Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

The war between them was a war of concepts, a war between paths and knowledge. When the message wave from Alice's fingertip traveled back and forth across the planet at the center of this small world at incredible speed, countless beings swept across the land, between towns, from the tops of the clouds, and from the depths of the sea, those with good fortune and talent seemed to awaken in an instant. From ordinary to extraordinary, from ignorance to wisdom.

The shackles of civilization imposed by the Sacred Hunting Ritual still exist, but Alice, following these rigid conceptual constraints, has crafted a cultivation path for the living beings of this world—a path that belongs to this world yet does not transcend it. Her power imprint and the principles she follows have been implanted into this cultivation path, and are rapidly expanding outwards at an exponential rate.

Then, a gigantic sea beast, resembling an ancient god, emerged from the ocean.

From the sky, a winged serpent with wingspans that blotted out the heavens descended.

From the wasteland emerged furry and horned monsters and formless, vengeful spirits.

From the towns and villages emerged cultivators and sorcerers who could cast spells and control clouds and rain.

Without exception, none of them knew Alice's name. But without exception, their cultivation of power was centered on Alice's path of 'transformation'. Soon, they would unleash their own ingenuity, developing the power bestowed upon them by Alice in various different directions. The script of this world would not change, but its structure and meaning of existence would undergo a complete transformation.

The world will become something else entirely, but exactly how it will become is beyond Alice's calculations. Because as she opened her path, actively spreading this previously uncontrollable Dao Erosion into this world, in many inconspicuous little corners, the worship of certain unspeakable otherworldly gods began to appear—this was the power radiation of the clone Alice, a different kind of Dao Erosion, distinct from Alice's actions. Perhaps the clone Alice will need another thirty years to overcome the time-space flow differences between worlds and truly project her power into this world, but before that, her influence has already crossed the boundless sea of ​​energy, leaving its mark on this remote little world.

This is war, a war between the Alices. Victory or defeat depends not on the hardness of fists, but on the strength of paths and ideals. Before this, similar clashes had already been raging in thousands of small worlds. Alices won fewer victories, while clones won more. The more than a thousand small worlds that Luo Ye had previously seen, having been decided in those earlier clashes, had their scripts broken, causing the 'leaves' to fall from the 'branches'. And beyond those thousand-plus small worlds, thousands more small worlds are currently engaged in a state of war.

Determining a victor is difficult, but sooner or later one side will emerge victorious. However, before that happens, countless primordial legions and celestial warriors hidden within the smaller worlds are forced out by the war instigated by Alice or her clones, or, more tragically, forced to accept their Dao Erosion, becoming puppets in the hands of puppeteers. Compared to Luo Ye, who consistently follows the 'unchanging' path and single-handedly charges forward, Alice's Dao Erosion method may have a slight advantage in localized efficiency and speed. But whether it's Luo Ye, Alice, or even the clones of Alice, everything they do invariably propels the Hunting Saint Ritual towards its completion.

—Until now.

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

"What do you plan to do about Luo Ye?" Patchouli asked. She had reunited with Alice long ago and left her little world after leaving behind a puppet to confuse the situation. In the long years that followed, she stayed by Alice's side, accompanying her through war after war.

Time is meaningless, at least for extraordinary beings; a mere few thousand or tens of thousands of years is hardly anything to be concerned about. In the past, the Supreme God imposed restrictions on all reincarnators, forcing the strongest among them to dedicate their infinite lifespans to finite worlds. However, this time, the Supreme God has loosened the shackles—perhaps this is a good thing, perhaps not, but at least for Patchouli, this act of leniency from the Supreme God has granted her at least ten thousand years to spend with Alice.

From one world to another, from one battlefield to another, she remained quietly by Alice's side, honing her own spirit while offering Alice assistance when necessary. Alice, in turn, never intended to hide anything from her… As Alice watched Luo Ye's solitary journey amidst her battle with the clones, Patchouli also sat in the untouchable audience. She knew what Luo Ye had done, and this wasn't the first time such a question had emanated from her lips.

From a long time ago, Patchouli's attitude towards Loya was 'I want them all'.

While Alice's answers to Patchouli's questions varied subtly each time, the core message remained the same.

“I don’t know,” Alice replied, gazing at the sky as if her vision stretched across the heavens to see the conflict in the world of 'The Witcher 3'. She knew that Lore had encountered the clone Patchouli, that they couldn’t actually fight each other, and that she couldn’t do anything to either Lore or the clone Patchouli.

Yes, the clone Patchouli is Patchouli from the Devil Team, but so what? Does that mean Patchouli isn't Patchouli? The same face, the same memories, the same heart—for those who haven't become extraordinary beings, or those who have become extraordinary beings but have always remained purely self-centered, this question might indeed be debatable. But for Alice, who has nothing better to do than dissect herself into many parts, is there really a second answer to this question?

The two Patchouli are essentially the same. While she can fight her clone without restraint if she loves someone, she genuinely can't think of any reliable way to deal with the clone Patchouli. In fact, the same problem may also exist on the clone Alice's side; otherwise, this war that could only be started across several worlds wouldn't have happened.

The clone of Alice is helpless against the original Patchouli, just as the original Alice doesn't know how to deal with the clone. Perhaps the Patchoulis can negotiate a reliable solution. But until then, Patchouli, with her history of wanting "I want it all," is certainly not a suitable object to be indulged.

Alice had no desire for the war to escalate to the point where she and her clone ended up in bed together. She suspected her clone might share the same view. This was perhaps why the war had dragged on for so long; while the primary objective was to advance the ritual, the awkwardness of their encounters was also a significant factor.

Patchouli was one case, but Loyal was another. The above long-winded explanation flashed through Alice's mind before she calmly answered the question Patchouli had raised many times.

"I don't know what to do with Luo Ye, because I don't know what she wants to do."

“She is a demon in my heart. I can see her now because she has possessed my body, but as long as she doesn’t want to see me, I can only stay in the audience. And what she’s doing now… to be honest, I don’t understand.”

"Don't understand?" Patchouli glanced at her questioningly, then reached out and added some new elements to the message wave released by Alice. The nascent cultivation civilization in this world underwent some subtle changes, which might bring some trouble to the clone Alice.

"Isn't Luo Ye's purpose clear? She just wants to help you get rid of as much of the mess as possible before she dies completely. Then she'll just return to nothingness—Alice, if you're planning to sit back and reap the benefits, I'll despise you."

“No way. I don’t need anyone else to carry the burdens I should bear. I will take what I want myself, instead of expecting charity from others—even if that ‘other person’ is a part of myself, I don’t like encountering that kind of thing.”

Alice clenched her fist slightly, adjusting the message waves that Patchouli had improvised back to their initial state. At this point, saying anything like 'no need for Luo Ye's help' or 'no need for Luo Ye's burden' would be rather hypocritical. However, the problem was that even though she didn't expect things to develop that way, Luo Ye remained determined to do as he pleased.

Is it meaningful to kill one's past life? Absolutely not. But Luo Ye decided to do it, and she had no means to interfere—the start of the inner demon battle depended on the inner demon, not on her as the main body. However, aside from this oddball Luo Ye, there had never been an inner demon in this multiverse that was always ready to nibble away at the main body!

"I don't understand what her suicidal thoughts are all about. If we reason in a more normal way, then it should be that the whole entity of 'Alice Margotrovid' made the decision to abandon the 'Loye' component and make the most of it."

—Because both Loya and Alice are essentially the same person, at most representing differing opinions within a whole. However, the problem lies here: upon closer examination, I discovered that within the unified thought of 'Alice Margotrovid,' there is absolutely no record of exploiting and squeezing out the part one chooses to discard to the extreme before completely eradicating it!

"This is Luo Ye's decision, her own decision, her own decision! And I should be part of the whole, so the concept of 'her own ideas' shouldn't even exist!"

Alice rubbed her forehead and sighed softly.

"She should be me, but she doesn't quite seem like me."

"Although I can't find any evidence, I always feel that something is wrong in many ways—her behavior is wrong, her thinking is wrong, her obsession is wrong, she... there are many things that are not right."

She looked up at her partner with a melancholy expression.

“Patch,” Alice said softly, “you think…the inner demons are something deep within the soul…”

"...Could it be that there are also inner demons?"

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

More than usual, so it's kind of a combination of slacking off and doing nothing _(:з」∠)_

The pity system in Arknights is truly bizarre... Damn, you only get one pity pull out of 80! There must be very few people as unlucky as me _(:з」∠)_

But it's still better than my pathetic dog who didn't even get a scrap of gold _(:з」∠)_

Section 23 Conclusions and Decisions

“Why would you have such an idea?” Patchouli clapped her hands, and a swarm of nanobots, updated countless times over, surged out from under her skirt and spread rapidly outwards. The once vibrant and wildly beautiful wilderness was instantly transformed into exquisitely beautiful pavilions and towers. A colossal building, resembling a Greek temple, rose from the ground, and the two of them stood at its very center.

A plate of fresh fruit appeared on an elegant platter, which sat securely on the small table in the center of the temple. Alice naturally sat on the right, while Patchouli remained on the left. Patchouli gently picked up a sweet and delicious grape and brought it to Alice's lips.

"The concept of a box within a box is not interesting, Alice. It's impossible for a demon to have another demon."

“I know, but there’s always an exception.” Alice took the grape and handed back a peeled orange. “Even if it’s a one in a million chance, who knows if it’s even possible?”

“I don’t think that’s possible.” Patchouli took the orange. “In probability theory, there is no such thing as impossible, but approaching zero infinitely is actually equal to zero—I don’t think that a new inner demon could appear within Luo Ye, who is already an inner demon. Instead of that, you should study another possibility.”

"...Is it possible that Luo Ye isn't my inner demon?" Alice flicked her finger slightly, and a fresh watermelon floated in her field of vision, then automatically split open, dividing into more than a dozen pieces of equal size, with a very uniform density and sugar content. "I think the possibility is even lower. If she isn't my inner demon, then many things become inexplicable."

"For example?"

"For example, I can't explain why she was able to appear in my heart, or why I can't explain her strange immortality—that her soul can be easily revived even after being annihilated billions of times." Alice snapped her fingers again, cutting a small piece of watermelon into a little rabbit.

“That makes sense.” Patchouli nodded slightly, then used a watermelon rind to carve a laurel tree next to the rabbit.

The conversation ended there. As with every previous exchange, Alice couldn't provide a satisfactory answer regarding Luo Ye. Her strategy was to leave it be, and then she would have time to rest. Because as long as she didn't leave voluntarily, the clone of Alice wouldn't arrive in this world for thirty years. And until then, even with a large amount of engineering, research, and projects to complete, she could at least carve out some free time.

As for Luo Ye... well, she's been exposed, so be it. She might be furious, her mind filled with the rage of being outmaneuvered, but she definitely won't end up in a real fight with the clone Patchouli. And since they can't fight... let her be.

Since she already had two bodies, she could use them however she wanted—Alice felt she was now in a similar situation to some kind of large bird called an ostrich. Since this team battle was unlikely to even begin, simply covering her head and shifting her thoughts to other topics wasn't such a bad option.

For example, the Heart Abyss.

Based on the available and verifiable information, the Heart Abyss is indeed not a region that can be easily invaded. This is because the so-called Heart Abyss actually refers to the deepest part of the soul, the lowest level of the sea of ​​consciousness. After stripping away all the so-called conscious mind, subconscious mind, Cartesian theater, and other such chaotic elements, what remains is the Heart Abyss.

Or to put it more bluntly, the so-called Abyss of the Heart is actually the unformed light of the mind. It is the sole proof that an intelligent life form is recognized as an independent individual rather than a mass-produced creation—this is the product of all a cultivator's thoughts, beliefs, precepts, and paths ultimately merging into one. And naturally, such a place cannot be invaded or interfered with by any external force.

The Light of the Soul is unfathomable. Not only ordinary reincarnators or wild extraordinary beings, but even the sages of the primordial world cannot unravel it. Not only sages, but even the supreme treasure, the Investiture of the Gods, which currently only exists in prophetic records, cannot do so—the prophetic records mention that the Investiture of the Gods cannot change people's hearts, referring to the fact that even manipulating the law of causality cannot alter the unformed abyss of the soul or the already formed Light of the Soul deepest within. Of course, this is a more profound operation; altering lower-level objects like the subconscious and conscious mind is another matter entirely.

Therefore, external forces cannot interfere with the Abyss of the Heart. And Luo Ye, who was able to reach the Abyss of the Heart of Alice Margotrovid, clearly couldn't be without the identity of a demon—she is herself, she should be a part of Alice Margotrovid. However, it is precisely because this is clear that Alice becomes increasingly confused.

Luo Ye is a part of me, that's right.

It's right to keep all the memories that should exist intact.

Even if it's just a thought, it would be fine. Why would Luo Ye have a thought that the 'Alice Margotrovid' entity never possessed, and why would she hold onto it and practice it as a life motto to such an absurd degree?

This is neither science, nor magic, nor even information.

The end result was that Alice's head ached so much that she didn't want to think about it anymore.

She could only sigh, turn the watermelon rabbit into watermelon juice, and then stuff it into her stomach—there are always many questions in this world that she couldn't answer no matter how hard she racked her brains. It wasn't wise to waste her limited calculation ability on them.

Moreover, this problem won't actually bother her for long.

Alice shifted her gaze from the world of The Witcher 3 to another area. In the Game of Thrones world where Zheng Zha resided, that remote, ordinary, and otherwise inconspicuous little place unfortunately became the object of Alice's focused efforts—or perhaps it shouldn't be called unfortunate, because in the world of extraordinary beings, the phenomenon of 'chance' diminishes as the level of life increases. And as Alice knew herself, this might be considered a signal.

"We've played these petty tricks long enough; it's time to get serious."

As expected, when Alice led her decoy clone, which she had used to fool Luo Ye, in a small circle to arrive at Zheng Zha's world, the clone Patchouli also left the clone Alice's side to meet Luo Ye, who would eventually discover the truth.

This should be considered a formal response, but it's not enough.

[The clone of me shouldn't have repaired the Investiture of the Gods yet... Yes, according to the prediction records, the clone Chu Xuan can only counteract the fate reversal caused by using causal interference after we obtain the Jade Disc of Creation from the Sage's Ruins in the Legend of Gods and Demons. Before that, even if the Demon Team obtains the Investiture of the Gods, they can't use it, nor dare to.]

[After all, this isn't the right time or place for a decisive battle. Even the three of us, including the main god interfering behind the scenes, know this isn't the time for a direct confrontation… Ah, my head is getting increasingly sore. If only the main god hadn't dragged down the other reincarnation teams.]

Alice leaned back in her recliner, gently taking Patchouli's hand, which she had reached out out of sheer boredom, and fell into deep thought. Her mind raced, summarizing the information she had gathered and the current state of this world, once the setting of "The Wandering Earth." She meticulously untangled the seemingly chaotic threads of cause and effect from a third-person perspective.

First, there's the matter of the idealistic Chang'e. I learned from Patchouli that the idealistic Chang'e, or Nirvana, had already successfully contacted Chu Xuan and Patchouli in the Ju-on world. This is because she needs the reincarnators' right to interfere with the principles of civilization to complete her great undertaking of redeeming many worlds. As a reward for this cooperation, upon completing her great work and ascending to sainthood, she will pull the saint Chang'e from the primordial world into this world and cooperate with Chu Xuan to create a sealing spell, allowing the Central Continent Team to devour a saint as resources for their growth.

This was a miraculous undertaking, fraught with both risks and rewards. Initially, the plan was known only to Chu Xuan and Patchouli. However, upon its completion, the overwhelming abundance of resources attracted the attention of the Supreme God. The Supreme God judged that the Central Continent Team could not handle this resource alone, so it temporarily recruited several Reincarnation Teams to serve as laborers. After all, the Central Continent Team held the reincarnation team's control over the Sacred Hunting Ritual, and other Reincarnation Teams could be easily located once they were notified of their arrival. Thus, they could only get a share of this feast by doing manual labor.

Clearly, some people didn't want to put in so much hard work. So the Demon Team activated its authority, concealing the arrival time, location, and number of the Reincarnation Squad, thus muddying the waters. As a response to the Demon Team and to suppress the Primordial Chang'e, Chu Xuan altered the structure of the Hunting Saint Ritual, taking advantage of Chang'e's struggle for survival to transform the entire Hunting Saint Ritual into a flourishing, multifaceted tree.

In this way, as soon as other reincarnation teams arrive, he can quickly identify which world it is based on the pre-determined script 'branch'. This also serves the purpose of eliminating the primordial Chang'e and countering hidden forces. It's like the saying, "It's better to clear the pond with a net than to fish in troubled waters."

Luo Ye participated in this collaboration; her goal was self-destruction, so she took on the most arduous and exhausting task. Soon, the first reincarnation team was detected by Chu Xuan—he decisively acted, devouring and merging trillions of small worlds following the 'Witcher 3' script that showed signs of a reincarnation team's arrival. Zhan Lan and the decoy Alice, originally in two different small worlds, also appeared in one world due to the merging of the timelines—the decoy Alice had been diligently fulfilling her duties, doing a bunch of seemingly meaningful but actually just miscellaneous tasks to fool Luo Ye. And she accomplished her mission very well.

Indeed, everything that the decoy Alice did was ultimately worthless. She was an immature part cut off from the original Alice, playing herself, her methods and mind only at the level of the Witcher Wars. Whether it was searching for Ciri's whereabouts in the Wizarding World of The Wizarding Era, traveling to the Isle of Mist, secretly playing tricks at sea, sneaking back into her divine body from the Abyss, and stealing a transcendent cell to seek help from Zheng Zha... all of this was worthless and meaningless. Her only role was to create a smokescreen.

She completed her mission, ensuring that Luo Ye remained oblivious to anything amiss. Alice, as the original being, genuinely didn't know what to do with her. Alice couldn't even understand why Luo Ye was so determined to die a clean and complete death. While she wanted to overcome her inner demons, she wanted to do so honorably, not through this inexplicable surrender. However, as long as Luo Ye refused, the battle against her inner demons couldn't begin, so they simply dragged it out, each going about their own business, out of sight, out of mind.

While one side was courting death and the other was burying their head in the sand, Chu Xuan, having merged with the three worlds of Wizarding, forcibly suppressed his own life level advancement and entered hibernation. This is the meaning of "a single move at the center is a wasted move." His true purpose is currently unclear, but if he didn't do this, the sealed-off Primordial Chang'e and the other reincarnation teams wouldn't even enter the game—he had to concede a move, at least appear to concede a move, before others would dare to play this game with him. And sure enough, after Chu Xuan entered hibernation and somehow revealed the information about his hibernation, the other reincarnation teams, who had been keeping a low profile, finally took action.

The demons were the first to move, sending out clones of Alice and Patchouli as probes. Even these probes were likely clones, tools, or something else entirely—not the originals. Using some kind of tool—even if it wasn't the Investiture of the Gods, it was probably related to causality—they quickly located the original Alice and Patchouli, who were burying their heads in the sand and simultaneously clearing out the members of the Saint Legion hidden among the fragments. What followed was a long and complex interdimensional war.

What was called a great battle was actually a test, or rather, a negotiation. After a 'long' 'struggle,' the original Alice had a general understanding of the Demon Team's true strength. The clone Alice was presumably also well aware of the Central Continent Team's situation. Therefore, when the clone Alice gave a signal to 'stop here,' what followed was a more detailed, contractually binding face-to-face negotiation.

Alice blinked.

The fact that the clone is thirty years away from this world doesn't mean that the clone Alice has to wait thirty years to arrive—this thirty-year interval can actually be understood as the amount of time the clone is willing to wait. After all, within this vast prison of the Saint Hunters, time doesn't really have much meaning.

Alice tightened her grip on Patchouli's hand slightly.

“Patty,” Alice said slowly and clearly, “Let’s leave the matter of Luo Ye aside for now.”

"Perhaps we should get down to business."

End Summary

Personally, I'm not very satisfied with the content of this volume, and I think the audience probably isn't too satisfied either.

Too many clues, too many scene transitions, too many characters… Ah, while there is an outline, writing it like this is really not conducive to a smooth reading experience. Originally, there should have been more content in this volume, and some things should have been explained in more detail… But I decided against padding it out.

The reason is probably because I've had a lot going on this month, including some major life events... Anyway, that's it. I'm sorry, everyone. I'm trying to adjust these past few days, and I hope you'll continue to support me. _(:з」∠)_

Next, I'll probably write some side stories to adjust my mindset. As for the side stories I mentioned before, it seems there's a lot of demand for No Game No Life Zero?

That's all... For viewers who skipped chapters to read the summary, if you want to know the general content of this volume, just read the last section of this volume.

I'm so sorry _(:з」∠)_

Eleventh Stop: Ancient Dragon Break

Preface: An Unfinished Portrait