued examining her magical outfit.

By design, magical girls' magical outfits were clothes that showed off their charm and personalities to the fullest.

Her basic magical outfit consisted of a deep crimson classical blouse with a black cravat tied at the chest, set with a deep crimson Soul Gem.

Below that was a fitted skirt the same color as the cravat, followed by black tights and heeled leather shoes.

"Does this mean I'll have to dress like this to fight people from now on?"

Being a magical girl was hard (sad).

Mo Zhen's ears turned even redder.

After all, in her memories, the magical girls who appeared on screens in this world were colorful and full of youth and hope.

But her outfit looked exactly like something a villain who was both evil and stupid would wear in a comic. Even her air made her look like a bad guy...

Still... it did suit her identity as the Witch of Calamity.

Mo Zhen rubbed her burning cheeks and took quite a while to accept the magical outfit.

Then she estimated her height by eye.

"...I've gotten a lot shorter. Without the heels, I'd have trouble even reaching 160 centimeters, 158 at most. As for my figure... forget it, better not say."

Her magical outfit showed off her figure and was quite different from the uniforms of most magical girls, as well as Lolita- or Gothic-style magical outfits.

It had the style of a young lady from a wealthy family, expensive at a glance.

After wasting a great deal of time admiring herself, Mo Zhen finally turned her attention back to the important matter: her precious Malevolent Shrine.

This was her first ability, and until she obtained other villains' powers, she would have to rely on Malevolent Shrine to protect herself.

In this world, where superheroes were everywhere and supervillains were a dime a dozen, without some strength, she might get killed one day by a dragon-level monster that spawned on the street.

Taiping Prefecture was known as Little Gotham. As the place with the most superhumans, it naturally also had the highest crime rate.

Aspiring people from all corners gathered here to join in the grand undertaking and achieve enlightenment in the dragon's den.

"Let's check my panel first."

Mo Zhen opened the system panel.

[Please note: The danger ratings in this world use a common scale, with six levels from S to E.]

["Danger rating" measures how dangerous you are to human civilization as a whole, not merely your individual combat power.]

[The "five-dimensional panel" is calculated based on your overall factors.]

[Because overall factors differ, even those of the same rank with A ratings in both strength and speed may perform differently in actual combat. The five-dimensional data is therefore for reference only.]

[Your personal panel is as follows.]

[Transformation state.]

[Magical codename: Undecided.]

[Danger rating: D-rank.]

[Strength: D-rank.]

[Speed: D-rank.]

[Defense: D-rank.]

[Magic: D-rank.]

[Charm: S-rank.]

[Ability: Cursed Technique: Malevolent Shrine.]

"What a standard blank slate," Mo Zhen thought ruefully.

"Other than charm, nothing is a point higher or lower."

There was no doubt that every magical girl had high charm.

At the same time, while transformed, a magical girl's magic automatically strengthened her physical abilities.

It was essentially built-in magic enhancement.

On the magic side, this was in a class of its own, a trait exclusive to magical girls. Many squishy mages envied it greatly.

There was no helping it. After all, you couldn't expect a bunch of fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girls, or even little girls, to attend class during the day, do homework in the afternoon, and enter seclusion to cultivate at night, could you?

"Come to think of it, can I still use Malevolent Shrine if I undo the transformation?"

The thought suddenly occurred to Mo Zhen. After voluntarily undoing her transformation, he raised a hand and aimed at the air.

"Dismantle!"

Whoosh!

The slash flashed past like a tiny pair of scissors, making Mo Zhen grit his teeth in frustration. Damn it.

He could use it, all right.

But his original body was just an ordinary person without even a danger rating. Without the magical girl's stat boost, both his total magic and his magic output efficiency were far too weak.

As a result, the slash he produced was like a tiny pair of scissors too.

Malevolent Shrine's mechanics were not top-tier to begin with, and the Cursed Technique was extremely dependent on its user's own stats.

Its ceiling was high, but reaching it was difficult.

Without the stats, it was easy to become a scraping master.

The so-called "king's Cursed Technique" required a "king's" stats. Otherwise, it was just an old geezer who could hiss.

Over the next while, Mo Zhen began studying his Raising System. Whatever else could be said, this was a game he had designed himself.

Although many things had become a little different, the basic Raising System hadn't changed.

He opened the quest panel.

[Main quest: Not yet available.]

[Beginner quest 1: Defeat a superhero or magical girl and claim a strategic victory, taking the first step on your path as a villain.]

[Reward: Trait · Sukuna-level total magic.]

Mo Zhen was a little surprised.

"Sukuna-level total magic? Did the reward improve automatically because the world I'm in is too dangerous?"

In the original Jujutsu Kaisen, Sukuna had twice as much Cursed Energy as Okkotsu.

With this trait, his Malevolent Shrine would be halfway to its complete form.

It was only halfway because the other half of the complete form was Sukuna-level magic output efficiency.

Total reserves and output efficiency were two different things.

Barring anything unexpected, he would surely be able to obtain that trait from a beginner quest later on as well.

The thought made Mo Zhen start humming inwardly.

But... the current problem was, where could he find a superhero he could defeat?

His own invincible S+ rank dad?

Yeah, right. Mo Zhen figured that if he dared fight him, two punches would probably leave him half-paralyzed.

It was a shame his dear little brother hadn't awakened his Viltrum bloodline yet. Otherwise, he could have taken advantage of the moment right after his brother awakened to bully him a little.

Just as Mo Zhen was racking his brains, the system flashed again.

[A random event has been detected nearby. Would you like to teleport?]

Random events were random dungeons he had created in the game. They provided resources for developing witches, and their difficulty increased with one's own level.

It was a main way to level up early on, so there was no reason to refuse.

Mo Zhen immediately chose to teleport.

[Witch praying...]

Everything went dark before Mo Zhen's eyes.

When he opened them again, he found himself at a middle school.

On a yellow stone worth a million beside him, red paint spelled out "Tianhe City International School - middle school division."

"Middle school division? Isn't this Xiaoxiao's school?"

Mo Zhen recognized the place from his memories.

He looked around, then found a deserted alley.

Before long, a gray-haired, red-eyed girl emerged from the other end of the alley.

Stepping on magic, the girl leaped lightly over the fence, her long gray-white hair fluttering as she landed inside the school.

"The center of the incident is located..."

Mo Zhen looked up at the hill behind the school. She sensed the presence of magic there, so she quietly made her way over.

At the same moment, inside an abandoned school building on the hill behind the school.

Two girls in sailor uniforms were walking together through the building.

With every step they took, their heels made the classroom's wooden floorboards creak, showing that the place had been abandoned for years.

"Senior... are there really witches around here?"

The girl walking behind spoke up nervously.

She had delicate, petite features, shoulder-length gray-white hair, and dark crimson eyes that glanced around. A trace of fear could be seen in them, though she kept it under control.

Her name was Bai Xiaoxiao, a third-year middle school student at Tianhe International High School. She also had a hidden identity: she was a magical girl who had awakened only recently.

It was worth mentioning that she had inherited both her hair and eye colors from her mother.

The girl walking ahead of Bai Xiaoxiao looked a little older than her and had a pair of violet eyes.

Her black hair hung down to her waist, and her sailor uniform was deep black, indicating that she was a student at the high school division.

Holding up her flashlight, she answered:

"Yes~ Xiaoxiao, the girl in your class who disappeared a few days ago was probably connected to that thing too. Judging by the magic left behind, it should only be a newly born E+ or D-rank witch, just right for you to practice on."

Thinking of her good friend who had gone missing from her class, Bai Xiaoxiao clenched her fist to herself and steeled her courage once more. She had to bring her friend back!