Alice seemed to see the world differently from ordinary people from the very beginning—yet no one had noticed this until today.

Even Alice herself hadn't noticed it.

Duncan learned from Vanna about the battle in the alley, and Alice's performance in that battle—from her detecting hidden enemies through the "floating lines," to her turning a would-be fleeing Annihilation cultist into a shattered porcelain doll. The whole process astonished Duncan.

Now, all eyes were on the doll, who was completely bewildered.

"…So you can't see the 'lines'…" Even Alice, as slow as she was, realized what was going on. She scratched her head, looking innocent. "I thought it was common sense, since everyone has those things floating above their heads and limbs…"

Duncan stared into Alice's eyes, his expression extremely serious. "Let me confirm, everyone has 'lines,' is that right?"

"Yes, everyone—except for you, Captain." Alice answered immediately.

Duncan thought for a moment, then asked, "…Is it that my original body doesn't have them, or this body I'm in now doesn't have them?"

"This body doesn't have them," Alice answered honestly, then added, "Your body in Pland doesn't have them either…"

Duncan nodded slightly, his mind racing, with various conjectures rising and falling.

Since the visitor left, the cemetery had returned to silence, with no more unusual events disturbing the dead. However, neither the cemetery keeper nor the guards sent by the church relaxed their vigilance.

"...Where are they hiding?"

The wind and snow were heavy in the second half of the night, the howling wind and neat snowflakes seeming to foreshadow something.

"Perhaps… the coffin and the doll represent different powers from the beginning. The former is a symbol of death, thus possessing a simple and crude decapitation ability, while the latter is the manipulation of humanoid objects, which fits the 'doll' designation," Duncan said unhurriedly. "It's just that the previous Alice belonged to the 'contents' of the coffin, so the 'composite' 099 completely presented the coffin's characteristics. And now… the doll has become the 'main part' of a normal 099, and your original abilities have been released."

"Tonight's situation demonstrates one thing: the 'replicas' in the city are indeed the work of these Annihilation cultists, and these cultists are not only acting in secret, but also secretly monitoring the replicas they released into the city—this observation is very much like collecting data."

The old keeper tightened his coat.

At the same time, his thoughts were far from calm.

The doll finally smiled, looking particularly happy as she swayed back and forth. "That's great! I thought things were very… serious when I saw everyone suddenly so serious…"

Duncan felt a bit sentimental. He had spent a considerable amount of time with Alice, and because of those days together, he had grown accustomed to the doll's noise and bustle on the ship, accustomed to her running around in front of him all day without seeming dangerous—he had almost forgotten that before becoming a cook on the *Lost Seafarer*, this doll was first and foremost the anomaly numbered 099, a strange thing that had floated up from the frigid deep sea after the death of the Frost Queen.

Alice clearly didn't have so many thoughts. She just kept turning her head back and forth as Vanna and the others talked, looking at this one and then that one. After a long time, she barely understood some of the situation, but a somewhat uneasy look appeared on her face, and she cautiously cast her gaze over. "...Captain, did I do something bad?"

Duncan simply reached out and gently pressed Alice's hair.

In the second half of the night, a "swift message" was sent to the keeper's cottage via high-pressure steam pipes. The message came from City Hall, and the content was strange—it required all the city's supernatural defenses to be on high alert, but it didn't specify what they should be alert for.

Alice seemed a little confused.

The wind picked up, and the second snowfall began,

The fluttering snowflakes fell in the night, and the distant streets became as hazy as if they were hidden in fog.

Everything in sight was covered with thick snow. The distant streets were blurred by the thick snow, losing their contours and boundaries, becoming a vast expanse of white.

"It doesn't matter, I'll take action, but you first need to know which gutter they're hiding in," Vanna said casually. "Killing a few cultists or priests, or even destroying a few gathering points, is meaningless. Pland's experience has proven that."

Even though he knew Alice's current abilities and had roughly deduced the "each with its own symbolism doll and coffin" situation, it didn't mean that all the mysteries had been solved. On the contrary, it only made him more aware that this doll concealed even more secrets.

"Yes, her original name was Doll Coffin," Vanna nodded immediately, also guessing Duncan's meaning. "Are you saying that Alice's power is also related to this change?"

Indeed, worthy of a number within the top hundred—though still weak on the *Lost Seafarer*.

For some reason, he suddenly remembered a sentence spoken by the Annihilation cultist who appeared after the *Seagull* exploded—

The steam pipes above the district were emitting white mist. Heat energy from the steam core was being transported to key nodes everywhere to melt the ice and snow in the pipe network hubs and power stations. Large snowplows also came out, these large machines emitting rolling black smoke and low rumbles, rumbling through the streets, clearing important transportation routes.

The snow fell almost all night, until the sun rose, and the afterglow of the World Scar dissipated in the sunlight. Golden-red rays of light spread along the streets into the city, and the fluttering snowflakes gradually stopped.

But he was completely different from the other replicas that had appeared so far—there had to be a reason behind this.

"No, it's a good thing," Duncan immediately shook his head. "You are strong and have protected yourself well. The cultists are absolutely not innocent."

Duncan quietly looked at the doll,

After a long time, a smile suddenly appeared on his face. "It's a good thing."

In a sense, she was of the same origin as these strange and twisted "replicas."

"In my experience, this is preparing for a larger operation. The replicas in the city are just the beginning, and the erosion on Dagger Island is likely just another larger testing ground," Duncan nodded. "They even tried to transport the pollution from Dagger Island to Frost's main island, although this action was stopped, but that shows that their actions have reached a very critical stage."

All along, I thought the powerful force of anomaly 099 had disappeared

After Alice's wooden box was "transformed," she was just a somewhat strange, active and thinking cursed doll, and she was weak, cowardly, and a bit silly. But he hadn't expected her to show such strange abilities today. How should he put it…

She was shaking too much, and her head was about to fall off.

As he spoke, he raised his eyes. Through the gaps in the bandages, his gaze passed through the dirty window next to him, casting towards Frost's row upon row of spires and eaves.

"So it's a good thing," Vanna said with a smile. "Having power is never a bad thing—losing control is the trouble. Now you can help me even more, Alice."/

"This damn weather…"

In Alice's eyes, everyone in the world had floating "lines," except for herself, and the shell she occupied also didn't have them… So, these so-called "lines" were not connected to flesh and blood, but symbolized something more essential? Was it the soul? Or the personality?

"You can control it, right?"

Duncan asked.

The cemetery's heavy, solemn iron gates creaked open, and the old keeper, wearing a thick coat, hooked the latch used to secure the gates onto the fence, glancing at the streets in the direction of the city.

Duncan pondered, his gaze never leaving Alice's face. Finally, even this slow doll felt awkward, and she subconsciously twisted her neck. "Captain… you keep staring at me… I'm getting nervous."

"This…" Alice thought for a moment, then raised her hand and gestured, "Is my ability a bad thing?"

"The coffin and the doll each possess different powers…" Maurice, who had been silent all along, muttered in a heavy voice, "That's a very likely conjecture."

"Oh, sorry," Duncan immediately reacted, blinked, trying not to make his gaze so full of pressure, then thoughtfully turned to look at Vanna. "As far as I know, Alice's current 'official title' has been changed to Anomaly 099-Doll, right?"

Agatha seemed to have received some information shortly after this as well, and she sent a small team to Hearth Street. These guards have not yet returned.

"Yes, I can," Alice waved her hand. "It's very simple."

When I am close enough, I can easily "grab" the lines on other people, and use them to bind or attack opponents. What is this ability? Is it an ability that I, as anomaly 099, had never displayed from the beginning, or is it a mutation that occurred after she became a member of the *Lost Seafarer*?

Duncan shook his head, temporarily suppressing the complicated thoughts in his mind, and looked up at Vanna.