Chapter 49: The Dormouse’s Lair

Alice stepped into the dimly lit bungalow, which was nothing more than a typical slum dwelling.

Simple, worn furniture filled the space. Black mold speckled the walls.

Yet, it was mostly tidy, with few cobwebs to be seen. The dishes on the table and the old blankets neatly folded on the bed lent the room a palpable sense of being inhabited.

Once inside, March Hare locked the door behind Alice. She then gestured for Alice to stand in the corner before moving the bed, revealing a trapdoor to a cellar beneath.

March Hare opened the trapdoor, retrieved a lantern, and handed it to Alice, motioning for her to descend into the basement.

“Move a little faster,” March Hare urged, clearly impatient with Alice’s slow descent down the steps.

“I’m a bit sore after using the potion, so don’t rush me,” Alice replied.

Forcibly enhancing her strength with a beastification potion was not without its drawbacks. As soon as the effects wore off, Alice felt a series of throbbing pains in the parts of her body that had transformed.

Upon descending, Alice found the space below to be quite small. A few pickling jars and a bag of potatoes rested in a corner, making it appear to be just an ordinary cellar.

March Hare followed her down, ignoring Alice’s questioning gaze. Instead, she commanded coldly, “Turn that way and close your eyes.”

Alice complied, and then she heard a distinct click as some mechanism engaged. A wall then began to rumble.

“You can open them now.”

Hearing March Hare’s words, Alice turned back, astonished to find that one of the walls had vanished, revealing a passage. At the end of the passage stood a door.

“Your hiding place is quite elaborate,” Alice remarked. “Is it really alright for me to know about it so easily?”

“It doesn’t matter,” March Hare said indifferently. “There’s no way you’d leave here alive if you were under any suspicion.”

“Leaving aside whether I’m suspicious or not, you were planning to kill me from the start, weren’t you?” Alice asked, a hint of displeasure in her voice.

Her visit to the Mad Hatter had been far more perilous than she had imagined. Had she not recalled the secret code he had given her, she might have already been dealt with by March Hare as some kind of spy.

In some ways, this March Hare was truly a madwoman. She would attack without a word, not even bothering to ask questions.

“I didn’t intend to kill you outright at first. I merely considered abducting you for interrogation. After all, yesterday’s reports indicated that individuals of unknown origin were probing for information about the Mad Hatter, which is why I was waiting here,” March Hare answered, her expression unwavering. “However, you not only detected my tail but also evaded my sneak attack—a feat only a blessed one with abilities could accomplish. When you transformed into that state, I concluded you were a threat that needed to be eliminated.”

Only then did Alice realize that her life hadn’t been in immediate danger at the very beginning. It was only after she detected March Hare’s tracking that March Hare decided to act. Then, as Alice evaded March Hare’s surprise attack and drank the potion to transform herself, March Hare’s threat assessment of her gradually escalated, ultimately leading to the decision to kill her.

She never expected that her witch’s precognitive abilities and pre-prepared self-preservation methods would instead lead her deeper into danger. She now truly understood the Duchess’s teachings: relying too heavily on a witch’s foresight to court danger was simply suicidal.

However, it was fortunate that the divination saved her life… Wait a minute!

After escaping the immediate threat to her life, Alice suddenly realized a crucial fact.

She had just used the results of a divination to avoid death!

If that were the case, did it mean she already met the prerequisite conditions for advancing to the Seventh Rank?

Alice was quite surprised, never having expected such an unexpected gain from this accidental brush with danger.

“Once we go in, do not speak a single word until I say you can, understood?” March Hare abruptly reminded Alice as they reached the door at the end of the passage.

“Understood,” Alice replied.

“Remember that,” March Hare emphasized again before opening the door at the end of the passage and ushering her inside.

Alice stepped inside, finding herself in a simple office. A desk was piled high with documents, ancient texts, and parchment scrolls, while the adjacent bookshelf was haphazardly stacked with books and scrolls.

Lamps lit the sconces on the walls, but the light was extremely dim, feeling unsuitable for reading or writing.

The office’s owner, however, was not engaged in such activities. Instead, he was sprawled across the desk, snoring loudly.

Alice scrutinized him carefully, realizing the person was not the Mad Hatter at all. Although she couldn’t see his face, his hair color was entirely different from the Mad Hatter’s.

She looked questioningly at March Hare. Just then, the person sprawled on the desk suddenly began to sing in a dreamlike murmur: “Twinkle, twinkle, little bat…”

“How I wonder what you’re at!” March Hare seamlessly joined in.

Upon hearing this, the person on the desk immediately startled awake. Under Alice’s astonished gaze, he lifted his face.

It was a young man with rather handsome features and a somewhat baby face. Overall, he possessed the kind of looks that would generally appeal to girls.

However, his unkempt hair and stubble, along with the exhaustion etched on his face, ruined the effect. Alice was immediately startled by his exaggerated dark circles and bloodshot eyes.

“It’s you, March Hare,” the man mumbled, rubbing his face sleepily.

“Dormouse, how long have you been ‘asleep’?” March Hare asked casually.

“Thirteen hours,” the man, code-named “Dormouse,” replied, checking his pocket watch and letting out a yawn. “I need to eat something, or I’ll pass out from hunger again until tomorrow.”

As Dormouse spoke, he indeed pulled a piece of bread from a drawer and began to devour it. Then he glanced at Alice. “You’ve brought a new face.”

“She knew the code. She said Hatta told her. She came specifically to see Hatta,” March Hare explained.

“Oh, I see,” Dormouse replied, sounding rather uninterested.

Alice listened, utterly bewildered, and turned her head to look at March Hare.

“You can speak now,” March Hare said, noticing her gaze.

“Were you two just exchanging a secret code?” Alice asked.

“Yes,” March Hare and Dormouse answered in unison.

“Then, sir, were you truly asleep just now, or were you pretending?” Alice inquired.

She felt that a sleeping person shouldn’t be able to confirm a secret code with someone.

“Dormouse can’t actually sleep,” March Hare explained. “He can maintain four hours of consciousness a day; the rest of the time, he’s in a semi-conscious state.”

“A sequela of a failed advancement,” Dormouse added.

“In that state, he can still react to speech, but because he’s not fully conscious, if the code doesn’t match, he’ll directly attack intruders. This room is actually already covered by his domain,” March Hare continued. “That’s why I told you not to speak first.”

“What kind of pathway has such a side effect?” Alice asked curiously.

“No one casually tells a stranger their pathway and rank, little brother. Those are your trump cards,” Dormouse said, rubbing his eyes.

Alice’s eyes widened slightly. Dormouse had so casually revealed the fact that ‘she’ had once been male.

“So you’re a witch who used to be a man?” March Hare asked, looking at Alice in surprise.

“I never said I was originally female,” Alice replied. “At least when I met the Mad Hatter, I wasn’t.”

“Were you worried she might have been involved with Hatta?” Dormouse suddenly chuckled.

“Shut up!” March Hare’s expression grew cold. “Quickly, take us to the ‘tea party’!”

“Come on, give me your hand,” Dormouse said, stuffing the last piece of bread into his mouth, then extended his hands towards both of them.

March Hare moved two chairs, swept the items off the table, and motioned for Alice to sit down with her.

Despite having many questions, Alice complied.

Then, she and March Hare each extended a hand, shaking Dormouse’s hand politely.

In an instant, an intense drowsiness washed over Alice’s consciousness, almost causing her to collapse.

She struggled for a moment, then heard March Hare speak: “Don’t resist. Just sleep.”

Alice hesitated, but ultimately succumbed to the sleepiness, slumping onto the desk.

Subsequently, March Hare also collapsed, leaving only Dormouse, half-awake, entering a hazy state.

The three of them thus entered slumber together.