Alice in the Land of Steam

Alice left in a hurry, leaving only a promise to Tianjie, "Wait for me to solve this matter." It can be seen that she is full of confidence. After Alice left, Tiandis was alone in the control center for a long time. When she came to her senses again, she was awakened by a burst of crisp and rapid footsteps. After a rare good sleep, Tiandis walked into the control center with full energy, but did not find Alice. She couldn't help but ask curiously: "Where did Alice go? Did she sneak out to play games again?"

"Ah... Yeah." Tianjie looked away unconsciously and tried to lie for the first time in his life. Because he had no confidence, his voice was much lower than usual: "She disliked the boring work here, so."

"I knew it."

Tiantis snorted softly, but she didn't seem angry, because she didn't expect Alice to work honestly, but she didn't expect her to slip away so quickly. It wasn't even dusk yet, even if she was pretending, she should at least pretend for more than ten hours to perfunctorily appease herself, right? Or was she so lazy that she couldn't even accept more than ten hours of low-intensity work?

Well, at least she didn't take the heaven away with her. At least she had some self-awareness and knew that she couldn't let her sister learn bad things like herself. For this reason, she won't bother with her for the time being.

She shook her head slightly, throwing the troublesome guy out of her mind, and then walked to the operating table. Looking at the densely packed buttons and the virtual light screens that were still waiting to refresh the data, her eyes instantly became serious and focused. It took only a breath of time for her to enter the working state: "Tianjie, send me the previously generated data. Before sunset today, we will first complete the analysis reports of the main areas of Hain, Visalia, Bisurel and Brandley, and then deal with the remaining areas tomorrow...Tianjie? Tianjie! Did you hear me?"

Tianjie came back to her senses from her contemplation and met Tiandis's surprised and suspicious eyes. She instantly realized that her previous actions had revealed a flaw. Recalling her promise to Alice, the girl couldn't help but purse her lips. A bunch of bright silver hair beside her cheek was blown by her breath, gently scratching her chin, making her suddenly feel a very slight and uneasy itch: "Sorry, Tiandis, I didn't hear you clearly just now... I seem a little tired."

The surprise and suspicion in Tiantis's eyes dissipated, and turned into a look of concern: "Is that so? It must be tiring to play around with Alice? Do you need to take a rest first? I can handle the work here by myself."

She did not doubt Tianjie's words, perhaps she believed deep down that her sister was someone who would not lie.

This unconditional trust made the girl sigh inwardly. She suddenly felt that lying was like the Pandora's box her mother had told her about. Once opened, it could not be closed. A trivial lie often needed to be embellished with another lie, and this was repeated until it became a huge lie.

She shook her head gently: "No, I don't think I'm tired enough to need a rest."

She didn't dare let Tiantis work alone. What if she found something unusual about mortal civilization when she retrieved the data? Although if she found it herself, Tiandi would not be considered to have broken her promise, but she still felt sorry for Alice.

"That's good." Tiantis was still worried and reminded: "If you feel the need to rest, be sure to tell me, don't keep it in your heart foolishly, it will only make people more worried. You are not a fool like Alice, you should understand this, right?"

No, Alice is not a fool, in fact, she is very smart.

But maybe it's just a little naive.

Tianjie silently refuted in his heart, but remained expressionless on his face, just nodded to show that he understood.

Tiantis didn't say anything else and turned her attention back to the operating table in front of her. Tianjie also forced herself to connect to the central system and prepare to cooperate with her work. No matter what, the incident had already happened, and the lie could not be made up. The only thing she could do was to pray in her heart, hoping that Alice could solve this matter as soon as possible.

She had promised herself.

So, it should be possible, right?

……

Two weeks passed after that, and everything was still calm during these two weeks - this was for the Holy Temple of Heaven. Tiantis, who was immersed in her work, did not notice that a fierce war was going on within the mortal civilization. With an unparalleled enthusiasm and sense of mission, she formulated a grand plan to solve the magic pollution phenomenon in life activities in one fell swoop and protect the world left by her mother.

Only the heavens who participated in the formulation process knew that this plan involved the fall of thirteen gods, the decline of thirty-two countries, and climate change in one hundred and fifty-one regions. In addition to the intelligent races in Eden, the lives affected also included ordinary beasts, magical beasts, and even plants without self-awareness. Although in the long run, it will undoubtedly benefit the entire Eden; but before that, I am afraid that it will lead to many sacrifices.

When Tiantis made this plan, she obviously did not consult the Eden life. Just as Alice said, she managed all life in the way she managed magic, as if they were all emotionless rotten wood or stone that could be manipulated at will. The only thing to be thankful for is that she at least learned the lesson from the last quarrel with Alice and did not use tough measures such as war and natural disasters to implement this plan. Instead, she planned to expand on the existing magic restriction plan and exert influence subtly.

Is this because she is more humane? Tianjie thinks not, thinking that she has just learned to take more detours, just like she has learned to lie. In the past, Tiantis was not only strict, but also tough. She believed that the right thing must be done well, regardless of the feelings of others. This radical style of behavior is obviously easy to cause dissatisfaction and rebellious psychology. While taking more detours may take longer, it can eliminate these adverse effects. Besides, as a young queen, isn't time the most indispensable thing for her?
For example, when it comes to dealing with those human gods, if it were her in the past, she would definitely give priority to using force, after all, it is the most direct and efficient, just like she killed the former rock pillar god Cremus; but now she thinks she can wait. Among all the human gods, the virtual dragon god Nigflam, who has the longest life left, only has two hundred years left. When these human gods grow old, is there anyone who can stop her plan?

She would never allow any mortal to usurp the title of God and blaspheme the great glory of her mother. If possible, she even hoped that there would not be any extraordinary people whose lifespan was long enough to affect the magic cycle system in this world. However, that was a long-term goal. The most important thing at present was to repair the loopholes in the magic cycle and ensure the stability of the world order.

When the heavens silently assisted her in completing these tasks, she couldn't help but wonder in her heart whether the war that was erupting in the human world was related to Tiantis's radical ideas? Mortals may not know what happened in the distant Temple of Heaven, but their extremely sensitive intuition and sense of smell can deduce some clues from the clues. Some people call it astrology, and some people call it prophecy. The master of all, crowned with the title of prophet, calls himself a person who spy on fate. Some people spy on fate based on a yearning and awe for something that is difficult to know; however, some people spy on fate in order to bare their fangs to it.

Alice, which one of these situations are you experiencing?

Tianjie sighed, pondered, stared at the data she sorted out, and took a sneak peek at the map of the continent marked in bright red when Tiantis wasn't paying attention. Even the latter said that she seemed to be absent-minded more and more recently, and asked her if she had something on her mind. The girl was speechless for a moment, and could only weave a new lie in her mind to get away with it. Just as she was thinking about what kind of lie would be true enough, Alice finally returned to the Temple of Heaven.

She seemed to have taken advantage of the fact that Tiantis was out for something. A burst of hurried footsteps interrupted the girl's thoughts. She looked up and saw Alice, who was dusty and a little tired, walking into the control center. She felt a little familiar with this scene, but she did not show any surprise. Instead, she asked in a calm tone, "You're back, Alice. Is the matter resolved?"

Alice stopped and scratched her cheek: "It's solved."

"Is it?" Such a vague statement puzzled the heavenly realm.

Alice sighed, "I have traveled back and forth between various tribes and countries for hundreds of times, and have negotiated with those leaders and gods one by one, and barely persuaded them to stop the war. But this is only temporary. Nigflam and Isabel both said that if the real problem is not solved, even if this war can be suppressed with the help of their prestige, the next war will not be too far away. I think what they said makes sense, so I decided to hold a continental joint meeting to discuss a solution as soon as possible."

"The real question - are you talking about the cause of the war?" Celestial asked, "What exactly caused this war, Alice?"

In fact, she has been thinking about this question recently. Unfortunately, the central system's monitoring of the world of Eden is based on capturing the curve of magic changes, and it is impossible to get specific pictures and sounds, so she has no way of knowing the answer.

"Well... these are some very complicated problems among mortals."

Alice's expression was somewhat awkward, because the cause of the war was exactly the same as Nigflam's worries. Some ambitious people in the mortal civilization were dissatisfied with the blockage of their own upward channels. After learning that the gods were all old, they had ambitions that they should not have, and tried to kill the gods in a rebellious way and replace them. As for the war, it was just a trick they used to disrupt the situation, but it cost the lives of many innocent people. This made Alice realize once again how strong the mortals' desire for power was, and how dissatisfied they were with the magic restriction plan.

Nigflam and other gods were targeted in this war. The ambitious people directly pointed out that it was because they supported and implemented the so-called magic restriction plan for their own selfishness that the mortal civilization stagnated and became a stagnant pool. In the current situation, they really have no reason to refute. In the end, they can only solve the problem with force and power. However, the concept of injustice between gods and humans has been deeply engraved in the hearts of everyone affected by the war.

Alice felt that they had suffered such an unprovoked disaster in order to support her, and she felt a little guilty about it, and she didn't want Tianjie to mention this matter. Tianjie could naturally see through her attitude of concealment. Since she learned to lie, the girl became particularly sensitive to other people's concealment, but she didn't take it to heart and said calmly: "So, who are the people involved in this meeting?"

"Nigeflam, Isabel, Caesar, Muel, Ganzel, Farano..." Alice listed them one by one, and then raised a confident smile: "Don't worry, they are all my good friends, and they are also leaders of various races and countries. As long as they are willing to support me, there will be absolutely no problem!"

This smile made Tianjie find some of the feeling she had before. This is what Alice in her mind should be like, always with a smile on her face, confident and outspoken, not like when she walked in just now, looking tired and exhausted, not like the girl she knew.

Perhaps because this smile dispelled too much anxiety, Tianjie faintly ignored several crucial issues mentioned in Alice's story and nodded gently, "Come on, Alice."

Alice's confidence swelled after receiving encouragement from her sister. She waved her hand casually, "Of course. Look at who I am. If I were on Earth, I would be a talented player. Wouldn't it be easy for me to solve this kind of problem? Ah, let's leave it at that. I came back just to tell you not to worry too much. I still have to go back to prepare for the joint meeting! I'll be leaving first, Heaven."

She came in a hurry and left in a hurry. Before Tianjie responded, she turned around and left the control center. The girl opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but she couldn't say it. She could only swallow the words that came to her lips and silently watched Alice's back walk to the door. Suddenly, she turned around and waved to her vigorously: "Hey, Tianjie!"

"Remember not to tell Tiandis about my return today! Don't tell her!"

"But she's so smart, maybe she can see through my flaws?"

"In that case, if she asks, just say I...well, just say I went out to play games!"

She grinned, revealing her neat, white teeth, then turned and left the control center.

This time he really left. (End of this chapter)