Chapter 11 The Lines

Duncan had indeed thrown a spark into that mirror-image Frost, but he felt it was far from enough.

He could clearly feel that this time, Frost's situation was different from Pland. The spark he had thrown didn't spread rapidly on "the other side of the mirror," and his perception of the spark was greatly weakened and interfered with. He guessed this might be because the worlds on "both sides of the mirror" naturally had barriers, or because the mirror image and the real world didn't have an accurate correspondence. Those misaligned parts were interfering with his judgment.

Regardless of the reason, he needed to find a way to strengthen his connection with the spark, and with the White Oak and Agatha.

During the conversation, Vanna suddenly had a thoughtful expression. "Speaking of the mirror image issue... are you sure you saw the Gatekeeper's figure in the glass reflection?"

"Of course I'm sure."

"That's a bit strange..." Vanna frowned. "If she's really trapped in that mirror world, how come the city-state hasn't heard a peep about it yet? Even if they're keeping the news under wraps to maintain stability after the Supreme Guardian's bizarre disappearance, at least the Cathedral and City Hall would take some other action..."

She paused, summarizing based on her experience, "Secret searches, localized curfews, changes in the frequency and distribution of guards' night patrols.

Even with a news blackout, these details can be observed. But Mr. Morris and I were active in the city-state for a long time today and didn't notice any changes."

Nina, who had been reading a book, suddenly looked up. "Maybe it's because the Gatekeeper just disappeared and the city-state hasn't reacted yet?"

"…If that were the case, then Frost would truly be beyond saving," Vanna shook her head earnestly. "But based on my observations over this period, although the city-state is facing some decline, other aspects aren't that bad. The Church and City Hall are at least functioning in an orderly manner."

"Perhaps we'll observe changes in the city-state's atmosphere tomorrow during the day," Duncan said casually. Just as he was about to continue speaking, he felt a heavy touch on his arm, interrupting him.

Shirley had slumped over, her head hitting his arm, and was snoring softly.

But the next second, before Duncan could react, he saw the girl jolt awake from her sleep, accidentally flinging Agou, who had been dozing at the foot of the sofa, into the air. "S-s-sorry... s-s-sorry..."

Shirley didn't manage to stammer out the "sorry" to the end before Duncan heard a loud "thump." Agou, who had been flung into the air, fell to the ground. The latter rolled over and sat up, his dog head buzzing. "What's going on? Is there a fight?"

Then he realized the atmosphere around him was a bit strange. He looked up and saw several pairs of eyes staring at him and Shirley strangely.

"There's no fight. Shirley fell asleep," Duncan sighed with a smile, looking at Shirley, who was still tense. "It's okay, go upstairs to sleep. Minors need to get enough sleep—Nina, stop reading and go to bed, too."

"Okay." Only then did Nina reluctantly put down the book she was halfway through, get up, and take the still-nervous Shirley's hand. The two of them walked towards the second floor hand in hand.

Duncan watched the two girls disappear on the stairs, then turned his gaze and nodded to Vanna. "Tomorrow, you and Morris go to the upper district and see if there are any changes in the atmosphere around the Cathedral. If possible, find out the City Hall's reaction. As things have developed to this point, the Frost City Hall's presence has been very low. I'm curious about what they're doing."

"Okay," Vanna nodded, then asked curiously, "What about you? What are your plans?"

"I'm going to the Second Waterway again, with Alice," Duncan said casually. "We're going to take a look at the corridor where the Crow had its accident—since we now suspect there's a 'mirror Frost,' and the Crow may have accidentally entered it, perhaps we can find some new clues in that corridor."

At this point, he suddenly realized, "Speaking of which, is Alice still cleaning up in the kitchen?"

"I think so," Morris said, getting up and looking back. "She has been in the kitchen for too long... I hope her head didn't fall off and get stuck somewhere."

"So troublesome..." Duncan sighed helplessly, then got up from the sofa and went to the kitchen.

As soon as he reached the kitchen, he saw the gothic doll standing by the sink—she hadn't lost her head as Morris had guessed, but was looking up at a strange angle, staring blankly at a corner of the ceiling.

Perhaps she was too engrossed, Alice didn't hear Duncan's footsteps. She just stared blankly in that empty direction, then reached out with the hand holding the kitchen knife and fiddled in the air. Then she changed direction and continued to fiddle in the air—as if trying to catch an invisible fly.

The gothic doll was standing in the kitchen with a blank expression, holding a kitchen knife and cutting the air. The scene was too strange, as if a health bar that could fill the screen would pop up on the doll's head in the next second, and a pipe organ-style BGM would sound around her. Seeing this, Duncan finally couldn't help but speak, "What are you doing?" "Wah!"

Alice was startled instantly, and subconsciously reached out to support her head—but she forgot that she was still holding a sharp knife. So the next second, there was a "poof" sound, and she stabbed herself in the forehead.

With a "crack" sound, her head was stabbed off by herself.

Despite seeing this doll's horrifying and unreliable appearance many times, Duncan was stunned at this moment. He quickly stepped forward to support Alice's swaying body, then saw the latter wave her arms frantically—the sharp kitchen knife was still in her hand, with her own head stabbed on the tip. After waving it several times, she belatedly realized what was happening, quickly hugged her head with her left hand, and used her right hand to pull the kitchen knife out of her forehead.

Then the doll groped and threw the kitchen knife aside, familiarly held her head and pressed it back onto her neck. With a "pop" sound, it was back in place.

"You startled me!" Alice turned her head, looking at Duncan with a bit of grievance, but soon her gaze was attracted by something on Duncan's arm. "...Captain, this knife looks familiar."

Duncan expressionlessly (as much as could be seen through the bandages) grabbed the handle of the kitchen knife on his arm and pulled it out, throwing it aside. "No kidding, you just stabbed me with it."

"...I'm sorry!" the doll exclaimed in alarm, and hurriedly stepped forward to check on the situation. "Are you okay? Do you need a bandage?"

"No need, I'm just a corpse anyway." Duncan's mouth twitched, but his gaze couldn't help but fall on Alice's forehead.

The doll had stabbed herself in the forehead earlier, leaving a huge wound, but at this moment, the wound was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye—there was no blood in the wound, only a smooth, jade-like cross-section, and after only a few breaths, it was restored to its original state.

Alice was a little awkward by Duncan's gaze and touched her face subconsciously. "Why are you staring at me..."

"...What material are you made of?" Duncan frowned, reaching out to touch the spot where Alice had been injured earlier. It felt similar to skin, but cold and lacking vitality. "You had a hole in your head just now, do you know that?"

Alice paused, reached out to touch her forehead, and replied blankly, "It's healed."

"Of course I know it's healed!"

"...I don't understand," Alice shook her head. "I don't know what material I'm made of... but it doesn't seem to be wood or ceramic..."

Duncan held back for two seconds and twitched his mouth. "I shouldn't have expected to get any answers from you—forget it, never mind. What were you doing just now? Why were you staring at the ceiling?"

"There were lines," Alice answered honestly. "Some lines suddenly appeared—but now they're suddenly gone."

Duncan's expression changed instantly. "Lines?!"

Alice could see special "lines," and these lines represented "people"!

"Yes," Alice nodded, looking serious. "I was also curious why the lines suddenly appeared. There's no one else here... but I remembered what you taught me, that I can't casually grab other people's 'lines,' so I was poking at them with the kitchen knife just now..."

Duncan didn't pay attention to what the doll was saying in the second half of her sentence. His attention was focused on the "lines" that Alice mentioned, which had suddenly appeared and then disappeared.

His gaze quickly swept across the kitchen, looking for anything that could establish a connection with the "mirror image."

The glass in the windows, the water in the sink, the blade of the kitchen knife—these seemed to be able to establish a connection with the mirror space, but none of them showed any abnormalities.

But Duncan believed Alice. She wouldn't lie.

At some moment just now, the mirror Frost had intersected with reality here—perhaps only a very, very slight and brief intersection, but enough for the doll to capture the lines that "drifted" over from there.