For Duncan, the most easily deduced among the series of hastily conveyed ssages from the Saint was actually the first one—that sothing designed to last only eight thousand years was now operating in overload.
The first thing he could think of was the "sun" that was now hanging over the Endless Sea, which had already begun to malfunction and even start dropping parts—indeed, it was the "First Anomaly" created by the Saint leading the Ancient Crete clan during the Ancient Crete Kingdom era.
The sun had been operating for ten thousand years, if its original design life was really only eight thousand years... then its current troubling state was explained.
And extending from this, the Saint also ntioned that "they" were waiting for a signal from "sowhere" within this period, but had not received it to date—who were "they"? And this "sowhere," the short burst of noise referred to, what place was it?
"We didn’t receive the signal from *&%￥ outside within the ti limit..."
Duncan recalled the exact words he had heard from that ancient god’s mouth, combining it with the descriptions in the Book of Desecration, he could boldly guess that the "we" referred to should be the "Ancient Kings," which included the current four cardinal gods as well as various other ancient gods and lost gods—just this piece of intelligence alone was enough to upset this world.
The four cardinal gods and the universally acknowledged "Evil Ancient Gods" were waiting for sothing together and even had a common goal—if Fenna had heard this back then, she probably would have made a beeline for the exit.
But what Duncan was more concerned about was the second half of the sentence: "the signal from *&%￥ outside"... What exactly was that short burst of noise?
If the anomaly 001-sun had also turned into a short burst of noise in the Saint’s mouth, could it be assud that this short burst of noise referred to sothing closely related to the nature and rank of anomaly 001? Or was there so important similarity?
What were the characteristics of anomaly 001? Was it ancient? Was it an enigmatic artifact crafted by ancient gods? Did it possess a massive scale that could influence the entire world? Was it suspected to be related to the Black Sun? Or was it that...
Its "parts" contained so key structures from the "old world," such as those "lost stars"...
So, could the short burst of noise in the signal from *&%￥ outside also be related to the old world?
Duncan raised his hand and gently massaged his slightly swollen forehead, then he stopped again, thoughtfully looking at his own hands.
Usurping Fla... this was not the first ti he had heard a "person" call him that.
The Black Sun addressed him so, and now the Saint did as well, and their greatest common point was the rank of ancient gods—mbers of the "Ancient Kings."
However, judging from the Saint’s attitude, He seed to only know the na or concept of "Usurping Fla" and did not know the specific abilities and essence of "Usurping Fla." The only valid intelligence He revealed was that the Usurper would awaken at the "end of the cycle"...
What about the other "Ancient Kings" then? The Storm Goddess, the Ever-burning Ember, the God of Wisdom... did these "deities" that maintain so connection with the mortal world know more?
Duncan shook his head, sighing softly with a helpless expression.
It was bad enough that the world was full of mysteries, but his own being was just as enigmatic, and what was even more vexing was that those "ancient gods" and "cardinal gods" knew even more about this than he did, which inevitably made him acrimonious, and what’s more frustrating was that the divine network was not reliable, connections were completely left to chance...
As for the so-called "end of the cycle," Duncan had completely no clue nor the energy to ponder it any longer.
He walked through the small path on the edge of the garden and returned to the abrupt stone pillar, quietly watching the silver-haired automaton sleeping among the thorns.
Whether it was the Saint who built Alice’s Mansion, or Alice’s Mansion existed first and then the Saint used this mansion to establish the link with the real world, one thing was certain: the sleeping automaton here was inseparably linked to the "Alice" in the real world.
Duncan approached the sleeping automaton and took out the wind-up key he carried, and now by turning this key on the automaton, he could return to the real world.
But at that mont, a new idea popped into his head.
Duncan silently put away the key and turned towards the exit of the garden.
Following the route in his mory, he passed through the shadowy and lush groves and flowerbeds and ca to the garden gate adorned with elaborate stained glass and intricate wrought iron lines.
The gate was ajar, and faintly, conversation, footsteps, and the seemingly never-ending, rhythmic, and intermittent music from the direction of the mansion’s great hall could be heard.
He pushed open the gate, and the elongated, dimly lit corridor was empty.
But no sooner had Duncan stepped into the corridor than the ghostly, headless butler abruptly entered his sight—just as if the headless butler had been standing in those shadows a few ters away all along.
"Ah, it’s the guest with the key," the butler greeted warmly, his voice low and muffled from his chest, "Have you greeted the mistress?"
Duncan glanced at the dreadful, headless undead: "Are you watching ?"
"I am always waiting for the call of the guests—and you have been away for only a brief mont, so I have been waiting here," the headless butler bowed slightly, his tone as courteous as ever, "May I ask what instructions you have next?"
Only away for a brief mont?
Duncan frowned slightly, rembering the earlier ntion by the other party of the mansion’s peculiar "ti" concept.
That is to say... just as he could linger in this mansion for however long, and only a mont would have passed when he returned to the real world, no matter how long he lived in the real world after leaving this place, for the servants within the mansion, it would also be just a mont?
This mansion is not simply a place where ti stands still, but rather it operates on a tiline independent of the real world?
What exactly is the process behind this?
A multitude of questions surfaced in his mind in an instant, and Duncan’s expression did not change. He rely nodded slightly towards the butler in front of him and casually asked, "Has there been any change in the mansion during this ’short while’ I was gone?"
"The mansion remains as usual, guest," the butler responded imdiately, "It rarely welcos any change. Since I have had mory, it has always looked like this."
Duncan humd in response, then casually asked another question, "Before , have there been any other guests who entered that garden?"
"Other guests?" The butler seed puzzled for a mont, then quickly replied, "Of course not, as you know, only the mistress and the gardener are allowed access to the garden area; apart from that, it is only open to guests holding the key—why do you suddenly ask this?"
Duncan did not answer, but imdiately followed with another question, "You ntioned ’the gardener,’ what does he look like?"
"The gardener... no one knows what the gardener looks like," the butler beca increasingly hesitant as if he had never answered such a "detailed question" to anyone before, making each step of his thought slower and more difficult, "The gardener has not shown himself for a long ti. When the garden no longer required trimming, he returned to where he belonged... The gardener is different from the ordinary servants, his task is to ensure a comfortable environnt for the mistress’s repose, undisturbed. Besides that, he does not need to be responsible for anything inside the mansion, nor does he need... to communicate with ..."
"It seems that even you, ’the butler,’ don’t know much about this mansion," Duncan looked at the ’headless carcass’ before him and spoke calmly, "Then, have you heard of a na?"
"A na? Please tell."
"The Saint, Crawling King, LH-01—He might go by any of these three nas, have you heard of Him?"
The butler was silent for a few seconds, apparently thinking hard.
Then an apologetic response ca from his chest, "I’m sorry, guest, I have no recollection of that."
The butler’s tone was very sincere.
Duncan could not determine any facial changes from a body without a head, and this headless corpse was as ticulously correct as a machine, revealing no emotional turbulence, so he could only for the ti being believe the butler’s reply.
"Alright, thank you for your response."
The headless butler bowed slightly, "I hope this has been of assistance to you..."
He suddenly stopped, then as if he heard so urgent sound, he abruptly straightened and turned towards another direction.
Almost at the sa ti, Duncan also felt the atmosphere in the mansion change—a sensation of tension and panic seed to abruptly perate the air, and in the deserted corridor, nurous hurried footsteps and whispered voices suddenly echoed!
He imdiately turned to the headless butler, "What happened?"
"An alien intrusion, guest, please excuse my departure," the butler said hastily, then imdiately turned and strode towards the other end of the corridor, looking extrely hurried.
An alien intrusion?
Duncan was montarily stunned by these words, and before he had ti to react, the butler had already walked away on his own. Hesitating for a mont, he too imdiately followed.
The butler, while striding quickly forward, turned his torso slightly as if he glanced at the "guest" who had followed, but showed no intention of stopping him.
Seeing this, Duncan felt assured and followed the butler hastily through the corridors, past the first-floor staircase, and then into the long hallway that led to the "bedroom" on the second floor.
Countless shadowy servants erged from the air; the headless manservants and maidservants had already gathered inside the hallway. These "lost souls" dwelling within Alice’s Mansion whispered among themselves; their voices were low and indistinct, their anings unclear, but a palpable anxiety spread through the air.
Duncan recognized this path; he rembered that at the end of this road was the bedroom where the soul of the Frost Queen Lei Nora once slumbered, but now, with the queen’s soul freed, that room should have been "torn" from the main body of the mansion—an entrance to an endlessly dark void should have been all that was at the end of the corridor.
"Make way, make way! Do not touch the invading object!" The butler’s voice ca from ahead as he advanced and dispersed the gathered manservants and maidservants, showing a bit of the "manor manager’s" authority, "Where is the alien object?"
The gathered servants retreated, clearing an open space at the front of the corridor.
Duncan’s gaze moved past the shoulder of the headless butler and finally, he saw the "alien object" that had set the entire mansion on edge.
His expression solidified in an instant.
It was a small bag of trash.
Very familiar.
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