Off Work, Then I Become a Magical Girl
Chapter 116: The Lobby

Almost the moment Veronica spotted the Ravager, the creature—busy feeding—noticed her too.

Their eyes locked for a brief second across the room. The Ravager suddenly tossed the corpse aside, sprang from the desk, and lunged straight at Veronica by the door.

"Roar!"

Her expression turning cold, Veronica’s wand appeared with a flick of her hand. Just as the Ravager charged into her reach, she struck it hard across the head.

Clang! Boom!

The wand hit with force, slamming the Ravager heavily into the ground.

It thrashed and tried to get up, roaring defiantly, but Veronica didn’t give it the chance to recover. She spun her wand and fired a rapid volley of Magic Beams, blasting its head into a heap of ashes.

With the Ravager dealt with, she quickly flew over to the corpse it had abandoned. A quick inspection confirmed her suspicion: this unfortunate Countermeasure Bureau staff member was dead.

The Ravager found in the office wasn’t particularly powerful—probably only Egg-tier—but to an ordinary person, or even a Magician, it was a disaster-level threat. No wonder the scene was such a tragedy.

Other than the one body still intact, the rest of the victims were nothing but dismembered remains, impossible to even piece together. It was clear just how brutal the creature had been.

Veronica searched the office thoroughly, but didn’t find any useful information. With no other leads, she returned to the doorway and extended her hand toward the Ravager's remains, attempting to collect its Echo.

But as she did, the corpse began to dissolve into a wisp of black smoke, vanishing before her eyes.

This Ravager had no Echo.

It took her several seconds to accept that fact. Even having seen it with her own eyes, it was hard to believe.

In all her experience and knowledge, a Ravager like this simply shouldn’t exist.

A Ravager without an Echo essentially lacked a Magic Source, and as a being of pure magic, a Ravager without one should be impossible.

A Magic Source to a Ravager was like a heart to a human—without it, survival was unthinkable. How could something like that even live, let alone hunt and fight?

Veronica couldn’t make sense of it.

But after a brief moment of confusion, she forced the thoughts aside. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on such questions.

She knew her current mission clearly: rather than figuring out why this Ravager didn’t leave behind an Echo, what mattered more was understanding what had happened to the Countermeasure Bureau.

Why had there been no response to a Ravager attack? Even if they couldn’t fight it off, they should’ve at least evacuated—or called in the local Magical Girl Squad.

That question didn’t bother her for long. The moment she pulled out her phone to contact the squad in Bo’an City, the answer lit up across the top of the screen:

[No Signal]

Veronica wasn’t surprised. In fact, she felt slightly relieved. It meant her understanding of the situation had deepened: the signal here was blocked, and communication with the outside world was cut off.

She wasn’t sure if the Bo’an Countermeasure Bureau had any special backup communication methods, but she doubted it.

In other words, the moment the attack began, this underground facility—once considered a secure stronghold—became a massive, sealed cage, trapping the Bureau’s staff inside with the Ravagers.

So what exactly was going on here?

Where did everyone else go, besides the ones in that office?

How many were still alive? Were there other Ravagers?

Veronica had to find out.

She stowed her wand, laid the fallen staff member flat on the ground, closed his eyes, then left the office to continue searching the Bureau's first floor. But no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t find a single room with a person inside.

Her footsteps echoed through the empty corridors. Bright lights shone directly down onto the tiled floor, casting glaring white dots that formed a line—stretching endlessly into the distance, like the entire space had turned into a labyrinth with no exit.

In this underground environment where day and night blended into one, silence blanketed everything—so still it felt like even time had been devoured.

Veronica began to feel suffocated. Even with the bright lighting, something about the atmosphere felt off—an ever-present wrongness. Most offices looked just like the one she entered: doors left wide open, furniture scattered in disarray, but not a single living soul in sight.

Something wasn’t right.

Even if the Bureau had been attacked by a Ravager, things shouldn’t be this eerie.

She could understand why the place was deserted. When facing a Ravager, most people would run. In that sense, the staff here weren’t much different from ordinary civilians.

But if things were really that simple, the Bureau wouldn’t look like this.

There were two glaring inconsistencies: the building was too intact—and there weren’t nearly enough corpses.

Veronica wasn’t trying to curse the Bureau; it was just the reality. That Ravager she’d killed must’ve been active here for quite some time.

The office where it was found was several hundred meters from the main lobby. There’s no way it got that far without causing more destruction or deaths.

Ravagers were creatures of violence. Their instinct was to kill anything alive, and if nothing was around, destroy their surroundings.

Even those Ravagers spawned by the Black Cinders Dawn cult in Fangting City couldn’t suppress this instinct—they still followed the same savage logic.

So how had this one made it so far without wrecking the place?

Was this Ravager just… different?

Veronica considered it, but couldn’t convince herself.

At first, the situation had merely gone beyond her expectations. Now, it was surpassing her imagination. Everything had become a mystery.

With more questions than answers, Veronica finally stepped out of the office area and returned to the Bureau’s main lobby.

Just like before, it was completely empty. Rows of lights in the massive domed ceiling cast a much brighter glow than the hallway she came from.

She paused, looking around at the many glass gates that surrounded the lobby, picturing what this place must’ve looked like in busier times—then shook her head.

Time to check the other floors.

She entered the elevator next to the lobby, scanning the panel. Oddly, there were only buttons for lower levels. The top floor was marked -1F, with each level descending from there.

It made sense—this was an underground building, after all.

She pressed the button for -2F.

The doors closed slowly. A breeze drifted through the elevator car as it began to descend with a low rumble. Moments later, the car stopped and the screen above displayed: -2F.

Everything seemed normal—almost suspiciously so.

Expressionless, Veronica watched the doors slide open. She stepped out and glanced around, trying to get a quick read of her surroundings.

What she saw made her brain buzz.

It wasn’t the second basement level.

She was still in the first-floor lobby.

Did the elevator not move?

Puzzled, she turned back to the elevator and looked at the floor display. The number had changed—it now showed -1F.

Did she press the wrong button? Misread it?

She looked for the -2F button again… and that’s when it hit her.

There were no other buttons.

No -2F. Not even -3F.

Just rows and rows of -1F.

All of them.

Every single button on the panel showed the same number.

-1F

-1F

-1F

-1F

-1F

The elevator panel was plastered with nothing but -1F—a mocking, silent laugh directed straight at her.

She stared at the panel for a moment, then said nothing.

With a quick leap, she sprang out of the elevator and dashed toward the nearby stairwell.

Throwing the heavy door open with brute force, she found a stairwell that led both up and down. Without hesitation, she charged downward.

Reaching the next landing, she flung the door open and stepped into the space beyond.

And saw…

The lobby.

Exactly the same first-floor lobby of the Countermeasure Bureau.

Empty. Blinding white lights. The faint buzz of electricity. Nothing had changed.

Expressionless, Veronica kept running.

This time, she headed for the glass gate she’d originally entered through.

Past the gate was the same white hallway. It seemed like a different space, but Veronica’s face didn’t change—she kept running forward.

She had a sinking feeling. Things wouldn’t be that simple.

And sure enough, when she retraced her steps and reached what should’ve been the way out…

She saw another glass gate.

The same kind.

Frosted glass with a glow behind it, obscuring whatever lay beyond. Just like the one she’d entered through.

Veronica stared at it for a while. No panic. No emotion.

She stepped forward again, passed through the gate, and looked up at what lay ahead.

And of course—

It was still the Countermeasure Bureau lobby.