Chapter 94: Chapter 98 Alice Knows Nothing
Imagine this scene: you’re on a creaking ghost ship, pushing open a wooden door at the end of a hallway. An oil lamp flickers dimly, swaying gently. In the trembling light, a headless doll in a gothic dress sits in front of a vanity mirror, holding its own head in its hands. The head turns toward you, slowly revealing a stiff smile…
Duncan felt that if he hadn’t already spent so many days on this ship and grown so familiar with Alice, he would have whipped out his gun and pulled the trigger in an instant.
But Alice was completely oblivious to the eerie atmosphere she had just created. She obediently “popped” her head back onto her neck, her responsiveness quickly returning, and she greeted Duncan with a bright smile, “Good evening, Captain! Were you looking for me?”
It was only then that Duncan collected himself, eyeing the doll with suspicion for a long while, “What are you doing here? And why did Goat Head say you were in the cabin counting hairs?”
Alice moved her neck from side to side and straightened her slightly disheveled hair with her fingers, her expression a bit awkward, “Just… seeing how much hair I have left.”
Duncan looked at the doll as if it were dim-witted, and then his eyes finally caught sight of something at the edge of the table: a spool of thread that had tumbled out from who-knows-where, wound with several strands of silvery-white hair, its origin obvious…
Duncan was expressionless: “…”
Alice noticed where the captain’s gaze was directed and immediately picked up the spool, earnestly explaining to Duncan, “You see, this one is called Miffy, this one is called Perly, this one is called Phemia, and this one… its name is…”
Duncan was shocked, “You even named every single strand of hair that fell out?!”
“For remembrance,” Alice said with solemnity, her seriousness tinged with a hint of sadness, “Didn’t you say it yourself? I’m a puppet, and puppets can’t grow their hair… If one day it all falls out, at least I can hold this list and reminisce about the good times we had…”
Duncan was bewildered by the puppet to the point of temporarily forgetting his purpose for coming here, and after staring dumbfounded for a moment, he finally managed to choke out, “I only mentioned that in passing— you didn’t have to take it to heart… And no wonder you’ve been staying in the cabin these past few days; you’ve been busy doing this? Counting hairs and naming the ones that fall out?”
Alice nodded harmlessly, “Uh-huh.”
With a grave expression, Duncan finally sighed, “Alright, I’ll look around the City-State for you later, see if there’s a craftsman skilled in this that can help you…”
Alice was startled, “You’re going to kidnap someone and bring them to the ship?”
Duncan glared at her, “I’ll buy you a few wigs to have on hand! Does it sound reasonable for a Ghost Ship that’s a moving natural disaster to abduct a puppeteer from a human City-State in the Endless Sea?”
“That moving natural disaster sneaking into a human City-State to buy wigs doesn’t sound very reasonable either…” Alice mumbled subconsciously, but she quickly swallowed the rest of her words, “Ah, never mind, hehe…”
“Stop with the silly laughter,” Duncan felt a sudden drain of strength and waved his hand dismissively, finally remembering the real reason for his visit, “Never mind that, you’ve got me sidetracked from important matters—Alice, sit down. I came to you with serious business.”
Seeing the captain’s stern expression, Alice knew it wasn’t a time for jokes. She quickly put away the spool, briskly sitting down on a wooden chest by the bed—sitting upright with her hands folded on her lap, the epitome of grace and dignity.
Duncan, on the other hand, sighed, wondering why his resolve always seemed so easily broken in front of Alice— even when he first came to this world, he could maintain his composure and indifference in front of Goat Head, and even when he possessed the body of a victim facing a room full of corpses, he could keep his expression stoic. But facing this overly sinister doll, his expression and demeanor always teetered on the brink of collapse.
On reflection, it must be the power of the style—Alice’s style was truly hard to resist.
He gestured with his fingers and a chair immediately screeched its way over to him. He sat down, trying to regain his grim and authoritative demeanor, and fixed his gaze into Alice’s eyes.
“Lei Nora—does that name mean anything to you?”
“Lei Nora?” Alice blinked, a genuine look of confusion on her face, “I’ve never heard of her… Sounds like a woman’s name? And it gives the impression of elegance and nobility… A friend of yours?”
“Theoretically, she should be your ‘acquaintance’, but you say you don’t know her… fair enough, I believe you,” Duncan was not particularly surprised by Alice’s response, and he continued to ask, “What about Frost City-State then? Are you familiar with it? Any impressions?”
“Frost City-State? I’ve heard of it when I was inside the box, it seems to be a city-state atop the Chill Sea, and there’s a place called Cold Harbor. It’s the gateway between Frost and the central sea area,” Alice pondered, “But that’s all I know, just the names.”
“And ‘Alice Guillotine’?”
The doll looked puzzled, “Alice I know, that’s my name—I’m Alice—but what’s a guillotine?”
Duncan proceeded to ask several more questions, each response much the same.
And this situation was essentially within his expectations.
Alice was completely clueless about all of this, just like she had described on the day they first met; she had no idea about her past, didn’t know the truth behind “anomaly 099,” was oblivious to the existence of the Frost City-State, and had never heard of the Frost Queen who had passed away half a century ago.
Even though she looked exactly like the Frost Queen.
Duncan had not expected many direct answers when he asked these questions, he simply wanted to test, to see if Alice would have any special reaction upon hearing these “keywords” — now that the test was over, the puppet remained that naïve puppet.
He was confident that this timid creature wouldn’t dare to disguise her true reactions in front of him — her intelligence probably didn’t support her in performing such sophisticated maneuvers.
So… perhaps he should focus not on the puppet, but on the “coffin”?
Duncan’s gaze grew keener as he turned his attention to the ornate, hefty wooden chest belonging to Alice.
The gorgeous chest that once contained the puppet still sat in the room, now with Alice comfortably perched atop it.
Alice was quite fond of her chest, using it as a seat and for storage, sometimes even sleeping inside it — despite there being a normal bed in the room.
“Open the chest and let me see inside,” said Duncan.
Alice felt a bit puzzled but quickly hopped down and casually opened the chest.
Duncan stepped forward to look inside.
The wooden chest was lined with soft red velvet, and a small pile of trinkets lay haphazard in a corner: a comb, a spool of thread for winding hair, a small mirror, and a few metal ornaments.
“I found these on the ship, in other cabins,” Alice pointed to the corner of the chest, carefully explaining, “I asked Mr. Goat Head, and he said they were ownerless, I … Can I keep them? I think they are pretty…”
Duncan glanced at the old ornaments.
Perhaps a century ago, others on this ship had adorned their hair or chests with these very items.
They were evidence of Homeloss’s once connection to the human world.
“You can keep them, they are yours,” Duncan nodded, but then his eyes suddenly caught sight of a small object within the pile of trinkets and he couldn’t help but reach out to pick it up, “This thing…”
It was a delicate hairpin, so finely made it seemed out of place on Homeloss. It resembled a silver-white feather, its edges adorned with bits of froth, and despite a century having passed, it still looked as pristine as when it was new — this starkly contrasted with the other weathered items.
Duncan furrowed his brow, not knowing why, but upon seeing this hairpin, he felt an inexplicable sense of… nostalgia.
Even a name was on the verge of slipping out.
But he couldn’t recall the name that was about to escape his lips.
Duncan blinked; he was somewhat taken aback, unsure what this sudden emotion welling up from within was about, but gradually, he understood.
Just as he had known the name “Duncan Ebnomal” upon first coming aboard this ship… he had once again touched upon the residual “echo” within his own body!
He looked down at the hairpin in his hand, pondering how such a delicately small object could resonate with the greatest disaster of the Endless Sea, but soon, Alice’s voice startled him from his reverie, “Captain? Captain, are you…”
“Sorry, I can’t give you this hairpin,” Duncan came back to his senses and spoke to Alice, but he then felt that might be a bit too harsh for the puppet lady, so he added, “I’ll get you some new ones in the City-State later — these are all very old.”
“Really?!” Alice immediately showed a delighted expression, “You’re so kind, Captain!”
“Don’t be too quick to praise me,” Duncan shook his head, casually pocketing the hairpin, “We still haven’t finished our serious talk… Alice, I have something to tell you next, it concerns your ‘nature,’ and you need to listen carefully.”
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