The world in Alice's eyes seemed to be completely different from that of ordinary people from the very beginning - but no one had noticed this until today.

Even Alice herself didn't realize it.

Duncan learned from Vanna about the battle that took place in the alley and Alice's performance in that battle - from her sensing the hidden enemy through the "floating lines" to her turning an Annihilation Cultist who tried to escape into a shattered porcelain doll, the whole process surprised Duncan.

Now, all eyes were on Miss Doll who was confused from beginning to end.

"...So you guys can't see the 'line'..." Alice finally realized what was going on, no matter how slow she was. She scratched her head and looked innocent, "I thought this was common sense, after all, everyone has that thing floating on their heads and limbs..."

Duncan stared into Alice's eyes with a serious expression: "Let me confirm again, everyone has a 'line', right?"

'Yes, everybody—but not you, Captain,' Alice answered promptly.

Duncan thought for a moment and then asked, "…Is it my original body that doesn't have it, or is it my current body that doesn't have it?"

"Neither in this body of yours," Alice answered honestly, and then added, "nor in the body you had in Plande..."

Duncan nodded slightly, his thoughts racing in his mind, with all kinds of guesses coming up one after another.

In Alice's eyes, everyone in the world has a "thread" floating on them, except herself, and the body she occupies also has no "thread"... So, this so-called "thread" is not connected to the flesh and blood, but symbolizes something more essential? Is it the soul? Or personality?

When she is close enough, she can easily "catch" the strings on other people and use them to bind or attack the opponent. What is this ability? Is it an ability that she has had since the beginning as Anomaly 099 but has never shown, or is it a mutation that occurred after she became a member of the Lost Homeland?

Duncan was thinking, his eyes never leaving Alice's face. Finally, even this slow-witted puppet felt awkward. She subconsciously twisted her neck: "Captain... you keep staring at me... I'm nervous."

"Oh, sorry," Duncan reacted immediately and blinked to make his sight less stressful. Then he turned his head and looked at Vanna beside him thoughtfully. "As far as I know, Alice's current 'official name' has been changed to Anomaly 099-Doll, right?"

"Yes, her original name was Puppet Coffin," Vanna nodded immediately, and guessed what Duncan meant. "Are you saying that Alice's power is also related to this change?"

"Perhaps... the coffin and the puppet have represented different powers from the beginning. The former is a symbol of death, so it has the ability to simply and brutally decapitate, while the latter is the manipulation of human-shaped objects, which fits the positioning of the 'puppet'," Duncan said slowly, "It's just that Alice was the 'content' of the coffin before, so the 'combination' of Anomaly 099 completely presents the characteristics of the coffin, and now... the puppet has become the 'main part' of Anomaly 099, and her original ability has been released."

"The coffin and the puppet each possess different powers..." Morris, who had remained silent, muttered softly, "This is a very likely speculation."

Duncan felt somewhat emotional.

He had always thought that the powerful power of Anomaly 099 had disappeared. After Alice's wooden box was "transformed", she was just a weird cursed doll that could move and think, and was also weak, cowardly, and stupid. He didn't expect that she would show such a weird ability today. How to say it...

It really lived up to the number within a hundred digits - although it was still pretty weak when placed on the Lost Hometown ship.

Alice obviously didn't have so many thoughts. She just kept turning her eyes around as Duncan and the others talked, looking at this and that. It took her a long time to barely understand the current situation. She looked a little uneasy and cast a cautious look: "...Captain, did I do something bad?"

"No, it's a good thing." Duncan immediately shook his head. "You are very brave and you protected yourself very well. The cultists are definitely not innocent."

"Then..." Alice thought for a moment and raised her hand to gesture, "Then is my ability a bad thing?"

Duncan looked at the puppet quietly for a long time, and then a smile suddenly appeared on his face: "It's a good thing."

Alice seemed a little confused.

"You can control it, right?" Duncan asked.

"Yes," Alice waved her hand, "it's very simple."

"So it's a good thing," Duncan said, smiling. "Having power is never a bad thing - losing control is the problem. Now you can help me even more, Alice."

The doll lady finally laughed, and swayed from side to side with an extremely happy look on her face. "That's great! I saw everyone suddenly become so serious, and I thought things were very bad..."

Duncan simply reached out and gently touched Alice's hair.

She was shaking so much that her head almost fell off.

At the same time, his thoughts did not calm down.

Although he knew Alice's current abilities and roughly deduced that "the doll and the coffin each have their own symbols", this did not mean that all the mysteries were solved. On the contrary, it only made him more aware that the doll in front of him was hiding more secrets.

He and Alice have been together for quite a while now, and because of this, he has gotten used to the puppet's noise on the ship, and her harmless appearance of running around in front of him all day long - he almost forgot that before this puppet became the cook on the Lost Homeland, it was first the Anomaly No. 099, a strange creature that emerged from the cold deep sea after the death of the Frost Queen.

In a sense, she and those weird and twisted "replicas" are actually of the same origin.

But she is completely different from any other replica that has appeared so far - and there can't be a reason behind this.

For some reason, he suddenly remembered a sentence said by the Annihilation Cultist who appeared after the explosion of the Petrel -

[“If it weren’t for that queen…”]

Duncan shook his head, temporarily suppressed the chaotic thoughts in his mind, and looked up at Vanna.

"What happened tonight shows one thing. The 'replicas' in the city were indeed the work of the Annihilation Cultists. Moreover, the cultists are not only acting in secret, but are also secretly paying attention to the replicas they released into the city. This kind of observation is very much like collecting some kind of data."

"Based on my experience, this is a preparation for a bigger operation. The replica in the city is just the beginning, and the erosion on Dagger Island is likely just another bigger testing ground," Vanna nodded. "They also tried to transport the pollution on Dagger Island to Frost Island. Although this action was prevented, it shows that their operation has reached a critical stage."

"It doesn't matter. I will take action - but I must first know which gutter they are hiding in," Duncan said casually. "Killing a few believers or priests, or even destroying a few gathering points, is meaningless. Pland's experience proves this."

As he spoke, he raised his eyes, and through the gaps in the bandages, his gaze passed through the dirty window next to him and looked at the densely packed spires and eaves of Frost.

"...Where are you hiding?"

The wind picked up and the second snow began to fall. Snowflakes fluttered down in the night and the streets in the distance became hazy as if hidden in the fog.

The snow fell almost all night until the sun rose. The afterglow of the Creation of the World dissipated in the sunlight, and the golden-red glow spread along the streets into the city. The falling snowflakes gradually stopped.

The heavy and solemn iron gate of the cemetery creaked open. The old guard in a thick coat hung the hook used to fix the gate on the fence and glanced at the streets in the direction of the city.

Everything in sight was covered with thick snow. The streets in the distance had blurred outlines and boundaries under the thick snow, becoming a vast expanse of white.

White mist was emitting from the steam pipes above the blocks. Heat from the steam core was being transported to key nodes everywhere to melt ice and snow in pipeline hubs and power stations. Large snowplows were also driven out. These big guys, emitting billowing white smoke and low roars, rumbled through the streets, clearing important traffic lines.

Since the visitor left, the cemetery has returned to peace, and no unusual incidents have disturbed the dead. However, neither the cemetery guards nor the guards sent by the church have relaxed since then.

In the second half of the night, a "quick message" was delivered to the guard's cabin through a high-pressure steam pipe. The quick message came from the City Hall, and the content was very strange - it required all the extraordinary guards in the city to be vigilant, but it did not specify what they should be vigilant about.

Agatha seemed to have received some intelligence shortly afterwards, and she sent a team to Fireplace Street, but the guards have not returned yet.

There was a strong snowstorm in the second half of the night. The whistling wind and the chaotic snowflakes seemed to foreshadow something.

The old guard tightened his coat.

"This damn weather..."