The deepest tunnels of the Frost Mine were depleted decades ago, and the city-state depended on it for its livelihood

The "blood" is most likely just the result of some kind of distortion, and deep at the bottom of the boiling gold mine lies a door left by the original town hall, and the current town hall and the consul may also be the participants and defenders of this secret-

Even the well-trained and disciplined Guardians, who often deal with all sorts of dangerous and strange creatures, cannot help but fall silent and stunned when they hear the news.

In addition to their consternation, they also understood why the operation was classified as classified, and the gatekeeper did not reveal the details until everyone had gone down the well.

Such news, even without considering the threat posed by the transcendent vision behind it, is merely

The truth of the "depletion of ore veins" itself is enough to set off a storm in the city-state!

"It's not certain whether all of the tunnels were depleted decades ago, and what exactly would have been brought out of this mine if the veins were depleted — the only thing that is certain is that if all of this is the product of some kind of 'pollution,' and if the anomalies in the city-state today are related to this pollution, then we are now at the origin and the deepest part of the pollution."

Agatha's gaze swept over her subordinates, and her tone was as calm and calm as ever.

"I'm sure everyone knows what's going on on the surface right now, and I know you've wondered why you've sent one of the best squadrons here to investigate the mine at such a critical juncture—I share your worries about your fellow citizens fighting monsters in the fog, and about the fighting in the surrounding seas.

"However, we are also on the battlefield at the moment to investigate the situation in this mine one by one, which is to help our comrades in other places to the greatest extent, to find the source of the crisis from the root, and to defeat the endless consumption of those monsters in the dense fog of the past.

"That's it, does anyone have a problem?"

She looked around and saw the calm and determined expressions of her subordinates as always, and nodded slightly.

"Okay, let's get moving, targeting the deepest layers of mining. Observe the dark environment along the way and check the condition of ventilation and lighting fixtures at all times. Everyone came down with a set of mine self-rescuers, and now they wear a mask and open the external circulation valve - remember how to use it, right? If this happens, turn the valve clockwise to the inner circulation and pull out the self-rescuer latch, while quickly retreating towards the main aisle, prioritizing self-preservation. ”

The Guardians, priests, and nuns immediately carried out the order, placing breathing masks on their mouths and noses, checking the condition of the connecting pipes and circulation valves, and fastening a special underground lantern to the buckle on their chests to avoid interfering with their movements.

Agatha didn't wear a mask - as the gatekeeper of the god of death, her physique was already different from that of ordinary humans, especially in the world

In terms of "breathing", the usual toxic gases and suffocating environment do not affect her movements.

And just as the subordinates were preparing for their departure, a slight hissing suddenly reached Agatha's ears.

At first, she thought it was the sound of her men breathing through the recirculation valve through the mask, but soon she realized that the hissing was coming from farther away—outside the crowd, in the shadows where the light couldn't shine.

"Attention!" Agatha reacted instantly and reminded loudly, and in the next second, several other guardian warriors also noticed the sound of the valve deflating from the darkness, and several rays of light shone in that direction at the same time.

In the haze of light and fog, Agatha saw a figure emerge in the dark corner—a figure wearing a thick black coat, a gas mask, and what appeared to be a firearm.

The figure was lying in the middle of a pile of debris, struggling to breathe, and a hissing sound came from his gas mask.

Why is there a person here all of a sudden? The guards had inspected the entire traffic point before, and it was impossible to miss such an obvious figure!

Agatha's mind was filled with doubts, but she didn't hesitate, and within a few steps she came to the dying-looking figure, with the guards following her.

“…… It's a soldier of the city-state," one of the defenders instantly recognized the equipment of the fallen man,

"The Archon's immediate guard."

Agatha glanced at the soldier quickly, and saw that the thick black coat was covered with a metal cuirass, the power pipe between the cuirass and the arm guards had been broken, and the military breathing mask obscured almost all of his face, and it was only a male soldier who could be judged by his body shape - and his fatal wound was near the chest, which seemed to have been severely damaged to the internal organs.

One of his arms had been broken, and his other hand was still clutching his rifle.

It seemed that the sudden appearance of light around him had caused some irritation, and as Agatha approached, the soldier with the breathing mask suddenly moved, as if trying to lift his head.

The surrounding guards were momentarily startled and subconsciously picked up their weapons, but Agatha waved her hand, stepped forward, and leaned down slightly.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"Archon Guard······ Martin ······ Brad...... Sergeant ......"

"Sergeant Brad, why are you here?"

"Archon······ Winston..." The Guards soldier, who called himself Sergeant Brad, spoke hoarsely, and the voice under the breathing mask became more and more difficult, he mentioned the name of the consul and struggled to raise his arm, as if trying to point somewhere,

"Mr. Winston...... Entered a secret room······ We need ····· Support···

Before he could finish, the arm suddenly lost strength, and from under the breathing mask came the last hissing sound that quickly waned.

He was dead, and the second he was gone, Agatha saw a foul black mud slowly oozing from under his wounds and visor - the body disintegrated as quickly as it melted, making a chilling, sticky wriggling sound.

"Fake!"

The surrounding guards reacted and quickly retreated, while the accompanying priest stepped forward and threw a handful of powder of the mixture that had been prepared at the disintegrating corpse, throwing a pale fireball at the corpse.

With a bang, the pale flames rose into the air, and the fake corpse was engulfed in flames in the blink of an eye, and after a swift and brief burn, all that was left was a pile of black mud that had dried up and stopped wriggling, and the heat that lingered in the air.

Agatha watched the scene with a calm expression, and when the figure first appeared, she realized that the other person might also be a clone emerging from the fog, and now, she turned her head thoughtfully to look at the person

The place where "Sergeant Bled" pointed on his deathbed.

"Is it in this direction·····" She muttered softly.

"Your Excellency Gatekeeper, that's just a forgery," the pastor on the side couldn't help but step forward to remind when he heard this grunt,

"It could be a trap for the enemy."

"But it doesn't seem to know it's a fake," Agatha shook her head slightly.

"Remember

Do you have any information you have before? These 'fakes' seem to have three things, one that is muddy and attacks all living people, one that seems to be controlled and will be destroyed in an organized manner, and one that seems to retain the memories and emotions of the body and does not even detect that it is a fake······"

The priest was stunned for a moment, and his tone was a little hesitant:

"What do you mean ......"

Agatha's eyes seemed to be a little complicated for a moment, but no one noticed her momentary hesitation, and after a short silence, she said in a calm tone:

"This 'fake' was copied not so long ago, and he may have retained memories of hours ago or even shorter - on the other hand, when we went down the shaft, the news from the town hall was always passed on by the confidential secretary, and the whereabouts of Archon Winston seemed to be unknown."

The priest reacted quickly and understood what Agatha meant.

"It's a fake, it's a fake, but its memory is real," he said quickly.

"Archon Winston may have been here with a squad of soldiers not long ago, and one of them, Sergeant Martin Brad, was killed in the tunnels - the fog replicates the sergeant who just died in battle and his memories!"

"Maybe that's the truth."

Agatha nodded slightly, then turned to the dimly lit tunnel.

No one knows what is going on in the depths of the quarry, but Archon Winston clearly has some truth that no one else knows - and now that he has entered the depths of the mine with a squad of soldiers at a critical moment when the city is in a state of vision, there is no doubt that the biggest clue may be in this direction.

"Thanks for showing the way."

Agatha turned her head and nodded solemnly at the pile of dry mud, which had completely lost the outline of a human being, and then waved to her subordinates:

"Keep up - let's find the whereabouts of the Archon!"

At the same time, on the boundless ocean shrouded in a chaotic and dim sky, the ghost ship of twin shadows swept through the waves like the wind, passing through countless shadows of the virtual and real ships.

Lawrence stood on the bow of the White Oak, looking down at the undulating sea below.

Between the undulating waves, he could already see the ...... of the distant city-state Inverted image.