Seeing the figure sleeping quietly in the garden, Duncan instinctively called out the familiar name!
But he immediately stopped and recalled the scene when he saw the Frost Queen Lei Nora in the gorgeous bedroom not long ago. He couldn't have recognized the wrong person again, right? Duncan felt a little strange in his heart, and then he carefully came to the sleeping figure and bent down to observe carefully.
He noticed the spherical joints of the other person's hands and feet, as well as the "skin" that was obviously bloodless and pure white like porcelain. It was really Alice. Ken finally confirmed that the person sleeping here was indeed the Gothic doll he was familiar with. He was relieved, and then his attention was focused on the black thorns entangled around the other person. The thorny vines extended from the flowers and spread on the open space beside the doll, revealing a gorgeous and strange skirt.
The thorns wrapped around the puppet's hands, feet and torso, and bound her between the vines like a prison! Alice fell asleep in the "bed" made of flowers and thorns, and did not respond to Duncan's approach and call. Duncan carefully avoided the thorny vines and crisscrossing thorns, reached out his hand to gently touch the puppet's cheek, and called her name again: "Alice~ Can you hear me?"
A slightly cool touch came from the fingertips, but Alice did not respond. She just slept quietly like a real, lifeless doll. Duncan frowned slightly, and then he noticed something else! The sleeping "Alice" was holding something in her hands. It looked like a drawing board. The thorns were entangled in her arms, but the drawing board seemed to be able to be pulled out from the gap!
Duncan hesitated for a moment, stretched out his hand to grab the edge of the drawing board, and carefully pulled it out little by little! During this process, he also kept an eye on Alice's changes, observing what effect his action of pulling out the drawing board would have on her. The doll remained asleep!
Duncan breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the drawing board he had pulled out. A "painting" with bright colors and messy lines came into his eyes. Just like the strange "sky" above the garden, the child-like graffiti-like brushstrokes depicted an abstract picture on the drawing board! There was a vortex, a vortex made up of various colors, which occupied almost one-third of the entire picture.
There are many spots of light around the vortex, and the "author" of the painting uses many cross lines to represent them. Those are glowing stars, and in the center of the colorful vortex, you can see a rich red light.
Even though the graffiti was crude, Duncan seemed to still feel a strong sense of danger from the red. Duncan frowned. The red light in the vortex made him feel somewhat familiar for some reason. After thinking and recalling for a long time in his mind, he found the source of this familiar feeling. It was on the platform on the second floor of Alice Mansion. On the wall near the spiral staircase, there was an oil painting depicting a huge burning ship falling from the sky.
And in the sky behind the huge ship, there was a dark red glow that made people feel uneasy! Ken's expression became more and more serious! This was the 11th time it had appeared... In this strange "Alice Mansion", the dark red glow with a strong ominous symbol appeared again. What did this dark red glow represent
Is it a symbol of a kind of disaster that is constantly chasing and approaching? Or is it a true portrayal of a certain phenomenon when the end of the world comes? The headless butler repeatedly warned Duncan not to open the door of the mansion. What is outside the door? Is it this "dark red glowing body?" The dangerous thought briefly emerged in his mind, but was immediately suppressed by Duncan! He was indeed very curious about what was outside the door of Alice's mansion, but curiosity did not mean recklessness. Before obtaining more clues and confirming Alice's safety, he would try his best to avoid disrupting the "order" in this "mansion"!
His thoughts gradually calmed down. Duncan breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at the graffiti-style sky above the garden. Then he looked down at the graffiti-style drawing board in his hand. The doll was still sleeping quietly among the flowers beside him, as if embracing all the secrets and keeping silent about all the answers! Was the sky and the graffiti on the drawing board "created"? Was it this sleeping doll? Was it Alice
Duncan recalled the information he had obtained from Lenora, and suddenly felt that Alice might not be just a mixed and wrong replica of "Lenora" and "Guillotine" as the Frost Queen thought, or that the body of "Miss Doll" might indeed be obtained in this way, but her inner self obviously hides far greater secrets than that body! This magnificent and strange "Alice Mansion" and the doll sleeping quietly in the garden are her "inner self", and these secrets obviously far exceed those things that Lenora knows!
This is a very simple truth: if a copied file carries more information than the original file, then there is only one possibility: someone wrote something else into it during the process of "copying" this "file"!
Duncan's thoughts raced, and after pondering quietly for a long time, he sighed and prepared to put the drawing board back into the puppet's hands, returning things to their original state and preventing any changes. This was necessary caution!
But just as he turned the drawing board around and was about to put it back, some uneven marks on the back of the drawing board suddenly caught his attention! Duncan's eyes suddenly focused, and he quickly took the drawing board again, carefully observing the back part that he had ignored at first. The uneven marks were a line of text deeply engraved on the back of the drawing board, "The messenger brought news from afar. The chosen clan lifted up the lost ancient star and cast it into a crown of blessing. The third long night is over!"
Duncan's eyes fell on the line of simple and timeless words, and he maintained the same expression for a long time! After an unknown amount of time, he exhaled softly, bent down to avoid the thorns and vines, and slowly put the drawing board back into the puppet's hand! In his mind, the words on the back of the drawing board seemed to replay over and over again!
The chosen clan... The ancient stars... The end of the third night... Duncan stood up, his expression thoughtful, and some known information was gradually reorganized and connected in his thinking! The third long night is the most critical information. The "blasphemous book" of the Annihilation Cult, which is very likely to hide the truth of history, records that the Deep Sea Age began after the third long night passed safely, and the whole world has survived since then. The only "chosen clan" that can correspond to the "third long night" is the founders of the ancient Kingdom of Crete, those mysterious "upper sages"!
Picking up the lost ancient stars... Could it be that this sentence describes... the historical event of the ancient Kingdom of Crete creating the Vision 001 Sun
Unfortunately, there was too little information. A mere unclear "message" could not play any role except for causing specious associations. Duncan shook his head and temporarily put this regret behind his mind. Then he carefully checked around this lively but strange garden. He did not find anything more worthy of attention. In this huge garden, apart from a sleeping doll, there were only lush plants and clean and tidy paths. Finally, he returned to the "sleeping doll"!
After circling around the dormant "Alice", he suddenly stopped behind her. But it was not the back covered by clothes, but the exposed neck. Behind the neck of the sleeping doll, the familiar keyhole attracted Duncan's attention. He subconsciously moved closer and observed the small keyhole!
The doll in the garden did have a keyhole, but why was it not in the same position as Alice's? Does this positional distinction have any symbolic meaning? Having come into contact with so many weird things in this world, Duncan couldn't help but think of "symbolic meaning" when thinking about problems. However, he quickly restrained these thoughts that were destined to have no answers, and hesitantly took out the brass key he was carrying. After entering Alice's mansion, this key was inexplicably in his hand. Could it be used in this place
This thought flashed through Duncan's mind, and then he made up his mind and slowly moved the key closer to the keyhole behind the sleeping doll's neck and carefully inserted it in!
With a light click, the key successfully bit into something, and then it began to rotate on its own as before. Familiar feelings instantly came from all directions, light and shadow replaced, senses reshaped, and after the weightlessness, there was the touch of solid ground again. Almost in the blink of an eye, Duncan's surroundings turned into the familiar captain's bedroom on the Lost Homeland again!
A smooth and white back appeared before his eyes. Alice was still sitting on the round stool obediently, waiting for the captain to wind her up. Duncan was a little dazed looking at the scene in front of him. It took him several seconds to react. Then a strange idea popped up in his mind, "It would be a pity not to use a few cupping jars on such a good back.
Alice heard a small mumble from behind her, and she carefully turned her head to sleep while grabbing her clothes, "Ah? What did you say, Captain?"
No, nothing." Duncan suddenly came to his senses, coughed twice to cover up the embarrassment at the moment, and then took the key out of the keyhole.
"It's over. Are you feeling okay?"
"Ah?" Alice was obviously stunned for a moment, then turned her head in surprise while groping for the zipper on her back, "Isn't it just the beginning?" Duncan paused as he put away the key! He had been in "Alice Mansion" for so long, but only a moment had passed in the real world