Chapter 492 – Deep in the Garden
Chapter 492 – Deep in the Garden
It was a large oil painting with black and red as its main colors, being hung on the wall closest to the spiral staircase.
Like most of the paintings in this “public house”, it appeared blurry and chaotic, with rough and weird lines and color blocks all over the surface, making the viewer feel dizzy and unable to distinguish any meaningful content, just like the graffiti made by a madman who lost control in his hallucination.
Yet as Duncan’s gaze lingered on the picture, watching it longingly, he suddenly noticed that something seemed to be slowly changing in those chaotic and obscure blocks of color – there were lines emerging from the shadows, and things were gradually becoming discernible amongst the mishmash of colors.
Like a burning flame, the flame wrapped in what looked like a hull of a ship, was sweeping through the sky from the heavy clouds, crashing into the sea, the sky was split in two by the flame, the sea boiling and rolling under the impact of the flame, and in the back of the flame, there was another piece of dark red chaos, as if constantly chasing the approaching doomsday, gloomy and heavy pressure.
The whole picture was still blurred, everything appeared extremely abstract and mixed up, but it was such a blurry scene that made Duncan’s gaze change slightly in an instant.
He subconsciously recalled the scene he had seen in the vision earlier – the burning triple shuttle falling from the sky and crashing into the sea in an explosive disintegration.
Duncan paused and turned to scrutinize the scene on the painting.
He soon realized that the scene in the painting was not exactly the same as the one he had seen in his vision – the airship he had seen in his vision was clearly stylized, with its superior technology and vastness immediately apparent, but the “thing wrapped in flames” in the painting was only a haze of flames. However, the “thing with flames” in the painting was only a hazy hull, which even looked like some kind of wooden structure, and the flames around it looked more like they were simply burning than the propulsive flames at the back of the starship.
This gave a feeling as if a madman painter living in the Middle Ages happened to see a space ship of the future era in a dream, but was unable to comprehend what kind of existence it was, so he could only exhaust his limited knowledge and imagination when he woke up the next day, and relying on the rough impressions left over from his dream, he restored that plausible picture on the canvas.
The headless butler’s voice came from behind him, “Guest, you are interested in this painting?”
“…… Where do all the oil paintings here come from?”
“They’ve been here since the beginning, guest.” The headless butler said.
“In the beginning?” Duncan spoke in a puzzled voice, “When was the beginning? From the birth of this ‘Alice’s Mansion’? From the time ‘Alice’ became mistress of this place?”
“From the beginning of time,” the headless butler said patiently, “before everything.”
What kind of answer was that?
Duncan frowned subconsciously, feeling that the headless butler’s answer said as much as it didn’t, and yet as he stared at the courteous figure, he couldn’t discern any emotion from the other man’s gesture-this headless man had neither expression nor eyes, only polite and proper words with empty solicitude.
After a moment’s thought, Duncan asked two more questions, “Does …… this painting have a name? Do you know what things it depicts?”
“There is no name, every painting here has no name, they exist naturally and do not need a name or interpretation, and as for the things depicted in the picture …… I am sorry to say that it is beyond my knowledge.”
“Aren’t you the steward here? You don’t know anything about this mansion?”
“I am only a servant, this mansion has its own countless secrets which it guards carefully, and that is not an area for a servant to know.”
The corners of Duncan’s mouth twitched.
He had an urge to set a small fire under this steward, yet in the next moment he hardened his control over the dangerous thought.
Because this was Alice’s mansion, and the butler was part of it – one had to be very careful about what one did here, and avoid doing any harm to Alice.
Duncan took a soft breath to calm himself, and his eyes scanned the other paintings hanging in the corridor – there were countless paintings here, painted in a myriad of incomprehensible colors.
But none of the other canvases changed in any way under his gaze.
“…… Let’s go,” Duncan finally withdrew his gaze and said to the headless butler with a hint of regret, “Take me to that ‘garden’ you spoke of .”
The headless butler bowed slightly and turned to continue leading the way as he led Duncan across the second-floor terrace, down the rotating staircase, and then turned back toward the depths of the first-floor hall – where a short passage led to the back garden of the public house.
Duncan stopped before the passage, however, and glanced back curiously in the other direction across the hall – at the end of the long red carpet stood an extremely tall and grand dark wooden door, which in turn was flanked by slender windows that seemed to be overgrown with thorns.
It looked like the “entrance door” to the whole building.
“What’s beyond that door?” Duncan asked suddenly.
At these words, the headless butler’s body shook visibly, and in the next second, for the first time, his gentle and calm tone of voice became flustered: “You must not take an interest in what lies beyond that door, my guest! Beyond that door is the land of doom, and there is no return for anyone!”
“The land of all perdition?” Duncan’s expression got serious, “Why do you say that? Is that subspace out there?”
“Subspace? I don’t understand what that means …… but you must not try to open that door!” The headless butler waved his hand in panic, “This is the biggest taboo in the public house, no member may open that door under any circumstances ……”
“But I’m not a member here,” seeing the other man’s reaction, Duncan simply made a deliberate leap of faith – it was the first time he’d ever seen the headless butler so out of his depth, and it made him feel like he’d found a breakthrough in his intelligence, and “And as you said at the outset, I hold the key and can therefore open any door here.”
“Of course you hold the key in your hand …… but you mustn’t do that!” The headless butler panicked, as if he wanted to show a more forceful attitude to stop it, yet perhaps due to some kind of restriction, he could only anxiously wave his arms a meter away from Duncan, and do his best to obstruct it with his words, “Don’t open that door, for the sake of all the occupants …… ” “What the hell is beyond that door?” Duncan stared at the headless butler, his tone extraordinarily serious.
“Beyond that door …… Beyond that door ……” The headless butler hesitated, as if desperately trying to organize his vocabulary, “Guest, the world beyond that door has been annihilated, the end of all things is coming – the door blocks the approaching doom, don’t open it, don’t let the doom in ……”
Duncan frowned as he listened to these nervous and panicked words of the headless butler, trying hard to piece them together with what he knew, what he knew of the world.
The world beyond the door has been annihilated …… The end of all things is coming ……
He frowned in contemplation, and after a long time, finally exhaled slightly.
“Just relax, I have no intention of opening that door.”
After temporarily suppressing all sorts of tumultuous thoughts in his mind, he said to that headless butler with a slight nod.
The other party was instantly relieved – despite not having a head, let alone a so-called “expression”, his whole body was visibly relaxed.
“You really frightened me, my guest,” said the butler, and turned to continue leading the way, “please never make such jokes again, we must avoid the end of days crossing the gates – it has destroyed everything in the world, and this place has been the last barrier ……”
Duncan listened silently to the butler’s afterthought-laden ramblings, following the other man without a word as they made their way through the short corridor, eventually arriving at a slightly narrow door – a door made of large chunks of semi-transparent glass, reinforced with steel, with a black steel frame dividing the door into a number of geometrical shapes, both large and small Inside each geometric figure, there are many graffiti depicting flowers and plants, and it looks …… like a bizarre atmosphere that is a mix of fairy tale and horror.
“The mistress is in the garden, please make yourself at home.”
The headless butler stepped forward and turned the handle of the garden gate, turning to Duncan.
“You’re not joining me?” Duncan was a little surprised.
“The gardens are for the mistress and visitors with keys only, and the gardener enters the gardens only when necessary,” said the headless butler, “You may go in at your ease, and if you need to, pull the thin rope near the gate, and I will be waiting for you at the gate.”
“…… Understood, thanks for leading the way.”
With a nod to the creepy butler, Duncan stopped paying attention to the other man’s reaction and stepped forward to gently push on the garden gate.
A slight creak broke the peace in the mansion and garden.
Duncan stepped through the gate – incredible sunlight then filled his vision.
Sunlight!
In the depths of this eerie, spooky mansion, strewn with eerie shadows, there really was a garden illuminated by sunlight!
With a hint of dismay, Duncan took a step forward, and the lush vegetation was then reflected in his eyes, the mismatched nurseries, properly constructed bushes, and paths surrounded by green grass looked pleasing to the eye, and above this vibrant garden, the warmth of the light ……
Duncan looked up, his expression of surprise gradually changing to a frown.
He saw the most bizarre “sky” – in the pale background color, many children’s doodle-like strokes floating in the sky, depicting the blue sky, white clouds, and a simple round of the sun, which is also depicted around the many golden lines to symbolize the escape of the sun. The sun is surrounded by many golden lines to symbolize the sunlight that is escaping.
The warm “sunlight” that illuminates the entire garden is released from that sketchy and ridiculous “sun”.
Duncan could not help but feel a hint of vigilance in his heart, the sky above the “garden” no longer made him feel warm, instead, there was only endless strangeness.
He withdrew his eyes from the sky, and with great caution, began to scrutinize the garden again.
A flash of color at the end of the path caught his attention.
He walked briskly in that direction, skirting a bush and a low wall of flowers, and finally saw the source of the flash of unusual color.
At the intersection of several paths, in the center of a clearing deep in the garden, a figure was sitting quietly, leaning against a marble pillar wrapped in flowering vines behind him, as if falling into a deep sleep.
And there were many more black thorns spreading out from the flowering vines, wrapping around her entire body.
“…… Alice?”
(End of chapter)