Tyrian instructed his subordinates to leave upon returning to his room, but the silence did little to soothe his unsettled mood.
The lengthy discussion with his “father” continued to linger in his mind, and memories of the Abyss Plan swirled around his heart uncontrollably. Periodically, images from half a century ago flashed before him—rudimentary diving gear, perpetually rain-soaked cliffs, silent platform guards, the low prayers of priests on rainy nights, the eerily illuminated coastal laboratory, and the Frost Queen’s gaze, forever fixed on the sea, concealing all secrets.
Tyrian shook his head. For some reason, he suddenly thought of the puppet who called herself “Alice”— Anomaly 099 who had entirely broken free from her seal and moved unimpeded in the human world.
A “controlled” anomaly, a puppet who could think and communicate like a human, even possessing her own emotions…
She bore a strong resemblance to the Frost Queen, but she was not the Queen herself—though her existence and presence evoked thoughts of some kind of “return” of the Queen, Tyrian could sense that Ray Nora’s will was absent within the puppet.
If anything, Tyrian considered “Alice” to be more like a… perfect exterior replica, yet utterly distorted inside, just like the “Submersible Number Threes” that emerged one after another back then.
A shiver ran down Tyrian’s spine as his mind made these connections.
Out of restlessness, he poured himself a glass of potent liquor. He needed the warmth of the alcohol to chase away his chilling thoughts. Then after a while, he felt somewhat better and glanced at the elegant case beside the bed.
Hesitantly, he brought the box to the table, opened it, and activated the intricate lenses and the crystal at the center of the lens assembly.
The crystal sphere illuminated with countless flickering points of light appearing inside, accompanied by irritating noises.
Gradually, he saw Lucretia’s figure emerge amidst the flickering lights and her indistinct voice. After another couple of minutes, the sound and image finally sharpened, and his sister’s voice reached him: “Can you hear me?”
“Now it’s clear,” Tyrian nodded, “The interference on your end is even greater than before… What’s around you? Is that sunlight? It looks a bit odd…”
He observed that behind Lucretia, the backdrop seemed to be bathed in a faint golden glow, akin to a radiant sunset streaming through a window. However, the light’s warmth and brightness surpassed that of a sunset, and its distribution and diffusion felt somewhat different from sunlight, drawing extra attention.
Tyrian knew that his sister frequently operated at the border, where unusual phenomena often occurred, many of which were hazardous. However, Lucretia always managed to transform danger into safety—still, he couldn’t help but worry slightly.
“Ah, I discovered something peculiar at the border, but I’ve thoroughly examined it, and there’s no danger,” Lucretia responded nonchalantly, “The object might have fallen from the sky, casting a vast range of brilliance… I’m using the Bright Star to tow it back for analysis.”
Tyrian involuntarily frowned, “You always find peculiar things at the border. Have you forgotten the incident when you were pulled into the spirit world’s depths by that human-shaped smoke?”
“I’ll be cautious, I always have been. But as you know, unavoidable accidents will occasionally occur during adventures,” Lucretia waved dismissively, then appeared to suddenly notice something. Staring at Tyrian’s face, “Brother, what happened to your face and head?”
“… I fell.”
“It looks more like you violently collided with a wall,” Lucretia’s brow furrowed, “You wouldn’t have these injuries without a 200-meter run-up and a deliberate headbutt. You were attacked.”
Tyrian’s expression tensed briefly, and then he helplessly shook his head after a moment, “Sometimes I wish you weren’t so perceptive.”
“Who attacked you?” Lucretia ignored Tyrian’s attempt to deflect; her expression was stern, “You’re in the Pland City-State, where you have no enemies, and the authorities there wouldn’t stand by if a ‘guest’ was assaulted. Ah, you just denied being attacked and claimed you fell…”
As Lucretia spoke, she suddenly halted as if something dawned on her. Her expression shifted dramatically, and she glanced around the crystal ball, her eyes flickering.
Tyrian understood her concern upon seeing her reaction and shook his head before she could speak, “Don’t worry, he’s not here.”
“Really… Did he hit you?” Lucretia’s eyes widened in shock, “Wait, wasn’t he supposed to be absent from the city-state? And why would he…”
“He’s not, it’s one of his current underlings,” Tyrian said, rubbing his forehead with mild annoyance, “Relax, we didn’t have any conflicts. These injuries… are just minor accidents. He wanted to discuss some matters with me, and I was overly cautious.”
“A ‘subordinate’?!” Lucretia was startled and instinctively wanted to ask how powerful this underling was and what weapon could reduce the “Iron Admiral” to such a state. But then she caught Tyrian’s latter statement, and her eyes shifted, “… He’s talking to you again so soon, what happened?”
“He’s become intrigued by some old matters involving Frost,” Tyrian replied casually, “But you don’t need to concern yourself with that. I contacted you to ask about something else – Anomaly 099, you’re aware of it, right?”
“Of course, I also know the Vanished hijacked it. This incident has spread throughout the Explorers Association. Soon after, the Storm Church issued a notice, and Anomaly 099’s name changed from ‘Doll Coffin’ to ‘Doll’… Many people harbor uneasy suspicions about this.”
Tyrian lifted his eyelids and gazed intently into Lucretia’s eyes, “Do you know why its name changed from ‘Doll Coffin’ to ‘Doll’?”
Lucretia knit her beautiful brows as if she were sensing something.
“I met her,” Tyrian exhaled without prolonging the suspense, “That ‘Doll,’ she calls herself ‘Alice,’ and she has awakened from the coffin. She now serves at our father’s side, and just like the rumors, the doll bears an uncanny resemblance to the Frost Queen, but her personality… is quite astonishing.”
“This revelation is quite surprising,” Lucretia said softly. In the inexplicable golden light, her eyes seemed to shimmer faintly. “So, you’re saying Father… ‘liberated’ Anomaly 099 from the coffin, allowing the hazardous anomaly to wander freely outside, and she willingly follows Father? She can even converse with you?”
“It’s hard to believe, but it’s true,” Tyrian confirmed. “She can speak, think, and feel emotions like a human. In fact… I sense she has a good rapport with Father, but I can’t be certain if it’s a ‘connection’ humans can comprehend, considering one is a ghost returned from subspace, and the other is an ‘anomalous object’ ranked within the top hundred.”
Lucretia remained silent. After a brief pause, she looked up: “What do you want to ask?”
“About the circumstances when Anomaly 099 was first discovered; you were present at the scene,” Tyrian gazed at his sister. “I want to hear the most genuine details from you. As you know, my fleet and I never approach Frost; we weren’t there back then.”
Lucretia hesitated for a few seconds: “That year… I was indeed in the area of the incident, but it wasn’t the Bright Star that first retrieved Anomaly 099; it was a coastal fishing vessel named ‘Charlwin.’ Strictly speaking, by the time I received Charlwin’s distress signal and located the out-of-control, adrift fishing boat, it was already the second scene, so I can’t confirm what the initial scene was like when Anomaly 099 was first recovered. I can only tell you what I observed on Charlwin.”
Lucretia paused momentarily, recalling the events she had witnessed.
“When I discovered the boat, nearly all the crew had perished. Of the twelve members, including the captain, eleven had been decapitated—only a semi-deranged sailor remained, describing the ‘cursed wooden box’ they had salvaged.
“He claimed they couldn’t discard the box because it was alive, moving around the boat. Nor could they destroy it since it was incredibly resilient and sturdy. The sailors with self-defense weapons were no match for it…
“As for this part, you can essentially find it in the Explorers Association’s public records, but there is one detail… not documented in the files, which might pique your interest.
“Within half an hour of initially salvaging Anomaly 099, the sailors aboard Charlwin heard a series of faint clicking sounds emanating from the box. It was as if… something was assembling itself inside.”
“Faint clicking sounds…” Tyrian murmured, furrowing his brow. He appeared to want to inquire further, but just as he was about to speak, an abrupt and slightly urgent bell rang from outside the window, interrupting him.
Surprised, he looked up, listening to the distinct and pressing bell chime in the gradually darkening sky. Then, after carefully discerning it for a moment, he uncertainly murmured to himself, “Not the evening bell… it sounds like rapid rings.”
“Rapid bells…” Lucretia’s voice came from the crystal ball. “I heard seven short rings. If I recall correctly, that’s the bell signal representing the ‘Tomb of the Nameless King,’ isn’t it?!”
