Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 14 Is the Real World a Game?

In the end, the conspiracy between the two did not achieve any substantial results. Although Alice did not believe that there were people without weaknesses in the world, the lovely Metien said so, so how could she not believe it? Anyway, she believed it.

Although he hadn't thought of a solution, Medien made a decision to hold the seven-day ceremony first and not let it be delayed by other things. Otherwise, his father who stayed in the church would be disappointed.

Alice naturally expressed her support for this, and then she went back to sleep. After all, Lingge, a caring brother, had already urged Metien to turn off the lights and rest early. As a maid, could she disobey her employer's orders? That was something that only traitors would do, and she disdained it.

But even such a loyal maid still couldn't get a good night's sleep.

……

It was still dark when Alice was awakened from her sleep. Through the narrow window, which was about one foot square, she could see a little gray haze, which was like the cold moonlight in a dream, or like the light before dawn, depressing and gloomy.

She rubbed her sleepy eyes and muttered softly, complaining about who was disturbing her sweet dreams in the middle of the night. Then Lingge's voice came from outside the door: "Go downstairs."

He spoke briefly, as if every word he said to Alice would be tainted with something unclean: "Come and help."

Then came the sound of footsteps gradually fading away.

Metien was wearing a set of clothes adapted from nun's clothes, with the hem cut off and replaced with a light short skirt, white leggings and black boots, which made it easier to move and more energetic. It is worth mentioning that she did not wear a veil like ordinary nuns, so her pink hair was out of tune with the overall black nun's clothes, but there was an unusual sense of harmony. It felt contradictory from a sensory point of view, but from a mood, it seemed to suit her quite well.

Alice was even more confused: "It's not dawn yet, is it?"

Alice complained in her heart, and forced herself to change into a maid outfit - the original outfit had become pajamas - and hung her beloved game console and cassette storage box on her belt, and grabbed the headphones beside her and put them on her head. The high-tech silver-white rabbit ears completely distinguished their owner from those ordinary maids. She immediately felt a sense of accomplishment as if she had transformed into a special effects hero. After posing a few meaningless poses on the spot, she pushed the door open and left with satisfaction, walking downstairs.

The change in clothing and atmosphere finally made Alice realize that she was in a church being watched by God.

After hearing her footsteps coming down the stairs, the brother and sister looked at her at the same time. Lingge didn't say anything, but Metien stretched out her hand and waved, beckoning her over: "Sister Alice, here."

This guy is really frugal with words.

On the walls on both sides, the rusted copper candlesticks had been lit with candles at some point. They were the kind of long white candles used in formal occasions. Twenty-four white candles illuminated the chapel together, and even the flames were filled with a sacred atmosphere. Linger, dressed as a priest, stood behind the altar, in front of the goddess statue, while Metien, dressed as a nun, sat on the oak bench in the front row, with her head slightly lowered, as if praying.

It was clearly late at night, but she seemed very energetic and not tired at all.

It was some strange dream talk again, but Lingge turned a deaf ear to it and simply uttered three words: "Seven Days of Ceremony."

Lingge was wearing a simple priest robe. Perhaps because of its age, the white color of the cloth was not pure, as if it was stained with the dust of time. But the exquisite workmanship, the gold thread pattern, the silver chain, the shawl covering the shoulders and elbows, and the row of stylish metal buttons on the chest still proved that this priest robe had a good origin. With Lingge's usual calm expression, he looked more serious and solemn than usual.

As Alice walked over, she looked at Lingge behind the altar and asked in confusion, "What happened? Why did you wake me up so suddenly? I just skipped the tutorial and was about to go on a killing spree!"

When Alice arrived at the chapel on the first floor, she discovered that not only Lingge but also Metien was there, and both the brother and sister had new skins... I mean, they both wore new clothes.

In my impression, those who secretly hold ceremonies in the middle of the night are usually cults that are not worthy of being seen. Could it be that...

"The service starts during the day, but we have to prepare now." Metien spoke in time, interrupting her wandering thoughts.

Lingge was too lazy to talk nonsense with this guy. He took out a worn-out registration book and a pen from the drawer of the altar and said to her, "Stand here and be responsible for registration." "Register what?"

Alice, confused, took the register from him, and Linger, who gave up his seat to her, went to the kitchen and came back with a mop and a rag. Metien ran over obediently and took the rag from him, and then the brother and sister worked together to clean up, Linger was responsible for mopping the floor, and Metien was responsible for wiping the oak benches, trying to make the church clean and tidy before the service began.

"So this is what you're preparing." Alice saw this and nodded as if she had suddenly realized something, completely unaware of how negligent she, as a maid, had been.

Anyway, it was Lingge who asked me to stand here.

In the spirit of "absolutely obeying the employer's orders", she accepted this setting with peace of mind, and then opened the registration book in her hand, took a look, and found that it was all about the registration information of church relief. However, compared with regular relief agencies, it was relatively rough. The information of the rescued people only had a name, and sometimes there was not even a name. They were only called "street + occupation", such as "the old sailor in Birmingham Street", "the porter in Yorkshire", and "the tramp in Lakeside Street" - if tramps can be considered an occupation.

As for the relief supplies, in addition to the common "four loaves of brown bread and half a pint of milk", there are also records such as "received two pieces of old clothes", "received an old bed sheet", "received half a bundle of linen". There are few examples of direct relief money, but every time it appears, the amount is large, and there will be a detailed description, such as the record Alice saw: Mrs. Maggie of Turquoise Street received 2 pounds and 10 shillings to treat her youngest son Tom's fever. The "People's Public Hospital" in Whitechapel has relevant hospitalization records to support this.

That was six months ago, when Tianxin Church had not yet been affected by the Religious Decree.

Looking through these records, Alice's mood gradually changed from curiosity at the beginning to surprise, and finally to another more complicated emotion: She had heard from Metien before that anyone who was willing to enter Tianxin Church to listen to the gospel of the goddess, whether a believer or not, could receive bread and milk. If this was also the case for the people in the register, then Tianxin Church was not a church at all, but a pure relief organization!
Lingge, on the other hand, has managed to maintain this relief organization by his own strength without any external support. If it weren't for the "Religious Decree", he might have been able to maintain it for a longer time until one day he could no longer sustain it.

Alice had no idea about the difficulty of running a relief agency, but she knew what kind of era she was in: this was the 19th century steam age when capitalism was most prevalent, the gap between the rich and the poor was the widest, and the material and hedonistic ideas were the most serious. In this era, it was difficult to be rich, good or smart, but it was easy to be poor, bad or stupid.

Is Lingge a good man or a fool?

Alice couldn't tell, but she suddenly had an idea: Could it be that Lingge was so determined to close Tianxin Church not because of financial pressure or the Religious Decree, but because... he was already very tired?
It's normal to want to take a break when you feel tired, and no one can blame you.

So, was it wrong for Metien to try so hard to save the church? This was her father's legacy, her home, and her faith. Why should someone else decide her fate when she had not made any mistakes?

So, the real world is really complicated. It would be great if everything was as simple as a game. No need to worry about right or wrong, no need to worry about political beliefs, just tell me where the enemy is and how many I need to kill.

Of course, there are some shitty games that make choices based on the players’ brains, but that’s another matter.

Alice didn't like playing poop games. She looked at Ling'er who was silently mopping the floor, and at Metien who was diligently wiping the chairs. Suddenly, she felt that she was particularly sinful, stuck in the middle, and was torn. She sighed helplessly.

The sigh reached the ears of the brother and sister. Lingge remained indifferent, while Metien raised her head, blinked her cute big eyes and asked, "What's wrong, Sister Alice?"

"No, nothing." Alice laughed dryly, "I was just wondering, how long will it take before we can start?"

"Soon, um, maybe in an hour or two."

It was just daybreak.

Alice nodded and continued to look through the register in her hand. She didn't notice that the silver-white cube surface of the SLP game console hanging on her waist was flickering with a faint blue fluorescence, and the frequency of the flickering coincided with the frequency of her breathing and heartbeat, as if a soul in the dark was responding to someone's call and was about to wake up.

If only the world were a game... This wasn't the first time the girl had had similar thoughts, but she probably didn't know that sometimes, strong human emotions would drive changes in fate.

　Is anyone watching?
　　
　
(End of this chapter)