Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 996 Are you going to wake her up?

Only when they stood under the light column did they clearly realize how magnificent it was, like a giant tower that pierced the sky and earth, making people smaller than ants and more uncertain than dust. The strings of characters that flowed upstream along the surface of the light tower were cold numbers composed of 0 and 1, but at the same time they seemed to carry a majestic divinity, not happy with external things, not sad because of one's own heart, that was a realm that only saints and sages in ancient legends could reach, born out of the universal love and selflessness of the God of Creation.

The river of light flows, converges towards the higher sky and the further darkness. Linger can feel that inside the tower, a vast and indifferent will is sleeping, waiting for someone to wake him up, to judge whether the other person is qualified to save this corrupt and fallen world. Perhaps at this moment, he is silently observing the creatures under his feet through the data stream composed of 0s and 1s.

Is She the Goddess who created the world...?

Linger had already made up his mind. He gently lowered his eyelids, hiding his complicated thoughts. In a place that no one else noticed, the young man's eyes became deeper than the darkness surrounding him. He suddenly spoke and whispered, "Alice."

"Ah?" Alice, who was observing the beam of light like a curious baby, raised her head with a confused look on her face: "You called me?"

"kindness."

Lingge didn't want to explain too much, he just motioned her to come forward: "Go touch that beam of light and wake her up."

"Awaken? Awaken whom? Oh, you mean the goddess?" Alice immediately perked up, pulled up her sleeves, and was eager to try: "Really, this kind of plot would require a special CG cutscene in the game, how can I, the protagonist, not do it myself?"

"Wait——" Metien suddenly raised his hand: "I have objections!"

The pink-haired girl pursed her lips and said seriously, "I think it's Xiao Xia and the others who should be the ones to wake up the goddess, right?"

The seven young queens of order are all here. They are the descendants of the goddess. Logically speaking, they are the most qualified to awaken her. As for Alice? She is just a stinky earth girl who came to our mirror star to beg for food. Is she worthy?
You have changed, Metien. You didn't call me sister like this before. Alice looked at the pink-haired girl with resentment, but the latter lowered her head and pretended not to see it. Although it was a bit unfair to Sister Alice to do this, she was still a devout believer of the Goddess Church after all, and the predecessor of the Holy Goddess Church was the Creation Goddess Church founded by the seven girl kings. In this case, what's wrong with her supporting her own family?
Even Sister Livia couldn't help but smile, and she quoted a motto from the canon as a reason: "God said that everyone has his own mission. If everyone does his own thing, everything will run in order and will not get lost."

In simple terms, people of different status should do what they are supposed to do. Who are you, Alice? How dare you compare yourself with the saints of our Creation Goddess Church?
Bullshit!

Alice was indignant. She was sure that this sentence definitely did not exist in the canon of the Holy Goddess Church, because the goddess would only tell everyone to eat well and rest on time, maintain an optimistic attitude, be strict with oneself and lenient with others, etc., which were all spiritual chicken soup. As for the bullshit motto, it was undoubtedly a pseudo-canon, a product fabricated by those people in the Spiritual Prayer Society who misinterpreted the original intention of the goddess!

But the other side was outnumbered, and Alice had no choice but to lament that she was really going to lose the qualification to appear in the plot CG? As the protagonist, this treatment was too bad...

"It's okay." A gentle voice came from the side. Everyone looked in the direction of the voice. Saint Shallia was looking at Alice quietly. The tranquil blue in her eyes was like an ancient lake without any dust. It clearly reflected everyone's different expressions and a gentle determination: "Let Alice wake her up. This is her right."

"Ah this."

Hearing her say this, Alice felt a little embarrassed, because everyone saw how much Saint Shallia admired and followed her mother, as well as her efforts to find other young girls' royal rights. Who could be more qualified than her to reap this fruit? When facing other people, Alice could be shameless, but she couldn't do it to Saint Shallia, who had always taken care of everyone as an elder sister. She always felt that her conscience would be condemned.

"Well, why don't you come, Saint Shalia..."

"No need to refuse." The blue-haired girl interrupted Alice's words, her tone gentle but firm, not to be rejected: "I said, it is your right to wake her up, there is no one else but you."

“Is that so…” Alice was shocked. In her impression, Saint Shallia rarely spoke in this tone.

This usually only happens when I make a mistake... but that's still a lot.

The others were also confused. Xino looked at Saint Shallia strangely. She noticed that the personal pronoun Saint Shallia had always used was "she" instead of "he". However, the shepherdess respected the great goddess of creation more than anyone else, so she always called her Mother. Does this mean that the person sleeping in the light column is not the goddess, but someone else?

Moreover, it was someone related to Alice.

"Alas, there is really nothing I can do about you." Alice shook her hair and pretended to be cool: "Since Xiaoxia insists that I go to wake up the goddess, then I can only do it reluctantly for you. But don't worry, when I write this history and boast about our great achievements in the future, I will add your names by the way, and count it as one-third of the credit." After that, she walked forward and stretched out her hand to touch the light column, but at this time, the pink-haired little girl interrupted her again: "Wait a minute, Sister Alice!"

"What's the matter?" Alice turned around and said unhappily, "Xiao Xia has agreed, do you still have any objections, Metien?"

But Metien stopped her not to continue arguing about such a trivial matter, but to point out a very crucial issue: "I think that since you are going to meet the goddess, you must have a correct attitude. Sister Alice, you can't be so casual."

Even if the goddess is magnanimous and forgives you, I cannot forgive you!

In order to show her attitude, she set an example by tidying up her messy bangs due to the rush, and then smoothed the wrinkles on her clothes and skirt. Then she turned around and asked Sister Livia: "Do you think I have done anything rude, Sister Livia?"

The nun looked her up and down for a while, then reached out to help her fix her collar and nodded with satisfaction: "That's good. You are the most devout believer of the goddess, Metien. The goddess will definitely be very happy to see you."

"Hehehe." Metien smiled a little embarrassedly, her face flushed, but she didn't refute, her eyes full of expectation. She didn't know if she was the most devout believer of the goddess in the world as Sister Livia said, at least she felt that her adoptive father and brother's faith in the goddess was much more devout than her. But she was really looking forward to meeting the goddess, so she also hoped that she could leave a good impression on her. If the goddess could personally praise her, "Metien, you did a good job and lived up to Mr. Yang Ke's expectations", then she would be satisfied and feel that all her efforts along the way had finally paid off.

This feeling of mixed longing and uneasiness can be traced back to that rainy night in the Sosen Mountains, when Saint Shalia told her in person that as long as she reached the Holy Temple of Heaven, she would be able to meet the great goddess of creation and prove to the world that the faith of the Heaven's Heart Church, as well as the faith of you, your adoptive father, and your brother, were not false.

How can we respond hastily at such an important moment?
Sister Livia looked at the slightly excited Metien and knew what she was thinking, so she smiled without saying anything. She didn't need to deliberately tidy up her appearance and clothes. After all, before becoming a nun of Tianxin Church, she was the Holy Child of the True Spirit Sect and the chief nun of St. Annville Cross Church. How to deal with various sacred and solemn religious occasions has long been engraved into her bones like an instinct, making this blonde girl in black nun clothes naturally exude a dignified and noble temperament.

Whether it was the hidden reverence in her eyes when she looked up at the beam of light, or the pious arc at the corners of her slightly pursed lips, they were all perfect and impeccable. With such demeanor, she would not be disrespectful even when facing the great Goddess of Creation.

However, with Metien as an example, the others also realized that they were about to usher in the most solemn, sacred, and memorable moment in religious history - no, perhaps it should be called the most solemn, sacred, and memorable moment in the entire Mirror Star history, and they really couldn't treat it perfunctorily. After all, they were now representing their own races. If they lost their composure in front of the goddess, it wouldn't matter if they were embarrassed, but what if they implicated their own race and left a bad impression in the goddess' heart?
Even the young queens who had long lost their memories did not want to be disrespectful in front of their mothers. So, Olvera hurriedly borrowed a set of makeup tools from Rorona, who carried all kinds of magical props with her, in order to cover up the dark circles under her eyes caused by staying up late for a long time; Ieta fully stretched out her wings behind her and asked Captain Gloria to help her smooth out the feathers that were curled up, and at the same time quietly reminded her that her hat seemed to be worn crookedly; the countess brought the reluctant Leticia to her, confiscated the small toys she hid on her body, such as daggers, throwing knives, and a short sword that she usually used to scare Shemi, and then seriously warned her that even if she was pretending, she had to pretend to be a good baby in front of the goddess, and not always shout and kill; and the boss lady even sternly forbade her sister Shemi to continue sitting on Medien's head, and insisted that she fly by herself, do you want the goddess to mistakenly think that we travel fairies are such a lazy race? Come down quickly!
After all this, the atmosphere did become more serious. Even Alice, who was originally in a relaxed mood, was a little nervous. She thought, if I mess up and fail to wake up the goddess, will they be very angry? The favorability suddenly dropped to negative numbers. This is not the treatment that the protagonist should have.

But facing everyone's gaze, she was too embarrassed to say that she was scared. How about changing someone else? She could only bite the bullet and look away, and focus again on the magnificent light tower that penetrated the darkness. Then she kept telling herself in her heart that it didn't matter, everything would go well, because this was the main plot, and it was a scene that had to be completed in the game.

If reaching the Temple of Heaven means the end of the game, then she should not fail. There must be a goddess to tie up all the foreshadowings that have been laid before and declare the happy ending of this game.

Experiences like these have long been summarized by Earth players who are proficient in this field. As a qualified game player, I should inherit their spirit. How can I be so afraid here?
Thinking of this, the genius player couldn't help swallowing his saliva. Along with the tension, there was also a sense of solemnity that was difficult to describe in words. It was like when you finished playing a favorite game to the end, and picked a quiet afternoon for yourself. It was drizzling outside the window. You didn't need to go to class, you didn't need to go to work, you didn't need to think about the trivialities and troubles in life, you just had to enjoy your adventure to the fullest, just like saying goodbye to an old friend, ending the story with a hearty battle and an unforgettable journey.

Is this what you should do now...?

Someone wanted to tell Alice something, but she didn't hear it. Instead, under the silent gaze of all her companions behind her, she slowly stretched out her hand and gently pressed her palm on the surface of the light tower, on the strings of continuously flashing 0s and 1s.

When my palms touched those numbers, the feeling was not cold, but it was not very warm either. It felt like touching my own skin, but because it was too close, I could not feel its temperature.

Suddenly, it was as if the entire control center trembled, and a tide rose in the darkness, stirring between the huge machinery and metal pipes. Deep in the tide, a huge and majestic will was awakening, casting its gaze on the world. A kind of spiritual shock and an indescribable sense of identification entered the depths of everyone's mind at this time, allowing them to feel what Alice felt at this moment, and through the touch of their own palms, they personally opened the only door to light in the endless darkness.

The sacred light tower hummed as if it had life, and the flowing river of light turned into an endless torrent, with every drop of water boiling desperately, trying to break free from some long-forgotten bondage. Alice looked at this scene in shock, and subconsciously wanted to take her hand back, but in an instant, the whole dark world suddenly became bright.

The river of light exploded brilliantly like a firework that had reached its zenith. The cold characters of 0 and 1 turned into stars of light that scattered across the sky, passing through the hair tips and fingertips of people, and even passing by each other when they turned back to look, flying to an even more distant end. Without warning, the light radiated from the star particles formed by these numbers, seeping into every corner it could enter, and presenting the true appearance of the control center to the eyes of travelers.

The next moment, everyone opened their eyes wide.

Give me some meow