13-2

94 Naked Running

The old matter was brought up again. Klein couldn't help but glare at Alice and said angrily,

"Why hasn't this matter been resolved with you yet?!"

"It really is similar…" Alice argued, "Look, the performance… You said, your Sequence 4 performance would not be like running a circus, right?"

"How is that possible!" Klein snatched back the paper. "What does the 'Trickster' have to do with the circus?"

This is indeed a serious question. Alice thought about it seriously for two seconds and asked tentatively:

"…A supernatural circus?"

Klein lowered his head and fell into deep thought.

After they sat in silence for a few seconds, Klein suddenly reacted and looked up at Alice and shouted:

"No, that's not what I wanted to tell you!

"I wanted to tell you...I saw Zaratul in there!"

"Inside?" Alice sat up straight. "Zaratul?"

Telling stories above the gray fog has a different advantage. Klein started from the unknown angel behind the Chanis Gate until he left the mysterious town, with some illustrations in between.

Alice tapped the table with her fingers, occasionally asking questions about things she didn't understand. She rarely changed the subject midway and persisted until the end of the story - Klein attributed this to his profound storytelling skills.

It was not until Klein finished his story that Alice said to him thoughtfully,

"The angel you met... um... I might know who He is - but He may not be the same as you know."

Klein looked at Alice. Alice tilted her head and talked about something that happened a long time ago:

"Do you remember the Backlund Smog? The time when I took the 'Winner' potion?"

How could I forget? Klein nodded, and Alice continued:

"I don't remember if I told you about what happened back then? I think I did...

"At that time, the witch who caused the smog was Panatia whom you met, and the angel...

"Maybe a goddess?"

Klein held his breath, his heart trembling. He stared at Alice and asked,

"Are you sure?

" "How did you know?"

"I'm not sure," Alice shook her head, "I just feel like, um... After all, when I woke up, I found that the goddess had locked me in a secret space, but didn't let me out."

"?" Klein looked at her in confusion.

After thinking for a moment, Klein felt that something was wrong and asked:

"If that's the case, doesn't that mean the goddess personally handled the smog incident?

" "No, it should be called..."

He swallowed and uttered a word: "God descends."

As he said this, Klein's brain was working desperately.

Inside that mysterious town, he already knew that the angel who had sent him into the town was actually the "Mother of Heaven" of the Kingdom of Night - at least in body.

So...the goddess made "Mother of Heaven" into a vessel for God's descent?

This undoubtedly sounds like a cruel thing. Perhaps for some fanatical believers, becoming a vessel for God's descent is an honor, but Klein is obviously not one of them. On this point, he and Emperor Roselle agree.

Therefore, the image of the goddess who would make humans into vessels for the gods' descent added a touch of cruelty to his image.

Alice frowned, stroked her chin, and muttered:

"Well, maybe it's something like AI?

"Just like your secret doll...

"But it doesn't matter. Um... First of all, I think I should congratulate you?"

"What?" Klein frowned at her, having a bad feeling in his heart.

Alice turned her head away, her eyes dark and unclear: "Maybe Zaratul is coming back to consciousness."

Klein was slightly stunned.

They had all heard about Zaratul's madness. Klein thought about the impact that sending Zaratul's ashes would have. Making Zaratul sober up was indeed one of the possibilities, but he still asked in confusion,

"What does this have to do with you congratulating me?"

Alice raised her eyebrows and smiled,

"Because there is one more possible candidate for the 'Fool'?"

"…This doesn't sound like good news." Klein looked at Alice with a strange expression.

Alice spread her hands and didn't remind Klein to remember the authenticity of the divination potion formula. First, she felt that the formula was unlikely to be fake. After all, what if Gehrman Sparrow was just using the potion formula to test Zaratul?

- She already knew from Klein's story that the potion formula of the "trickster" was given by Zaratul.

Secondly, Alice believed that if she could think of it, Klein would not be unable to think of it. He must be more cautious and thorough than she was.

She didn't tell Klein about this in detail, and instead brought up a lighter topic:

"By the way, since your clothes were damaged while you were in there, you conjured up fake clothes...

"Then when you came out, weren't you running naked?"

Klein's eyes widened.

Alice blinked and looked at him with curiosity in her eyes. Klein, who was already very familiar with him, knew that Alice must be imagining his embarrassed look in her mind.

"My gloves and underwear are real," he said calmly.

Alice lowered her head in thought for two seconds, then raised her head and retorted seriously:

"From my impression, wearing a little bit of clothing seems more erotic than wearing nothing at all."

When she said this, there was no desire in her eyes at all. Klein looked at her and felt inexplicably tired. He looked at the clothes on Alice and suddenly realized that he had a good way to refute her:

"Aren't you also running naked?"

Alice shook her head and said, "But my robe is real. It's not like I'm naked."

Klein reminded, "But there's nothing underneath your robe?"

Alice lowered her head in deep thought.

She realized that what she had just said to refute Klein could also be applied to herself - wearing a robe on the outside and nothing underneath might seem more erotic to most people than not wearing anything at all.

But people would not use such words to attack an angel. This was apparently the first time Alice was reminded of this. After a moment of silence, she decided that it would be better for her not to act too much like a human being in this matter.

So she raised her head and said to Klein seriously:

"That's enough for a snake.

"Or rather, it's okay for me not to wear clothes."

Her expression was too serious, and Klein was at a loss for words for a moment. In the silence, Alice showed how free her thoughts were:

"But, speaking of which, have you ever seen a comic...

"Um...

"That's right, there's a character who is only wearing a pair of underwear or a chastity belt or something like that, with a collar around his neck, and is being led by someone..."

"…Alice." Klein called out to her calmly, interrupting her.

Alice keenly sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere. She swallowed, shrank back, and gave Klein a flattering smile.

Klein looked at her expressionlessly, and Alice realized that this was useless. She lowered her head aggrievedly, put her hands on the seat, and whispered,

"I won't say anything..."

Klein still had no expression on his face, and he simply turned his gaze away indifferently.

Alice gritted her teeth, swallowed her breath, and talked about what she hadn't had time to tell Klein:

"You...Okay, I have something serious to tell you!"

This one really worked. As soon as she finished speaking, Klein raised his head. His expression was a little softer than before, as if he was waiting for her to finish.

Alice took a breath, pinched her brows and talked about Amon:

"This is a long story, um... Anyway, I'll make it short.

"Amon is pregnant with Will Auceptin..."

"Wait, who's pregnant with whom?" The first sentence was a bombshell. Klein couldn't help but interrupt her, his eyes full of confusion.

Alice spread her hands and repeated what she had just said:

"Amon is pregnant with Will Auceptin."

Klein looked as if he didn't understand. Alice shrugged and said,

"Anyway, if you round it off, you can understand that Amon stole the child from Hazel."

Klein opened his mouth in shock, feeling that his concept of "stealing" had been refreshed.

Alice spread her hands and continued to talk about the following things:

"This is not the point, I want to tell you...

"I don't know what information Will Auceptin used to make a deal with Amon - I suspect that the information is related to you.

"You have to be careful."

Klein, who had just felt lucky that he could keep his identity as Dwayne Dantès for a while, immediately tensed up. He frowned and looked at Alice. Alice glanced at him and said:

"I'm not asking you to run.

"You now... you now, as soon as Amon sees you, He will be able to find out that there is something wrong with you.

"The influence of 'Source Castle' will be reflected in your destiny. Anyone who has the authority of destiny should be able to see it.

"And Amon should be able to directly sense the aura of Sefirah Castle..."

"…" Klein frowned little by little.

Alice took a breath and continued to speak to Klein:

"However, you should try to find an excuse to leave Backlund first. Or, there is another way...

"If you're in danger, just call me goddess... No, forget it."

"Why forget it?" Klein asked puzzledly.

Alice shook her head and said:

"Amon can steal thoughts. If you are in danger, you may not have time to call the goddess—you may not even have time to call me.

"But I'll be watching you!"

This made Klein feel a little relieved, but not that relieved. He asked Alice with a strange expression:

"Can you beat Amon?"

Alice's eyes became vague:

"Well, well... As for the clone, I can say it can be considered as winning, but as for the real body..."

Her expression said it all. Klein didn't want to say more, so he just asked,

"What's the point of you coming here?"

Alice thought about it and gave an answer very seriously:

"We can play cards with Amon together.

"With three of us, we can play 'Fight Evil'. I can also teach Amon some other cards - I can also play Mahjong!"

Klein couldn't help but pinch his brows, his expression filled with headache.

Alice laughed twice and offered a constructive suggestion:

"Don't look at me like that... I might even be able to call you goddess for you!"

This was a decent solution. Klein reluctantly accepted it and then asked Alice,

"Do you know what Amon is doing now?"

Alice replied:

"Amon's focus now should be on Will Auceptin..."

This is a guess that everyone would agree with. After all, the stolen child is a Sequence 1 archangel. Even if he is weak... wait.

Klein suddenly thought of something and asked Alice:

"The one who came to steal Will Auceptin, was it Amon's clone or the real person?"

Alice immediately opened her eyes wide and said, "Of course it's the clone! If it was the real me, I would have died long ago!"

"...?" Klein looked at her in confusion.

Alice then talked about her remarks about the Time Worm Banquet. When he heard what Alice said to Amon, Klein gave her a thumbs up in admiration.

He exclaimed: "You are still alive today, fate has really favored you."

Alice glanced at Klein coldly and said expressionlessly:

"In short, be careful. If necessary, consider leaving Backlund temporarily or hiding in the church...

"Your theft behind Chanis Gate should be exposed by now, right? I'm going to the church to watch the fun!"

She looked excited again. Klein hesitated for two seconds, but did not stop her, allowing Alice to return to the real world.

The sweet ice tea at hand was not finished yet. Ai Li picked up the sweet ice tea, took a sip, and then frowned.

June was already early summer, and the temperature in Backlund was not too high, but the taste of the sweet ice tea was a sour-sweet taste with a hint of coolness. Although it was not an iced drink, it was not suitable to be drunk hot either.

——The taste is not as good as before.

She hesitated for two seconds and did not choose to buy a new cup. Instead, she used "Restart" to cool down the sweet iced tea and finished it.

On the other side, Klein couldn't help but feel heartbroken when he saw Alice return to the real world and use her "restart" ability on a cup of sweet iced tea.

She's such a waste... If I had this ability, I wouldn't have to worry about the side effects of "Creeping Hunger". I could reset "Creeping Hunger" to the state before I used it... No, from this point of view, I don't have to worry about the side effects of most magical items... Speaking of which, can she help me seal "Creeping Hunger"? Thinking

of this, Klein's eyes lit up, and he called back Alice, who had just finished her sweet iced tea:

"Oh, Alice!

Something strange happened to the Creeping Hunger while it was in there. Can you help me seal it again?"

Alice had no choice but to return to the gray fog and ask about the matter:

"Mutation? Oh, yes, you said it merged with Mr. A's Beyonder characteristics... So, what is that mushroom?" (End of this chapter)

95 No Hair

It's bad... Klein's body stiffened. He then remembered that he had not given Alice the letter and mushrooms sent by Frank.

Alice looked at Klein in confusion, not understanding why her question had caused such a big reaction. She asked in confusion:

"Can't you tell me? Is it something that cannot be seen by others?"

She blinked and remembered the painting that she was unwilling to show to Klein at first.

...It shouldn't be the invisible person in this direction, right?

"No, it's not..." Klein said carefully, "This is the research result sent by Frank. I haven't had time to tell you yet."

"Frank?" Alice was slightly stunned. "Mushrooms? Oh..."

When Frank was mentioned, Alice recalled her experience on the Future. Her expression twisted for a moment, and then she said hastily,

"You don't have to tell me!"

Klein breathed a sigh of relief.

He summoned Creeping Hunger from the pile of junk and said to Alice:

"Okay... I'll tell you about its changes."

Alice pretended to listen attentively.

Alice forgot the new features added to "Creeping Hunger" as soon as she heard them. She knew that Klein would also replace the abilities in it, so she only focused on the side effects.

"So, it eats one person every day now?" Alice reached out and took the glove. "It also praises the True Creator..."

The black glove was as quiet as death in Alice's hand. Alice turned it around several times but saw no response from the glove. She reached out and pulled it, but the glove shrank back to its original position when she let go.

"Alive?" Alice became excited and pulled again.

Klein couldn't bear to watch it any longer, so he asked Alice, "So, do you have a way to seal it?"

Alice stopped, looked at the gloves in her hand, thought for a moment and said,

"Not necessarily.

"I can handle the problem of it eating a person every day, but, praise the True Creator for this...

"Random praise, I'm afraid I don't have a better way."

After a pause, she added: "Well... you know, because my way of sealing it is to trap it with a small cycle of fate."

Klein hesitated and asked, "... Can't it be so small that it won't have time to praise it?"

"You can, but..." Alice frowned.

If she carries it close to her body, she can replenish the power of the seal at any time, but if she doesn't carry it close to her body, the seal will have a time limit due to many factors such as materials and spirituality.

She needs materials of a high enough status and a path of "destiny"...

Alice's eyes suddenly lit up. She jumped up from her seat and rushed to the pile of debris next to her before Klein could stop her.

"What are you doing?" Klein asked with a question mark on his face. "Why don't you just tell me what you want?"

Alice, who had already reached out and started flipping through the pages, was silent for a moment, then continued flipping through the pages as if she hadn't heard anything.

She found the "water pipe" in the middle, opened it, and separated a drop of silver blood from it.

This was Will Auceptin's umbilical cord blood.

Alice closed the "water pipe" again, placed the drop of silver blood in her palm, and handed it to Klein:

"Look!"

Klein obediently lowered his head to look, then asked, "...What are you looking at?"

Alice paused, refusing to admit that it was her fault, and explained confidently:

"This is Will Auceptin's blood!

"With it, I can try to seal your glove!"

Alice didn't help Klein seal his gloves in the end. She just promised Klein to help at night. As for now...

She planned to go to the church to watch the fun.

When Alice showed up at St. Samuel's Church, she was surprised to find that Anthony was not in the office.

This was undoubtedly a strange thing. Alice pushed the door and walked out of Anthony's office. There were people outside. There had to be people on duty, not to mention the clerical staff, but the number was undoubtedly very small.

"Where is Archbishop Anthony? And the others?" She thought for a moment and asked the civil servant on duty.

This civil servant had met Alice several times before, and he answered decisively:

"Inside the Chanis Gate."

Hmm, Chanis Gate? That seems normal... Thinking of Klein entering Chanis Gate, Alice shook her head and turned to walk towards Chanis Gate.

She knew where the Chanis Gate was. The layouts of the cathedrals of the Church of Evernight were basically the same. As a former "Night Watcher", she had rich experience.

When she reached the end of the road, she saw a "red glove" standing at the door. When the other party saw her, he was slightly startled, and then saluted and said:

"Your Excellency Saint Alice."

Alice was silent for two seconds, nodded, and walked inside.

Although it was the first time that she was called that, after being called the Great Miss Destiny by both Klein and Audrey in person, Alice's psychological tolerance increased a lot. She was a little embarrassed, but at least she kept a straight face.

The "red gloves" on duty did not stop her, so Alice walked inside. There were many more people inside, and most of them were frequently going towards the stairs.

This was Alice's first time stepping into Chanis Gate. She had never even been into the guard room - after all, others could go to get items.

Alice looked around curiously, and when she found nothing interesting, she looked for familiar faces among the people passing by.

Most people frequently came and went near the stairs. Alice recognized Daly Simone and Leonard Mitchell, as well as the "Red Gloves" captain Soster, whom she had met once, and the unknown "Nighthawks" captain.

Some of the others looked familiar, but Alice didn't know their names.

Whether they were acquaintances or strangers, when they saw Alice, they didn't pay much attention to her. They greeted her hurriedly and walked away, coming and going in a hurry.

Alice thought about it, walked towards the busy stairs, and saw Archbishop Anthony standing inside.

"Archbishop Anthony!" she shouted, running over quickly, but stopped when Anthony shifted his gaze to her.

As the spokesperson of the Church of Night in the capital of the kingdom, Saint Anthony had no obvious emotions on his clean, beardless face. His deep, dark eyes were also calm, but there was a fear spreading from him that penetrated into his soul.

It didn't hurt, and Alice had ways to resist, but it really made her uncomfortable. She frowned and stayed some distance away from Anthony.

"Archbishop Anthony," she called again.

Anthony nodded at her, and a "Red Glove" came over and said,

"Your Excellency the Archbishop, after counting, all the mystical materials are not lost, including the main ingredients of various magic potions and extraordinary properties..."

Alice blinked, realizing they were still counting.

Anthony nodded, then turned to Alice and said:

"Someone has hacked into the Chanis Gate."

Alice cooperated with her surprise, but before she could say anything, another person came forward and said,

"Your Excellency the Archbishop, all the potion formulas are in their original locations. It has been preliminarily determined that no one has moved them in the past eight hours..."

Alice gave up talking and decided to find a place where she would not be in the way and stand for a while.

This is actually a bit difficult here. Alice thought for a moment and chose to stand against the wall of the stairs.

After the second person left, Anthony glanced at Alice and found that she had found a suitable position for herself. He asked her,

"I will explain it to you later?"

Alice wanted to say yes, but a third person came forward:

"Your Excellency the Archbishop, all the prisoners held on the first floor are here. No one has escaped, and no one has died..."

Alice exhaled, gave up the conversation, and turned to face the wall.

"Your Excellency the Archbishop, all the materials and books have not been damaged or moved at all..."

"Your Excellency the Archbishop, all the Level 3 Sealed Artifacts here are here, and none of them have been taken away..."

"Your Excellency the Archbishop, the three Level 1 Sealed Artifacts are still sealed and have not left their respective areas..."

"Your Excellency the Archbishop, the seal core is still intact and has not been damaged at all..."

"Your Excellency the Archbishop, I have confirmed that there is nothing extra here, and no dangerous arrangements remain..."

"Your Excellency the Archbishop, we failed to find the enemy who sneaked in disguised as an internal watcher. He seemed to have evaporated directly..."

"Your Excellency the Archbishop..."

The fourth, fifth, and sixth deacons of the Church of Night came to report their inspection results to Anthony. Alice listened to the whole thing from the side. After the last person finished reporting and everyone gathered here, she finally couldn't help but turned around and said,

"Then there is nothing unusual, right?"

Klein, your purpose is too obvious... But, you didn't steal the notebook?

Alice complained in her heart as she walked past the others and approached Anthony.

No one stopped her from approaching, Anthony glanced at her, nodded and said:

"…Yes.

"Nothing unusual."

The "Nighthawks" and "Red Gloves" present were all silent. They could not imagine that a cunning and powerful Extraordinary took extremely high risks, made careful plans, and tried every possible means to finally enter the Chanis Gate, but took nothing and just walked around and left!

This makes it seem like the other party is simply trying to prove their ability, or is specifically helping the church find loopholes in the Chanis Gate guarding process.

No, wait…

Deacon Soest, who led a team of red gloves, forced himself to look away from the rumored eccentric Miss Fate and tried to make other guesses:

"Your Excellency the Archbishop, could this be a requirement of a sequence promotion ceremony?"

Just as Saint Anthony was about to speak, another Night Watcher deacon, Daly Simone, proposed a second possibility:

"Perhaps the intruder was affected by the negative effect when trying to take away a certain sealed object, and died on the spot and was devoured?"

Anthony nodded thoughtfully and said, "I'll go to the third floor to take a look first."

After saying that, he walked steadily deeper into the second underground layer and opened a road to the third layer at a secret location. Ellie followed without any hesitation.

Anthony paused and turned to look at Alice. Alice had already raised her hand and swore, as she had practiced, and assured him,

"I won't do anything rash!

" "I'm just curious and want to follow and see!"

Anthony was silent for two seconds, nodded slightly, turned and walked towards the door.

The other deacons, because they were not at the right level and had no authority, could only wait where they were.

Alice followed Anthony and soon arrived at the small third floor. Alice glanced and saw a coffin.

Anthony took up a pair of spectacles and put them on his face. Alice looked over in confusion and found that he was wearing them to observe the coffin.

"...?"

Alice blinked in confusion, noticing that Anthony did not stay where he was, but let the night cover him and then moved forward.

As Alice watched, Anthony approached cautiously, opened the coffin, and then, as if he had a seizure, he suddenly retreated backwards, quickly increasing the distance between them.

"...?"

Alice's expression became even more confused.

She looked into the coffin and was surprised to find a familiar face inside. The person was wearing a black classical robe with a hood, had long black hair, and a beautiful face. It was exactly the appearance of Klein that appeared in the gray fog.

goddess!!!

Alice opened her eyes wide and realized that this was the angel that Klein had seen, the vessel of the goddess' descent.

Her body reacted faster than her brain, and before Anthony could react, she rushed forward and pinched the face of the angel in the coffin.

The angel with half-open eyes opened her eyes completely, revealing a pair of pure black eyes. The night spread from her body and enveloped Alice's hand. Alice's palm was wiped away without any resistance.

Anthony was frozen in place at this moment. Alice was so scared that she immediately withdrew her hand. The good news was that the angel's eyes closed again.

Alice breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that the intimidating force had disappeared, and silently restored her hand.

"You..." Anthony looked at her and wanted to say something, but Alice raised her hand and made a "hush" gesture.

After hesitating for a second, Anthony chose to shut up.

Alice turned around, closed the coffin, and obediently retreated behind Anthony. Anthony glanced at her without saying a word, took off his glasses and put them back in place, then recalled the situation around him.

Then he turned to look at Alice without saying a word.

The terrifying aura spread from him again. This time, Alice was closer and felt it more clearly. She shrank her head and lowered it, saying:

"…This is a matter between me and the goddess!"

Anthony frowned, glanced at the coffin reflexively, opened his mouth, then closed it again, took a deep breath, and then said,

"Let's go."

After saying this, he turned and walked towards the stairs. Alice followed him with her neck shrunk and her eyebrows lowered.

Behind Anthony, she whispered, "Is it because it's not the real body? Or the human form? There's no hair..." (End of this chapter)