"The key left by the Queen?"

Agatha's expression changed instantly, and she stared into Winston's eyes.

However, the latter was even more surprised than her, and Winston's eyes were full of confusion: "You don't know? And how did you get into this place?"

Agatha's expression became serious, and she realized that the situation seemed to be different from what she had expected—when she realized that she could "enter" the stone wall, she had thought that the Archon Winston who had entered the place first was the same existence as herself, but now it seemed that the Archon was using other means.

He had more secrets than he had ever imagined.

"I have my own way," Agatha said slowly, her tone unconsciously tingling a pressure, "You mentioned 'What the hell is the key that the queen left behind?'"

Winston looked at the gatekeeper suspiciously, but after a moment of hesitation, he sighed in relief and reached into his chest pocket.

"It's okay, it's already at this point anyway, and there's no need to keep it a secret."

He found something small in his pocket, a brass, richly patterned brass key with a handle that resembled a horizontal "8", or the mathematical symbol of infinity, and its head was not a toothed structure as is common with ordinary keys, but a round rod with grooves.

Agatha looked curiously at the object in the other's hand, and suddenly felt that it was not a key to open the door, but ...... It's a lot like the kind of thing that winds a doll or other clockwork mechanism.

A clockwork key?" She subconsciously spoke, "You mean, this is something left behind by Queen Ray Nora? Why is it in the hands of you, the Archon?"

"The consuls have been passed down from generation to generation, and this key is a gift from the queen to the rebels, and ······ Curse," Winston tugged at the corners of his mouth, revealing a bitter and even fearful smile, "From the moment the first Archon took the key, the shadow behind the Frost City-State hung over us, Lady Gatekeeper."

Agatha didn't interrupt the frailty-looking middle-aged man's babbling, as if she were babbling, and she waited patiently for the other to finish before she said with a calm expression, "You actually know the truth about the boiling gold mines, don't you?"

"If you're referring to the boiling gold mines showing signs of depletion as early as the Queen's time... … Yes, I know," Winston sighed softly, "I'm sorry, I knew from the beginning what was going on with that door you found, but I thought there was still time to get things back on track before things got worse, and then all you found was an abandoned mine, Frost...... It's still the frost of prosperity."

"I need an explanation, Archon," Agatha said with a serious expression and a somewhat cold tone, "the boiling gold mines have been depleted since the Queen's Age, so what are we digging up and shipping out of the decades?" And what is the connection between the vision of the city-state today, the actions of the cultists, and the depletion of the mines?"

"Boiling gold, still boiling gold, Lady Gatekeeper, what we dug up is boiling gold, and what we shipped out is still boiling gold, it's true, it's true, Winston looked up, with a look on his face that didn't know whether to cry or laugh, "That's not pollution, we've experimented with it, and we've tried it in Queen's Days, if something looks like boiling gold, and when it is used, the effect and the product left behind are no different from normal boiling gold—then there is no doubt that it should be boiling gold."

"Are those really boiling gold?!" Agatha's eyes widened suddenly, and the answer was particularly hard for her to imagine, "But the mine was depleted decades ago, and now the ore in the mine tunnel ......

"That's the scariest and weirdest thing, isn't it?" Winston smiled wryly, "The veins are depleted, but soon new ores will fill up certain nooks and crannies, as if there is a false 'frost city-state' parallel to the real world, pouring ore into the real world, or ...... When the mine goes a certain depth underground, we've been mining minerals from a mirror world, and those phantom things that defy common sense... … No matter how much you test it after mining, it's all true."

Agatha listened to all this with a grim face, and these unbelievable truths hit her mind that had been muddled all these days, but in the end she remained calm and spoke softly, "Mirror Frost—Mr. One Archon, you are right, there is indeed a Mirror Frost, and the fog that now shrouds the city-state, and the fakes that keep appearing in the fog, have escaped from that Mirror City, and this Mirror City-State is gradually eroding and replacing our real world."

Winston's expression changed slightly, and then he was silent for more than ten seconds, and finally let out a long sigh, "Ah, it seems that this is the price of all that boiling gold."

"The price? You're understating it - it's not just you and me, it's the entire city-state that is suffering, most of them have no idea what's going on······

"But the vast majority of them are taking advantage of what the Boiling Gold Trade has to offer—in this very cold city, it is Boiling Gold that has kept the people of the city warm and well fed, so that we can maintain a relatively affluent standard after the collapse of the sea cliffs, Lady Gatekeeper."

Winston pauses for a few seconds before waving his hand.

"You should know, I'm never extravagant, I don't buy property, I don't keep anything private – I don't even have an heir. Madam, I don't do anything for my own desires."

Agatha looked into the archon's eyes, but from the depths of those eyes, she saw nothing but exhaustion.

"Don't they have a choice......

She whispered as if to herself.

"It's that no one has a choice," Winston shook his head, "I know what you mean, the path of today, the price of today, is not chosen by the citizens of the city-state themselves—but it is not my choice, and no one has any other way to go.

"The city-state is only so big, there is no second frost on the endless sea for us to stand on, we need food, we need fuel, we need houses and clean fresh water, we need boiling gold, even if it comes from a strange world of shadows. Without boiling gold, it only takes one winter for a quarter of the city-state to die, and the rest will gradually return to the dark city-state era before the great industrial development in a few years, and continue to lose a quarter or more of the population......

"Lady Gatekeeper, take a break, you're tired enough like me, maybe we should accept the fact now that the city-state is a steam locomotive heading for the abyss, everyone sits on it, and the only difference between the protectors of the city-state and the common people is that ordinary people are eating and drinking blindfolded, while we ...... Just keep your eyes open."

Agatha ignored Winston's self-defeating statement, and she just stood in the darkness without saying a word, feeling the unbearable cold coming from all around her again, feeling the blood in her veins gradually cool.

Then she broke the silence: "Someone has made a choice."

「…… Yes, there was one, the Frost Man used to call her 'Queen,' and the history books called her 'Mad Queen,'" Winston laughed, but he didn't know whether he was laughing at the Queen or himself, "a great mortal, she even wants to fight against this sea, against the horrors of the deepest parts of the sea."

"Abyss Project, ......" Agatha whispered, and the clues she had in the past finally converged in her mind little by little, turning into a clear vein, "So, the Abyss Project is not a simple exploration plan in the records... … The queen wants to uncover the secrets of the city-state?!"

"We don't know why she thinks the constant boiling gold in the mines has something to do with the 'deep sea,' but it's clear she's in the right direction - the loss of control of the Abyss Project and the terrible fate she faced afterwards proves that she has touched the true source, and there is nothing more ironic about our world," Winston changed his posture next to the stump, he looked up at the endless shadows of chaos and wriggling above, and said unhurriedly, "Truth points to madness, madness points to failure, and every step you take towards your goal is moving towards the abyss."

Winston sighed.

"She wants to find out the truth about the boiling gold mine, she wants to solve the hidden dangers behind the city-state, and she wants to use her wisdom and strength to fight against the sea itself... …… It's good, but it turns out

She's just consuming her fate in advance."

"So, you 'successors,' decided not to follow her path — you pretended to be blindfolded like everyone else and rushed into the abyss with this car, and the queen who once tried to hit the brakes or change track ended up being characterized by the history books as a madman bewitched by subspace."

"The Ancient Doctrine of Frost - the dead make way for the living," Winston slowly rolled his eyes and met Agatha's eyes, "A once great ruler wouldn't mind if her stature allowed Frost to calm down quickly after the turmoil."

Agatha wanted to say something, but in the end she didn't say anything.

For a long time, she could only shake her head slightly.

"The key······ How did it get to the first archon?"