Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 90 Do all humans have two faces?
"Pathogen rat?"

It sounds impressive, but Alice was relieved: At least it wasn't Skaven, at least the style of this world hadn't changed.

Metien was very concerned about a familiar name mentioned by Shemi, and a puzzled expression appeared on his face: "You just said... a herb garden?"

"That's right!"

Xie Mi clenched the basket tightly and said angrily: "The believers of the Herb Garden colluded with the Night Watch. After they eliminated and expelled most of the aliens in Rostin City, they still wanted to kill them all, so they artificially created a plague that spread in the dark corners of the city, killing countless innocent lives, including not only aliens, but also wild animals such as mice, cats, and pigeons. Infected by the plague, they cannot rest in peace even after death, but are transformed into a form similar to the undead, and continue to be controlled by these people, closely monitoring every corner of the city, looking for traces of aliens. Such practices are simply blaspheming the spirituality of life and polluting the purity of the soul!"

She snorted. For the first time, the weak-willed girl showed such obvious disgust. "The pathogenic rats in the sewers died in the plague and were transformed into undead spirits, becoming the eyes and ears of the cult. Now they no longer have any characteristics as living things. They have become evil, cruel and numb..."

"This is impossible!"

Metien suddenly interrupted her story loudly. When Shemi looked at her in surprise, she found that she also clenched her palms. Her petite body trembled slightly, but she mustered up the courage and said word by word: "Infecting with plague, killing lives... The things you said, the believers of the Herb Garden will never do!"

Xie Mi was a little overwhelmed: "I didn't lie to you, Metien..."

Metien also found that his attitude was a little too excited, so his tone softened: "I also believe that you did not lie to me, Shemi. So, could there be something wrong? The believers of the Herb Garden are definitely not the kind of people who ignore life as you said... This must be a misunderstanding, right?"

But now someone tells her that those people you admire are all just empty words, their kindness and enthusiasm are just disguises, and their true faces are cruel and indifferent. They are evil people who deliberately spread the plague in order to persecute innocent aliens and control the corpses of wild beasts to make them restless... How can the naive girl accept this?
"I once participated in a charity volunteer activity organized by the Healer Church."

In fact, she liked Metien very much and had a natural affinity for the little girl. Perhaps because of their similar personalities, she could see her own shadow in her. Despite this, she still couldn't say anything against her will to meet her little expectations, and she couldn't understand why she had to protect the believers of the Grass and Wood Garden.

Xie Mi could only remain silent.

After her father passed away from a serious lung disease, the pink-haired girl has always dreamed of becoming a real doctor to save people from the pain of illness, so she worked so hard to obtain a pharmacist qualification certificate. The person she admires most is Doctors Without Borders in the Red Cross, because they abandon the restrictions of country, race and ethnicity, and have the same kindness and enthusiasm for every injured person, selflessly helping without asking for anything in return. In the little girl's heart, they are the greatest people besides her father and brother.

The Healer's Church is the headquarters of the Grass and Wood Garden in Linville City. This should have happened before Alice traveled through time.

"Maybe so."

Only Alice knew why.

"..."

"They came to the Santa Cruz district and the White Citizens district to provide free medical services to the residents there. They treated the homeless and beggars on the street, as well as the lepers and tuberculosis patients that everyone feared, very attentively. They did not dislike the smell of these people, nor did they discriminate against them based on their identities... At that time, I was there handing them bandages and medicines. Although I was only doing trivial things, I still felt very happy. So I know that they are all very good people, kind, just, and full of enthusiasm..."

The Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders were founded at the initiative of the Green Garden.

The girl suddenly said softly.

This time it was Shemi's turn to interrupt her. The fairy maid stared into Metien's eyes quietly. There seemed to be some similar emotions flowing between their eyebrows: "I also believe that you will not lie to me, Metien. What you said is true. But, what if their 'goodness' is only for humans? We aliens are nothing in their eyes."

"..."

So Metien was speechless. The atmosphere was suffocatingly silent. Alice looked left and right and found herself in a dilemma again.

Should I trust Metien or Shemi?
In fact, there is no contradiction.

Because the world has both black and white, life can also have both good and bad faces. They can be kind and good to humans as Metien said, or they can be cold and cruel to other species as Shemi said. If positions are naturally biased, then emotions are also biased.

"I think..."

She opened her mouth to ease the awkward atmosphere, but the sharper and more piercing hissing sound that followed covered her voice: "Squeak!!!"

The plague rats carrying the pathogens of the plague wandered in the sewers, making evil and brutal roars, which had a terrifying power that could pierce the eardrums. Boom! The border of the garden suddenly shook violently, as if countless ferocious beasts were rushing against the fragile barrier at the same time, trying to tear it apart and destroy it.

The deer spirits in the garden sensed the enemy's approach and turned around and ran away; the vegetables, flowers and even fruits planted between the ridges became panic-stricken and pulled themselves out of the soil, jumped off the branches, and fled in terror; only the stupid stone-elves gardeners still stood there, not figuring out what was going on.

Boom! ! !

There was another loud noise, and without giving the people in the garden much time to react, a hideous crack suddenly appeared in the field of vision, accompanied by the violent shaking of the sky, and quickly spread out, as if glass was broken, forming jagged spider-web-like cracks.

The next moment, the barrier protecting the garden was broken from the outside, and a dozen black-haired rats rushed in from the crack. They were huge, with sharp claws, and their dark red eyes had lost their lifelike spirit, but seemed to flash an evil and sneaky light. They glanced at everything around them coldly, and their hairless tails swept through the air like a whip. When they opened their mouths, they revealed a mouthful of sharp teeth that seemed to be stained with solidified blood.

They seemed to harbor hatred for all beautiful and vibrant things, so as soon as they appeared, they burst into even more ferocious roars, and then rushed around the garden, knocking down trees, plowing ridges, gnawing flowers, and trampling grass, like horrible beasts wreaking havoc, making everything a mess.

"I wipe!"

Alice almost popped her eyes out of their sockets: "You told me this is a rat!?"

Their bodies are even bigger than calves, and the thick and hard hair on their bodies is like steel armor. If they charge into someone head-on, they will probably kill you instantly.

Could it be that the believers of the Herb Garden are not studying the plague, but the T virus?

Um, wait.

Is it possible that it is not the mouse that has become bigger, but I have become smaller?

Alice realized this belatedly, but it seemed a little too late.

The plague rats that broke into the garden had already smelled the scent of the living. They slowly turned their heads, and more than a dozen pairs of dark red empty eyes were locked on Alice and the others at the same time, causing the golden-haired maid to shiver and feel creepy.

This has nothing to do with courage.

It's purely physical discomfort.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)