The indoor section of the Polar Hall was somewhat similar to the underwater tunnel; only a single glass wall separated the animals’ living area from the visitors.
Yang Mo walked along the wall, keeping pace with a seal swimming inside, while Qian Ling stood behind her, silently recording the scene with her phone camera.
Before they knew it, the two had already passed through the seal and penguin exhibits and reached the exit of the Polar Hall. It didn’t take long to finish touring the remaining small venues.
Now, there was only one place left for them to go: the main entrance of the aquarium.
On the way there, Yang Mo looked a bit dejected. She lowered her head and sighed, “It looks like it’s over.”
As if to mirror her mood, the sunlight momentarily vanished behind a large bank of clouds.
“Yes, but it’s only over for this time.”
Yang Mo looked up blankly, following Qian Ling’s voice. She saw Qian Ling smiling at her comfortingly. “If you still want to come and play, there’s always a next time, and a time after that. I can accompany you.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
After Qian Ling gave her answer, Yang Mo’s spirits finally regained some of their usual vitality.
“Then it’s a promise. Don’t flake out on me like my sister does.”
“Okay.”
Qian Ling nodded.
One promise was just about to be fulfilled, only to be replaced by even more commitments.
While fulfilling such promises wasn’t difficult, Qian Ling couldn’t help but worry: ‘If these promises keep piling up, will there eventually be an endless stream of them waiting for me to fulfill?’
As she thought this, Yang Mo squinted her eyes and opened her mouth, wearing a silly, happy expression. Qian Ling decided to push those stray thoughts to the back of her mind. She would deal with it when she truly couldn’t keep up anymore.
Perhaps because the recent comfort had worked, Yang Mo didn’t show any of that lingering reluctance after they stepped out of the aquarium gates.
This time, she didn’t look back. Instead, she asked Qian Ling as soon as they exited, “Qian Ling, can you stay with me and visit somewhere else?”
“I can, but can you really still walk?”
Qian Ling felt somewhat surprised.
She was a doll, so she was fine and wouldn’t feel fatigued, but her impression was that Yang Mo’s physical stamina was nothing to brag about.
Sure enough, Yang Mo’s confident expression froze for two seconds before her entire body collapsed along with her posture.
A pained expression appeared on her face as her legs buckled inward, and her shoulders and arms hung limply.
She seemed to squeeze out the very last bit of strength in her body to vent her true feelings to Qian Ling in one breath.
“Actually, I’m exhausted… my feet are so sore and painful! But… there’s still one place I really want to go with you!”
“Where is it?”
“It has to be a surprise, so I won’t tell you yet. Anyway, just come with me…”
“Fine, fine, I understand… You point the way, and I’ll take you there.”
Qian Ling opened her arms toward her, preparing to carry her to the mysterious place she mentioned.
However, Yang Mo shook her head. “Not this time.”
She looked at the puzzled Qian Ling and explained, “The place I want to go is very close to the busiest street around here. Since it’s the weekend, it would be a lot of trouble if you ran into a Magical Girl there, right?”
Hearing her mention the general direction, Qian Ling regretted agreeing to her request so soon.
‘If I back out now… Yang Mo will probably be very disappointed.’
Qian Ling thought to herself.
She had just finished acting like a person who kept her word in front of Yang Mo, so she didn’t voice her refusal. She simply tried to find another excuse to get Yang Mo to give up.
“The problem is your stamina…”
“It’s fine, I can hang in there!”
Yang Mo straightened her body, trying to show Qian Ling her spirit, but her momentum quickly wilted again.
“Uh… it’s just that this time, we really should ride bikes.”
Qian Ling looked at her and realized her hopes were dashed. She could only follow her to find some shared bikes as if nothing were wrong.
Fortunately, shared bikes could be found near the aquarium, so they didn’t have to trek an extra distance to find them.
Since Qian Ling’s phone didn’t have payment functions, Yang Mo first scanned a bike for herself, then opened another app to scan one for Qian Ling. This way, the two of them could use bikes at the same time.
They set off together, cycling toward the bustling downtown area of Lanchen.
Yang Mo rode in front to lead the way, while Qian Ling followed slightly behind and to the side.
Once on the bike, Yang Mo seemed to have forgotten her earlier exhaustion. The corners of her mouth were turned up slightly; she was likely looking forward to their next destination.
Qian Ling’s heart, however, gradually tightened as they approached the crowded district.
In the third episode of the original work, the camera immediately cut to a scene in an alley after Yang Mo left the aquarium. Qian Ling hadn’t found that alley around the aquarium earlier.
But when she heard Yang Mo say the destination was “very close to the busiest street,” she realized something. The background of that alley looked exactly like the concrete forest of skyscrapers.
‘Is it possible… that I’m currently going to the place Yang Mo went in the original work?’
‘But the original work never mentioned why Yang Mo appeared there. Is that really what’s happening?’
Question after question popped into Qian Ling’s mind, and her heart was nearly filled with anxiety.
She remained vigilant, observing her surroundings in this state until Yang Mo prompted her, “We can park the bikes here.”
That energetic voice allowed her to finally regain a bit of her composure.
Just as Yang Mo had described, they had arrived at a bustling commercial street.
At this point, Qian Ling felt it was time to find out what Yang Mo meant by a “surprise.”
So she asked, “Is it about time you told me where we’re going?”
“A place where wishes really come true! You’ll know the rest when we get there.”
Yang Mo’s answer made Qian Ling sigh involuntarily. She thought, ‘That’s the same as saying nothing at all.’
‘Should I be looking forward to this place?’
She didn’t know if now was the time for such things.
The only consolation was that she had already dealt with all the potential threats, and the current situation didn’t match the original work at all.
Perhaps the right thing to do was to relax and enjoy her time with Yang Mo.
She followed Yang Mo silently, while also keeping a constant watch for any suspicious circumstances, especially magical reactions.
The result was… nothing.
This allowed her to breathe a temporary sigh of relief.
However… was there really nothing?
Qian Ling and Yang Mo were just about to turn the corner.
On top of the building they had just passed, the light near one corner underwent a slight, faint refraction.
As the two figures disappeared around the corner, the refraction of light vanished as well.
Even though Qian Ling regretted agreeing to come here, the result would have been the same regardless.
Because—unbeknownst to both Qian Ling and Yang Mo—
“That thing” had been by their side the entire time.