Alice's Hell (35) - The Great Wizard's Rose Seed

As all the strategists stood at the castle gate, obeying the nun's instructions to press their fingers on rose thorns to complete the ticket check, the "evil" had already quietly been absorbed by the roses along with the flowing blood, becoming part of Alice's Castle.

Yu Xing spoke casually, brushing aside the stray hairs that were getting in the way. "Is that so, Mr. Butler?"

The butler's eyes flickered as he listened to the tourist continue, "The nun guide was assigned such an important task, while you're only responsible for some meaningless logistical work. It's quite clear who Alice favors. As someone who has dealt with Alice twice, I don't think my judgment in this regard is wrong."

He had experienced firsthand Alice's vindictiveness.

Although it was unclear when this tourist had seen Alice before, the butler was clearly persuaded. His upright posture seemed to have loosened somewhat. At first glance, he still appeared solemn, but upon closer inspection, it was evident that he had relaxed a bit in front of Yu Xing: "You're right. In the castle, only I still have the will to resist."

Hearing this expected answer, Yu Xing smiled, his eyes pitch black, even darker than the distance unlit by the firelight. His tone softened considerably, as if carrying a hint of seduction. "Of course, since the butler hasn't expressed any dissatisfaction with his position, it means that what you want to rebel against isn't Alice's lack of regard for you, but something else entirely."

"If I'm not mistaken, you, the tour guide, and the cook, were all tourists before, weren't you? You failed, but because of certain qualities, Alice kept you after your deaths, making you a part of this castle, unable to leave ever again."

"The butler hasn't seen the sun in a very, very long time."

The butler remained silent.

"Because you are already dead, you cannot leave. You can only pretend to be an obedient servant, watching Alice Castle welcome wave after wave of sinful tourists, watching them die or escape alive. And you, forever, can only stand by the golden bell in the hall, bowing to these strangers whose lives are in danger." Yu Xing sighed as she spoke, seemingly feeling a deep sense of pity and regret. "Mr. Butler, you don't want to live like this anymore, do you?"

"Yes," the butler said calmly. "If every tourist were as clever as you, able to stir up their inner impulses, perhaps liberation or destruction, whichever the outcome, would be closer to me. It certainly wouldn't be worse than my current situation of being unable to see the light of day."

"Haha." Despite the seriousness of the discussion, Yu Xing laughed out loud, drawing a vague glance from the butler.

He gently shook the tinderbox, as if deep in thought, "The normal procedure is that if we tourists survive two days, those who are meant to die will die, those who are meant to be injured will be injured, and who among the remaining ones will make it out alive is probably a matter of luck and ability. But... now that I know what's going on behind closed doors, I don't really want to play the game step by step anymore, what do you think?"

"What do you want?" the butler asked, seemingly unaware that his thoughts had been led astray by Yu Xing.

Or perhaps the butler, who had seen countless people, had already sensed this, yet willingly allowed Yu Xing to bestow a glimmer of hope upon him.

Yu Xing's eyes narrowed, a hint of aggression lurking beneath his calm demeanor, making every word he uttered impossible to ignore. "Alice's very existence depends on something, doesn't it? Butler, I want to end Alice's Hell completely, not just this visit, but the very end."

The butler's stagnant gaze finally changed; he looked at the "arrogant" young man with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"You know how to destroy this place?"

Clearly, the butler, who concealed his own consciousness as an obedient servant, had no idea how to destroy the castle or Alice.

"More or less." Yu Xing raised her eyelids, recalling all the information about Alice's Hell so far in her mind. "The rose is the medium for creating ghosts, but the ghosts in the castle don't just correspond to the eight of us strategists; there's another one— Alice herself."

"If that's the case... does it mean that Alice, as a ghost, is also subject to the control of roses?"

In the Alice in Alice's Park version, Alice is not surrounded by roses, nor does she transform into her true form as a vengeful ghost to slaughter tourists. Instead, she is the rule-maker and a fair guide.

Just as she said at the time, Alice was the tourists' best friend.

She did indeed personally escort the tourists back after they finished their visit.

Her appearance reflects a real-life murder case, and her purpose was to guide the participants to find the real culprit.

No matter how you look at it, Alice back then could be considered "just" compared to Alice now.

What caused her to fall into depravity? Clearly, it was something extra that led to it.

"Ha... the roses stained with our blood, are they in that secluded space? I'm going down there, and then I'll dig them up."

Yu Xing extended his hand to the attentive old butler. "Butler, let's cooperate. I'll destroy this place to free you, and you'll have to take responsibility and provide me with some conveniences."

What we call convenience is actually just information.

Yu Xing had long been curious about the fifth floor of the castle, which was so different from the other floors. Why was the rest of the castle so magnificent and luxurious, matching Alice's aesthetic, while the fifth floor was so old and had many locks, as if it had been abandoned?

Moreover, the torn pages of his books were found in the bedrooms on both sides of the fifth-floor corridor, which clearly indicates that the fifth floor was the accommodation provided to tourists at some point in the past.

What happened this time that caused the bedroom to be moved to the third floor?

Even the black hole leading to the Rose Tunnel is on the fifth floor.

Clearly, there's a story behind the fifth floor.

His doubts were all resolved after the old butler agreed to cooperate.

"The fifth floor was abandoned... back then, the cook and the nuns hadn't arrived yet, and Alice had only recently finished building this castle." The old butler told Yu Xing the story in a voice as emotionless as an artificial intelligence. "Alice herself was a vengeful ghost, but her abilities were weak; she could only perform some entertainment that tormented tourists, as punishment for evil."

To put it bluntly, it's corporal punishment.

Drop towers that could pierce tourists' arms, dolls that could tear apart tourists' heads, spinning teacups that nearly burned tourists... all these memories are still vivid for Yu Xing.

"Actually, I was with Alice before the castle was built. Back then, Alice's usual body was a mechanical doll over two meters tall. She only had me as her servant, and after leaving me behind after my death, she became very dependent on me." The old butler spoke of those days without any nostalgia, indicating that his desire to leave did not begin after the castle was built.

His lake-blue suit was a little wrinkled. The old butler first subconsciously reached out to straighten it, then realized that his habit as a "butler and servant" was ingrained in his bones, and he lowered his hand somewhat dejectedly. "Then one day, a man who called himself Great Wizard came to Paradise and gave Alice a rose seed. The man was shrouded in a black robe, so his face could not be seen, but his voice sounded male. It was unclear whether he was even human."

He told Alice that to escape her false mechanical body, she should sell the soul of the vengeful spirit to this seed, plant it in the soil, and let it sprout and grow under the nourishment of blood and sin. When this flower blooms, that will be the time when Alice possesses a beautiful human body.

Yu Xing raised an eyebrow as she listened, recalling Alice before dinner; at that time, Alice was practically indistinguishable from any other person.

Does this mean the flowers are in full bloom? That perfectly matches the rose the nun guide was carefully holding at the beginning.

However... this suddenly appearing name of Great Wizard...

His senses were incredibly sharp. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but whenever he heard keywords like wizard, flower, or instigation, he would think of the wizard who escaped at the end of the Nightmare in a Cage.

The methods seem somewhat similar, but the difference is that the wizard who instigated the Brown family was definitely not as powerful as the one who lured Alice.

Is there any connection?

"And then?" While listening to the story, Yu Xing would not only think for herself, but also sit on the cabinet and occasionally act as the straight man.

"With that flower, Alice's abilities began to grow stronger. Every night after ten o'clock, she would lose her mind and attack everything she saw... except me. She built a castle. At first, to instill fear in the tourists, she forced them to kill each other and lived on the fifth floor with them. It was very effective. In a very short time, her roses were in full bloom, and she mastered the power to materialize evil. She changed, falling into the path of evil, completely forgetting that what she did was originally meant to teach people to atone for their sins. It was during that stage..." The butler paused, glancing at Yu Xing, "I don't remember exactly which time, but a tourist who was as clever, bold, and unpredictable as you came."

Mentioning the tourist, the butler seemed somewhat wistful. "He was a young man with round, gold-rimmed glasses who called himself Chen in front of the other tourists. To be honest, he was quite strikingly handsome; I remember him very clearly. Anyway, on the first night, he sent me away and then ran to Alice's bedroom and set it on fire."

Ignition?

Yu Xing became interested. Since entering the castle, he could see small details of burn marks everywhere. He had initially thought these marks were a problem Alice herself had, but he hadn't expected... that some tourists would be so reckless?

"Alice is a charred ghost who utterly loathes fire. Once the fire started, I don't know what method that tourist used, but it spread incredibly fast, burning down the entire floor. The passage under Alice's bed was also discovered. The tourist jumped down, and if Alice hadn't still been able to sense Rose's condition even after losing her mind, Shen would have almost destroyed Rose. Hmm, I hadn't thought about it before, but after hearing you say it today, I realize that Shen almost destroyed the entire castle."

The butler sighed almost imperceptibly as he spoke, "That time, the tourists suffered very few casualties, but Alice was severely weakened. Afterwards, she abandoned the fifth floor and its passageway, converted the third floor into bedrooms for the tourists, and built an annex next to the main castle as her and my residence. However, she has realized that I deliberately helped that tourist get away, giving him the opportunity to set the fire, and her dependence on me has decreased significantly."

"After that, she recruited new tour guides and employees, and with the ability to materialize evil, she changed the tour itinerary—the rules you're hearing about today."

"Ah, my companion and I have already been to that passage on the fifth floor, but unfortunately, due to the limited number of people, I couldn't go down." Yu Xing thought about how Zeng Lai had fallen down and for a moment almost laughed.

Although it was a fall amidst extreme Bad Luck, it now seems that after the 6 o'clock sign was drawn, the meaning of falling down actually became better.

Zeng Lai is now the person closest to Rose.

There was also the tourist named Chen, whom the butler mentioned; Yu Xing guessed that he might also be a predictor.

The reason it's only a possibility is because, judging from the butler's tone, Alice Castle has welcomed many, many groups of tourists. However, if there really were such a special deduction Yugi that could be entered repeatedly, it's impossible that there wouldn't be any word about it circulating among the deducers, let alone a single related video.

Therefore, the tourists mentioned earlier may only be fictional "people" and may not actually exist.

However, Chen's actions don't seem like something an ordinary person would do. Perhaps, among so many groups of ordinary tourists, there were one or two participants who were involved in the deduction.

That's interesting.

No... wait...

Before the corners of her mouth could even curve into a smile, Yu Xing suddenly paused in thought.

A small detail came to his mind, and he immediately turned to the butler to confirm, "You just said that even when Alice loses her mind, she can still sense the changes in the rose?"

The butler paused for a moment, then said, "Yes."

Yu Xing: "..." Zeng Lai is down there!

What if Alice accidentally senses Zeng Lai's Alice and enters the Rose Tunnel to catch Zeng Lai? He had already figured out that Zeng Lai wasn't the kind of strategist who was particularly good at combat.

The annoying thing is that he currently has no way to warn Zeng Lai to be careful.

"Butler." His voice was very calm, so calm that the butler thought that the slight nervousness Yu Xing shown when asking the question just now was just an illusion.

"Go ahead and say it." Now that things have been out in the open, the butler decided to go all the way and try to get himself out of trouble.

"When Alice lived on the fifth floor, she created a passageway under her bed, which was later abandoned." Yu Xing's dark eyes fixed on the sprightly white-haired old man. "Then, can I reasonably guess that in Alice's current residence in the annex, there is another passageway entrance under her bed?"

The butler nodded in agreement. "Very clever, yes."

Yu Xing picked up the rope and casually tied it around her hand, then stretched out her hand. "Take me there. My companion has already used the passageway on the fifth floor, so I have to find a new one."

"Go straight there?" The butler hesitated. "Actually, if you obtain a specific item corresponding to a certain evil, you can temporarily weaken Alice's strength and speed when facing you. The more items you collect, the higher your chances of survival..."

"Ah, actually..." Yu Xing directly shoved one end of the rope into the butler's hand, making a show of it.

"Actually, I'm quite strong."

The butler took the rope, not quite understanding what Yu Xing meant by "strong."

Yu Xing then added, "Even if I don't have a single prop, Alice can't kill me."

Housekeeper. "..."

"So, I won't go looking for any props. Could you please lead the way to Alice's bedroom? My companions might run into some trouble if I'm late."