It shouldn’t be long before a real Magical Girl notices what happened here, so Qianling dared not linger near the subway station.
After putting some distance between herself and the scene, she paused for a moment on the rooftop of a building by the street.
She leaned against the railing, resting her chin in one hand, wondering whether today’s outing should be considered a success or a failure.
If it was a success, then at the start I couldn’t even sense the aura of an Evil Demon, and only managed to wait for one to show up by lying in ambush.
But if it was a failure, the time it took to encounter that Evil Demon was far too short… and I even took it out in an instant.
This left Qianling feeling at a loss for her next target.
If she wanted to keep hunting Evil Demons, going back to the subway entrance was out of the question, and nowhere else would be as efficient.
After mulling it over, she simply decided to give up on hunting Evil Demons for now—she had other plans after finishing with them anyway.
That plan was to search for other Dolls.
Qianling had read about something called the “Butterfly Effect” in other works.
Just like how a butterfly flapping its wings might eventually cause a tornado, even the smallest variable can lead to massive changes in how things play out.
Would “I” be the butterfly that stirs up that tornado?
She had a theory about this, based on the setting of the original story.
In the original, all the Dolls were failed creations by the Doll Witch, and also served as experimental data for perfecting the “perfect one.”
To prevent the data from interfering with each other, she would only activate one Doll at a time—but the number deployed wasn’t fixed.
So far, I, the first Doll to be activated, have gone completely silent after attacking Huangya. Even if they don’t think I’m dead, without any results to show, I’d be considered useless data.
If that’s the case, then the second Doll is likely to be activated early.
This was the crisis Qianling thought her own appearance might bring about.
In the story’s later plot, another Doll does indeed appear in Xinghu Town. The Doll Witch probably meant to deploy one Doll in the city center and one in Xinghu Town, for a total of two.
It was only by coincidence that “I,” the Doll intended for the city center, ended up in Xinghu Town.
Unfortunately… the original never mentioned where the Doll originally in Xinghu Town was sleeping.
That’s why Qianling had to search for it herself.
There was just one prerequisite for doing this—she needed a way to deal with the Doll after finding it.
The current me would never lose to the sisters who are just now being activated.
Qianling was certain of this after the battle just now.
Even if the other Doll had more magic power, she was confident she could win in a fight.
The only thing to watch out for was that the other Doll might go berserk after absorbing too many negative emotions, but finding it in advance was exactly to prevent that.
Qianling decided her first priority was to search abandoned factories and warehouses. After all, a Doll was too big to be left somewhere out in the open.
Since she wasn’t familiar with the area, she needed a map of Xinghu Town to find such places.
“A map… If only I had a cell phone.”
Qianling muttered, stroking her chin.
Just then, she spotted a female shop clerk outside a bakery, yawning, and instantly got an idea.
She jumped down from the rooftop into a deserted alley, dispelled her Stealth Magic, and cast another spell on herself.
When Qianling emerged from the alley, she immediately became the center of attention on the street.
Of course, it wasn’t because people noticed the Doll joints on her body.
It was because—
Her naturally aloof face, fair skin, blood-red eyes, silvery-white hair, and that elegant maid outfit.
How could a beautiful girl with such a unique aura not draw attention?
Relying on the active “Disguise Magic,” Qianling looked no different from an ordinary person—her Doll features had all vanished.
But she wasn’t the least bit satisfied with the effect.
Sure enough, compared to Stealth, Disguise was just useless.
Qianling felt this way.
Disguise Magic was a very limited form of illusion.
Besides the way she was using it now, it could actually also change the appearance of her clothes. Since “deceiving” others’ perception was more complicated than “interfering” with it, it actually consumed more magic power than Stealth Magic.
Yet in the end, her body still looked the same as before using it, so what was the point of the disguise?
This made Qianling start to doubt whether the true purpose of this magic was disguise at all—or if it was just for the Doll Witch’s amusement.
Still, this magic had its uses, just like right now.
Qianling crossed the street, heading straight for the bakery’s shop clerk.
Seeing Qianling approach, the clerk looked around and, seeing no one else nearby, figured this beautiful girl who looked like a foreigner must be here for her.
She bent down slightly and asked Qianling, “My, what a cute little girl! Are you here to buy cake?”
Hearing the word “little girl,” Qianling was stunned for a moment, then shook her head and said, “Big sis, I’m lost.”
“Lost? Do you remember your parents’ phone number? I can help you contact them if you want.”
“Thank you, big sis, but it’s fine. Can I borrow your phone to look at a map? I haven’t gone far from home, so I can get back by myself.”
“I see, that’s fine too. But what grade are you in? Can you read the words on the map?”
“……”
The clerk’s words left Qianling silent again.
Do I really look like an elementary school kid? Huh?
Even if this body’s a bit short, isn’t that a bit much?!
Still, thanks to this body, she could keep her cool and talk to the clerk—at least on the surface.
“Hehe.” She gave a dry laugh and tried her best to look friendly. “I know lots of words. It’s no problem.”
“That’s good then, here you go.”
“Thank you, big sis.”
Just like that, Qianling took the phone from the clerk. To allay any suspicion, she opened the map app in front of her.
As Qianling’s fingers quickly slid across the screen, all the map’s information was engraved firmly in her mind.
Weird, was my memory always this good?
Qianling guessed this might be another benefit of her Doll body.
After returning the phone and saying goodbye to the clerk, Qianling immediately recast Stealth Magic and moved through the town using Iron Brambles.
Since Xinghu Town was close to the city center and had convenient transportation, there were actually quite a few warehouses around.
Luckily, Qianling didn’t have to rummage through every crate herself—just passing by, she could sense whether there were any other Dolls inside.
Otherwise, a job like this would never end if she was on her own.
Under the protection of Stealth Magic, Qianling moved unobstructed, gliding from one suspicious place to the next like a silent ghost—but in the end, she still came up empty-handed.
Before she knew it, she arrived at a place that seemed oddly familiar.
From a distance, she could see flagpoles and rows of white buildings.
Getting closer, she could finally make out the sign above the entrance: “Xinghu Town Middle School.”
This was the school where Yang Mo studied—a few scenes in the original story had taken place here.