As the submersible's lights swept around, Duncan's vision of the bodies floating in the dark waters was all visible to Duncan—people, countless people, floating in the water.

However, as Duncan looked closer, he discovered something unusual about the human body.

They had no facial features, not even well-defined hands and feet, and no clothing on their bodies—they were just "shapes" with roughly human outlines, with a rough texture and pitch-black color on the surface.

It's like a rough puppet made of black mud and kneaded with a clumsy and rough technique.

Duncan told Agatha the details of what he had seen.

"Only the outline?" Agatha's tone was uncertain, "But in my eyes...... But they radiate a spiritual glow like living people in a city-state......"

Duncan didn't speak, just frowned slightly, and cautiously controlled the submersible towards a "humanoid" floating not far from the porthole.

The submersible-driven currents disturbed the calm of the deep sea, and the pitch-black humanoid slowly rolled at an angle in the water, its flat, smooth spherical "head" turning first in the direction of the porthole, followed by the stubby, bare arm structure as if it had not been finished.

The mechanical arm slowly reached forward, the end grappling hook resting on the human torso, and carefully fiddling with it.

It is completely unresponsive and does not exhibit any "alive" characteristics.

Duncan looked up again, looking through the porthole at the humanoids floating silently in the distance, watching them stretch out in the light and eventually disappear into the darkness of the deep sea.

How many are there? Thousands? Tens? Or tens of millions?

Suddenly, memories came to mind, and Duncan remembered a detail he had heard when he was talking to Tirion about the Abyss Project—the third submersible had risen wildly during the last dive, and the explorer had fallen into a frenzy of screaming as it returned to the sun:

"We're all dead there!"

Duncan frowned slightly, and looked solemnly at the myriad human bodies floating silently outside the porthole—this was what the explorer had seen before he fell into madness?

Agatha, who was on the side, suddenly broke the silence, and her tone was serious: "This reminds me of ...... Those 'fakes' that invaded the city-state before. ”

"I thought about it too," Duncan nodded slightly, "but it's not like it—even if those fakes show all kinds of inhuman features, they have at least facial features, hands and feet, and they will try to imitate human beings and wear normal clothes, but the 'humanoids' here only have the most basic outlines, if you have to say anything...... They are more like 'rough blanks' that are more rudimentary than fakes. ”

"Some kind of semi-finished product?" Agatha suddenly thought, "Are those fakes 'made' on the basis of this 'rough blank'?" ”

"It's hard to say," Duncan said uncertainly, "these things may have been floating in the deep ocean for many, many years, at least when Project Abyss began. In addition, the power that invaded the city-state intervened in reality with the help of the quality of 'mirroring', but here it was an 'entity' in the deep sea, and the two were related, but it should not be a direct relationship between 'half-finished products' and 'finished products'. ”

Agatha listened thoughtfully, but for some reason, she suddenly recalled in her mind what the other party said when she confronted the cultist before—

"There was no fake, or rather, no fakes in the first place...... We're all fakes......"

At about the same time, Duncan seemed to have something in mind, his gaze beyond the floating human bodies to the unknown depths below, and then his hand reached for the joystick.

Certain devices in the depths of the mechanical chamber let out a death-like roar and roar, and an overwhelming creaking noise came from the hull, and the submersible began to descend as the water filled sounded.

Agatha listened to the terrible movements coming from all around, and couldn't help but look at Duncan: "Captain, can this thing still hold up?" ”

Duncan's gaze swept over the various instruments on the console, and he sensed the faint information conveyed to him by the spirit fire, and the hand that pulled the dive control stick did not relax.

"It's going to hold on," he said in a deep voice, "and we should be there soon." ”

"Coming soon?" Agatha was stunned, "Do you know what's down here?" ”

Duncan didn't answer, but continued to carefully control the submersible to dive downward, while adjusting the angle of the thrusters very slightly—the hull on the verge of the limit made a creepy noise almost every second, and even the edge of the porthole connecting to the hull began to make a terrible creaking sound, as if in the next second, this fragile balance would be broken, and the entire submersible would turn into a wrinkled mass of metal under the weight of the sea.

But it kept diving, on the narrow blade of collapse and balance, and continued to dive into the darkest places.

But the noise coming from the hull and mechanical cabin wasn't the only terrible sound, the other was even more terrifying—the constant sound of crashing from outside the hull:

"Bang", "Bang", "Bang......

From time to time, a humanoid object that resembled black mud slammed into the submersible's shell, like a stone striking a skull, and the dull sound sounded particularly terrifying.

Even Agatha couldn't help but grasp the handrail in front of her.

She could feel the submersible leaning forward in its entirety, tilting at such an angle that it was difficult to stand without grasping the handrail.

Then, she suddenly "saw" something outside the porthole.

A undulating, seemingly boundless silhouette of chaos appeared at the edge of the searchlight's beam, near the lower edge of the porthole.

That looks...... It was like the surface of the earth.

"Under the sea?" Agatha exclaimed, "I saw something...... Is that the bottom of the sea? ”

Duncan silently stared out of the porthole, at the undulating surface that suddenly appeared in the dark depths of the sea, at its twists and turns of the "shore" and at the hazy structures that could not be seen in the distance, and after a long time he shook his head lightly: "It's not the bottom of the sea, we are far from touching the so-called 'bottom of the sea' - it is a land floating in the water." ”

Agatha said with confusion: "Land floating in the water? ”

“…… Another Frost Island," Duncan replied softly, "though I could only see a small stretch of coastline, the terrain was familiar to me. It was the Isle of Frost - the island of Frost in its original form with no city-states, no harbors, and no buildings. ”

Agatha's body visibly shook slightly.

Duncan looked up at the waters around and above the "Frost Island".

Countless humanoid objects float around the "floating island of the deep sea", like a swarm of bees surrounding the hive.

And this scene, like amber, is sealed in the deep dark and cold depths of the deep sea, as if the years have been pressed the pause button, quietly freezing an extremely ancient moment.

Agatha's voice sounded beside him: "Here...... ...... the hell

“…… Original Blueprint. Duncan whispered.

On the third long night, the "Creeping King" bestowed the blueprint on the cluster and began the work of Genesis, dividing the blueprint into 1,200 cities to avoid a repeat of the mistakes of the Dream King and the Pale Giant King......

Civilization continued after the Third Long Night, and the Deep Sea Age began, and everything in the Deep Sea Age was built on the blueprint of the "One Thousand Two Hundred Cities" of the Creeping King.

The contents of the "book of blasphemy" have been partially confirmed.

But could there be other possibilities?

Duncan's mind was churning, and she fell silent for a while, but Agatha next to her had already reacted, and after realizing the meaning of the "original blueprint", she said in disbelief: "What do you mean...... The frost of the present day and the frost people, and even all the city-states and mortals of this world...... It's all based on these 'things' in the deep sea......"

"It's a possibility," Duncan shook his head lightly and said in a deep voice, "The heretical theory of the Annihilation Cultists records the creation process of the Netherworld Lord, which is of course heresy, but it is undeniable that the ancient texts in their hands may also reveal part of the truth of history. ”

Agatha opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything.

From the moment she dived into the deep sea, the world in her perception seemed to be undergoing an earth-shaking reshaping, too many shakes, too many doubts, so that it was difficult for the tenacious gatekeeper to clarify his thoughts for a while.

Primitive island "templates" floating in the deep sea, countless humanoid "rough blanks...... If the Annihilation Cultist's claim that "the Netherworld Lord created the world" is true, then ...... Aren't all beings in the world equivalent to the creation of the Dark Lord?

Even after experiencing a frosty mirror crisis, re-establishing her faith and strengthening her belief in the great test, Agatha could not accept this "possibility" that challenges the three views too much.

But she did not blindly deny what she saw in this great contradiction and hesitation.

The moment she decided to do this deep dive, she was mentally prepared -

In the depths of the ocean, anything is possible.

"We're going to ...... Keep getting closer? She turned her head and said to Duncan in the calmest tone possible.

Duncan didn't touch the joystick again.

His gaze swept over the many instruments on the console.

His perception permeated the submersible.

“…… We've reached the limit," he said, "and the submersible's shell can't support it." ”

“…… "Obviously the last point," Agatha clearly regretted, "we are about to touch that floating island in the sea......"

"It's okay, it's just that the submersible can't hold it," Duncan shook his head slightly, looking out the porthole, "There's something here that can hold up." ”

Agatha turned her head in confusion.

Duncan was still quietly staring out the window, at the ...... floating in the light Humanoids.

"I remember you just said that in your eyes, these 'rough' humanoids exude a spiritual glow like a living person."

Outside the porthole, a "humanoid" with a rough outline slowly turned its head towards Agatha.

(End of chapter)