When Huangya was about to gather the Magic Power needed for her next lightning blast, Zero wrapped her tentacle around the nearest Passerby’s waist, then pulled herself rapidly to their side. Seeing this, Huangya had no choice but to abandon her attack.
After she repeated this trick several times, Huangya finally couldn’t help but curse under her breath, “Despicable!”
I’m really, really sorry…
Zero wanted to say that to the innocent Passersby. She knew that her actions now were no different from a true Villainess.
But in the end, wasn’t it all because of that person behind her? She didn’t even bother to listen to any explanation and just wanted to kill me.
So, while running, she stuck her tongue out and made a face as she looked back, “What else am I supposed to do, then!”
Huangya didn’t respond much, only glared at Zero with even fiercer eyes. But she quickly noticed that, as the commotion on the street continued, the number of Passersby kept dwindling. It was becoming harder and harder for Zero to find cover—perhaps now was her chance.
She chased Zero through a narrow alley into a lower part of the city. At the end of the alley, down below the raised platform, lay open-air railway tracks and a tunnel entrance. Just at that moment, the tracks began to tremble, and the rumbling sound of an oncoming Train echoed from the pitch-black tunnel.
Looks like my chance is here first.
Zero instantly felt her spirits lift. After the chase just now, she already understood just how precise this body could be.
Almost without hesitation, she grabbed the railing on the platform above with her tentacle, aimed herself at the tunnel, and launched herself forward with all her might. Naturally, Huangya didn’t dare risk facing the Train head-on and stopped in front of the tracks.
Just a few seconds after Zero disappeared into the darkness, the Train really did roar out of the tunnel. Once the Train had passed, Huangya anxiously flew up to the tunnel entrance to look, but inside she found neither Zero nor any pieces of Zero.
She looked toward the other end—the speeding Train had already passed through another tunnel entrance and gone underground. Her prey must have slipped inside during those few seconds in the tunnel.
Realizing this, Huangya clenched her fists in frustration.
Just then, a figure called out behind her, “Sorry! Senior, I’m late.”
Huangya turned to see a blue-haired girl dressed just as gorgeously as herself.
She replied, “Cangyu, I’m the one who should apologize. That pesky monster ran too fast; I couldn’t catch up.”
She lowered her head slightly, her face showing a look of regret.
The blue-haired girl asked again, “So should we keep chasing? For you, Senior, I’d even stop the Train if I have to!”
“Forget it.” Huangya shook her head, then explained, “That one doesn’t react to ordinary people, seems like the type that targets Magic Girls. But, someone whose only skill is running away… how could they possibly beat any one of us? Let’s just post a notice on the Exchange Board for now.”
“Understood, Senior.”
“By the way, if you had been here earlier, how were you planning to stop the Train?”
“Of course I’d stop it with my hands! It’s just a Train, I’d just push it back!”
“……”
Cangyu’s words left Huangya in a brief silence, then she coldly snapped, “Next time, don’t even think about doing something that dangerous.”
“Got it! I’ll make sure to stay safe!”
She responded that way, clearly because she hadn’t understood Huangya’s words at all.
It’s not your safety I’m worried about, you muscle-brained idiot. If you crashed into the Train, the ones I’d really be worried for would be the passengers.
Huangya swallowed those words, barely suppressing the twitch at the corner of her eye.
And so, together with Cangyu, she canceled her transformation and left the scene, pretending to be calm.
In the Train’s cargo hold on the other side, Zero hugged her knees, curled up into a ball. The size of a large suitcase was just right for her to hide inside.
Though charging straight at an oncoming Train was an extremely risky move, she had still managed to hook onto a window in that split second, sneaking in without anyone noticing.
As for why she had shown up in the city center to confront Huangya, the reason was now completely clear.
Even if the plot changes because I reincarnated, that should only happen after my reincarnation.
Based on this, she made the following deduction.
Judging by Huangya’s reaction, attacking Huangya and getting chased was something Zero did in the Original Work. So this scene must have existed somewhere in some unknown corner of the Original Work.
Since even I, who know the Original Work inside out, never saw it, the only possibility is that it happened before the main story began.
In other words—
In the Original Work’s timeline, Zero, who didn’t even have a personality or a Soul, was also able to escape from Huangya’s pursuit.
So how could I possibly fail?
That was the answer she arrived at.
Without realizing it, her thoughts gradually drained away what little Magic Power she had left.
The moment before she completely shut down, the Puppet Girl raised the corners of her lips ever so slightly, a trace of cunning befitting a Villainess flashing quietly across her face.
While Zero was unconscious, time continued to flow.
After the Train left Lanchuan City, its first stop was the not-too-distant Xinghu Town Station.
A passenger noticed something wrong with the weight of his suitcase while disembarking. He called the train attendant over, and under their tense gazes, the zipper was slowly opened and the lid lifted.
They were nearly scared out of their wits.
Inside was only a dirty, wide-eyed, girl-shaped doll. Her cheeks had no warmth, and her expression seemed frozen at the most beautiful instant of a smile.
Later, the passenger found his original suitcase in the corner of the cargo hold.
Although his luggage had been thoughtfully repacked in a plastic bag by some mysterious person, with a note on top reading “Sorry TAT,” he still suffered from nightmares for the next week.
As for the strange doll, it was sealed in a crate and shipped by truck to a junkyard.
After a bumpy ride, her face returned to its emotionless state. Not long after, someone else picked her up, moving her from the junkyard to a new location.
At that moment, Zero finally managed to gather enough Magic Power to revive.
Magic Furnace Core activated.
Magical Circuit connected.
Neural Component rebooted.
As these incomprehensible phrases automatically flashed through her mind, a light appeared before her eyes, and her thoughts began to flow once more.
Becoming a Villainess puppet, getting chased by a Magic Girl… it really must have been a dream, right?
That’s what she thought, but the events that followed soon told her otherwise.
Upon restarting, the first thing she saw was a petite girl squatting on the ground.
She had long, pale golden hair that reached her waist, with slightly upturned ends. She wore an academy-style uniform: a fitted gray blazer, a white shirt with a ribbon at the collar, a plaid pleated skirt, and white tights under her light-colored outfit, which made her look even more slender.
To sum up the first impression, she felt like the “cute little sister next door.”
Zero realized that the girl not far away was looking straight at her, so she blinked her eyes twice in confusion.
Who is this? Where am I?
A flood of questions swirled through her mind.
Then, the girl also blinked her big round eyes, and from those amber-like orange pupils shone a gaze just as bewildered.
Wait… amber-like eyes?
It was only then that Zero realized she had not seen this girl for the first time.
She looked exactly like the one she’d seen on TV before, down to the outfit—her untransformed appearance.
Is that Yang Mo? Yang Mo, the Magic Girl Amber?
The girl’s name instantly popped into Zero’s memory.
She was the Magic Girl who, in the third volume of the Original Work, was killed by Zero.
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