[Among the first generation of Magical Girls, there was one known as the Sea Magical Girl.]
The voice of the female narrator in the documentary was calm and steady:
[She wielded the Trident of the Sea God, and during the Black Catastrophe, repelled countless invasions by the Sea Demons, protecting city after city and ensuring the safe evacuation of their citizens inland.]
Hearing that annoying name of the magical equipment again, Jiang Lingwei couldn’t help but squeeze Jiang Cheng’s hand tightly.
She didn’t know if he misunderstood something, but suddenly, he leaned in closer.
Startled, Jiang Lingwei turned to meet Jiang Cheng’s gaze. Instinctively, she tried to pull her hand back, but hadn’t managed to do so yet.
There was nothing she could do now. Not daring to look at Jiang Cheng’s expression, she forced herself to turn away and focus on the documentary.
As for her hand?
Once it’s fed to the wolf, how do you get it back…
The details of the first generation of Magical Girls, even their appearances, were sealed at the highest level. Even Wen Yaqian, who helped construct the Administration Bureau’s system, hadn’t received any more inside information.
According to this documentary, this short film was made using some newly declassified information that could be released to the public this year. That was unprecedented. Before this year, anything about the first generation—not to mention what their magical equipment looked like, you couldn’t even get a look at the first generation Magical Girls’ shoes.
Otherwise, this aquarium wouldn’t have specially set up an exhibition hall just to screen this documentary.
However, even in the documentary, that long spear wasn’t exactly the same as the original Abyssal Sea Dragonspine.
It looked like an outsourced product, probably modeled based on some old footage from back then.
Many of the details of the Abyssal Sea Dragonspine hadn’t been recreated and were simply left out.
And precisely because of this, Jiang Lingwei was absolutely certain that the so-called “Trident of the Sea God” was actually Tianpin’s magical equipment, [Abyssal Sea Dragonspine].
Because this model wasn’t “wrong,” it just “lacked” some details.
She refused to believe there just happened to be another Magical Girl whose magical equipment was exactly like Tianpin’s, except with a few things missing.
How could such a thing exist in this world? Tianpin didn’t have some kind of identical twin or anything like that.
At this moment, the documentary was showing scenes in silhouette animation, depicting her battles against the sea monsters.
From the silhouette, it was clear that the “Sea Magical Girl” wore a single ponytail. As for the rest, probably due to the confidentiality level, the only depiction was a blue, featureless silhouette. Aside from the hairstyle, there was nothing else discernible.
Watching all this, Jiang Lingwei felt a bit disappointed.
It wasn’t that she had any objections to the Sea Magical Girl.
On the contrary, Jiang Lingwei truly admired her. Watching the documentary filled her with genuine happiness.
Just looking at her achievements—single-handedly defending the entire coastline, and even having the strength to support other countries—
Jiang Lingwei could imagine just how grueling that must have been.
Even if the documentary only showed her fighting some minor sea monsters, clearing them out wasn’t an easy task. Not only did you have to continuously output magical power, it was utterly exhausting.
What’s more, who knew what even scarier enemies hadn’t been shown in the documentary.
But…
(I knew it wasn’t that simple… She’s not Tianpin.)
Tianpin’s hair was sea blue, the ends curling softly like ocean waves. She cherished that long hair and her hairstyle greatly.
There was a demon who, for some reason, didn’t care about causing harm or defeating her. Instead, he corrupted a hairdresser just to sneak up and cut off a chunk of her hair, simply to disgust her.
And then—he, along with the poor little demon who’d been corrupted, was personally sliced into pieces by Tianpin, fed bit by bit to a mutant demonic hound, and finally, the hound itself was blasted to bits.
Jiang Lingwei had also been lucky enough to witness Tianpin’s fury that time. In the end, she chugged five full bottles of high-purity liquor and only recovered after going on a drunken rampage.
But this Sea Magical Girl wore a long, single ponytail. Just from the silhouette, Jiang Lingwei knew that wasn’t Tianpin.
Getting Tianpin to change her hairstyle would be harder than getting Senluo to go out for a kilometer run.
Now a new question arose: why?
A girl who wasn’t Tianpin was wielding her magical equipment.
Jiang Lingwei could use her partners’ equipment—that was one thing. But why could other Magical Girls do it too? Didn’t they have their own equipment?
(Could this be what Sister Yunxia said, about the power left behind for others to use?)
With this thought, Jiang Lingwei truly felt relieved.
If that were the case, it would be wonderful.
According to the sanatorium, at that time, she was still there unconscious, so she really couldn’t be possessive. The powers of her companions were meant to fight the darkness. Even if it wasn’t her but someone else who used them to protect humanity, she’d only feel it was a good thing.
Thinking like this, even the bizarre and rather unpleasant name “Trident of the Sea God” seemed less infuriating.
However, she still had to go find this Sea Magical Girl and interrupt her current life.
Just like with Yunxia, maybe Tianpin also left her some information. This was non-negotiable—she had to get it.
Jiang Lingwei didn’t believe her partners would just disappear forever. What if… what if there was a way to get them back?
(Good.)
Jiang Lingwei thought to herself:
(This counts as a solid clue. When the time comes, I’ll combine it with the general direction that [Ming] provided, then check with Sister Xiaoqian to see if there’s any way to contact her directly.)
(As long as I can find that Sea Magical Girl, I’ll find Tianpin’s magical equipment too.)
(Let’s hope things go this smoothly for everyone else.)
Meanwhile, the documentary was nearing its end.
The narrator said:
[After the Black Catastrophe, the Sea Magical Girl was never seen in public again.]
Looking at the images on the screen now, Jiang Lingwei no longer felt any anger.
On the contrary, she nodded in satisfaction, feeling genuinely happy for that Magical Girl.
(Not bad. This is what you call a successful retirement. After solving such a huge crisis, and with successors in place, there’s nothing to criticize about stepping down.)
She had fulfilled the dream she always held.
(Once things here are wrapped up, I’ll go find her and see what Tianpin left behind in the Abyssal Sea Dragonspine.)
With her mind made up, Jiang Lingwei’s heart grew calm. She smiled as she waited for the film to end, feeling that the future looked bright.
People are like this—once you have a clear goal, everything else becomes simple.
[There was never any further news about her. From the information we have, we only know that the Sea Magical Girl’s “Trident of the Sea God” eventually sank somewhere in the ocean, quietly guarding us all. Perhaps, someday in the future, we’ll have the chance to meet again…]
“Ah?!”
In the back row of the screening room, the person who had just felt at peace finally lost her composure.