Deep Sea Embers

A new attendant has arrived.

It was as if these words had activated some kind of mechanism, and as a low and muffled voice reached his ears, countless shadowy silhouettes suddenly appeared in the darkness in front of the Annihilation Cultists—a glimmer of light from an unknown source swayed in the air. An unusually open, simple and elegant hall lit up in the air!

His eyes widened, and he saw that the hall was as gorgeous as a palace, but also as old as if it had been abandoned for decades. He saw a curved staircase spiraling up at the end, connecting the high corridors and platforms. It was huge. The pillars stood vaguely in the darkness, and exquisite curtains hung from the tops of the pillars, gently swaying in the breeze that came from nowhere. On the walls around the hall were dark and empty windows-those holes seemed like evil spirits. There is no light outside the huge mouth of the beast, and the window itself is blocked by crisscrossing steel. A huge oil painting that cannot be seen clearly hangs between the windows. There are no specific characters or scenery on the painting, only filled with Creepy colorful patches.

The Annihilation cultist looked at the scene in front of him in astonishment, and then suddenly realized that the restraint on his hands and feet had disappeared. He took two steps forward, feeling that his body was back under his control, and then subconsciously called out Looking at the demon that coexists with his soul.

However, there was only an empty roar in his soul, and the deep demon that had been with him for many years seemed to have never existed, and nothing responded to his call.

"Squire, move forward to the end of the carpet."

That low, muffled voice sounded again, this time even coming directly from my mind.

"Who is it?!" The Annihilation Cult's eyes widened in horror, looking around the gorgeous but empty and strange hall of the bungalow, but no one was seen in the field of vision.

He raised his head again and looked towards the end of the hall - the dark red carpet stretched far away from his feet, and at the end of the carpet was the staircase that connected to the second floor along an arc like flying wings.

For some reason, when he looked there, his legs moved uncontrollably - as if to obey the sound he just heard, he walked towards the end of the carpet and stood a few meters away from the stairs. The place stopped.

The sound of heavy objects falling to the ground resounded outside the alley. The Annihilation cultist who had just tried to escape suddenly fell from the air. He made a loud noise when he landed. His body fell into pieces like porcelain, including his clothes. .

The butler slowly raised his arm and pointed to a black door at the end of the corridor.

Several servants were passing by in the corridor, and even though they had no sight, the "new servant" still felt that sense of prying eyes.

A gust of wind-like whistling sounded behind her, and Fanna rushed to the entrance of the alley. She stared at the scene in front of her in stunned silence. She was stunned for a long time before turning to look at the doll next to her: "This is what you did..." ?”

"This is the Alice Mansion, and you are the new attendant here," the dull voice of "Butler" suddenly sounded, interrupting the new attendant's distraction, "Follow me, your next post is upstairs."

As he spoke, he raised his head and looked at the mansion not far away.

"Why is everyone looking at me?"

The new attendant nodded subconsciously and followed the headless butler. He glanced down unconsciously and found that he had also been wearing attendant clothes at some point - the same as the maids in the hall.

"It's too late to think about this, we have to get out of here," Vanna spoke slowly, "The noise is too big, even if it's not in the central city, the night watch team should react."

"It was he who grabbed my thread and then used force - he made the move first, and I was a little scared..." Alice said incoherently, gesticulating as she spoke, and her explanation was very effective. Two sentences made Fanna even more confused, "Do you understand?"

The puppet bent down, took out a handkerchief from his pocket, and gently wiped the ornaments near the door.

Alice was instantly startled: "Wow!"

On their necks, there are only rough spherical protrusions, which seem to be the connecting parts of the dolls, showing a texture between wood and ceramics.

The low voices of discussion started from

came from their chests - because these servants have no heads.

The "new attendant" looked at these busy servants in the hall in astonishment, feeling a little dazed for a moment.

"Because he is the first servant with a head," the butler stopped and turned around, with a smile in his voice, "and there haven't been any new people here for many years."

The puppet took a step forward.

"The new attendant" said with a trembling voice. He could no longer remember why he came to this closed bungalow, nor his name and origin. He only felt an instinctive fear, a kind of A strange sense of strangeness was eroding his heart bit by bit. He looked at the headless butler in front of him and mustered up the courage to ask. At the same time as he made a sound, whispering sounds and the feeling of being spied on came from all directions. .

"What...what is this place!?"

"...I don't understand," Fanna shook her head, then looked back at the depths of the alley, where there was a mass of charred remains, emitting light black smoke, "Damn it, the priest I dealt with didn't even know it in the end. When he opened his mouth, it simply shattered, leaving no information at all."

After taking the last step, he raised his head and looked at the platform in front of him and the corridor inside the platform.

The new attendant just bent over and backed away slowly until he exited the room. The door to Sleeping Alice slammed shut in front of his eyes, making a low and majestic roar.

No trace of blood could be seen in these broken porcelain fragments, as if he was just a fired doll from the beginning - his flesh and blood body was just his illusion.

"What does it probably mean?!"

And beyond this bed, at the end of the bedroom, where the wall should have been, there is only a vast expanse of darkness - this seems to lead to some distant and deep space, where the floor, walls and roof appear fragmented. , the chaotic dark shadows and countless flickering light spots in the distance slowly rise and fall, turning into strange light and shadow illusions, stirring silently at the end of the bedroom, lingering in whispers in the darkness.

"What are you going to do?" the new attendant asked cautiously.

"Go ahead, open this door and say hello to the hostess."

Every time he stepped onto a step, he became more determined and hesitant. At first, he vaguely remembered that he did not belong here, and then, he only remembered that he seemed to be trapped in a weird bungalow. When he was only a few steps away from the second floor, he only remembered the butler's explanation to him——

This body stood upright in front of the stairs, his dress was meticulous, and a corner of a folded handkerchief could be seen in the breast pocket, and a thin golden chain of a pocket watch poked out from the pocket on the other side. Holding a copper bell in one hand, the other hand reaches back - this posture is like a housekeeper welcoming a new person, a trusted steward who manages the bungalow.

The new attendant nodded, turned and walked towards the door.

Figures dressed in the uniforms of servants and maids were busy in the hall. These were obviously the servants who took care of this huge bungalow. These servants would stop when passing by the stairs and seemed to be looking at the newcomers curiously.

His steps were steady, his expression gradually became calmer, his limbs swayed, and finally became as stiff as the servants in the hall. He came to the door, stretched out his hands, and glanced calmly at the The ball-jointed wrist - it pushed the door open with a slight force.

In the elegant bedroom that can almost be described as huge, a gorgeous big bed is placed in the center of the room. There are intricately patterned draperies and tassel curtains hanging around the big bed. A silver-haired doll lies quietly on the bed, sleeping soundly. .

The new servant who had turned into a puppet stood at the door of the bedroom, staring blankly at the beautiful puppet sleeping soundly on the bed, and the darkness rising and falling behind the puppet - then it bent down and paid respectful tribute to the mistress.

"...I don't know," Alice blinked and looked back a little sluggishly, "Hmm...probably?"

"Does this mean the captain will be dissatisfied?"

Were there so many people here before? When I first came to this hall, was it so quiet?

But I don’t have a head. On this body wearing a black dress, there is only a bare neck, as if...the connection port of the doll is very special.

This surging darkness and light spots are like the doll's bizarre dream, and also like an invisible thing trying to invade this bungalow, blocked from reality by the doll's sleep.

"Serve our mistress and become a member here. You will naturally know what to do, but before that, you should go and say hello to the mistress..."

It was a body wearing a black dress - a body without a head.

A figure suddenly appeared here.

His mind was getting more and more hazy, and more and more memories were being pulled out of this body, as if things that were not "no longer needed" were impurities that hindered him from performing his duties as a servant in this bungalow.

"Plop——"

"Wow--"

He turned around in shock and looked at the scene in the hall——

But the squire's face would never change its expression again.

Some dark threads extended from his limbs, floating in the air, and then disappeared in an instant.