Beneath the rabbit hole was a well.
An insanely deep well.
Perhaps the well was too deep, or perhaps the descent was too slow, but the person thrown into it had plenty of time to look around.
Li Zihan glanced down. It was pitch black below; he couldn't see a thing.
So, Li Zihan looked at the walls of the well. They were lined with cupboards and bookshelves, as well as maps and pictures hanging on pegs.
He saw a jar labeled "ORANGE MARMALADE" on one of the shelves. He reached out, grabbed it, and opened it.
Just as described in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the jar was empty.
It was exactly like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
A long while later, Li Zihan finally landed gently on a pile of dry sticks and leaves.
The young man, who was Mr. Mad Hatter in Alice's eyes, looked ahead and saw a long corridor.
He then spotted the White Rabbit again, scurrying forward in a hurry.
"Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!"
Li Zihan followed and found himself in a long, low hall, lit by a row of lamps hanging from the ceiling.
There were doors all around the hall, and they were all locked.
Suddenly, he noticed a small, three-legged table made entirely of glass. On it was nothing but a tiny golden key.
Li Zihan picked up the key but didn't bother trying the doors. Instead, he crouched down and began to search.
The entire layout here was identical to what Alice encountered when she fell into the underground world.
According to the fairytale book, the door that the golden key could open was not one of the main ones in the hall.
Then, behind a low curtain, he found a small door about fifteen inches high.
The golden key fit into the lock, and the door opened easily. Through this door, which only a mouse could likely pass through, he could see a beautiful garden.
"It really is Alice in Wonderland."
The young man sighed, realizing that everything he had seen so far was an exact replica of the descriptions in the book written by Lewis Carroll.
He returned to the table and found a small bottle on it. Tied around its neck was a paper label with the words "DRINK ME" beautifully printed on it in large letters.
That was the magic potion mentioned in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the one that could make a person shrink, allowing them to pass through the small door.
Li Zihan picked up the potion, then rummaged around on the floor and found its counterpart, the small cake that could make a person grow larger. He casually tossed both items into his shadow.
And then—
He clenched his fist and unleashed a punch.
BOOM—!!
Like a battering ram smashing against a gate, his fist, reinforced by Stigmata and mana, shattered the wall.
Rubble flew and dust billowed.
He had no intention of going through the small door like Alice; he was resorting to brute force.
"Warning, warning!!"
An extremely shrill voice rang out.
As the sound echoed, a huge commotion arose.
A troop of guards arrived—a troop of soldiers dressed like playing cards.
To be precise, they were the pseudo-Servants summoned by Nursery Rhyme: the Trump Soldiers.
Behind them was a massive creature, entirely a grotesque purplish-red, looking like a dragon yet also like an alien monster.
It was as tall as a dinosaur, with a pair of reptilian wings and a body covered in scales. Its claws were long and sharp, and it had two tails, one pointing up and one pointing down.
This ferocious, constantly hissing beast was the Red Queen's favorite weapon in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Under Nursery Rhyme's command, these monsters possessed infinite life; even a first-rate Servant would find it difficult to break through their siege.
But—
These were not the only monsters Li Zihan could see.
There was the "Bridge Giant," composed of stone and wood, and the "Rose Hounds," formed from a dense fog, capable of tearing enemies to shreds.
These were two of the three great fairytale familiars Alice had inherited from her ancestors.
The Bridge Giant, from the nursery rhyme "London Bridge Is Falling Down," and the Rose Hounds, which came from some dark fairytale.
It was clear that in this underground world, he would not be receiving the "Alice" treatment.
"I thought you would be more patient."
The young man, holding a tachi, sighed as he looked at the immortal familiars and pseudo-Servants that had completely surrounded him.
This was completely off-script.
He had thought that Miss Alice, with her secretly romantic personality, would have taken him on a tour of the underground world, held a mad tea party, and only initiated battle at the very end.
But look what happened...
She just spammed her units and blocked the exit.
"Shouldn't we go have a mad tea party before we start fighting?" the young man, whose strength was far superior to that of a normal person but clearly not enough to solo an immortal army, sighed.
"I would also love to have a tea party with you, Mad Hatter."
"But Lancer is too strong."
A very ethereal voice echoed from all around.
It was Alice's voice.
In a combat situation, Alice would never appear within Li Zihan's perception range.
She understood that Li Zihan's teleportation ability was absurdly powerful, and his scores in the Clock Tower's combat classes had always been perfect.
If he discovered her coordinates, Alice, who relied entirely on familiars to fight and whose own physical stamina was frankly pathetic, wouldn't last thirty seconds unless Li Zihan was holding back.
"If you call for him, Nursery Rhyme's Reality Marble won't be able to withstand his continuous attacks at all."
The witch, hiding in an unknown location, analyzed the situation while holding her fairytale picture book.
This was a fact. Karna was a monster on the same level as Gilgamesh and Ramesses II, a veritable Servant-killer.
"So, you plan to take me out before Karna can break through the Reality Marble?"
Li Zihan rolled his eyes.
"Hey, hey, hey, didn't I say that Karna wouldn't interfere in this fight?"
"But you never guaranteed that Lancer wouldn't make a move after you declare the fight is over, did you?"
Extremely sharp words came from the mouth of the "sanwu" girl.
"When the 'fight' ends is entirely determined by your subjective opinion, isn't it?"
"Trust me, I won't rely on Karna's power."
The young man, who had been warned not to use Jizo Mitama's Overload up to the first rated power, looked with great interest at the immortal army that could probably beat a first-rate Heroic Spirit's own mother into not recognizing them.
Not allowed to use Overload up to the first rated power... that means I can use the second rated power and beyond, right?
A deep, ominous feeling welled up in Miss Alice's heart as she observed the situation through her familiars.
Li Zihan was acting far too calm.
It was as if the things blocking his path weren't powerful familiars with infinite life and pseudo-Servants, but a bunch of toys.
"Why would you ever get the idea that I'd need to rely on Karna's power to deal with you and Nursery Rhyme, who primarily fight using familiars?"
The wielder of Jizo Mitama spoke calmly.
With those words, one after another, a scarlet light ignited in the eyes of the fairytale familiars and the pseudo-Servants.