Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

"Don't look at my projection with those weird eyes. Although I don't actually feel anything, it's still incredibly embarrassing to even think about. Now that I know the name Shenqi, I must have endured the trials that crazy woman gave me. But I think your experience was much better than mine, since she doesn't need two identical items; there will always be different ways to cultivate them." The clone shrugged.

"It's only natural that I'm stronger than you, and it's only natural that I'm smarter than you. Because you have so much, while I have nothing. Because you have plenty of time, while I have to exert myself every single second. Why do you think I didn't even see a single person after returning to Gensokyo? Why did I issue you a request to understand the cause and effect of my original homeland?"

She stared at Alice, but her gaze wasn't fixed on her.

"Kill all your friends, acquaintances, and acquaintances in this world. Turn your kingdom and home from your past life into scorched earth. Tear your loved ones and those who love you to pieces—once is enough of this hellish trial where you don't even have a choice. There's no need to repeat it a second time. I truly envy you, because you've already saved them once. Even if Shinki were to repeat those things, it wouldn't shake your heart. So naturally, she wouldn't waste resources writing such a meaningless trial script. As for me... since this message has already been triggered, it means that Patchouli came to my side before I completely went insane, so it doesn't matter."

Alice opened her mouth, a thousand words swirling in her throat. But in the end, only seven words escaped her tongue.

"...I won't comfort you."

"I don't need your comfort either." The clone stood up from the bedside and walked towards the outer edge of this dream world. "After severing everything I once possessed with my own hands, I finally understand what I truly need. And for that, I'm willing to pay any price... My ancestor from the Central Continent Team, now that this message has been triggered, the moment we meet on the battlefield is not far off. I hope that at that time you will be someone who has made a choice without regrets. If not..."

She didn't finish her last sentence, and instead stepped onto the edge of a dream.

Then, her form disintegrated into fragments, and the entire dream quickly shattered and vanished into nothingness.

Alice opened her eyes.

Shanghai and Penglai remained obediently by her side, quietly awaiting her instructions or decisions. And whether it was her imagination or not, the two little dolls seemed more lively than usual. If they were like fairy-like dolls before, then now they resembled a pair of fairy-like dolls—they were motionless, but their crystalline eyes seemed to hold a faint glimmer of wisdom.

"I'm stupid, am I supposed to blame you for not warning me beforehand?" Alice shook her head slightly, smiling bitterly. "I was wondering why you all seemed so much smarter than you were in Gensokyo. Is this the result of suppressing intelligence and keeping secrets? What kind of hellish world am I living in, this clone?"

She sighed softly, then banished all her distracting thoughts.

[I never imagined that after the three selves merged into one, I would become even more indecisive... Ha, how foolish of me! An equilateral triangle is known for its stability and balance. Was this what was waiting for me all along? I was so naive to think that having a mother like this wasn't so bad... My dear mother!]

However, I can see that these comments were within your expectations, perhaps even your plan... So, should I still thank you for your kindness?

[...That's terrifying.]

She closed her eyes, then opened them. Pushing open the door to her personal space, she stepped without hesitation into the other lounge where Patchouli was—hesitation would only harm herself and others, and at this moment she had made her decision.

Section 4: Reap What You Sow

The main god set access permissions for the doors of each reincarnator in the team, but it was clear that Patchouli's personal space could not be restricted by Alice—the moment her fingers touched the illusory door, her form appeared on the other side of the door. And the next moment, the furnishings of Patchouli's room came into her view.

The familiar decor, the familiar layout. The room that came into Alice's view had a layout and decoration almost identical to the Great Library she knew. Including many small details such as decorative statues and handmade ornaments, everything felt incredibly familiar to her.

The furnishings of a house can reflect the homeowner's state of mind...

Nostalgia? No… she was waiting for me. But… why?

The girl's fingertips trembled slightly. She moved quickly, venturing deeper into the building, which resembled a large library. As she went, her eyes scanned the many details around her. Before long, the differences between this place and the large library became clear in her mind.

The Great Library is a repository of knowledge, its walls all folded into bookshelves, housing countless precious and even long-lost documents and classics from around the world. From astronomy to geography, from history to scientific research, all the knowledge they could access was copied and preserved within the library. It encompasses everything, and simply placing it there creates an air of mystery due to the sheer volume of knowledge it contains. But unlike that other library, this one contains only one type of book in total.

The book is called "Memories".

As Alice's fingertips touched the spine of a thin book, a memory, not very distant but already quite hazy, surfaced from the depths of her mind—a mundane day she and Patchouli spent in Gensokyo. No battles, no urgent matters; the two simply spent the entire day and night quietly on a platform bathed in sunlight and moonlight—Patchouli reclining in an armchair, reading her seemingly endless book amidst the aroma of black tea. Alice herself sat opposite her, weaving and constructing one exquisite doll after another, their appearance far exceeding their functionality.

There was no need for words or anything else. Even a chance glance wouldn't quicken or slow their heartbeats. The two spent the entire day in this quiet and tacit understanding. As night drew to a close and dawn approached, their parting was without a word or greeting.

Because it's unnecessary and meaningless. One's own thoughts and the other's thoughts naturally arise in each other's minds even without communication. Because at that moment, she shared the same heartbeat.

Alice gently removed her fingers from the spine of the book, a simple action that took considerable physical and mental effort. She couldn't help but sigh inwardly—when and what had happened to cause the unspoken understanding between them to gradually fade? And why had she been so oblivious to it?

When was that? The answer is actually quite obvious. It was when she forcibly propelled her obsessive soul to the Demon King rank by stacking building blocks, and then, instead of consolidating and digesting that power immediately, threw it into an even more intense war.

I didn't believe in Patsy, nor did I believe in myself—even though I should have reached a higher level of existence, why has my heart become more fragile as a result? Does the power of my genetic code, the deep-seated obsessions of my soul, while granting me a transcendent status, also amplify the flaws within me?

Was it because I was walking too fast?

Wait, does this mean that everything was just me—?

A fleeting thought crossed the girl's mind, followed by an ominous feeling that quietly surfaced. She suddenly realized that she seemed to have made a mistake from the very beginning, a serious one, so serious that she dared not think about it any longer. She quickened her pace, crossed the empty corridor, and arrived at the reading room where she often lingered, a place she knew all too well.

She finally met the person she wanted to see.

“Patch…” Alice murmured, glancing at the purple-haired girl who sat quietly in the center of the reading room, engrossed in a heavy book, as always. A slight tremor ran through her. But she didn’t stop, continuing her march toward the center of the hall, just as she had made up her mind.

She approached Patchouli's side, her gaze passing through the long purple hair to the girl's bare, snow-white nape.

"You've come?" Patchouli was still engrossed in her thick book. Her reaction surprised Alice, and Alice's unease intensified.

[That's strange, really strange... Shouldn't Patchouli be in a very... you know/that state right now?]

Should I apologize first?

"Yes, I'm here." Alice breathed a sigh of relief and said cautiously, "Um... I've thought a lot about it, and finally I understand what I want. So... can you forgive my foolishness and slowness, Patchouli?"

“Stupid and slow-witted…and you know that too.” Patchouli shook her head slightly and closed the heavy book. “Then do you know that if you don’t appear before me in three minutes, I’m planning to smash your stupid head with the Great Library?”

"Oh, wait a minute? Is she angry? But why...?" Alice blinked.

[For now, let's just go along with what she says!]

“You can smash it now,” Alice replied without hesitation.

“Very good.” Patchouli nodded, picked up the heavy book, and smashed Alice into a flat relief on the ground with a heavy slap!

Huh?

"I'll teach you to be stupid! I'll teach you to be so self-righteous! You can't even handle your own mental fortitude, yet you're making all sorts of wild guesses! Would it kill you to come and ask me something? Would it kill you? Would it kill you?!"

Wait, wait a minute! What's going on here?

"You idiot, you might as well just die!"

Could it be that I was wrong from the very beginning?

With each word she spoke, she raised the book and swung it down hard. Alice, completely bewildered, was smashed halfway down below the horizon, her legs twitching like wilted carrot leaves, like a poorly planted carrot.

[Spare me, spare me!]

"I'm furious!"

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

About... half an hour later.

"So, all along, I was the only one worrying about myself? Patchouli, you never worried about any of that nonsense. I was the only one who was stupid, and you were actually just watching me make a fool of myself the whole time!?" Alice rubbed her forehead, which looked bruised from being hit, and looked incredulous.

"Oh my god! Patchouli, when did you become such a twisted creature?!" she couldn't help but scream. "Is it really that fun to watch me make a fool of myself?!"

“Of course it’s interesting; this kind of thing doesn’t happen often.” Patchouli patted her hands, which were slightly dusty. She had just listened to Alice recount everything that this fool had experienced and gone through recently. She’d heard it all, from beginning to end: her pathetic emotional journey, her mother whose description was indescribable, and the other Alice who had been copied into the Demon Team. Then, without any hesitation, she gave Alice another beating.

It was a real, severe beating, at least from Patchouli's perspective; she was truly enraged. Alice, though not actually in much pain, ultimately pretended to be badly beaten for various reasons.

"Patch, you've changed! You never used to treat me like this!"

"That's because you weren't this stupid before." Patchouli glared at her, annoyed. "Your clone in the Demon Squad is right. Staying by my side will only cause your intelligence to plummet. Look at all the stupid things you've done lately, so self-righteous, so clever, you can't even grasp basic logic—what, you're afraid to come to me because you're worried about my feelings about our power shift? When you think like that, you've already put yourself in the role of the hero. Honestly, you wouldn't have acted like this before."

"Waaah..."

"Furthermore, your analytical and judgment abilities have plummeted to a pathetic level. Putting aside everything else, you didn't even realize that Chu Xuan had managed to extract a huge amount of information from you during those conversations—you didn't actually think he was a genuine omniscient being, capable of knowing and calculating everything, did you?—The difference in their levels is so vast; it would be a miracle if he could calculate anything! He was clearly just taking advantage of your uneasy demeanor to trick you into revealing information. While exchanging information among companions isn't usually a big deal, but you…"

"Waaah..."

"I think I should probably keep my distance from you for a while, lest I be infected by your stupidity. Tch, you've become so much dumber than before, even though you've advanced to the transcendent realm. Did you use all that new infinite computing power to build up your muscles? But you don't look like someone who could easily defeat Zheng Zha with a simple punch. So, it's your own problem?"

"Waaah, I was wrong! Patchouli, don't leave me!" Alice jumped up and hugged Patchouli's waist.

"Tsk, getting dumber and dumber." Patchouli shook her head, then swung her back and slammed her into the floor with the full force of the 'weight of knowledge'.

Then the poor guy finally quieted down completely.

Well, silence is only in the mind.

When Patchouli's true feelings were finally revealed to her, and she discovered that the ending was the most perfect one—'nothing ever happened'—Alice's heart finally found peace.

This is good… or rather, this couldn’t be better. Rather than one or both of them, including herself and Patchouli, descending into madness due to their inner deficiencies, this development from the very beginning is a more perfect solution—even though it renders all the words Alice had prepared in her mind useless, making her appear like a mentally challenged child. But this embarrassment… she accepts it willingly.

[Anyway, I'll only lose face in front of Patchouli... Why would I need to save face in front of Patchouli?]

But...did Patchouli really never think that way from the beginning?

A faint smile appeared on the girl's lips. Now that the most troublesome issue had been perfectly resolved, she certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to pry into the details. Rather than continuing to dwell on this topic that had made everyone uncomfortable and even somewhat awkward, it was better to focus her energy on something more appropriate.

For example...

She gently raised her hand to tug at Patchouli's skirt.

Then, she experienced once again what the 'weight of knowledge' truly meant.

"Patch!" Alice cried out in annoyance. "I'm perfectly sane and rational now! Stop teasing me!"

“I’m not teasing you,” Patchouli pouted. “I’m just not in the mood for messing around with you right now. Of course, if you’re really in a rush to resolve that physical problem that no longer exists, I’m not incapable of cooperating. But… are you sure you want to do that?”

“You never used to treat me like this,” Alice muttered softly, climbing out of the human-shaped crater in the ground. Suddenly realizing something, her playful demeanor abruptly shifted to a serious one.

"Patch, you do have memories of my true self when I was with you, don't you?"

"Ah."

"...You've met Shinki?"

"Ah."

“…I knew it wouldn’t be that simple.” Alice rubbed her forehead. “It seems my adoptive mother really thought of everything. If I still can’t figure it out, then I can only drive myself crazy and end up on a completely different path. But if I do figure it out and get past this hurdle, is there a perfect ending waiting for me? That’s not enough… She must have made some kind of agreement with you. Like not coming to me to explain these things. Is that why you planned to smash the Great Library against me?”

“If you continue to act foolishly, then I’ll have no choice but to do it. Your adoptive mother doesn’t seem to intend to interfere in your love life. But she insists that I watch you make your own choices.” Patchouli sat down beside her, a hint of relief in her voice. “Your thinking ability has finally returned, Alice. No longer considering yourself an infallible little genius?”

“I was just a fool, but thankfully I realized it in time.” Alice tilted her head slightly. “I think Shinki must have given you hush money in addition to the agreement. That guy doesn’t seem like the type to give orders directly.”

“Yes.” Patchouli nodded. “She gave…”

The next moment, Alice sealed her mouth even more completely. Her fingers trembled slightly, but in the end, she only lifted them slightly and placed them on Alice's shoulder, then a forceful pressure caused her to fall onto the soft carpet.

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

I'm exhausted...

And the two of them really didn't communicate much in the story after the Star River arc ended (is this explanation a bit redundant?).

Section 5: An Ordinary Morning

Time can sometimes seem very long, but at other times it flies by like a bird. When Alice awoke from her long-dormant mental reverie, she was greeted by the familiar library dome—in fact, the entire reading hall, except for the very top dome, had been reduced to ashes by the energy blast, so this was all she could see.

What a wonderful night—though it may not have been night then, and it may not be daytime now, but that doesn't matter.

Since both the process and the result were excellent, the insignificant venue issue can be temporarily disregarded. And...

She could sense a steady, rhythmic pulse around her, and even her awakening hadn't caused that pulse to waver even slightly. Clearly, she was once again the victor in this witch war.