0
Mr. Fool, can I drink your milk?
Alice glanced at Klein.
This sounds like the "God-Forsaken Land"... Letting Frank Lee research crops that can grow in the "God-Forsaken Land" is indeed a good idea to kill two birds with one stone. Anyway, for Silver City, it's good enough to have something to eat, so they probably won't consider it...
Alice glanced silently at the remaining half glass of milk.
...probably they wouldn't even consider whether the milk is actually produced by cows.
Frank Lee took a sip of the milk and lowered his head to think. Seeing this, Alice stood up quietly and prepared to slip away.
"We won't bother you from thinking about things." Klein said politely and followed Alice away.
Frank Lee was unaware of their escape. He nodded perfunctorily and concentrated on his research.
After successfully sitting on the other side of the restaurant, Alice made a safe gesture and slumped in her chair. After a few seconds of blankness, she suddenly raised her head and asked Klein:
"Have you ever heard of cockroach milk?"
"Ah?" Klein's eyes were confused for a moment.
Alice turned around and introduced this grand project to Klein:
"It is said that the protein content of cockroach milk is four times that of milk..."
"...I've heard about this." Klein interrupted Alice with mixed feelings. "Thank you for reminding me of this."
"You're welcome." Alice didn't feel guilty at all.
But if that bacteria can make everything produce milk, then...
Alice cast a malicious look at Klein.
Before she could say anything, Klein jumped up from his spot like a cat with its fur standing on end. He retreated two or three meters before shouting:
"Don't even think about that kind of thing!"
The pirates in the restaurant looked over in confusion, even Frank Lee gave him a puzzled look.
It seems that I can't let him see me when I do this kind of thing... Hey, it's impossible to milk without being seen, right?
Alice looked away regretfully, frowning and thinking on the spot.
Her expression... She hasn't given up at all! Alas, although I feel sorry for Frank, I still hope that his research will fail, otherwise... I probably can't control her in this kind of thing...
Klein looked at Alice and sighed inwardly, then silently sat back in his original seat.
When the pirates finished their lunch shifts, Admiral of the Stars Cattleya opened the window of the captain's room again and used magic to amplify her voice:
"There is an island 1.5 nautical miles ahead. We will dock there and wait for the storm to pass.
"In this ocean, there is a possibility of a terrible storm every time noon and night alternate. I am not sure when it will come, but I think it is safer to wait until it passes before continuing to sail."
She explained it in detail. It was not difficult for the pirates to understand how to avoid the storm, so no one raised any objections. Even Alice just shook her head after listening and said,
"I want to learn this!
"This magic that makes sounds amplify is so convenient... Can this magic be adjusted so that the sound can be louder or softer..."
Klein couldn't bear to listen any longer, so he stood up and left the restaurant.
Not long after, an island covered with huge trees appeared in front of them. The "Future" anchored at the edge of the island in the leeward direction, waiting for the storm to come.
More than half an hour later, when Alice was leaning against the window of the captain's room holding an ice cream, the sky suddenly darkened and thick clouds covered the sky.
A bolt of lightning struck across the sky, tearing the dark sky apart. A huge roar sounded, and at the same time, a hurricane rolled over from afar.
It connects the clouds above and the sea below. It is more exaggerated than any giant in the legend, like a giant snake hovering around to destroy the world.
This terrifying tornado brought with it waves as high as mountains. The tree-like lightning did not stop even with the onset of the rainstorm, but continued to strike the sea surface, splitting into tiny electric snakes that spread in all directions.
The sound of raindrops hitting the deck of the "Future" made the pirates who had already entered the cabin or took shelter from the rain feel as if the end of the world had come.
Such a storm did not last long. After about a quarter of an hour, the waves subsided, the hurricane dissipated, and the midday sun dominated the sky again.
"You can move around on the island, but you can't go too deep. You must stay within the range of the artillery." Cattleya gave the pirates a brief opportunity to relax.
"Including me?" Alice, who had sneaked into the captain's room, turned around and asked.
"...You'd better not go too deep," Cattleya answered carefully, "I believe you won't be in danger, but you might get into trouble and delay your departure..."
Alice was convinced.
"You're really good at talking!" She gave Cattleya a thumbs up.
Cattleya remained even more silent. After a few seconds, she said to Alice:
"You too."
Alice remained silent and decided to go find Klein.
...If Klein is saying something like this, he must be cursing me in secret!
As for Cattleya—Alice thought she wouldn't dare.
Alice found Klein taking a walk on the beach near the sea. Apparently, this seemingly crazy but actually cautious adventurer did not explore the island.
Most of the pirates made a similar choice. They trusted the decision-making of "Admiral of the Stars" Cattleya and moved within the range of the artillery.
Even Frank Lee's work collecting samples was like this.
Oh, yes, Frank Lee is collecting soil and plant samples and other things from the island...
Alice looked away with mixed feelings, and noticed a black spot moving at high speed in the sky.
Alice looked at Klein and Cattleya, who soon noticed this as well. Cattleya took off the heavy glasses on her eyes and looked up at the sky.
Can those glasses prevent her from seeing things she shouldn't see here...
Alice glanced at Cattleya thoughtfully, then turned her head to look at the approaching black dot.
The figure was getting closer and closer. He was wearing a white shirt, a black vest, and black pants. He was a young man of medium build with blond hair parted in a 3:7 ratio and blue eyes.
but...
As the figure gradually approached, Alice slowly frowned, her eyes flickered, and a picture emerged from the figure.
Alice saw a giant coiled snake. The snake was white, scaleless, and covered with mysterious runes. She could now see and recognize some of the runes.
The giant white snake turned its head, revealing its cold and ruthless red eyes. Alice froze in place, watching the snake open its bloody mouth.
"Ah!" She let out a piercing scream. (End of this chapter)
Bitten by a Snake
The blond and blue-eyed young man was raising his right hand with a smile when he heard a girl's scream.
He stopped and looked in the direction of the sound. He saw a young man in a tuxedo and a top hat patting the girl beside him and whispering:
"Alice?"
Oh, it's fake...
Alice, who screamed out of habit, reacted. She blinked and hid behind Klein.
Alice's abnormal reaction successfully made Cattleya and Klein, two people who knew her background, look at the young man with vigilance.
"Do I look scary?" The young man had to raise his hands to show that he was harmless, and at the same time asked Alice helplessly with a brainless look.
"It's not that you look scary…" Alice poked half of her head out from behind Klein, "It's you… You look like you were bitten by a snake."
After a pause, she stood up completely, nodded and said,
"Yes, the snake that bit you is more scary."
Snake? What snake... Was she talking about the "Mercury Snake"? Klein was stunned for a moment and looked at Alice.
"Snake?" Cattleya looked at Alice suspiciously.
"Snake? I wasn't bitten by a snake…" The young man seemed to not understand a word he said.
Alice did not answer their doubts, but asked Cattleya: "Do you know him?"
Despite her doubts, Cattleya still answered Alice's question:
"His name is Anderson Hood. He is very famous in the Misty Sea and has the title of 'The Strongest Hunter'."
The strongest hunter... Alice blinked, not remembering the name, so she turned around and asked Klein, who was more proficient in memorizing the wanted poster:
"How much is his reward?"
"No, not the strongest... huh?" Anderson's words got stuck in his throat.
"There is no wanted warrant for him." Klein replied calmly, "He should just be a treasure hunter."
"I see…" Alice blinked, then reached out and patted Klein on the shoulder. "Looks like you still have a lot more work to do! Kill a few more pirate generals, and then you'll be the 'strongest hunter'!"
Cattleya looked at Alice hesitantly.
Anderson looked at her in surprise.
Alice turned her head to look at Anderson, and suddenly thought of a way to quickly achieve the goal. She asked Klein:
"If you kill the 'Strongest Hunter', will you be the new 'Strongest Hunter'?"
Anderson, the "strongest hunter", thought he finally understood Alice's thinking. He whistled and asked Alice:
"Are you a 'provocateur'? You are quite talented~"
"...No, I'm not." Alice denied this and closed her mouth.
Cattleya looked at Gehrman Sparrow and found that he had no intention of speaking, so she asked Alice:
"What does it mean to be bitten by a snake?"
"Ah," Alice blinked, "it's just...it's just that I'm going to be really unlucky."
After being stunned for a moment, Anderson immediately reacted and asked Alice excitedly:
"You know what happened!"
"So you know why you were bitten by the snake?" Alice asked back.
Anderson automatically established the equation of being bitten by a snake = being unlucky, and recounted the whole incident:
"This sea area is very dangerous, but it also hides many treasures. I believe you are also aware of this.
"There have been many adventurers, or more accurately, treasure hunters, who entered here in search of adventure, but most of them failed to make it out alive. Haha, I said most of them. There must be some lucky ones who were able to obtain items and materials and leave smoothly.
"This treasure hunting group was assembled by two treasure hunters with experience in this area. They claimed that they had figured out which ruins in the first half of the safe route could not be explored, which relics could be explored, which monsters should be hunted in what ways, and which out-of-control evil creatures must be avoided in what ways.
"I have always been curious about this place, and I was successfully persuaded by them to join their treasure hunt."
"It sounds like this treasure hunt is going to cause big problems…" Alice muttered to Klein.
"And then?" Cattleya looked at Anderson and asked. Alice noticed that there was a circle of rich purple in her eyes.
Could it be that the purple eyes are a sign of strengthening the "Eye of Prying Secrets"? Alice rolled her eyes, tugged at Cattleya and asked,
"Captain~'Admiral of the Stars'~can you look at me like this and tell me what you see?"
Cattleya closed her eyes.
The corner of Klein's mouth twitched. He reached out and pulled Alice back. He nodded to Anderson and said,
"continue."
Anderson glanced at Alice thoughtfully.
An experienced hunter would not look down upon any prey - of course, Alice was not a prey yet, but Anderson would not look down upon her just because she looked like a minor. After all, the attitude of "Admiral of the Stars" Cattleya towards Alice was enough to explain everything.
She has a secret, and it's not just an ordinary secret... Anderson turned his eyes away from Alice without leaving a trace, and said to Gehrman Sparrow:
"As expected of an adventurer who is going to become the 'strongest hunter', this sentence alone is very touching. Come on, I'm waiting for the day when you defeat me!"
"Can I beat him up?" Alice turned around and asked, "I think he deserves a beating as badly as I do."
Miss Fate... Cattleya looked at Alice hesitantly.
"Shut up." Klein responded briefly.
"Okay." Alice covered her mouth with her hand and looked at Klein with resentful eyes.
Klein chose to ignore this. He glanced at Anderson and said coldly:
"Didn't I tell you to continue?"
Anderson looked at Alice, then at Gehrman Sparrow, and finally said obediently,
"It went smoothly at first. It really went smoothly. We avoided danger, got a lot of relics from the previous explorers, and hunted some monsters and harvested several materials.
"Everything started when we discovered a strange temple on a flooded island with well-preserved murals.
"One of the murals is very bizarre, depicting a pilgrim group walking through parted waters.
"The leader of this group is depicted as an angel, with long silver hair down to his waist and soft features.
"I was the first to arrive in front of the mural. I stretched out my right hand and habitually drew some lines in the air. Really, I didn't touch it. There was at least 5 centimeters between me and the angel in the painting. Unexpectedly, it seemed that he opened his eyes at that moment."
"You can't do that," Alice put down her hand that was covering her mouth. "You should touch it and then criticize its composition, color, light and shadow…" (End of this chapter)
Run away
You didn't get the title of the strongest hunter because you caused too much trouble... haha.
Klein turned his head and looked at Alice.
"Are you serious?" Klein asked in surprise.
"Him?" Anderson repeated Alice's words. "The composition, the color, the light and shadow of 'him'?"
Alice ignored Anderson and smiled, turning to Klein and said,
"Please help me project a shadow, Mr. Magician... Uh, illusions should be able to be used for projection, right?"
After Klein nodded, she snapped her fingers and said with a smile:
"That's good... You still remember what Ouroboros looks like, right?"
"Ouroboros?" Cattleya repeated the strange name in confusion.
In this case, Klein simply used the illusion of the "magician" to present the image of Ouroboros.
An angel with silver hair, silver eyes and a gentle face appeared in front of them. Anderson's attitude suddenly became excited:
"Yes, that's right, it's Him!
" "He is the angel in the painting!"
"Ever since I saw that painting, I have been shrouded in bad luck!"
After a pause, he asked again in a doubtful and tentative tone:
"Who is this angel? I have never seen Him, at least not in the various paintings of the seven major churches.
"You just called the person who left the painting 'He'. Could it be that this painting was left by Him?"
"It's hard to explain to you..." Alice shrugged, "but you'd better run now... Hey, will running away really help?"
"Miss Destiny..." Cattleya finally couldn't help herself and called her worriedly.
Alice glanced at Anderson, whose expression had become serious, blinked and said:
"Well... it's normal that you, or you guys, haven't seen Him, right?
"He is not an angel from any church. If He must be assigned a church... ha, maybe the 'Aurora Society'?
"Have you heard of the 'Ancient Sun God'? He was once an angel loyal to the 'Ancient Sun God', the Angel of Destiny Ouroboros, also known as the 'Tail Swallower'...
"Me, Him, and...we are destined to be enemies, although in this life...well, thanks to you, He should have known that I am alive again...I ran away."
Alice swallowed back the bizarre and terrifying words like "I'm alive again", but Anderson still realized some incredible information from her words and shouted tentatively:
"Your Highness?"
This is the universally accepted name for angels, and it is what people would have called her if Alice had not considered herself a deity.
"What should we do?" Alice turned her head and looked at Klein. "He found out."
Even though she asked that, Alice didn't have much emotion. Even though she guessed that one look was enough to let Ouroboros know of her existence, she actually had no intention of running away.
Because Ouroboros didn't seem to have any intention of coming to find her.
From Alice's impression of the "fate" path, she suspected Ouroboros was waiting for fate's revelation... because she was too.
Maybe Will Auceptin is waiting too...
As soon as this possibility came up, Alice suppressed it in her mind.
Alice realized that the fact she didn't want to face was very likely true - this might be the reason why they couldn't fight.
After all, although she had never seen the deification ceremonies of other paths, Alice was sure that no other path's deification ceremony would be the same as the "fate" path... fate.
What does it mean to take the potion at the right moment? !
When Alice first saw this ceremony, she had a kind of hallucination feeling like she was reading a Chinese novel about cultivating immortals - the time has not come, the fate has not come, the destined person will get it, but there is no fate of immortality...
In short, everything can be attributed to fate and timing.
Just like the Beyonders of the "Destiny" Path can attribute everything to fate...
Alice, who likes to leave everything to fate, shook her head, sighed heavily, and looked at Anderson deeply.
What does this mean... Is this a secret? Did I accidentally guess something I shouldn't know? But you can't blame me, she... No, with her look, it's only a matter of time before the secret is leaked...
Did He leak the secret on purpose?!
That's not right, how could this benefit Him... Hiss, with that look in his eyes, is He planning to silence me?
"I won't tell anyone!" Anderson jumped up excitedly.
...What is he doing?
Alice seemed to be thinking deeply, but her brain was actually down. After staying there for more than ten seconds, she realized that Anderson seemed to have misunderstood her and thought she was going to kill her.
"Only the dead can keep secrets," she said in a deep voice.
Klein said nothing, and his face showed no expression. He had long been accustomed to Alice's occasional twitches, and at this moment, he was trying hard to hold back his laughter.
Praise the Joker.
Cattleya swallowed hard twice, and suddenly remembered that when she first entered the mysterious palace above the gray fog, Alice told her seriously that it was the underworld.
She looked at Alice several times, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she said nothing.
The "world" hasn't said anything yet, so let's wait for the "world" to speak...
Only Anderson stood there, sweating profusely.
While Anderson was nervously organizing his words and thinking about what to do next, Alice finally couldn't help laughing and her body fell smoothly towards Klein.
Klein reached out his hand expressionlessly and pushed Alice back to her original position. After Alice stopped laughing and glared at him, she fell back towards Cattleya.
Cattleya looked stiffly at Alice, who was lying on her shoulder and laughing so hard that her whole body was shaking. She couldn't help but look at Klein with a puzzled look.
"Are you done laughing?" Klein thought for a moment, then walked over and pulled Alice up.
Amid Ally's undisguised laughter, Anderson finally realized that he was probably being fooled. He had the same questions as everyone else, but what was different was that he asked them out loud:
"Your Highness, how did you successfully become an angel?"
Anderson tried hard to make his words sound polite, but he really had no similar experience, and his tone, his manner, and his words together created an uncanny effect.
"I didn't get promoted," Alice, who was being mocked, spread her hands. "If I must say, I probably swallowed a '0' level sealed item by accident... Sigh, maybe this is the trouble of the Chosen One!"
After a pause, she added:
"Don't call me Your Highness. If you really want to call me that, just call me Your Majesty!" (End of this chapter)
His Majesty
the Doom? Accidentally swallowed a Level 0 Sealed Item? No, no, huh?
Anderson's eyes wandered between Cattleya and a certain unknown adventurer, trying to get confirmation.
He wasn't even in the mood to think about Ouroboros.
But he didn't wait for anyone to pay attention to him. As Alice's laughter gradually subsided, the ground began to shake.
A figure nearly three meters tall appeared at the edge of the island's primeval forest. It was grayish white all over and seemed to be made up of huge rocks. Its face was bumpy and had no obvious eyes, nose, mouth or ears.
The uneducated Alice stared at the unknown monster and thought for two seconds, then looked at the "Admiral of the Stars" Cattleya.
Klein and Anderson also didn't recognize this monster, but they didn't cast doubtful looks at Cattleya. Instead, they stared at the monster intently, with an "I'm very professional" look.
"Stone Giant..." Without Alice asking, Cattleya whispered the type of monster.
Cattleya turned around, facing the "Future" parked on its side, half-raised her right hand, and spoke in a loud voice:
"aim!"
Eh, is this how it was solved... Alice turned her head blankly to look at the "Future".
The pirates on duty on the ship immediately adjusted the direction of dozens of cannons on the port side and aimed them all at the stone giant who was walking heavily towards them.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Bombs flew out and landed around the stone giant. Dust flew everywhere and the ground shook more and more severely. In the lingering firelight, Alice saw the stone giant who was safe and sound.
The tall gray figure walked through the smoke and dust, and did not seem to have suffered any serious injuries, except for some tiny cracks on the skin.
Alice looked at Cattleya in confusion.
Cattleya didn't seem surprised by this result. She explained calmly:
"This is not a type of giant, it's a stone monster.
"Its core is the main material of the 'God of War' Path Sequence 5 'Guardian', so its defense is very high."
"...What are you doing?" Alice's eyes became increasingly confused.
Cattleya didn't look back. She looked at the stone giant approaching step by step and replied,
"I have never seen this kind of extraordinary creature before, so I want to do a test."
I understand. It's like Alice puts everything she sees into her mouth... Klein glanced at Alice, and his eyes met with Alice's as she turned her head to look at him.
"Were you guys pretending to know something when you didn't?" Alice asked sincerely.
...You just need to know about this kind of thing in your heart. Why ask it out loud?
Klein gritted his teeth in his heart and began to think about what to say now to maintain his image.
At this moment, Anderson Hood raised his hand and said, "Who among you has extraordinary abilities in the frost realm?"
"So you're the only one pretending to know when you don't!" Alice's voice of sudden enlightenment followed.
This... Anderson Hood's mouth twitched. He resisted the urge to look at "Admiral of the Stars" Cattleya and an unknown adventurer, and continued to stare at the stone giant intently.
"I." Cattleya's calm voice sounded, making the scene seem a little more serious.
Alice turned her head curiously and saw Cattleya take out a gray-black scroll from the secret pocket of the wizard's robe and whispered a word in ancient Hermetic:
"Freeze!"
Eh, is this a power? Isn't this a magical item... Oh wait, this should be the power of the "Scroll Professor"!
Alice opened her eyes wide and watched the scene. Ice-blue flames suddenly rose from the scroll and submerged the entire scroll. Crystal clear streams of light fell from the sky.
The rays of light fell on the stone giant, hanging icy spikes on his body and freezing him inside.
With a teeth-grinding snapping sound, the ice layers shattered one after another, and the stone giant slowly walked out of the area. However, the grayish-white color of its appearance had become a little darker, and its movements were much stiffer than at the beginning.
At this moment, Anderson raised his hands, as if the conductor was signaling the audience to applaud, and Alice clapped in response.
Anderson finally couldn't help it. He turned his head and looked at Alice, his eyes full of confusion - what on earth are you thinking about?
Alice stared at him in silence for two seconds, vaguely realizing that this was not a good time to applaud. In order to make up for her mistake, she decided to move her hands reluctantly.
Alice actually saw the weakness of the stone giant from the future scene. Cattleya's frost and Anderson's fire successfully cracked the stones on the stone giant's body - this actually utilized a certain physical law.
Although in reality, Alice does not possess either the ability in the field of ice or the ability in the field of fire, but as an angel of the path of "destiny", she has other ways to do all this.
For example, she could attract extraordinary creatures that are good at ice and fire, and let the aftermath of their battle accidentally hurt the stone giant...
But that would be troublesome.
Alice shook her head and rejected the idea herself.
The ground suddenly began to shake, and the violent tremor made it difficult for people to stand. Even with the help of extraordinary abilities, Klein and Anderson still had difficulty walking.
Compared to the helplessness of the two extraordinary people trapped on the ground, Cattleya was much more relaxed. Starlight appeared around her, and she floated in the air, away from the battlefield.
The shaking did not seem to be limited to their area, but affected the entire island. The pirates in the distance were inevitably affected as well, and they all came up with their own solutions.
Amid the huge rumble, Cattleya's voice, amplified by magic, was slightly blurred:
"Go back to the ship."
Of course, that didn't matter. The pirates moved towards the Future on their own accord without her warning.
Alice watched this scene calmly in the air. The ground was torn into cracks and then closed again in the tremor, but no pirates slipped and fell, and no one was accidentally stuck - Anderson didn't count.
When the stone giant was cut in half by the bite force of the earth, Anderson's screams rang out.
Alice shifted her gaze from the stone giant to Anderson, one of whose feet had been stuck in the gap.
Alice looked at Anderson with mixed feelings, and the tremors in the ground began to gradually subside, as if they were only meant to trap the stone giant and Anderson.
After the sudden earthquake stopped, Alice fell back to the ground with mixed feelings. She walked forward, looked at Anderson's stuck right foot, held her forehead and asked:
"What on earth did you do to the Ouroboros mural...
"Normally, it should have ended after the stone giant fell in..."
(End of this chapter)
At least he's just dead
Chapter 392 Chapter 75 At least he's just dead,
huh?
Klein looked at Alice as if he had noticed something. When he looked at her, Alice raised her head reflexively and said in defense:
"I just didn't notice him for a moment!
"It's none of my business if he offended Ouroboros himself!"
"I just want to ask if you were the one who caused the earthquake..." Klein explained.
After a pause, he added:
"I don't mean to blame you, I just found out that you... well, you can do this kind of thing."
Alice, who had been feeling guilty, suddenly became proud again. She straightened her chest and said with a serious expression and tone:
"Be in awe, tremble, mortals!
I am the master of misfortune... ah ah ah, I was wrong!"
Halfway through the play, Alice noticed that Klein raised his hand and was about to hit her, so she screamed and hid behind Cattleya with her head in her hands.
Having seen similar incidents countless times, Cattleya stood there silently, acting like a qualified dead person.
Anderson, who encountered this kind of thing for the first time, opened his mouth in surprise and wanted to say something, but he found that there was no suitable person.
——The only person who seemed to be suitable, the adventurer whose name he didn't know, walked up to the remaining half of the stone giant's wreckage and began to search inside.
"Empty." He stood up and said.
"Can you please get me out first!" Anderson shouted angrily.
At the end of this farce, "Admiral of the Stars" Cattleya called two sailors whose names Alice couldn't remember and dug Anderson out.
Anderson walked with his teeth bared, muttering:
"Damn it, ever since I saw that painting, I've been so unlucky..."
Alice blinked and asked in confusion, "So what did you do to the painting? Did you really criticize His painting skills?"
To this, Anderson Hood refuted without hesitation:
"I didn't! I didn't do anything!
" "I was shocked at the time, but after staying there for a long time, the painting didn't show any abnormalities, so I thought it was an illusion.
"From there, however, our exploration team split into two parts.
"Most of them were frightened by my description and thought they should not explore the temple. The remaining one third, eager to gain more treasures, headed deeper into the temple.
"We waited for a whole day, three times from noon to night, but they never came back.
"We are all excellent treasure hunters. We knew something must have gone wrong. After confirming it, we dared not stay or wait any longer. We immediately left the temple and returned by boat. We had already gained enough and did not want to take any more risks.
"After leaving the temple, we found that we had some strange changes. We became very unlucky and nothing went well.
"Even if I was quietly drinking a few sips of light beer, I would find that someone had used the barrel as a toilet and peed in it...Oh, don't look at me like that, I don't have that hobby, this is the experience of my companions."
Halfway through his story, Anderson was successfully distracted by Alice's questioning look.
"I know, it's okay." Alice looked at him with pity.
Anderson seemed to want to say something to refute Alice. Klein realized that if he continued like this, the topic would be diverted again, so he reminded him,
"What about the other side?"
"Yes," Alice slapped her head, "but on the other hand? How did you get here?"
Anderson gave up arguing and continued:
"In dreams, we gain control over ourselves. We are no longer in a confused state where we know something but cannot take action.
"And, one of our companions claimed at night that he had been inspired by fate to find a key that could unlock all the treasures..."
"Huh?" Alice opened her eyes wide.
Cattleya and Klein also subconsciously looked at Alice. Their reactions made Anderson realize that the matter was not simple, and he asked tentatively:
"Have you ever encountered something similar?"
"How is your companion?" Alice said evasively.
Anderson glanced at Alice and continued:
"He successfully persuaded some of our companions, about one-third of the original number, to explore the dream with him and look for the so-called key.
"Before we could wait for those companions to return, their bodies in the real world also transformed into monsters and killed most of the sailors.
"And the companion who originally proposed to find the key...
"He, he…"
Anderson's expression gradually became strange.
"What's the matter with him?" Alice demanded.
"It was like... it was like he was cheated out of all his money and love by someone he thought was his true love," Anderson Hood said. "Anyway, after he killed the monster with us, he shouted something like 'It's fake, they're all liars, they're all scammers' and committed suicide..."
"He didn't turn into a monster?" Alice frowned.
"No," Anderson shook his head. "He's getting better, but I feel... um... like, like... hopeless?"
Seeing their solemn expressions, Anderson added:
"However, no matter how we asked, he was unwilling to tell us what happened. He was only thinking about committing suicide.
"We were short of sailors and were unlucky. If we didn't keep a close eye on him, he would...
"Then we had another string of bad luck and were unable to reach the island before the storm.
"Our ship sank, along with our catch; the rest of our companions were either drowned, struck by lightning, or devoured by water monsters. I did not see all of them with my own eyes.
"I was the only one who was a little stronger and luckier than them. I was thrown by the waves and successfully swam to this island. I started to try to make a canoe to get out, but my axe was broken in the end..."
A little luck... Alice's mouth twitched, and she glanced at Anderson's still lame right leg and asked in a friendly manner,
"Do you need treatment?"
"Oh," Anderson looked at Alice in surprise, "Do you have any healing abilities?"
"You could say that," Alice blinked, "but if you're so lucky, why did you get hurt?"
"…relatively speaking," Anderson tried to explain, "a little luckier than my dead companions."
"Not necessarily," Klein advised calmly, "At least your companion is only dead. If you meet her... you might end up living a life worse than death."
(End of this chapter)