Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

“Wow, it seems I’m quite famous.” Alice raised an eyebrow slightly, glancing at Adam with some surprise. “Have you seen my clone?”

"It's a pity that our Celestial Team didn't get the chance to face the Demon Team head-on." Adam shrugged, his tone tinged with a slightly affected helplessness. "Although I know there's such a powerful team in the Reincarnation World, it seems the Supreme God doesn't intend for too many strong teams to clash before reaching their growth limits. Even in this team battle, there's actually no irreconcilable conflict between our two teams... Of course, things have come to this point, and peace is now extremely difficult to achieve."

"The reason I know you is because the setup you left behind in the science fiction movie Terminator 2 was so amazing that my Celestial Team and I were given a lot of help when we were thrown into Terminator 3, which evolved from your Terminator 2, by the Supreme God. That mortal civilization that feeds on stars really impressed me. But this time, luck seems to be on my side, and you don't seem to have grown to that outrageous level yet."

[I remember the message my clone left me saying she only allowed herself to reach the transcendent after Patches passed away... Damn, is my other side really such a twisted piece of trash? Or is it just the spontaneous evolution of the power she left behind over a long period of time, and she just started it?]

"It seems you've encountered a clone of me." Alice smiled faintly, a slight unease settling in her heart, but outwardly maintaining a confident demeanor. "I apologize that my clone has left some psychological scars on your team. But I believe I can do better than her… I will amplify these shadows in your hearts as much as possible, until you are swallowed by them and no longer need to think. And…"

Alice gently raised the scepter of domination in her hand.

"Since I reached the fourth tier, I've noticed that everyone or everything at my level of power likes to chatter on and on before making a move. While it's understandable that they might have such considerations to buy time and set up positions, it's just that they keep doing it..."

"...Isn't this a bit too boring?"

Her form vanished the moment she uttered the words, and when she reappeared, she was already in front of Adam. Her slender, whip-like staff swung down, easily splitting Adam in two from head to toe.

Then, the remains of the dead disintegrated into a mist of light, and another Adam appeared a kilometer away. Luo Yinglong and Song Tian, ​​who had formed a triangle with Adam, also silently disappeared from their original positions, and when they reappeared, they formed a perfectly shaped enclosed triangle with Adam once again.

"Puppetry? Projection?" Alice raised an eyebrow slightly.

"It's a higher projection based on changes in the spatial structure itself. Of course, you'll need to judge the specific details yourself." Adam's voice remained calm and gentle. "It's normal for you to find it boring, after all, I find it very boring too. But that's how battles are between early-stage fourth tiers. The vitality of early-stage fourth tiers is too strong, so strong that as long as one intact cell survives, they can regenerate from any degree of injury at any time. And compared to such a strong defensive aspect, the offensive aspect is actually somewhat lagging behind."

"Even if we have made up our minds and are determined to eliminate you here, it would take a lot of time and effort to kill you completely, not to mention that you are most likely equipped with resurrection items like us or the two from the East American team. It is almost impossible to completely remove you from the cycle of reincarnation before the final battle."

"We can't kill you completely, so our only goal is to get you out of this horror movie. And at this point, the right words are naturally more effective than mere brawn. If you're willing to leave voluntarily, that would be best. But if you insist on staying, then we'll have to use intelligence to demoralize you. After all, it seems we're not the only ones stalling for time. If you didn't have the same idea, this conversation wouldn't have gone so smoothly."

"I'm quite curious how you plan to dampen my fighting spirit." Alice stretched out her hand, and with a sneer, punched a small, twisting black hole in the surrounding space. "Just this fault space, which has the power of concealment and confusion, but is so fragile that even my fist couldn't withstand it?"

“You’re right, just look at this fragile fault space that even your fist couldn’t withstand.” A smile subtly crept onto Adam’s brow. “After all, its name is ‘Two Elements Dust Array’.”

The next moment, the spatial structure around Alice shattered under the interference of the massive energy that suddenly erupted around her! Without hesitation, she stepped into the violent spatial turbulence, and after passing through the heavy barrier in an instant, another space that was exactly the same as before appeared before her eyes.

The sky was unique, the earth was unique, the city and the cloud dome were unique, and the three gods, who stood in a triangle about one kilometer away from her, were unique!

“…Multiple composite spaces?” Alice tilted her head slightly.

“To be precise, it should be infinitely heavy.” Luo Yinglong, who hadn’t spoken until now, hummed softly. “Don’t even think about leaving here. Although the spatial structure here is fragile, it’s at least ten thousand layers deep and it’s increasing every moment. You can pass through one layer at most, two or three at most. But you absolutely cannot leave from here.”

“The more complex the machine, the more vulnerable it is. The more overlapping the spaces, the easier they are to crack,” Alice replied, enunciating each word clearly. “—Sirin will soon see through your tricks.”

“Of course, that’s no problem for her, I admit.” Adam made a ‘whatever’ gesture. “However, her understanding of ‘soon’ is probably different from what you imagine.”

"Multiple spatial structures mean multiple time flows. Although, in order to increase concealment, I had to have Luo Yinglong reduce the time flow difference between the two spaces to a very small extent when setting up this Eastern magic array, small differences add up. From your current location to the space where Ms. Xilin is located, there is always a time flow difference of one or two thousand times. The damage you caused in the Yin-Yang Micro Dust Array will also be absorbed by this magic array and will not leak to the outside world to cause a high-energy reaction."

"In other words, you won't get support from your companions. And one of my puppet avatars is currently having a pleasant conversation with Miss Sirin. At least for the next day or two in this space, she won't be able to realize the problem and take any action—you'll be completely isolated during this time. And even if you intend to expend a lot of energy and time fighting us, as a seasoned spellcaster, you should be able to see that we won't suffer any real damage until this Yin-Yang Dust Array is destroyed."

“So,” Adam bowed politely to her again, “this battle shouldn’t, and won’t, be between us, the truly strong. The real stage for us to fight to the death is the final battle in the cycle of reincarnation that will inevitably come in the future. You don’t need to fight us to the death to buy a few seconds in this story world, nor do you need to reveal your trump cards and secret strategies before the final battle. Of course, if you insist on continuing to resist, then we will oblige. But I still think…”

"If you are willing to save both of our time and energy, we can give you some private space so that you can leave this world with dignity."

He looked at Alice quietly, his eyes full of smiles.

Alice looked into his eyes, but there was no emotion in them.

Ah, that's right, she hadn't guessed that much. After all, she hadn't tampered with the wine that Celine drank, nor had she deliberately adjusted the ratio and ingredients of the wine and black tea to slow down Celine's thinking for a short period of time.

She didn't give any hints to Celine, after all, they were teammates after signing the agreement, and she would never scheme against teammates without reason. She repeatedly emphasized to Celine that the Celestial Team's goal was not to interfere with the purple-haired guy's judgment or trigger any subconscious changes in him—she hadn't done anything, she had only asked Celine for a drink and signed a document from beginning to end.

After all, there's no benefit in scheming against Sirin. This level of interference won't affect Sirin's combat power. At most, it might make the purple-haired girl a little more cautious and conservative when thinking about certain issues. Apart from delaying Sirin's actions and making Alice herself more likely to fall into danger, it's almost useless—especially since she didn't do anything at all.

That's right, nothing was done. Nothing was known, and nothing was prepared.

The attack by the Celestial Team was an accident, something she hadn't anticipated at all, and she hadn't made any preparations or arrangements in the first place. After all, she was a true fourth-tier Demon King, and the Celestial Team's one true fourth-tier and two pseudo-fourth-tier members alone couldn't defeat her. Unless the opponents were determined to fight her to the death and possessed a secret treasure or item powerful enough to kill her—but how could such a thing possibly happen?

An item or method capable of killing someone at the early stage of the fourth tier would require at least a full-force attack from someone at the mid-fourth tier. If such a thing existed, the Celestials would have already used it on the East American team; it might still be there now. And if it wasn't part of the Celestials' stash, that's even more unlikely, since the Valar gods of this world don't exist, and the strongest character in the story is merely a severely crippled fourth-tier Sauron. In his unfortunate form with only one eye, he simply couldn't wield that level of power. If one truly wanted to obtain an item of that caliber, they would have to fight Sauron's former superior, the truly powerful Dark Lord of this world—Milkor.

That's even more impossible, since Melkor was utterly destroyed and banished to the ends of the earth in the Silmarillion scenario before it even began. All its relics and power are under the watchful eyes of the Valar, who are wary of Melkor's return in the final battle. Unless they possess some kind of unreasonable power, like a wish-granting spell that directly alters cause and effect, the Celestials simply cannot obtain anything related to Melkor, let alone steal its power. And would the Celestials possess such power? — No, Altair of the East Blue Team might, but she certainly wouldn't do that!

—At least that's what Alice thought. Well, whether others believed it or not, she did. Because she was just a stupid and careless fool witch, how could she possibly think of such complicated and mysterious things?

So, the foolish witch is about to do something foolish.

"It seems you've chosen to waste both of our time, Miss Alice." Adam sighed softly as he watched Alice assume a fighting stance. Then, he lowered his hand, signaling an attack.

"Then let the facts bring you despair."

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

...The Wandering Earth is quite good; I'll watch it again tomorrow or the day after.

Chapter 46 The Foolish Witch, Part Two

The free energy in the air became thinner, and the subtle turbulence of particles caused widespread spatial disorder. Starting from the large triangle formed by the three Celestial Team stations, the entire airspace rapidly advanced towards the Dead Magic Zone, measured in femtoseconds.

The messages in the atmosphere have been disrupted.

The spells that Alice could normally construct with a single thought now require more than three times the effort. The numerous protective measures surrounding her are also becoming unstable due to the changing energy environment. Even with the emergency power supply from the two small puppets from Shanghai and Penglai, the area where Alice can directly intervene with magic has decreased by more than one level.

"The Yin-Yang Dust Array has many functions, but for Lady Margot Royd, the most threatening effects are only three. First, trapping the enemy, which you've already witnessed. And second, the weakening effect you're experiencing now." Adam's fingers lightly touched together, a smile playing on his lips. "While participating in that modified version of the Terminator world, I had the privilege of learning about the unique magic system you possess. It's truly a remarkable system—concepts and energy, casting spells based on changes in information. Someone unfamiliar with it would likely suffer greatly when first encountering such a magical system, but unfortunately, I spent some time figuring out how to break it."

“When the information environment is chaotic and the free energy is scarce, your magic cannot be cast smoothly. Of course, I believe that you are proficient in more than just this one magic system. But being able to seal off the part of your most proficient methods is already enough to satisfy me.”

Alice clenched her fist. The spatial structure around her trembled slightly at her will.

"This is the first enemy I've encountered like you, Adam. But I'm not some useless piece of trash who can only fall from the sky and die without a medium for casting spells." The girl breathed softly, and the obsession structure within her body began to release a large amount of standard energy. Her first breath stirred the atmosphere, her second breath overturned the clouds, and when the third breath was completed, a huge energy tide had been built around her.

"The issue of energy supply is a subject I've been studying for a long time. From fission to fusion, from fusion to annihilation, it took me a lot of time to complete this project. Now they are very mature projects. With just the three of you, it's not something you can do in a day or two. And fourth-order life forms, as long as they have energy... I think you should know very well how long I can last. Perhaps, you will fall before me."

“Ha, you’re quite right, Ms. Margot Lloyd.” Adam’s smile remained unchanged. “But you haven’t denied that your magical system is thus limited. Your power is partially weakened, just as if one of your limbs is bound. I don’t deny that you might possess greater combat strength than us, but your unique magical system dictates that you rarely need to deal with this partial loss of power. This might cause you to hesitate for a moment in battle, or it might not. But in any case, the difference in combat strength between us will be evened out… You no longer have the possibility of killing, or even severely injuring, one of us. And we…”

Adam gave the order to attack.

"We have time in our hands."

The next moment, a dazzling light enveloped the entire battlefield.

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

Alice opened her eyes. Her sense of touch gradually returned. From her hair to her toes, from her heart to her skin, from the inside out, all the familiar and unfamiliar sensations came rushing in like a tide—she had to temporarily interfere with her mental processes, constructing a thought pattern that was more efficient than her original pure mind in order to control these information flows in the first instant and allow herself to fully grasp her body.

The force field around me dissipated, and my toes touched the ground. The cold touch stimulated my nerves while also bringing a strange sense of pleasure. The long-awaited fresh air surged in my lungs, oxygen stayed in, carbon dioxide left, and with this simple gas exchange, my heart began to beat strongly.

"A long-lost feeling, a pure body without illness, without modification, without implants, and not even a magic furnace or energy pipelines. Ah... this feeling of being a perfect mortal. The last time I experienced this was probably when I first entered the cycle of reincarnation. But back then I didn't have the leisure to experience life. So, to be more precise, the last time was about seven hundred years ago in physiological time."

The project was completed, and Alice regained her physical body. This was a project that had already begun when Isengard assigned the task. And now was the perfect time to bring it to fruition.

Alice gently clenched her pink fist. She could clearly perceive the operation of every cell in her body, and she could also clearly perceive that she could change the operational trajectory, work efficiency, and differentiation direction of these cells at will. Even further, she could directly modify many gene segments in the chromosomes within the cell nucleus, thereby transforming these pure and clean mortal cells in her body into a mobile molecular weapon fortress armed to the cell membrane in an instant.

She didn't want to do that so quickly, because she planned to stay in this purely mortal form for a while longer.

"You've given yourself thirty minutes of free time." Chu Xuan's calm voice came from afar. She turned her head in the direction of the voice and saw the bespectacled man conducting some unspeakable experiment on the other side of the huge studio. Only then did she shift her attention away from her own body and turn her focus to other things.

Sure enough, this was the Tower of Babel world, and the location was the laboratory she had chosen beforehand. Beneath her feet was a large anti-gravity platform needed for constructing her body. On the outer side of the platform were many complex instruments whose names and uses she knew but rarely used. Chu Xuan was conducting experiments, and the captain of the Nan Yan Continent team was suspended in another anti-gravity platform, his brows furrowed in a deep sleep.

—Esdeath, poor Esdeath.

To extract enough information from her brain to construct Alice's new body, the cruel experimenter heartlessly subjected this powerful yet unfortunate woman to one terrible dream after another. Each dream was a creation and recollection of her initial world, and each dream was designed to recreate as completely as possible the major and minor role Alice played in the 'Gate World' as Arya. And as 'Arya' drew closer and closer to 'Alice,' the poor woman's dreams became increasingly tragic.

There's no way around it. Even in a different world, with a different identity, even if it's just a dream within a dream, a witch is still a witch. And a witch who has lost her memory and has no partner to care for her won't care about the feelings of others when she starts to reshape the world... After all, spellcasters are a group of people who lack a sense of security, and Alice is especially so.

Thus, ordinary recurring dreams transformed into ruthless, Mary Sue-esque nightmares. Unfortunately, Esdeath, the dream's owner, was relegated to the pitiful role of a supporting female character. After hundreds, even thousands, of nightmare cycles, she probably wouldn't even remember how many times 'Arya' had killed her, how many experiments she'd been subjected to, or how much she'd simply been tortured. After all, the purpose of the dream was to gather as much information as possible about 'Arya,' and retaining her memories from the nightmares was clearly unnecessary.

However, her not remembering didn't mean that Alice, after her body was reshaped, wouldn't remember. After briefly recalling that tragic cycle that was nearly five figures long, even Alice couldn't help but feel a slight pang of guilt. Although it was only a very, very, very small amount, something was better than nothing.

—Though the apology itself is meaningless. After all, Alice's project is finished, while poor Esdeath is still floating on the platform. Clearly, Chu Xuan has a considerable interest in this research subject who has unlocked the fourth-tier genetic lock. And waiting for him to lose interest… that will probably take quite a long time.

It's a real shame. If you're still alive when this horror movie ends, I'll consider suggesting you return to the Main God Space during the meeting. I can't guarantee it will be approved, but I'll at least do it.

Well then, goodbye.

Alice shrugged, tossing away those awful memories of 'skewers,' 'slicing,' 'decomposition,' and 'crushing' into the garbage dump of her mind. She nodded to Chu Xuan and turned to leave—Chu Xuan was sensible enough not to alter her procedures during the final stage of the project she had set up. So, during the body-shaping phase, the ritual created a complete set of clothing for her new body. This avoided some unnecessary embarrassment, although the size… well, the size was still a good fit.

Alice snapped her fingers, and a mirror appeared beside her—the reconstructed body seemed to have slightly better curves than before. But that might just be an illusion; after all, the person she loved never cared about such trivial details, much less wasted money on such pointless processes.

Anyway, go and rest for half an hour first.

She thought of this, and then...

As Alice stepped out the door, she bumped into Zheng Zha, who was holding a thick translated book on cultivation and looked distressed.

Alice nodded to Zheng Zha and continued walking.

Zheng Zha nodded to Alice and continued walking...

“Mamamama—Margotroyd!? Didn’t you go to Milistieris? How come you’re suddenly back… Why do you look so strange?” His eyes widened suddenly. “Your body is back!?”

"Looks like you do have eyes after all." Alice glanced at Zheng Zha with annoyance, then glanced at the large book he was reading. "I remember I told you before that I asked Chu Xuan to create a body for me so that I could reach the Demon King level and the fourth level in the Obsessive Soul and Gene Lock system, respectively. What you see now is just a stage of the result."

"Then you should be in Baicheng right now..."

"The White City matter was long over. The current 'me' should be playing house with the Celestial Team in Long Lake Town—why are you looking like you've seen a ghost? This is just multiple body control. It's like an introductory course for puppeteers. It's not a big deal if two or three 'me's' appear at the same time. There's no need to worry too much."

"Oh..." Zheng Zha seemed to understand. Then he immediately realized that something seemed amiss.

"...The Celestial Team!?" He was startled and almost drew his Destruction Blade.

“Hmm, a group of clever people, but unfortunately not clever enough.” Alice tapped her forehead lightly, explaining some of her actions to Zheng Zha. “They thought they could wear down our manpower through a surprise attack, but Chu Xuan was stronger than them… Chu Xuan predicted, or rather induced, their actions, and then trapped them with a pre-prepared trap.”

"Oh." Zheng Mouzha seemed to understand but not quite. "Anyway, it means... nothing's wrong?"

"Yes, that's one way to understand it." Alice nodded, with no intention of explaining further.

What could she explain? Could she explain that from the very beginning, she had separated the portion of her soul that held the essence of information magic from her obsessive body, much like Sirin dismantled her time control, to complete the physical reconstruction? And then send the remaining majority of her obsessive soul to White City as bait? After all, inner demons are extremely dangerous. Rather than risk having her inner demons truly detonated by Altair, it was better to create a fake mental vulnerability beforehand—after all, Alice never did anything with less than a 90% chance of success. Why would she risk a mental breakdown to gamble on the limits of Altair's abilities?

It's obviously impossible; she would never gamble the success of her plans on the enemy's strength. And the Celestial Team is even less likely to succeed. She could take down Esdeath in a minute, so she could easily take down Song Tian or Luo Yinglong in a minute as well. Adam's poor damage output is their own problem, but Alice has always prioritized offense over defense.

—She was simply going with the flow. After all, Zhao Zhuikong's ritual would take at least three more days, and the only time the Celestial Team could escape their disadvantage was to launch a surprise attack. And the only way to deal with her was to use spacetime techniques to separate her from the world. But Adam probably didn't know that when they trapped Alice with the Yin-Yang Dust Array, they were also trapped within it.

Adam assumed that the ratio of time flow in the outside world to that within the array was one to one or two thousand. However, what they did not know was that while the Yin-Yang Dust Array covered the river valley, the Tower of Babel world also covered the Yin-Yang Dust Array.

Time is now in Alice's... or rather, Chu Xuan's hands.

Chapter 47 - Boss Chu: The camera turns around

"So... is there anything else?" Alice tilted her head, glancing sideways at the guy in front of her. "If I'm not mistaken, I have some other things to do in half an hour. If you don't mind..."

"Oh, oh, it's nothing. You can go now." Zheng Zha finally realized what was going on and quickly stepped aside in the corridor, clutching his heavy book. Before he could even process what Alice had meant, the witch's figure disappeared at the end of the corridor.

He shook his head and pushed open the door to the research area where Alice had left.

"Chu Xuan." He greeted the bespectacled man sitting on the research table—as expected, he received no reply. He wasn't angry. His gaze swept across the research hall and lingered briefly on Esdeath, who was floating above the platform, before he found a suitable spot, made himself a chair, and sat down.

“I’ve roughly read through those cultivation books. I’ve basically learned some things… although there are still some parts I haven’t fully grasped. But…” He seemed a little embarrassed, pausing noticeably to organize his thoughts. “…It seems quite troublesome to apply that cultivation knowledge. Those runes, spells, rituals… I think it would be fine to just simulate the corresponding effects using a more subtle method.”