Alice seemed very excited.

Now she was observing everything in this place with wide eyes and curiosity. If Duncan hadn't stopped her, she might have even run into the black fog at the end of the hall. She pulled Duncan to ask questions, from the cables hanging from the ceiling to the situation outside the door not far away - with Duncan's very patient explanation, she had figured out that this was in the "Alice Mansion", and it was a "special Alice Mansion", and this incredible experience was obviously regarded by her as a very interesting "adventure".

"Wow... So this is what Alice's Mansion looks like," the doll lady laughed happily, circling around the platform where she sat at the beginning, "Is this really my house? It's so big? It's a pity that I can't move in..."

"First, this is only a part of Alice's Mansion. Strictly speaking, it should be a hall inside," Duncan looked at the puppets circling around him and couldn't help but remind him, "Second, the other Alice's Mansion doesn't look like this. The corresponding position over there is a garden. I think using different keys to open the door will lead to different Alice's Mansions."

"Oh oh..." Alice nodded as she listened, not knowing whether she really heard it.

Duncan's eyes quickly fell on the drawing board in Alice's arms.

Before Alice regained consciousness, the drawing board was held in the arms of the puppet, and she is still holding it subconsciously until now - Duncan still remembers clearly that in "another version of Alice's Mansion", the drawing board held in the arms of the puppet in the garden depicted the scene of "doomsday redshift", so what would be on this drawing board here?

"Alice, show me your drawing board," he suddenly said.

"Drawing board?" The puppet was stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted and realized that he was holding something in his arms. He quickly ran over and handed the drawing board to the captain, "Here!"

Duncan took the drawing board, turned it over, and then his brows gradually frowned.

The front of the "drawing board" was a screen, which was filled with a large number of lines and symbols that even he could not understand. There were also countless dense and constantly refreshing data flowing around those lines and symbols, as if extremely complex calculations and reorganizations were being carried out every moment.

Duncan frowned as he watched all this. He suddenly guessed something in his mind. At this moment, Alice came over curiously, put her head next to Duncan's shoulder and looked at the contents on the "drawing board". Suddenly, she let out a long sigh: "Oh..."

Duncan looked up immediately: "Do you know what this is?"

"Position, our current coordinates relative to the overall space-time structure of the shelter," Alice said without hesitation, and then before the captain could continue to ask, she added confidently, "What do I mean?"

Duncan: “…”

He found that ever since he awakened Alice here, he was increasingly unsure of what to say to the puppet!

But Alice's response at least confirmed his previous guess: this is the route!

The "route" opened by the navigation key that Queen Leviathan handed over to her was indeed on the "puppet" sleeping in the mansion, which was this "drawing board"!

The puppet beside him was curiously observing Duncan's expression. At this time, he tilted his head in confusion: "Captain? Why don't you pay attention to me?"

"Alice," Duncan suddenly woke up from his deep thoughts and looked at the doll in front of him seriously, "If I'm right, this is the 'route' leading to the nodes of the outer barrier. Do you know how to 'use' it?"

Alice was stunned when she heard that. She took the drawing board from Duncan hesitantly and slid her fingers across the "screen" that was constantly refreshing the data and lines. After a while, she muttered to herself, "I think... I know? But it seems I need to study it a little more..."

She frowned and raised her head: "I feel like the 'how to use' is in my mind. I can activate something by instinct, but this requires a process... Don't worry, it won't take long."

As the puppet explained this, Duncan suddenly realized something. He immediately looked up and saw that the "tree" composed of countless cables and pipes connecting the dome and the platform had moved.

Countless streams of light quickly became brighter and more active between its "branches". Many cables that were originally hidden in the darkness appeared out of thin air at the edge of its "crown" and extended into the black fog surrounding the hall. A low humming sound came from the fog, as if something was starting up and gradually increasing its power...

The puppet's fingers slid across the lines and symbols on the drawing board, and rapidly flowing data emerged from her side, floating in the air like a ghost. She gradually stopped talking, as if all her "attention" was immersed in the work thread.

Duncan suddenly heard a voice. It was Alice's voice, but it did not come from the puppet's mouth, but came directly from some "broadcasting device" above the hall:

"Host started... parsing the star map, the star map is authorized by... Pilot No. 1..."

Duncan looked at the scene in amazement but not surprise. A hint of expectation emerged in his heart. But at this moment, a noise suddenly reached his ears, and then the flowing light on the "tree" and the buzzing sound of equipment in all directions quickly weakened.

"Parsing paused...unauthorized access detected."

Duncan's eyes changed slightly, and then he saw Alice seemed to be stunned for a moment, and then she raised her head as if awakened: "Captain, there is a knock on the door!"

Someone knocks on the door?!

Duncan reacted immediately, and almost at the same time, he heard the sound of knocking on the door - the knock was not loud, but it seemed to ignore the distance and attenuation, and it came directly and clearly into his ears from a far distance.

The person knocking on the door was very patient, and the rhythm was repeated with mechanical precision.

Alice jumped down from the platform holding the drawing board and came to Duncan nervously: "Captain, do you want to open the door?"

"...Follow me," Duncan thought for a moment and said seriously, and then reminded, "Hold the drawing board well and don't let it out of your hands."

"Oh... OK!"

Alice agreed in a panic, then followed the captain's steps and walked quickly towards the door not far away.

The two left the dimly lit navigation hall, and under the guidance of Duncan, they stepped into the extremely long corridor, passed through silent rooms and porches, and quickly moved towards the main hall on the first floor of the mansion.

The knocking on the door continued patiently, each knock seemed to strike directly into one's heart.

Duncan inexplicably thought of the knock on the door he heard in his bachelor apartment, and of the Frost Queen who came to visit him through the thick fog - but then he temporarily put this irrelevant association behind him.

Alice, holding her drawing board, almost trotted after the captain. She looked in amazement at the corridors, narrow windows and wooden doors leading to nowhere around her. She seemed to have many questions in her mind but was too busy to speak them out.

This building was so huge that if the captain hadn't led the way, she thought she might even get lost in it.

Then, they finally arrived at the main hall of the mansion.

The gloomy and towering door stood like a giant at the end of the dark red carpet, and knocking sounds kept coming from outside the door, bang bang, bang bang.

Duncan frowned and brought the puppet to the gate.

He tried to sense the aura outside the door, but felt that there was only nothingness outside. He did not feel any hostility, nor did he feel any danger - not even any specific "existence".

The knock on the door seemed to be urging him, and after weighing the pros and cons and hesitation, Duncan put his hand on the door.

He recalled what the headless butler had said to him -

[“Never open the door, for outside is doomsday.”]

Alice stood nervously behind the captain, holding the drawing board tightly in her arms and looking at the gloomy and towering door.

A creaking sound reached her ears.

Duncan exerted force with his hands and carefully pushed the door open - then he found that the door was lighter than he thought.

There was no lock, no rust, and although it creaked, the door was as light as a feather - and as the door opened, a ray of sunlight suddenly pierced through the darkness, passed through the door, and shone into the eyes of Duncan and Alice.

A brilliant sun was burning in the void, and the bright and fierce sunlight shone on the outer walls and main entrance of Alice Mansion, but this fierce sunlight did not hurt anyone's eyes.

Duncan felt a sense of familiarity from the sunlight, and then he saw the magnificent sun slowly turning in his field of vision—the corona was fading, and beneath the burning shell was the true face of the ancient god.

Countless pale dying tentacles and swollen flesh piled up into stars, supporting the burning shell. A huge single eye was surrounded by tentacles, slowly adjusting its angle, staring at the two figures standing at the door of the mansion.

The Creeping Sun, the Black Sun, the "True Sun God" as the Sun Cultists call him - it is knocking at the door.

"I almost gave up." Before Duncan could speak, a weak voice reached his ears. The ancient god who was scorched by the sun's corona said with layers of tremors, "I was about to leave."

Duncan stared expressionlessly (actually he was a little dazed because of the surprise) at the "ancient god" floating in the void, whose specific distance and size seemed impossible to judge with the naked eye. After a long while, he spoke: "...The house is very big. It takes a long time to walk from the innermost to the door after hearing the knock on the door."

As soon as he finished speaking, Alice beside him nodded: "Yes, it's really big! We ran in the corridor for a long time!"

The deformed sun fell silent, and after several seconds he spoke again: "Yeah, that makes sense."