Deep Sea Embers

It was a large oil painting with black and red as the main color, which was hung on the wall closest to the spiral staircase.

Just like most of the oil paintings in this "mansion", it appears blurred and chaotic, with rough and strange lines and color blocks all over the surface, making the viewer feel dizzy and unable to distinguish any meaningful content. Like a scribble made by a madman out of control in a hallucination.

However, when Duncan stayed on the picture and stared at it for a long time, he suddenly found that some things seemed to be slowly changing among the chaotic and dark color blocks - lines emerged from the shadows, and the chaotic colors In the meantime, things can gradually be distinguished.

It seems that there is a burning flame, and a thing like the hull of a ship is engulfed in the flame. It is passing through the sky through the thick clouds and falling towards the sea. The sky is divided into two by the flame, and the sea boils and rolls under the impact of the flame. , and behind the group of flames, there was another dark red chaotic thing, pressing down gloomy as if it was constantly chasing the approaching doomsday.

The whole picture is still blurry, and everything is in an extremely abstract and chaotic state, but it is such a blurry scene that makes Duncan's eyes change slightly in an instant.

He subconsciously remembered the scene he had seen in the vision before - the burning three-shuttle spaceship fell from the sky, and fell into the sea in the explosion and disintegration.

Duncan stopped, turned around and carefully observed the scene on the oil painting.

Soon, he discovered that the scene in the painting was not exactly the same as what he saw in the illusion—the spaceship he saw in the illusion had a distinct style, and he could see its transcendent technological level and huge momentum at a glance However, the "thing wrapped in flames" in the oil painting is only a hazy hull. The hull even looks like some kind of wooden structure, and the flames around it are more like burning, rather than the space behind the starship. Push the flame.

This gives people a feeling, as if a crazy painter living in the middle ages accidentally saw a spaceship of the future era in a dream, but couldn't understand how it existed, so he could only exhaust it when he woke up the next day With my limited knowledge and imagination, relying on the superficial impression left by the dream, I restored the specious picture on the canvas.

The voice of the headless butler came from behind: "Guest, are you interested in this painting?"

"...Where do the oil paintings here come from?"

"They've been here since the beginning, guest," said the headless butler.

"In the beginning?" Duncan said with doubts, "When did it start? When this 'Alice Mansion' was born? When 'Alice' became the hostess here?"

"From the beginning of time," said the headless butler patiently, "before everything else."

What kind of answer is this?

Duncan frowned subconsciously, feeling that the headless butler's answer was the same as if he hadn't said anything. However, he stared at the polite figure, but couldn't distinguish any emotion from the other person's posture - this headless man, There is neither expression nor eyes, only polite words, with empty hospitality.

After thinking for a moment, Duncan asked two more questions: "...does this oil painting have a name? Do you know what it depicts?"

"There is no name. Every painting here has no name. They exist naturally and do not need names and interpretations. As for the things described in the pictures... Sorry, this is beyond the scope of my knowledge."

"Aren't you the housekeeper here? You don't know the situation of this mansion?"

"I'm just a servant. This mansion has countless secrets of its own. It guards these secrets, and that's not something a servant should know."

The corner of Duncan's mouth twitched.

He had the urge to set a small fire on the housekeeper, but in the next second, he forcibly controlled this dangerous thought.

Because this is the "Alice" mansion, and the butler is part of the mansion - the actions here must be very careful to avoid any harm to Alice.

Duncan took a light breath, calming down his mood, and glanced at the other oil paintings hanging in the corridor - there are countless oil paintings here, painted with countless incomprehensible colors.

But none of the other paintings changed under his gaze.

"...Let's go," Duncan finally looked away, and said to the headless butler with a trace of regret, "Take me to the 'garden' you mentioned."

The headless butler bowed slightly, turned around and continued to lead the way. He led Duncan across the platform on the second floor, down the spiral staircase, and then turned around and walked to the depths of the hall on the first floor—there was a short passage , leading to the back garden of the mansion.

However, Duncan stopped in front of the passage, and turned his head and glanced curiously at the opposite direction of the hall——at the end of the long red carpet, stood an extremely tall and magnificent dark wooden door, and there were slender wooden doors on both sides of the wooden door. The window, the window seems to be overgrown with thorns.

That looks like the "entrance gate" to the entire building.

"What's beyond that door?" Duncan asked suddenly.

Hearing this sentence, the headless butler's body trembled visibly, and the next second, his always gentle and calm tone appeared flustered for the first time: "Don't be interested in that door, guest! Outside that door is a place of eternal doom, and anyone will go and never return!"

"A place of eternal doom?" Duncan's expression became serious, "Why do you say that? Then there is a subspace outside?"

"Space? I don't understand what this means...but please don't try to open that door!" The headless butler waved his hands in a panic, "This is the biggest taboo in the mansion, and no member can open it under any circumstances. That door..."

"But I'm not a member here." Seeing the other party's reaction, Duncan deliberately showed an eager attitude - this was the first time he saw the headless butler so at a loss, which made him feel that he had found a breakthrough in intelligence , "And you said at the beginning that I have the key, so I can open any door here."

"Of course the key in your hand is fine...but you must not do this!" the headless butler said in a panic. He seemed to want to show a tougher blocking attitude, but perhaps due to some kind of restriction, he could only Anxiously waving his arms one meter away from Duncan, he tried his best to obstruct it with words, "Don't open that door, for the sake of all the crew..."

"What's beyond that door?" Duncan stared at the headless butler with a particularly serious tone.

"Outside that door...outside that door..." the headless butler hesitated, as if desperately trying to sort out his words, "Guest, the world outside that door has been annihilated, and the end of everything is coming—the door prevents the end from approaching." , don't open it, don't put the doomsday in..."

Duncan frowned, listening to the headless butler's nervous and flustered words, trying to piece them together with what he already knew about the world.

The world outside the door has been annihilated... the end of all things is coming...

He frowned in thought, and after a long time, finally exhaled slightly.

"Relax, I'm not going to open that door."

After temporarily suppressing all kinds of thoughts in his heart, he nodded slightly to the headless butler and said.

The other party breathed a sigh of relief—even though he didn't have a head, let alone a so-called "expression", his whole body was obviously relaxed.

"You really frightened me, guest," said the steward, turning to continue leading the way, "Please don't make such jokes again, we must avoid the end of the world - it has destroyed the world Everything, here is the last barrier..."

Duncan silently listened to the butler's ramblings with fear, and followed behind him without saying a word. They passed through the short corridor and finally came to a slightly narrow door—this door used Made of large pieces of translucent glass and reinforced with steel, the black steel frame divides the door into many large and small geometric figures, each geometric figure depicts graffiti of many flowers and plants, it looks... ...There is a strange atmosphere of fairy tales and horror mixed.

"The hostess is in the garden, please help yourself."

The headless butler stepped forward, turned the handle of the garden gate, and turned to Duncan.

"You're not with me?" Duncan was a little surprised.

"The garden is only for the hostess and the visitors who hold the key, and the gardener only enters the garden when necessary," said the headless butler. I'll be waiting for you at the door."

"...Understood, thank you for leading the way."

Duncan nodded to the weird butler, and ignored the other's reaction, but stepped forward and gently pushed the garden gate.

A slight creak broke the calm in the mansion and garden.

Duncan stepped through the door—and then incredible sunlight filled his vision.

Sunlight!

In the depths of this eerie mansion full of eerie shadows, there really is a garden illuminated by the sun! ?

With a hint of astonishment, Duncan stepped forward, and the lush plants immediately came into his eyes. The well-arranged nurseries, well-built bushes, and paths surrounded by green grass looked pleasing to the eye, and in this vibrant garden Above, the warm glow...

Duncan raised his head, his surprised expression gradually changed into a frown.

He saw an extremely weird "sky" - under a pale background, many children's graffiti-like strokes floated in the sky, depicting the blue sky, white clouds and a simple sun, and many golden lines were drawn around the sun , used to symbolize the escaping sunlight.

The warm "sunshine" shining on the whole garden is released from the ridiculous "sun" like a stick figure.

Duncan couldn't help feeling a little vigilance in his heart. The sky above the "garden" no longer made him feel warm, but only infinitely weird.

He withdrew his gaze towards the sky, and with great caution, began to carefully observe the situation in the garden again.

A strange color at the end of the path caught his attention.

He walked quickly in that direction, bypassing a bush and a low flower wall, and finally saw the source of the strange color.

At the intersection of several paths, in the center of the open space deep in the garden, a figure was sitting there quietly, leaning against a marble column covered with flower vines, as if falling into a deep sleep.

And there are many black thorns spreading from the flower vines, entwining her whole body.

"...Alice?"