The creation of the world hung high in the night sky. A cool breeze blew across the boundless sea. Tiny waves floated gently around. The boat swayed like a dream that was about to wake up before dawn.
But Alice actually didn't know what "dreaming" was - she had slept for a very long time, but had never really dreamed like humans, but she guessed that dreaming should be a state similar to this.
Floating in a very big place, my thoughts also float along.
She looked up and saw only sea water in the distance. The distant lights of the Lost Homeland were like tiny candlelight floating on the sea. It even gave her a feeling that the whole world had disappeared, and all that was left was herself, the small boat beneath her, and the endless sea.
Oh, and there are three tied-up End of Days preachers on the opposite side.
Miss Doll withdrew her gaze from the distance and looked curiously at the cultists tied in front of her.
These were humans, the bad kind—Alice didn’t know any humans, but she knew there were good and bad people among them. The good ones did good things, and Captain Duncan would praise them and sometimes help them. The bad ones did very bad things, and Captain Duncan would despise them and sometimes report them. The three in front of him... were the kind that the captain disliked the most.
They believe in the warp and follow vicious beliefs. They can kill anyone for the sake of their own fabricated justice, even attacking a poor little girl who depends on her dog for survival. If the defenders of the city-state find them, they will not hesitate to shoot them to death in the street. If the sailors at sea find them, they will hang them on the mast - even if the most vicious pirates find them, they will stuff these lunatics into wooden boxes and throw them into the sea, in this way praying for the protection of the goddess of storms.
But now they were tied up and quiet, and there was no sign of any crazy, out-of-control impulse - Alice still remembered how scary these people looked when they first arrived on the ship. At that time, these people were so excited as if they had taken the wrong medicine.
Now as time goes by, these end-of-the-world preachers are becoming more and more honest.
"Are you scared?" After holding it in for a long time, Alice finally couldn't help but speak. She felt really uncomfortable here. Although she knew that this was a "safety test" that she had to undergo in order to be able to move around in the human city-state, the feeling of drifting on the boundless ocean still made her feel uneasy.
One of the End Preachers responded to the puppet's voice. His skinny skull-like head slowly raised up and stared into Alice's eyes: "Stupid filth, clumsy body... Your soul is pale and empty, and the warp will not accept it..."
Alice was stunned for a moment, and it took her a few seconds to react: "Hey, why are you swearing!"
The End Preachers on the opposite side just let out a series of hoarse and ugly laughs. They seemed to have no fear at all about the "Anomaly 099" that frightened the world.
Or as they themselves claim, they have long transcended the concept of life and death and no longer care about the coming of death in the real world.
Alice could only sulk by herself, but after a while, she shook her head and said, "I'm not angry anymore."
The other End Preacher looked up at her and said nothing.
Alice kept talking to herself, "I shouldn't be angry. You can complain a little. After all, it's you who are tied up now, not me. It's you who have to do this head-losing test, not me. The captain said that we can't be too complacent when the wind is favorable, because if the waves are big, the boat will capsize, and if people jump too much, they will die... And you have fallen into this state, so I will be magnanimous and allow you to say a few words without restraint."
The End Preachers sat silently in the cabin, listening to the puppet's chattering, as if they had completely blocked out the puppet's voice. But after a while, Alice still noticed some "little movements" from these people -
They looked at each other's heads calmly, moving their necks from time to time, and occasionally looking over here cautiously with doubts in their eyes.
Alice thought about it carefully and thought that these people might be curious about why their heads were still on their necks.
These cultists obviously knew the information about Anomaly 099. They might not be afraid of death, but they were still curious. After being in close proximity with Anomaly 099 for so long, they found it hard to understand why they were still alive.
"Actually, I am a little scared," Alice said suddenly, "I'm afraid your heads will suddenly fall off - the captain said I have the ability to behead people, and I was shocked when I heard it for the first time. Humans are different from me. Human heads can't be replaced if they fall off..."
Suddenly, a flapping sound came from above. Alice looked curiously in the direction of the sound and saw the pigeon Ai Yin suddenly flew away. Then after a while, it flew over from the direction of the Lost Hometown with green flames rising from its body.
Ai Yin circled twice on the sea near the boat, and dark green flames rose into the sky. In the grand vortex of flames, a gorgeous wooden box emerged out of thin air, and then fell on the sea next to it with a plop.
"My box!" Alice opened her eyes wide and cried out in surprise. Then the words "kicked out" came into her mind, and her head almost fell off her neck. But then she noticed that there seemed to be a piece of paper stuck on the wooden box. She paddled twice with the oar at hand, got closer, took down the paper, and saw a line of words on it:
"The guillotine ability may also be related to your wooden box, so send it for testing. Also: You must be thinking that I'm going to kick you off the ship again - don't think about it, and come back as soon as you finish the test."
Alice picked up the note and read it over and over again, but found that she didn't understand it.
She can’t read…
But soon she saw something else on the back of the note, a scribbled stick figure drawing of her rowing back to the Lost Homeland, with a smiling expression at the end.
Miss Doll then understood—no matter what was written on the front of the note, the captain had no intention of kicking her out.
She felt relieved, carefully put away the note, and casually picked up the wooden box from the sea. With a "bang", she threw the actually quite heavy box onto the boat with one hand, then raised her head and looked at the cultists opposite: "Are you hungry?"
The missionaries didn't respond, and she didn't care. She just kept muttering to herself: "Although the captain said that you deserved to die, he also said that if you can really complete the test without dying, he will not kill you - he will bring you back to the city-state and use you to... what's it called..."
Miss Doll was a little stuck. After trying hard to recall, she remembered what the captain had said to her before: "Oh, to show the concern of enthusiastic citizens for the safety of the city-state... He said you are worth at least seven bicycles. What are bicycles?"
"The Warp will give us food and warmth... The Warp will give us peace... The Warp will bless all the dead, after all the end comes as promised..." A preacher of the end muttered vaguely, as if responding to Alice's chatter, or as if just praying some kind of blasphemous prayer, "We walk in the end, abandon this cursed flesh and blood, our minds will cross that wall, and open our eyes again in the new world..."
"Ah?" Alice was confused. "What are you talking about?"
The End Preachers no longer responded to her, and did not give any response after that.
From then on until dawn, they just sat there with their heads down, muttering things about the subspace, muttering about the end of a long river of time, a doomsday that was destined to come and should come. In the waves rising and falling with the wind, except for the sound of small waves hitting the board, there was only the incessant mumbling of these lunatics.
This was an atmosphere that could make ordinary people shudder, and the content of the prayers could even curse those with weak wills, causing them to be infected and entangled by shadows from the depths of the world. However, Alice only felt it was noisy.
She had received a small note from the captain, so she was no longer afraid of the drift, and now she was only filled with boredom.
But this boring time is finally over.
A ray of morning light suddenly appeared on the distant sea. In the dim morning light, the world's wound in the sky quickly faded, and the sun locked by double runes slowly emerged from the sea and leaped into the sky.
Its daybreak.
Alice didn't behead anyone.
Miss Doll looked at the sunrise happily. She stood up from the wooden box and turned to look at the cultists: "Hey! It's dawn! You are still alive! We can go back!"
However, the three End Preachers did not respond to her. They just remained hunched in the cabin, muttering softly with their heads down. In the brief darkness before the sunlight was about to shine into the cabin, they called for the "attention" of the warp for the last time.
It was not until Alice reminded them again that one of them finally looked up. The cultist looked at the sunlight that was gradually spreading and was a little dazed, but gradually a strange smile appeared on his face.
"Oh, our day has come to an end..." The mad man sighed softly, then slowly turned his head and looked into Alice's perfect eyes that were like gemstones. His smile was a strange mixture of madness and calmness. "Puppet, we will meet again one day."
"Ah?" Alice was stunned. "What do you mean? You can run away out of thin air..."
The sunshine spread.
The figures of the three End of Days preachers disappeared silently in the morning light, like the phantoms of yesterday.
"Did he run away..." Alice finished the sentence out of inertia, staring, "Did he really run away?"