Deep Sea Embers

Duncan had indeed cast a spark on the mirrored Frost City—but he felt it was not enough.

He could clearly feel that Frost's situation this time was different from that of Prand, the fire he cast did not spread rapidly on the "other side of the mirror", and his own perception of fire was also greatly weakened And interference—he guessed that this may be because of the natural barriers in the world "on both sides of the mirror", or because there is actually no accurate correspondence between the mirror image and the real world, and those misplaced parts are interfering with his judgment.

No matter what the reason is, he needs to find a way to strengthen the connection between himself and Tinder, and strengthen the connection with the White Oak and Agatha.

During the conversation, Fan Na suddenly showed a thoughtful expression: "Speaking of the mirror image... Are you sure you saw the figure of the gatekeeper in the reflection of the glass?"

"Of course I can be sure."

"This is a little strange..." Fan Na frowned, "If she is really trapped in that mirror world, why is there still no news about the city-state? The supreme guardian disappeared mysteriously, even if it was out of peace of mind. The news has been blocked due to his own considerations, at least the cathedral and the city hall will take some other actions..."

She paused when she said this, and summed up based on her own experience: "Secret searches, martial law in a specific area, changes in the frequency and distribution of guards' night patrols—even in the case of news blockade, these details can be observed. , but I have been active in the city-state with Mr. Morris for a long time today, and I haven’t noticed any changes in this regard.”

Nina, who was reading a book with her head down, suddenly raised her head: "Maybe it's because the gatekeeper disappeared not long ago, and the city-state hasn't reacted yet?"

"...If this is the case, then Frost is really rotten beyond cure," Fan Na shook her head seriously, "But based on my observations during this period, although this city-state has definitely fallen into decline, It's not that bad, the church and the town hall are at least in order."

"Perhaps we will observe the change of the atmosphere in the city-state during the day tomorrow." Duncan said casually, but just as he was about to continue speaking, he suddenly felt a heavy touch on his arm, which interrupted what he wanted to say if.

Shirley had already turned upside down, bumping her head on his arm, snoring evenly.

But in the next second, before Duncan could react, he saw the girl wake up from her sleep, and Agou who was dozing off at the foot of the sofa was thrown into the air with her: " Right, right, right... right... right..."

Shirley didn't stutter "I'm sorry" until the end, and Duncan heard a loud "bang", and Agou, who was thrown into the air just now, fell to the ground. What's the situation, what's the situation, there's a fight?"

Then it realized that the atmosphere around it was a bit weird, and when it looked up, several eyes fell on itself and Shirley strangely.

"It's not a fight, it's Shirley who fell asleep." Duncan smiled and sighed, looking at Shirley who was still tense, "It's okay, go upstairs to sleep, minors must ensure enough sleep All right—Nina, stop reading, it's time for bed."

"Oh." Nina reluctantly put away the half-read book, got up and grabbed Shirley who was still nervous, and the two walked to the second floor holding hands.

Duncan watched the two girls disappear on the stairs, then turned his gaze and nodded to Fanna: "Tomorrow, you and Morris will go to the upper town to see if there is any change in the atmosphere at the cathedral. If possible, inquire about the city hall's reaction—the matter has developed to this day, and the presence of the Frost City Hall has always been very low, and I am very curious about what they are doing."

"Okay." Fan Na nodded, and then she was a little curious, "What about you? What are your plans for the future?"

"I'm going to go to the Second Waterway again, and I'll go there with Alice," Duncan said casually, "Let's go and see the corridor where the crow happened - since it is now speculated that there is a 'Mirror Frost', and the crow at that time It is very likely that we have entered there by mistake, maybe we can find some new clues from that corridor."

Speaking of this, he suddenly realized: "Speaking of which, is Alice still tidying up in the kitchen?"

"It seems to be," Morris said as he got up and turned around. "It's true that she has been delayed in the kitchen for too long... Could it be that her head fell in a corner and got stuck and couldn't be taken out?"

"It's really worrying...I'll go and have a look." Duncan sighed helplessly, then got up and left the sofa and went to the kitchen.

As soon as he got to the kitchen, he saw the gothic doll standing by the sink—she didn't lose her head as Morris guessed, but she was looking up at a weird angle corner of the ceiling.

Probably because she was too involved, Alice didn't hear Duncan's footsteps, she just stared blankly at the direction where there was nothing, then stretched out the hand holding the kitchen knife to fiddle with the air, and then changed direction, and continued to fiddle with the air—as if trying to catch an invisible fly.

The gothic puppet cuts the air with a dull expression on the kitchen knife. This scene is too weird. It seems that a blood bar will appear on the puppet's head in the next second, and it will fill the screen. By the way, there will be sounds around An organ-style bgm——Duncan finally couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing?"

"Wow!"

Alice was startled for a moment, and subconsciously stretched out her hand to support her head—but she forgot that she was still holding a sharp knife in her hand, so in the next second, she only heard a "poof", and she stabbed Poke on his forehead.

With a sound of "Gaba", the head was poked off by herself.

Even though he usually sees the scary and unreliable appearance of this puppet, Duncan was still dumbfounded at this moment. He hurriedly stepped forward to support Alice's precarious body, and then saw the latter waving her arms and legs frantically. She cut her arm—she was still holding the sharp kitchen knife in her hand, and the tip of the knife poked her own head. After waving it a few times, she realized belatedly, and quickly embraced it with her left hand. Holding his head, he pulled the kitchen knife from his forehead with his right hand.

Then the puppet fumbled and threw the kitchen knife aside, held its head and pressed it on its neck with ease, and returned it to its original place after a "Bo'er".

"You startled me!" Alice turned her head and looked at Duncan a little wronged, but soon her eyes were attracted by the thing on Duncan's arm, "...Captain, this knife looks familiar."

Duncan held the handle of the kitchen knife on his arm with a blank expression (some were also blocked by the bandage), pulled it out and threw it aside: "Nonsense, this is what you stuck in me just now."

"...I'm sorry!" The puppet exclaimed suddenly, and hurriedly stepped forward to check the situation, "Are you okay? Do you want to bandage it?"

"No, it's a corpse anyway." The corner of Duncan's mouth twitched, but his gaze fell on Alice's forehead involuntarily.

Miss Doll was stabbed on the forehead by herself just now, leaving a huge wound, but at this moment, the wound is healing at a speed visible to the naked eye - there is no blood in the wound, only warm, jade-like skin. Cut the surface, and after just a few breaths, it was restored to its original state.

Alice was a little embarrassed by Duncan's gaze, and subconsciously touched her face: "Why do you keep looking at me..."

"...What kind of material are you made of?" Duncan frowned, and reached out to touch the place where Alice was injured just now, but what he heard was a cold and lifeless touch similar to skin, "on your head?" Just opened a hole, you know?"

Alice was stunned for a moment, raised her hand to touch her forehead, and replied in a daze: "It's grown."

"Of course I know it's grown!"

"...I don't understand," Alice shook her head, "I don't know what material I'm made of...but it doesn't seem to be wood or ceramics..."

Duncan held back for two seconds, twitching the corners of his mouth: "I shouldn't expect to get any answers from you—forget it, let's not talk about it, what were you doing just now? Why are you staring at the ceiling in a daze?"

"There are wires," Alice answered honestly. "Some wires popped up just now—and now they're gone."

Duncan's expression changed instantly: "Line?!"

Alice can see special "lines", and these lines represent "people"!

"That's right," Alice nodded, with a serious face, "I'm also curious as to why there is a line coming out, and there is no one else here... But I remember what you taught, you can't grab other people's 'lines' casually, That’s why I used a kitchen knife to fiddle with it just now…”

Duncan didn't pay attention to what the puppet said in the second half of the sentence. His attention was already on the "lines" that Alice mentioned that appeared and disappeared suddenly.

His eyes quickly swept across the kitchen, looking for everything that might be connected to the "mirror image".

The glass on the window, the stagnant water in the pool, the blade of the kitchen knife—these all seem to be used to establish a relationship with the mirrored space, but none of them appear abnormal.

But Duncan believed in Alice, she would not lie.

At a certain moment just now, the mirrored frost intersected with the reality here—maybe it was only a very, very weak and brief intersecting, but it was enough for the puppet to catch the thread "floating" from there.