Duncan looked at Alice expressionlessly, as if he was looking at a mentally retarded person.

The echoes from history in his mind had not yet completely dissipated, and the calm, all-seeing gaze of the Frost Queen half a century ago still lingered in his mind - but this afterimage, which should have made him think in a mess, now collided head-on with Alice, the mentally retarded puppet, and not only was it smashed to pieces, but it was also gradually turning into a joke with the sound of her "pop pop pop" pulling out her head.

After watching for a long time, Duncan finally couldn't help but asked: "...What are you doing?"

"Ah! Captain!" Alice finally realized what was happening. She quickly held her head with one hand and looked at Duncan. "Oh, I always feel like there are a few hairs stuck in my neck joints..."

Duncan deadpanned, "If you pluck it a couple more times you'll have to give your new hair a name again."

"I've already picked them up! If they fall off, I'll call the Williams family..."

It took a lot of effort for Duncan to control his expression and restrain himself from throwing the doll out of the cabin.

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

To be fair, Alice's appearance did bring a bit of joy to the lifeless Homelander, but sometimes it was too joyful... Even the Goat Head couldn't keep up with the rhythm of this puppet from time to time, and Duncan couldn't figure out what the structure of this guy's head was most of the time.

Maybe it's solid.

Duncan's eyes swept over Alice, and he couldn't help but recall what he had seen in that dark space before... "Reverberation". His expression became serious, and the details he saw in the reverberation made him frown slightly.

He was certain that it was the legendary Frost Queen Lenoir who was executed by the rebels half a century ago. She was the "prototype" of the puppet Alice mentioned in the background information of Anomaly 099. He saw the scene of the "execution", and the opportunity for it was undoubtedly derived from the "puppet coffin" in front of him.

The spiritual fire established a connection between him and the coffin.

But what is the nature of those images? Is the "coffin" telling him something consciously? Are they some passively recorded "images"? Are they the memories of Anomaly 099? Are they real historical fragments, or are they "illusions" with some distortions and corrections?

He recalled the young queen's calm gaze towards him and her soft request -

[“No matter who you are, please don’t pollute history.”]

Who was she speaking to? Was she really speaking to herself? Did she really speak to herself? Did she really transcend time and space? Or was it just an illusion created by the coffin that was reacting to her "visit"? And after the queen finished speaking, there was a slightly terrified voice under the guillotine, asking who she was speaking to...

This series of reactions are so real, even to the point of being chilling.

As for the end of the "reverberation", the sounds coming from the darkness also made Duncan particularly concerned.

The Frost Queen was executed by the rebels. One of her "crimes" was "trying to let the Lost Homeland enter the real world" and "building a second Lost Homeland". There was also an "Abyss" plan, which seemed to be the reason why the queen was deserted by her friends and relatives... But he had never heard Goat-Head mention these things!

Goat-Head often told him about the "great deeds of the Lost Homeland", such as how many ships it had swallowed up on which route, and what huge riot it had caused in which city-state. Although eight out of ten of his words were not very reliable, if there really was a city-state ruler who had "colluded" with the Lost Homeland, he would have told it long ago - that guy would make up three thousand words for no reason, let alone such a big thing!

Unless... this matter is false and is just a crime fabricated by the rebels against the queen.

"Captain? Captain, are you okay?"

Alice's voice suddenly came from the side, interrupting Duncan's wandering thoughts.

Duncan exhaled lightly, forcibly suppressing the chaotic thoughts in his mind. He glanced at Alice, trying to find some shadow of "Frost Queen Lenora" in this guy, but soon shook his head: "It's okay, I just saw a little 'record' saved in the coffin."

"Records?" Alice opened her eyes wide with curiosity. "What kind of records?"

"I saw the Frost Queen being beheaded half a century ago," Duncan said calmly, "and she looked exactly like you."

Alice immediately touched her neck subconsciously. Miss Doll didn't know whether she should feel nervous or feel that this matter was unremarkable. After struggling for a long time, she finally managed to say: "Could it be that I am really the Frost Queen? After being beheaded, I didn't die, but was affected by the extraordinary power and became what I am now?"

Duncan thought for a long time and said honestly: "If you don't talk, don't move, and just lie quietly in this box, I really will think so."

Alice reacted, but didn't respond.

But she quickly put this doubt behind her and looked at her "coffin" seriously: "After you burned it with... 'fire', did it change in any way? Did you successfully control it?"

Duncan then turned his attention back to the wooden box, carefully sensing the remaining connection between himself and the box.

The fire has faded, but the traces it left remain forever.

In his invisible perception, he could clearly "see" the mark he left in the coffin and feel the subtle connection between himself and it. This was somewhat similar to the connection between him and the mutated sun emblem, but more complex and subtle.

Putting aside the huge mystery brought to him by the information recorded in the coffin, he did succeed in establishing a connection with this thing. However, unlike the simple sun emblem, he had no idea how to control this coffin.

He couldn't even feel that there was an option to "control" this thing.

He could only be sure of one thing: the coffin was now very stable and very... "docile".

After the flames passed over it, it seemed to have been completely "tamed", as if... a part of the Lost Homeland.

"I'm not sure. Perhaps we need to do further tests to know whether it is safe. Then more tests are needed to determine whether the 'decapitation' effect comes from the coffin or from you." Duncan shook his head. "But from what I feel now, it is very 'obedient', just like other items on the Lost Homeland..."

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

"The key now is you - do you feel anything unusual?"

Alice pointed at herself curiously: "Me? I don't have any, why are you asking?"

"You and your wooden box are originally one. Together you are 'Anomaly 099'. Now I have used fire to usurp the authority of the coffin. You, the puppet, may be affected to a certain extent." Duncan looked at Alice seriously. He knew that this puppet was slow to react, so he gradually got used to telling her everything. "Move your body and tell me if there is anything wrong."

Alice reacted belatedly and quickly stood up to check herself. She ran around the room twice, jumped on the spot, and finally returned to the wooden box and hooked her finger at it.

The wooden box did not move at all.

"It...it's not listening!" Alice was shocked. She finally discovered the big problem. "It turns out that it would float up as soon as I gave the order!"

Duncan's heart moved - when Alice hooked her finger at the wooden box, he seemed to feel that the coffin had some response, but...

The coffin awaits his orders.

His eyebrows twitched, and he suddenly felt a little embarrassed: "Maybe... after coming into contact with the fire of the spirit body, this coffin has regarded me as a 'master' of a higher level."

Alice stared at the captain in front of her in amazement, and then her expression became visibly aggrieved.

"But it doesn't matter. I can remove the restrictions I placed on it." Duncan felt even more embarrassed when he saw the puppet's aggrieved expression, and quickly waved his hand, "It will still obey your orders."

Alice was stunned for a moment, then turned her head and hooked her finger at her wooden box - this time, she finally saw that the wooden box responded to her command again, just like usual.

Miss Doll smiled brightly, letting the wooden box fall to the ground and immediately jumped over to hold its lid: "Great! I thought you would never listen again!"

Duncan looked at the puppet lady whose emotions changed so quickly with a subtle expression. He held it in for a long while before blurting out, "Sometimes... I really envy your open-minded attitude towards life."

Alice was startled when she heard the captain's words, and then she took a long time to react, but she still didn't react...

"Forget it, as long as you are happy," Duncan sighed, "Are you sure there is nothing wrong with you?"

"No," Alice looked down at herself, "I don't feel uncomfortable at all, and... I feel better than before?"

“Better than before?”

"I can't explain it, I just feel... my body is very relaxed? And a sense of peace of mind?" Alice thought for a moment, trying to find words to describe her feelings. "It's a bit like the sense of peace I had when I was lying in the box before, but now I'm standing outside the box, and I feel just as safe..."

The puppet was thinking as she spoke. In the end, without waiting for Duncan to help her analyze, she waved her hand with a broad mind and said, "It doesn't matter. It's not a bad thing anyway!"