Chapter 111 Silence

The room fell silent.

This oppressive silence lasted for an unknown amount of time before Duncan suddenly broke it. "All living beings are the descendants of the ancient gods—even the most fanatical Obliteration cultists probably never dared to utter such a heretical conclusion."

"Hearing the words 'heretical' from your mouth is truly an incredible thing," Rei Nora said, watching Duncan's eyes with a smile that wasn't quite a smile. "However, this is indeed the ultimate truth I've learned in this long nightmare—just like the scene you saw in the deep sea, the 'creation theory' of the Obliteration cultists is not false. Perhaps they have problems with their understanding, but at least one thing is true… Our world was created by the ancient god based on some grand 'blueprint,' and in this creation process… His flesh and blood are the foundation of all things."

Duncan was silent for a few seconds before slowly opening his mouth as if talking to himself. "The Sacred Lord of the Abyss used himself as raw material to shape all things above the sea according to the 'blueprint' in the deep sea, and his 'flesh and blood' naturally exists within all things. And due to the appearance of some kind of 'error,' the 'flesh and blood' that has been shaped into all things has been activated, and thus the ancient god awakens from the flesh and blood of mortals and the 'blueprint' of the city-states—is this the truth of the Frost crisis?"

Rei Nora slowly nodded, her voice soft. "Duplication and creation are the Sacred Lord of the Abyss’s authority. He can evolve all things from himself, so he undertook the work of Genesis. But obviously, after a long period of time, the original blueprint has begun to have problems, or perhaps there is a problem with the 'creator' at the source. He then began to awaken from his creation—constantly awakening in the form of 'erroneous copies.' Frost was the first, but it won't be the last…"

Even with Duncan's composure, it was difficult to control the stormy waves in his heart after hearing these horrific words—the ancient gods will gradually awaken from the living beings and even all things of the world. From the perspective of eerie horror alone, the terrifying degree of this matter even exceeds the black sun hanging high above the city-state of Prand!

"These are all things you learned in the nightmare when communicating with… 'Him'?" Duncan took a lot of effort to control the thoughts frantically surging in his heart, while maintaining his composure, he turned his head and looked at the dark deep sea at the end of the room, looking at the huge "pillar" standing quietly in the darkness.

"As an incomplete copy, He can't tell me anything, but I can learn a lot from Him," Rei Nora said. "I know what you want to say—human wisdom is weak. Even when facing the truth, our limited perception and thinking cannot completely and accurately understand what we see, so I dare not say that what I say is 100% 'true.' It's just something I learned through my own perception and understanding, from the fragmented 'thinking' of an ancient god… just for your reference."

Duncan didn't respond for a while. He fell into a long period of thought. After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly turned back. "What exactly is 'Alice'? Is she a body you use for resurrection?"

"Alice?" Rei Nora frowned after hearing this name, and the doubt in her eyes didn't seem fake. "Who is Alice?"

"... It seems you don't know this name. I thought her cognition came from you," Duncan carefully confirmed the subtle changes in Rei Nora's expression before withdrawing his scrutinizing gaze. "She is a doll with the exact same appearance as you. Many years ago, after you were… 'executed,' the Frost people salvaged a container from the Frigid Sea. Alice was sleeping in that container—she was once called Anomaly 099, but now she is my crew member."

Rei Nora listened quietly to Duncan's description, her expression gradually thoughtful. After a long while, she suddenly revealed a smile: "Ah, so that's how it is…"

"So?" Duncan instantly noticed this word. "What does this mean?"

"I have been dreaming, all kinds of dreams, like floating up and down on a sea covered with thick fog. Most of the time, I am wrapped in coldness and darkness, falling asleep with those fragmented murmurs, and it is even difficult to distinguish whether I am a human soul or a chaotic copy of an ancient god in the deep sea. But sometimes… I dream of dry land, swaying cabins, and some nervous, whispering strangers…"

As she spoke, she slowly raised her head, looking at Duncan with a smile.

"And recently, the frequency of the second type of dream has obviously been increasing. The whispering strangers in those dreams have turned into many… strange but interesting items. They play around with me, and there is a trustworthy gaze that always watches from the border of the dream… You care a lot about that doll who calls herself 'Alice,' don't you?"

"There are not many people she can trust in this world, and there are not many people I trust in this world," Duncan looked very seriously at the "Frost Queen" in front of him, and did not relax slightly because of the other party's gentle smile. "This out-of-control sea area has 'copied' many things, including sunken ships and sailors who died in distress, but the 'executed queen' is the most special. She is a doll with self-awareness… but looking at your attitude, you are not aware of this?"

Rei Nora didn't seem to notice Duncan's serious, almost stern eyes. She just frowned slightly, as if trying to think hard, gradually revealing a look as if she had thought of something, and then closed her eyes as if carefully feeling it, before reopening her eyes and looking at Duncan with a slightly strange expression: "That doll calls herself 'Alice,' right?"

Duncan frowned: "That's right, what's the problem?"

"Then… what if I said that doll is not actually a 'copy' of me?" Rei Nora said very seriously. "Or rather, not entirely a copy of me?"

"... What do you mean by that?"

"Is there a possibility…" Rei Nora paused, seeming to try hard to be serious, but there was always a bit of awkwardness in her expression. "Alice Guillotine—the focus is not on Alice, it's on the guillotine…"

Duncan: "...?"

"Actually, I don't really want to recall these," Rei Nora said, touching the back of her neck with a somewhat strange expression. "Do you know that when the rebels executed me, they used a type of execution device called the 'Alice Guillotine'…"

A light finally flashed in Duncan's mind, and he understood what the "Frost Queen" wanted to say.

But he felt that he would rather not understand.

"You mean, you suspect that 'Alice' was actually copied by this out-of-control sea area from that 'guillotine,' rather than from you…"

Duncan said subconsciously, but stopped involuntarily halfway through, muttering to himself in confusion: "But that's not right, she looks exactly like you…"

"Erroneous copying, Captain," Rei Nora obviously already had the answer. She shook her head and turned to look at the dark deep sea at the end of the room. "A defective, erroneously copied ancient god caused this out-of-control sea area, so in this out-of-control sea area, erroneous copying is the norm—when a beheaded queen and a guillotine sink into the deep sea at the same time, and accurately fall into the 'perception' area of the ancient god's tentacles due to my prior arrangements, perhaps it will trigger some… wonderful changes, mixing and recombination, copying and completion, plus a little bit of… processing in the mysterious field."

She stopped here, looking at the ancient god's tentacles standing in the darkness with a complicated look.

"Obviously, He can't tell the difference…"

The room fell silent again.

But this time the silence was completely different from before.

After this uncomfortable silence lasted for several minutes, Duncan finally broke the silence with a sigh: "So, in a sense, He raised a placenta…"

Rei Nora opened her mouth, and after a few seconds of sluggishness, she uttered a sentence: "An unprecedented but appropriate metaphor, as expected of you…"

Duncan sighed helplessly. What else could he say? In this dark and boundless deep sea, the direction of events has completely exceeded everyone's expectations. The ancient god's incomprehensibility and indescribability are truly reflected in all aspects. To use a not-so-appropriate metaphor—between keeping the adult and keeping the child, the ancient god chose to keep the placenta…

But at least he understood one thing—

Why does that silly doll think her name is "Alice"?

Because she really is the Alice Guillotine.

Since coming to this world, Duncan has seen countless strange things, but even among those extremely strange things, this one is definitely the strangest.

"Look on the bright side, at least there is one thing you don't need to worry about," Rei Nora noticed that Duncan was in a bad mood, and comforted him from the side. "Alice is not a body for my resurrection—in fact, from the beginning, I never thought about the so-called 'resurrection.'"

Listening to the Frost Queen's words, Duncan turned his head and glanced at her again, and had to try to adjust his mentality, forcibly throwing the lingering sense of disharmony out of his mind, and returning the topic to the right track: "Then… what about the key you mentioned at the beginning? And what about the keyhole on Alice's back? These were not your arrangements?"

"I don't know what the 'keyhole' you are talking about is, but if the key you are talking about is a brass wind-up key, then it was indeed left by me to the city-state's chief administrator, and it is also the necessary item I just mentioned to you when entering this room normally," Rei Nora said frankly, and then changed the subject. "But I am not the creator of that key, nor am I its first holder."

Duncan was immediately stunned, his eyes changed slightly: "... You are not the first holder of the key? Then where did you get it from?"

"It was a gift from a friend," Rei Nora said frankly, "An knowledgeable and amiable old man."