Chapter 12 The Alice Manor Mystery

With countless questions and guesses in his heart, Duncan carefully stowed the brass key. Alice waited obediently by his side, her eyes darting around like a child anticipating a secret.

"Do you feel anything different now?" Duncan asked, looking into Alice's eyes.

"Different?" Alice tilted her head, reaching back to touch her spine. After a moment, she shook her head. "I just felt a little itchy where the keyhole was, but it's not itchy anymore."

Duncan frowned. "Nothing else? Just that?"

"Nothing else," Alice replied honestly, then looked curious. "Should there be something? You look so serious. Did you figure out something about the key?"

Duncan frowned deeply. After a moment's hesitation, he gathered his thoughts and words. He sat down on the bed opposite the doll and said seriously, "You may only feel like a moment has passed, but I was in a strange place for a long time—an old, enormous mansion called 'Alice Manor.'"

The doll's eyes widened as she listened to the captain's story with surprise and confusion.

Duncan didn't hide his experiences in Alice Manor. He told the doll everything he had seen and heard there, and then mentioned his experiences in the deep sea, including his meeting with the Frost Queen, Lei Nuo La.

Of course, he knew Alice might only understand part of it, and even that part she might only vaguely comprehend, remembering very little. But he still chose to tell her everything.

Because she deserved to know—he couldn't just assume she wouldn't understand and hide things from her. That was the least he could do to respect her.

Alice listened in a daze until Duncan finished speaking. After a dozen seconds, the doll finally came to her senses.

"Wow," she said, scratching her hair, her face showing confusion and a hint of apology. "I don't really understand. My head feels dizzy... I'm sorry, Captain. You went to so much trouble to help me understand these things, but I guess I'm a little slow."

"No, you're not slow. It's just that these things are too complicated," Duncan said, knowing she would react this way. He smiled and shook his head. "Even I feel like these things are full of mysteries—too many clues, too scattered. We're clearly a long way from unraveling the final enigma."

Alice nodded, half understanding. She thought seriously for a moment, then suddenly looked curious. "Are there many people in that mansion? And do they all not have heads?"

"I only saw one person who claimed to be the butler, but according to him, there are indeed many people in the mansion, but they're all hiding," Duncan said, recalling. "Also, from what I observed, they should all be headless."

Alice frowned, muttering to herself as she tried to think. "Could it be related to my 'new head' ability?"

"It's possible. It's not impossible that some of the servants are the souls of people you once beheaded," Duncan thought, as someone who understood the "Alice Guillotine". However, he then changed the subject. "But according to some of the information the butler revealed, a large number of drifting souls are also gathering in the mansion. They're like some kind of exiles, receiving the mansion's protection. This part of the servants doesn't seem like they were beheaded." He paused, thought for a moment, and continued, "Perhaps your guillotine ability is what makes the souls gathering in the mansion appear headless, regardless of their specific source."

"Oh," Alice said, seeming to understand. Then, as if thinking of something, she asked, "What about the 'Frost Queen'? Did she really just disappear like that?"

"The room has indeed vanished," Duncan nodded. "It seems that, as she said, once the ancient god's tentacles that acted as a connection point were destroyed, the drifting land would lose its restraints, like a ship untied from its moorings..." He suddenly stopped, his expression thoughtful.

"Captain?" Alice looked at Duncan, puzzled. "Why did you suddenly stop talking?" She asked twice before Duncan looked up from his thoughts, his tone a little grave. "I was wondering if Lei Nuo La's 'drifting land' refers to her room, or the entire Alice Manor."

"Ah?" Alice didn't understand. "Is there a difference?"

"If the drifting land refers to the entire Alice Manor, then when the connection point was burned, the entire mansion should have disappeared, not just a single room on the second floor. If the drifting land only refers to the room where she sleeps, then what is the relationship between that room and the entire mansion? Or rather, isn't the 'connection' between her room and the entire mansion a connection point?" Duncan paused, then pointed at Alice. "More importantly, I entered Alice Manor after turning the clockwork key on you. Clearly, the connection between that mansion and you is the strongest. You might even be, in some way, of one mind. If a drifting land needs a connection point to remain stable, then you are clearly the most stable connection point."

Alice blinked, listening carefully, trying to understand—but failing. However, her strength had always been her sincerity. "What are you talking about?"

"The room where the Frost Lady sleeps was torn away from the main body of the mansion, with obvious signs of damage at the edges. I didn't pay much attention to it at first, but I suddenly realized that Lei Nuo La might have been hiding something from me."

"Drifting land," in theory, should refer to the entire Alice Manor. And that mansion is tightly connected to you. From what I observed, it doesn't have a 'drifting land' tendency, so Lei Nuo La very likely took advantage of the opportunity when I burned the ancient god's tentacles, taking advantage of the weakening of a certain connection, to forcibly separate her room from the main body of the mansion.

Alice continued to try to understand. This time, she finally understood most of it. "Do you mean the Frost Queen took the opportunity when you set the fire to run away with her room? Like the mutineers when there is heavy fog, steal the lifeboats on the ship?"

Duncan was stunned and looked at the doll in surprise. "That analogy is a little bit right. How did you think of that?"

"Mr. Goat Head told me a lot of stories about it. Like when the mutiny sailors took advantage of the heavy fog to steal the lifeboats on the ship. Or steal the ship's wine barrels, steal the ship's cheese, steal the ship's salted fish or something. The Captain, who is wise and martial, will cross the boundless sea to take the stolen salted fish back. Are you going to catch the Frost Queen who stole the room?"

Duncan listened, stunned. After Alice finished speaking, he grimaced strangely. "First of all, let's not talk about why the mutinous crew wants to steal the salted fish, and why I have to cross the entire boundless sea to grab a salted fish—where am I going to find her? Besides, the Frost Queen escaped from the room, you should catch her, because she stole your room - you are the mistress of Alice Manor."

"That's right." Alice thought for a while, simply agreeing with this reason, and then shook her head. "Then I won't catch her, after all, that room was originally hers, but why would she do this? Didn't you just say that once the drifting place loses its restraints, it will fly around randomly, and it may even fall into the subspace, just like being exiled - isn't this a terrible thing?"

Duncan pondered, slowly opening in thought: "What is it?" He recalled Lei Nuo La, recalling that the Frost Queen who seemed to have been wearing shackles since birth, was crowned in shackles, and was overthrown in mirror shackles, even if she fell into the deep sea, she was always imprisoned in nightmares.

She said she had been sleeping in a cage, even though the cage was later removed from the railings, and now she broke out, carrying her cage with her.

"Probably 'freedom'." Duncan said softly.

But just for the sake of "freedom"?

The dial pointer on the console was shaking rapidly, and the swaying near the surface was becoming more and more obvious. Through the thick glass porthole, the light from above could already be faintly seen in the deep and boundless "sea water".

Sunlight appeared in the water - indicating that the submersible was rapidly approaching the surface.

However, the gradually filling brilliance could not completely dispel the oppressive impression left by the deep sea - as if in the vast and boundless "darkness" beneath the submersible, something was still rising, dissipating, reaching out its invisible tentacles, opening its arms upward, and retaining the uninvited guests who had broken into the deep sea.

The things Duncan was telling himself on the way up were still swirling in his mind—horrific, grotesque, bizarre, and subversive.

Whether it was the soul of the Frost Queen who had coexisted with the ancient god in the deep sea for fifty years, or the terrifying possibilities contained in all things in the world, it was enough to make a steadfast and devout person feel bone-chilling cold in the sunlight.

All things in the world are the offspring of ancient gods, and the flesh and blood of ancient gods exist in all living beings, and are gradually awakening. Even in the most blasphemous and heretical filthy classics, no one dared to record such remarks.

Those craziest annihilation cultists only dabbled in the theory of "the Profound Holy Master created the world."

The sunlight from the sea surface became brighter and brighter, but the already dead body could not feel any warmth.

Agatha clasped her hands in front of her chest and silently called Bartok's name, wanting to pray to her god, but she couldn't calm down no matter what.