Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 429: Didn’t you really notice it?

【The ancient peninsula has witnessed countless moonlights, and the stories of heroes are sung under the moon. Sometimes it is a triumphant return, sometimes it is an irreversible sorrow; sometimes it is purely for the sake of justice for ideals, and sometimes it is a life-and-death struggle bound by desire. Is this a conflict between faith and survival, or is it the essential difference between humans and aliens? In any case, blood is flowing from the era of heroes to an era where ideals and youth are gradually aging. It will dye the moonlight of the peninsula red, and the blood-red full moon will witness the end and the appearance of new heroes. 】

【We came here to participate in the story, and saw shadows lurking in the dark swamp, countless huge beasts fighting for flesh and blood in its body, withered blood vessels and rotten bones, together forming this dying body. Who will win and who will lose? Before the years, everything was just dust. Perhaps only an eternal soul can see the story to the end and judge its brilliance and mistakes.】

[At the beginning of the story, Leticia, a girl who walks in darkness but has a bright heart, where will your future go? Where will your heart go? The memories you lost in reincarnation will return to your soul one day, but those things that confuse you will also return. Will you accept them? Or resist? Dive into this dirty darkness and prove to us why and why light exists. This is the creed of an alternative vampire that you must stick to. ]

【Welcome to: Dark End Alien Gathering Place, Virtual Root Swamp. 】

The hazy mist invaded the swamp, and the filthy blood moon rose into the night sky, sprinkling endless blood and slaughter on the world. The dark, dead and low echoes, as if ringing under every inch of mud and sand where bones were buried, told a sad story. The night was about to die, the sky was about to overturn, and the moon was about to burn. In the surging blood-red sea, strange and twisted words gradually took shape, like branding bitter poppy petals with hot iron. In the dark red shadow, there was a faint light -

"The creed of blood".

"Full moon!?"

As soon as Leticia opened her eyes, she saw the blood moon above her head. She was immediately startled and quickly shrank behind the wall. This shock was even greater than her fear of the unknown world, so that she did not realize that she had entered a mysterious and strange realm. Everything around her had undergone subtle changes, which were clearly different from the real material world. Until Alice said lightly: "That's fake."

"fake?"

"Yes, it's just a game sticker." Alice asked, "Why are you afraid of the full moon? Aren't vampires supposed to like the full moon very much?"

Leticia looked down at her hands, then looked up at the surroundings. It was only then that she realized that these scenes were not real. They were filled with an indescribable sense of illusion, and a little rough upon closer inspection. There was also fog in the sky, branches like claw marks in the fog, and a terrifying blood-red full moon revealed between the branches. She looked confused and at a loss.

Leticia did not answer her question, but hesitantly poked her head out from behind the stone wall, took a look at the blood moon in the mist, and quickly retracted her head, as if she was afraid that the burning temperature of the blood moon would burn her eyes. But nothing happened, she touched her body and murmured: "It doesn't hurt at all, it's fake..."

"Oh, here we go again."

Alice sighed helplessly. She was tired of having to explain the settings of the game console and cartridge to each new teammate. She even suspected that some unsuccessful writer had designed such a plot just to increase the word count... But what could she do? In order for the subsequent clearance process to go smoothly, she still had to try her best to explain the settings to Leticia.

"I told you a long time ago." Alice said with a smile.

"This is ridiculous."

"Ah, don't panic, we just became your ghosts. Come on, everyone, say hello to Leticia."

"And me, and me!" Xie Mi also came up and shouted.

"So what is going on?" Faced with a major event that went beyond her outlook on life and the world, Leticia squatted behind the stone wall, holding her head in a state of collapse. Her little head was filled with confusion: "Why did you all appear in my mind? What do you mean by the spirit behind you? Have you all turned into demon spirits?"

Then, Metien’s voice came into his mind: “Hello, hello, can you hear me, Leticia? I’m here!”

So he spent a few minutes explaining the concept of the game to this country bumpkin vampire lady who had never played a game before. After she understood it, she couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, feeling that there was such a magical world. At the same time, she gained more confidence in the action of saving her grandmother - which of course was impossible.

Then, Saint Xia Liya and Olvera greeted her in a friendly manner; only Lingge was too cold and just said "hmm" and left it at that, which made Alice keep muttering that he was too perfunctory and did not have the attitude of guiding a newcomer at all.

"Oh."

Leticia nodded hesitantly, then realized something and opened her eyes wide: "Wait, why did your voice appear in my head? Where are you!? Where is Metien? Where are the others? Where did you all go!?"

There was only the petite vampire in the ruins occupied by vines and aquatic plants, while everyone else seemed to have disappeared out of thin air, with no trace of them to be found.

Question first, question second, and question again last. This is the correct process.

This is normal. Not everyone who enters the game world for the first time can accept this setting.

For this vicious disease of "children not wanting to play games", the solution of the miracle doctor Alice is very crude: "No matter if it's ridiculous or not, just tell me whether you want to save grandma or not. Anyway, this is the only way, you have to play even if you don't want to."

Hearing this, Leticia's eyes suddenly became firm. Just as Alice said, no matter how ridiculous this so-called game magic was, as long as it could help her rescue her grandmother, that was enough. "I'll play!"

She said decisively.

"Okay!" Alice was delighted: "Just for your generosity, today I, the genius player Alice, will personally teach you how to be a stealth master! Do you understand the value of clearing a level without killing any enemies? Everyone calls me Little Connor!"

Everyone: "..."

There's a new nickname.

……

Although it's stealth, how can we avoid the perception range of those night patrol spirits? They are demons from the shadow world that can capture the movements of shadows clearly.

"Observe first." Alice acted like an old assassin and patiently said, "You need to observe the enemy carefully so that you can formulate the most appropriate infiltration route. Come on, Leticia, tell me, what have you observed?"

Leticia poked her head out from behind the stone wall, holding onto the crumbling bricks at the edge of the wall, and furtively stared at the night patrol spirits roaming back and forth at the entrance of the mangrove forest. After watching for a while, she suddenly asked in confusion, "Is there a red circle under their bodies?"

That's right, those strange ghosts wrapped in bandages were floating on the water, but there was a red solid circle under their bodies, flashing a dazzling red light, giving people a sense of danger at first glance. As they patrolled, the red circle also moved back and forth, basically covering a radius of ten meters.

"That's their warning circle." Alice whispered, as if she was afraid of being heard by the night watchers in the distance: "If you step into the red area of ​​the warning circle, you will be discovered by them."

Leticia asked subconsciously: "What if we don't step in?"

"I won't be discovered." Alice's tone seemed matter-of-fact, which made Leticia's question seem a little abnormal: "Why would you ask such a simple question?"

What are you teasing me?

This was Leticia's first reaction.

That's the Night Patrol Spirit! The spirit with the strongest perception in the fog and darkness. And you told me that I wouldn't be discovered as long as I didn't step into their warning circle? How big is that warning circle? It's only about ten meters in radius, right? Does that mean the Night Patrol Spirits are all deaf and dumb people who can only detect unusual movements within ten meters?

"It's theoretically impossible." After she made a sharp remark to express doubt, Alice said in a deep tone: "But don't forget, this is a game."

Leticia: “…”

"Okay, now that you've learned how to sneak, go ahead and try it out."

I learned a thing from you!
Leticia almost wanted to scold her, but failed to do so due to Metien's dissuasion. The pink-haired girl repeatedly assured her: Although Sister Alice is unreliable in all aspects, only games are reliable! So, please trust her once!

Leticia left the ruins where she was hiding half-believingly and half-doubtingly, and moved cautiously towards the entrance of the Quaoar Arc under the cover of thick fog and the shadows cast by the mangroves. She felt uneasy all the way, fearing that the night patrol spirits would suddenly turn their eyes to her.

But nothing happened.

Half a minute later, she was standing only fifteen meters away from the outermost night watcher, not yet entering his alert circle. But within this range, she could detect someone standing in front of her even with her eyes, let alone sensing shadows. The night watcher was still roaming around like a blind man, occasionally stretching out its giant hand wrapped in filthy bandages, scratching its skull-like head, and then making a gesture to its other companions, probably to express something like "I'm fine, everything is normal."

Don't you think you're the most abnormal one?

Leticia was completely speechless.

Alice's triumphant voice came from my mind: "See, I told you so!"

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)