Alice in the Land of Steam

Didn’t Chapter 999 ask the most crucial question?

The control center was quiet for a while, and no one spoke, as if everyone was shocked by the aura of Themis. Many of the words she said were not understood by the crowd, but it did not prevent them from understanding that the development of things had entered a new stage. Under the gaze of those calm eyes with starlight, the solemn atmosphere quietly brewed, prompting everyone to start thinking about what kind of questions they should ask, or what kind of answers they want to hear from the other party?
Regarding this issue, the audience outside the venue who thought they were just here to join in the fun did not express their opinions casually, but instead cast their eyes on the young royal girls whose faces were filled with confusion, hesitation and thought. They were the protagonists of this plot, and since entering the Holy Temple of Heaven, they naturally had the qualifications to pursue their lost memories.

However, after a brief moment of distraction and reflection, the young queens all turned their gazes to a young man standing in the front of the crowd, looking directly into the cold eyes of Themis in heaven, as if they felt that he was enough to represent the will of the young queens; or perhaps it was just out of pure trust. Once they encountered a moment of hesitation, they instinctively sought help from him, just like lost believers who spontaneously walked into the church to seek confession from the priest.

Alice's eyes were rolling around, and she seemed to be thinking of something crooked, trying to take back the right to ask questions from Ling Ge. After all, she was the one who opened the door of the control center and awakened Celestial Themis, so why should Ling Ge ask questions instead of herself, the protagonist? Besides, Celestial Themis had just made it clear that Ling Ge did not have this authority, and he was not worthy! Do you understand?

Someone asked Alice, "Are you worthy?" Alice asked herself, carefully evaluating her own attributes in terms of morality, wisdom, spirit and personality charm, and suddenly felt that how could there be anyone in the world who is more worthy than me?

So she was about to speak up and fight for her legitimate rights as the protagonist, but Ling Ge got there first and said calmly, "Saint Xia Liya, you should ask her."

When these words came out, everyone except Saint Xia Liya was stunned for a moment, and even Alice choked, trying her best to swallow the impudent words "You don't deserve it" back into her stomach, thinking that Ling Ge, you are such a despicable villain, actually framing me like this. If I had said that just now, wouldn't I have directly offended Xiao Xia, and would I have to bear the consequences in the future?

The young man ignored their thoughts and looked at the shepherdess deeply: "I believe you must have many doubts in your heart that you want to answer."

Because she is the girl Wang Quan of destiny, but she seems unable to see through this chaotic vortex of destiny, so that in her journey of wandering in the world, she has accumulated more and more confusion, hesitation and puzzlement. Although this situation has improved a lot after meeting Ling Ge and gradually finding other girl Wang Quan, it is still like a stone, weighing heavily on the girl's heart. If she doesn't take this opportunity to let her pour out everything, I'm afraid it will gradually become heavier as time goes by.

After all, it seems impossible to jump out of this vortex in a short period of time.

Although Lingge's decision was somewhat unexpected, no one objected. Saint Xia Liya was the eldest sister of the Girls' Royal Power and had always taken good care of them. Her gentle and steady personality was recognized and trusted by everyone. It was indeed the most appropriate choice for her to ask questions on behalf of the Girls' Royal Power.

The shepherdess did not refuse. She looked back at her sisters, then looked away and nodded gently to Lingge. Then she took a step forward, crossed the crowd, stood at the front, raised her head, and greeted the girl in the sky with a soft voice: "Hello, Themis of Heaven."

The silver hair floated up as if weightless. In the eyes of Themis, the deep starlight jumped like flames. "Judgment is: meaningless. This is not a directional question, so the corresponding answer cannot be found in the database. The main system refuses to answer."

"Of course that's not a problem." Alice looked at him suspiciously. "It's just a simple greeting. Can't you even figure it out? Artificial idiot?"

Themis of the heavens gave her a cold look, and Xino immediately reached out and pulled Alice back, and whispered a few words to her, "Don't be so rude, will you die if you say less? The other party is just a child, how can you be so cruel?"
Alice stroked her cheek and said shyly: Actually, I am still a child too.

Everyone felt chills and nausea after hearing this.

Saint Shallia ignored her companions' whispers behind her. She still stared at the petite figure surrounded by countless virtual light screens with her clear and flawless emerald eyes, and said softly, "Like Alice said, it's just a greeting, and you don't need to answer anything. But if you want, you can probably respond with the same greeting. I think if we are really the descendants of our mother and we really lived together in this Heavenly Temple in the past, then after meeting again after a long separation, you should not be stingy with your greetings, right, Themis of Heaven?"

She blinked, and then the two eyebrows dyed light blue gradually curved into a soft arc, conveying a reassuring sense of affinity. In the past, she used this calm tenderness to disintegrate the defenses of other young girls and regain her identity as a sister. From the lonely and restless Olvera, to the passive and reclusive Ieta, to the cold and vigilant Leticia... all succumbed to these eyebrows.

Themis in the heavens was no exception. She watched quietly, not shying away from looking into Saint Shallia's eyes. Her eyes, which were almost emotionless, seemed to want to see through this person's heart. However, she failed in the end, not because Saint Shallia's heart was as dark as an abyss, burying so many probing sights in it, but because you can't see through a pool of clear water. Just like the reflection of the sky, no matter how many times you look at it, you only see yourself, gently embraced by her.

Finally, she spoke slowly, with a more restrained voice than before, still trying to show that her next words were purely in response to the visitor's request, without any subjective color: "Judgment: Permission. The main system's instructions have been accepted. Only in the name of the Goddess's creation and the control core of the Holy Temple of Heaven, I extend my greetings to the Goddess's descendants and the visitors from Mirror Star--"

"Hello, Saint Shalia."

Before the corners of the shepherdess' mouth curled up slightly, she cast her eyes on the other people present and said, "Hello, Xino; hello, Olvera; hello, Rolena; hello, Ieta; hello, Gloria; hello, Leticia; hello, Alice; hello, Mr. Ling; hello, Miss Nevill; hello, Miss Shesta..."

Under the astonished gaze of the crowd, she greeted everyone by name one by one, not feeling bothered at all, and the tone and intonation of each greeting was almost the same, and did not change regardless of whether the other person was the young Wang Quan or a guest, so that people could not figure out whether this attitude was rigorous and serious, or dull and wooden.

"Ah, this." Alice muttered quietly, "It really is artificial intelligence."

Only the young man noticed that she called herself "the creation of the goddess", but called the young royal powers "the children of the goddess". This difference in address reflects a subtle emotion, which may explain why the girl has rich emotions but chooses to restrain them and live like a machine and a number.

"The command has been executed. Now start the correction. Please execute the original command."

The last greeting spread indifferently in the silent sea of ​​stars. Then, Themis of the Celestial Realm once again set her eyes on the face of the blue-haired girl. Her voice remained flat, as if the careful and detailed greeting just now was just a trivial instruction in her existence, and was not enough to be compared with her true mission: "You can start asking questions, Saint Shallia."

"kindness."

Saint Xia Liya didn't seem disappointed that the girl's heart was not touched. She just agreed and said in a soft voice: "My first question is, since you were once our assistant and lived together in this Holy Temple, then why do we have such a vague memory of you? I only remember that I seemed to have seen you a few times, but Olvera and the others seemed to have no impression of you at all."

"Judgment: reasonable."

The starlight in the eyes of Celestial Themis flickered for a moment: "The answer to this question is that I was ordered by the goddess to pay long-term attention to and guide Alice, who was still stranded on Earth at that time, to ensure that no one could interfere with her recovery process, so I lacked attention to the Mirror Star World. It was not until Alice was re-deployed to the Mirror Star that my consciousness code returned to the control center of the Heavenly Temple here, and was deeply linked with the SLP game console, and began to perform the duties of this machine as an observer. Saint Xia Liya, are you satisfied with this answer? If not, you can apply for repeated inquiries, and I will retrieve more information from the database as a basis." "Oh, this is too embarrassing!" As soon as she finished speaking, Alice laughed out loud and scratched the back of her head, looking like she wanted to be humble but couldn't: "I didn't expect that the goddess started paying attention to me so early, and even sent you to protect me. You must have seen that I am extraordinary as a genius player, right? You have a good eye!"

She gave a thumbs up to indicate that this was how Goddess saw things, completely unaware of how disrespectful her words and actions were.

However, the talented player did not grasp the key point of this passage.

Isn’t the key point the words “retention”, “recovery process” and “observer’s responsibilities”? They sound very informative and enough to make people think about it.

At least, after Ling Ge heard this, a shocking idea immediately emerged in his mind, even more shocking than Tiandis being a real witch, and enough to explain many unreasonable things. It's just that he can't prove this point for the time being, and he needs more information. The young man is not worried at all. He believes that Saint Xia Liya must have noticed these intriguing words and will definitely ask about it, because she is such a person... right?

He suddenly remembered something and couldn't help but glance at Saint Shallia. The girl still had a gentle smile on her face, and seemed satisfied with the explanation, but the young man noticed that her smile was actually a little stiff, and her left hand had been placed on a strand of hanging braided hair, unconsciously circling it. Normally, this is a movement that people would make when they are nervous.

Could it be that……

Sure enough, without making everyone wait too long, Saint Xia Liya spoke softly and continued, "I am very satisfied. Thank you, Celestial Themis. Then, the next question is, during this journey, have you actually been observing our situation through Alice's game console? How did you do it?"

"Judgment: reasonable. The answer to this question is that the limited edition SLP game console has been implanted with the core code from the control center of the Heavenly Temple during the production stage. I, who have obtained the main system authority, can connect my consciousness to the game console in any way, at any time, and at any node in the deep link state, and obtain control authority over its system."

"I see. So, only the Girl's Royal Power can activate Alice's cassette because of this principle?"

"Judgment: Reasonable. The answer to this question is the same as the previous one, and the control center of the Heavenly Temple records the data of all the girl royal powers, including you, that is, the unique souls. When I sense the same aura, I will unlock the main system permissions and grant the blank cassette the ability to 'edit', 'delete' and 'modify'. This is because Alice has not yet been able to control her power well, so she needs me as an assistant."

……

The question-and-answer session between Saint Shallia and Themis from Heaven was still going on, but everyone's expressions were gradually becoming strange, because in the process, they gradually realized that Themis from Heaven's Heaven's answers did reveal a huge amount of information, and it was even enough to completely overturn their previous worldview, which showed that the other party had no intention of hiding anything; however, every question Saint Shallia asked was not on the main point, but instead focused on some trivial details. What was the point in getting to the bottom of it?

As long as they grasp the key and find out the truth, they will naturally know the details without the need for Themis in heaven to explain. Doesn't Xiaoxia understand this?

Or does she actually know everything and is just... avoiding it?

it's not true.

Lingge was very sure that Saint Xia Liya would not have the idea of ​​escaping, because she had promised him a long time ago that even if the curse was placed on her, she would not be confused, would not hesitate, and would not hesitate. He was not an emotional person, but he was willing to believe the girl's promise because she had a convincing power.

So maybe, she just wanted to give herself some buffer time and prepare herself mentally before facing reality?

Alice became a little impatient, so she opened her mouth and wanted to say something, such as urging Xiao Xia to get to the point. But at this time, Lingge turned around, shook his head at everyone, and said silently: Don't disturb her.

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, but in the end they chose to trust the young man's judgment, and also chose to trust the girl who looked gentle on the outside but was actually very strong on the inside. Since she always cared for and educated herself as an elder sister, then she shouldn't let her younger sisters down, right? The young girl Wang Quan present all thought so, even Leticia, who had always refused to acknowledge her as an elder sister.

Only one person, perhaps because she was shorter, or perhaps because her attention had not been on Linger, did not notice his hint. She had long been impatient with Saint Shalia's reluctance to get to the point, and could even be described as anxious and worried.

Normally, she would never have such a mentality as she respected Saint Shallia very much, but it was different at this moment, because she was standing in the temple of the goddess, and she happened to be the most devout believer of the goddess. She thought she would soon be able to meet the great goddess of creation and express her admiration and worship to her, just like a child admiring her mother. But in front of her was only a silver-haired girl who was about the same age as her, and she kept saying that she was fulfilling her duties under the order of the goddess. If that was the case, why didn't she mention the most crucial thing?
She refused to say anything, and Sister Xiaoxia refused to ask. This meaningless question and answer made the girl anxious.

She couldn't bear it anymore.

So he took a step forward, and under everyone's astonished gaze, he mustered up the courage to shout, "Wait, wait! Sister Xiao Xia!"

Saint Shalia turned around and looked at Metien, whose face turned red because of her impolite behavior, quietly and gently. Themis from the heavens also cast a cold gaze at her. In the depths of her eyes, starlight flickered and formed garbled codes, just like an electronic machine calculating some complex data. Linger suddenly felt bad. He wanted his sister to retreat, but it was too late. He couldn't stop her from saying that sentence -

"Those questions you just asked are obviously not the most important questions right now, right!?"

Metien took a deep breath, as if squeezing a piece of cold sea water into his fragile lungs, making his back shiver, but he still insisted, saying word by word: "The most important thing is, we came here, to this holy temple at the end of the universe, isn't it to pursue the glory of the goddess?"

"But now, where is the great and merciful goddess?"

Give me some meow