Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 974 Are you touched?

When Lingge heard this, he also picked up the teacup and took a sip, then raised his eyebrows slightly: "It's not very hot, maybe there's something wrong with your tongue."

"..." Rorona was speechless. Somehow, she suddenly lost interest and lost the mood to continue drinking tea. She simply put down the teacup and sighed softly: "I finally understand why Miss Nevile is not willing to drink tea with you."

In the tipsy sunshine of a summer afternoon, brewing a cup of black tea produced in Sushanbao or Gushuqiuling, savoring its unique flavor, and pairing it with icing donuts or soft and small round tart cakes, you can spend a leisurely afternoon, which is a very elegant thing. But if a guest who doesn't understand romance mixes in, all the above experiences will be ruined, which is really a pity.

Lingge was silent for a moment before he said, "Maybe it's just her prejudice?"

"One person's prejudice is a bias, but more people's is a consensus." Rolena smiled softly, "Mr. Ling should pay more attention to his image in front of women in the future, especially be careful not to say shocking words when the other party is off guard. Well, this ability is indeed a bit foul. In Alice's words, it's... open?"

Is it open?
Lingge felt that this was not a good thing to say, but he had no choice but to accept this comment silently, and then turned his attention to the research material in his hand. He flipped it open and took a few glances. The format was clear and the data was detailed. As a feasibility study report, it was undoubtedly very qualified. It could be directly quoted without any problem, so he closed it with satisfaction.

At this time, the farce in the hall seemed to be over.

Alice finally got her cassette back, and now she was holding it in her hands, carefully blowing off the dust, looking very precious. Gloria stood by, wiping her musket carelessly, obviously not taking the matter to heart, just teasing the golden maid out of interest.

Of course, Gloria's personality is relatively kind. Even if she changed into a great pirate, she was not as lawless as described in various sailing novels. After playing with Alice, she returned the cassette to Alice. If it was Bai Ye's personality, it would probably be a little worse. She would hide the cassette in a corner of Yunjingkong Island, or let her gray-feathered falcon Xiaobai take it away, and then let Alice find it herself. It is not impossible.

As if she noticed Ling's gaze, the pirate lady who was wiping her musket suddenly raised her head and grinned towards the workbench. Through the crystal curtain decorated with various deep-sea gems such as sea coral, blue topaz, fluorite and amber, Ling noticed that the smile seemed to have some teasing and mocking meaning, which was not like Gloria's style.

Could it be...

The young man felt a little guilty for some reason. He looked away calmly and asked Rorona, "Have you finished strengthening the cassette?"

"Yes." Princess Umizu nodded without noticing the secret interaction between the two. "I made some minor adjustments to the Yunjing Sky Island... well, the block components of the Zero Arus. Although its overall structure has not changed, the armor thickness, resistance and speed have been greatly improved, enough to support long-distance interstellar travel."

"Fine-tuning?" This statement was vague, so Linger asked, "What are the details?"

"To be specific...I won't tell you."

Rorona smiled slightly, looking very mysterious: "The surprise should always be saved for the end, but the actual effect will definitely not disappoint you, so you can rest assured."

Reassurance? Your alchemy plus Alice's cassette, which of these two can make me feel at ease?
Linger wanted to ask more, but looking at Rolena's expression, he thought she would not reveal more. He could only suppress his uneasiness for the time being, and after drinking the last cup of black tea, he stood up and said goodbye. He wanted to take the information back to the top of the mountain as soon as possible to interpret Saint Tomi's manuscript.

But before he left, he seemed to remember something, paused for a moment, turned around and said, "I almost forgot to tell you, there's one more thing I need your help with, Lorena."

"Oh? What's the matter?"

"It's not a big deal. Just making a simple little toy."

Lingge briefly described his needs. After listening, Rolena showed a thoughtful expression: "It does sound simple, but the purpose of your refining this thing... well, I roughly guessed it. I didn't expect you to be so kind."

Ling Ge had a blank expression on his face, ignoring her teasing, and asked, "How long will it take?"

"It will be quick, just a few minutes. Please wait here for a while." Rorona stood up, clapped her hands lightly, and smiled at the clockwork fairies next to her: "Then, please give this enthusiastic and kind Mr. Lingge a cup of black tea so that he can feel your enthusiasm!"

The fairies cheered and jumped for joy. Some came forward to add tea for Lingge, some diligently brought him snacks, and some even struggled to drag a book from the bookshelf, wanting to provide some leisure entertainment for the guests. However, when Lingge saw the suspicious title of "The Story Between the Deep Sea Prince and the Seven Beautiful Mirror Elf Girls", he immediately waved his hand to refuse, which seemed to disappoint the other party... In short, everyone was very enthusiastic and provided the most thoughtful service to the guests according to the host's instructions.

Although the young man suspected it, this was just Rorona's bad taste.

He stared at Princess Haiqi for a long time, but the latter's expression did not change at all, as if she was unaware of the prying eyes from behind the curtain. Ling Ge could only give up in dismay and retract his gaze.

With her back to the young man, Princess Haiqi hummed the ancient ballad of the mirror elves, and seemed to be in a good mood. She took various materials from the workbench, her movements were skillful and natural. Alice saw it and hurried over, grinning and saying, "Rorona, are you making alchemy again? What new toys are you going to make this time? Can you give me one?"

This shameless look of directly reaching out for it is really in line with the style of a talented player.

Rorona turned around and said with a forced smile, "Alice, get out."

"Eh?"

……

After a week on Mount Osor, it was a rare trip back to Cloud Whale Island. Except for Lingge who was still focused on work, the other two girls took advantage of this rare free time to relax a little, but the way of relaxing was slightly different. Xino took Brandi out of the stable and rode it around Cloud Whale Island happily, making up for the regret of not being able to gallop on the snowy mountain.

Saint Xia Liya went to chat with her sisters one by one. Although she talked about some serious matters with Ao Vera, that is, asking her for the stargazing records of the mirror elves, she talked more about literature and gardening. Literature is not to be mentioned, and gardening refers to the small garden that Ao Vera opened next to the windmill tower house, in which the violet seeds left by her teacher, Mrs. Tree, are planted. Now it is flourishing and full of vitality. Unfortunately, for some reason, it is reluctant to bloom. Saint Xia Liya believes that it must be because Ao Vera is not diligent enough in taking care of it, so she advised her not to stay up all night, go to bed early and get up early, and have a regular schedule. As long as you set an example and are sincere, those violets will definitely be moved and bloom for you.

Only after she made Olvera dizzy and made her find an excuse to flee in a hurry did she leave with satisfaction. Then she went to find Ieta and advised her not to stay in the windmill tower room all day, reading novels and eating snacks, and hiding in bed to read strange novels borrowed from the countess. Doing so will only corrupt your mind and will not be of any benefit to your future life. You should be brave, walk out of this house, go outside to breathe some fresh air, sing with the fairies, or play wind flower balls with Shelia, wouldn't it be beautiful?
It was not until Yieta could no longer bear what she said and crawled into the bed like an ostrich that she left contentedly. Then she found Leticia, who was taking extra lessons in tears in the Tianxin Church. She praised the little bat's enthusiasm for learning and gave her a psychological counseling lesson on the spot, telling her to study hard and make progress every day, that you are still young and have a bright future, that the efforts now are for your future comfort, and that as long as you don't die from studying, you should study until you die... She spoke with great enthusiasm and did not notice that Miss Nevile and Sister Livia, who were originally listening, had quietly slipped away.

Only after she made Leticia so miserable that she held her head and cried out in surrender did she leave contentedly, and then she went to find Rorona who was refining new items in the alchemy workshop. After Princess Haiqi completed Lingge's simple commission, inspiration happened to burst out, and she fell into a state of alchemy obsession. Unexpectedly, the next moment Saint Xia Liya pushed the door in, and after seeing this scene, she immediately taught her a lesson, alchemy every day, aren't you afraid of damaging your body? You have a cold, and you don't know how to take a good rest? What, you said it's because of the curse, and it's not that serious? That won't work either. Haven't you heard that if you don't treat a minor illness, it will sooner or later become a major illness? As a patient, you should rest well. Go to bed quickly. I, your sister, will tell you a story to coax you to sleep, okay?

Until Lorena was made to laugh and cry, and nodded repeatedly to indicate that she would rest well, but there was no need to coax her to sleep, as she was not a three-year-old child and it would be too embarrassing... She left not so contentedly, and kept muttering as she walked, "I can be coaxed by my sister even if I'm not a three-year-old child. How can it be embarrassing?" Then she found Gloria who was conducting special training for Xiaobai, the gray-feathered falcon, in the grove. The main content of the training was to teach it how to secretly take away Alice's snacks while she was playing games. It seemed that she wanted to use her identity as a pirate captain to get back all the bullying she had suffered from the golden-haired maid under her athlete personality.

Saint Xia Liya acted like a sister and gave her a lesson, telling her that everyone should get along well on Yunjingkong Island and not bully each other. If Alice bullies you, you can tell me and I will "personally" make her apologize to you, but revenge is not advisable, and it is not something you, a simple and kind-hearted child, should do... and so on, making Gloria timid and submissive, not at all like a great pirate. In the end, she couldn't stand it anymore, so she simply switched her personality and let Bai Ye come out to take the blame for her. But Bai Ye, who sneered and mocked her for being "spineless" at the beginning, fled back to the consciousness space with a sullen look after Saint Xia Liya talked to her for a few minutes, leaving Gloria alone to bear the love from her sister.

Saint Shallia, who felt that she had made great achievements in educating her sister, was very satisfied and took the lamb for a walk. After she left, the girls all went to Lingge and Shino (Yieta asked the passing fairy Xiemi to pass on the message), and basically conveyed the same message: Although I miss you very much after not seeing you for a week, don’t you still have things to do? Indulging in the gentleness of the country is not a sign of fighting spirit, so you should go back quickly... Of course, the main thing is to take the blue-haired big sister who cannot be named back, we really can’t stand it.

Lingge and Xino looked at each other in bewilderment after receiving the news: What on earth did Saint Xia Liya do to make them so scared?
But they didn't dare to think about it too much, as they always felt that it would touch the dark side of Yunjingkong Island, and it would be terrible if they were silenced. For the sake of their own safety, Ling Ge and Xinuo looked at each other and chose to remain silent.

Fortunately, the two did not feel embarrassed for too long. After taking a walk with the lamb, Saint Shallia, who was refreshed (of course, it could be because of other things, but Linge and Xino did not dare to ask), finally returned to the Fairy Sleep Inn and took the initiative to ask to return to the Osor Snow Mountain. I don't know if it was an illusion, but when she said this, there was a burst of strong exhalations in the hotel, although they were suppressed, as if everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Huh?" Saint Xia Liya noticed this strange situation and couldn't help feeling a little sad: "Could it be that everyone wants me to leave?"

"That's not the case." Xinuo said seriously, "They just... uh, admire your spirit. You didn't rest for long, but you were eager to go back to work. You are so hardworking. Everyone is very touched."

The others nodded repeatedly, indicating that this is what we thought.

"That's it."

Saint Xia Liya seemed to be thinking about something, as if she believed this statement. Just when everyone was quietly relieved, she suddenly turned her head to look at Ling Ge and asked, "Is this really the case, Ling Ge?"

"!?"

Everyone was sweating profusely again, because as everyone knew, Lingge was not good at, or rather, disdained to lie. If he told the truth, wouldn't everyone present explode on the spot?

Under Saint Shalia's puzzled gaze, and also under the nervous gaze of everyone, the young man was silent for a while, then nodded slowly but firmly, and uttered only one word as an answer -

"Yes."

Give me some meow