Chapter 101

Chapter 101 “Open-minded Alice”

Duncan looked at Alice expressionlessly as if he were staring at a retard.

The striking calm gaze of the Frost Queen from half a century ago was still entrenched in his mind, but the afterimage that should have been confusing was now attacked by Alice, a mentally disabled puppet. Forget the silliness. The mere fact that she was plucking on and unplugging her head from the neck was enough to drive anyone mad.

Eventually, Duncan’s sanity snapped: “... What are you doing?”

“Ah! Captain!” Alice reacted later than she should. Quickly plopping her head back on, “Oh, I think there are a few hairs caught in my neck join, so...”

Duncan’s face turned deadpan: “If you keep pulling your head off like that then you better start thinking up new names for your hair.”

“I already came up with some! If they fall, they’ll be called Williams and...”

It took Duncan a lot of effort to control his urge to yell and refrain from throwing the doll out of the cabin.

After a few seconds, he let out a long sigh and gradually calmed down.

To be fair, Alice’s appearance does bring a bit of joy to the lifeless ghost ship, but sometimes it’s just too much silliness... Even the goat head couldn’t keep up with the puppet’s rhythm sometimes, so forget about Duncan, who could barely make the ins and outs of this one’s brain.

Who knows, the doll’s head might be solid wood inside....

Duncan’s gaze swept over Alice, recalling back to the echo he saw in the past.

He could be sure that it was the legendary Frost Queen Ray Nora that he saw, and the source of the lapse came from the puppet coffin.

But what is the essence of those pictures?

Is the “coffin” consciously telling me something?

Are they passively recorded “images”?

Or is it the memory of Anomaly 099?

Is it a real fragment of history, or is there an “illusion” that’s been distorted and corrected to a certain extent?

He thought about the calm gaze the young queen made when facing him, then recalled the plea as well..

“Whoever you are, please don’t pollute history...”

To whom is this phrase addressed?

As he spoke, he turned his head to look at the puppet beside him.

“The key now is you. Do you feel any different?”

Alice pointed to herself in bewilderment: “Me? I don’t. Why do you ask that?”

“You and your wooden box are one. Both together adds up to make Anomaly 099. Now that I usurped the authority of the coffin with my flames, I may have affected you to a certain extent.” Duncan looked at Alice very seriously. He knew that the doll was slow to react, so he gradually got used to telling her the words needed, “Move your body, tell me if something is wrong.”

Alice reacted consciously and quickly got up to check herself. Ran around the room twice, doing some jumping jacks, and finally hooked her finger in a summoning manner at her wooden box.

The box did not move.

“It... It’s not obeying!” Alice was shocked and finally found the big problem, “I normally only need to flick my finger to make it float!”

Duncan’s heart jolted at this discovery—he did seem to feel some response from the coffin when Alice flicked her finger, but...

The coffin was awaiting his orders then.

Raising his eyebrow, Duncan suddenly felt a little embarrassed: “Maybe... it is due to being in contact with my flame. The coffin has already regarded me as a higher ‘master’. ”

Alice jerked around to make a dumbfounded face at the captain, then her expression visibly turned aggrieved like a child that had its precious toy ripped from her.

“But it’s okay. I can lift my restrictions on it.” Duncan found it more awkward when he saw the pitiful face of the doll and quickly waved his hand. “It will still obey your orders.”

Alice was stunned, then turned her head to hook her finger at the wooden box again. This time, she finally got the response she desired.

The puppet lady immediately smiled and allowed her precious coffin to fall back to the ground before throwing herself into a hug with the lid: “Great! I thought you wouldn’t obey me in the future anymore!”

Duncan almost couldn’t control his expression at the swift change in emotions. “Sometimes... I really envy your open-minded attitude to life.”

Alice looked up, confused by the captain’s sentence.

“Forget it, just be happy.” Duncan sighed, “Are you sure there’s nothing wrong with you?”

“No,” Alice examined herself, “there was nothing uncomfortable at all, and... it feels like it’s better than before?”

“Better than before?”

“I can’t quite say what, but I think... my body is relaxed? Peace of mind?” Alice thought for a moment, trying to find words to describe her feelings. “It’s a bit like the feeling of reassurance when I used to lie in the box, but now I feel just as reassured standing outside the box...”

The puppet thought while talking and then flailed her hands up before the man could analyze the issue. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not a bad thing anyway!”