Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

"Your guess is not far off; in fact, it is indeed true." Patchouli nodded, answering him before he could ask any questions: "Alice's soul is quite powerful now. In the Final Destination world, she had already reached the limit of the second stage of the Obsessive Soul system, which is equivalent to the peak level of True Demon, the limit of the third stage of the Gene Lock."

After being healed by the main god and having consolidated her power in the world of gods and demons, she was now in a state akin to "water overflowing when full."

The proverb "When the container is full, it overflows" means that the container can no longer hold any more. It implies that the potential of a living organism has been pushed to its limit.

“So, she…” Zheng Zha pointed to the huge 'cross' in the hall, “…with the help of this?”

“Yes,” Patchouli nodded. “The second stage of a soul obsessed with something is a True Demon, and the third stage is a Demon King. There are only two ways to go from the True Demon stage to the Demon King stage.”

"The first is to rely on luck, whether it's the luck of a race or the luck of a dynasty. If all else fails, you can use a treasure that carries great luck. Forcibly elevating one's status through luck... it's not really a matter of good or bad, after all, the so-called merit-based sainthood is based on a similar principle, and it's not necessarily worse than other methods."

“But Alice won’t do that. The consequence of bearing external fortune is being assimilated by it.” Patchouli shook her head slightly. “Fortune is too susceptible to external interference. Those who achieve transcendence by upholding the beliefs of all beings will inevitably be bound by those beliefs as well. If one attains enlightenment through external means, one will inevitably be limited by those external things afterward. So she only has another path left to take.”

"That is to completely master one's own power. To achieve microscopic precision in manipulation with one's own will, and to ensure an inexhaustible energy supply with one's own wisdom. And the simplest way to do this is to completely seal off one's abilities and start over under high pressure... which is what Alice is doing now."

"...Isn't there a proper, step-by-step method for leveling up?" Zheng Zha's lips twitched. "Like cultivating a certain technique or completing a certain ritual. Something where you just follow the steps to level up...?"

“If there were some kind of technique or ritual in this world that could achieve extraordinary results without paying a heavy price, then the Main God Space would be full of fourth-tier cultivators by now.” Patchouli glanced at him, a half-smile on her face.

"Give up on that idea. From the third to the fourth stage of the genetic lock, from the True Demon with an obsessive soul to the Demon King, or many other extraordinary barriers... there is no so-called 'ordinary path' to overcome them. Because every extraordinary life is unique, there is no possibility of flawless mass production, nor can you learn from the paths of others—the Supreme God might be able to do it, but I think you should know the consequences of doing so."

Zheng Zha remained silent.

Having been granted captain-level authority by the Supreme God and forcibly opened the fourth-tier pathway, he naturally understood what the Supreme God meant by 'perhaps it'. He could indeed step into the fourth tier at any time, and could master the boundless power hidden deep within his genes at any time. But he also knew that in his current state, stepping in would mean certain death... Even if he miraculously survived, the Zheng Zha who came back to life would no longer be the same person he was now.

The new me will kill the old me; is that death...? He couldn't be sure.

So he had no choice but to put aside those unrealistic goals in his heart—such as cultivating a certain technique, taking certain medicine, or completing a certain ritual to smoothly reach the fourth level—and instead calmed his restless mind and focused his attention on the issues that were truly worth paying attention to.

"Can I use her method?"

“You’ve already used it,” Patchouli replied calmly. “You’ve already undergone this trial once in the world of Gods and Demons, through Anubis. Unfortunately, your final result was the limit of the third stage, able to wield the power of the first threshold without leaving any hidden dangers and without losing control. As for the final step…”

"...It's a pity you didn't manage to get out."

................................................

With the collapse of the giant skeletal hand, the resentment and curse drawn from the body's former owner, a woman named Arya, were also completely destroyed. The connecting thread that held them together was utterly destroyed by Alice's punch, and in its place, Alice's will began to seep into it, reshaping it to her liking.

I should probably block out some of my own memories.

Alice thought to herself, drawing upon the curses, rewriting and piecing them back together. And then…

...and was transformed into power.

I seem to have forgotten the reason why I stripped myself of my own power.

Did I really come here... just to acquire the skills of time manipulation through a trivial victory?

No, that's not all...

She pondered, but that contemplation ended in an instant as the curse's transformation was completed. When she awoke from the illusion of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, not even a second had passed in the battle outside.

She could still feel the muffled thuds of the automatic rifle bullets striking the pillar she was using as cover. She could hear the shouts and roars of the rioters as they charged. She knew they outnumbered her and that she was now cornered.

It seems like there's no hope left?

The girl gently clenched her fist, and as her breathing gradually slowed, she clearly felt a fire ignite in her palm.

The fire of curses...ignites countless curses, transforming them into a raging inferno that burns both the inflicted and the enemy. Essentially, it's a pointless technique that injures the enemy eighty percent while harming oneself a thousand percent. After all, curses only have their maximum effect on the cursed object.

But I am not Arya, I am Alice, Alice Margotrovid. The curses on this body cannot curse me. They will only become fuel in my hands.

Hopefully, there's enough fuel...

She opened her fist, and a wisp of black flame appeared in her palm. The next moment, the black flame suddenly dissipated in her palm!

A glint of fire flashed in the eyes of a rioter, who was crouching and wielding a dagger, approaching the area where Alice, or the 'demon Arya' he hated, was hiding. He opened his mouth, but the question that was about to escape his vocal cords turned into a scream the instant it passed through his vocal cords!

"Arya—!" he screamed, and in an instant, all the wounds on his body burst into black flames. The memories of his imprisonment and torture in the warehouse materialized as reality, tearing apart his wounds, whether healed or not. And the pain then overwhelmed him like a tidal wave, just as the flames engulfed his body!

"I curse you!" He only had time to utter this roar before he was completely incinerated. The black flames that accompanied his curse suddenly surged outwards, spreading in all directions like a living thing!

The rioters' roars instantly turned into wails—they were the ones who cursed the individual 'Arya'. And when the curse seeking 'Arya' could not find 'Arya' herself, it resorted to attaching itself to them!

A mere curse is meaningless, for every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt its debtor. Cursing Arya as an individual is utterly useless to the rest of the innocent. Just as no matter how heatedly two people argue in the street, their verbal battles are nothing more than noise to unrelated passersby.

However, the curse turned into fire!

Just as a swarm of bees chases after nectar, just as roots seek out water, when they appeared near the cursed fire, the cursed flames also engulfed them all.

So they were defeated.

They all died in an instant, their flesh and bones turned to ash, their bodies and minds annihilated. The black flames of curse ignited directly within their bodies along with their thoughts of hatred, and their curses and hatred before death made the flames even stronger and more intense.

“That’s the difference between a knowledgeable scholar and a fool who only knows brute force,” Alice muttered from behind her makeshift shelter. “So what if I can’t use magic? Do you really think I have no other options?”

She adjusted her breathing and waited silently.

Without a doubt, all the rioters would die—as long as they hated Arya as an individual, the flames born of the curse would follow their hatred to their bodies. And Alice believed that among those who could be killed and maimed by her predecessor, this girl with no training, there was absolutely no one who could withstand the cursed fire on their own!

Unless he never hated Arya in the first place!

Alice thought to herself that she had learned of the hatred and loathing these rioters held for the individual 'Arya' during her battle with them. It was a deep curse that even the waters of three rivers and five lakes could not wash away, and Alice absolutely did not believe that there was anyone among them who did not hate Arya at all.

However, caution is still necessary.

The young girl thought and waited.

Thirty seconds passed as she waited. When she could only hear the sound of burning and smell the acrid stench of incineration, she cautiously surveyed her surroundings, searching for any potential enemies.

I hope I don't suddenly get headshot by a sniper rifle...

Alice pondered for a moment, then swiftly rolled from her makeshift hiding place to behind another cover. With a sudden flick of her foot, she pulled a dead, heavily armored guard to a nearby position.

A dozen seconds later, Alice, wearing a helmet and holding a small round shield, cautiously peeked out from behind the second cover—the helmet was actually a decoy she placed on her head, serving to expose herself while also drawing fire.

—She didn't get the bullet that hit her helmet.

Are they all really dead?

The girl thought to herself, and after testing the waters for a while longer, she finally left from behind the cover. This time, she was finally certain that there were probably no other living people left in the noble manor.

The Cursed Fire works well, but it's not good enough.

While the rioters could not escape the pursuit and hunt of the cursed fire, by the time they were burned to death, all the servants and guards in the manor had also perished.

[It's strange. Logically, a prison should have enough guards to suppress a riot by all the prisoners. And this abuser's family, having embarked on this dark path, must have prepared appropriate protection for themselves.]

I didn't sense any supernatural forces in this manor, nor did I find any unusual traces. So... how did this mere group of rioting prisoners manage to go to such lengths? How could they, after escaping their cells, easily annihilate all the guards while still wounded?

She tapped her head lightly, moved quietly, and quickly found the prison warehouse where the riot had started. With just a glance, she spotted the traces Rodandao had left inside.

She discovered the two guards' corpses, which had been cleanly and efficiently disposed of.

[One person had their throat slit, another had their armor pierced by a throwing knife and then through their neck... Both incidents occurred in an instant, and someone capable of such a feat would have been considered a top-tier special forces soldier... or perhaps a top-level imperial guard? A bodyguard from Zhongnanhai?]

[If I had encountered this person in the battle just now, I might have been defeated... Was it because this person acted as the spearhead, directly killing the most elite guards, that the manor was destroyed?]

Alice continued her examination, analyzing the subtle clues until she quickly located the cage where the powerful figure who had killed the two guards in an instant had initially been held. Thanks to her predecessor Arya's personal habits, she easily found a piece of paper with relatively intact handwriting pasted on the top of the cage.

It had a name written on it—'Iyeas'

A name she was completely unfamiliar with, and also a name that gave her a headache.

Because during her detailed investigation and sorting, Alice discovered something even worse—a horse was missing from the stable, and of the rioters who died, only 136 bodies were counted at the end.

One body is missing, and one person escaped. The identity of the escapee is not a concern.

She felt that her plans had to be scrapped and started all over again.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Women, You Have to Be Tough on Yourself

Alice closed her eyes and pondered quietly.

"I feel like something's not right. I woke up at the wrong time, took on the wrong identity, and made a series of wrong decisions... If only one of these three things happened, I could understand it as a natural deviation. But if all three happen at once, and there's no one messing around behind it, then something's fishy."

"But this is a world of memories, a stage I created myself. Even if someone is really causing trouble, it can only be myself..."

Alice's eye twitched.

She covered her face.

"Okay, I understand now why I had to block out some of my memories. So that's the reason..."

She looked around, examining once more the silent manor and the receding hoofprints at its entrance. Confirming that she couldn't possibly catch the escaped rider anytime soon, she sighed dejectedly.

The strategy of catching up with that guy, silencing him, and ensuring news of the incident wouldn't spread was completely ruined. Alice wasn't entirely inept at riding, but the problem was that the man had killed all the horses in his escape. And not only the horses, but also the large dogs and cats roaming near the stables were trimmed.

A fourteen-year-old girl could be carried by dog ​​even without a horse. And even without a dog... well, a cat wouldn't work. But the one fleeing clearly didn't want to leave any loopholes.

Therefore, the news here is destined to be exposed, and even burning all the traces will be futile. Because that escapee—though we don't know how he escaped the spread of the cursed fire—must have seen the black cursed fire, and will certainly spread information about it, causing trouble for himself. And once this information is exposed, Esdeath will inevitably take notice.

An ordinary, defenseless noblewoman would simply die. Even if she miraculously survived and instead killed a group of rioters, it could be explained by reasons such as 'natural intelligence' or 'good fortune'.

But it's another story that this seemingly powerless noble lady suddenly pulled out a decisive move to clear the area, and then disappeared in the fire afterwards.

“It seems the strategy of biding our time is no longer viable,” Alice rubbed her head. “Now, lying low and waiting to strike at the crucial moment is just a waste of time. Esdeath most likely has a prominent status in this world. And more importantly, I know nothing about her except that she is definitely far away from me now (the safe distance I set before the war).

Given the uncertainty about the extent of her local power, my chances of successfully buying myself extra time, aside from hiding deep in the mountains, are very slim.

"Then we can't waste this time."

The girl reached out and picked up a clump of scorched ash from the ground. She bit her fingertip, inflicting her first wound in this world, and her blood seeped into the soil. When the scorched soil turned blackish-red, she gently blew on it, and the damp ash, like dry dust, drifted away in the breeze.

The essence of magic is information imbued with energy, and blood is life that carries energy.

"Dust does not return to dust, and soil does not return to soil."

The wind was a cursed wind, a magical wind born of blood. A wisp of dust drifted on the breeze, landing on the corpse's arm, where the dead fingers began to tremble. It landed on the forehead of the dead, turning the once glaring eyes cloudy.

—This world does not support magic, but a world constructed from information must be able to operate with magic. Moreover, curses and souls always exist, and since souls exist, they can be completely eroded by curses and simple magic.

In just a minute or two, the dust spread throughout the courtyard on the magical wind, landing on every corpse.

They began to twitch slightly, trembling gently.

"He died unjustly, his body crippled, and he cannot rest in peace."

"A thousand hatreds will return to you."

More blood dripped from Alice's fingertips, falling to the ground and staining it red. It also seemed to writhe and swirl like a living thing, connecting with each other. In an instant, it formed a closed circle, enveloping the girl's feet, and gradually, rune-like patterns evolved around it.

She was cursing them, cursing those tormented by her former self and burned to death by her cursed fire, as well as the maids and guards killed by them. She cursed them to never rest in peace after death, and to never be reincarnated.

—This is a completely unreasonable curse. But so what?