Alice in the Land of Steam

After Lingge entered the forest, he found that the tree described by Yieta was the aquatic green banyan. This tree also has a nice name called the Elder of the Forest, because it has all the characteristics of ordinary banyan trees and has brought them to the extreme. As long as there is water - whether it is a clear lake or an invisible underground river - the aerial roots hanging from the branches of an aquatic green banyan can grow into a forest in just ten years. Sometimes adventurers think they have strayed into a dense forest, but in fact there is only one aquatic banyan tree, and the others are just its offspring. The generous elder shades the proud offspring, flourishing and growing.

The young man knew about this tree because when he was in college, there was a park near the school. The lake was not yet polluted by steam and haze, but was occupied by this giant tree with dense branches and leaves. Every traveler who rowed a boat leisurely on the lake would feel like he was stepping on a mysterious island once he entered the shadow of the banyan tree forest. He didn't expect that there was such a tree in the other world, and he didn't expect to see it in the goddess's sanctuary. The young man originally thought that there should be more exotic plants growing in the goddess's sanctuary, at least rare species that are unique in the other world or the mirror star.

Now it seems that he was completely speculating on the great mind of the goddess with the shallow mentality of a mortal. She really treated all creatures in this world equally and hoped to create a beautiful home for them. Unfortunately, in the end, this mind did not achieve a good result. To this day, mortals are still killing each other, plundering and destroying each other.

Starlight sprinkled sparse raindrops through the gaps between branches and leaves. The light spots on the ground swayed with the movement of the figures. When the young man stepped on the dark green fallen leaves, he felt not the soft humus that was almost like a swamp, but the hard ground. The growth state of the plants here is very interesting, because the streets underfoot were originally poured with concrete. The seeds sprouted and grew from the soil after the streets were damaged, but only the most tenacious seeds can support the solid barrier. Therefore, you can't see too many bushes and grasses in this forest, but you can see a rough grayish white in the places where the fallen leaves are sparse.

Based on this environment, Lingge was somewhat curious about how the lake was formed. However, as soon as he saw the lake, which was like an oval sapphire embedded in the forest, he understood that this must have been a square with a bell tower. Later, it broke and sank in the terrible disaster, accompanied by a raging fire. After that, a heavy rain that lasted for three months, or perhaps three years, extinguished the fire, and at the same time, a huge amount of rainwater quickly accumulated in this sunken pit, so the lake was formed. As for why the young man had to emphasize the feature of the bell tower, it was naturally because the bell tower was not completely submerged in the lake. Its spire-like top floor still had a section exposed above the lake, tilting slightly in the starlight. The large iron bell was still hanging steadily, and occasionally one or two clear chimes would be emitted when the wind blew.

Based on the size of the bell and the proportion of the bell tower, the young man estimated that the lake was about fifty feet deep. Strangely, the flourishing aquatic banyan trees did not encroach on the lake. The most unbridled of them only hung its roots down to the lakeside, like a deer drinking from the lake. When he found Gloria, she was sitting on a tree root, hugging her knees, staring blankly at the clear lake.

"Good evening," he said as he walked over to greet her, "Miss Gloria."

"Not very good."

Without even turning his head, the other party replied coldly: "If you are disturbed by a hopeless idiot when you want to be quiet the most, I don't think you will be in a good mood either."

Such a sharp counterattack surprised the young man, and he suddenly realized: "You are not Gloria?"

But the White Night.

"If you're looking for that stupid captain, she's already crying because she can't accept the reality." The girl finally turned around and gave her a contemptuous look: "Besides, isn't your intuition very sharp? Why did you confuse me with that guy today? Or is it that the so-called intuition also has its moments of failure, just like your brain?"

The young man could tell that the girl was taking her anger out on him, but he had no right to refute her. After all, she had recognized the wrong person, so he could only apologize dryly, which earned him a cold snort from the girl that he didn't know whether it was forgiveness or neglect. In fact, under normal circumstances, Ling Ge could indeed tell the difference between Gloria and Bai Ye, but the problem was that his basis for distinguishing was actually observation, not intuition as Bai Ye believed - although the two personalities in this body were inseparable, they were sometimes also clearly distinguished, and everything was reflected in their temperament and behavior.

The White Night is a cold night, always wandering alone outside the crowd. When silent, it is more frightening than steel, ice, and cold blood vessels, but she actually has a desire to listen, always paying attention to the subtle movements around her, but not responding much; Gloria is an uncertain fog, she is everything that can be seen but not touched, as far away as clouds, as silent as moonlight, as visible but unreachable as the boundary between the sky and the sea. People often play a game called role-playing with her, thinking that they can always leave a little trace in her memory, but the next time they open their eyes, she has completely forgotten.

As long as you understand the difference, with a little patience and careful observation, it is not difficult to distinguish the two personalities. The only reason that caused the young man to make a mistake was that the girl he saw just now was sitting on the tree root with her knees hugged. This curled-up posture actually indirectly showed the owner's weakness and confusion. In Ling's cognition, the possibility of Gloria using this posture is far greater than her twin personality.

However, what happened just now proved that perhaps he had not observed these two personalities carefully enough.

"If I were you," Bai Ye suddenly spoke in a cold tone, "you wouldn't just stand here stupidly. You should at least take the initiative to tell me why you're here, so that I can have a reason to reject you."

Ling Ge was surprised again: "So, you already knew why I came here?"

"of course."

Bai Ye curled his lips slightly, his expression somewhat sarcastic. "Are you a goody-goody who calls himself a protector, a fool who thinks you can get something from this trip, or an ambitious person who thinks you can influence the world as long as you have a good relationship with the young queen? I don't care about these, but I'm not like other sisters who will be easily fooled by one or two words from you. So no matter what words you want to say to comfort her or for other purposes, put them away first. Although Gloria, that little fool, is sometimes a little too stupid, at least in this matter, you can't make decisions for her."

It turned out to be the case.

Did she think she wanted to interfere with Gloria's decisions?
That's true. After all, if the Order King is unwilling to stand up and fight against the Witch Society, the future of this world will be in jeopardy. As a human with a conscience, everyone would want to do their part at this time. Moreover, Lingge accompanied them on this journey and had a special place in the hearts of the young girls. If it was him, maybe he could really make these girls change their minds?

But Lingge never thought about it this way.

This may be because the teachings of his adoptive father have always influenced this young man. "Do what you want to do, just don't hurt others or yourself." This sentence has a profound impact on Lingge, and may even lay the foundation for all aspects of his personality, thoughts and interpersonal relationships. It sounds simple, but it is difficult to do. At least the young man didn't understand for a long time what the way to neither hurt others nor himself was, so the way he finally learned was to stay out of it and treat everything prudently, including career, prospects, future, and feelings.

He wasn't sure if this would hurt himself, but at least he was sure it wouldn't hurt anyone else. Probably not.

"You think too much." He said bluntly: "I didn't come to you for that reason."

"Then you came here so impatiently, are you trying to take advantage of a girl's defenseless heart, Mr. Linger, the amorous man?"

"When did I get a nickname like that?"

The young man felt helpless. It seemed that his originally innocent reputation had been damaged in an unpredictable way without his knowledge. However, it was not a reasonable choice to explore the source at this time. Bai Ye would probably not be willing to tell him everything, so he could only shake his head and put the matter aside for the time being. He chose to return to the topic: "I'm here to call you back for dinner."

"Eat?" The gray-haired girl's eyes suddenly became surprised and strange. She looked at the young man as if she was looking at an incredible creature.

Lingge probably knew what she wanted to express, such as "You can still eat at this time", but it could never be "What's on the table today". He was also helpless. After all, this task was not something the young people voluntarily accepted. It's just that if they didn't accept it... the consequences would not be a big deal. This was the biggest reason why the young people were willing to accept it.

"Anyway," Lingge tried to explain the necessity of this matter, and hinted that his coming here was completely unexpected, such as the boss's wife volunteering and the bartender's verbal squeeze: "At least you should consider the mood of the people who worked hard to prepare dinner. It's time to eat. In addition to three meals a day, there are afternoon tea and supper. This is the nature of travellers. Since you live in this hotel, you have to learn to adapt - what's more, she may have prepared your favorite pea soup and sweet sauce pie..."

"No." Bai Ye couldn't help but interrupt him: "That's not the food I like. Only the little fool Gloria likes the sticky, sweet and soft peas and sweet sauce."

At this time, Lingge stopped talking and just stared at the gray-haired girl quietly. Her pupils narrowed slightly, and the color in them was dim, as if the sky had just passed through a night. It was no longer pure gray, but a lead gray mixed with monotonous cobalt blue and bleak skeleton blue. She looked at the young man fearlessly, unwilling to expose her weakness, but after a moment of silence, the young man suddenly said, "You shouldn't lie, Miss Bai Ye."

"Although I sometimes confuse you with Miss Gloria, at least in this matter, I am sure I am not wrong." He gave an example considerately: "Every time there are these two dishes on the table, do you and Gloria switch personalities and take turns using the body? Although Gloria's preferences are fickle, when she was an athlete she liked to eat red bean pies and meat rolls, and when she was a pirate she liked cheese and slightly lighter wine-stained hazelnuts, but only your preferences have not changed. You seem to really like those sticky, sweet and soft peas and sweet sauce..."

"enough."

Bai Ye interrupted the young man forcefully, then stood up, brushed off the dust on his clothes and pants, and said expressionlessly: "I'm going back to have dinner, bye."

what.

Is this considered a successful persuasion?
Ling Ge thought that there would be more twists and turns, but he didn't expect Bai Ye to suddenly change his mind. He didn't know why, but since it was a good thing, there was no need to correct it, right?
As for the fact that Bai Ye's attitude towards him might become worse in the future, it didn't matter. Anyway, her attitude towards him had never been good. So the young man just stopped the gray-haired girl when she passed by him and didn't even give her a cold look, and then asked her a question: "Before you go back, can you tell me where the others are? I think you should know the location of at least one of them, right?"

"Oh? What makes you think so?"

"..." Lingge didn't answer. He couldn't say that according to Alice's game theory, the errand task would not be interrupted at this stage, right?
However, Bai Ye was not interested in that reason. The girl curled her lips implicitly, thinking that this guy was not as honest as he looked. Then she lazily stretched out a finger and casually pointed it at her ear, asking the young man to listen attentively. By the way, her fingers were white and slender, and her knuckles were very delicate. She had a pair of beautiful hands.

The young man listened carefully, and then he heard a strange sound, "da da da", which was still so crisp and powerful even after being diluted by the branches and leaves, like a series of rapid drum beats hitting the ground. It came from the north, through the area behind the forest.

The corners of her mouth slowly lifted up, outlining a somewhat sarcastic smile, or to use a more euphemistic description, like a fox that succeeded in its mischief: "She seems to be running farther and farther. Although this city has become a ruin, at least there are long enough streets for her and her horse to drive - so I sincerely hope that you can make it to dinner tonight, Mr. Linge."

"Ah, one more thing."

She had already retracted her gaze and was about to leave, but she didn't know what she remembered and stopped again. But this time she didn't look back. Instead, she just turned her back to the young man and said calmly, "Next time, don't be so concerned about a girl's preferences and habits. It will cause misunderstandings, Mr. Ling."

She didn't say what the misunderstanding was, and just left without looking back. (End of this chapter)