Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Yes, that's right, she didn't die. Leaving aside the resurrection items she was equipped with, and the sheer scale of Chu Xuan's forces—a terrifying territory that even a Saint could establish from the primordial world—she didn't believe, at least as a reincarnator, that she would die simply from her head falling off her neck.

After all, she had witnessed resurrection rituals more than once or twice. She knew very well that people had souls, and even if a soul was shattered, there were ways to piece it back together. Even in the worst-case scenario, where the soul was completely destroyed and the body and spirit were annihilated, there was still the possibility of resurrection from legends and stories left over from the past—of course, the latter few were too advanced to discuss for now, but she presumably possessed something like an independent soul.

But if I hadn't died, where would I be now?

Zhan Lan pondered deeply. She couldn't feel her body, nor even her soul—back when she was a Spirit Race prophet who had unlocked the third-tier genetic lock, she had attempted several experiments with astral projection, and even studied the method of forging a Yin God based on materials exchanged from the Main God. Although she didn't ultimately achieve much, she was at least clear that she was not currently in an astral projection state.

It was truly astonishing; without a body, without a soul, yet her mind could still function. Zhan Lan even began to wonder if she had been thrown into some Matrix-like world, enjoying the same treatment as in Starship Troopers, with a brain implant.

[That's impossible, especially given that the Supreme God issued such an absurd mission... The Supreme God doesn't have conditions for mission failure. This means that besides winning, our only way to escape the story world is to commit suicide, abandon the mission, and return to the Supreme God's space using a resurrection item.]

Completely baffled, she felt utterly helpless, with nothing left to do but give up. She tried desperately to look around, but all she found was emptiness.

There was only one conclusion she could reach: she was floating, without a body, without a soul, without consciousness, without senses, but she was very clear that she was floating.

Strange, peculiar, yet there was little turmoil within. Anger and sorrow remained—a subtle difference from the Abyss of Death Alice had described—but these emotions had absolutely no effect on me.

There's a...unusual and wonderful feeling.

The mind, which had already reached its limits, began to operate at a deeper level. Certain information that had not been noticed before was quickly summarized, concluded, and pieced together in the consciousness to form new results.

—[Geralt knows the character I'm projecting onto, Felice Corrie, and harbors goodwill towards her.]

— [Geralt is incredibly powerful, and he should have arrived at the plaza exactly five minutes after I made my move… just as my avatar was supposed to be burned to death.]

—【I will never choose to sit idly by and wait for my death, but if I don't unlock my genetic potential, I simply cannot put up a fight against Felicia with my physical body alone. Words and seduction might work, but given my previous arrogance as a reincarnator, it's impossible for me to back down against these reptilian cultists at this crucial moment.】

—【Once I absorb that primal magic, it will trigger the mechanisms set up by Chu Xuan. I will become bloodthirsty and obsessive, and the moment I successfully unlock my genetic lock, I will inevitably encounter Geralt, who is capable of killing me on a mortal level when I have only unlocked the first stage of my genetic lock.】

Converging, connecting, and linking clues.

[So that's how it is. This fate was arranged by Chu Xuan. I was destined to act there, absorbing holy power. Then, I would be killed in a battle against a powerful figure who shouldn't have been my enemy—Chu Xuan wanted me to die once, and he deliberately arranged for someone who was originally on my side to fight me, so that I would later become suspicious and realize that my death was part of his scheme.]

He wanted me to die once, hoping that after I died I could reach this place and understand these things—although I don't know how many hidden intentions he had behind all this complexity. But I can at least be sure of one thing…

Since my death was part of his plan, then—

"I should have another chance."

The feeling of floating transformed into ascent in an instant. And before her consciousness began to fade, Zhan Lan seemed to vaguely hear a huge heartbeat.

—'What exactly is the Abyss of Death?'

Chapter Six: Rebirth and Reunion

An eyeball.

When Zhan Lan's consciousness surfaced from the endless abyss, she was surprised to find that she now only had an eyeball floating on the surface of the river.

She was surprised, but even more surprised that she found herself still able to maintain a certain degree of... no, a complete sense of self-will in this situation, and that she could even move her thoughts and allow her only eyeball to move freely in the water.

A thought suddenly surfaced in her mind: if she could place her own eyeballs into the eye sockets of any other person, whether recently deceased or alive, she could be resurrected. This idea came quickly, but it didn't go away easily; moreover, it took root in her mind, becoming a truth without any means of verification.

How utterly unscientific this is! No, the unscientific aspect isn't that an eyeball can possess its own will. Zhan Lan's exclamation stemmed from her discovery that her eyeball was simply a plain eyeball. It hadn't grown limbs, nor had it mutated its nerve cords into fins or a rudder. It merely floated in the water as a simple eyeball, able to drift in any direction according to its own will.

Not only could it float, it could even be seen. Zhan Lan even subconsciously made a blinking motion, then regretfully discovered that without eyelids, it was indeed impossible to blink no matter what.

A strange feeling, a wonderful feeling.

As an unscientific reincarnator, Zhan Lan could accept that her mental power could easily trigger a mental storm that could destroy a city. She could accept that she could use her will to unleash psychic fire that covered tens of miles, and she could accept her various strange and bizarre spells. But she could not accept what was happening now.

A soul's vessel? No. Mental interference? No. Zhan Lan was unaware of her own soul's existence, nor did she perceive the lingering traces of her spiritual power in the world. She knew perfectly well that she was now just an ordinary eyeball, and yet this ordinary eyeball could move freely without any covering or interference from any additional organs.

Why didn't an extra tentacle grow from my eye?

Why is there no mechanism working inside the eyeball?

Why can't I find any external forces acting on me?

Zhan Lan felt a sharp pain in her head, yet she didn't have a head. Since she didn't have one, the pain must be from her phantom limb, and no matter how much it hurt, she simply couldn't think of anything.

—Why am I dwelling on such a trivial matter for so long?

A thought suddenly popped into her head, though she didn't know where her heart was at that moment. But Zhan Lan inexplicably felt that this question was important to her—she herself couldn't understand why she was wasting so much time on such a meaningless topic. However, this didn't stop her from pulling her attention away from this utterly absurd question and directing it in the right direction.

[It's obvious that I only have an eyeball left now because those witch hunters... or the town guards who arrived later, completely destroyed my body. It's unlikely I was burned; I was probably just dumped in the river to feed the fish.]

Zhan Lan drew this conclusion, and then deduced further conclusions from it.

[That Witcher named Geralt probably didn't have a close, even unfriendly, relationship with the city's administrators... or rather, the general public. So after killing me, he probably left without a second thought. After all, he knew Felice Corrie. And even after witnessing me commit a massacre and attacking him, he still wanted to let me go.]

Ah... I was so stupid before.

She didn't hate Geralt, because her previous death was entirely her own fault. Although it was Chu Xuan's scheme, she had spoken with her own lips and acted with her own hands. She should bear her own responsibility, not shift it onto anything else.

However, not hating doesn't mean not paying attention.

[I have no magical knowledge about sorceresses in my head, yet I possess the identity of a sorceress. This suggests that in Chu Xuan's judgment, an identity is necessary, while knowledge is dispensable... Does this mean that knowledge is only effective within this world and becomes useless outside of it, hence this reminder, to prevent me from wasting my already insufficient talent on it?]

She made a rough guess, though she didn't know if it was true or false, right or wrong, but she decided to assume it was true for the time being—that Chu Xuan was the mastermind behind the world's scheme, a decision made even before The Wandering Earth had ended. And since it was Chu Xuan who orchestrated the scheme, every action must have multiple meanings behind it.

Her head ached, and although she still couldn't find her head, she decided to stop thinking about it for now.

Driven by her own will, she manipulated her pitiful eyeballs to roll around in the water. And when a small wave rolled in, she would quietly leap up on the crest and then gently bounce on the stone slab by the dock.

'Bang—bang—' His eyes bounced like little balls.

'Thump—thump—' The ball leaped over the stone slabs, crossed the deserted path, and rolled precisely into a dark alleyway.

Some playful children saw the eyeballs moving on their own from afar, rubbed their eyes, and screamed in terror.

Some curious onlookers vaguely saw white objects moving on the stone path and, out of curiosity, followed them into the alleyway their eyes had entered.

Soon, a low groan echoed through the alley, followed by a faint scent of blood. Naturally, this had nothing to do with Zhan Lan; she had chosen this spot simply because she happened to see several gang members 'relaxing' there. She then used them to wipe away the traces.

The relaxed gang members wouldn't notice a tiny, twitching eyeball, but they would definitely be furious at any curious intruders. As for how much those curious guys would lose—money, organs, or their lives—that was completely outside Zhan Lan's consideration.

Because Zhan Lan is a cold and indifferent person. Although she always appears gentle and considerate in the Reincarnation Squad, that's because her companions, whom she knew from the beginning, wanted her to be that way—back in the world of the first Resident Evil, she had planned to use plastic bombs to set off a Reincarnator inauguration ceremony in the underground Hive. It's just that times have changed, and she's found that showing her gentler side suits her needs better.

After all, how could someone who wasn't desperate enter the cycle of reincarnation? Zhan Lan's despair stemmed from a lost love, which, upon entering reincarnation, transferred to Zheng Zha. From that moment on, she placed herself in the position of Zheng Zha's supporter—initially exchanging for a priesthood, then for mental enhancement. And when the mental network was established, and she connected her heart with Zheng Zha at all times, she felt completely content.

After all, becoming the exclusive QQ account of one's beloved, being with them at all times, couldn't be considered anything less than romantic for Zhan Lan. Unfortunately, all this beauty changed after Zhang Jie's resurrection. And once Zheng Zha unlocked the fourth stage of his genetic lock, she couldn't even find anyone to blame.

—I have to catch up with him; I can't afford not to.

If one cannot even watch him fight and offer him a blessing for victory, what meaning does this fleeting life hold?

Zhan Lan's still elusive inner thoughts eventually led her to a conclusion. While she pondered and judged, she had already slipped away from the alleyway, inconspicuously heading towards another place that held a clear memory for her.

The witcher named Geralt recognized me and even offered to help me 'take revenge.' Judging from his decisive action and initial reaction, he and the person I'm undercover have only met a few times. Yet, he still said that, which only means that helping me 'take revenge' and his purpose in coming to this city are not, or at least not entirely, contradictory. So…

Naturally, he came here to find a sorceress who resembles my avatar. Unfortunately, while I know nothing about sorceress magic, I do know of a place in this city where many sorceresses reside.

That is the witch hunter's prison.

The Witcher's goal might very well be there. Of course, it might not be—which isn't actually that important to Zhan Lan. Because Zhan Lan finds herself without a goal in this world, and she wants to become stronger, to catch up with Zheng Zha, so she needs to find a goal for herself. And since she has formed karmic ties with both the Witcher and the Witch Hunter, it's only natural that she doesn't need to find another goal.

The rolling eyeball stopped, hiding beneath a patch of weeds at the edge of a castle-like structure. Its gaze swept across the interior, revealing the guard routes—these witch hunters were all elites, far surpassing ordinary town guards, and their lair was indeed heavily guarded. But a patrol strategy that could hinder a humanoid infiltrator couldn't stop a freely moving eyeball. For Zhan Lan, the only thing she needed to be wary of was the wandering cat.

Fortunately, there were no cats in this area. Although it was another world, some cultures still shared commonalities. In a city where witch hunting was done openly, cats, small animals often associated with witches, obviously wouldn't fare well. Even without explicit restrictions, citizens who were afraid of being accused of witchcraft for owning a black cat would help the witch hunters eliminate the cats.

Poor little guys.

Taking advantage of a gap in the hunters' patrol, Zhan Lan slipped into the inner circle of the castle with a powerful leap. She accurately marked the location of the dungeon, and she remembered that when her avatar was being escorted away, a female sorceress in the cell was on the verge of collapse from the torture she had endured.

She was certain to die. Even if she could have held on for a few more days, she would have inevitably died after what 'Felicea Corley' did. A simple logical deduction would deduce that the enraged witch hunter, after dealing with this disgraceful incident, would vent her fury on the other captured sorceresses. And what fate awaited these poor creatures… was entirely predictable.

It's a pity, but as an apology, I'll repay you with the revenge I would have already taken anyway.

Zhan Lan's thoughts raced. Although she had revealed a side of herself she wouldn't normally show, she still didn't have the habit of deceiving herself. She wouldn't use a dubious excuse to shirk the responsibility of bearing the blood she was meant to carry. Even so, this level of blood and hatred couldn't possibly bring her any real pressure.

She carefully evaded the guards, rolling along the shadows of the corner. The rats and arthropods that inhabited the dungeon were somewhat annoying, but that was no longer a problem after she crushed a few reptiles with her own weight and stunned a mouse—she quickly found the cage she had been in not long ago. Finding no new replacement in the cage, she bypassed it and headed towards the place where another poor sorceress from her memory was.

[Not bad luck, died just right.]

Zhan Lan felt that if she had eyebrows, they would definitely be curved. Although even if the sorceress in her plan hadn't died, she would have simply taken over her body, since the sorceress had already breathed her last, the sins she should have borne in full were now somewhat lessened.

In the distance, a faint commotion seemed to drift over. It was too far to hear clearly, and Zhan Lan no longer bothered with the foolish question of how she could hear without ears. She simply rolled her eyeballs, jumped into the cage, then leaped from the cage onto the face of the dead sorceress, and then replaced one of the dead woman's eyes with her own.

The eyeball squeezes into the eye socket, and the eyeball squeezes out of the eye socket.

As more commotion arose outside, indicating the arrival of a great figure in the fortress within the city, the dead sorceress inside the cage opened her other eye.

"Ah..." The stiff body softened again, and the stopped heartbeat began to beat. Not only that, the wounds that had covered the entire body also quietly disappeared. And when the reborn person raised their hands and pulled to both sides, the joints automatically completed the process of dislocation and reconnection.

The first stage of the gene lock... still exists.

Zhan Lan touched her face and realized that she might have to live a little longer as 'Felicia Corrie'.

—The noise from outside grew louder and louder.

Section 7. Analysis of Alice's Worldview

Meanwhile, Weintek.

Hypnosis proved far more effective in this low-magic world—at least in its current state—than brute force fists and straightforward swords. And how could Alice not know hypnosis? She spent only about two minutes wiping out the group of Eternal Flame followers she had treated as formidable enemies, but who were essentially just mortals. She then spent another half hour gathering ample intelligence from them before subjecting them to the effects of burning at the stake. After that, she turned west, riding on the horses of these fanatics, heading towards a crucial plot point in this world's lore.

—Willon's Crow's Den, the territory ruled by the Bloody Baron.

This baron occupies a pivotal position in the main storyline of The Witcher 3. After all, the entire game's plot revolves around Geralt, the legendary witcher, searching for his adopted daughter Ciri, whose bloodline is extraordinary, based on various clues. An organization called the 'Wild Hunt,' capable of traversing numerous worlds, is tracking Ciri because her bloodline possesses the power to control space and open portals between realms—

They were almost there when, in an accident, Ciri became a guest of honor of the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt was actually a military organization belonging to the transmigratory elves of Ain-El. They hoped that Ciri could marry the Elven King of Ain-El, thus creating a noble offspring capable of controlling space and inheriting the throne.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the Elvenking of Ain-El died unexpectedly on the eve of his wedding for some farcical reason. The kingdom was thrown into chaos, and Ciri seized the opportunity to open a portal and escape the world where the Wild Hunt resided. She returned to the Witcher's celestial realm. Her first stop was the lair of three malevolent old witches, and her second stop was the Raven's Den, where the Blood Baron resided.

In the game, Geralt might be somewhat...criticized for his role in Gwent, a card game that many players find so addictive that they neglect rescuing their daughter. However, if the scenario were to materialize, it's clear that this legendary hunter wouldn't waste time on such trivial matters before ensuring his daughter's safety. He would do everything he could to gather information, and the Bloody Baron would be a crucial early source. After all, compared to the scheming old witches, the Bloody Baron is a genuinely kind host. Ciri received excellent hospitality there and stayed for quite some time.

This is why the white wolf in the game came here.

That's why Alice is staying here now.

She spent considerable time and effort to arrive here, and then expended significant resources to control this settlement in the center of the Velen Marsh. Hypnosis was a useful technique, a rare ability in this world that required no additional energy expenditure and could be used solely through language and actions. While it couldn't compare to signs and magic that consumed mana, it was no problem for Alice, who had reopened her first-tier genetic lock and freed up some of her control.

Ah, that's right. After wiping out the cultists of the Eternal Flame, Alice successfully transformed herself from a mortal into a warrior who had unlocked the first-tier genetic lock. Shanghai fulfilled its purification duty admirably, removing the Daoist erosion phenomenon from the original Chang'e. However, she encountered a slight problem when attempting to unlock the second-tier genetic lock—an invisible barrier hindered her, preventing her from simply relying on slaughter to advance towards a higher level of genetic lock.

An expected obstacle, but not a major problem. Unlike the Raven's Nest in the game, which was so small you could see its entirety at a glance, in this fictional world, Raven's Nest had clearly expanded into a large fortress capable of holding thousands of people. It took Alice more than an hour to bring the baron's hundreds of soldiers and servants under her control.

The Baron isn't here, as that part of the story has already ended. The Witcher obtained a great deal of information about Ciri from the Baron and helped him defeat one of the Swamp Witches. After finding his lost wife and daughter, he followed Ciri's trail to Novengrim. Reunited with his family, the Baron settled his estates and, with his wife, whose mind had been corrupted by the Swamp Witches, went to Orsenfort—a different city from Novengrim—to seek healing. For the Witcher, or rather, for the player controlling Geralt of Rivia on their computer, the importance of Raven's Den ends here.

And indeed, that was the case. Before Alice arrived, this territory was actually controlled by the Baron's subordinate, a Temerian veteran known as a 'Sergeant'. Before leaving, or rather, while gathering information from the Baron, the Witcher conveniently eliminated many of the monsters and demons in the territory. Now, Velen was so clean it looked like an icon had been scanned by a perfectionist, so much so that Alice had spent considerable effort finding a ghoul to practice on her way here. Of course, this wasn't really important. Alice's purpose in coming here wasn't the Bloody Baron. The reason she still came to this land after all the supernatural beings had turned their attention away from Velen was for only two reasons.

First, conduct some experiments.

Second, verify some answers.