Underground in Nangang, the submersible control hall is brightly lit.

The glow of gas and electric lights makes the hall as bright as day, huge oval diving equipment is suspended by steel cables from the top of the slide leading to the sea, and undead engineers are busy everywhere, making final checks and adjustments for the submersible's entry into the water.

Duncan sat on a chair beside the steel platform on which the submersible was stationed, calmly watching it all, waiting for Tyrion's men to get everything ready.

The undead who were strange and ugly in appearance, even almost terrifying, seemed to be enthusiastic, even faintly tinged with joy and excitement.

A bald man with a nervous face walked over from not far away, and bent down in front of Duncan uneasily: "Forehead...... Old Captain, it's a pleasure to meet you......"

Duncan glanced up at the strong man in a seaman's shirt, with a shiny head and a pale complexion like a dead man, compared the information he had learned before, and nodded slightly: "You are Aiden, and you followed Tirion during the Lost Fleet. ”

"It's me," Aiden grinned, "do you remember me?" ”

"I don't remember," Duncan shook his head, "I'm sorry, I don't remember most of the things, subspace has damaged my memory, I heard about you and the other 'Phase 1 Seamen' of the Sea Mist Fleet from others." ”

"Don't apologize, don't apologize," Aiden said as he shook his head, "You ...... It's good to be back, everyone misses you. ”

"I guess I'm scared, right?" Duncan smiled and glanced around the hall, and many eyes were unconsciously afraid to dodge as he scanned, "Fortunately, I'm only using an avatar now, if the main body comes here, I'm afraid most sailors won't be able to work with peace of mind." ”

"Half of them here are 'Phase II', and they're really scared of you," Aiden scratched the button of his shirt in embarrassment, "after all, their first contact with you ......"

"I know, the frost encounter of half a century ago." Duncan exhaled softly and casually, and as his words fell, Tirion walked briskly.

"The submersible is ready, father."

"Oh, looks like it's time to go."

Duncan suddenly smiled as he got up from his chair and walked with Tirion to the platform where the submersible was to be held, and the diving equipment that had embodyed the wisdom and toil of countless people was already waiting silently—

The round hatch on its side had been opened, and the light on the opposite side of the thick bulb illuminated the structure inside the sphere, which did not look very spacious, and apart from the dizzying array of pipes, valves, and consoles, the space for movement seemed to accommodate three or four people at most.

Duncan observed the submersible and stepped forward.

But the next second he suddenly stopped, as if sensing something, looking in a certain direction.

A swirling gray wind swept into the hall and circled rapidly to the submersible platform, condensing in front of Duncan, Tyrion, and the others.

Agatha's figure stepped out of the gray wind—still dressed as a blind nun in a long black dress and long hair with loose hair.

"I want to go with you."

She didn't talk nonsense, and when she came to Duncan, she spoke bluntly.

"You're going to dive too?" Duncan looked at Agatha with some surprise, "Why?" ”

"Because I want to 'see' with my own eyes what lies beneath the frost," said Agatha calmly and firmly, "as the protector of this city, I cannot stay in the safety of the cathedral and wait for your fruits, and ......"

She stopped suddenly, and after a few seconds of silence, she looked up and "looked" into Duncan's eyes through the thick black cloth.

"Moreover, this is the city of the Frost Man, the Frost Man thing, in the submersible we build, there must be at least one Frost Man, it should be ...... Let me go down and take a look on behalf of Archon Winston, and the successive Archons of Frost. ”

"Reasonable reasons, and you should already know the risks of doing this, since you are conscious, I will not persuade you more." Duncan nodded, then turned his head to look at Tirien.

The latter reacted quickly and said: "The submersible is designed to accommodate up to four people, of course it is no problem for two people to enter, but ......"

"It's okay, I don't need to breathe either." Agatha spoke softly, interrupting Tyrion.

Tirien was stunned for a moment and stepped back, "Okay, that's fine. ”

Duncan laughed, and he stepped over to the submersible's hatch, turning and holding out his hand to Agatha, "Very well, let's go." ”

He and Agatha slipped into the submersible, the heavy round hatch slowly closing.

Two sturdy undead sailors stepped onto the platform and tightened the latched structure of the hatch from the outside.

Heavy steel kept the submersible inside and out, and the cramped crew compartment was quiet, with only the occasional hum of some machines and pipes audible.

There was no place to sit in the crew compartment, so Duncan and Agatha stood in front of the console, holding on to the iron pipes that served as guardrails on either side, and through the extremely thick and solid glass portholes embedded in the bulkhead next to them, they could see the undead sailors around the platform loosening the steel cables used to hold the submersible in place and releasing the safety pins on both sides of the steel frame.

Tirien's voice came from a small device in the corner of the submersible's console, "Father, Lady Agatha, can you hear me?" ”

Duncan came to the console: "Yes, it's clear. ”

"Okay. I won't say much about the control of the submersible, its function is actually very simple, you should not be mistaken, I will talk about what happens after entering the water.

"The submersible's power is provided by a small steam core and a generator connected to the steam core, which is theoretically enough to run until all the dive missions are completed, but if something goes wrong with the steam core or generator, it has two batteries in the bilge that can keep the submersible running for about two hours......

"There are three sets of high-power searchlights for the external lighting, but the effect is limited in the deep-sea environment, so it is important to be careful with the control, and the power of the propulsion system can only make the submersible move slowly due to the high resistance of the seabed......

"The communication device on the submersible is only effective at a distance of three hundred meters, so after a depth of more than three hundred meters, we will not be able to talk like this anymore, but your power or Lady Agatha's psionic resonance should not be affected.

"Also...... I may be too worried, but even you should be aware of the dangers in the deep sea – if something goes wrong, lift up immediately, the lever in the upper left corner of the console is used for emergency lifting, pulling it will throw off the ballast structure at the bottom of the submersible and open the buoyancy balls on both sides of the hull...... In the worst-case scenario, just give up the submersible, and with your power, you can teleport directly back with Lady Agatha, and the machine can be rebuilt......"

Duncan listened intently to Tirion's reminders.

Truth be told, the "former Cold Sea Pirate" was indeed a bit verbose, and many of his advice was not necessary in Duncan's opinion.

But Duncan patiently listened to Tirian's every word, and it wasn't until the other man's voice fell that he spoke in a deep voice, "I see, let's get started." ”

Outside the submersible, in the command seat at the end of the hall, Tirion took a soft breath, then nodded to the men beside him.

"Open the sea valve!"

"Fill the passage with water!"

"Disconnect the external cable of the submersible and prepare to release the lock hook!"

A low roar pierced through the steel hull of the submersible, reverberating faintly through the spherical chamber, with a slight vibration coming from beneath the feet, accompanied by the sound of a creaking and rattling outside the hull.

The sea valve opened, and in the passage below the facility to the sea, the sea water was rising rapidly, gradually reaching the predetermined water level, and the last two steel cables above the submersible began to creak and release down little by little.

Duncan and Agatha felt a jolt at first, then sank down—after a brief moment of weightlessness, the submersible entered the water, and they began to sink down the sloping tunnel and move swiftly towards a sea at the outer edge of the South Harbor with a series of chutes.

Outside the porthole, the water swelled up, and then gradually plunged into darkness, in which only occasional flashes of light could be seen, and the light flickered faster and faster, and the submersible's vibrations became more and more intense—and at last, all the vibrations were calm.

Outside the porthole, only an endless deep blue was left that was fading.

Sunlight shines through the sea above, casting shifting pillars of light and dark outside the window, and bubbles float up from the hull of the boat in the darkening water, reflecting the afterglow of the sun, like some kind of psychedelic sea creature.

Agatha seemed to be attracted by the "scenery" outside the porthole.

She slowly left the bridge and held on to the handrail to the porthole, and she leaned over curiously, staring at the deep blue that was rapidly sinking into darkness through the thick strips of black cloth with her hollow eyes.

"What can you see?"

Duncan asked casually as he became familiar with the not-so-complicated levers and buttons on the console.

"The light, all sorts of shimmers," Agatha whispered, as if to herself, as if she were intoxicated, "they flow like rivers, forming a vast, complex, yet orderly circulation...... But it's actually dark out there now, isn't it? ”

"There's still a little bit of sunlight left, but it's going to get completely dark soon," Duncan slowly turned around as he steered the submersible, "and now?" ”

"An incomparably large 'curtain of light,' faint but filling my entire vision," Agatha said, with a shock in her tone, "What's that?" ”

"It's frost," Duncan said calmly, his gaze shining through the porthole, and under the fainter sunlight and the powerful searchlights of the submersible, a vast and rough "cliff" stood silently in the sea, "the 'pedestal' of the city-state." ”

(End of chapter)