Seeing the quietly sleeping figure in the garden, Duncan instinctively called out the familiar name.
But he immediately stopped and recalled the scene when he saw the Frost Queen Le Nora in that gorgeous bedroom not long ago - you can't admit another mistake, right?
Duncan felt a little strange in his heart, and then he cautiously came to the sleeping figure, leaned down and observed it carefully.
He noticed the ball joints on the opponent's hands and feet, as well as the obviously bloodless, pure white "skin" texture like porcelain.
It's really Alice.
Duncan finally confirmed that the Gothic doll sleeping here was indeed the Gothic doll he was familiar with, and he felt relieved. Then, he focused on the black thorns entangled around the other party - thorny vines.
It extends from the flowers and spreads in the open space next to the doll, like a gorgeous and weird skirt. The thorns wrap around the hands, feet and torso of the doll, like a prison, binding her among the flower vines.
Alice fell asleep in the middle of this "bed" made of flowers and thorns, and did not respond at all to Duncan's approach and call.
Duncan carefully avoided the thorny flower vines and crisscrossing thorns, reached out his hand and gently touched the doll's cheek, and called her name again: "Alice, can you hear me?"
A slightly cold touch came from her fingertips, but Alice did not respond. She just fell asleep quietly, like... a real, lifeless doll.
Duncan frowned slightly, and then he noticed something else.
In the hands of the sleeping "Alice", she is holding something, which looks like a drawing board - thorn bushes are wrapped around her arms, but the drawing board seems to be able to be pulled out from the gap.
Duncan hesitated for a moment, stretched out his hand and grabbed the edge of the drawing board, carefully used force, and pulled it out bit by bit.
During this process, he also paid attention to Alice's changes at any time, observing the impact of his action of taking away the drawing board on her - the doll still remained asleep.
Duncan breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the drawing board he had pulled out.
"Paintings" with bright colors and messy lines caught his eye - just like the strange "sky" above the garden, children's graffiti-like strokes painted abstract pictures on the drawing board.
There is a vortex, a vortex of various colors, which occupies almost two-thirds of the entire picture. There are many dots of light around the vortex. The "author" of the painting uses many crisscrossing lines to represent those.
They are glowing stars, and in the center of the colorful vortex, you can see a rich red light - even though the graffiti is crude, Duncan still seems to be able to feel some kind of strong... danger from that red.
Duncan frowned, the red light in the vortex seemed familiar to him for some reason.
After thinking hard in his mind and recalling for a long time, he found the source of this familiar feeling - it was on the platform on the second floor of the "Alice Mansion", on the wall near the spiral staircase, where there was an oil painting depicting
There was a scene of a burning giant ship falling from the sky, and the sky behind the giant ship was filled with this deeply disturbing dark red light.
Duncan's expression became more serious.
This is the second time... In this weird "Alice Mansion", the dark red light with a strong and unknown symbol appears again... What does this dark red light mean?
Is it a symbol of some kind of constant pursuit and approaching disaster? Or is it a true portrayal of a certain phenomenon when the end of the world is coming? The headless butler warned many times not to open the door of the mansion... What is outside the door? Is it this "dark red glow"?
Ontology?
Dangerous thoughts briefly appeared in his mind, but they were immediately suppressed by Duncan.
He is indeed very curious about what is outside the gate of Alice's mansion, but curiosity does not mean being reckless. He will try his best to avoid disrupting the "order" in this "mansion" until he has more clues and confirms Alice's safety.
As his thoughts gradually calmed down, Duncan breathed a sigh of relief, looked up at the graffiti-style sky above the garden, and then looked down at the similarly graffiti-style drawing board in his hand.
The doll is still sleeping quietly in the flowers beside him, as if embracing all the secrets and keeping silent about all the answers.
Who "created" the sky here and the graffiti on the drawing board? Is it this sleeping doll? Is it Alice?
Duncan recalled the information he got from Le Nora, and suddenly felt that Alice might not be just a mixed copy of "Le Nora" and "Guillotine" as the Frost Queen thought, or perhaps
Say... Miss Doll's body may indeed have been obtained in this way, but her inner being obviously hides a secret far greater than that body.
This magnificent and strange "Alice Mansion" and the quietly sleeping dolls in the garden are her "inside", and these secrets are obviously far beyond what Le Nora knows.
This is a very simple truth: if a copied file carries more information than the ontology, then there is only one possibility - during the process of the "file" being "copied", someone wrote something else into it.
.
Duncan's thoughts were flowing. After thinking quietly for a long time, he sighed and prepared to put the drawing board back into the hands of the puppet——
Returning things to their original state and guarding against changes is a necessary caution.
But just when he turned the drawing board around and prepared to stuff it back, some uneven marks on the back of the drawing board suddenly caught his attention.
Duncan's eyes froze for a moment, and he quickly brought the drawing board to his eyes again, carefully observing the back part of it that he had ignored at first.
The uneven mark is a line of text deeply etched into the frame on the back of the drawing board——
"...The messenger brought news from afar, and the chosen clan picked up the lost ancient stars and forged them into crowns of blessing - the third long night is over."
Duncan's eyes fell on that simple and timeless text for a long time, and he maintained the same expression for a long time.
After an unknown amount of time, he exhaled softly, bent down, avoiding the thorns and vines, and slowly put the drawing board back into the hands of the puppet.
But in his mind, the sentence on the back of the drawing board seemed to be replaying over and over again.
The chosen clan...the ancient stars...the end of the third long night...
Duncan stood up with a thoughtful look on his expression, and some known information was gradually reorganized and connected in series in his thoughts.
The third long night is the most critical information. The Annihilation Cult's "Book of Blasphemy" which most likely hides the historical truth records that the Deep Sea Age began after the third long night passed safely, and the entire world was there.
It has survived to this day.
The only "chosen clans" that can correspond to the "Third Long Night" are the founders of the ancient kingdom of Crete, those mysterious "ancient sages."
Pick up the lost ancient stars...
Could it be that what this sentence describes...is actually a historical event in the ancient kingdom of Crete that created Vision 001-The Sun?
It's a pity... there is too little information. Just an unclear "message" can not play any role other than making people make specious associations.
Duncan shook his head, temporarily suppressing this regret, and then carefully looked around this vibrant but strangely atmospheric garden.
He didn't find anything more worth paying attention to - apart from a sleeping doll, there were only lush plants and clean and tidy paths in this huge garden.
Finally, he returned to the "Sleeping Doll".
After circling the dormant "Alice", he suddenly stopped behind him.
Keyhole.
But it was not the back that was blocked by clothes, but the exposed neck. Behind the sleeping doll's neck, the familiar keyhole caught Duncan's attention.
He subconsciously approached and observed the small keyhole.
The doll in the garden indeed has a keyhole...but why is it not in the same position as Alice's? Does this positional distinction have any symbolic meaning?
Having come into contact with too many weird and evil things in this world, when Duncan thinks about problems now, he can't help but think of "symbolic meaning" and other directions for the first time. However, he quickly restrained these ideas that were destined to have no answers and hesitated.
He took out the brass key he was carrying.
After entering the Alice Mansion, this key appeared in my hand inexplicably...could it be used in this place?
This thought crossed Duncan's mind, and then he made up his mind, slowly brought the key close to the keyhole on the back of the sleeping doll's neck, and inserted it carefully.
There was a soft click, and the key successfully engaged something, and then it began to rotate on its own as before.
Familiar feelings instantly hit from all directions, light and shadow were replaced, senses were reshaped, weightlessness was followed by a down-to-earth touch - almost in the blink of an eye, Duncan's surroundings once again transformed into the familiar captain's quarters on the Lost Home.
The smooth and white back appeared in front of her eyes, and Alice was still sitting on the stool, waiting for the captain to wind up her clockwork.
Duncan was in a daze. He looked at the scene in front of him blankly for several seconds before he realized what was happening. Then a strange idea came to his mind——
"With such a good back, it would be a pity not to pull out a few cupping pots..."
Alice heard a whisper coming from behind, and turned her head carefully while grabbing her clothes: "Ah? Captain, what did you say?"
"No, it's nothing," Duncan suddenly woke up, coughed twice to cover up the embarrassment at this moment, and then took the key out of the keyhole, "It's over, you don't feel any discomfort, right?"
"Ah?" Alice was obviously startled for a moment, then turned her head in surprise while fumbling with the zipper on her back, "Isn't it just the beginning?"
When Duncan heard this, he paused slightly as he put away the keys.
He stayed in "Alice Mansion" for so long... only a moment passed in the real world?