Mr. Death in the Steam World

Moen followed her gaze and saw a pink sky.

It was a pure, cotton candy-like pink.

The sun high in the sky made him realize that the day and night in the fairyland were different from those in the outside world.

The grass was covered with huge mushrooms, some taller than a person, with colorful spots on their caps.

In the distance, there was a path lined with red roses, the flowers of which were ridiculously large, even bigger than his head.

The strangest thing was that a huge pocket watch was hanging in the sky.

The gold case is inlaid with intricate patterns, and the two hands, one long and one short, are rotating counterclockwise.

Moen stared at the pocket watch for a few seconds, a strange sense of unease rising from the bottom of his heart.

"That is..."

Phils followed his gaze, her expression changing slightly.

"Mr. Marcus, we can only stay here for a maximum of forty-eight hours."

Moen frowned. "How did you know?"

"I've seen similar cases in the academy's literature before. Extradimensional spaces created by containment objects usually have time limits for intruders."

Phils pointed to the enormous pocket watch in the sky:

"Look, that's a countdown. Do you see that symbol over there? In magic, that represents the number four."

"The hands rotate counterclockwise, and after four rotations, it takes forty-eight hours."

"When the time is up, the space will expel us, and we'll never be able to enter again. If we're unlucky and fall into the spatial turbulence, then we'll..."

As she spoke, she slowly lowered her head.

Out of habit, Moen almost reached out and touched Clara, but he realized in time and just patted Phils on the shoulder.

"It's alright, Miss Ignis. It's just a Level 5 containment object. So what if it's powerful?"

Although it sounded a bit arrogant, Phils seemed quite pleased with it.

As Moen encouraged Phils, he looked up into the distance.

At the edge of that pink sky, there is a castle that appears and disappears in the distance.

The castle's spire is striped in red and white, resembling a giant candy cane, with a red heart flag fluttering atop it.

That should be where the Queen of Hearts is located. According to Tommy during the day, Lily is most likely there.

"Miss Ignis, let's go find Lily first," Moen said in a deep voice.

Phils nodded obediently and followed behind him.

After taking a couple of steps, she suddenly whispered something:

"Thank you, Mr. Marcus."

"Um?"

"Thank you for stopping me earlier."

Fils' voice grew softer and softer.

"If it weren't for you, I... if I had come in alone, I might not have been able to get out..."

Moen chuckled softly:

"At least you still have some conscience. Even without that suction force, we would have tried to get in anyway; it was just a matter of whether we were prepared or not."

The two had only taken a few steps when a rustling sound suddenly came from the mushroom bushes beside them.

Turning around, I saw a white rabbit dressed in a suit peeking out from behind the mushroom.

It is about half a person's height, walks upright, and holds a pocket watch in its hand.

The rabbit looked at the two of them, tilted its head, and then looked at the pocket watch, seemingly quite surprised.

The two looked at each other, both somewhat puzzled.

Suddenly, the white rabbit turned and ran away.

Moen and Phils exchanged a glance and quickly followed after him.

What if this guy is going to deliver a message? That would be terrible!

"Anyway, it's just a Level 5 containment object, so there won't be any danger."

Phils muttered.

After running for a while, the two realized that the Mushroom Forest was much larger than it had appeared.

The enormous caps of the mushrooms obscured the pink sky and cast dappled shadows on the ground.

The white rabbit darted through the mushroom jungle, its four legs moving swiftly, its fluffy tail bobbing in the shadows.

Even with Moen exerting force with his feet and activating "Meow Swiftness" at full power, he could barely keep up with the White Rabbit.

He could hear the footsteps behind him getting farther and farther away—Fils clearly couldn't keep up with that speed.

"Wait, wait a minute!"

Sure enough, not long after, they heard Phils panting heavily behind them.

"Slow down—huff, huff—I, I'm not one of those monsters—"

Moen was about to slow down when the white rabbit in front of him suddenly stopped.

It turned around, stood on a fallen mushroom, and looked down at them.

"It's rare to run into a few outsiders who aren't children... You're here to see that little girl? It's obvious."

No sooner had she finished speaking than Phils caught up from behind.

She bent over, supporting herself on her knees, her chest heaving violently, and Moen's eyes were fixed on Phils.

He swore he only glanced at her with a gentlemanly look.

This Miss Ignis is actually...

The white rabbit ignored the two of them and continued speaking to itself:

"The girl is with the Queen of Hearts, but you can't save her."

Moen didn't like hearing that, and he stared intently into the white rabbit's eyes.

"Mr. White Rabbit, although this may be a bit impolite, I must say that the thing I hate most in my life is the riddler."

"Please explain clearly. What do you mean we can't save her? How do you know we can't?"

The white rabbit didn't answer; it simply turned around and squatted on the mushroom with its back to them.

The figure from behind didn't look like a rabbit; it looked more like a tired old man.

"Ha, young people are so impatient. Since you're so confident, then—"

He smiled slightly, and Moen and Phils suddenly felt a jolt, their movements becoming noticeably slower.

Phils tried to speak, but what came out was:

"Mr. Markus"

The white rabbit squinted its eyes.

"The Queen's invitation will only fall to those who know anything about 'Wonderland,' so you must know my abilities—the White Rabbit's."

He snapped his fingers, and Moen and Phils resumed their normal movements.

"I'm always late, but I can never be fast enough."

"Then it struck me: if I can't go fast myself, why not make others slow down?"

He shrugged with a smile, but neither Moen nor Phils could manage a smile.

Isn't this a Level 5 containment object?!

The White Rabbit barely cast any spell animation, and the speed change happened even with a zero-frame start. Isn't that a bit too exaggerated?

"Um, Mr. White Rabbit, what I said just now may have been a bit presumptuous. We are short on time, we..."

The white rabbit stretched out its finger and shook it unhappily.

"Hmph, that's how young people are, they won't learn their lesson until they see the coffin—listen up!"

He suddenly turned up the volume.

"Now, the great Mr. White Rabbit has a task for you. If you can do it, I will take you to find that girl!"

Moen and Phils exchanged a glance, both speechless.

Did it even listen to them? This guy was just talking to himself the whole time!