Distant on the boundless sea, Duncan, sitting at the desk in the captain's room, frowned slightly.

He reached out and opened the hidden compartment under the desk, and from the hidden place he felt the brass key that Agatha had found and handed to him, and put it in front of him to examine it carefully.

The quaint shape of the clockwork key has a cold metallic texture, reflecting the sunlight pouring in from the window, and the delicate decorative patterns on the key handle like an infinity symbol come into view.

This wasn't the first time Duncan had examined the key, but this time, his mood was very different when he looked at the "Queen's Relic".

Could this be Lei? Nora's "Vessel of the Soul" - this possibility made his eyes more and more complicated.

The Frost Queen is a great person, and the secrets hidden in her body attract Duncan's attention even more. It would certainly be a good thing for Nora to establish communication with each other - but the premise of all this is not to bet on Alice.

In the Frost City, Duncan, who was wearing a black coat, narrowed his eyes slightly, he seemed to have restrained his thoughts that had been divergent for a while, and his eyes fell on Agatha and the hazy shadow "Agatha" next to him.

"Do you remember your time as a 'fake' in the city-state? He asked suddenly.

"Yes, I remember both," the hazy shadow seemed to nod, "and I remember myself going deep into the mine."

, the experience of blending into that strange darkness............"

"I know this information, Agatha...... I mean, as "Agatha, the original, has reported this to me," Duncan said, with a thoughtful look on his face, "and to be honest with you............ Reminds me of a person. ”

"One? Person? The two Agathas spoke almost in unison.

A ............ named "Martha" Soul Shadow," Duncan said slowly, "She's Lawrence's wife and a member of my new fleet, and for the past dozen years she's been a 'fake' wandering in the Frost of Mirrors. ”

The hazy phantom "Agatha" moved slightly.

"For the past dozen years, this "fake" has been hovering in mirror space, attracting and converging a huge number of fragments of thought and memory, which has allowed her to grow into a massive hybrid, and "Martha, that is, the core personality of this hybrid," Duncan continued, his gaze falling on the hazy figure, "As it stands, you are very similar to Martha's situation, except that you have not yet become a 'hybrid' like her—you are still in an early, pure stage. Of course, considering that Mirror Frost has been destroyed, you will probably be able to maintain this stage in the future. ”

"There is such a thing," said Agatha, who was genuine, and her tone was incredulous, "I thought what happened to me was a special case............

"It's not a special case, that's why it arouses my curiosity even more," Duncan said calmly, but his gaze was still on the hazy figure, "When the mirror frost subsided, all the "fakes" disappeared, but now there are two personalities left, does this mean that the power that supports the fake "Martha, and the fake" Agatha is not actually the mirror city, but something else? Does the fact that the personalities and memories replicated in that area of the sea be stable in the real world, and that Martha is currently even outside of the Frost Sea, also means that ...... This power to sustain the fake Agatha, and the fake Martha, is something as large and solid as the real world? ”

There was silence in the hall where the submersibles were parked for a moment.

It didn't take long for Agatha to raise her head and look at her "shadow" in silence.

Duncan suddenly broke the silence: "Have you thought about the future?" ”

"Future?" Agatha was stunned for a moment, and never seemed to have considered this direction, "What do you mean............"

"Man cannot live forever as a shadow of another man—a shadow in the literal sense of the word," Duncan said, staring at the hazy phantom, "and you should think about the days ahead." ”

The hazy phantom fell silent, and it didn't take long for her to speak, with a hint of hesitation: "But I am indeed her shadow." ”

"I repeat, man cannot live forever as a shadow of another person," Duncan still looked at her calmly, "You have your own personality, your own memory, and that memory may belong to someone else for more than twenty years, but at least, its last few days belong to you, so what about the next............ Agatha? ”

When Duncan said the name "Agatha", the two figures subconsciously raised their heads at the same time.

Duncan's gaze swept over the two of them, and then exhaled softly, "Think about it, it's okay, we still have a lot of time." ”

Duncan's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the captain's door.

Temporarily retracting most of his attention from the "incarnation" of the Frost City-State, he raised his head and looked at his bedroom door, "Come in." ”

The door was pushed open, and Alice poked her head out to look inside, before sneaking into the room like a thief, holding a plate of still steaming snacks: "I've learned how to bake cookies!" ”

With a smug tone, she placed the snack on the table in front of Duncan, and then looked around, as if looking for Say.

"Aye is in the frost." Duncan said casually, looking at the gothic doll in front of him.

This was the "back room" of the captain's room, his bedroom—and the only person on the whole ship who could step into this room so casually was Alice.

The first person he met after coming into this world............ Humanoids.

He trusted her, and though she wasn't all that reliable, Duncan knew that the puppet lady was honest and trusted in him more than anything else—and though this near-extreme trust was more from her solid brain, it was still precious in this cold and strange world.

Alice finally noticed Duncan's gaze, she turned her head in confusion, first checked her clothes, and then touched her neck: "Why do you keep looking at me?" ”

"It's nothing," Duncan retracted his gaze, casually taking a cookie from his plate and stuffing it into his mouth, "............ The taste was ok. ”

Alice laughed happily.

Then she noticed the brass key that was sitting on the table.

"Ah, you're studying the key," Alice picked up the key, fiddling with it curiously, and then fumbled her back, "Are you going to wind me?" ”

"Don't touch it," Duncan said as he reached out and snatched the key back, his tone becoming extremely serious, "you can't touch this key without my permission in the future." ”

It was probably a long time since Duncan had such a serious reaction, and Alice was even a little frightened, she quickly withdrew her hand, and a nervous and scared look appeared on her face: "Yes............ Sorry ............"

"I'm sorry to scare you," Duncan reacted, slowing his tone immediately, "you didn't do anything wrong, and I wasn't criticizing you - just the key............ It can be dangerous for you. ”

"Dangerous?" Alice blinked, as if unable to understand, she reached out and touched her back in confusion, feeling the keyhole through her clothes, "But I heard Shirley and Nina............ This key is supposed to be the one I used to wind up............ Ah, Nina also bought a wind-up toy soldier in the city, and I played with it for a while, and the clockwork key of the toy soldier is like this............"

Duncan rubbed the corners of his forehead, and although he knew that Alice might be difficult to understand, he patiently explained, "This key is not such a simple thing, it is a transcendent item, do you understand?" Queen Re-Nora left it behind, and I doubt it now............ This is some kind of resurrection of hers. ”

Alice looked Duncan in the eye steadily, and it took a long time before she lengthened her voice, "Ah............ Yes? ”

"Lei? Nora's memory and soul may be stored in this key," Duncan was not surprised by Alice's reaction, he just sighed softly, pressed the key on the table, looked at the puppet in front of him and said, "And you, with Lei. Nora looks exactly the same. ”

After being stunned for a while, Alice finally came to her senses, she looked down at her body, and then at the key pressed on the table by the captain, and then looked at the key pressed on the table by the captain, and then spoke for a long time: "So, if you wind me, the Frost Queen may be able to control my body?" ”

"I'm really worried about this," Duncan nodded in front of the simple-minded puppet, he didn't hide his thoughts, "Of course, this concern is not so ............ It is reasonable that there are still many doubts. ”

"Suspicious?"

"The most important thing is that there is so much uncontrollability in the process," Duncan said, "and you should know how you were found - the puppet coffin was drifting in the sea near the frost, and it was salvaged by a ship that happened to pass by, but what about the key?" The key is in the hands of the city-states' successive consuls, who have passed it down for half a century, but no one knows the connection between the key and your puppet, and if this is the resurrection method left by the Frost Queen, then this method is too much of a matter of luck.

"The doll doesn't necessarily have to be with the key, and the person who gets the key doesn't necessarily know the connection between the key and the doll, and even if they do, they don't necessarily turn the key - even Tirion doesn't know about it, so who else is going to wind you? Not to mention............ Under the terrible name of Anomaly 099, how many people dare to approach the puppet coffin casually? ”

Alice listened to the captain's words half-incomprehensibly, and after finally understanding most of them, she asked curiously, "Well............ What about other doubts? ”

"Other doubts............"

Duncan thought about it, but in his mind, he suddenly remembered the Frost Queen that he had seen in the "vision" when he was exploring Alice's "coffin" before, and the words left by the Frost Queen.

Please don't taint history.

The Queen of Frost who died calmly in the face of fate............ Will it really arrange for itself a backhand that will be resurrected decades later?