After parting ways with Qianling, Yang Mo and Yang Xia made their way toward the old town’s back mountain.
Since it was the weekend, it wasn’t hard for them to encounter others heading to the same destination along the way.
As they walked, the terrain steadily rose. After crossing a road, they had to climb a stretch of cement stairs leading up the mountain from a roadside entrance. Halfway up the stairs, Yang Mo was already gasping for breath.
Yang Xia, standing at a higher step, smiled down at her and said, “You probably don’t exercise much, do you? Relying too much on ‘privileges’ isn’t a good thing, you know.”
The moment Yang Mo heard this, she immediately understood the meaning behind it.
They were both Magical Girls, and the “privileges” mentioned were almost certainly referring to the physical enhancements gained upon transformation.
Just as Yang Xia had said, Yang Mo preferred watching TV or reading animal books to exercising.
She was just like any ordinary girl, relying on this enhancement to match the abilities of the Evil Fiends in battle.
But once the transformation was undone, she returned to how she was now.
At this point, Yang Mo did feel a twinge of regret for not exercising.
Panting, she replied to Yang Xia, “I know…”
As soon as she spoke, she noticed the light in front of her seemed to be blocked by something. Looking up, she saw Yang Xia reaching a hand out toward her.
She grabbed that hand tightly, supporting her upper body, then lifted her leg and stepped up to the next stair.
Before long, the stairs met the road again. If they continued along the road uphill, they would reach a temple.
But Yang Mo and Yang Xia chose to cross the road and enter through a small brick gate, arriving at Xinghu Town Cemetery.
As soon as they entered, they saw row after row of gray stone tablets, each accompanied by a cypress sapling.
At the entrance, vendors sold incense and candles, but Yang Xia didn’t buy any. Instead, she carried a bouquet straight toward her grandmother’s resting place.
For environmental reasons, lighting any kind of fireworks here had been banned years ago, so before each tombstone there were only unlit incense sticks and candles, and some—like them—had chosen to offer flowers.
Standing before her grandmother’s grave, Yang Mo looked around, then turned back toward the small vendor at the gate, and asked Yang Xia, “Since nobody can light them, why do people still buy those?”
“As long as the thought counts, whether you light them or not, whether it’s incense or flowers, it’s all the same.”
“But these things look exactly the same as when they were bought. Aren’t they worried the vendor might just pick them up when no one’s looking and sell them again?”
“……”
Yang Xia thought about it and realized it was actually possible. After a moment of silence, she repeated her earlier answer:
“As long as the thought counts.”
With that, she bent down and offered the bouquet at the foot of the grave.
Up close, the writing on the stone became much clearer, engraved with row after row of names.
Yang Xia still remembered that during the days of the funeral, she and Yang Mo’s father had shown up together for the first time in ages. Matters like setting up the grave and inscribing the names had all been handled by him; otherwise, just the two of them wouldn’t have known whose names should be carved.
After the funeral, Yang Xia never saw any of those people again. Now, only she and Yang Mo could come pay their respects on the half-year anniversary of their grandmother’s passing.
She pressed her palms together, closed her eyes, and bowed slightly in place.
“Grandma, Yang Mo and I are both doing well now, so you don’t have to worry about us.”
Yang Mo imitated her, pressing her hands together and adding, “That’s right. Plus, our family has a new member these days.”
“Don’t take what my sister says seriously.”
Yang Xia said coldly, then she and Yang Mo opened their eyes together.
“Knowing Grandma’s personality, she’d definitely laugh if she heard us talking like this.”
After all, the grandma in her memory was a real mischievous old lady—more lively than either of them.
“I think so too.”
Yang Mo agreed.
Perhaps because she too was recalling Grandma’s character, she and Yang Xia smiled at the same time.
Yang Xia shrugged, while Yang Mo, as usual, lifted her sleeve to her lips. The two of them simply hummed through their noses, not laughing out loud.
Just then, Yang Xia seemed to think of something. Rubbing her chin, she said, “Speaking of which, maybe I should have called Qianling over too. She’s quite a weirdo; Grandma would probably find her interesting.”
Yang Mo pouted and reminded her, “Sis, that’s rude to both Grandma and Qianling.”
“Isn’t it the truth? But there’s no point regretting now.”
She brushed off Yang Mo’s comment and looked back at the sky in the direction they’d come.
“I wonder what that girl is doing right now?”
Yang Mo followed her gaze.
Like Yang Xia, she was also worried about that doll-like girl’s situation.
She could only hope that Qianling hadn’t really gotten caught up in something dangerous far away.
Meanwhile, the distance separating Qianling and the sisters spanned almost the entire Xinghu Town.
The sisters were at the far west end, while Qianling was at the far east.
Here stood the recently built industrial park outside the new city district, closer to the train station.
After days of long searching, this was the last suspicious area she’d marked on her map.
My luck really couldn’t get any worse.
Qianling thought to herself as she leaped between buildings using Iron Briar.
But even this wasn’t the worst-case scenario.
If she couldn’t find another doll in this last area, then it would truly be hopeless.
She wouldn’t even know where to look next.
Fortunately, her efforts weren’t in vain. As she passed a large building, a faint trace of magic caught her attention.
Could it be… this is the one?
She drew closer, discovering the building was a logistics depot. A long line of towering white exterior walls sheltered entrances where vehicles came and went.
Though there was a steady flow of cars and people nearby, for Qianling—using her Stealth Magic—it was no problem at all.
What was odd was that the magical reaction had appeared outside the depot gate, but vanished after she went in.
Qianling found this a little strange.
Could it be that a collision during unloading caused the magic to leak out?
She didn’t dwell on it; for now, the priority was to slip inside the logistics depot from the gate.
Inside, row after row of shelves were stacked with cardboard boxes and burlap sacks, their contents unclear. She could only rely on her connection to her kin to sense anything further.
But even after circling the shelves, Qianling still found nothing.
Just as she thought her hopes were about to be dashed, something strange happened.
Though a doll’s core should not beat, at this moment hers began to pulse faintly at a steady rhythm, as if resonating with something. At the same time, a wave of inexplicable longing and nostalgia surged through her.
Pulled by this torrent of emotion, she looked in a certain direction.
It was the depot’s parking area.
For some reason, not a single vehicle was there, making it look unused.
At the very center of her vision lay an abandoned crate.
It sat there quietly, as if waiting for someone to claim it.
Wait, was that crate even there before I started feeling this way?
A strong sense of foreboding welled up in Qianling’s heart.