Having had several experiences of cooperation, Alice easily revealed the keyhole on her back and sat obediently in the bed waiting for the captain to turn the clockwork key.

Duncan took the brass key with a ring handle and slowly moved it closer to Alice's clockwork hole, but at this moment, he suddenly heard the puppet speak: "Captain, I have a question."

Duncan immediately stopped what he was doing: "Question?"

"You said that this key is the route to the other three divine 'nodes' on the outer barrier, right? And I am the... Navigator No. 3, right? In other words, as long as I have the route, I can take you to a very far place, even to the end of the world..."

Alice said this with a hesitant tone, as if she couldn't think of the right words to express her thoughts. Duncan didn't urge her, but waited patiently. After a while, the puppet seemed to have finally sorted out its thoughts and continued, "So, do you think there are other 'routes'? Or, if I don't have this new key, can I try to take you somewhere else?"

Duncan felt a little confused: "...Why did you suddenly think of this?"

"I just... suddenly became a little curious about myself," Alice said slowly, "I don't think I've ever thought about this before. I'm busy on the ship every day, and I'm satisfied doing something I like. But it seems that no one except me is like this... Everyone knows what they want to do. What's that called... Oh, a sense of mission. It seems that everyone has a sense of mission, but I don't..."

The puppet suddenly stopped and thought seriously: "Should I have one too?"

"...There's nothing wrong with this," Duncan shook his head, "but I won't stop you from thinking more about yourself and understanding yourself more - understanding yourself is part of growth, and it's a good thing."

"Can dolls grow too?" Alice was a little curious.

"Yes, anyone can grow as long as they are willing. You have grown a lot now compared to when you first arrived on the ship. Gaining more knowledge is growth, meeting more people is growth, going to more places and seeing more scenery are all growth. As long as you are different today than you were yesterday, that is growth for you."

Alice said "oh" as if she understood something, then thought about it for a while, and suddenly thought of something happily: "Ah, then I forgot a few words I learned yesterday this morning, is it growth?"

Duncan suddenly fell silent: "..."

Alice: "Captain? Captain, why are you silent?"

"...Sometimes what I say is not precise." Duncan looked at Alice's back expressionlessly, trying to focus on the keyhole. "You have to understand it dialectically."

Alice thought about it, but couldn't figure it out - because she didn't know what "dialectic" meant.

But she felt that the captain was right, so she nodded happily: "Okay, then I have no problem! I'm ready, please wind me up!"

Duncan took a deep breath, quickly calmed his thoughts, and then carefully inserted the brass key into the keyhole of the puppet.

A familiar clicking sound was heard, and the clockwork key slid into the keyhole as if it was actively attracted. Then, the intricate and gorgeous patterns around the keyhole lit up slightly - the clockwork key began to rotate on its own, making a slight clicking sound.

The next second, Duncan felt the familiar dizziness and reset of perception coming from all directions, and then darkness descended like a curtain, covering everything around him, followed by a slightly cool touch - he seemed to have passed through an invisible door, and in the darkness, the fragments of light and shadow quickly reorganized and gradually stabilized into a spacious, gorgeous yet dim and weird place.

Duncan quickly woke up from his trance, and after getting rid of the dizziness, he immediately opened his eyes wide and looked around.

He found himself in that magnificent huge house, with an extremely spacious living room, a corridor covered with dark red carpet, a spiral staircase leading to the second floor, tall and narrow Gothic pointed windows, and a gloomy chandelier hanging high on the ceiling that seemed to be swaying slightly all the time.

But almost instantly, he realized that the surrounding environment was different from the "Alice Mansion" in his memory - the lights were dimmer, and the pale light emitted by the candles covered a small area like a limited gauze, making most corners of the house shrouded in darkness; the roof was more dilapidated, and the mottled and peeling dome even vaguely revealed a skeleton-like structure in some places, but only a chaotic gray could be seen in the gaps between the skeleton.

An atmosphere that is even more gloomy and eerie than the "Alice Mansion" in memory shrouds this place. Even in the dark corners just a stone's throw away, there seem to be countless invisible lurkers hiding, looking at the uninvited guests who break in here with cold and empty eyes.

Duncan frowned. He noticed that he was standing on a platform on the second floor of the mansion. Through the edge of the platform, he could see the lobby on the first floor and the spiral staircase leading to the lobby. After a little thought, he decided not to go to the first floor first, but turned and walked towards the corridor leading to the deepest part of the second floor.

And just as he turned around and took a step forward, he suddenly noticed another "strangeness" here.

Quiet, empty, and deserted—he did not see the headless mansion maids and attendants, nor did he hear any noise made by the servants, nor did he see the headless butler.

He still remembered that although the previous "Alice Mansion" was also very empty, he could still see headless servants hurrying past doors and corridors from time to time. Even in the seemingly empty rooms and halls, he could always hear whispers and the sound of objects colliding. Sometimes he could even hear the vague sound of music as if a dance was going on - although those sounds seemed even more eerie and gloomy in an empty mansion, at least they were some "lively" noises.

But there is not even that sound here, it is so quiet as if... it is dead.

Duncan gradually became more alert and walked towards the second-floor corridor.

The only sound echoing in the entire huge building was his monotonous and somewhat hollow footsteps.

He stopped at the entrance to the corridor leading to the "hostess' bedroom", looked up at the nearest wall, and then his eyes suddenly stopped on a painting.

There were many oil paintings hanging on the walls of "Alice Mansion". He still remembered what those paintings looked like - most of them were abstract and gloomy, with large patches of color painted over scenes that seemed like prophecies or historical records. Some of the paintings even depicted the disintegration of the New Hope and the "doomsday redshift". But here, he suddenly found that those paintings... had been replaced.

The painting closest to him was a bunch of crude and abstract figures - childish pencil lines on white paper outlined the image of Shirley holding an iron chain and swinging a dog.

Duncan: “…”

After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly felt that the eerie atmosphere in the mansion had dissipated a little, and then he noticed that on another painting next to it, there was a messy line drawing of a "captain" with a beard and a big hat...

He even felt that the atmosphere in the house was beginning to become warm.

This is indeed the "Alice Mansion", and certain details in the villa reflect the memories and daily life of the doll lady - from some angles, the connection between it and "Doll Alice" seems to be even closer than the "normal version" of the villa.

At least the normal version of the house wouldn't have an abstract painting of the entire crew of the Lost Homeland hanging in it.

Duncan smiled helplessly and walked deeper into the corridor.

As expected, he saw the huge "hole" at the end of the corridor.

The part that used to be the "hostess's bedroom" disappeared here out of thin air - the room that was "taken away" by Lenore was also an empty hole here.

Duncan stopped in front of the broken ground at the end of the corridor and lowered his head to think for a moment.

It seems that this is still the "Alice Mansion" that I know, but... it is "another version".

If you wind up Alice with different keys, you will enter different "copies" of the same "Alice Mansion"?

So what is the connection between this villa with a more gloomy atmosphere and seemingly abandoned for a longer time and the "route"?

Duncan silently pondered where he should start in order to find clues related to the "route" in this strange house, and then he naturally thought of the garden - and the doll sleeping in the thorns in the garden.

But just as he turned around and prepared to go to the garden, a flash of light in the corner of his eye made him stop suddenly.

The outline of the light that flashed in a flash made Duncan's heart move suddenly. He immediately stepped forward to the shiny object and stretched out his hand to brush away the shadows that covered the air like a black veil. The darkness retreated as if it had substance, and he saw the appearance of the object clearly: a... thing that looked very abrupt here no matter how you looked at it.

A "screen" like an LCD screen.

That thing was "embedded" in the wall at the end of the corridor. The silver-white metal frame was "fused" into the wall panel in some strange way. The screen-like surface was glowing slightly, with words and a flashing red frame jumping on it.

Duncan stared at the words on the "screen" and immediately realized that they were the same as the words on the device he had seen in the illusion of the "Holy Island" cave. Then, the meaning of the words appeared directly in his mind in the form of information -

[Core escape pod offline - illegal release, unauthorized operation.]

Duncan stared at the words in a daze for a few seconds, and finally reacted slowly. He turned his head and looked at the fragmented fracture and the "big hole" at the end of the corridor. He tossed the "New Hope Navigation Segment" and "Alice Mansion" back and forth in his mind, and finally understood a fact that was obvious but he didn't understand it until today.

So the Frost Queen drove away the escape pod of the New Hope...

No wonder she can drive her own “house” to the end of the world—that thing is an escape pod from a spaceship!