Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 219 Is it fate knocking on the door?
As the princess finished speaking, the room that had been exiled to the cold space and time trembled and uttered a low groan, and at this moment returned to its original world. This groan was not heard by the ear, but was transmitted based on a certain frequency. Therefore, even other things besides humans could hear its echo and feel the surging will in it, just like a ship breaking through the waves in a storm, dropping a huge anchor and locking the coordinates of longing.

The long-dusted years seemed to have sensed the coming of some kind of destiny, and they once again set their sights on this long-lost room, coating everything, from the burning candles to the floating dust, with a layer of warm luster. She began to feel their temperature and touch their bodies, and at this moment she felt that they were so real, neither phantoms nor illusions.

The ponytail tied up by the cloth strips fluttered gently, and the ends of the white-gold hair were stained with the residual light of the candlelight, forming a nearly transparent state. The star clusters in the princess' eyes were scattered and the light was moving, gradually gathering together, as if to smash all the stars in the universe and use their light to cast the most majestic sun. That sun was the appearance of the princess' eyes, melting all the snow-like shadows, and after the snow melted, you would see the passionate yearning.

"The game is... not over yet."

She whispered to herself, as if making a promise to her companions in another world, because she knew they were still watching her. Then she tied the lantern around her waist, held the book in her arms, and walked towards the locked door, just like she had opened the door not long ago and started an adventure of her own, and now she was just starting over.

As soon as I took the first step, a cold pop-up window appeared in front of me:

[Do you want to start the second round of the game? ]

Olvera didn't know what the second round was, but she knew what a beginning meant. Destiny needed a beginning. If it didn't begin, there would be no ending. The same was true for her, so the princess nodded firmly and chose yes.

Another pop-up window appeared:
[In the last round, you failed to defeat the ruler guarding the bottom floor of the castle, causing the floor that had been ignited to fall into darkness again, and all the guardians among the rulers were resurrected. Are you ready to face a more powerful enemy? ]

It is indeed frustrating to lose all previous efforts, but it is undoubtedly a weak act to be depressed or even give up because of this. The princess has already gained courage, longing and willpower from her past memories. Even when facing the second challenge, she is not afraid and still chooses yes.

Then, a series of pop-up prompts scrolled and refreshed in front of Olvera's eyes. Countless strings of 0s and 1s flowed out from the void, surrounding the princess, constantly flowing and flashing, densely occupying the ceiling, floor and every ray of light released by the candles, making her dazzled and confused as to what was going on.

Rather, she was alone for a long time, without the company of her parents and teachers. But at that time she had not made the decision to change her fate, but now it is different.

Alice, Lingge, Saint Charia and her lamb, Metien and Shemi... all the companions who accompanied the princess through countless difficulties are not around at this moment. If she had been in the beginning, she would have felt embarrassed and hesitant in the face of this situation, right? But this shouldn't be the case. Since she is the last hope of her companions, she shouldn't back down. She has received so much help in the past, and now it's her turn to help her companions.

【The emergency repair mechanism was successfully initiated. 】

"I want to fight." Olvera replied seriously, "Even if I'm alone."

The system narration fell silent. After about a minute, the final pop-up window popped up: [Well, I wish you good luck——]

At this moment, in a blank space in the prop column, an item that shouldn't have appeared suddenly lay there quietly, as if responding to someone's call. Its appearance also caused unexpected changes in the game. The pop-up window that should have disappeared was affected by a certain force, and the content in it quickly distorted and changed. Before the naked eye could react, another line of text was formed:
[External program intervention detected, emergency repair mechanism is being initiated. ]

The third pop-up window appears:
[Even if you start a new round, the hero weapons, items and skills lost in the previous round will not be inherited. Are you ready to fight on your own? ]

[Repairing system vulnerabilities...Error, this external program has a system interface and is determined to be a legitimate program.]

【Start to detect the operation logic of the external program. 】

[It is detected that this external program has a certain degree of similarity and adaptability with the game core - Secret. ] [Confirmed that this external program is an external supplementary plug-in for the cartridge. ]

[Request to connect this external program to the game core - Mystery. ]

[Request approved, instructions are being executed. ]

……

Amid the dense and continuous pop-up prompts, Ovilla opened her eyes wide in surprise and saw that her prop bar was emitting a soft golden glow, and it was getting brighter and brighter, as if there was a dead planet sleeping in it, and it was awakened by humans at this moment, emitting starlight all over the sky again, conveying a vast and sacred power, and in the end it was like the release of thousands of rays of morning light, stinging her eyes with a slight pain, and drowning out the constantly rolling and flowing strings.

Olvera had to put a hand in front of her eyes to prevent them from being hurt by the bright starlight. She opened her eyes with difficulty, and in the golden ocean that was so thick that it almost condensed into substance, she checked the status of the props column. The props that had been dropped by monsters before, including the ashes of the remaining fire and various gems, had disappeared with the game's rollback. The only two items left were the lantern [Ember Supply] that originally accompanied the princess and the book [Book of Truth], both lying alone in the grid.

However, the third grid, which should have been blank, had been occupied by another item at some point and was emitting a fierce light.

"That is--"

Avella's pupils contracted, and she could only vaguely see the shadow of a dagger. Before she could check its properties, a new and final pop-up window appeared in the densely scrolling pop-up window prompts:

[The command has been executed and the program docking is completed. ]

As this pop-up window appeared, the brilliant starlight in the sky shattered and turned into numerous and blurry debris, which fluttered down from the sky and evenly covered every inch of the room, filling them with bright colors, even the smallest gaps and corners. It instantly made people feel as if they were in the depths of a brilliant ocean, and they could see nothing but the light.

A beautifully shaped dagger emerged from the deepest part of the ocean and slowly floated down. It looked like a feather or a ray of light, without any real weight. Olvera recognized it as the dagger that suddenly appeared in the props column. She subconsciously reached out to take it and quietly watched it land in her palm. The feeling at that moment was indeed like catching a soft feather or an illusory ray of light, so gentle and so warm.

The wooden handle is carved with blooming flowers, and each petal is clearly visible. When they stretch or droop, they look like being hit by raindrops, enduring a soaking rainstorm. When Olvera looks at them, she can't help but imagine herself standing in the center of the fragrant violet garden, greedily sucking the sweet breath flowing under the branches, and she has a sense of déjà vu. At that time, someone told her that it was your previous life.

I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or destiny, but the flower carved on this dagger is indeed a violet.

[Holy Dagger - Star of Disaster: Trees have their own destiny, and this is the destiny of trees. Every tree once had the desire to become a human, but what was their original intention? If it is just to see a more distant landscape, let the leaves fly to the place seen in the dream; if it is just to encounter more lives, the separation of life and death is actually more frequent in the long years. Do you know its meaning? If you don't know, would you want to pursue it? When holding this dagger, do those throbbing memories still exist? Ah, a person's life is only a hundred years, but it is longer than that of a tree, and perhaps more sad. ]

Olvera stared blankly at the dagger in her hand, and had a familiar feeling; in the void, there was also a little girl staring blankly at the dagger, and at this moment she had an ominous premonition, followed by a huge emptiness: she knew it, but could not stop it.

The next moment, there was a knock on the door:
Boom--boom--

The low echo is destiny knocking on the door.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)