Deep Sea Embers

Duncan looked at Alice quietly, and Alice looked at Duncan confidently.

After a while, Duncan rubbed the center of his brows first, and felt a strange emotion in his heart, and the sense of disobedience in his heart could not be dissipated for a long time.

How could it be possible to show such a huge difference in temperament with the same face...

"Captain," Alice blinked curiously after seeing Duncan's reaction, and leaned over to ask, "Why don't you speak? Did I say something wrong?"

"...No, it's not your problem," Duncan shook his head, getting rid of the messy thoughts in his head, then suddenly raised his eyelids, and looked at the puppet in front of him with a solemn and serious expression, "Alice , have you... ever wondered about the connection between yourself and the Frost Queen?"

Alice was stunned for a moment, raised her hand and scratched her head, seemed to think seriously before she said uncertainly: "I...was curious, but then I thought about it, it seems that this is not I don’t think about things that are too important.”

Duncan was a little surprised: "Isn't it important?"

"The Frost Queen is the Frost Queen, and I am me. No matter how great that queen is, that's her business, and I don't understand it," Alice said seriously, "I have something I am good at, and I I like the current day very much, which is very good. In addition, I also heard from Mr. Morris that everyone in this world may find another person who looks exactly like himself, so I will be the Queen of Frost The one who looks exactly like me - although I'm actually a puppet..."

Duncan listened quietly to the puppet's words, and seeing the natural and satisfied look in her eyes when she mentioned the current day, suddenly something moved in his heart.

Maybe...she is really just a special false copy made by the ancient gods in the deep sea, maybe she is really just the result of the weird fusion of Le Nora who fell into the deep sea and the guillotine, or Perhaps, there are more secrets hidden in her, secrets that even Lei Nora can't imagine... But as Alice herself said, this is not very important.

She is not smart, but very happy. She has many things she doesn't understand, but she never feels nervous or afraid because of these complicated things. She was born and lived in a world full of weirdness. This weird world is very important to her. For her, it is the most common "normal" in the world - she is exploring, curious, and looking forward to everything including tomorrow in this world full of novelty and unknown to her, just like...

A child who opens his eyes in the sun.

There are countless beings in the world, but even the bravest warriors, the most learned sages, and the most pious believers cannot look at the world from the perspective of Alice.

Duncan suddenly had a feeling—in this weird world where everyone is afraid and everything is twisted, Alice, the "doll", is more like... "human" than anyone else.

Just like what he saw in another world, in that world without abnormalities and visions, without gods and weirdness, ordinary human beings walking calmly under the sun.

"Captain?" Alice's curious voice sounded again, "Why are you in a daze again?"

"It's nothing." Duncan shook his head, "I just suddenly felt...you are actually very intelligent."

Alice was slightly taken aback when she heard the captain's praise, and then a happy look gradually appeared on her face: "Hey..."

She didn't know why the captain suddenly boasted that she was "wisdom", and she didn't even think that she could have any wisdom, but since the captain boasted so much, it must be something to be happy about.

Duncan thought for a while after boasting this sentence, and then slowly stretched his hand to his side - the cold touch came from his fingertips, it was the brass key.

In the deep sea, the submersible is slowly rising, and it will take some time before "recovery".

Frost Queen Leh Nora revealed a lot of information to herself, but there are still many gaps or ambiguities in those information, which need to be verified by herself.

The brass key...a sane final missionary handed it to Le Nora, and even with the latter's ability, he finally failed to understand the true "essence" of the key. At the same time, Alice, who seemed to be born as a wrong copy by "coincidence", has a corresponding keyhole... At this point, is it still a coincidence?

The final missionary foresaw all this happening today? Or was it that the tentacle of the ancient god sleeping in the deep sea retrieved Le Nora's memory when creating "Alice", and left the "keyhole" on Alice?

Maybe... it's time to give it a try.

"Alice," Duncan suddenly raised his head, looking at the puppet in front of him solemnly, "Come with me."

"Ah?" Alice was taken aback for a moment, but immediately came to her senses and stood up to follow, "Oh, okay!"

"Take the helm." Duncan got up from behind the chart table, gave instructions to the goat's head, then took a light breath, turned and walked towards the captain's bedroom.

Alice followed Duncan for some unknown reason, walked into the door of the bedroom together, and then turned back to close the door under the other's instructions, and turned around to look at Duncan curiously.

"Captain? What's next?"

Duncan held the key in his hand silently, and looked at the puppet quietly: "I hope to test this key."

When Alice heard it, she was a little surprised: "Ah? Didn't you say that this key might be dangerous? It might contain the soul of the Frost Queen..."

"Now the hidden danger is eliminated," Duncan said calmly, "I just eliminated it myself."

"Oh!" Alice said immediately, and then turned around and fumbled for the zipper on the back of her clothes without any hesitation, "Then I'll untie the clothes first..."

"Just expose the keyhole." Even though he had been with this solid-headed doll for so long, Duncan was a little embarrassed by this guy's unhesitating behavior at this time, and he subconsciously reminded, Then there was some surprise, "Aren't you afraid?"

"Captain, you said that there is no hidden danger," Alice turned her head and said, "And you will wind me up for me yourself. If something goes wrong, you will definitely protect me, right?"

"...Yes, I will protect you," Duncan nodded slowly after a brief two or three seconds of silence, then raised his finger and pointed to a round stool next to the bed, "Sit on it—I won't Determine what happens when you wind it up, and it's better not to stand."

"Oh!" Alice agreed, and obediently came to the round stool and sat down, with her back to Duncan.

The clothes on the back of the doll have been untied.

Duncan finally saw what the "keyhole" looked like - right in the center of Alice's back that was as smooth as white porcelain, the keyhole was inlaid there abruptly, and there was a circle of fine and gorgeous patterns, with a texture like bronzing , wrapping around the keyhole.

Duncan lowered his head and glanced at the brass key in his hand.

...the size and shape really corresponded exactly.

A strange feeling rose from his heart, which was mixed with a little nervousness. Duncan took a light breath, controlled the strangeness in his heart, and slowly approached the key to the round hole.

"Alice."

"Um?"

"Don't be afraid."

"Why!"

The wind-up key entered the keyhole without hindrance, and immediately after that, a very clear "click" sounded in Duncan's ear, as if it sounded directly in his mind.

Something was activated—but no ordinary clockwork.

A slight force came from his fingertips, and Duncan instantly realized that the wind-up key was turning by itself - it slowly turned to the horizontal position, and then there was another "click".

In the next second, everything in front of him began to change rapidly.

The light and shadow are collapsing and reorganizing, the senses are undergoing transformation and reset, and there is that familiar slight dizziness, and the feeling of "transfer" like "walking in the spirit world"——

Before he had time to sigh "It's like this again", Duncan found that everything around him had stabilized again.

He is in an old, gorgeous but eerie and weird grand mansion.

The classical and solemn hall is wide and empty. Tall columns are arranged on both sides of the hall, supporting the gloomy roof above like a gathering of dark clouds. The narrow and high windows are inlaid on the walls covered with patterns and reliefs. There are pitch-black thorns, and chaotic light and shadows float outside the thorn bushes.

And in this eerie mansion, there are voices coming from time to time—whispering, intermittent talking and laughing, the sound of footsteps walking across the floor, and even... weird and vague sounds like a dance is being held somewhere music.

Duncan frowned slightly, his eyes swept across the gloomy old mansion.

Something flickered in the corner of his eye.

Duncan quickly looked over there, but only saw an empty corner of the wall.

But he was sure that he did see something just now. There was a figure... It looked like a maid in a black and white dress.

The figure has no head, and the neckline of the jacket only has a bare neck.

Duncan stood in the empty hall and paused for a while, carefully observing the surrounding environment, sensing the vaguely floating, strange and uneasy atmosphere in the air, and then walked towards the spiral upward staircase at the end of the hall.

He wanted to figure out what this place was—why was he brought here after "winding up" Alice?

He walked up the spiral staircase, as if the stairs that had been abandoned for countless years made weird creaking sounds under his feet, but as he walked, a sense of familiarity suddenly appeared in Duncan's heart.

He stopped suddenly, and stared at the various furnishings and styles in the mansion with wide eyes.

He knew what the familiarity was about.

The room where Frost Queen Leh Nora sleeps!