Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 980 Are the storms on the sea approaching?

The universe is empty, lonely and desolate.

The vast sea of ​​stars may seem to be full of twinkling stars, but in fact, the distance between stars can only be described by probability. The scenes that can be seen by the naked eye are extremely far away, even to the point of being frightening. The scale of the universe can easily turn people into philosophers, and they begin to doubt the meaning of their existence, the meaning of the birth of life, and even the meaning of the continuation of civilization.

But at the same time, the universe is magnificent, gorgeous and incredible.

On the clear and transparent stage, a dark blue curtain falls, and an ocean of light flows among the twinkling stars. The silent brilliance solidifies into snowflake-like crystals, like an icy rain in the universe, falling down one after another, and the star-condensed beams of light pass through them, refracting into thousands of bright and beautiful rays of light, rising and falling with the tides of the sea of ​​stars, which is extremely dreamy.

Every patch of darkness makes travelers feel lonely, and every scene makes them marvel. Perhaps only by being in it can one truly understand the emotion that the ancient philosopher Galileo expressed when he looked up at the starry sky: "The reason why humans are insignificant is that they can see the universe."

It was not until this moment that Lingge felt the same way, because this feeling cannot be experienced by observing with an astronomical telescope.

After leaving the atmosphere of the mirror star world, the travelers rode on the back of the cloud whale, followed the guidance of the ancient star road, and headed towards the Heavenly Holy Temple, the hometown of the young royal powers. The whale left an ocean and turned to swim into another, even more vast sea of ​​stars. As it gently swung its tail fin and shuttled through one huge star ring after another, the shadows of those stars passed over the travelers' heads. Its grandeur and spectacular momentum were absolutely unimaginable unless you saw it with your own eyes.

Even the meteors that whizzed by with their gorgeous tails were several times or even dozens of times larger than the size of the Sky Island. If the universe is likened to an ocean, then every creature that lives in this ocean is trying to improve the scale and breadth of life in order to adapt to the environment. In comparison, Yunjing Sky Island, which had just left its hometown and stepped into the universe, was just the most inconspicuous fish in this dark blue sea. If it swallowed the debris of the disintegrated planets, just like a small fish swallowed the plankton in the sea, maybe one day it could grow to a size that spanned tens of millions of kilometers?

Circles of star rings, planets, and a long road ahead, time passed by. Due to the lack of the rising and setting of the sun and the moon as a reference, the young man was not sure how much time had passed. He only knew that the number of people in the primrose field was decreasing little by little: first, the proprietress Shesta returned to the hotel with the potted orchestra contentedly after the banquet; then the bartender Xie Liya, because she couldn't sell her masterpiece, felt that she was hard to find, so she left in displeasure; then came Sister Livia, who forcibly took away the three little girls, Medien, Shemi and Leticia, on the grounds that "although we are in the universe, we cannot fall behind in our studies"; finally, even the pet combination of Little Sun, Little Lamb and Little White who came to join in the fun became impatient, the starry sky seemed to have no attraction to them, so they sneaked away when their owner was not paying attention.

The fairies living in the primrose fields have been hiding in the flowers and trembling since the sky island entered the universe. It is said that they are afraid that the huge rocks above their heads will suddenly fall and hit them, so they refuse to show up. In addition, there have been bursts of commotion in the forest. The indigenous people who have never seen the universe watched the sky disappear before their eyes, and in its place was an extremely vast and empty sea. They all felt that the end of the world was coming, and in panic they even ignored the dignity of the island owner and urgently wanted to escape.

Ling Ge had forgotten this. He had only paid attention to his companions' mental state and told them to be mentally prepared in advance, but he had forgotten that there were still a lot of wild beasts, monsters and aliens living on the Cloud Whale Sky Island. He had no choice but to let Rorona and Shino comfort them. Princess Haiqi's alchemy items could effectively calm their emotions. As for bringing Shino along, it was because some of the monsters and aliens on the Sky Island migrated from the Loser Forest, such as Alice's favorite blue boots tribe.

Yieta was still controlling the cloud whale on the roof, Gloria was supervising as the captain, and Olvera made a lot of lyrical speeches facing the starry sky, and suddenly she got inspiration, so she went straight into the windmill tower room and started writing furiously; the countess yawned and said she wanted to go back to catch up on her beauty sleep...

After the initial anticipation and excitement of entering the starry sky, traveling became a monotonous and boring thing. Everyone left sparsely, so much so that when Lingge looked back, he found that he and Saint Xia Liya were the only ones around.

The shepherdess sat cross-legged beside the astronomical telescope, her long black hair cascading down like a waterfall around her neck, gently falling to her chest, like shining strings against the brilliance of the stars. Occasionally, one or two strands of hair were blown up by the wind, playfully scratching her chin and cheeks, bringing a slight itchy feeling. Her quiet and gentle posture was as calm as the starry sky.

She raised her head, quietly watching the circles of star rings and stars passing by her eyes, but her focus was not on the scene in front of her, but on other things.

Ling Ge had no intention of disturbing her, but he rarely saw her like this, so he couldn't help but ask, "What are you thinking about, Saint Xia Liya?"

The girl was a little slow to react, and after coming to her senses she replied softly, "I was wondering when we would be back here."

Because of her words, Ling Ge was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously looked back. At this time, Mirror Star had become extremely small in his field of vision. That blue planet might be the only special existence with life in this universe. However, viewed from such a long distance, it was still ordinary, and its brilliance was overshadowed by other planets.

Does this mean that, for the universe, life is not special at all? Because it itself breeds scenes that are countless times more magnificent than life. Some sentimental writers often say that the birth of life is a miracle, and the development of civilization is a unique probability, so the mirror star is undoubtedly a unique existence in the universe. However, the scale of the universe is too large, and the fate it encompasses is too broad. Even the smallest probability has the possibility of realization after being superimposed by time and space. So for it, there is actually no difference between "miracle" and "necessity", right?

If you want to know the answer, perhaps we can only ask the great goddess, because it was she who created this universe and all life.

The young man said: "If everything goes well--"

He stopped here and did not continue, because he suddenly realized that if everything went well, the possibility of them returning to Mirror Star would not be too high - because the Holy Temple of Heaven was the original home for the young girl Wang Quan.

Saint Shallia probably thought of this, which is why she asked such a question.

“I was so eager and eager to go back there,” she said. “But as I got closer, I started to get scared.”

"I can't tell where this emotion comes from. Is it because I am worried that even if my mother comes forward, she won't be able to stop the crazy plan of Tiandis? Is it because I have lost all my memories and can't even remember my mother's face? Or is it because I am so incompetent that not only can I not protect the world, but my mother has to clean up this mess for us? I have thought of many explanations, but none of them can convince myself."

She looked up at Lingge, her bud-like eyes were as clear as a lake: "Will you tell me the answer, Lingge?"

Because it’s unknown.

Lingge couldn't help but think: the unknown road ahead once again caused the worry of this girl who could see the thread of fate. The witches had planted a lost curse on her, causing her to lose the guidance of fate forever. Although the curse had begun to ease with Bai Ye's help, it seemed that at this critical moment, it would still jump out to show its presence.

The young man opened his mouth, but didn't know how to explain. He was afraid that if he told the truth, the girl would lose her confidence and the curse would become more serious. In this case, should he just muddle through?

"Of course it's because I'm homesick!"

A familiar voice came from not far away, and then the person jumped down from the ridge of the field and ran to them in three or two steps, not caring how many innocent flowers and grasses he trampled to death. He put his hands on his hips, and was very arrogant: "Dangdangdangdang! Your Ai-chan makes a shining appearance! How is it? I haven't seen you for many days. Did you miss me?" "No." Ling Ge said indifferently.

Saint Xia Liya gave her a caring smile and said, "Alice, you are naughty again. Come and sit down here."

She patted the grass beside her, but Alice not only didn't appreciate it, but also raised her head and pointed her nose at her, proudly refusing: "No! I want to stand!"

"Why?" Saint Shalia was puzzled.

"You won't understand." Alice sighed softly, her tone deep and vicissitudes: "As passionate sea men like us... uh, sea women, we must stand tall and upright. We would rather die standing than live on our knees, understand!"

She spoke in a rhythmic manner, just like singing on stage. Saint Xia Liya was confused, but Ling Ge saw through the truth at a glance: "It's just that you sit in bed for too long and lack exercise, which has caused your waist and legs to become stiff. There's no need to flatter yourself."

Do you deserve to call yourself a passionate daughter of the sea? Captain Gloria is on the roof, be careful she comes down and shoots you.

It turns out that it's your waist and legs that are not in good condition. Saint Chariya suddenly realized, and looked at Alice with a bit of sympathy. As far as she knew, even Olvera and Ieta, who were also frail and stayed in their rooms for a long time, didn't have this problem. Seeing Ai-chan jumping up and down, could it be that her body was even more fragile than theirs? Was she the type of delicate and delicate young lady?
Are you kidding me? I’m going to vomit!

"You, you, you, you—" Having the truth exposed, Ai-chan was furious: "How dare you say that? If you hadn't forced me to work overtime in the small dark room, would I be like this?"

"But I've reminded you many times to sit up straight." Ling Ge had a deadpan expression. "You don't take my advice to heart. You're either hunched over or leaning against the wall all day. You even sleep with your upper body under the bed while your lower body is still fiddling with the sheets. I wouldn't be surprised if your spine and cervical vertebrae separate one day."

"Alas!"

Alice was frightened by the situation he described and could not help shuddering, but she soon realized that he was trying to scare her. Not wanting to show her weakness, she continued to be stubborn: "Let's separate, I don't need such a fragile spine!"

It seems that what you are speaking is not the language of the Mirror Star World?

Lingge didn't bother to pay attention to her, but Saint Xia Liya burst out laughing, with curved eyebrows, as if she was amused by the interaction between the two. The slight sadness that had shrouded her heart just now had disappeared without a trace.

"So your cassette is finished?" Ling asked.

"Of course!" Alice held her head high, looking like she was the best. "I'm a genius game producer. It's easy for me to create a super robot. But I can't show it to you now. I want to make it debut at the right time and shock everyone!"

It better be this way.

Lingge didn't care about her little thoughts. As long as the cassette was completed, he didn't continue to talk nonsense with her. Alice, who had wanted to show off when he asked her more questions, was immediately disappointed and muttered a few words, probably some complaints, which was not surprising.

Bored Alice did a set of radio gymnastics on the spot to stretch her stiff body, then walked to sit next to Saint Shallia, constantly adjusting the direction of the astronomical telescope, looking for Ultraman and monsters that might appear in the universe, having a lot of fun. When Sky Island took off, she was still in her room playing cassettes, and she couldn't join in the fun, which made her feel very depressed.

Saint Xia Liya watched for a while, then suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, Alice, what did you mean by being afraid of home?"

"Huh?" Alice turned her head and blinked twice. Perhaps her thinking module had not yet finished loading, so it took her some time to react. She answered casually, "Well, that's a saying we have on Earth. If some people leave their hometown for too long, they won't be happy when they return home. Instead, they will feel scared. That's what it means."

"I see."

Saint Xia Liya thought for a moment, that really fits her mood just now, but: "Why did this happen?"

"Who knows?" Alice shrugged. "Maybe you're afraid that your hometown will become too unfamiliar, or that everyone you know will die. But it doesn't matter to you. The Temple of Heaven is the palace of the goddess, and it won't change no matter how many years have passed. As for the people you know...Apart from you, the young queen, are there other people living in the Temple of Heaven?"

Of course not—

Saint Xia Liya was about to answer without thinking, but the words couldn't come out because she always felt as if there was something she had overlooked?
The incomplete memory began to stir again, and she fell into a trance for a while, looking dazed. Alice was having fun playing with the astronomical telescope and didn't notice her abnormality; Lingge noticed it, and was about to ask, when a head popped out from the roof, right next to the huge windmill blades, and shouted down: "Hey, Lingge, Xiaoxia - and Alice, why are you here too?"

"What do you care about me?" Alice said unhappily, but the other party pointed a musket at her head, so she immediately shrank behind the telescope and dared not say a word.

Yes, that person is Captain Gloria.

"What's wrong?" Ling Ge had to put aside the matter of Saint Xia Liya for the time being and asked.

"There's something going on ahead." The captain held a musket in one hand, threatening Alice, and pointed the other hand in the direction of the Whale Island. The corners of her mouth slightly curved. For some reason, Ling Ge always felt that her tone was a little excited, and even eager to try: "The waves on the sea are approaching!"