Chapter 1 The Spread of Fire

The spread of fire was faster and more violent than Duncan had imagined.

He had only lit a small flame at the edge of that enormous "pillar" and prepared to wait for it to spread slowly, but he never expected that small flame to instantly grow into a monstrous blaze illuminating the deep sea—under the crushing pressure of billions of tons of seawater, the weirdness of that raging fire was even more pronounced than usual.

Extraordinary things were the best fuel for spirit flames, and the tentacles of the ancient god naturally belonged to the "extraordinary," but even so, the fire was burning too fiercely and too quickly.

It was as if some force was catalyzing and enhancing the power of the spirit fire.

Was it due to the special environment of the deep sea itself? Or was the ancient god's tentacle actively "cooperating"?

Duncan frowned slightly, feeling the vast information transmitted to him by the flames—the information was fragmented, interspersed with a large amount of incomprehensible distorted noise and fragments of light and shadow, which seemed to be things uncontrollably escaping during the collapse of the "tentacle."

For ordinary humans, even a whisper of those "things" might be enough to invite madness, but Duncan only found them trivial and chaotic—he tried hard to distinguish useful information from the chaotic noise, and just before all the noise subsided, he finally "heard" some understandable "voices."

In the seawater, his eyes suddenly widened, with a hint of astonishment, staring at the ancient god's tentacle that was rapidly collapsing and disintegrating in the spirit fire.

"Lh-01? Linghang One (Navigation No. 1)?!"

In the void, it seemed as if a roar came from the deep sea, and Mu Jia's accurate replica finally completely collapsed. All the noise disappeared, and there was no sound to answer Ai Yi's momentary question—in the sudden arrival of seemingly endless noise, only a hazy thought, like a phantom in the mist, quietly floated through his mind—

"Burned it," Ai Yi repeated, pointing to the porthole outside, "Didn't you see? I lit the fire."

"Captain! Captain, Captain!" As soon as she entered the room, Alice ran to Ai Yi in a hurry, and before the latter could speak, she rattled on, "Something's wrong! I just had a dream! I just had a dream!"

Ai Yi's eyes narrowed instantly, and he waved his hand to send the ancient god back. The next second after the ancient god returned to the *Lost Country*, he noticed that the "temporary body" he was using was rapidly collapsing.

Even as a gatekeeper who had experienced numerous trials and whose mental will was extremely tenacious, Agatha subconsciously felt her nerves tense when she heard Ai Yi's words.

Ai Yi certainly knew that Agatha would react that way, but he really didn't know how to explain the vast amount of details. He could only struggle for a long time, then shrug helplessly, "Seriously, I was also surprised. More flammable than I thought."

The deep-sea turbulence caused by the collapse and disintegration of the huge "pillar" impacted the rapidly ascending submersible, but fortunately, it did not cause any damage.

Agatha didn't react for a moment, "Burned??????"

"Thank you, Fire Usurper."

Ai Yi blinked, his mind surging with complex thoughts and countless amazing guesses and associations. After an unknown amount of time, just as he began to think about whether to continue exploring this place and whether to continue diving deeper, a flickering light suddenly appeared at the edge of his vision.

"Name?" It asked mechanically. Agatha slowly opened her mouth wide.

"Very subversive?" Agatha still seemed to be recovering from the shock of "burned." Her thinking was obviously half a beat slow at this time, and she just subconsciously opened her mouth when she heard Ai Yi's words, "What kind of subversion?"

The white, silent goat head on the edge of the sea chart table creaked and turned its neck, its obsidian-inlaid eyes fixed on the captain.

"No, it's not that I didn't understand you, I understand...yes, I understand, I don't understand very much," Agatha was a little incoherent. She hadn't been this overwhelmed when facing hundreds of cultists in that strange and evil sacrificial ground, but in front of Captain Ai Yi, who never seemed to play by the rules, her sanity always seemed insufficient, "You just...burned it? A Mu Jia...even if it's just Yuan Tong's head, a replica...you just burned it?"

"Ai Yi Abenormal," Ai Yi waved his hand, sat down at the table, and looked up at the goat head, "Have I been gone too long?"

"The kind of subversion that requires burning incense and praying to write a will before listening, and requires isolation observation and mental appraisal afterward," Ai Yi glanced at her sideways, "I'll tell you when we return to safe land and confirm you're ready."

Large and small cracks instantly covered the entire body of this "rough" body, and the faint green flames jumping in the cracks were rapidly escaping.

Agatha's horrified voice came from the side: "Just now...what was that?!"

It's a pity about this body adapted to the deep-sea environment. I thought it could be used for a long time, but it's a one-time thing again...

In the submersible, there were chaotic currents everywhere at the moment, and the noise of the machine running and the occasional banging sounds from the hull were frightening.

Mu Jia originally had a lot to say to Alice, but he didn't expect the other party to be even more anxious than himself, which made him frown, "You had a dream? What did you dream about?"

She was stunned in surprise for a long time before she finally woke up and subconsciously asked, "Then...then what? What happened then?"

Ai Yi at the control panel sighed regretfully, reminiscing about another "temporary body" he had just lost, while confirming the status of the machine.

"Burned it," Ai Yi said concisely.

"I gained freedom, but I don't know where I will go—maybe we'll meet again," Ai Yi spoke truthfully with every word, "I talked to him about many things, including my experiences after death, including the secrets in the deep sea, and some of your world...

...truth. Most of it is very subversive."

Just as the knock on the door was about to sound, Ai Yi spoke first, "Come in."

"Little Miss Alice?" The goat head paused, then continued, "I was resting in my cabin just now...ah, she's coming towards the captain's room, seemingly in a hurry."

Ai Yi quickly understood the cause and effect between these changes in his mind. The next second, he felt his consciousness being forcibly "bounced" out of the body that could no longer be maintained.

The low roar of the ballast tank draining water echoed in the submersible, and with a slight vibration, the entire machine began to accelerate upward.

She pointed to the porthole, pointing to the dark deep sea that was rapidly returning to clarity—however, in the boundless darkness, there were still some residual green glows that erupted from time to time. The large-scale faint green streamers seemed to be burning rapidly along some large-scale wreckage, or as if a series of explosions were erupting in that darkness.

At the same time, on the *Lost Country*, Ai Yi had returned from the "single apartment" sealed by thick fog to his captain's room.

Without a doubt, something big happened below.

And in the surrounding seawater, those "human figures" floating everywhere also showed the same signs of disintegration. Countless humanoid bodies were rapidly turning into white debris and sinking towards the pitch-black "frost island" in the deep sea.

Even this "captain" who could return from subspace would use such a solemn and serious tone...

...What kind of secrets did he learn in this boundless darkness?

She didn't expect that Captain Mu Jia would just use an "incarnation" to go down and take a look, and he could bring back such sensational information!

After a moment of silence, the gatekeeper's mind finally reconnected, "Then...the soul of the Frost Monarch? Was it also 'burned' by you?"

Before the perception was interrupted, there was only one thought in my mind—

Duncan's accurate replica was incinerated by the flames, and the human body roughcast surrounding the deep-sea island collapsed. Except for the island itself, which may have been the "original blueprint," everything in this deep sea was rapidly disintegrating and dissipating, returning to...the "original chaotic state of design."

"...I found the source of the frost crisis. In the center of the deep-sea island, which is suspected to be the 'blueprint of creation,' there is a Mu Jia tentacle of an astonishing scale. It is the presence of a ... accurate replica of the Dark Lord that has affected this entire sea area," Mu Jia turned his head slightly and glanced at Agatha, who was obviously waiting for an explanation, "In the past seventy years, the soul of the Frost Monarch has been comforting this accurate replica, and has persisted for too long."

"I can't remember the details!" Alice said with righteous indignation, "I just felt like in my dream...

...a little powerful? Like that feeling you mentioned before...like I'm growing a brain?"

"You've been gone too far," the goat head seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and his tone immediately returned to normal, "I felt a wisp of your will going to a very, very far place, so far that even the *Lost Country* could hardly capture it. Please don't be angry, I was just worried about your safety. After all, such a big ship is still relying on the wise captain to lead..."

The next second, two knocks on the door still came, and then the puppet belatedly "Oh"ed outside, opened the door and walked into the room.

He suddenly turned his head and saw Mu Jia, who was originally flying around beside him, suddenly flickering violently, like a projection with poor contact. The flames on the pigeon's body became dim and bright, and it began to flap its wings slowly, making a sharp and intermittent cry: "Your...signal quality is poor, please check...your hardware connection...remote server...

...waiting…"

"Alright, I know your loyalty, reliability, diligence, and thoughtfulness. Don't worry, it was just a distant but brief journey, it won't affect anything—what is Alice doing?"

As soon as the goat head finished speaking, a rush of footsteps came from the deck outside the door, and Alice's chaotic aura appeared outside the door.

Agatha: "....."