Alice in the Land of Steam

Is there any deeper meaning behind Chapter 983?

The fight between the two extraterrestrial beasts triggered an endless tide of energy, and the entire star field was within its range. Fortunately, the Arus twin starships did not go deep into the battlefield, but stopped at the edge of the battlefield, looking at their fight from afar, and felt shocked and suffocated. All the matter visible to the naked eye was washed and shattered by the azure magic flow, and the stars wailed one after another. The sight of hundreds of stars extinguishing at the same time was enough to make that area lose all light in an instant, as if the end of the universe had come in advance.

The energy storm still turned into huge waves, attacking the Arus binary starship one after another, but under the protection of the armor layer, the battleship still stood still. It was originally the most reasonable choice to go around the edge of the battlefield. However, the golden-haired maid who had been deprived of the power of the captain was unwilling to be lonely and actually came up with a bad idea: "Why don't we kill them!"

She approached the captain and offered her slanderous words: "As the saying goes, when two tigers fight, one will be injured. As the saying goes, when snipes and clams fight, the fisherman benefits. As the saying goes, if you don't take advantage of an opportunity, you are a bastard. Since these two guys are fighting so happily, can't we take advantage of the opportunity when they are both injured and kill them both? It can also be regarded as a contribution to maintaining the peace of the universe. Otherwise, the surrounding planets will be destroyed by them. As righteous interstellar pirates, how can we sit idly by!?"

Where do all those common sayings come from? I think they are all bullshit!
Captain Gloria glared at her, very dissatisfied with her act of slandering her, mainly because the slander was too low standard. She still called her a righteous interstellar pirate, but there is no righteous pirate. Are you trying to insult my professional ethics by saying this?

"Oh, this." Alice scratched her cheek. "Isn't it usually like this? The people mistakenly think they are a band of robbers who rob people, but they are actually a band of chivalrous thieves. In the middle, there are all kinds of false accusations, betrayals, enemies, and you ask me to love you. In the end, the finale is definitely to clear the grievances and everyone makes dumplings together. Isn't it exciting?"

"Bullshit!"

Gloria scoffed at this: "Pirates are supposed to do a lot of evil, and big pirates are even more evil. Murder, arson, and looting are just daily routines. An unpredictable personality is the best. For example, I'm really mad at you right now, and without any reason, I'm just going to throw you off the boat to feed the sharks. Don't you think that's more exciting?"

"Uh!" Alice choked and was speechless.

It's really touching, if only I weren't the victim.

"The cassette is loaded with a new weapon system, and I want to test how powerful it is. After all, I am doing this for the public good, and you can't target me like this." She muttered a few words to herself, but when no one paid attention to her, she realized that the situation was hopeless, and she could only shrink back into the corner in shame and continue to be autistic.

Without Alice to give bad advice, Captain Gloria chose the wisest approach and commanded the Arus twin starship to bypass the edge of the whirlpool, avoiding the main battlefield where the two beasts were fighting fiercely, and continued to move in the direction indicated by the star ring. The steel battleship leaped across the curtain of rolling blue tides and red meteors, and flew towards the battlefield that truly belonged to it, with its huge wings drawing a shining tail flame behind it.

However, the travelers at this time did not know that the disaster occurring in the Spiral Nebula in Celestial Constellation had already been seen by observers in another distant star region.

……

The huge steel structure floats under the endless blue curtain of the universe. The members inside it are using steel instruments flashing complex data and graphics to record and observe all the plots taking place on this stage, and summarize them into cold and ruthless reports, which are submitted to the only person qualified to review and approve them, that is, the commander-in-chief of the Star Apostle - Alien Philosopher, the dark witch Lady Carabosse.

Among the seven witches in the society, Lady Carabosse is always the calmest and most diligent one. She reviews all the reports submitted by her subordinates, no matter how big or small, and gives appropriate suggestions. She even set a record of reviewing more than 700 documents in one day, which makes people wonder if she doesn't need to rest at all.

The members of the Alien Philosopher have indeed never seen Lady Carabosse resting. She always seems to be busy, always frowning, always analyzing or planning something thoughtfully. Her diligence is so diligent that people even feel ashamed, and they deeply blame themselves for not being able to share the worries of that adult.

Perhaps it was this kind of character that made Lord Tiantis place the greatest trust in her and entrust the most expectations to her.

At this moment, according to Mirror Star time, it was already three o'clock in the morning. Even the technicians in the cab had already changed shifts for the third time, but Karabos was still working in his office, reviewing documents and listening to reports from his adjutant Floyd.

"Two extraterrestrial disaster beasts observed in June 1817 and January 6 respectively, the star phoenix Finnis code-named 'Wild One' and the spiritual beast Kane code-named 'Wild Two', were captured again 1819 standard hours ago. The coordinates are the Celestial Spiral Nebula in the A1 star field. A fierce battle broke out between the two sides, triggering an interstellar storm with an average magic power fluctuation of 12 million O'S and a peak magic power fluctuation of more than 161 million O'S. The combat command estimates that the storm will stop in half a month, and plans to formulate a corresponding annihilation plan after evaluating the losses of both sides. Once Wild One and Wild Two are successfully eliminated, the number of extraterrestrial disaster beasts still active in the universe will be reduced to a dangerous value. For the Eden Project, this is an extremely important and irreversible process. I think it is necessary to report the situation to the leader."

Freud's voice was unexpectedly soft, very different from his usual tone. Perhaps he was concerned about his mental state. As his long-time partner, he should know that there was no need for this. He would not feel tired even if he did not rest for a month, let alone a day. But he always showed his delicate side in such details. Perhaps this was a common trait among psychologists?
Carabosse's pen moved smoothly across the paper without any pause, making a rustling sound. At the same time, she replied calmly, "I will report this matter to the leader at the next witch meeting. However, since it involves the Eden Project, I believe she has already made a decision. Please inform the people in the combat command center to formulate and execute the annihilation plan as usual. There is no need to wait for the headquarters to report back. If there is any responsibility, I will bear it."

"I understand." Floyd nodded slightly, then turned to the next page of the report in his hand. His eyes suddenly fixed, and he was absent-minded for a rare moment.

"What's wrong?" Karabosse looked up and asked after not hearing him speak for a long time. She rarely saw Freud in a state of distraction because his personality was very similar to hers.

Perhaps in order to cooperate with the work, when choosing their adjutants, the witches either choose people with complementary personalities, such as Fei'er, who is lively and impatient, or Melquiades, who is serious and meticulous in his work, as their adjutant. Eve, who is introverted and not good at socializing, chooses Heng, who is generous and very tolerant in dealing with others, as her adjutant. Or they choose people with similar personalities, such as Carabosse and Floyd, who belong to the latter category.

Therefore, the information that could make the calm and capable adjutant Floyd lose his composure might also be unexpected news to Carabosse. "I'm sorry, I was just confirming the authenticity of this information. If it is true, perhaps we should take action, Lord Carabosse."

Floyd withdrew his gaze from the report, apologized for his gaffe, and then carefully read out the news that surprised him word by word: "The technicians in the control room who are responsible for measuring and recording the scale of this interstellar storm mentioned another thing in the report. They seem to have captured an unusual magical fluctuation in the center of the interstellar storm. After many comparisons and verifications, Maxwell, the head of the control room, pointed out that the scale, frequency and even wavelength of this magical fluctuation seem to be very similar to the report submitted by the philosopher Clausius in the A-1152 incident."

The pen in Carabosse's hand slowly stopped moving, and an intriguing darkness emerged in his calm black eyes.

The A-1152 incident was the descent of the gods that occurred in the Salia Fields. It was a conspiracy hatched by Rochelle, a remnant of the Fertile Soil Sect, and the remnants of the Holy Spring Monks, which was eventually shattered by the cannon of judgment of the Scarlet Night. The philosopher Clausius was none other than Ronning Ravel, the fourth ship officer of the Scarlet Night. He made great contributions to the suppression of the Blood Red Feast and the A-1152 incident. Therefore, in January of this year, he was promoted to philosopher with the approval of the Special Assessment Bureau and the leader.

Originally, he wanted to use the code names Sherlock Holmes and Prometheus, but before that, the Special Assessment Bureau had expressly prohibited the use of characters from Earth's literary works and myths and legends as code names for philosophers while updating the contribution factor algorithm. The leader was also aware of this and she agreed to it personally.

Melquiades became the last case, and Ronning Lavelle chose Clausius as his code name. In the history of the Earth world, he was an excellent thermodynamicist who first proposed the concept of entropy. In a sense, he was similar to Prometheus.

In addition, another important point is that Clausius was the first person to realize the peculiarity of the young man named Linger and tried to recruit him. Although the young man was always stubborn and unwilling to join the association, this incident undoubtedly proved his vision and made the report he submitted the highest level of confidentiality in the association. The only people who were qualified to read it on the Alien Philosopher, besides Carabosse himself, were Floyd, the adjutant, and Maxwell, the person in charge of the control center. They were all philosophers.

After all, when it comes to order, the young queens must be cautious. Especially since there was a leak of confidential information, Professor Heinrich, the main person in charge, did not receive a severe punishment, but he felt that he had failed in his duties and seemed to have resigned from the post of the Institute of Prehistoric Heritage, handing it over to the philosopher Voltaire under Timeis.

Although they were far away from the enemy, Karabosse did not want something like this to happen again due to her negligence. She asked, "Who else knows about this?"

"Besides you and Maxwell, there are only me who is responsible for submitting the report and Clerk Claris who is responsible for writing the report." Floyd replied, and at the same time asked: "From the movement trajectory shown in the report, the target is undoubtedly moving in the direction of the initial star field. At their current speed, they will arrive within two months at the latest. I think we must take action on this, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous."

Because, in the original star field, the greatest secret of the universe is hidden - the Heavenly Temple of Asherthemis. The former is the name given to it by the young royal powers, and the latter is the code name given by the witch association. It is a miracle that was born with the great goddess of creation, and it existed long before the birth of the universe. It can even be said that the goddess determined the center of the universe based on it.

According to intelligence, the goddess is in deep sleep and has no time to care about trivial matters in the world, but no one can be sure of her attitude towards the Eden Project. Therefore, the purpose of the target going to the initial star field is obvious. For Freud, and even for all philosophers who are committed to realizing the Eden Project, this is an unacceptable result.

"You make a lot of sense." After listening to his suggestion, Caraboss nodded slightly and gave an order: "Let the interstellar patrol force be on standby at all times. Except for the troops responsible for executing the annihilation plan of Wild One and Wild Two, the rest of the troops should be ready to intercept the target outside the initial star field."

Floyd wrote down these instructions one by one and later handed them over to the combat command. However, Carabosse did not say anything more at this point. Floyd waited for a while, but still did not receive any new instructions. He was a little surprised: "Is it enough to just dispatch the Space Cruise Force, Lord Carabosse? What about the Sky Falcon Force and the Mobile Combat Force? And... for safety reasons, I think it is necessary to dispatch the Alien Philosopher as well."

The target has escaped from the society's pursuit many times and is by no means an enemy that can be easily dealt with. Sending out only a space cruise force is really a bit careless and underestimates the enemy. This is not in line with Lord Karaboss's character.

Floyd was puzzled by this, but Carabosse didn't seem to want to explain in detail. He just shook his head and said in the same tone: "It is enough to dispatch the Interstellar Cruise Force. The Alien Philosopher... is not needed for the time being. In addition, inform Fisher at the combat command that this combat operation only requires a symbolic interception. After engaging the target for more than half an hour, regardless of the battle situation and casualties, they are allowed to retreat first."

This - doesn't this mean allowing them to enter the initial star field?

Floyd could no longer conceal the surprise in his eyes. He wanted to reconfirm Lord Carabosse's instructions, but he saw a deep darkness in the latter's eyes. Suddenly, the words that were on the tip of his tongue could not be uttered.

After a moment of silence, he nodded firmly: "I understand."

That's right, no doubt about it.

Lady Carabosse must have her own intentions.

Give me some meow