Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 992 Have you forgotten the name of your hometown?
Game Command Company, a name that has been absent for a long time.

Could the mysterious company that created the SLP game console and eight mysterious cartridges, developed the "Alice Game", and sent Alice from the Earth World to the Mirror Star World be the mastermind behind everything? Ling Ge had never thought about it, but there was no doubt that the golden-haired maid was conveying this to him.

"There must be something fishy going on!" Alice put her hands on her hips and assured him solemnly, "Maybe the Game Command Company wants to use me to turn the game into reality and become the master of the world. I've seen similar plots in many works involving games and virtual reality."

Do you still think this is a game?

Linger glanced at her and said unhappily, "Tantis has long said that Mirror Star is not a game, but a real world that is mutually exclusive with Earth, so the situation you described is probably impossible to happen."

"How can we trust the enemy's words?" Alice snorted coldly, "I think that guy is just lying. He wants to shake our morale and actually uses such despicable means. How shameless!"

Not only Lingge, but everyone else couldn't help but roll their eyes, because it was clear that Alice's words had further shaken the morale of the troops. If the Mirror Star World was really just a game, then what was their existence? Virtual data made up of numbers and images? Then what was the point of all the efforts they had made so far? It would be better for them to surrender to the enemy and unite with the Witch Society to fight against the fake world created by you Earthlings!

"That's not bad either." Alice clenched her fists, looking excited. "Virtualization versus reality, game characters rebelling against the real world, this is also a classic theme. One day, I will tear this fake starry sky apart - don't you think it's exciting?"

"Not at all." Ling Ge shook his head, denying this statement on behalf of everyone.

If possible, he would rather his existence be real and not have to fight against any false world.

"It's boring." Alice curled her lips. "And this doesn't make sense. If both worlds are real, how could the Earth world create Alice's Game based on the Mirror Star world? Unless someone on Earth has come to Mirror Star, learned about its history and myths, and then returned to Earth to develop a game based on them. But is this possible?"

He clearly controls a channel connecting the two worlds, but he only wants to develop games? Even Alice, who is a game fanatic, thinks this is too outrageous, so she shook her head repeatedly: "Impossible, absolutely impossible."

Ling Ge showed a thoughtful look: "It seems that it is not impossible."

After all this talk, everyone seems to have overlooked the most critical issue, which is...

"Then there's no point in talking about this now!" Alice was getting impatient. She waved her hand to interrupt everyone's thoughts and shouted, "Aren't we right in front of the door of the Game Command Company? Whether it's the real world or the game world, won't we know after we go in? Go, go, go, hurry up!"

She rushed to the company's front door first, and the others had no choice but to follow closely. As they approached, the glass door automatically slid open to both sides, as if it could sense the arrival of guests, which amazed everyone and made Alice look at them with contempt, looking down on these country people who had never seen the world.

Of course, this kind of superior mentality is wrong and not conducive to the unity of the team, so Captain Gloria helped her correct it with a musket. In front of the black muzzle of the gun, Ai-chan admitted her mistakes and said that she would never make the same mistake again, and only then did she obtain the captain's forgiveness.

The first floor is the lobby and reception area. The interior decoration style is full of the simplicity of the technological world, with cold white and harmonious blue as the main impression. At the same time, a large number of straight lines, right angles and standard geometric designs are used, as if every line, every angle and even every piece of glass is precisely the same value. In comparison, the architecture of the Mirror Star World prefers to adopt a style with multiple arcs and arc angles, such as corridors, arches and domes, all of which show the beauty of complexity and magnificence.

Differences like these that can be seen with the naked eye make people who enter deeply aware that they are dealing with a building from another world. There are very obvious differences between the two in cultural origins and craftsmanship styles.

The reception desk was empty, and several glass round tables were randomly scattered around the hall, but no one was there. Facing the hall was a crystal curtain wall used for exhibitions, a bit like the painting and sculpture exhibitions held by White City artists in the Valina Palace, but what was exhibited on it were not works of art, but various game images and materials: sword-wielding warriors, demon kings, dragons, floating islands, and magnificent ancient cities... The magnificent and romantic fantasies of the earthlings were fully reflected in these fictional worlds.

As Alice walked under the crystal curtain wall, she enthusiastically explained the origins and features of these games to everyone: "This is the final chapter of "Song of Starlight and Brave", a scene where the protagonist and the devil fight to the death. This game is the debut work of Game Command. Although it has shortcomings in many aspects, the character design, plot and world view are grand and exquisite, which makes people feel its sincerity; this is "Berserker's Creed", a game developed by Game Command to pay tribute to a well-known IP in the early 21st century. The protagonist is famous for his superb infiltration skills; this is " Paths Traveler", another masterpiece of Game Command that pays tribute to the pixel style in the holographic game era. It mainly tells the story of the wonderful and exciting journey of protagonists on the same continent. It is worth mentioning that the plot lines of these protagonists will not intersect in the end. It's really a lonely RPG..."

Everyone listened in silence. For some reason, they felt as if they had too many things to complain about and didn't know where to start.

Alice walked through the hall and ran to the front desk. She skillfully put on an operating device called a holographic terminal and stretched out her hand to open several blue light screens, which looked somewhat similar to the interface of a game console. She pointed at it and muttered to herself, "I see, there is not even one person here. Is it a day off today? Forget it, I'll take a look first. The 98th floor is the museum, the 99th floor is the president's office, and the 100th floor is the control center. Let's go to these three floors to check out the situation first. I have an appointment!"

She tapped on the light screen several times in succession, and soon a prompt popped up: Appointment successful, permission has been opened.

A machine similar to a punch calculator nearby spit out a silver card made of unknown material from the card slot. On it was marked the time and some Earth characters. The time was garbled and the Earth characters were incomprehensible, but Alice explained to everyone considerately: "This is a visitor's permit. Only with this thing can you enter the upper area. The text on it is your name. As for why the time is garbled, I don't know. It may be that the machine is broken, but it doesn't matter."

Everyone was amazed, seeing the amazing technology of another world, and it felt like their eyes had been opened. Ling Ge was a little surprised: "In this case, only internal employees of the game command company can operate this machine, right? How come you are so skilled in using it, Alice?"

If anyone can operate the machine and open permissions, what is the point of access restrictions?
"Eh?"

Alice herself didn't seem to realize this. She opened her mouth, thought for a while, and then replied, "Because I'm a genius player?"

That's a shitty reason.

However, Ling Ge thought that it would be fruitless to continue asking, so he shook his head and gave up. Alice led everyone away from the front desk and planned to visit the three floors mentioned earlier. Saint Xia Liya asked curiously: "Alice, the three floors you mentioned just now are very high, right? Should we go up step by step?"

From the outside, the company building is already reaching into the sky. Although I don't know how high it is, it must be easy to climb three to five hundred meters. Climbing such high stairs on foot is a big burden for ordinary people, such as Metien and Sister Livia who lost the soul of the Son of God. "Of course not, wouldn't it be exhausting to climb a hundred floors?" Alice shook her head repeatedly, and then led them to a silver alloy door. She swiped the visitor's permission card on the machine at the door, and the door opened silently, revealing a large rectangular room, which is probably large enough to accommodate a hundred people standing inside at the same time. Moreover, its floor and outer wall are actually a whole wall of transparent glass, which can clearly see the street ruins and ancient forests outside, a scene of nature and civilization eroding each other.

"This is..." Saint Xia Liya suddenly thought of her experience in the Cold Night City's Rainy Harbor, and thought: "Elevator?"

"Yeah, to be precise, it should be called a rail-type sightseeing elevator. With this thing, you can go up to a hundred floors in one go without any effort." Alice walked in and called out to everyone, "Come in quickly, I'm going to start it!"

Everyone looked at each other, and they all thought that this thing was not very safe. For one thing, the walls were made of glass. If its speed was really as fast as Alice said, wouldn't they be afraid that the glass walls would be shattered by the wind pressure at high altitudes, endangering the passengers inside? Standing on transparent glass also made people feel very unsafe.

However, under Alice's constant urging, everyone finally chose to trust the technological level of the Earthlings and not to play with the lives of tourists. Everyone filed in. The team of more than a dozen people was already very large, but it only occupied a small area in this sightseeing elevator. Alice pressed a button on the elevator's operating screen and selected the 98th floor. The silver alloy door slowly closed, and a sweet voice came from above everyone's head: "We are about to go to the 98th floor: the Game Museum. Please wait patiently. During the ascent, please do not do the following dangerous actions, such as jumping on the spot, hammering the glass, etc. Thank you for your cooperation."

“Who!?” Leticia raised her head suddenly and bared her fangs in the direction of the voice, but she saw nothing: “Who are you hiding in? Come out now!”

Well, the other party was using the Earth language, so no one, including the little bat, could understand it. It was normal to have such a reaction.

"Stop yelling." Alice said unhappily, "It's just a broadcast to remind you not to do anything dangerous that would endanger everyone's safety. For example, what you're doing now is very dangerous, okay?"

"What did you say?" Leticia was furious.

"I'm talking about you, Lululu, come and hit me!"

"Damn it Alice, don't run!"

The two of them started chasing and fighting in the elevator. Everyone who saw it was speechless: This is the most dangerous action, right?

Afterwards, Saint Charleja and the Countess took action to calm the two naughty children down, and everyone was able to quietly enjoy the scenery outside the window. As the sightseeing elevator went up, their sights quickly left the treetops and rose to a height of hundreds of meters, until they could overlook the ruins of the entire city. Looking up, the sea of ​​trees was like clouds and waves. Under the blowing of the long wind, waves of spectacular green waves were set off. The swaying branches exposed the remains of broken towers or collapsed building ruins, like a shipwreck stranded in the sea, ancient and vicissitudes.

This is an enclosed space. There is no sunrise or moonset, but the light that comes from nowhere makes the magnificent forest scenery in front of you show obvious changes in light and shadow, from west to east, gradually brighter and darker, allowing people to clearly feel the passage of time, as if it is transitioning from day to dusk.

"so beautiful."

Yieta held the glass window with both hands, pressed her cheek against it, stared at the scene blankly, and sighed. In fact, Miss Angel may have seen such a magnificent scene in her past wandering life, but if she added the mood of finally regaining freedom after being trapped in a cage for a long time, it would be very different.

“After all, this is the city where I live.”

Alice said with a grin, her tone smug, as if anything related to her should be so good, even if it was just a ruin now.

I really don’t know where this kind of confidence comes from. Sometimes it makes people envious, and sometimes it makes a lot of jokes.

When Lingge thought of this, his mind moved slightly, and he asked Alice casually: "By the way, you haven't told us the name of this city, Alice."

As soon as this was said, everyone turned their eyes to the golden-haired maid. Indeed, such a magnificent, grand and beautiful city, even if it is now in ruins, should have had a resounding name, right? Just like the prosperous city of Rostin, the city of Rotdana around the sea, or the city of Nereides in the mirror, they are famous among humans and aliens.

However, faced with such a simple question, Alice was stunned.

Her brows were subconsciously furrowed, as if she was lost in deep thought. After a few seconds, they relaxed again, but the doubt between her brows did not dissipate. She replied uncertainly, "I... don't know. I seem to have forgotten?"

forgotten?
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. They had not expected Alice's answer to be so outrageous: "Does anyone forget the name of their hometown?" Perhaps, but that is a privilege reserved for the elderly. And how long has Alice been away from her hometown? Even if the speed of time on Earth and Mirror Star is different, according to her senses, it has only been more than a year, right? She has forgotten the name of her hometown in such a short time. Should we say she is heartless or praise her for not being particular about details?

Alice saw everyone's reactions and was not convinced. She was about to defend herself, but at this moment.

Ding--

The sightseeing elevator suddenly stopped, and the sweet broadcasting voice came again: "We have arrived at the 98th floor: Game Museum. Passengers, please leave the elevator in an orderly manner and do not push or crowd. Thank you for your cooperation."

Give me some meow