Mr. Death in the Steam World

The White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat, rarely encountering outsiders, began to pour out their troubles.

Moen ignored it completely and quickly reviewed the information in his mind:

Three foreign magicians, neither alive nor dead for fifty years, the Queen of Hearts is now weak and needs outside help to seek revenge.

And he and Phils were the "foreign aid" they were waiting for.

When he came to his senses, the white rabbit had already stretched out its paw at him.

"So, Mr. Marcus, you want to save the girl, while we want revenge. Our goal is actually the same—to kill the Queen of Hearts."

"Are you going to do this deal or not?"

He glanced at the White Rabbit, then at the Cheshire Cat, and finally his gaze settled on the Mad Hatter, who had remained silent all along.

The man in the tall hat kept his head down, a faint, eerie smile playing on his lips.

"OK."

He grasped the white rabbit's paw, and Phils, seeing that the matter was settled, also placed her hand on it.

In this way, their cooperation officially began.

"We're short on time, Mr. Cheshire Cat. Could you teleport us directly into the castle?"

Moen pointed to the enormous pocket watch in the sky; he had never forgotten the time constraints of being an outsider.

Judging from the position of the pointer, they only have 30 hours left.

The Cheshire Cat shook its head.

"Spatial teleportation is not my ability; I merely invoked the powers of Wonderland, which are essentially the abilities of the Queen of Hearts."

"She might not notice a short-distance relocation, but sending her directly into the castle would be too much of a commotion, no different from simply telling her we're coming to our door."

Since that was the case, Moen and the others had no choice but to walk. They decided to set off immediately, heading towards the Heart Castle.

......

The area of ​​Wonderland was larger than Moen had imagined; the group had been walking for more than three hours and still hadn't left the open space.

He might have been considered a dead man with exceptional physical strength, but Phils was unlucky; among the group, she had the worst physical condition.

Throughout the journey, she fiddled with her hairband almost nonstop, trying to cast a speed spell on herself, but even with the speed boost, she couldn't catch up with them.

Moen had expected this "top student" to complain endlessly, and was even prepared to carry her the whole way.

But Fils didn't utter a sound. Even though she was drenched in sweat, disheveled, and completely lost her ladylike image, she gritted her teeth and followed behind the group, not falling behind at all.

This made Moen look at him with surprise.

In addition, he also found a lot of gray-black soil and withered flowers and plants along the way, which showed that what the White Rabbit and the others said was true, and the Queen of Hearts was indeed very weak.

Suddenly, Moen twitched his nose, and a fragrance of roses wafted over, making him feel refreshed and relaxed.

Suddenly, Phils, who was panting heavily behind, had a bright idea in her eyes and rushed to the front in three steps.

"These roses are so beautiful..."

Moen strode forward and saw a huge rose garden spread out in front of him, with red and white flowers intertwined like a sea.

Phils bent down and picked a flower, revealing a look of delight.

The White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat looked at the fragrant flower bushes with complicated expressions, and even the Mad Hatter pulled down his hat.

"Everyone, what happened to these roses?"

"No, it's just... this is where we fought the Queen of Hearts back then."

"Fifty years have passed in the blink of an eye, and these flowers are still exactly the same as they were back then, but we..."

The three of them sighed.

Just as the atmosphere was becoming somewhat somber, Phils suddenly twitched her ears and quickly stepped back.

"I heard strong footsteps over there!"

Before he could finish speaking, the deafening shouts of battle from afar reached Moen's ears.

"Cut off their heads! Cut off their heads!"

The White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat's faces immediately turned very ugly upon hearing this sound.

"This is impossible! The patrol routes in Fairyland haven't changed in fifty years. How could the Legion be here at this time!"

"Stop talking nonsense, escaping is the priority!"

As the group was talking, the shouts of battle became deafening.

Hundreds upon hundreds of playing card soldiers, clad in armor, appeared on the horizon, their presence menacing.

The White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat exchanged a glance, both knowing what was going on.

These soldiers couldn't have changed their patrol route without permission; the only explanation is that they received orders from the Queen of Hearts and laid an ambush here in advance.

Either their movements were too conspicuous and were discovered by the Queen of Hearts, or—

Someone betrayed them!

"Hat, you—"

The White Rabbit turned to question the Mad Hatter, but what came into view was a magician's hat spinning wildly like a chainsaw.

"Be careful!"

The Cheshire Cat, quick-witted and agile, used teleportation to move the White Rabbit to another location.

Behind him, swathes of mushrooms crashed to the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.

"Sigh, I told Her Majesty the Empress long ago that it would be better to have her powers revoked first."

The Mad Hatter smacked his lips and gave a maniacal grin.

Moen had long sensed that something was wrong with the Mad Hatter, and now that the other party was an enemy rather than a friend, he aimed at his head and fired two shots.

The bullet flew past in an instant, but landed in empty space.

Not far away, another magician's hat appeared out of thin air.

The Mad Hatter popped out of his magic hat and yawned, clearly provoking Moen.

"What? That's it?"

Seeing the Mad Hatter's mocking smile, Moen remained unmoved, but Phils beside him became anxious.

Her palms surged with magic, and she unleashed several fireballs, which the Mad Hatter easily dodged.

The Mad Hatter, his clothes slightly dirty, gave a cold laugh and threw another hat at Fils.

Seeing that Phils couldn't dodge in time, the White Rabbit gave a low shout, and the hat immediately slowed down, allowing Phils to narrowly avoid it.

The situation is urgent; they are unprepared, and the enemy even has a large number of playing card soldiers, making them clearly outmatched.

Since the Queen of Hearts already knew their whereabouts, the Cheshire Cat gritted his teeth and decided to stop hiding and unleash his full power.

In an instant, the thick fog exploded from its body, engulfing everything like a curtain.

The Mad Hatter squinted and did not continue. By the time the fog dissipated, Moen and his party had vanished without a trace.

He spat angrily on the ground.

"That stupid empress! If she had spared even a fraction of her energy from that little girl to shut down these guys' powers, I would have slaughtered them all today!"

Meanwhile, in the Red Heart Castle, in the throne room.

"Good Lily, good Lily, listen to your Queen sister and stay here, okay? I have everything you need~"

"Beautiful clothes, obedient friends, endless delicious food, and countless toys—as long as you stay here, I'll give you anything!"

The Queen of Hearts knelt on the ground, looking at the little girl in front of her with a very kind smile.

"I don't want to! I want to go home! I want my mom! I don't want you, you old woman!"

The Queen of Hearts gasped for breath, but did not get angry; the smile on her face remained unchanged.

"Your older sister can be your mom too~ Look, as long as you stay here, you'll be carefree, you won't even have to go to school or do homework!"

"No need to go to school..."

This was the first time Lily had shown hesitation since entering the fairy realm, and the Queen of Hearts' eyes lit up immediately.

She was just about to strike while the iron was hot when her face suddenly darkened, startling Lily.

"What are you doing? I'm chatting with my daughter! Don't... Oh, I forgot about that."

She rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively.

"Alright, I've shut down those two guys' powers. You hurry up and deal with them, and don't bother me unless it's absolutely necessary."

After casually dealing with the Mad Hatter's call, the Queen of Hearts, with a smile on her face once again, began to tempt Lily.