A new servant has arrived.

It was as if these words activated some kind of mechanism, and along with a low and muffled sound reaching their ears, countless shadowy outlines suddenly emerged in the darkness before the eyes of the Annihilation Cultists - a faint light from nowhere swayed in the air, illuminating an unusually spacious, quaint and elegant hall!

★Illustration 14★

His eyes widened as he saw this hall that was as magnificent as a palace, yet as old as if it had been abandoned for decades. He saw a curved staircase that spiraled up at the end, connecting the corridors and platforms on high. Huge pillars stood vaguely in the dimness, with exquisite curtains hanging from the tops of the pillars, swaying gently in the breeze that came from nowhere. On the walls around the hall were dark and empty windows - those holes were like the mouths of evil beasts. There was no light outside the windows, and the windows themselves were tightly blocked by criss-crossing steel. Huge oil paintings that could not be seen clearly were hung between the windows. There were no specific people or scenery in the paintings, only creepy colorful blocks of color.

The Annihilation Cultist looked at the scene in astonishment, and then suddenly realized that the restraints on his hands and feet had disappeared at some point. He took two steps forward, felt his body back under his control, and then subconsciously called out to the demon that had a symbiotic relationship with his soul.

However, only a hollow whistle came from his soul, and the dark demon that had been with him for many years seemed to have never existed. Nothing responded to his call.

"Squire, forward, to the end of the carpet."

That low, muffled voice sounded again, and this time it even came directly from my mind.

"Who is it?!" The Annihilation Cultist widened his eyes in horror and looked around the gorgeous yet empty and eerie hall of the villa, but he did not see anyone.

He raised his head again and looked towards the end of the hall - a dark red carpet stretched from under his feet to the distance, and at the end of the carpet was a staircase that connected to the second floor along an arc like a wing.

For some reason, when his eyes looked over there, his legs moved uncontrollably - as if to obey the voice he just heard, he walked to the end of the carpet and stopped a few meters away from the stairs.

A figure suddenly appeared there.

It was a body in a black dress - a headless body.

The figure stood straight in front of the stairs, his dress neatly dressed, a folded corner of a handkerchief visible in his chest pocket, and a thin golden chain of a pocket watch sticking out of the other pocket. He held a copper bell in one hand and the other hand stretched forward - his posture was like that of a butler welcoming a newlywed, a trusted steward who ran the house.

But he had no head. On his body covered in a black suit, there was only a bare neck, like... the connecting joint of a doll.

"This...where is this place?!"

The new servant said with a trembling voice. He could not remember why he came to this closed mansion, nor could he remember his name and origin. He only felt an instinctive fear, and a strange feeling was eroding his heart bit by bit. He looked at the headless butler in front of him, and mustered up the courage to ask. At the same time, the sound of whispering and the feeling of being spied on came from all directions.

He turned around in astonishment and looked at the scene in the hall—

Figures dressed in servants and maids' attire were busy in the hall. They were obviously the servants who took care of this huge house. These servants would stop when passing by the stairs, as if they were looking at the newcomers curiously.

The low sounds of discussion came from their chests - because these servants were headless.

There are only smooth spherical protrusions on their necks, as if they are the connecting parts of the dolls, with a texture between wood and ceramic.

The "new servant" looked in astonishment at the servants busying about in the hall, feeling a little dazed for a moment.

Were there so many people here before? Was it so lively when I first came to this hall?

"This is Alice Mansion, and you are the new servant here," the dull voice of the "butler" suddenly sounded, interrupting the new servant's distraction, "Follow me, your next post is upstairs."

The new servant nodded subconsciously and followed the headless butler. He looked down unconsciously and found that he had been wearing a servant's clothes without knowing when - the same as the male servants in the hall.

His mind became increasingly muddled, as more and more memories were being pulled out of this body, as if they were things that were "no longer needed", impurities that prevented him from fulfilling his duties as a servant in this mansion.

With each step he took, he became less hesitant and uncertain. At first, he vaguely remembered that he did not belong here. Then, he only remembered that he seemed to be trapped in a strange house. When he was only a few steps away from the second floor, he only remembered the housekeeper's instructions to him -

After taking the last step, he raised his head and looked at the platform in front of him and the corridor inside the platform.

Several servants were passing through the corridor, and even though they had no sight, the "new servant" still felt the sense of being watched.

"Why is everyone looking at me?"

"Because you are the first servant with a head." The butler stopped and turned around, with a smile in his voice, "Besides, there hasn't been a newcomer here for many years."

"What should I do?" the new servant asked cautiously.

"Serve our hostess and become a member here. You will naturally know what to do, but before that, you should go and say hello to the hostess..."

The butler slowly raised his arm and pointed to a large black door at the end of the corridor.

"Go ahead, open that door and greet the hostess."

The new servant nodded and turned to walk towards the door.

His steps were steady, his expression gradually became calm, and the movements of his limbs finally became as stiff and rigid as those of the servants in the hall. He came to the door, stretched out his hands, and his eyes calmly swept over his wrists that had become ball joints - he exerted a slight force and pushed the door open.

The puppet took a step forward.

In the elegant bedroom which could almost be described as huge, a gorgeous bed was placed in the center of the room. Curtains with intricate patterns and tasseled drapes were draped around the bed. A silver-haired doll lay quietly on the bed, soundly asleep.

Beyond the bed, at the end of the bedroom, where the wall should have been, there was only an endless darkness - it seemed to lead to some distant and deep space, where the floor, walls and roof appeared in a fragmented state, and chaotic dark shadows and countless flickering points of light in the distance slowly rose and fell, turning into a bizarre illusion of light and shadow, silently beating at the end of the bedroom, whispering and wandering in the darkness.

The surging darkness and light spots were like the puppet's bizarre dream, or like an invisible creature trying to invade the house, but was blocked from reality by the puppet's sleep.

The new servant, who had turned into a puppet, stood at the door of the bedroom, staring blankly at the beautiful puppet sleeping soundly in bed and the darkness rising and falling behind the puppet - then he bent down and saluted the mistress respectfully.

Some bright silk threads extended from his limbs, floating in the air and disappearing in an instant.

The new servant bent over and slowly backed away until he was out of the room. The door of the sleeping Alice slammed shut in front of him, making a low and majestic roar.

But the servant's face would never change expression again.

The puppet bent down, took out a handkerchief from his pocket, and gently wiped the ornaments near the door.

※※※

“Plop——”

“Crash——”

The sound of a heavy object falling to the ground was heard at the entrance of the alley, and the Annihilation Cultist who had just tried to escape suddenly fell from mid-air. He made a loud noise when he landed on the ground, and his body instantly broke into pieces like porcelain, even his clothes were not spared.

There was no trace of blood in the broken porcelain fragments, as if he had been just a baked puppet from the beginning - the flesh and blood body was just an illusion of his half-life.

Alice was instantly startled: "Wow!"

A howling sound like a violent wind sounded behind them. Vanna had already rushed to the alley. She stared at the scene in front of her in amazement. After a long pause, she turned her head to look at the puppet next to her: "This... was done by you?"

"...I don't know." Alice blinked and looked back a little slowly, "Um... maybe?"

"What does that mean?!"

"I just grabbed his line and then tried hard - he started first, I was a little scared..." Alice spoke incoherently, gesturing as she spoke. Her explanation was very effective, and just a few words made Vanna even more confused. "Do you understand?"

"...I don't understand," Vanna shook her head, then looked back at the end of the alley, where there was a pile of charred debris that was emitting a faint black smoke. "Damn it, the priest I dealt with never said a word in the end, and yours simply shattered, leaving no information at all."

"Does that mean the captain will be dissatisfied?"

"There's no time to think about this. We have to leave here," Vanna said quickly. "The noise is too loud. Even if we're not in the central city, the night patrol team should have reacted."

As she spoke, she raised her head and looked towards the mansion not far away.