With a low roar from the pressurized water tank, the submersible passed the collapsed world and continued to dive towards the more unknown and terrifying abyss.

The tentacles dangling from the bottom of the city-state disappeared from the forest and the great, pale eyeball of the searchlight, and the empty and dark bodies of water refilled the portholes, only the occasional sparkle of light (which were reflective bubbles or floats) that emerged from the depths of the darkness reminded Duncan that he was in a submersible navigating the sea, not in the empty space of the universe.

But he couldn't help but have some strange associations - if only from the perspective of "unknown and hidden horror", what is the difference between the empty cosmic space and the dark deep sea filled with hundreds of millions of tons of seawater?

With the steam core driving the propulsion, a muffled noise coming from the mechanical cabin, and the occasional hissing sound from a series of pressure gauges in front of the console indicating the current operation of the submersible, Duncan slowed down the sinking speed to avoid the drastic pressure changes from damaging the hull, and then turned his head to look at the gatekeeper who was standing next to him without saying a word.

"Agatha, what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking...... Did the pioneers who carried out the Abyss Project actually see what we saw," Agatha said hesitantly, "the truth beneath the city-state, the unspeakable corpses, the tentacles and eyeballs that fall into the depths...... Before the whole plan got out of hand, in the dive after dive, was there really no one who looked back 'above' out of curiosity – or even out of recklessness? ”

Duncan didn't speak for a moment, but his mind remembered the secrets he had heard from Tirion about the Abyss Project.

Even the Frost General, once trusted by the Queen, doesn't seem to know the full extent of Project Abyss - is there really no one who has discovered the truth beneath the city-state? Or is it ...... This terrible truth, like the secret in the boiling gold mine, is buried?

"Perhaps, someone did look back, but what they saw was not destined to be recorded," Duncan said softly after a few seconds of silence, "You are the protector of the city-state, and you know what the truth means better than I do." ”

“…… Many people will go crazy," Agatha said slowly, "even if they are not affected by the forces of the deep sea, a single terrible fact is enough to trigger a wide range of nightmares and panics—and then the nightmares and panic will materialize, and may have an unpredictable connection with the 'reality' beneath the city-state, and in the most terrible case...... 'it' may come to life." ”

"Mortals live in a sea of horror and darkness, and even their foothold is built on twisted and grotesque corpses, dullness and blindness are the only graces for all beings, and it keeps the vast majority of ordinary people away from the maddening truths that in most cases will never enter our real world as long as the truth is not detected, but the point is that there will always be 'small cases'."

“…… Would you like to publish our findings? ”

"At least for now, I will not tell any ordinary person this kind of news that is too shocking, because the vast majority of people do not need to be disturbed by this peaceful and ordinary life, but there is a saying that you should have heard - 'You know that it exists, and it is already part of earthly destiny'."

"The second of the law of anomalies and anomalies," said Agatha with a nod, "and whatever is known, it cannot be erased." The truth beneath the city-state has come before our eyes, and the fateful bond has been established, and sooner or later we will deal with it again. ”

Duncan nodded lightly and said nothing more.

At this moment, a strange, abrupt, and muffled "thud" suddenly sounded in the submersible, interrupting his thoughts with Agatha.

That voice sounded ...... It was as if something was knocking on the submersible's shell outside.

Agatha was momentarily startled by this voice, and she looked up sharply in astonishment: "Did you hear anything?" It's as if someone is banging ...... outside."

Duncan was also startled by the sudden sound, but soon he glanced at the instruments in front of the console, frowned slightly and said in a deep voice: "This should be the water pressure - the huge pressure of the sea is deforming the submersible's shell slightly. Don't worry, this is normal and within the design values. ”

Agatha seemed a little relieved, but still looked a little nervous.

Diving in the dark depths of the sea was an unprecedented experience, and even as a gatekeeper with great power, she couldn't help but feel a sense of powerlessness and nervousness in her heart, which was unimaginable on the surface of the earth.

Far from the civilized world, the blessings of the gods have waned, the power of the individual has become insignificant, and the "gap" between the cold laws of physics and the unknown fate is becoming narrower and narrower...... It's just a spherical shell made of steel.

At this moment, the "bang" sound coming from the submersible's shell constantly reminds Agatha: in the face of hundreds of millions of tons of seawater pressure, it is actually as fragile as paper, and what keeps this shell from collapsing is only the delicate balance of its physical structure, except for the toughness of the steel itself.

This is a horror that is completely different from the horror of facing heresies and evil gods, and when facing visions and natural disasters, this kind of horror ...... It's called "The Law of Nature".

Perhaps out of nervousness, or perhaps the silence inside the submersible and the noise outside the submersible made the atmosphere too oppressive, Agatha was quiet for a few seconds before looking for a topic to talk about, and she watched Duncan operate the levers and cranks: "You're very talented at manipulating machines - I thought you'd have Archon Tirion accompany him with an engineer who knows how to drive, but I didn't expect you to be very skilled. ”

"Skilled?" Duncan tilted his head slightly, "But I won't actually drive it at all—at least not until today." ”

Agatha: "...... Yes? ”

"But neither will Tyrion's men, including the engineers who can read the blueprints," Duncan shrugged his shoulders and continued, "They can only tell me what the levers are for, but when they understand what each lever does, their 'driving level' is the same as mine." No one can drive it, no one has ever opened it, this thing was built by the archons of the Frost City-State, it operates in a very different way than those submersibles of fifty years ago, and the people who really understand it are dead, that's the truth. ”

Agatha's mouth was open, as if suddenly she didn't know what to say.

Duncan smiled and shook his head after noticing her reaction: "But I have at least two more advantages than them, first, I don't have to worry about safety, even if the situation is bad, I can return safely, and second, ......"

He paused, looking down at the joystick in his hand and the console in front of him.

Tiny green flames swam between the gears and the connecting rods, and the divine steam and grease soaked the intricate machine, and the glow of the spiritual fire filled the steam and grease.

The steam core is like a powerful heart, obeying Duncan's every command.

Of course, it is not as "obedient and easy to use" as the Lost Country, and this non-functional machine can only feedback some rigid and weak perceptual signals at most, but this is enough.

"Second, these machines are quite obedient in my hands."

Agatha felt the flow of flames.

The flames filled the steel and oil around her, between the steam and the gears, and flowed like blood inside the soulless machine, like the flames that flowed through her, and the two faintly resonated.

This trickle-like spiritual fire even made her feel a little safe in this deep and cold seabed.

She bowed her head slightly, as if in homage to Duncan.

Duncan didn't pay attention to Agatha's reaction, his attention had returned to the driving job in front of him.

After all, even if the spirit fire allowed him to better perceive the state of this machine, when it came to specific operations, he still had to do it himself.

No way, he had never sailed a boat when he was pushed to the bridge of the Lost Country when he was chased on the shelf - he had already adapted to the rhythm of life of "I don't know how to do this thing, but I can only be reckless......

And at this moment, another sound like a bang suddenly came from outside the hull—

"Boom."

It was short and clear, as if it had hit something, faintly different from the "banging sound" that had come from outside the hull before.

Agatha immediately noticed the strange movement: "There is another voice...... Is it also the shell that is deformed? ”

Duncan frowned suddenly, and placed his hand on another lever next to him.

"It's not like ...... It's something else. ”

He could clearly feel that something had really touched the submersible's hull, from below.

There was a humming sound of machinery running inside the submersible, and the searchlights outside the porthole slowly turned in the dark, and the propellers rotated, adjusting the direction of the submersible.

Finally, something appeared in the light outside the porthole.

Alone.

A ...... that looks like a humanoid Thing.

Agatha "saw" it instantly—the silhouette of the human form suddenly appeared in her vision, a spiritual glimmer as if she had seen others on the surface.

It's just that the glimmer is a little dimmer and paler.

She let out a low exclamation, "Ah! ”

Even Duncan's eyes widened instantly, and he almost came out with a "groove"!

In the deep sea of the infinite sea nearly a thousand meters deep, directly below the frost city-state, a person suddenly floated out of the porthole of the submersible, and the impact of this scene was almost no less than the tentacle forest seen at the bottom of the city-state before, and the pale and huge eyeball between the tentacles!

And then, with the adjustment of the position of the submersible and the light sweeping, an even more weird, terrifying, and even creepy scene appeared in Duncan and Agatha's field of vision-

People, densely packed "people", float in this deep, dark and icy body of water!

(End of chapter)