Silence fell in the room.
This oppressive silence lasted for an unknown amount of time before Duncan suddenly broke the silence: "All living beings in the world are the descendants of the ancient gods - even the craziest Annihilation believers have probably never come up with such a deviant conclusion."
"It's an incredible thing to hear the word 'deviant' from your mouth," Leigh Nora looked into Duncan's eyes with a half-smile, "but this is indeed what I learned in this long nightmare. The ultimate truth - just like the scene you saw in the deep sea, the 'creation theory' spoken by the Annihilation Cultists is not false. Maybe they have a problem with their understanding, but at least one thing is fact... Our world, It was created by the ancient gods based on some grand 'blueprint', and in this creation process... His flesh and blood is the foundation of all things."
Duncan was silent for a few seconds before speaking slowly as if talking to himself: "Holy Lord Netherworld uses itself as raw material and shapes everything above the sea according to the 'blueprint' in the deep sea, and its 'flesh and blood' naturally exists. Within all things, and due to the occurrence of some kind of 'error', the 'flesh and blood' that had been shaped into all things in the world were activated, so the ancient gods awakened from the flesh and blood of mortals and the 'blueprint' of the city-state - this is Han The truth about the frost crisis?”
Leigh Nora nodded slowly, with a soft voice: "Copying and creation are the authority of Holy Lord Netherworld. He can evolve all things by himself, so he took on the work of creation. But obviously, after a long time, , the original blueprint has begun to have problems, or it may be that there is something wrong with the 'Creator' as the source, and He begins to wake up from His creation - constantly waking up in the form of 'wrong copies'. Frost is the first , but it won’t be the last one…”
Even with Duncan's determination, it was difficult to control the turmoil in his heart after hearing these horrifying words - the ancient gods will gradually awaken from all living beings and even all things in the world. If only viewed from a weird and terrifying perspective, this incident The horror of the matter even surpassed that of the black sun hanging high over the city-state of Puland!
"You knew all this when you were communicating with...'him' in your nightmare?" Duncan spent a lot of effort to control the crazy thoughts in his heart. While maintaining his calmness, he turned his head and looked at the darkness at the end of the room. Deep Sea said, 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," Leigh Nora said. "I know what you want to say - human beings are weak, even when faced with the truth. , our limited perception and thinking cannot completely and accurately understand what we see, so I am not sure that what I said is 100% 'real'. It is just that I learned from an ancient god through my own perception and understanding. The things I learned through fragmented 'thinking'... are for your reference only."
Duncan didn't respond for a while. He fell into long thought. After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly turned around: "What exactly is 'Alice'? Is she the body you use for resurrection?"
"Alice?" Le Nora frowned after hearing the name, and the confusion in her eyes didn't seem to be fake, "Who is Alice?"
"...It seems that you don't know this name. I thought her knowledge came from you." Duncan carefully confirmed the subtle changes in Le Nora's expression, and then withdrew his scrutinizing gaze, "She It is a doll with the exact same appearance as you. Many years ago, after you were...'executed', the Frostmen salvaged a container in the cold sea, and Alice fell asleep in that container—— She was once called Anomaly 099, but now she's part of my crew."
Leigh Nora listened quietly to Duncan's description, her expression gradually becoming thoughtful. After a long while, she suddenly showed a smile: "Ah, so that's how it is..."
"So?" Duncan noticed the word instantly, "What does it mean?"
"I have been dreaming, all kinds of dreams, like floating on a sea covered with thick fog. Most of the time, I am wrapped in coldness and darkness, and I fall asleep with the fragmented murmurs, which are even difficult to distinguish. Is the self in the dream a human soul, or a copy of an ancient god wandering in the deep sea? But sometimes... dry land, shaking cabins, and some nervous...will appear in my dreams. Strangers whispering..."
As she spoke, she slowly raised her head and looked at Duncan with a smile.
"In recent times, the frequency of the second kind of dream has obviously increased. The strangers whispering in the dream have turned into many... strange but interesting objects. They are playing around with me, and there are... A trustworthy gaze is always watching at the edge of the dream... You care about the 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 at the "Frost Queen" in front of him seriously, and was not relaxed by the gentle smile of the other party at this moment. A little, "This out-of-control sea has 'replicated' many things, including sunken ships and sailors in distress, but the 'executed queen' is the most special. It is a doll with its own self... But it depends on you Attitude, you don’t know about this?”
Le Nora didn't seem to notice Duncan's serious and almost stern eyes. She just frowned slightly, as if she was thinking hard, and gradually revealed her eyes as if she was thinking of something, and then closed her eyes as if to feel it carefully. After a while, he opened his eyes again and looked at Duncan with a slightly strange expression: "That doll calls itself 'Alice', right?"
Duncan frowned: "Yes, what's the problem?"
"Then... what if I say that the doll is not actually a 'copy' of me?" Leigh Nora said seriously, "In other words, what if it is not a complete copy of me?"
"...What do you mean by this?"
"Is there a possibility..." Le Nora paused and seemed to be trying to be serious, but her expression was always a little awkward, "Alice's guillotine - the point is not Alice, but the guillotine..."
Duncan: "...?"
"Actually, I don't really want to recall these," Leigh Nora said, raising her hand to touch the back of her neck with a strange expression, "Did you know that when the rebels executed me, they used a kind of quilt? The instrument of torture called 'Alice's Guillotine'..."
Finally, a light flashed in Duncan's mind, and he understood what the "Frost Queen" wanted to say.
But he felt he might as well not understand.
"What you mean is that you suspect that 'Alice' was actually copied from the 'guillotine' in this out-of-control sea, not from you..."
Duncan said subconsciously, but stopped involuntarily mid-sentence, and said to himself in confusion: "But that's not right, she looks exactly like you..."
"Wrong copy, Mr. Captain," Leigh Nora obviously already had the answer. She shook her head and turned to look at the dark sea at the end of the room. "A incomplete and wrong copy of the ancient god caused this out-of-control sea. , so in this out-of-control sea, erroneous copying is the norm - when a beheaded queen and a guillotine sank into the deep sea at the same time, and because of my advance arrangements, they accurately fell into the 'perception' area where the ancient god touched his wrist, Perhaps it triggered some...wonderful changes, mixing and recombination, copying and completion, plus a little...processing in the mysterious realm."
She stopped when she said this, looking at the Ancient God Tentacle standing in the darkness with complex eyes.
"Obviously, He couldn't tell..."
Silence fell in the room again.
But the silence this time was completely different from before.
After the uncomfortable silence lasted for several minutes, Duncan finally broke the silence with a sigh: "So, in a sense, He has raised a placenta..."
Leigh Nora opened her mouth, and after a few seconds of silence, she said: "An unprecedented but appropriate metaphor, you are worthy of it..."
Duncan sighed helplessly, what else could he say? In this dark and boundless deep sea, the direction of development of things has completely exceeded everyone's expectations. The incomprehensible and indescribable nature of the ancient gods is reflected in every aspect. To use a less appropriate metaphor - between Bao Da and Bao Xiao, The ancient god chose to preserve the placenta...
But at least he figured out one thing -
Why does that silly doll think its name is "Alice"?
Because she really is Alice Guillotine.
Since coming to this world, Duncan has seen countless evil things, but even among those extremely evil things, this incident is definitely the most evil.
"Look around, at least there is one thing you don't need to worry about anymore," Le Nora noticed Duncan's bad mood and comforted her from the side, "Alice is not the body I used to resurrect - in fact, from the beginning , I have never thought about the so-called 'resurrection'."
Listening to the words of the Frost Queen, Duncan turned to look at her again, and had to work hard to adjust his mentality, forcefully put the lingering sense of disobedience behind his mind, and get the topic back on track: " So...what's going on with the key you mentioned at the beginning? What's going on with the keyhole behind Alice? These are 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 clockwork key made of brass, then it is indeed the one I left to the city-state consul, and the one I just mentioned to you. The necessary items to enter this room normally," Le Nora said calmly, then changed the subject, "But I am not the creator of that key, let alone its first holder."
Duncan was suddenly startled and his eyes changed slightly: "...You are not the first holder of the key? Then where did you get it?"
"It was a gift from a friend," Leigh Nora said frankly, "an old man with profound knowledge and a kind attitude."
