The world in Alice's eyes seemed to be completely different from that of ordinary people from the very beginning - but no one had noticed this until today.
Even Alice herself didn't realize it.
Duncan learned from Vanna about the battle that took place in the alley and Alice's performance in the battle - from her sensing the hidden enemy through the "floating line" to her
The Annihilation Cultist who tried to escape was turned into a shattered porcelain doll. The whole process surprised Duncan.
Now, all eyes were on Miss Doll who was confused from beginning to end.
"... So you guys can't see the 'line, huh..." Alice finally realized what was going on, no matter how slow she was. She scratched her head with an innocent look on her face, "I thought this was common sense, after all, everyone has that thing floating on their heads and limbs..."
Duncan stared into Alice's eyes with a serious expression: "Let me confirm again, everyone has a 'line,' right?"
"Yes, everyone—but not you, Captain," Alice answered immediately.
Duncan thought for a moment and asked again:
"... Is it my original body that doesn't have it, or is it my current body that doesn't have it?"
"Neither does your current body," Alice answered honestly, and then added, "Neither did your body in Plunder..."
Duncan nodded slightly, his thoughts racing in his mind, with all kinds of guesses coming one after another.
Since the visitor left, the cemetery has returned to peace, and no unusual incidents have disturbed the dead. However, neither the cemetery guards nor the guards sent by the church have relaxed since then.
“…Where are they hiding
There was a strong snowstorm in the second half of the night. The whistling wind and the neatly falling snowflakes seemed to foreshadow something.
"Perhaps... the coffin and the puppet have represented different powers from the beginning. The former is a symbol of death, so it has the ability to simply and brutally decapitate, while the latter is the manipulation of human-shaped objects, which fits the positioning of the puppet," Duncan said slowly, "It's just that Alice was the 'content' of the coffin before, so the 'combination' of 099 completely showed the characteristics of the coffin, and now... the puppet has become the 'main part' of the normal 099, and your original ability has been released."
"What happened tonight shows one thing. The 'replicas' in the city were indeed the work of these Annihilation Cultists. Moreover, these cultists are not only acting in secret, but are also secretly paying attention to the replicas they released into the city - this kind of observation is very much like collecting some kind of data."
The old guard tightened his coat.
At the same time, his thoughts did not calm down.
The doll lady finally laughed, and swayed around with an extremely happy look on her face. "That's great! I saw everyone suddenly become so serious, and I thought things were..."
Duncan was more or less emotional. He had spent quite a while with Alice, and because of that, he got used to the puppet's noise on the ship, and her harmless appearance running around in front of him all day long. He almost forgot that before becoming the cook on the Lost Homeland, the puppet was first the abnormal number 099, a strange creature that emerged from the cold deep sea after the death of the Frost Queen.
Alice obviously didn't have so many thoughts. She just kept turning her eyes around as Vanna and the others talked, looking at this and that. After a long time, she barely understood the current situation. She looked a little uneasy and cast a cautious look: "... Captain, did I do something bad?"
Duncan simply reached out and gently touched Alice's hair.
In the second half of the night, a "quick message" was delivered to the guard's cabin through a high-pressure steam pipe. The quick message came from the City Hall, and the content was very strange - it required all the extraordinary guards in the city to be vigilant, but it did not specify what they should be vigilant about.
Alice seemed a little confused.
The wind picked up, and the second snow began to fall.
Snow flakes fluttered down in the night, and the streets in the distance became hazy as if hidden in the fog.
Everything in sight was covered with thick snow. The streets in the distance had blurred outlines and boundaries under the thick snow, becoming a vast expanse of white.
"It doesn't matter. I will take action, but you must first know where they are hiding," Vanna said casually. "Killing a few believers or priests, or even destroying a few terrorism sites is meaningless. Pland's experience proves this."
Although he knew Alice's current abilities and roughly deduced that "the doll and the coffin each have their own symbols", this did not mean that all the mysteries were solved. On the contrary, it only made him more aware that the doll in front of him was hiding more secrets.
"Yes, her original name was Puppet Coffin," Vanna nodded immediately, and guessed what Duncan meant, "Are you trying to say that Alice's power is also related to this change?"
It really lives up to the number within 100 digits—although it is still very weak when placed on the Lost Hometown.
For some reason, he suddenly remembered a sentence said by the Annihilation Cultist who appeared after the explosion of the Petrel:
White mist was emitting from the steam pipes above the blocks. Heat from the steam core was being transported to key nodes everywhere to melt ice and snow in pipeline hubs and power stations. Large snowplows were also brought out. These huge machines, emitting billowing black smoke and making low roars, rumbled through the streets, clearing important traffic lines.
The snow fell almost all night until the sun rose. The afterglow of the Creation of the World dissipated in the sunlight, and the golden-red glow spread along the streets into the city. The falling snowflakes gradually stopped.
But he was completely different from any other replica that had appeared so far—and there had to be a reason for that.
"No, it's a good thing," Duncan immediately shook his head, "You are very strong and you have protected yourself well. The cultists are definitely not innocent."
Duncan looked at the puppet quietly.
After a long while, a smile suddenly appeared on his face: "It's a good thing."
In a sense, she and these weird and twisted "replicas" are actually of the same origin.
"Based on my experience, this is a preparation for a bigger operation. The replica in the city is just the beginning. The erosion on Dagger Island is also likely to be just another bigger testing ground," Duncan nodded. "They also tried to transport the pollution on Dagger Island to Frost Island. Although this action was stopped, it shows that their operation has reached a critical stage."
All along, I thought that the powerful power of Anomaly 099 was gone.
After Alice's wooden box was "transformed", she was just a weird cursed doll that could move and think, and she was also incompetent, cowardly, and stupid. But I didn't expect that she would show such a weird ability today. How to say it...
She was shaking so much that her head almost fell off.
As he spoke, he raised his eyes, and through the gaps in the bandages, his gaze passed through the dirty window next to him and looked at the densely packed spires and eaves of Frost.
"So it's a good thing," Vanna said with a smile. "Having power is never a bad thing - losing control is the problem. Now you can help me even more, Alice."
"This damn weather..."
In Alice's eyes, everyone in the world has a "thread" floating on them, except herself, and neither does the body she occupies... So, this so-called "thread" is not connected to the flesh and blood, but symbolizes something more essential? Is it the soul? Or personality
"You can control it, right?"
Duncan asked.
The heavy and solemn iron gate of the cemetery creaked open. The old guard in a thick coat hung the hook used to fix the gate on the fence and glanced at the streets in the direction of the city.
Duncan was thinking, his eyes never leaving Alice's face. Finally, even this slow-witted puppet felt awkward. She subconsciously twisted her neck and said, "Captain... you keep staring at me... I'm nervous."
"This..." Ellie
Si thought about it again, raised her hand and gestured, "Is my ability a bad thing?"
"The coffin and the puppet each have different powers..." Morris, who had remained silent, muttered, "This is a very likely speculation."
"Oh, sorry," Duncan reacted immediately and blinked to make his sight less stressful. Then he turned his head and looked at Vanna beside him thoughtfully. "As far as I know, Alice's current official name has been changed to Abnormal 099-Doll, right?"
Agatha seemed to have received some intelligence shortly afterwards, and she sent a team to Fireplace Street, but the guards have not returned yet.
"Yes," Alice waved her hand. "It's very simple."
When I'm close enough, I can easily "grab" the strings on other people and use them to bind or attack them. What's with this ability? Is it an ability that I never showed from the beginning as Anomaly 099, or is it a mutation that occurred after she became a member of the Lost Homeland
Duncan shook his head, temporarily suppressed the chaotic thoughts in his mind, and looked up at Vanna.