Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1104 Pray for victory?

Sitting on the bench of Tianxin Church, looking up, you can see the merciful and compassionate statue of the goddess. It seems that She has never left, and is still within reach, watching the thousands of creatures in the world, whether alive or not. When She sees mortals using the power She has given them, but only for fighting and destruction, does Her kind heart ever feel regret for a moment? Or is that a throbbing emotion that belongs only to mortals and is irrelevant to God?
Recently, Shino couldn't help thinking about this question, especially when she learned that she would be excluded from this battle and could only sit in the audience as a spectator. Staying away from fighting and protecting oneself is the nature of living beings, and perhaps it is also a shackle set by the goddess in their destiny. But she is so eager to step onto the battlefield, so eager to fight against powerful enemies, and so eager to feel the unrestrained feeling when swinging the spear. Does this mean that she has unknowingly deviated from the original intention of the goddess? Whether it is her own desire at work, or thinking that only she can protect her companions, isn't it an arrogant idea?
She felt this more and more, so she began to pray to the goddess, both for her companions on the battlefield and for herself in the church. But was her prayer heard? Even this, Xino was doubtful. At this moment, she suddenly found that the church became extremely quiet, the roar of artillery fire disappeared, and the ground under her feet stopped shaking. These signs seemed to prove that the war had ushered in a short break, at least before it started again, it was a victory for her side.

She was deeply aware that her companions could continue fighting even without her.

The girl would not feel disappointed, but she also had no sense of accomplishment. After all, a spectator does not need to be too involved; someone who was just watching but still gloating after winning sounds even more shameless. Although this was never her own choice, this upright and honest knight could not deceive her heart, so she would not celebrate it.

There was someone else who should be celebrating, and knowing her well, Shino knew she would do just that - but nothing happened.

She couldn't help but turn her head and cast her eyes towards a corner of the church. In front of an old game console, Alice was holding the controller and staring blankly at the image projected on the electronic screen, looking a little absent-minded. When the battle started, in order to show her contempt for the enemy and her trust in her companions, she turned on one of the game consoles and claimed that she wanted to compete with Lingge and the others to see whether she would defeat the enemy in the game first or Lingge and the others would defeat the enemy in reality first.

This does sound a bit arrogant and does not conform to the spirit of Chivalry of Shino, but to Alice, it is just one of her countless strange behaviors that make people puzzled, so the young knight just smiled at the time, neither agreeing nor objecting. But now she realized that the screen of the game console seemed to have been frozen in the same interface. According to her meager knowledge of games, it was probably the interface at the beginning of the game. So did Alice fulfill her promise and end her battle before the battle outside ended; or did she never start it at all?
The faint electronic blue light hit the girl's face, which was cold and pale. To be impolite, this bloodless face often reminds people of death, eternal sleep, or the resurrected spirits in literary works. Xino called her several times before she was brought back from her meditation. It seemed that even her mind had sunk into the abyss of the dead and almost disappeared in a place far away from reality.

"what."

Alice opened her mouth, and the game interface reflected in her eyes made her sober up a little. She subconsciously pressed the handle in her hand, and after the picture on the screen flashed, the game officially began.

Regarding Alice's absent-minded reaction, Shino did not ask too much, because she magically understood Alice's thoughts at the moment through some spirituality other than intuition, and knew that it was a thought she had also had. She just smiled and said, "It seems to be over."

This sentence seemed to be a far greater stimulus to Alice than the monsters that kept pouring in from the game. She didn't care that the protagonist she was controlling was about to be drowned by the sea of ​​monsters. She turned her head and stared at Shino with a piercing look: "It's over!?"

"Ah."

"Who's winning?"

“Hmm.” Xino was speechless for a moment, then smiled and shook his head: “I thought this was a clear-cut thing.

Alice was stunned for a moment before she reacted, then she scratched her hair a little embarrassedly: "That's true, hehe."

If the enemy had won, how could Tianxin Church remain so peaceful? Xino could not continue to sit here. He should have taken up his gun and mounted his horse, using the power of his royal authority to turn the defeat around for his companions.

Fortunately, they won, thanks to them winning, so she just sat here and played a harmless little joke on Alice.

After thinking it through, Alice cheered up and returned to her usual carefree appearance. She said proudly, "Although Lingge and his team won, they were still too slow. I have already completed a round of the game, but they just defeated the enemy. In terms of speed, they are obviously not comparable to me, a cosmic-level genius player. Wow, what happened? Why am I dead?"

After boasting, she found that the game character she was controlling had been overwhelmed by monsters. Alice desperately hit the handle, trying to save the situation, but the game character's meager health bar could not withstand such a high-intensity beating. It died in just a few seconds, and a GameOver prompt appeared on the screen.

"Oh, damn it!" She was so angry that she hammered the game console in front of her, making a dull sound.

That is the sacred object of the goddess.

Shino smiled awkwardly and said, "Because you are the ace, Alice. The ace should always be kept until the end. That's what you said yourself, isn't it?"

If it was Alice normally, she would be very excited to hear this, because she likes to be called "ace", "core" or "soul figure" by others, which is undoubtedly a great recognition. But Alice was very calm today, probably because she suddenly realized that what Xinuo said was not flattery, but the fact.

She is indeed the trump card that will appear at the last moment and will face the most powerful enemy.

For Lingge and others, they have done their best to bring down the first curtain of this war; but for the talented players, this battle is far from over.

Thinking of this, Alice suddenly felt a little depressed. She stared at the prompt on the screen asking "Do you want to start a new game?" for a long time before turning back and asking carefully: "Are you still blaming me, Shino?"

Xino was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help laughing after she realized what was going on. She didn't expect Alice to be obsessed with this issue. She seemed to be indifferent on the surface. Could this be considered the delicate side of a genius player? But now she shouldn't say such discouraging words. In comparison, Xino wanted to see her confident side, which was also the impression Alice always gave people: although she didn't know where she got the confidence from, she just had an inexplicable confidence, a proud, flamboyant, and even arrogant aura.

People who meet her for the first time may be confused by her unreasonable confidence and even wonder if there is something wrong with her brain structure. But for those who have gone through a long journey with her, such a talented player is the most reassuring.

"Do you want me to blame you, Alice?"

Xinuo put a finger on his lips, trying to recall his distant college days, when the female classmates around him were all crazy about those emotional novels, and said in a joking tone: "Let me guess your next line: If putting all the blame on me can make you feel better, then I am willing to be blamed by you - like this?"

Alice was shocked and shook her head repeatedly to deny it: "How is that possible? I would never say such a corny line!"

It's not that kind of sentimental literature about love.

She hesitated and said, "I just think that if you really have something uncomfortable in your heart, it might be better to say it directly. It would be very uncomfortable if you keep it in, right?" "But I really don't blame you, Alice. To be precise, I haven't blamed anyone. If I have to find someone to blame, it can only be the curse on me and my overly strong sense of pride." Xino shook his head slightly, thinking about another conversation that took place in Tianxin Church on the night seven days ago.

"Mr. Ling has made me realize that the guilt of not being able to fulfill one's responsibilities and the expectations imposed on others are essentially unreasonable behaviors." She looked directly into Alice's eyes that were vaguely dazed, and said word by word with great seriousness: "So, no one can blame you for anything, and you don't need to respond to their expectations. Just be worthy of your original intention."

"Original intention?"

Alice looked down at the game controller in her hand, thoughtfully.

Her original intention was nothing more than to defeat all enemies, protect all companions, and welcome the final happy ending happily together.

The talented player never doubted whether he could achieve this goal.

"I think I understand a little bit, Shino."

She said softly, and the reason she used "a little" was because there were still some things she didn't quite understand, but those were just details. Alice believed that as long as she kept going along this path, she would understand it one day.

Thinking of this, she perked up again: "Thank you!"

"I'm surprised you would thank me so honestly." Shino joked, and then said with a smile: "Of course, I'm not blaming you, but that only applies to the current situation, Alice. If you lose the next battle, don't blame me for being ruthless, okay?"

"Then you can rest assured!"

The genius player patted his chest and said carelessly: "In my dictionary, I can never find the word failure!"

Then your dictionary version may be different from the one I know.

Shino wanted to talk a little more to relieve Alice's nervousness before the battle. It seemed like a bad joke to say that a genius player would be nervous, but Shino could understand her current mood, because she had similar feelings the night before the battle with the synthetic beast Chimera. The established victory could not relieve the heart in the slightest, because sometimes what people really care about is not the victory or defeat of the battle, but the things that come after it.

But she couldn't do that, because she suddenly felt an extremely powerful breath.

Rather than being powerful, it is better to say that it is deep, quiet, and empty, just like darkness that is hard to reach. That is why people are afraid, fearing that they will be submerged in it, just like being drowned in a vast ocean.

The owner of that power was now quietly waiting in front of Yunjingkong Island, maintaining a lukewarm and distant attitude, as if this was not the prelude to a fierce battle, but just welcoming an invited guest.

Xino's expression suddenly changed. She subconsciously reached out her hand and groped to the side, but she touched nothing. Her fingertips did not feel the unique gentle touch of the Holy Spear White Thorn, which was between metal and natural substances. Only dust and air quietly slipped away from her fingers. The young knight then vaguely realized that the protagonist of this battle was not herself, but the girl in front of her.

When Alice saw her abnormal behavior, she didn't understand what was going on at first, but she soon realized it. She suddenly opened her eyes wide, her throat felt a little dry, and she felt a huge sense of tension for no reason, as if she had forgotten all the jokes that Xino had said to ease her emotions just now.

"That is--"

She licked her dry lips and asked cautiously, "Dark Witch?"

Xino didn't say anything, but nodded solemnly.

All of a sudden, just like a prisoner in a courtroom finally hearing the bell of the verdict, or a hero in a story finally waiting for the moment to go out to the battlefield, these two contradictory emotions were perfectly unified in her. In short, Alice breathed a sigh of relief, put down the handle in her hand without saying a word, stood up and walked out of Tianxin Church -

"So that means," she said in a casual tone, "it's time for the talented player to come on stage."

"Alice."

Xino called her. The genius player did not turn around, so he could not see the worried expression on her face. After a long silence, he heard her low voice: "Be careful."

Alice nodded and walked out of the church, her back quickly disappearing from Xino's sight.

The young knight stared deeply in the direction she left, without saying a word. After a while, she sighed quietly, turned back and fixed her eyes on the statue of the goddess. Under the gaze of those deep and wise eyes, she slowly lowered her head, clasped her hands in front of her chest, and offered the most pious prayer to the greatest god who created this world and this body.

The victorious girl kingship prays for victory.

Give me some meow