Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 427 Is there no way to sneak in?
In the center of the swamp, there is a lush mangrove forest. These mangrove plants, mainly metasequoia, red banyan, olive and wisteria, are distributed in a regular pattern. If you look down from the sky, you will find that they form a ring-like structure, gathering inward in circles. In the dense fog, it is like a huge whirlpool on the sea, gradually sucking in the surrounding shadows and water. In the center of the whirlpool is a towering and steep cliff, and on the edge of the cliff sits a gloomy and terrifying castle. That is the destination of this trip, the base camp of Silver Moon: Fuloze Castle.

Lingge and his party stopped at the periphery of the Kuoya Arc, hiding in the ruins of an old, dilapidated building, silently observing the movements in the mangrove forest. The ruins seemed to be relics left over from the Middle Ages, earlier than the aliens entered the Xugen Swamp. Therefore, the classic solemn style of that era can be seen from the broken brick walls and columns. Of course, more places have been completely occupied by natural plants. Vines are all over every weathered stone brick, and unknown insects are crawling underneath. The courtyard slightly above the ground is also full of stagnant water, and the fog condenses a layer of frost on the water surface.

No one knows who would have left behind such a magnificent and majestic complex in an uninhabited swamp in such ancient times.

They were about a hundred meters away from the entrance of the Quaoa Arc, which was not too far, but the thick fog would blur the vision. Only Leticia, a native of the swamp, could adapt to this environment. She poked her head out from behind a white stone wall and carefully observed the huge and terrifying shadows in the fog.

A group of giants with sturdy bodies were patrolling nearby. They looked quite scary, with dirty gray bandages wrapped around their human-shaped bodies, covering their faces and limbs tightly. Only two groups of green ghostly lights were exposed from their eyes, staring at the surroundings numbly. In some places where the bandages were not tied tightly, you could see rotting pus and blood, and tiny tentacles were drilling in and out of the wounds like insects, which was creepy.

They are huge, almost as tall as two people, like giants, but they walk silently - to be precise, they cannot be described as "walking", but rather floating. These giants will float over the water like ghosts, without making any noise or even casting a reflection in the water.

Just imagine, if you were walking on the road at night and suddenly such a big creature appeared silently behind you, casting a sinister and eerie shadow, how terrifying that would be.

"It's the Night Watcher."

Leticia said in a low voice.

After spending some time together, she knew that this group of people were indeed here to help her, so she was not so resistant anymore, and she did not mind exchanging information with them and sharing intelligence: "I heard from my grandmother that this is a very mysterious demon spirit. They have a magic that allows them to freely travel between the shadow world and the material world. They usually peel off the skin of dead humans or aliens and use it as a shell to disguise themselves. Once the shell is damaged, they escape into the cracks of the shadows to hide. Therefore, no one has ever seen their true appearance. Some people only speculate that those tiny tentacles like insects are the real bodies of the night patrol spirits."

Even if they managed to avoid these night watchers, they would certainly run into the surveillance area of ​​other aliens. To sneak into the Forloze Castle without being discovered was as difficult as breaking into the headquarters of the Inquisition, the Temple of Judgment, and escaping unscathed - it was impossible anyway.

The demon spirit is so big, but its body is so inconspicuous and strange. Isn’t it amazing?
Metien's face turned pale: "So, those bandages on their bodies are?"

Although sometimes I am very brave, sometimes I am also very timid.

"Yes." Leticia nodded gently: "It is made of human skin, animal skin, or the skin of some other messy creatures."

But how is it possible for people to walk by without leaving a shadow?
"It looks like the guys from Silver Moon are on high alert." Leticia gritted her teeth, feeling a bit tricky. "This is just the outer perimeter of the Kua Arc. I don't know how many other creatures there are in the forest, monitoring the movements nearby just like the Night Watchers."

There was silence behind her. After waiting for a while, no one responded to her words, so she turned around in confusion to see what these people were doing. She found that everyone was staring at Alice silently, and the golden-haired maid herself proudly took out a strange silver-white cube from her belt.

The pink-haired little girl trembled and withdrew her gaze, not daring to look any longer.

Alice was not afraid at all. She even looked at them twice, as if she was observing a rare and exotic creature. Then she asked, "So, why are these night watchers here?"

Leticia looked at her in surprise, as if wondering why she was asking such an obvious question: "Of course I'm on patrol. Due to their racial affinity for shadows, Nightwatchers are the most suitable candidates to act as guards and surveillance ears. They discover intruders not by smell or sound, but by their perception of shadows. Anyone who passes by will leave traces in the shadows, and these traces are as bright as lights in their eyes. Unless there is a way to completely sever your connection with the shadows, it is impossible to escape their surveillance."

This postmodern abstract performance art confused the vampire girl: "What are you doing?"

"doing what?"

Alice repeated her question and chuckled twice: "Of course I'm waiting for the protagonist to appear and break the dilemma!" "Who is the protagonist? You?"

Leticia looked at the guy suspiciously.

Although she had lost her memory, even Leticia knew how unreliable this golden maid was after a short time together. From her words and deeds to her thinking logic, there was nothing that matched a normal person. As for relying on her to break the dilemma, it was even more absurd and unbelievable.

"I will remember your offense and I will not do it again."

Alice glared at her, then leisurely took out the cassette she had just finished editing from the cassette storage box and said confidently, "You'll know your mistake in a moment."

"Is it really okay?" Leticia ignored her and looked at Metien. "We only have one chance. If we are discovered by those night watchers, we will have to fight the werewolves of Silver Moon and more aliens. We will definitely not be able to win."

Even though Leticia had not received a good math education, she knew that the probability of rescuing her grandmother after being discovered must be extremely small.

So it’s better not to waste this precious opportunity which only comes once on this unknown maid, right?
"Uh, hahaha." Metien heard the hidden meaning in her words, laughed awkwardly, and whispered: "There's no need to be so suspicious, Leticia. Sister Alice's game magic is amazing. It can definitely help us sneak into the castle and rescue your grandma. Even if you don't want to believe her, please believe me, okay?"

Her tone was sincere and her eyes were clear. Leticia was silent for a moment, then she turned her head away and nodded imperceptibly, muttering, "Let me tell you in advance, if it doesn't work, I will -"

"What do you want?" the golden-haired maid shouted, "Come and bite me?"

Leticia gave her a look of disdain and said nothing more.

Alice was also gently twisted by Saint Shallia, and was forced to give up this boring childish behavior - if Lingge heard correctly, when her neck was twisted, there was a crisp clicking sound, right?

Maybe it's an illusion?
In short, with Leticia looking at her as if she were a psychopath, Alice once again made that ambiguous gesture, with one hand pointing to the sky and the other hand on her waist. With a very cool but meaningless gesture, she inserted the cartridge into the slot of the game console and shouted that equally meaningless slogan:
"Hen, sin (transform)!"

A cold, mechanical girl's voice echoed in the ancient, dilapidated ruins:
【Welcome to AliceGame system, Player (Dear players, welcome to the Alice system)】

[Cassette Date Was Detected, Now Starting The Game]

[Core-Eternal Configuration, Action (Eternal Core, configuration completed)]

【The GAME《The creed of blood》 Has Been Started（The game《Blood creed》 has been started.】

【Go For Your Game, Player (Happy Game)】

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)