Duncan looked at Alice quietly, and Alice looked at Duncan with a righteous look on her face.

After a moment, Duncan rubbed his eyebrows and felt a strange emotion rising in his heart. The feeling of disobedience in his heart could not dissipate for a long time.

It's the same face, how can it show such a huge difference in temperament...

"Captain," Alice blinked curiously after seeing Duncan's reaction and came over to ask, "Why don't you say anything? Did I say something wrong?"

"...No, it's not your problem." Duncan shook his head, getting rid of the messy thoughts in his mind. Then he suddenly raised his eyelids and looked at the doll in front of him with a solemn and serious expression. "Alice, have you...ever wondered about the connection between you and the Frost Queen?"

Alice was stunned for a moment, raised her hand and scratched her head, and seemed to think seriously for a while before she spoke uncertainly: "I... was curious, but then I thought about it and it didn't seem to be a very important matter, so I stopped thinking about it."

Duncan was a little surprised: "Not very important?"

"The Frost Queen is the Frost Queen, and I am me. No matter how great that queen is, that is her business, and I don't understand it," Alice said seriously. "I have things I am good at, and I like my life now, which is good enough. Besides, I heard from Mr. Morris that everyone in this world may find another person who looks almost exactly like them, so I will just pretend that the Frost Queen is the person who looks exactly like me - even though I am actually a puppet..."

Duncan listened to the doll's words quietly, and looking at the natural and satisfied look in her eyes when she mentioned the present days, his heart was suddenly touched.

Maybe... she really is just a special error replica created by the ancient god in the deep sea. Maybe, she is really just the result of the strange fusion of Lenora who fell into the deep sea and the guillotine. Or maybe, she hides more secrets, secrets that even Lenora can't imagine... But as Alice herself said, it doesn't matter.

She is not smart, but she is very happy. She has many things that she does not understand, but she has never felt nervous or afraid because of these overly complicated things. She was born and lives in a world full of weirdness, but this weird world is the most ordinary "normal" in the world for her - she is exploring, curious, and looking forward to everything including tomorrow in this world full of novelty and unknown to her, just like...

A child opening his eyes in the sunlight.

There are countless living beings in the world, but even the bravest warriors, the most knowledgeable wise men, and the most devout believers cannot see the world from the same perspective as Alice.

Duncan suddenly had a feeling - in this strange world where everyone is afraid and everything is distorted, Alice, this "puppet", is more like a "human" than anyone else.

Just like what he saw in another world, a world without abnormalities and visions, without gods and weirdness, ordinary human beings walking calmly in the sun.

"Captain?" Alice's curious voice sounded again, "Why are you in a daze again?"

"Nothing." Duncan shook his head. "I just suddenly felt that... you are actually very wise."

Alice was slightly startled when she heard the captain's praise, and then a look of happiness gradually appeared on her face: "Hehe..."

She didn't know why the captain suddenly praised her for her "wisdom", and she didn't even think that she could have any wisdom, but since the captain praised her like that, it must be something to be happy about.

After making this compliment, Duncan thought for a moment, then slowly reached his hand to his side - he felt a cool touch from his fingertips, it was the brass key.

In the deep sea, the submersible is slowly rising, and it will take some time before it can be "recovered".

Frost Queen Lenoir revealed a lot of information to him, but there were still many omissions or ambiguities in that information, which needed to be verified by himself.

The brass key... a rational preacher of the end handed it to Lenora, but even with the latter's ability, she was ultimately unable to figure out the true "essence" of the key. At the same time, a corresponding keyhole appeared on Alice's body, an erroneous copy that seemed to be born completely by "coincidence"... Is it still a coincidence at this point?

Did the End Preacher foresee what would happen today? Or did the tentacles of the ancient god sleeping in the deep sea retrieve the memory of Ray Nora when creating Alice and leave the "keyhole" in Alice?

Maybe... it's time to give it a try.

"Alice," Duncan suddenly raised his head and looked at the puppet in front of him seriously, "Come with me."

"Ah?" Alice was startled for a moment, but immediately reacted and stood up to follow, "Oh, okay!"

"Steering well." Duncan stood up from behind the chart table, gave an instruction to Goat Head, then took a deep breath and turned to walk towards the captain's bedroom.

Alice followed Duncan without knowing why, and walked into the bedroom door together. Then, at his instruction, she turned back to close the door, and turned around to look at Duncan curiously.

"Captain? What next?"

Duncan silently took the key in his hand and looked at the puppet quietly: "I want to test this key."

Alice was a little surprised when she heard this: "Ah? Didn't you say that this key might be dangerous? It might contain the soul of the Frost Queen or something..."

"The hidden danger has been eliminated now," Duncan said calmly, "I just eliminated it myself."

"Oh!" Alice said immediately, and then turned around and fumbled for the zipper on the back of her clothes without hesitation, "Then I'll unbutton my clothes first..."

"Just expose the keyhole," Duncan was a little embarrassed by this guy's unhesitating action, even though he had been with this solid-headed puppet for such a long time. He subconsciously reminded him, and then said with some surprise, "Aren't you afraid?"

"Captain, you said there are no hidden dangers," Alice turned her head and said, "and you will help me wind up the spring yourself. You will definitely protect me if something goes wrong, right?"

"...Yes, I will protect you." After a brief silence of two or three seconds, Duncan nodded slowly, then raised his hand and pointed to a round stool next to the bed, "Sit on it - I'm not sure what will happen after winding it up, so it's best not to stand."

"Oh!" Alice agreed, and obediently went to the round stool and sat down with her back to Duncan.

The clothes on the back of the doll have been undone.

Duncan finally saw the appearance of the "keyhole" - the keyhole was abruptly embedded in the center of Alice's back, which was as smooth as white porcelain. There was also a circle of fine and gorgeous patterns, with a texture like gold stamping, surrounding the keyhole.

Duncan lowered his head and glanced at the brass key in his hand.

...The size and shape are indeed exactly the same.

A strange feeling arose in his heart, mixed with a little nervousness. Duncan took a deep breath, controlled the strange feeling in his heart, and slowly moved the key closer to the round hole.

"Alice."

"Um?"

"Don't be afraid."

"Why!"

The clockwork key entered the keyhole without any obstruction, and then Duncan heard an extremely clear "click" sound, as if it was ringing directly in his mind.

Something had started to move—but it was no ordinary clockwork.

A slight force came from his fingertips, and Duncan instantly realized that the clockwork key was turning on its own - it slowly turned to the horizontal position, followed by another "click" sound.

The next second, everything in front of me began to change rapidly.

The light and shadows are collapsing and reorganizing, the senses are undergoing transformation and reset, there is that familiar slight dizziness, and there is that feeling of "transfer" as if "walking in the spirit world" -

Before he could even sigh “this happens again”, Duncan found that everything around him had stabilized again.

He was in a grand mansion that was old, gorgeous, yet eerie and strange.

The classical and solemn hall is broad and spacious, with tall pillars arranged on both sides of the hall, supporting the gloomy roof above that looks like a gathering of dark clouds. Narrow and tall windows are inlaid on the walls covered with patterns and reliefs. Outside the windows, it seems as if dark thorns are crawling all over, and chaotic light and shadows are floating outside the thorn bushes.

And in this eerie mansion, voices could be heard from time to time - whispers, intermittent laughter, footsteps walking across the floor, and even... strange and vague music that sounded like a dance party was being held somewhere.

Duncan frowned slightly and glanced across the eerie and old mansion.

Something flashed in the corner of my eye.

Duncan quickly looked over there, but saw only an empty corner.

But he was sure that he had seen something just now, a figure... who looked like a maid in a black and white dress.

The figure had no head, and there was only a bare neck at the collar of his shirt.

Duncan stood in the empty hall for a moment, carefully observing the surrounding environment, sensing the vague, strange and uneasy atmosphere floating in the air, and then took a step forward and walked towards the spiral staircase at the end of the hall.

He wanted to figure out what this place was - why was he brought here after "winding up" Alice?

He walked up the spiral staircase. The steps, which seemed to have been abandoned for countless years, made strange creaking sounds under his feet. As he walked, a sense of familiarity suddenly appeared in Duncan's heart.

He suddenly stopped and looked at the various furnishings and styles in the mansion with wide eyes.

He knew what that familiar feeling was.

The room where Frost Queen Lenore sleeps!