Ted Lear was wrapped in a thick blanket and sitting in a small room at the research station. Someone handed him a cup of hot tea that was still a little hot. He held the cup and looked up to say thank you: "Thank you."
"You're welcome!" Alice responded seriously, and then began to look curiously at the "Secret Keeper" who had just been fished out of the sea. After a long while, she turned her head and said to Duncan beside her, "Captain, Mr. Ted doesn't seem to be in a good mood!"
"I fell into the sea - twice!" Ted looked up at Duncan standing beside him, and shivered subconsciously in the middle of his words - the physical coldness was not a problem for a saint, and his shivering was more like being immersed in the chill of fate, "The first time I fell out of the warp, and the second time I was thrown out by a pigeon!"
He shuddered again, turned his head and glared at the fat white pigeon that was pacing on the floor with its chest puffed out. The pigeon rubbed its beak on the floor, tilted its head, looked out the window with one eye, and looked at Ted with the other eye, and flapped its wings: "What are you looking at?"
"You must have offended Ai," Duncan's voice came, revealing a sense of calmness, "It usually doesn't throw passengers into the sea."
"It's impossible that you, a pigeon, are cruel by nature?" Ted stared, looking quite indignant. "It was mocking me when it threw me down, and everyone here heard it..."
"That's impossible. Ai Yi is a dove of peace." Duncan immediately waved his hand and pointed at Ai Yi who was walking around. "Look, it's white."
Ted was stunned when he heard this, and he couldn't keep up with Duncan's rhythm - he had never heard of the meaning of the peace dove...
But Duncan was already used to the situation where no one could pick up on his jokes. He just waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "I guess you didn't cooperate when Ai brought you here."
"...Okay, I admit it," Ted thought for a moment and sighed helplessly, "but this is not my fault - I don't know you, pigeon. Even though the flames look familiar, a skeletal bird suddenly flew out and swept me into a dark and strange space. My first reaction was of course to feel threatened, and resistance was inevitable..."
Lucrecia, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly said, "Then you never shot a pigeon, but were thrown into the sea by the pigeon."
Ted Lear: "… Can we please stop talking about pigeons?"
"That makes sense," Duncan nodded, and sat down on the chair next to Ted. "Then let's stop talking about pigeons. Next, let's discuss the subspace."
"Uh..." Ted muttered in his throat, with a very strange expression on his face, but perhaps the series of incredible experiences had greatly tempered his nerves. He soon exhaled calmly and looked up at his surroundings.
The academy staff stationed here left the room almost in a flash and closed the door - within a few seconds, only Duncan, Alice and Lucrecia were left here besides him.
"I have told Captain Lawrence all the experiences I can recall," Ted Riel breathed a sigh of relief after all the irrelevant people left, and said as he recalled, "The subspace has left a long chaotic shadow in my mind, and part of my memory has become blurred. I can only remember those unrelated fragments, such as the silent, huge and strange "things" I have witnessed. You should have known this part..."
"Yes, Lawrence reported the situation to me, but some things can only be explained in person," Duncan said casually, "For example, the specific forms of the things you witnessed... Lawrence's retelling is not as good as hearing you tell it in person..."
As he spoke, he casually pulled out a picture from the table next to him.
Those were some sketches that Duncan had drawn himself after receiving Lawrence's report and before Ted Riel was brought back by Eye.
Ted Riel took the paper handed to him by Duncan with curiosity, and his eyes widened slightly after seeing what was written on it.
There was nothing spooky or bizarre drawn on the paper—just the outlines of some doors and windows, some pillars with elegant and intricate lines, and some sinuous iron patterns.
However, the "style" and "feel" they presented were no less than seeing those terrifying and bizarre monsters in the warp again for Ted Lear.
He looked up hesitantly and saw Duncan looking calmly into his eyes.
"Is this the style?" Duncan asked softly.
Ted Lear opened his mouth, then lowered his head and stared at the series of partial structures depicted on the paper. After a long while, he spoke in a deep voice: "... Yes, it is a huge building in the dark, like a palace, or an overly complex and huge mansion. It hangs upside down above my head, and its spire reminds me of the gloomy black towers in the northern city-states. Its doors and windows are slender and tall, and the outside of each window is covered and blocked by dark matter like thorns..."
He paused, recalled and sorted out his memories, and then continued: "The entire building remained silent in the darkness, like a giant beast that had been dead for many years, but at certain moments... I saw dim flashes in some of its windows, as if there were still people moving inside it. At that time, the whole building seemed to be alive..."
Duncan listened silently to Ted Riel's description, looking solemnly at the windows, pillars and decorative patterns he had drawn on the paper.
That was the thing in Alice House—and although all Ted Lear saw was the exterior of the building, stylistically the two were clearly unified.
What Ted Lear saw was indeed Alice Mansion.
Alice Mansion located in the subspace.
But Duncan clearly remembered that after the "hostess' bedroom" deep in Alice's mansion was "taken away" by Lenora, a huge hole was left there. He looked out of the hole, but could only see endless darkness, and could not see the iconic chaotic light flow and huge solid shadow in the subspace... Otherwise, he should have realized that the mansion was located in the subspace.
why is that
Was it because what Ted saw in the subspace was only the "projection" of Alice's mansion? Or was it that when he looked out from the big hole inside the mansion last time, something "blocked" his view
Duncan frowned and fell into a long period of thought. After holding it in for several minutes, Ted finally couldn't help but speak: "What exactly did I see? It seems that you are very familiar with it?"
"Yes, I go there often," Duncan nodded gently, "but don't ask for details - for your physical and mental health."
"... Well, it's the Warp after all," Ted reacted immediately, but then his expression became a little strange, "Bless you, Rahem, I never thought I would actually discuss the Warp with you... I went there and came back alive, and I still feel that this is a little unreal."
"It's a little late for you to start lamenting these things now," Duncan waved his hand and continued, "You also mentioned that the huge upside-down mansion changed before your eyes and turned into a structure like a giant ship?"
"In fact... I'm not sure what that thing is at all," Ted Lill hesitated for a moment, and finally chose to speak carefully, "The experience in the subspace is like traveling through layers of illusions. My reason and cognition seem to be divided into two dimensions and operate independently. I see many things, and they often become other... 'appearances' in an instant. Only some of these changes have really happened, and the other part is like my mind is spontaneously reorganizing those incomprehensible information."
Duncan thought for a moment, then handed another piece of paper and pencil to Ted Riel. "Whether it was an illusion or not, can you still draw the 'instantaneous change' of the mansion?"
Ted Lear hesitated for a moment, then took the pen and paper: "... I'll give it a try."
The Keeper of Truth came to the table wrapped in a blanket and began to sketch the hazy visions he had seen in the warp.
Duncan stood aside, watching with a serious and patient expression.
Under Ted Lear's pen, some messy abstract lines gradually emerge on the paper.
However, Lucrecia, who was watching curiously, gradually frowned: "Is this the 'giant ship' you mentioned?"
She only saw many randomly connected lines, as if some abstract geometric "fragments" were pieced together to form a roughly long shuttle-shaped structure, or some kind of asymmetrical "cylinder", which was very different from the "ship" she knew.
But the next second, she noticed that Duncan's expression was becoming more serious after seeing those "abstract patterns".
What did my father see from these strange abstract lines!
He's seen this thing?!
Lucrecia was instantly confused, but before she could ask, Ted Lear had put down his pencil.
"I know this thing doesn't look like a 'ship', but the moment I saw it, I felt that it should be some kind of 'ship' in my mind," Ted Lill raised his head and said to Lucrecia, "I can't explain why this happened. It's like some kind of 'cognition' was directly imprinted in my mind, or some kind of 'revelation'..."
Duncan was still staring at the messy lines Ted had drawn on the paper. Suddenly he looked up and asked, "…Is it finished?"
Ted Lear nodded: "It's finished."
Duncan frowned, his expression unusually serious: "Is that all? Only this part?"
Ted Riel finally realized something from Duncan's attitude. He hesitated slightly and said, "That's all I saw... only this part. What's wrong with that?"
Duncan was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly stepped forward and pointed at the pattern on the paper: "I'm not sure... but theoretically, what you drew may only be one-third of its structure!"
(End of this chapter)