As expected, none of this was a dream!
No. 0 was so startled by the answer she’d found within herself that she instinctively tried to stand up, but in her anxious haste, she overlooked one crucial fact.
That was, she was still inside a crate, and this crate wasn’t much larger than the suitcase she’d hidden in before.
The next second—bang!
A deafening crash rang out as the wooden plank above her was snapped clean in half by her head, leaving a sharp peak bulging from the square crate.
No. 0, still not quite grasping the situation, darted her eyes left and right. Only then did she realize that outside the crate was a house’s storage room, packed with all sorts of unused cabinets and tables and the like.
The girl called Sun Mo had been so startled by her sudden movement that she fell flat on her butt, now gazing warily at No. 0 as she straightened up.
But the standoff lasted only an instant, for No. 0 promptly dropped to her knees again.
“So painful! Wuwu… wuwu…” Hugging the top of her head where she’d been struck, she trembled and wriggled her upper body.
It hurts so much! Last time it was Kōga beating me up, now it’s a wooden plank! Why does nothing good ever happen whenever I wake up!
Everything felt strangely familiar.
Instead, Sun Mo relaxed her guard, hesitantly rising to her feet and expressing concern: “You… are you okay?”
“No—problem.”
No. 0 struggled up with difficulty, facing Sun Mo and giving a thumbs up.
Perhaps because there was no expression on No. 0’s face, Sun Mo thought she’d recovered, and took a step closer.
“So, are you alive?”
She tilted her head, bending down slightly, asking No. 0 a pointed question. Evidently, from their exchange just now, she understood that No. 0 was some sort of intelligent being.
No. 0 rubbed her head, forcing herself to endure the pain as she kept her brain running.
But she had no idea how to answer. After a moment’s chin-rubbing thought, she told Sun Mo, “I’m a doll created with magic. If you have to ask, I suppose I count as alive.”
“Amazing… This is my first time seeing magic like this. Who used magic to create you?”
“I don’t know.” No. 0 replied almost instantly, but of course, she did know.
The creator… wasn’t that the “Doll Witch”?
There was no way she’d tell a Magical Girl about that. After all, to Magical Girls, “Witches” were even worse enemies than Evil Magi.
For safety’s sake, she casually added some backstory: “This is my first time waking up, I don’t have any memories from before, and I don’t know how I ended up here.”
With that, she glanced around, indicating to Sun Mo that “here” referred to the room they were in.
“I see.” Sun Mo’s eyes widened a little, then quickly returned to calm as she explained how No. 0 ended up here: “I picked you up from the Scrap Recycling Station. Otherwise, you probably would’ve… been disposed of with the abandoned appliances.”
“Disposed… disposed of?”
No. 0’s voice sounded dazed, and in her mind, she immediately pictured a machine-pressed, cube-shaped “No. 0 block.”
Even knowing this was the kind of depressive story it was, this world was still too cruel to a minor villain like me!
She couldn’t help but feel a chill at the danger she’d narrowly escaped.
“So, I’m your savior, you know.”
Sun Mo, off to the side, finished speaking and then grinned sheepishly, a little embarrassed.
“But it’s not really a big deal, so you don’t have to think about repaying me or anything.”
“Oh…”
No. 0 replied halfheartedly, then Sun Mo continued with more questions about her identity.
“By the way, since you’re a Magical Doll, do you have a function that lets you sense your creator’s location?”
“Nope.”
“Any preset objectives from your creator or anything like that?”
“None.”
“Anything else? Do you really not remember anything?”
“I don’t remember anything.”
No. 0’s answers weren’t entirely lies.
Aside from her original memories, this new body hadn’t given her any additional information.
If she could answer these questions, her future actions would probably be a lot easier.
But this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing—it proved her behavior wasn’t limited by her doll body.
Otherwise, according to the Doll Witch’s settings, she’d probably have to attack Sun Mo by now.
This string of questions left Sun Mo letting out a deep sigh, and she looked at No. 0 with sympathetic eyes.
“That’s just too pitiful… But it’s okay, I’ll help you!”
She balled her fists in front of her chest, her expression growing earnest as if trying to motivate herself.
Sun Mo had so easily believed No. 0’s story and was even worried about her predicament, which left No. 0 feeling a twinge of guilt.
Ugh, such a strong sense of guilt…
But thanks to this mostly expressionless face, her true feelings stayed hidden.
“Ah, right.” Sun Mo suddenly realized she’d forgotten something important. “I almost forgot to ask your name.”
“My name… I’m No. 0, Enchanter’s Doll No. 0.”
At this point, No. 0 still couldn’t help but complain about her name.
Naming someone by a serial number and the general enemy term—isn’t that just lazy? Well, in the original work she wasn’t even a major character to begin with…
And she only knew about this after checking the official setting book. In the original story, she wasn’t even worthy of a proper name.
Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but worry about her own future prospects.
After hearing her answer, Sun Mo frowned, staring blankly for a moment. Seeing her reaction, No. 0 thought: Crap, did my name give away that I’m a villain? But this name never appeared in the original, did it?
Luckily, her worry was unfounded. What caught Sun Mo’s attention was something else entirely.
“That… counts as a name? For example, I’m called Sun Mo—don’t you have a name like that?” she asked.
“No…”
Of course No. 0 felt the same as Sun Mo—she’d never thought there’d come a day when a fictional character would complain with her about the creator’s settings.
Sun Mo then bowed her head in thought, then smacked her left fist into her right palm and made a suggestion: “How about Lingling? Ling as in ‘one thousand,’ and ling as in ‘bell.’ If you don’t have a name, would you mind using that?”
Lingling?
No. 0 only had to think for a moment before she understood the reasoning.
Was it a pun on the “Qian” and “Ling” from Enchanter’s Doll No. 0?
It was a simple way of naming, but both the pronunciation and the characters were unexpectedly nice.
Feeling satisfied, she nodded solemnly and said, “I don’t mind. I approve of this taste in names.”
And so, the doll girl finally gained a name all her own—Lingling.