Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

“So-so.” Alice pressed the pause button. The 'game' instantly came to a standstill. She casually tossed the 'phone' aside and turned her attention to something more worthy of her attention.

“You can sleep a little longer,” she said softly, her tone gentler than usual. “It’s a precious time to rest; there’s no need to focus on work at an inappropriate time.”

"No, no." Patchouli shook her head slightly, a sweet smile on her lips. "I don't plan to do anything else. I just want to see you more. Even though I see you every day, I never get tired of looking at you."

“Patch…”

"Alice..."

Two delicate faces quietly drew closer...

next moment……

"Margot Royd! I need your help!"

Accompanied by a loud knocking, an untimely voice suddenly rang out from outside the door.

“…Ignore him!” Alice gritted her teeth in resentment.

However, the knocking did not stop.

"I'm stuck! If you don't come help me soon, a girl named Hinako Akuta is going to be blown up by a bomb!"

Section 10: The Holiday Bacteria Dies of an Old Age

Alice opened the door expressionlessly...

Alice closed the door expressionlessly...

Alice, expressionless, shifted her weight slightly and stepped back with her right leg...

—I'll kick!

"Goo!"

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

About five minutes later, Alice sat on a stone bench in the now-cleaned courtyard of Yharnam's rooftop. Meanwhile, a certain fool, grimacing and rubbing his leg, cautiously sat opposite her. It was four in the morning, and the entire city of Yharnam was shrouded in the pre-dawn silence. Somewhat surprisingly, only the two of them had come; the other reincarnators hadn't joined them.

"Why are you looking for me? And at this time?" Alice asked calmly, her gaze inadvertently glancing at a brick. If this guy couldn't give a reasonable explanation, then this brick would make intimate contact with someone's head.

"I'm going to find Chu Xuan first..." Sensing the impending danger, Zheng subconsciously shifted his position. His tone was weaker than usual. "But he said it's just a game, and I have to use my own brain to figure out a solution..."

Where is Xiao Honglu?

“He said he wanted to sleep and didn’t want to play games right now,” Zheng Zha answered honestly. “I was originally thinking of going to ask Xilin, but when I got there, I sensed a bit of a tense atmosphere, so I didn’t dare knock. That’s why I came to Margot Lloyd for help…”

—So you didn't expect that there would be morning grumpiness or something similar here?

Alice's lips were pressed tightly together. In the dim light of the kerosene lamp, her pretty face appeared as cold and hard as a pale sculpture in the flickering light and shadow. Her lips, pressed into a deep, dark red line, were like the sharp edge of a knife soaked in dead blood, brimming with murderous intent. Anyone with a weak will would likely feel a chill run down their spine upon seeing her, their brain automatically entering a state of self-protective dormancy.

Zheng Zha was very resilient. However, he also sensed that something was seriously wrong with him. Yet, his years of working with Alice had taught him that Alice wouldn't get angry twice over the same thing... maybe she would, but if there was something important for her to do, then that 'would' would very likely turn into 'wouldn't'.

"...So can you help me?" he asked cautiously but rapidly. "I know this is 'just a normal game.' But I still think that if it's possible, it would be better not to let that girl named Hinako Akuta die..."

Alice stared at him for several seconds.

She only let out a soft sigh when the man's smile froze, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and he barely touched the ground with his feet, ready to run away at any moment.

And the person opposite her also breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"Give me your phone, let me see what's going on."

"Oh."

Zheng Zha's phone fell into Alice's hands. Alice pressed the power button, and the screen displayed the scene where Flora had paused in the infirmary. She raised an eyebrow, briefly observed the entity on the table, and then saw invisible information chains extending from each reincarnator, linking to the misty area below the white platform. And this thing that looked like a phone was indeed just a terminal interface.

So she threw the 'phone' back.

"Margot Lloyd?" Zheng Zha instinctively caught the phone, and then saw that the image on the screen was still the moment he had pressed the pause button. The twin-tailed girl named Akuta Hinako was trapped in the spirit particle transfer container, while the bomb outside the container was about to overturn the ground, and the flames and shattered building debris were suspended in the atmosphere for that very instant.

"Each person can only see what's on their own screen. I can't directly control your character... Just tell me verbally what happened... Never mind, just start from when you first started playing and tell me everything you know."

“Oh…” Zheng Zha nodded and began to recount the information he had obtained from him.

"I started during a mobilization meeting. After reading the background introduction at the beginning, the game automatically selected Hinako Akuta as my character. Then, while listening to Director Olga Marie's speech, I figured out how to control her. After I figured it out, I saw an orange-haired girl being kicked out of the meeting for sleeping..."

"Orange-red hair?" Alice raised an eyebrow. "Is it a side ponytail? And have you seen anyone taken to the infirmary because of a headache?"

“It’s a side ponytail, that’s right…” Zheng Zha nodded. “Olga Marie read her name, it’s Fujimaru Ritsuka, the only ordinary person among the forty-eight pilots. And it seems she only arrived at Chaldea today. As for headaches… well, I haven’t seen anyone with that problem.”

Alice nodded slightly.

I see. That explains why you can select different characters and pause the game simultaneously. Each player can only control one character… or rather, influence the world line of one character. Therefore, the 'story' observed by each player is independent.

[I see. The worldlines are independent. Then they have nodes that merge... So the initial node should be the completion of the first zero transfer. Before that, everything each 'player' did in their own worldline didn't interfere with each other. But they could merge when they reached the node.]

This level of worldline interference isn't complicated. For Alice, who has become a true god, understanding it, and even recreating it under the right circumstances, might not be impossible—worldline independence means that even if Flora, whom Alice influences, prevents the inexplicable explosion on her side, if characters from other worldlines fail to do so, the explosion will still occur when the worldlines converge at the node. This also means she can't influence Flora's present-to-past efforts to save Hinako Akuta.

The 'quality' of the events differs... In two different timelines, the explosions occurred simultaneously. To reverse an event of this magnitude, countless timelines would need to change at the same time. But 'Flora' should already be dead in the explosion in Hinako Akuta's timeline. However, to ensure her 'survival,' it should only require affecting my timeline... Is the change in 'quality' due to the 'player's' intervention? Hmm... There are other reasons...

[Wait a minute, this makes Fujimaru Ritsuka, who escaped the accident in both timelines due to 'unexpected factors,' seem very suspicious... Plus, her ordinary human persona... Is she an important supporting character, or even the protagonist? It shouldn't be that simple...]

"...Uh, Margot Lloyd, are you listening?" Zheng Zha's voice rang in Alice's ears, interrupting her thoughts.

"I'm listening, please continue."

"Oh... Anyway, after the mobilization meeting, I immediately threw myself into the first zero transfer experiment. Hinako Akuta on my side seems to belong to the more elite Group A. And there are seven other people with her... Among them, there is a pink-haired girl named Mashu whose position in Group A is a bit strange. But the time was a bit short, so I didn't pay much attention to it."

Zheng Zha sighed and pressed his forehead slightly. While he was speaking, Alice, sitting opposite him, had already turned on her 'phone' and started operating it—her movements were quick, and the terminal emitted an alarm beeping sound and the anxious panting of a girl running.

"And then?" Alice asked without looking up. "It just exploded?"

“Uh… okay.” Zheng Zha nodded. “Although it wasn’t direct, it was probably close. After that, I watched as Hinako Akuta walked into the cylindrical device that used spirit particle transfer. Then, the explosion occurred when the program was activated and all the candidates were secured in the device… I saw a flash of light and immediately pressed the pause button. And that’s how it is now.”

"Where in the room is the device that Hinako Akuta is using?"

“Uh… the second door on the right, the third one from the left after you go in directly opposite.” Zheng Zha answered subconsciously, then immediately added based on his understanding of Alice. “The second door on the right, sixteen meters forward from this center axis, seven and a half meters from the left wall. About nine meters from the ceiling, and the instrument is a standard cylinder with a radius of one meter and a height of three meters, and basically all the instruments have similar specifications.”

Alice nodded. On her 'phone' screen, Flora and the orange-haired Fujimaru Ritsuka were arriving at the control room where the spirit particle transfer had been initiated. The surrounding area was a scene of utter devastation; flowing flames and constantly falling rocks had transformed the vast transfer center into a real-life inferno. And in the distance, the faint sounds of small beasts could be heard.

"Mash!"—The girl named Fujimaru Ritsuka shouted the name of the girl Zheng Zha had just mentioned and jumped onto the ruins. A simple protective magic cast by Flora protected her, shielding her from several pieces of rubble falling from the ceiling.

Alice reached out and gently pressed her hand on a pebble to Flora's right, right where Hinako Akuta was.

Sparks flickered on the screen, and Flora, drawn by the sound, abruptly turned her head to look in the direction Alice was pointing. She stretched out her hand, chanted a few incantations, and the falling rocks blocking her path were moved aside by an invisible force field. The spirit particle transfer device where Hinako Akuta was located then appeared before her!

"Is anyone alive? Is anyone there?"—the girl named Flora shouted, as she approached Hinako's location while erecting a seemingly unreliable magical shield.

'I remember this should be Group A... oh!'

With a loud bang, and following Alice's intervention off-screen, the container holding Hinako Akuta shattered open. Numerous magical conduits and mechanical parts were now exposed to Flora on screen and Alice off-screen. Then, time stood still!

On the table, Alice's eyes, which had lost about forty percent of their energy in the recent interference, gleamed with complex light. With just a glance, just a part of it, she effortlessly calculated all the exposed and hidden structures within the spirit particle transfer device. And a three-dimensional model, perhaps even more detailed than the blueprints in the creator's hands, was quietly transmitted to Alice's mind at the summit of Yharnam.

“I see…” Alice pursed her lips. “Spirit transfer doesn’t need this fixed container at all. This thing is more like a cage than an auxiliary instrument. And when it’s activated, the people inside will be firmly restrained inside, like a spatial lock. This was designed from the beginning. It seems my guess was right. There really is a mole in Chaldea. And he’s not a low-ranking one.”

She put down her 'phone,' which she had paused again, and looked at Mr. Zheng, who was sitting right across from her, looking like he wanted to say something.

“I already know the basic situation, and this is roughly how to handle it.” Alice raised her hand, and a slight force emanating from the circular table altered her very nature. A huge three-dimensional pipeline diagram appeared before Zheng Zha, with fifteen places specifically marked on it.

"This device is essentially a cage, and it's impossible to escape from the inside without at least an A-level enhancement. External intervention also carries risks. Unless something goes wrong, unlocking it without harming the people inside would require a series of complex operations through the central control platform. Moreover, even if we manage to escape in time, some of the cursed arrays inside the cage will inflict severe injuries on the eligible individuals inside that are difficult to heal in a short period of time."

“That’s how it usually works.” Alice flicked her fingers, and the fifteen points she had marked began to flash. “But this level of magical design is still too naive for me. Zheng Zha, you only need to destroy any one of these fifteen points with interference force to disintegrate this machine from the inside and let the scattered magic power form a temporary barrier to protect it from the outside… Hmm, is there anything you want to say?”

“Uh…” Zheng Zha scratched his head. “I just want to know… how did you manage to interfere with the world inside the screen from the outside… what is interference force? Isn’t this 'game' supposed to just allow you to switch perspectives and wait for options to appear? Am I doing something wrong? Aha, ahahahahaha…”

Alice closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then slowly opened them.

"If you believe this approach is correct, then why did you come to me for help?"

“I just thought you smart people might have some ideas…” Zheng Zha’s voice grew weaker and weaker, until he carefully covered his head. “…Sorry.”

Alice's finger paused on the side of the brick surface. After a long while, she slowly and softly sighed.

It's quite remarkable for someone to be this mentally challenged; no wonder everyone else ignores him… Sometimes she doesn't understand if this guy is genuinely that stupid or simply doesn't want to think. But it doesn't matter anyway. It's just a waste of time explaining.

After all... the holiday should be over by now.

The 12th stop: Moon World - Babylonia

Prologue: A Night of Dreams, A Day of Death

My name is Flora, a Spirit Transfer Child numbered twenty-three, belonging to Chaldea, and a Noble Magician named Flora.

I am in Jerusalem, the Holy City of Jerusalem in 1273 AD—the Knights of the Round Table who guarded the Sixth Singularity have all perished, and the Tower of the End, ruled by the goddess Lundminiad, is about to close. In about five minutes, the tower will completely collapse, this Singularity will end, and only the final step remains before the complete restoration of humanity.

—I'm going to die.

Ah, that's only natural. After all, with the silver-armed knight failing to return the royal sword and the goddess utterly succumbing to uncontrollable madness, someone had to bury this goddess at the end of time… Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't, she still bore the responsibility of taking the final step. Akuta Hinako couldn't either, without her protecting that fool Fujimaru, he definitely wouldn't have made it to the end. And as for Mashu, well, that goes without saying.

They shouldn't have died, because they had greater uses in the future. And since they shouldn't have died, then I, a guy of little value, should at least make the most of my remaining time.

Will they be saddened by my death? Ah… Fujimaru and Mashu probably will. After all, they are so innocent, so pure. Compared to me, a piece of trash from the cesspool, they are as pure and flawless as lilies in the sunlight. Let alone the companions who accompanied them through six singularities, even if an ordinary, barely known person died before their eyes, they would probably shed tears. I just hope they don't waste too much time on me.

Well, it shouldn't take too long. After all, they know how serious things are... The Magic King will definitely invest a lot of intervention in the Seventh Singularity, and there's not much time for them to waste—besides, there's also Mustard by their side.

Mustard hates me.

Although I don't know why, Akuta has always hated me... and not just me, she hates all humans, all humans except Fujimaru and Mashu. And this hatred will surely be an asset when necessary, allowing her to wake Fujimaru up at the right time...

Waking up... Ah, I have such thoughts. I guess I still hope someone will mourn my death. I really am a contradictory and mediocre person. I had clearly made up my mind, I had clearly taken the final step, I had clearly long since passed the point of no return, but when death was about to arrive, I hesitated, I was afraid.

I... don't want to die.

But I must die… no, whether I die or not is irrelevant. What matters is that someone initiates the ritual to seal off this runaway boundary tower from within. And at this time, when Servants cannot maintain a stable presence in this sanctuary, I naturally become the most suitable candidate.

My left eye is blind, and I have no feeling below my waist… Is the collapse of the Border Tower reaching its final stage? Is that dancing white light the goddess who has lost control? —I can't see clearly, but even if I could, it probably wouldn't make much difference. All I need to know is that she absolutely cannot reach the core of the ritual before I die, and my death signifies the complete collapse of the Border Tower—

This is only natural, because it was the illusionist Merlin who entrusted this ritual to me. Merlin, the ancient magician who taught the prototype of this out-of-control goddess, the former Knight King Artoria Pendragon—though it concealed its identity, I knew it was it. And it probably guessed that I recognized it, which is why it so generously entrusted this last resort to me.

Tsk, I have this feeling that it deliberately gave this thing to me so I could die here—am I just too cynical? If so… so be it. Anyway, no one can know what I'm thinking right now, and no one can hear what I'm saying. I'm free to think whatever I want, and I think I probably have some evidence.

Because Merlin might be a Servant, and Servants have never liked me.

I first realized this after the control room explosion... I was unable to participate in the first spirit particle transfer due to a sudden headache. So, Fujimaru, who accompanied me to the infirmary, and I narrowly escaped being blown to pieces by the bomb in the control room. After that, Fujimaru Ritsuka rescued Mashu, while I was drawn by a burst of fire and rescued Hinako Akuta, who was trapped in a container. And it was for this reason that when the emergency response was activated, Fujimaru, Akuta, Mashu, and I were forcibly transferred to Fuyuki City in Singularity F.

That was my first battle, and the first time I realized the unusual attitude of the Servants. It was one thing for the shadowy cavalry and assassins to specifically target me. But that mage Servant, Cú Chulainn of Ireland, who supposedly possessed his own will, completely ignored me when he saw me… Ah, I'm Irish too, after all.

That ancient hero valued Fujimaru, cared for Mashu, pitied Director Olga who was reduced to a soul in the explosion, and feared Akuta. But he ignored me completely… I didn't notice at first, but when the archers and swordsmen appeared, and when the inverted Saber-class King Arthur, wielding the Holy Grail, treated everyone else with leniency but singled me out for a kill, I should have known something was wrong.

I was lucky; although I almost died, I survived. Because Cú Chulainn took advantage of this opportunity to defeat the swordsman, but before he disappeared, he used my body as a vessel to fill with Director Olga's soul... Is it because only the dying can serve as a vessel for a remnant soul? It's really laughable that I survived in this way.

I survived Singularity F because of this, and after returning to Chaldea, I was weak for a whole day before I could separate Director Olga's soul from me. At that time, I was still very naive, thinking that the ancient hero who came from the same land as me had some other purpose. However, after I recovered, and the restoration work in Chaldea was largely completed and the Spirit Origin Summoning function was activated, what happened next completely woke me up.

Not a single Heroic Spirit was willing to respond to me… Even after using various relics and Saint Quartz equivalent to a massive collection of spiritual particles, not a single Heroic Spirit answered my summons—even Jie, who despises humans and is probably not human herself, could summon Lanling King. But I had nothing.

—The Heroic Spirits despise me, even though I, like Fujimaru Mashu and the others, am fighting for humanity.