Chapter 0 Duncan Had Indeed Thrown a Tinder Into the Mirror Image of Frost City, But He Felt It Was Far From Enough

He could clearly feel that this time, the situation in Frost was different from that in Pland. The tinder he had thrown did not spread rapidly on "the other side of the mirror," and his perception of the tinder was greatly weakened and interfered with. He guessed that this might be because there was a natural barrier between the worlds on "both sides of the mirror," or because there was no accurate correspondence between the mirror image and the real world, and those misplaced parts were interfering with his judgment.

Regardless of the reason, he needed to find a way to strengthen the connection between himself and the tinder, and between himself and the White Oak and Agatha.

During the conversation, Vanna suddenly showed a thoughtful expression: "Speaking of the mirror image problem... are you sure you saw the figure of that gatekeeper in the reflection of the glass?"

"Of course I'm sure."

"That's a bit strange..." Vanna frowned. "If she really is trapped in that mirror world, why hasn't the city-state made any noise about it yet? Even if they've blocked the news of the High Guardian's bizarre disappearance to stabilize the people, at least the Cathedral and the City Hall should be taking some other action..."

She paused, summarizing based on her experience: "Secret searches, curfews in specific areas, changes in the frequency and distribution of guardians' night patrols.

Even if the news is blocked, these details can be observed, but Mr. Morris and I have been active in the city-state for a long time today, and we haven't found any changes in this regard."

Nina, who was looking down at a book, suddenly looked up: "Maybe it's because the gatekeeper just disappeared not long ago, and the city-state hasn't reacted yet?"

"...If that's the case, then Frost is truly beyond saving," Vanna shook her head seriously. "But based on my observations during this period, although this city-state is in a state of decline to some extent, other aspects are not that bad. At least the Church and the City Hall are running in an orderly manner."

"Perhaps we will observe changes in the atmosphere in the city-state during the day tomorrow," Duncan said casually, but just as he was about to continue speaking, he suddenly felt a heavy touch on his arm, interrupting what he was about to say.

Shirley had fallen over, her head hitting his arm, and she was snoring evenly.

But in the next second, before Duncan could react, he saw the girl jump awake directly from her dream, even throwing the dog, who was dozing off at the foot of the sofa, into the air: "So-so-sorry...so...sorry..."

Shirley didn't manage to stutter out the last "sorry," and Duncan heard a loud "thump." The dog, which had just been thrown into the air, fell to the ground, and the latter rolled over, its dog head buzzing: "What's going on? Is there a fight?"

Then it realized that the atmosphere around it was a little strange. It looked up and saw several strange gazes falling on itself and Shirley.

"There's no fight. Shirley fell asleep," Duncan sighed with a smile, looking at Shirley, who was still tense. "It's okay. Go upstairs to sleep. Minors need to get enough sleep—Nina, stop reading too. It's time for bed."

"Oh." Nina reluctantly put away the book she was halfway through, got up, and pulled the still-nervous Shirley. The two of them walked towards the second floor hand in hand.

Duncan watched the two girls disappear on the stairs, then turned his gaze and nodded to Vanna: "Tomorrow, you and Morris go to the upper city and see if there are any changes in the atmosphere near the Cathedral. If possible, find out what the City Hall is doing—as things have developed to this day, the presence of the Frost City Hall has always been very low. I'm curious about what they are doing."

"Okay," Vanna nodded, then became a little curious. "What about you? What are your plans next?"

"I'm going to the Second Waterway again, with Alice," Duncan said casually. "We'll go take a look at the corridor where the crow had the accident—since we now speculate that there is a 'Mirror Frost,' and the crow was very likely to have strayed there, perhaps we can find some new clues from that corridor."

Speaking of this, he suddenly reacted: "Speaking of which, is Alice still cleaning up in the kitchen?"

"It seems so," Morris said as he got up and looked back. "She's really been in the kitchen for too long... could her head have fallen off and gotten stuck in some corner?"

"She really is a worry... I'll go take a look." Duncan sighed helplessly, got up from the sofa, and went to the kitchen.

As soon as he arrived in the kitchen, he saw the gothic doll standing next to the sink—she hadn't dropped her head as Morris had guessed, but she was tilting her head up at an odd angle, staring blankly at a corner of the ceiling.

Probably because she was too absorbed, Alice didn't hear Duncan's footsteps. She just stared blankly in the direction of nothing, then stretched out her hand holding the kitchen knife and fiddled in the air, then changed direction and continued fiddling in the air—as if trying to catch an invisible fly.

The gothic doll was standing in the kitchen expressionlessly wielding a kitchen knife and cutting the air. The scene was too weird, as if a health bar that could fill the screen would pop up on the doll's head in the next second, and a pipe organ-style background music would sound around her—Duncan finally couldn't help but speak: "What are you doing?"

"Wah!"

Alice was instantly startled and subconsciously reached out to support her head—but she forgot that she was still holding a sharp knife in her hand. So in the next second, with a "poof" sound, she stabbed herself in the forehead.

With a "crack," she poked her own head off.

Despite having seen this doll's horrific and unreliable appearance many times, Duncan was still dumbfounded at this moment. He quickly stepped forward to support Alice's faltering body, and then saw the latter waving her arms in a flustered manner—she was still holding the sharp knife in her hand, her own head impaled on the tip. After waving it several times, she belatedly realized what she had done, quickly grabbed her head with her left hand, and used her right hand to pull the kitchen knife out of her forehead.

Then the doll groped and threw the kitchen knife aside, skillfully holding her head and pressing it back onto her neck. After a "pop" sound, it was back in place.

"You startled me!" Alice turned her head and looked at Duncan with a bit of grievance, but soon her gaze was attracted by something on Duncan's arm. "...Captain, this knife looks a bit familiar."

Duncan expressionlessly (or maybe it was hidden by the bandages) gripped the handle of the kitchen knife on his arm and casually pulled it out and threw it aside: "No kidding. You just stabbed it into me."

"...I'm sorry!" The doll exclaimed immediately, panicking and rushing forward to check the situation. "Are you okay? Do you need a bandage?"

"No need. I'm just a corpse anyway." Duncan's mouth twitched, but his gaze couldn't help but fall on Alice's forehead.

The doll's forehead had just been stabbed by herself, leaving a huge wound, but at this moment, the wound was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye—there was no blood in the wound, only a smooth, jade-like surface, and after only a few breaths, it was restored to its original state.

Alice felt a little awkward at Duncan's gaze and subconsciously touched her face: "Why are you staring at me..."

"...What material are you made of?" Duncan frowned, reaching out to touch the place where Alice had been injured. What he felt was a touch similar to skin, but cold and lacking vitality. "You had a hole in your head just now, you know?"

Alice was stunned for a moment, raised her hand to touch her forehead, and replied blankly: "It's healed."

"Of course I know it's healed!"

"...I don't understand," Alice shook her head. "I don't know what material I'm made of... but it doesn't seem to be wood or ceramic..."

Duncan held back for two seconds and twitched the corner of his mouth: "I shouldn't have expected to get any answers from you—never mind, let's not talk about this. What were you doing just now? Why were you staring at the ceiling in a daze?"

"There were lines," Alice answered honestly. "Some lines suddenly appeared—but now they've suddenly disappeared."

Duncan's expression changed instantly: "Lines?!"

Alice could see special "lines," and these lines represented "people"!

"Yes," Alice nodded, her face serious. "I was also curious why lines would appear. There's no one else here... but I remember what you taught me, I can't casually grab other people's 'lines,' so I was poking at them with a kitchen knife..."

Duncan didn't pay attention to what the doll was saying in the second half of her sentence. His attention was already on the "lines" that Alice mentioned, those that suddenly appeared and then suddenly disappeared.

His gaze quickly swept across the kitchen, looking for anything that could be connected to the "mirror image."

The glass on the windows, the water in the sink, the blade of the kitchen knife—these all seemed to be able to be used to establish a connection with the mirror space, but none of them showed any abnormalities.

But Duncan believed Alice. She wouldn't lie.

At some moment just now, Mirror Frost had intersected with reality here—perhaps it was only a very, very weak and brief intersection, but it was enough for the doll to catch the lines that "drifted" over from there.