Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 349 Have you decided on the next direction?
It's clearly there, it's definitely there, it's bound to be there!

Alice followed Lingge to the windmill tower outside the forest, muttering to herself, feeling very dissatisfied with Lingge's double-talking. It has been said that tsundere is a backward style of play, but this guy insists on going against the version, which is really a headache.

How can I make Lingge more honest? Just like the previous time when he frankly admitted "I need your strength". But the consequence of his frankness that time was that Alice made a shitty game without any characteristics. So, maybe it's better for him not to be frank?

Speaking of games.

Alice suddenly remembered something and said to the young man walking in front: "Lingge, I want to ask you a question."

Linger casually pushed aside a bunch of ivy hanging from the branches of a large tree, and kicked away a black stone buried under the colorful fallen leaves and decaying germs to prevent it from tripping passers-by. This move startled various small reptiles lurking under the stone - ants, two-tailed scorpions, spotted spiders, and he even saw a palm-sized blade-footed insect. This gray centipede arthropod twisted its densely packed legs and quickly moved through the fallen leaves, quickly disappearing into a nearby low bush.

At this time, the young man turned around and saw Alice kicking the nearby stones like him. However, he was trying to prevent the stones hidden under the fallen leaves from tripping pedestrians, while this guy was probably just doing it for fun.

"what is the problem?"

"Oh, that's it—"

Alice quietly retracted her foot, not noticing that she kicked an innocent little spider away. "You were so anxious for us to leave Nimsher before. Did you know what Rochelle was going to do?"

The latter was startled by his strange look: "What, what! Is there something wrong with what I said!?"

"Besides games...what else is there?" She scratched her cheek, not seeming to be pretending.

Lingge was silent.

"No." Seeing her dazed look, Ling Ge couldn't help but ask, "Is that all you want to say?"

However, she did not say so, nor did she even mention the victims. Instead, she was upset about making a game that she was not satisfied with. Did she not say it out of consideration for Ling's feelings? The young man hoped that it was the case, but when he looked at Alice's serious and complaining eyes, he could not convince himself that she was pretending.

Alice put her hands on her hips and started to chatter like a housewife who went to the garden market to buy cheap vegetables at seven in the morning: "Next time you encounter something like this, you should tell us earlier. Don't always think about solving it alone. Can't we discuss it together? If you had told us earlier, maybe things wouldn't have developed to that extent, and I would have had more preparation time to conceive, repair and improve my new game! Instead of spending ten minutes to make a shit game like before! To be honest, although the experience of the story mode of that game is quite good, with immersive air combat; but if it is a casual mode, I don't even want to open it a second time! Besides, it's the first 3D game in my life. Alas, it's such a failure!"

"Okay, I knew it!"

He thought Alice would say that if he had told everyone about Rochelle's plan earlier, the incident might not have developed to such a serious level, and so many people would not have died in the disaster. Although the response of the cult was timely, it was impossible to save everyone, and they could have saved more people, but they failed to do so in the end.

He didn't try to cover up or defend himself, and simply nodded and admitted, "Yeah."

In fact, if you think about it carefully, you will find that this kind of thing is not without precedent, from Miss Fialli in Linville City to Professor David in the Ronin Rift. In real life, they are all living people, but in the world of the game, they are dead like cold numbers. Alice killed them personally, but she did not feel any real killing. It felt more like breathing and drinking water.

really.

Lingge seemed to have expected her to ask this question, so he didn't show any surprise. Rather, she should have asked it a long time ago. With her impatience, she could hold it in for three days, which was enough to make the young man feel incredible.

"Oh, what else?"

"Only games?"

The root cause of the disaster was the struggle between the two giants, animists and the cult, but Ling, who knew it was coming but chose to stay out of it and turn a blind eye, should also bear some responsibility for this.

She sighed in frustration. At first, Linger listened quietly without refutation, after all, he did something wrong in this matter. But as he listened to the rest of the story, his expression gradually became strange, and the way he looked at Alice became strange.

I remember when I left the world of the tape of "First Fantasy: Four Warriors", Linger asked her where Fialee was, and Alice's answer was, of course, "She's dead."

Is it that the virtual game isolates people from their real senses, or is this Alice's nature?

Lingge didn't know. So far, many problem girls have appeared around him: Saint Xia Liya, who is out of touch with the world and persistently pursues the whereabouts of other girl kings, but finds nothing no matter how hard she tries; Ovira, who has been trapped in the castle that is actually a cage for many years, lost her relatives and cannot fall asleep, seeking comfort in dreams, so she is extremely afraid of darkness and loneliness; and even Yieta, who is too weak, always likes to attribute other people's mistakes to herself, and is suspected of having autistic tendencies... These girl kings of creation have more or less some defects in their personalities, but Lingge suddenly feels that the problems they show are not bigger than Alice, who seems normal in front of him.

It’s strange, when did I start to think that Alice was normal?

It was obvious that she was the most abnormal person from the very beginning.

"Lingge, what are you thinking about!" Alice called the young man out of his reverie, then looked at him strangely: "Why did you stand there in a daze for so long? Could it be... that you were stunned by my beauty?"

She convinced herself and felt proud of herself.

"No."

Lingge replied expressionlessly, then turned and walked out of the dense forest.

Walking past a wooden fence covered with wisteria, ivy and morning glory at the end of the forest, there is a primrose field where the windmill tower stands. Lingge can already see the girls waiting under the white windmill.

"Eh? Why are you walking so fast? Are you shy about me guessing your true feelings? Hey, are you blushing? Be good and let me see!"

……

After finally getting rid of Alice's entanglement and returning to his companions, Lingge immediately received a lot of concerned gazes. Metien asked with half worry and half expectation: "Lingge, are you okay?"

Lingge didn't say anything, but just reached out and rubbed her little head as a response. The pink-haired girl narrowed her eyes and showed a relieved and comfortable expression.

Saint Shallia came over and handed the golden [Destiny Beacon] to Ling Ge. The moment the young man reached out to touch it, she opened her lips slightly and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "It's not your fault."

I don’t know whether it is talking about Rochelle’s death or the disaster caused by the struggle between God and man.

Linger's hand paused for a moment, then he took it as if nothing had happened, and when he looked up, he met the shepherdess's clear and peaceful golden eyes. He nodded slightly in response, and then, under the tense and expectant gaze of everyone, he gently pinched the end of the thread of fate, threw the [Fate Beacon] in his hand into the sky, and said, "I want to know--"

"The next position of the young girl's royal power."

The guided [Destiny Beacon] was thrown up and then fell in front of everyone's eyes, and then rolled along the direction of the primroses growing all over the ground, splitting a winding path in the lush and gorgeous fields. Alice was running from that direction panting, complaining as she ran: "Lingge, you are so despicable! When I catch you, I will... Wow, what is this!"

She was startled by the golden ball rolling over and quickly dodged to the side. Everyone ignored her funny behavior and stared at the place where the [Destiny Beacon] was gradually disappearing, with a thoughtful expression on their faces.

"Southeast." Saint Shalia looked at Ling Ge: "Where is it?"

Linger replied, "Flying southeast from Leisenburg, you will pass the White City Republic, Lishid, and several countries smaller than Leisenburg; if you go further, you will fly over the Sea Between Land and enter the Siqilia Peninsula, which belongs to the territory of Metosh. It is far away from the central island of Ruilanthos in the Sea Between Land. The central island Ruilanthos is the mountain range that was blown away by the great wind in the wind legend of Avion."

At this point, everyone looked at Yieta at the same time, causing the white quail ball to shrink back a few steps and weakly defend itself: "Well, well, I don't know, I didn't think too much at the time..."

Everyone turned their gazes away, and Lingge spoke up and made a decision: "Then let Sky Island fly in this direction first."

"Objection, Ari!"

An unusually loud and energetic voice suddenly came.

I believe everyone knows who the person who spoke out against this is.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)