It was a large oil painting with black and red as the main colors, hanging on the wall closest to the spiral staircase.

Like most of the paintings in this “mansion”, it appears blurry and chaotic, with rough and strange lines and blocks of color all over the surface, making the viewer feel dizzy and unable to discern any meaningful content, just like the graffiti made by a madman who has lost control in a hallucination.

However, when Duncan's eyes stayed on the picture and stared at it for a long time, he suddenly found that some things in those chaotic and dark blocks of color seemed to be slowly changing - lines emerged from the shadows, and things gradually became distinguishable among the disordered colors.

It seemed like there was a ball of burning flame, with something like a ship's hull wrapped in the flame. It was passing through the sky through the thick clouds and falling into the sea. The sky was split into two by the flame, and the sea was boiling and rolling under the impact of the flame. Behind the flame, there was a dark red chaotic object, which was pressing down gloomily as if it was chasing the approaching doomsday.

The entire picture was still blurry, and everything appeared extremely abstract, mixed and chaotic. But it was this blurry scene that made Duncan's eyes change slightly in an instant.

He subconsciously recalled the scene he had seen in the illusion before - a burning triangular-shaped spaceship falling from the sky and crashing into the sea after exploding and disintegrating.

Duncan stopped, turned around and carefully observed the scene in the painting.

Soon, he discovered that the scene in the painting was not exactly the same as what he saw in the illusion - the spaceship he saw in the illusion had a distinct style, and its superior technological level and huge momentum could be seen at a glance, but the "thing wrapped in flames" in the oil painting was only a hazy hull, which even looked like some kind of wooden structure, and the flames around it seemed to be simply burning, rather than the propulsion flames behind the interstellar spaceship.

This gives people a feeling, as if a crazy painter living in the Middle Ages accidentally saw a spaceship from the future in a dream, but could not understand what it was like. So when he woke up the next day, he could only use his limited knowledge and imagination, relying on the superficial impressions left in the dream, to restore the seemingly realistic picture on the canvas.

The headless butler's voice came from behind: "Guest, are you interested in this painting?"

“…Where do all the paintings here come from?”

"They have been here since the beginning, sir," said the headless butler.

"At the beginning?" Duncan asked doubtfully. "When was the beginning? When this 'Alice Mansion' was born? When 'Alice' became the hostess here?"

"Since the beginning of time," the headless butler said patiently, "before everything."

What kind of answer is that?

Duncan frowned subconsciously, feeling that the headless butler's answer was the same as saying nothing, but as he stared at the polite figure, he could not discern any emotion from the other's posture - this headless man had no expression or eyes, only polite words with empty hospitality.

After thinking for a moment, Duncan asked two more questions: "…Does this painting have a name? Do you know what it depicts?"

"No name. Every painting here has no name. They exist naturally and do not need names or interpretations. As for the things described in the pictures... I'm sorry, this is beyond my knowledge."

"Aren't you the housekeeper here? Don't you know the situation of this mansion?"

"I am just a servant. This mansion has countless secrets. It keeps these secrets strictly, and it is not the servant's business to know about them."

The corner of Duncan's mouth twitched.

He had an urge to set off a little fire on this butler, but the next second, he forcibly controlled this dangerous thought.

Because this is the "Alice" mansion, and the butler is part of the mansion - actions here must be very careful to avoid causing any harm to Alice.

Duncan took a deep breath to calm himself, and his eyes swept across the other paintings hanging in the corridor - there were countless paintings here, painted with countless incomprehensible colors.

But none of the other paintings changed under his gaze.

"...Let's go," Duncan finally retracted his gaze and said to the headless butler with a hint of regret, "Take me to the 'garden' you mentioned."

The headless butler bowed slightly, turned around and continued to lead the way. He took Duncan across the second-floor platform, walked down the spiral staircase, and turned to walk deep into the first-floor hall - there was a short passage leading to the back garden of the mansion.

However, Duncan stopped in front of the passage and turned around to look curiously in the other direction across the hall - at the end of the long red carpet, there stood an extremely tall and magnificent dark wooden door, with slender windows on both sides of the wooden door, and there seemed to be thorns outside the windows.

That looks like the "entrance gate" to the entire building.

"What's outside that door?" Duncan asked suddenly.

Hearing this, the headless butler's body trembled visibly. The next second, his always gentle and calm tone showed panic for the first time: "Don't be interested in what's outside that door, guest! There is no return from outside that door. No one can return!"

"The place of no return?" Duncan's expression became serious. "Why do you say that? Is the outside a subspace?"

"Subspace? I don't understand what this means... But don't try to open that door!" The headless butler waved his hands in panic, "This is the biggest taboo in the mansion. No member can open that door under any circumstances..."

"But I'm not a member here," seeing the other party's reaction, Duncan deliberately showed an eager attitude - this was the first time he saw this headless butler so flustered, which made him feel that he had found a breakthrough in the intelligence, "and you said at the beginning that I have the key, so I can open any door here."

"Of course the key in your hand can... but you must not do this!" The headless butler said in panic. He seemed to want to show a stronger attitude to stop him. However, perhaps due to some restrictions, he could only wave his arms anxiously one meter away from Duncan and try his best to stop him with words, "Don't open that door, for all the passengers..."

"What's outside that door?" Duncan stared at the headless butler with an extremely serious tone.

"Outside that door...outside that door..." The headless butler hesitated, as if he was desperately organizing his words, "Guest, the world outside that door has been annihilated, and the end of all things is coming - the door blocks the approach of doomsday, don't open it, don't let doomsday in..."

Duncan frowned, listening to the headless butler's nervous and flustered words, trying hard to piece them together with what he already knew about the world.

The world outside the door has been annihilated... The end of all things is coming...

He frowned and thought for a long time, and finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Relax, I have no intention of opening that door."

After temporarily suppressing the various complicated thoughts in his mind, he nodded slightly to the headless butler and said.

The other party immediately breathed a sigh of relief - even though he had no head and no so-called "expression", his whole body was obviously relaxed.

"You really scared me, guest," said the butler, turning around and continuing to lead the way. "Please don't joke like this again. We must prevent Doomsday from crossing the gate - it has destroyed everything in the world, and this is the last barrier..."

Duncan listened silently to the butler's frightened chatter and followed him without saying a word. They walked through the short corridor and finally came to a slightly narrow door. The door was made of large pieces of translucent glass and reinforced with steel. The black steel frame divided the door into many large and small geometric shapes. Each geometric shape was painted with graffiti of many flowers and plants. It looked like... there was a weird atmosphere of a mixture of fairy tales and horror.

"The hostess is in the garden. Please help yourself."

The headless butler stepped forward, turned the handle of the garden gate, and turned to Duncan.

"You're not coming with me?" Duncan was a little surprised.

"The garden is only for the hostess and visitors with keys, and the gardener only enters the garden when necessary," said the headless butler. "Go in with confidence. If you need anything, just pull the thin rope near the door. I'll be waiting for you at the door."

"...I see. Thanks for leading the way."

Duncan nodded to the strange butler and ignored his reaction. Instead, he walked forward and gently pushed the garden gate.

A slight creaking sound broke the silence in the mansion and garden.

Duncan stepped through the door—and immediately an incredible amount of sunlight filled his vision.

Sunlight!

Deep in this eerie mansion filled with strange shadows, there actually is a garden illuminated by the sun?!

With a hint of surprise, Duncan took a step forward, and the lush greenery immediately came into his sight. The well-arranged nurseries, the well-cultivated bushes, and the paths surrounded by green grass looked pleasing to the eye, and above this lively garden, a warm glow...

Duncan looked up, his surprised expression gradually turning into a frown.

He saw an extremely strange "sky" - against a pale background, many children's graffiti-like strokes floated in the sky, depicting the blue sky, white clouds and a simple sun. There were also many golden lines around the sun to symbolize the escaping sunlight.

The warm "sunshine" that illuminates the entire garden is released from the ridiculous "sun" that looks like a stick figure.

Duncan couldn't help but feel a little alert. The sky above the "garden" no longer made him feel warm, but instead filled him with endless weirdness.

He withdrew his gaze from the sky and, with great caution, began to carefully observe the situation in the garden.

A strange color at the end of the path caught his attention.

He walked quickly in that direction, bypassed a bush and a low flower wall, and finally saw the source of the strange color.

At the intersection of several paths, in the center of an open space deep in the garden, a figure was sitting there quietly, leaning against a marble pillar covered with vines, as if he was falling asleep.

There were also many black thorns spreading out from the vines and entwining her whole body.

“…Alice?”