The warm sunlight shone over Xinghu Town on Sunday afternoon.
It had been only one day since Lingling defeated Chimera Doll No. 2, and the gloom from yesterday had vanished without leaving a trace.
Now, a young girl walked side by side with her.
The girl had long, pale blonde hair and orange eyes. Her name was Yang Mo, though she was also known as Amber the Magical Girl.
Ever since Lingling had reincarnated as Enchanter’s Doll No. 0 and was picked up by her, the fates of the two had been tightly intertwined.
Lingling had risked her life in battle just to save Yang Mo, and fortunately, by relying on her newly awakened powers, she had finally succeeded in overcoming the crisis.
After that, Yang Mo’s older sister, Yang Xia, had rushed over out of concern for the two of them and stayed for one night. However, she had hurriedly returned to her own residence this morning.
Lingling still remembered the conversation they had back then.
“If you’re in a hurry to get back and finish your homework, you could actually take me with you. I’m quite good at calculations.”
“Forget it. You’re doing me a huge favor just by not causing trouble.”
Yang Xia had rejected her suggestion without a second of hesitation, then turned and left immediately.
Thinking back on it now, Lingling still felt a bit annoyed.
‘Damn! My plan to mooch off Yang Xia’s computer fell through…’
That had been Lingling’s real intention at the time.
***
Just then, a child holding a kite ran past her, and her thoughts returned to the present.
She and Yang Mo were in the middle of a park in Xinghu Town. Although they had passed by many times, this was the first time they had actually come here to walk around.
In the center of the park was a small artificial lake. Several small boats could be seen swaying in the distance.
Lingling and Yang Mo walked along the boardwalk by the lakeshore, occasionally stepping into the shade cast by the willow trees.
Since it was the weekend, people were constantly coming and going. Many families out for a stroll passed them by.
If Lingling did not have this Doll body, she might have felt sleepy by now. The scene was simply too peaceful, so much so that her mind and body had completely relaxed.
“Lingling, look.”
Yang Mo’s voice snapped her out of it. Looking in the direction Yang Mo was pointing, she saw several large white birds resting near a thicket of reeds on the opposite bank.
As if afraid of startling them, Yang Mo lowered her voice and whispered in Lingling’s ear, “There’s a flock of egrets over there. Let’s take a photo together with them as the background.”
“Okay.”
Lingling nodded and stepped into the camera’s frame.
Standing behind Yang Mo, she rested her palm against her brow and struck a pose as if looking into the distance, as if a certain classic theme song was about to start playing in the next second.
Perhaps because of this, Yang Mo could not help but laugh just before pressing the shutter.
Unfortunately, at that same moment, an indescribable scream from a child rang out from somewhere outside the frame. The egrets on the opposite bank were startled by the noise and scattered in flight.
The result was a photo where Yang Mo had a half-laughing, half-awkward expression. The egrets meant to be the background had all vanished, leaving only Lingling, whose pose looked rather strange, looking relatively normal.
“Yeah, this photo won’t do…”
Seeing the result, Yang Mo clicked delete without another word.
Lingling expressed her regret from the side. “Wasn’t it pretty interesting? Why did you delete it?”
“It wasn’t interesting at all!”
Yang Mo said huffily, “I have a photo just like that at school. After my classmates saw it, they laughed at me for the longest time…”
“Ah… that one.”
After a little thought, Lingling remembered. When she had visited Yang Mo’s school, she had indeed seen a similar photo on the bulletin board in the front hall. It seemed to be a keepsake from a handicraft activity.
That photo had captured the exact moment Yang Mo’s eyes were half-closed, and it was just as unintentionally funny as the one she had just deleted.
“Lingling, you really did see it…”
As Yang Mo spoke, she leaned against the boardwalk railing, looking dejected.
Lingling comforted her, “There are so many activities at school. I’m sure it’ll be replaced by something else soon.”
“I hope so…”
Yang Mo sighed. Just as she was about to keep walking, her phone suddenly buzzed with a vibration.
“Huh? Who’s messaging me at a time like this?”
She opened her phone and found a pop-up notification from the Exchange Board.
The so-called Exchange Board was a mobile application specifically for Magical Girls. It could be used to report battle results to the Magical Girl Support Association or to exchange information with other Magical Girls.
Since it was an application involving confidentiality, the message naturally would not be displayed directly in the pop-up. It was only after Yang Mo entered the app that she realized the gravity of the situation.
“Lingling… you… look at this!”
Yang Mo tremblingly held the screen up to Lingling. Lingling leaned her head in and immediately saw the sender’s ID: **[Magical Girl Support Association (Official)]**.
She already had a bad feeling, and the message below was a bombshell for both her and Yang Mo.
The text the Support Association had sent to Yang Mo via private message read as follows:
“Hello, respected Lady Amber.
We have learned that an unidentified Magical Girl once fought alongside you. However, we have not found any information regarding her in our existing records. Instead, during our inquiry, we discovered that some of her characteristics overlap with reported sightings of a Badma.
Would it be convenient for you to provide us with a detailed explanation of the situation?
Due to the urgency of the matter, please be sure to reply within one day.
Thank you for your understanding.”
After reading the message, Lingling felt as if she could hear the sound of her peaceful daily life shattering.
She had originally thought that as long as her appearance remained hidden, things would be fine. She had never expected the Support Association to specifically track her down through Yang Mo. In the Original Work, they almost never actively interfered with the actions of a Magical Girl.
Moreover, the tone used in the message might have seemed humble, but in reality, it left no room for choice. it was simply a unilateral notification.
‘The rigid-as-hell Support Association from the original work is making a move now? And do they seriously work on weekends?’
In the midst of her shock, Lingling was still pondering these things, while Yang Mo became anxious even faster than she did.
Yang Mo pulled her under the shade of a secluded tree and asked, “What should we do? How should I reply to them?”
“Don’t worry yet. Remember that inquiry I had you make for me before?”
When Lingling mentioned this, Yang Mo remembered immediately.
“The inquiry…? Oh, right. Back then, we asked if an ordinary person could receive a corresponding reward for defeating a Badma.”
And to that question, the Support Association’s reply had been affirmative.
Therefore, Lingling believed there was no need to be so pessimistic just yet.
She held up an index finger and told Yang Mo in a calm tone, “My identity already had many issues to begin with, so this is actually an opportunity for me. Perhaps the day where I have to negotiate with them was bound to come sooner or later.”
“When you put it that way, it does make sense…”
Yang Mo’s anxiety finally dissipated a little. She then asked Lingling, “Then how should we reply?”
“Reply like this…”
Under her guidance, Yang Mo finished writing the response and nervously clicked send.
As the word “Read” appeared behind the sent message, Lingling’s contact with the Support Association had officially begun.