Chapter 1 A Distant Uninhabited Sea

On the distant, boundless sea, Duncan sat at the desk in the captain's cabin, a slight frown creasing his brow.

He reached out and opened the hidden compartment under the desk, retrieving the brass key that Agatha had previously found and given to him. He held it in front of his eyes, examining it closely.

The antique-styled wind-up key exuded a cold metallic texture, reflecting the sunlight streaming in from the window in a radiant glow. On the key's handle, shaped like an infinity symbol, tiny decorative patterns caught his eye.

This wasn't the first time Duncan had examined this key, but this time, his feelings as he gazed at this "relic of the Queen" were completely different from before.

This might be Lei-Nuo La's "soul container"—this possibility made his gaze gradually turn complex.

The Frost Queen was a great person, and the secrets hidden within her aroused Duncan's attention even more. If there was an opportunity to establish communication between Duncan and Lei-Nuo La, that would certainly be a good thing—but all of this could not be at the expense of Alice.

Inside Frost City, Duncan, wearing a black coat, narrowed his eyes slightly. He seemed to retract his scattered thoughts for a moment, his gaze returning to Agatha and the hazy shadow "Agatha" beside her.

"Do you still remember your experiences in the city-state during your time as a 'forgery'?" he suddenly asked.

"Yes, I remember everything," the hazy shadow seemed to nod. "I also remember entering the deep mine and merging into that strange darkness afterward..."

"I already know this part of the information. Agatha... I mean, the 'original' Agatha has already reported this to me," Duncan said, a thoughtful expression on his face. "To be honest, your appearance... reminds me of someone."

"Someone?" Both Agathas spoke almost in unison.

"A soul shadow named 'Martha'," Duncan said slowly. "She is Lawrence's wife and also a member of my new fleet. For the past dozen years, her identity has been a 'forgery' wandering in the mirrored Frost."

The hazy phantom "Agatha" shifted slightly.

"For the past dozen years, this 'forgery' has been wandering in the mirror space, attracting and gathering a vast amount of thought and memory fragments, which has allowed her to grow into a massive composite, and 'Martha' is the core personality of this composite," Duncan continued, his gaze fixed on the hazy figure. "From the current situation, your situation is very similar to that of 'Martha.' The only difference is that you have not yet become a 'composite' like her—you are still in an early, pure stage. Of course, considering that the mirrored Frost has been destroyed, you will probably remain stable at this stage in the future."

"There's actually such a thing," said the original Agatha, her tone filled with disbelief. "I thought what happened to me was a special case..."

"It's not a special case, which is why it aroused my curiosity even more," Duncan said calmly, his gaze still fixed on the hazy figure. "When the mirrored Frost receded, all the 'forgeries' vanished like smoke, but now two personalities have remained. Does this mean that the power supporting the forgeries 'Martha' and 'Agatha' is not actually that mirrored city, but something else? The personalities and memories replicated from that sea area can stably exist in the real world, and Martha is currently even outside the Frost Sea. Does this simultaneously mean... that this power that sustains the forgery Agatha and the forgery Martha is something as vast and stable as the real world?"

The hall where the submersible was parked fell silent for a moment.

After an unknown amount of time, Agatha finally raised her head and quietly looked at her "shadow."

Duncan suddenly broke the silence, "Have you considered the future?"

"The future?" Agatha was taken aback, as if she had never considered this direction. "What do you mean..."

"A person cannot live forever as another person's shadow—a literal shadow," Duncan gazed at the hazy phantom. "You should consider the days ahead."

The hazy phantom fell silent. After an unknown amount of time, she spoke with a hint of hesitation, "But I am indeed her shadow."

"'A person' cannot live forever as another person's shadow, I'll emphasize that again," Duncan still gazed at her calmly. "You have your own personality, your own memories. Perhaps those memories contain more than twenty years that belong to someone else, but at least, the last few days of it belong to you. So what's next... Agatha?"

When Duncan said the name "Agatha," both figures subconsciously raised their heads at the same time.

Duncan's gaze swept over both of them, and then he sighed softly, "Think about it carefully. It's okay, we have plenty of time."

A knock on the door outside the captain's cabin interrupted Duncan's thoughts.

Temporarily withdrawing most of his attention from the Frost City-State's "avatar," he raised his head and looked at his bedroom door, "Come in."

The door opened, and Alice poked her head in, looking around before sneaking into the room like a thief, holding a plate of still-warm pastries in her hands. "I learned how to bake cookies!"

In a triumphant tone, she placed the pastries on the table in front of Duncan, then looked around, seemingly searching for Ai's figure.

"Ai is in Frost City," Duncan said casually, his eyes on the gothic doll in front of him.

This was the "inner room" of the captain's cabin, his bedroom—on this entire ship, the only ones who could enter this room so casually were Nina and Alice.

The first person... humanoid creature... he met after coming to this world.

He trusted her, although she wasn't very reliable. But Duncan knew that this doll lady's honesty and trust in him surpassed everything—although this almost extreme trust stemmed more from her simple mind. But in this cold and unfamiliar world, this initial and deepest trust still seemed precious.

Alice finally noticed Duncan's gaze. She turned her head in confusion, first checking her clothes, then touching her neck. "Why are you staring at me?"

"It's nothing," Duncan retracted his gaze, casually picking up a cookie from the plate and stuffing it into his mouth. "...The taste is okay."

Alice smiled happily.

Then, she noticed the brass key lying on the table.

"Ah, you're studying this key," Alice casually picked up the key, playing with it curiously, then fumbled behind her back. "Are you going to wind me up?"

"Don't touch it randomly," Duncan reached out and snatched the key back, his tone becoming particularly serious. "In the future, you can't touch this key without my permission."

Perhaps because she hadn't seen Duncan react so seriously in a long time, Alice was a little frightened. She quickly retracted her hand, a nervous and somewhat scared look appearing on her face, "I'm... I'm sorry..."

"Sorry, I scared you," Duncan realized this and immediately softened his tone. "You didn't do anything wrong, and I'm not criticizing you—it's just that this key... might be a little dangerous for you."

"Dangerous?" Alice blinked, seemingly unable to understand. She reached out and touched her back, feeling the keyhole through her clothes. "But Sherry and Nina told me... this key is supposed to be used to wind me up... Ah, Nina even bought a wind-up toy soldier in the city, and I played with it for a long time. The toy soldier's wind-up key is just like this..."

Duncan rubbed his forehead. Although he knew it might be difficult for Alice to understand, he still explained patiently, "This key isn't such a simple thing. It's a supernatural item, understand? Queen Lei-Nuo La left this behind, and I now suspect... this is her method of resurrection."

Alice stared fixedly into Duncan's eyes, and after a long time, she drawled, "Ah... ah?"

"Lei-Nuo La's memory and soul might be preserved in this key," Duncan wasn't surprised by Alice's reaction. He simply sighed softly, pressed the key onto the table, and looked at the doll in front of him. "And you look exactly like Lei-Nuo La."

After being stunned for a while, Alice finally gradually understood. She looked down at her body, then at the key pressed on the table by the captain. After a long time, she spoke, "So, if you wind me up, that Frost Queen might control my body?"

"I am indeed worried about this," Duncan nodded. He didn't hide his thoughts in front of the simple-minded doll. "Of course, this worry isn't that... reasonable. There are still many doubts."

"Doubts?"

"The most important one is that there is too much uncontrollability in this process," Duncan said. "You should know how you were discovered—the doll coffin drifted in the sea near Frost City and was salvaged by a ship that happened to pass by. And the key? The key was in the hands of the city-state's successive chief executives. They inherited it for half a century, but no one knew the connection between the key and you, this doll. If this is the resurrection method left by the Frost Queen, then this method relies too much on luck.

"The doll might not be with the key, and the person who gets the key might not know the connection between the key and the doll. Even if they knew, they might not turn this key—even Ti-Rui An didn't know about this, so who would wind you up? What's more... under the terrifying name of Anomaly 099, how many people would dare to approach the doll coffin casually?"

Alice listened to the captain's words, understanding the majority of them with great difficulty. Then, she asked curiously, "Then... what are the other doubts?"

"The other doubts..."

Duncan thought for a while. In his mind, he suddenly recalled the Frost Queen he had seen in the "illusion" while investigating Alice's "coffin" earlier, and the sentence the Frost Queen had left behind—

Please don't contaminate history.

The Frost Queen, who faced her fate with equanimity... would she really arrange a backup plan for herself to be resurrected decades later?