Alice in the Land of Steam

Tiantis and Alice curiously surrounded the little girl named Tianjie. The latter even tried to touch her long silver hair, but Tiantis noticed her little action and quickly patted the back of her hand to stop this impolite behavior: "Don't bully her, Alice!"

"I didn't bully her." Alice curled her lips: "I just wanted to touch her hair."

When the girl heard this, she silently held the small braid hanging from her ear in her palm and took the initiative to hand it to Alice. This time it was her turn to feel a little embarrassed. She scratched the back of her head and laughed dryly. Tiantis ignored this guy and stretched out his hand to the girl named Tianjie and greeted her in a friendly manner: "Hello, I am Tiantis."

Tianjie did not respond, but quickly turned his head and glanced at the goddess behind him. After He nodded with a smile, He hesitantly stretched out his hand and gently shook hands with Tiantis: "...Hello, I am Tianjie, created by the goddess, responsible for assisting you in completing your mission...The control core of the Holy Temple of Heaven, please give me your guidance..."

Her voice was very soft and thin, easily reminiscent of the tung leaves swaying slightly in the cool breeze of a summer afternoon. She spoke in a discontinuous manner, pausing from time to time, with a thoughtful expression on her serious face, as if she was thinking about what to say next. But these were not the main points, the main point was how she addressed herself.

"Hello, I'm Alice, please give me your guidance!" A golden-haired head popped out from behind Tiantis, greeted the girl enthusiastically, then turned to look at the goddess sitting behind the desk and asked, "Mother, she said she is the control core of the Holy Temple of Heaven, isn't she different from us, isn't she the Young Queen?"

Tiantis noticed that the girl's palms clenched into fists subconsciously, and she seemed a little nervous. The goddess smiled and said softly: "There is no difference, Alice. You are all my descendants, but you have different responsibilities. So you must take good care of your sister and don't bully her, okay, Alice?"

The girl's clenched palms slowly loosened, and Alice patted her chest and vowed: "Don't worry, mother, I will take good care of her, because I am the best sister in the world!"

Who wanted to touch someone's hair right away?
Tiantis glanced at Alice and was not interested in whether she was an elder sister or a younger sister. Theoretically, she was still Alice's elder sister, but she didn't respect her much. After she withdrew her gaze, she asked the goddess: "Mother, do you want her to mediate the conflict between me and Alice?"

"Conflict? What kind of conflict?" Alice blinked blankly. "Is there a conflict between us, Tiantis?"

Tiantis didn't even bother to pay attention to her. Instead, the goddess seemed to be amused by Alice's reaction. Her eyebrows curved like a crescent moon and filled with smiles: "It's a bit serious to say that it's a contradiction, Tiantis, but it's just some minor disagreements. You and Alice have different responsibilities, and you both have your own things to insist on. It's normal to have disagreements occasionally. That's why I think you may need an observer from a third-party perspective. When you are in disagreement, you can make the most reasonable judgment through objective facts and calm analysis. What do you think, Tiantis?"

"If this is Mother's decision, then I have no objection. It's just..."

The black-haired girl turned her head and her eyes fell on the petite girl. She looked at her calmly, as if she doubted whether she was qualified to decide the conflict between herself and Alice. Tianjie was a little nervous under such an undisguised gaze, and subconsciously shrank back a little, and then realized that the goddess was behind him, and she was watching him. He must not let the goddess down! So he quickly raised his head, tightened his little face, pursed his thin lips into a straight line, and looked at Tiantis seriously and stubbornly, with a hint of fear in his eyes, but he refused to retreat.

This reaction made Tiandis look at her with new eyes, and then she was satisfied and appreciated: That's right, since she is the creation of the goddess, she should be more confident. Otherwise, how can she decide the operation of civilization, the stability of the world, and even the balance of laws? Alice, who neglected her duties, was enough for her. If she had a timid and weak sister, she would really be unbearable.

Tiantis raised his head and said to the goddess: "I think she is very good, mother."

Although the realistic young girl Wang Quan is always strict, as long as she recognizes the other party, she will not lack praise and compliments. Tianjie's little face suddenly turned red, redder than a summer apple. After stammering a few times, she whispered "thank you". Seeing this, Alice also came over and said shamelessly: "What about me?"

The girl seemed to have some idea of ​​the personalities of her two sisters, so she thanked Alice as well, even though she had done nothing.

The goddess smiled as she watched this scene, her eyes somewhat relieved, but also somewhat disappointed: "It seems that you will get along well. I can rest assured to hand over Eden to you, Tiantis, Alice, and the Celestial Realm."

Tianjie and Alice failed to understand the goddess's hidden meaning. Only Tiantis understood it. His eyes suddenly fixed: "Mother, you said that you would give Eden to us... What does this mean? Are you going to leave us?"

Both of them were shocked by this sentence. Tianjie even opened his mouth, wanting to say something but stopping. The goddess saw their reactions and smiled slightly: "It's not that I want to leave you, but I may stay on Earth for a while. I will rely on you to maintain the stability and order of Eden. However, if there is anything important, you can also contact me through the Heavenly Bridge. The distance between Earth and Eden is not that far, right?"

That's not the case.

Including the newly born Heaven, the three of them secretly complained, knowing that the goddess's words were just a consolation. With the existence of the Heavenly Bridge, the distance in space is indeed not far, but the basic laws of the two worlds are inconsistent, causing the concept of time and space to always be distorted and changing. Therefore, the flow of time in the Earth world is much slower than that in the Eden world. Often, only one day on Earth will pass, but decades or even hundreds of years will have passed in Eden.

This also means that they will not be able to see their mother for a long time.

"Why?" Alice was the first one who couldn't accept it. She ran to the goddess' desk excitedly, propped her hands on the table, leaned forward, and looked at her mother with sharp eyes, as if she would never give up until she explained it to me clearly: "Are you going to go back to Earth to play games by yourself, mother? This is too cunning! How about taking me with you?"

"Don't be naughty, Alice."

The goddess reached out her hand and gently rubbed her head, saying softly, "Of course I want to stay by your side forever, but if you always rely on me, then there will be no meaning in growing up, right? Just like the feather elves said, no matter how young your wings are, one day you will have to fly alone in the sky. I don't want you to be constrained by me forever. Perhaps letting you fly freely is the best choice."

"That's impossible!" Alice complained, "I'm very strong. I haven't always relied on you, have I?"

Yes, not only is he not dependent on his mother, but sometimes he even avoids her, for fear that she will discover that he has neglected his duties.

Tiantis glanced at Alice and said, "Stop it, Alice. I think the dependence that Mother mentioned is not referring to us, but to those mortals." The goddess gave Tiantis an approving look, and then nodded slightly under the puzzled gazes of Alice and Tianjie: "Just like Tiantis said, I have been thinking about it recently. Is my existence a symbol for the children of Eden, or has it become a burden to them?"

Tiandis immediately asked: "Why do you think so, mother?"

"Because recently, when I was walking on the ground, I found some not-so-good phenomena."

The goddess whispered, with some worry in her tone: "All races, whether they are humans and elves living on land, or feathered people and dragons living in the sky, are gradually abandoning their own culture, imitating the style of the Heavenly Temple in terms of architecture, clothing, customs and even language, which is actually imitating the style of the Earth. They have even gradually formed a religion that worships and worships me. All this is because I have had a profound influence on their civilization. They blindly follow me, and they like what I like and hate what I hate. Can this be considered a good phenomenon?"

"I don't think there's anything wrong with it." Alice said, "You created Eden and gave mortals wisdom and magic. To mortals, you are no different from the gods in Earth's mythology. If gods that don't exist on Earth can be worshipped by hundreds of millions of people, why can't you?"

Tianjie nodded slightly, obviously agreeing with Alice's statement.

The goddess sighed softly: "This is exactly what I am worried about."

Alice and the Celestial Realm didn't quite understand why the goddess was worried. Tiantis, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said, "I think those mortals may not respect you from the bottom of their hearts, mother. For example, you hate war, but they have never stopped fighting."

"That's one of the reasons," the goddess said. "I always wonder if it's because I'm here that they start wars without restraint. Just like children are always naughty because their parents protect them. Perhaps only by letting them face difficulties alone can they truly grow up?"

Tiandis raised his eyebrows slightly: "You mean, after losing your protection, mortals will restrain themselves?"

"Yes." The goddess nodded gently: "This is what I have seen and heard on earth. Children who are spoiled by their parents can always play as they please. On the contrary, those who have lost the protection of their parents since childhood will mature earlier. I think they are probably the same."

At this point, she sighed and said, "Just like game developers on Earth, when making games, they naturally have the most say and can shape the world according to their own wishes. But after the game is developed, how to experience the content is all up to the players themselves. Even the game developers have no right to interfere with the way they play the game."

Alice suddenly understood. This explanation was not difficult to understand for her who was keen on games. Tianjie seemed to understand, but Tiandi didn't agree. Perhaps influenced by past experiences, the goddess always liked to look at the problems she faced from the perspective of games. But Tiandi was not interested in these virtual data. Just like her royal power, she was a person who advocated realism and was naturally more accustomed to looking at this problem from a realistic perspective.

The various races on the Eden continent often have conflicts due to various factors such as culture, customs, and language. The goddess will not suppress the conflicts between them blindly, but will come forward to coordinate when the conflicts evolve into large-scale wars. Perhaps it is precisely because of the goddess's protection that the war will not get out of control, and these mortals are always unscrupulous. So the goddess thinks that as long as she leaves and loses the protection of her mother, these naive children should be able to grow up quickly and no longer be so willful, right?
However, children who mature after losing their parents are often just exceptions. Many more children actually indulge in depravity and even degenerate faster than when their parents were still alive.

And do you really think it's okay to treat those mortals as children?

If this is true, there is probably nothing more terrifying in the world than a child who is mentally immature but possesses powerful military power.

Tiantis lowered her eyelids, hiding her dark thoughts. She did not speak out her thoughts. On the one hand, she knew that her mother and Alice were always too gentle, or a little naive. Even if she pointed this out, they would still choose to believe in the possibility of mortals and believe that they could restrain their desires. On the other hand, wasn't this an opportunity for her?
If the mother regards all mortals as her own children and therefore cannot bear to punish or scold them, then you should fulfill this responsibility yourself. You must not tolerate them continuing to act recklessly and destroy the world that the mother has created with all her heart and soul.

She secretly made up her mind.

At this time, the goddess had not yet realized how radical her daughter's idea was. She looked at Alice, who was a little unhappy after accepting the fact, and then looked at Tiantis, who was lowering his head as if thinking about something, and suddenly said, "Tiantis, Alice, you two should go out first."

"I have something to say to this child."

The only girl whose name was not called stared at the goddess in a daze. The slightly confused golden color in her eyes was brighter than the sunlight that was pouring in through the glass curtain wall at this moment, and perhaps also warmer.

She didn't understand why the goddess wanted to leave her alone to talk.

But I had a premonition that I was about to take on a difficult responsibility.

That would change her fate forever in various ways in the future.

……

"File X01, Genesis Archive Record, playback complete." (End of this chapter)