Accompanied by the low roar coming from the pressurized water tank, the submersible crossed over the inverted world of decay and continued to dive into the more unknown and terrifying abyss.
The tentacles hanging from the bottom of the city-state disappeared completely from Lin He's huge pale eyeball in the beam of searchlight, and the empty and boundless dark water filled the porthole again, with only the occasional flash of stars emerging from the depths of darkness ( Those are reflective bubbles or floats) reminding Duncan that he is in a submersible sailing in the sea, rather than floating in the empty space.
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 space and the dark deep sea filled with billions of tons of sea water?
The steam core drives the propulsion device, a low noise comes from the mechanical cabin, and a series of pressure gauges in front of the control desk occasionally emit hissing sounds, indicating the current operating status of the submersible. Duncan slowed down the sinking speed to avoid violent The pressure change destroyed the hull, and then he turned his head and looked at the gatekeeper standing beside him without saying a word.
"Agatha, what are you thinking about?"
"I'm wondering... did the pioneers who implemented the Abyss Plan actually see what we saw," Agatha said hesitantly, "The truth below the city-state, the indescribable corpses, are facing The tentacles and eyeballs hanging down from the deep sea... Before the whole plan went out of control, during the dives, did no one really look back at the 'above' out of curiosity - or even out of recklessness?"
Duncan didn't speak for a while, but in his mind he recalled the secrets about the Abyss Plan that he had heard from Tirian.
Even General Frost, who was once deeply trusted by the queen, seems not to know the full extent of the Qianyuan plan - is it true that no one has discovered the truth below the city-state? Or... is this too terrible truth buried like the secrets in a boiling gold mine?
"Perhaps, some people really looked back, but what they saw is destined not to be recorded." After a few seconds of silence, Duncan said softly, "You are the protector of the city-state, and you understand the meaning of the truth better than I do. What are you wearing?"
"...Many people will go crazy," Agatha said slowly. "Even if they are not affected by the power in the deep sea, just one terrible fact is enough to trigger a wide range of nightmares and panic - and then the nightmares and panic will materialize, and may have an unpredictable connection with the 'reality' below the city-state. In the most terrifying case... 'it' may come alive."
"Mortals live in a sea of darkness filled with terror, and even the footholds under their feet are built on twisted and grotesque corpses. Slowness and blindness are the only graces that all living beings receive. It allows most ordinary people to stay away from those crazy things. The truth - and in most cases, as long as the truth is not noticed, it will never enter our real world, but the key to the problem is that there will always be a 'small part of the situation'."
"...You want to publish our findings?"
"At least for now, I will not tell any ordinary people this kind of impactful news, because most people's peaceful and ordinary lives do not need to be disturbed by this, but there is a saying you should have heard - 'You know it. Its existence is already a part of the fate of this world'."
"The second law of anomalies and anomalies," Agatha nodded and said, "Whatever is known cannot be erased. The truth below the city-state has appeared before our eyes, and the connection in destiny has been established. Sooner or later, we will meet it again Dealing with.”
Duncan nodded slightly and said nothing more.
At this moment, a strange, sudden, low "bang" sound suddenly sounded in the submersible, interrupting his and Agatha's thinking.
The sound sounded...as if something was beating on the submersible's shell outside.
Agatha was instantly startled by the sound. She looked up suddenly in astonishment: "Did you hear anything? It seemed like someone was banging outside..."
Duncan was also startled by the sudden sound, but he quickly glanced at several instruments in front of the control console. He frowned slightly and said in a deep voice: "This should be the water pressure - the hugeness of the sea water." The pressure is deforming the submersible's outer shell slightly. Don't worry, this is normal and within design values."
Agatha seemed a little more relieved, but still looked a little nervous.
Scuba diving in the dark deep sea is an unprecedented experience. Even as a gatekeeper with powerful power, she can't help but feel a sense of powerlessness and tension in her heart. This feeling is unimaginable on the stable surface.
In this place far away from the civilized world, the blessings of the gods have faded, and the power of individuals has become insignificant. There is an increasingly narrow "crack" between the cold physical laws and the unknown destiny. In the gap is survival. There are no bones left outside the gap, and what can be relied on in the middle... is only a spherical shell made of steel.
At this moment, the "bang bang" sound coming from the submersible shell constantly reminded Agatha: Facing the weight of hundreds of millions of tons of seawater, it is actually as fragile as paper. The only thing that keeps this shell from collapsing is steel. The only thing that makes it tough is the delicate balance of its physical structure.
This is a kind of terror that is completely different from facing heretics, evil gods, and natural disasters. This kind of terror...is called "natural law."
Perhaps out of nervousness, perhaps because the silence inside the submersible and the noise outside the submersible made the atmosphere too depressing, Agatha began to look for topics after being quiet for a few seconds. She watched Duncan operate the levers and cranks: " You are very talented at operating machines - I originally thought that you would ask Archon Tirian to send an engineer who knows how to drive to accompany you, but I didn't expect that you are very skilled in operation."
"Are you skilled?" Duncan tilted his head slightly, "But actually I don't know how to drive at all - at least not before today."
Agatha: "...Huh?"
"But neither can the people under Tirian, including the engineers who can understand the blueprints." Duncan shrugged and continued, "They can only tell me what these tie rods are used for based on the blueprints, but when they understand After each lever action, their 'driving skills' are actually the same as mine. No one knows how to drive, no one has ever driven this thing, the Archons of the Frost Cities built this thing, and it operates the same way it did fifty years ago Those submersibles are completely different, and the people who really knew it are dead, that's just a fact."
Agatha opened her mouth, as if she suddenly didn't know what to say.
Duncan smiled and shook his head after noticing her reaction: "But I have at least two advantages over them. First, I don't have to worry about safety issues. No matter how bad the situation is, I can return safely. Second... …”
He paused and looked down at the joystick in his hand and the console in front of him.
There are small green flames swimming between the gears and connecting rods. The sacred steam and grease are soaked in this complex and huge machine, and the glow of the spiritual fire is filled with 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 Home. This ineffective machine can only feed back some rigid and weak sensory signals at best, but this is enough.
"Second, these machines are quite obedient in my hands."
Agatha felt the flow of fire.
Flames filled the steel and engine oil around her, filled the roaring steam and gears, and flowed like blood inside this soulless machine. Just like the flames flowing in her body, the two were faintly visible. Resonating.
This trickling spiritual fire even made her feel a little safe in this deep, dark and cold seabed.
She lowered her head slightly, as if paying tribute to Duncan.
Duncan didn't care about Agatha's reaction. His attention had returned to the driving work in front of him.
After all, even if the spiritual fire allows him to better perceive the status of the machine, when it comes to specific operations, he still has to do it himself.
No way, he had never sailed a ship when he was pushed onto the bridge of the Lost Home - he had already adapted to this kind of "even though I don't know how to do this thing, I can only bite the bullet and be reckless." The rhythm of life...
And at this moment, there was another sound like knocking suddenly coming from outside the hull of the boat——
"Boom."
It was short and clear, as if it had hit something, and was faintly different from the "knocking sound" coming from outside the hull before.
Agatha immediately noticed this strange noise: "There is another sound...is it the outer shell deforming?"
Duncan suddenly frowned and put his hand on another lever next to him.
"It's not like...something else."
He clearly felt that something really touched the submersible's shell, from below.
There was a hum of mechanical operation inside the submersible. The searchlight outside the porthole slowly turned in the dark, and the propeller rotated to adjust the direction of the submersible.
Finally, something appeared in the light outside the porthole.
one person.
A humanoid looking... thing.
Agatha "saw" it instantly - the outline of the humanoid figure suddenly appeared in her field of vision, emitting a spiritual shimmer just like she saw other people on the surface of the earth.
But the shimmer was slightly dimmer and paler.
She uttered a low exclamation: "Ah!"
Even Duncan's eyes widened for a moment, and he almost said "fuck"!
In the deep sea nearly a thousand meters deep in the Infinite Sea, directly below the Frost City State, a person suddenly floated out of the porthole of the submersible. The impact of this scene was almost as much as that of the tentacles seen at the bottom of the City State before. Lin, and the pale and huge eyeball between the tentacles!
And then, with the position adjustment of the submersible and the sweeping of lights, an even more bizarre, terrifying, and even creepy scene appeared in Duncan and Agatha's field of vision——
People, densely packed "people", floating in this dark, cold body of water!
(End of chapter)
