“Already, so close to the answer.”

Li Ang looked around, stepping over the writing covering the floor, strolling through the laboratory. He stood between two workstations, turned around, and looked at Alice standing in the doorway, “What cycle is this?”

“The five thousand five hundred and thirty-second time,”

Alice, like a doll, placed her hands in front of her black dress and softly replied, “Father, this is the five thousand five hundred and thirty-second time we have repeated this conversation.”

“...”

Li Ang said, “Can you retain all the memories?”

Alice calmly nodded, “I am a doll created by Father.

I don’t feel hunger, I don’t feel thirst.

As long as there is energy and repair tools, I can continue to exist.

Although I have the ability to learn, I am not like real humans.

I can break through myself and create at will.

The only thing I can do to help Father

is probably to use the memory storage device to store information from all the cycles.”

“...Thank you for your hard work.”

“It’s nothing.”

Alice shook her head, “Protecting this family is the meaning of my existence.

So, Father, are you going to start the experiment?”

“No need, not anymore.”

Li Ang released his palm, letting all the letters flutter and fall to the ground.

He strode out of the laboratory, the transparent words in his floating vision were clear and unmistakable.

【Phase Three Mission Objective Completed】

【Player Restriction Removed】

【Phase Four Mission Objective: End the Cycle】

Alice stepped aside to let Li Ang pass, “What are you going to do?”

Li Ang asked back, “What time is it now?”

Alice replied, “March 4th, 10:25 PM.”

Li Ang walked out of the stone wall and asked, “Where was Xili at this time two days before the normal timeline?”

“In her bedroom, which is above room E.”

Alice seemed to realize something, followed behind Li Ang, and added, “I was sleeping with her at the time, comforting her that there were no monsters in the closet.”

Li Ang used the key to open room E, pushed the door in, and stood below the center of the ceiling of room E, “How do I open this trapdoor in the ceiling?”

Alice hesitated for a moment, “Use the key to room E, get close, and press.”

“Hmm... If the normal 'me' lost my memory and couldn’t use alchemy, I wouldn’t be able to open this door.”

Li Ang shook his head and casually threw down a few plant seeds.

The seeds took root in the floor tiles and grew rapidly upon exposure to the wind, instantly creating a staircase leading directly to the ceiling beneath his feet.

He climbed up the steps and pressed the key onto the square metal plate in the center of the ceiling.

Buzz—

The metal plate vibrated slightly and retreated to one side,

revealing a dark space from which a slanting metal ladder extended down.

Alice looked up at Li Ang, “What are you going to do?”

“End all this.”

Li Ang reached out and grabbed the metal ladder, climbing into the darkness.

————

Bang.

The closet door opened from the inside.

The doll girl, lying in bed and reading a fairy tale book to her younger sister in the orange light, immediately dropped the book and jumped out of bed.

Even though she was still wearing pajamas, countless delicate mechanical arms extended from her limbs and back, each mechanical arm equipped with blades, daggers, and miniature gun barrels.

“It’s me.”

Li Ang, who stepped out of the closet, smiled at Xili, who was frightened and uneasy on the bed, and Alice, who was wary, “Sorry, did I scare you?”

He walked to the bed, and through his gloves, gently touched Xili’s soft hair, who was cowering in the quilt, only her head showing.

“Long time no see.”

He smiled at Xili, countless micro-plant fibers penetrated his gloves, carrying a very small amount of paralyzing toxin, pierced into the back of Xili’s neck, replaced her blood, and healed her illness.

“Father...”

Alice somewhat confusedly put away all her mechanical arms, stood on the bed like an ordinary girl, “Why did you come out of the closet, and wearing this outfit...”

“Because this is Heilan Home, a man’s closet. Isn’t it normal for a man to be hiding?”

Li Ang said casually, retracted the plant fibers, raised his hand, and stood up as if nothing had happened, “Okay, that should do it, right?”

He smiled at his two daughters, turned and walked into the closet, said “Good night,” and then, under the daughters’ confused gazes, closed the closet door.

Following the secret passage, he slid down the ladder and returned to the room.

“Xili’s illness, I have already cured,”

Li Ang said calmly, “The button to end the cycle, is it at the end of the tunnel?

Let’s go and end all this.”

Alice was silent for a moment, “How did you know...”

“Because the answer is written in your heart.”

Li Ang smiled, turned off the 【Mystic Seeker】effect, walked out of room E, and together with Alice, came to the end of the tunnel.

Behind the position where Alice was standing, there was a red button hidden under a transparent plastic cover.

Li Ang opened the plastic cover, leaned against the wall, and looked at Alice, “After pressing the button, what will happen to this world?

Will a pair of us appear on the surface,

or will it leave a space for us?”

“I don’t know,”

Alice shook her head, “However, no matter what decision you make, Father, I will stand with you.”

“Is that so...”

Li Ang nodded, “Then, let’s begin.”

He punched, heavily smashing the button.

————

The warehouse door behind the suburban villa was suddenly pushed open.

A middle-aged blond man wearing rubber clothing and smelling of burning,

and a girl wearing a black dress and an eye patch,

supported each other and staggered out of the warehouse.

It was noon, and the fierce sunlight shone on the middle-aged man’s gaunt face, making it almost impossible for him to open his eyes.

“Father, please hold on.”

His daughter said softly,

but he seemed not to hear, his legs weakened, and he leaned against the wall of the building next to the warehouse.

His eyes were blurred, and he kept murmuring, “Time... what’s the time now...”

“Morgan! Alice! Where the hell are you two?!”

An angry woman’s voice rang out in front,

The alchemist’s wife ran over quickly, constantly complaining, “I haven’t been able to find you since last night. Do you know how worried Xili and I were? I almost called Scotland Yard to help find you...”

The woman widened her eyes the moment she approached and saw her husband’s miserable state, shut her mouth, squatted down without thinking, reached out and held her husband’s face, using alchemy to relieve his chapped lips.

She raised her head, her anxious gaze wandering between her husband and eldest daughter, “You... what happened?”

“Just, went on a little trip.”

The alchemist named Morgan coughed twice and asked with difficulty, “Where’s Xili?”

“She’s upstairs,”

The alchemist’s wife paused for a moment, “Her illness... seems to be much better, did you do something? Hey, what are you laughing at?”

“It’s nothing...”

Morgan wiped away tears, looked up at the eaves and the blue sky, and tightly grasped his wife and daughter’s hands, “It’s nothing...”