After Gan Ling informed Yang Mo about the support group, she went on to explain why she had attended the meeting alone and recounted her encounter with Rosetta. After listening, Yang Mo rubbed her chin and remarked, “That magical girl named Huang Ya… I thought she’d be a bit more cold and detached.”
“Don’t say that to her face…” Gan Ling muttered. While she respected Huang Ya’s sense of responsibility, that same personality meant she could be overly literal and serious—Gan Ling herself had nearly suffered for it. Thinking of this, Gan Ling recalled a past conversation with Yang Mo and said:
“By the way, remember? You once asked me who I thought was the model example of a magical girl. Now, I’d say Huang Ya fits that title best.” In Gan Ling’s mind, Huang Ya was designed in the original work as a traditional hero; her strength and conduct were impeccable. If she wasn’t the paragon, who was?
Upon hearing this, Yang Mo replied, “You hold her in such high regard? You don’t even care about the fact that she was hunting you down anymore?”
“Of course. My evaluation is objective and fair,” Gan Ling replied, raising a single index finger.
Before she could finish, Yang Mo chimed in: “Just so you know, my idea of a paragon is You Ying!”
“Who asked you?” The moment Gan Ling heard that name, her interest evaporated. If it weren’t for the limitations of her doll body, she would have rolled her eyes. Yang Mo, however, was used to this attitude and continued unphased, “Now I know—Huang Ya is Gan Ling’s idol, but my idol You Ying definitely won’t lose!”
Gan Ling had no idea how she had jumped to that conclusion. “Huh? Who said anything about idols?”
Yang Mo looked puzzled. “Isn’t that what you meant?”
“Of course not. Like I said, I’m just being objective.” Yang Mo seemed to accept this excuse. After muttering a “Is that so…?”, she fell silent and picked up the remote by the sofa to turn on the TV.
As luck would have it, as the channels flickered by, a familiar figure appeared on the screen. She had pale blue hair and held a lantern filled with a cyan flame. It was You Ying—the very person they were just discussing. It appeared she was being interviewed by a news station again after defeating a “Bad Demon.”
“Change it,” Gan Ling said almost reflexively the moment she saw her. Yang Mo, however, had other ideas.
“No. Since you want to be ‘objective and fair,’ shouldn’t you understand the facts first? This program is a great opportunity; we can’t just miss it.”
“I already know more than enough. Change it.”
“I’m not changing it. Watching this will get rid of your bias.”
“I don’t care. Change it.”
“No.”
From that point on, the two stopped wasting words and engaged in a struggle for the remote that was more intense than a battle against a demon.
The rest of the evening passed as usual, leading into the next day. It was Sunday, and Yang Xia arrived earlier than usual. Gan Ling had previously notified her about the solo meeting, so to keep her from worrying, she had messaged her the results the night before.
As soon as they met, Yang Xia greeted her with a mischievous grin. “Congratulations again. Now, besides that ‘Covenant,’ you have the Human Rights Act protecting you too.”
“The way you put it… makes it sound like I’d face a disaster without it.” Gan Ling paused, then smiled. “But thanks for the congratulations anyway.”
Yang Xia scanned the room after entering, then turned to Yang Mo. “Isn’t it time for a spring cleaning?” Just as she said, there were bits of black residue on the floor, and a layer of dust had settled on the TV and other furniture. Yang Mo followed her gaze and agreed, “True… it has been a while.”
The three of them went to find cleaning supplies and returned to the living room “fully armed” with brooms, buckets, and rags. As she watched the other two sweeping, Gan Ling suddenly stopped while wiping the furniture. Noticing this, Yang Xia turned around. “What’s up? Thinking of slacking off?”
“No, I was just thinking there’s a more convenient way.”
“More convenient?” Yang Xia looked confused, but Yang Mo had already caught on. “Ah… Gan Ling, are you planning to…?”
Before she could finish, Gan Ling responded, “Exactly.” She raised her hand, and a silver pocket watch appeared out of thin air.
“Again? Fine… I won’t be surprised this time.” Yang Xia stepped aside to give her room to perform, and Yang Mo followed suit.
Gan Ling pointed a finger at the ground and commanded: “Dust and debris, gather here.” In the next second, as if granted life, the dirt from every corner of the room swirled toward the spot she pointed to. The floor and the dusty furniture instantly became much cleaner. Despite her claim that she wouldn’t be surprised, Yang Xia’s mouth hung open.
Then, Gan Ling issued the next command: “Rags, wipe yourselves.“
True to the command, the rags began to move on their own, as if invisible spirits were assisting. Once the rags finished, Yang Xia went to inspect the work. She found that the corners of the cabinets hadn’t been touched, and the uneven parts of the TV had been missed. She turned to Gan Ling. “Hey, what gives?”
Gan Ling leaned over to look, showing no surprise. “As I thought,” she sighed. “This magic can’t handle detailed instructions. But even so, it saves a lot of trouble, right?”
“I suppose so…” Yang Xia accepted the explanation skeptically.
With the help of “Absolute Command,” the cleaning progressed much faster than usual. Soon, only the storage room—the room where Gan Ling had first woken up—was left on the ground floor. Aside from general cleaning, this room required manual organizing of the miscellaneous items stored there.
By the time they finished, Yang Mo was panting for breath, so Yang Xia stopped to let her rest. Gan Ling, Yang Mo, and Yang Xia sat on a book crate, an old chair, and an old desk, respectively. Yang Xia looked at the other two in the corner of the room, sat in deep thought for a moment, and then looked toward Yang Mo.
“Hey, Yang Mo. It’s about time we prepared a proper room for Gan Ling, don’t you think?” That was the conclusion she had reached.