Chapter 125 Old Stories and Subterranean Echoes

Agatha knew that Bishop Ivan's life had been nearing its end for many years. Beneath those tightly wrapped bandages, there was hardly any flesh and blood left. What sustained him were Bartok's miracles and a tenacious soul.

Few knew what had happened to the bishop's body. Even Agatha, as the gatekeeper, only knew it was an "accident" from long ago. Bishop Ivan never discussed the truth of that "accident," not even with her.

Naturally, Agatha wouldn't pry into that secret.

Bishop Ivan seemed burdened. He was silent for a long time before suddenly saying, "We are facing a crisis."

"Yes, Bishop Ivan," Agatha nodded. "I will do my best to find out the truth and destroy the plots of those Annihilation cultists."

"No, you don't understand," Bishop Ivan shook his head. "The 'truth' of this crisis may be beyond our comprehension. Agatha, the activities of those cultists may be part of the crisis, but not all of it. I have a feeling..."

Agatha frowned slightly. "A feeling?"

"A similar aura, like fifty years ago... before that chaos erupted, the whole city was filled with an atmosphere very similar to today," Bishop Ivan said slowly. "A seemingly normal city-state, yet full of strange and inexplicable details, as if suddenly living in a dream where truth and falsehood are indistinguishable. We occasionally glimpse the terrifying edges of the dream, but the pitiful minds of mortals refuse to understand, preventing us from seeing the reality that is right in front of us... Do you have this feeling? As if... distortion is right before our eyes, but we keep our eyes closed."

"I don't understand..." Agatha hesitated. "Are you saying, cognitive interference? Has this interference affected our judgment?"

Bishop Ivan didn't answer her. After several seconds of silence, he suddenly mentioned a seemingly unrelated topic: "Agatha, have I ever told you about the 'Last Queen's Guard' fifty years ago? Have I ever mentioned the 'Second Waterway' deep within the city-state?"

"Second Waterway?" Agatha was stunned, and some information surfaced in her mind. "I know something about that. It was part of the massive underground facility built by the Frost Queen for the city-state. But with the end of the Queen's era, the unfinished facility was abandoned. It is now severely collapsed and financially burdensome, so it remains abandoned—most people don't even know it exists."

"Yes, abandoned. Only gatekeepers like you or old relics like me still know about it," Bishop Ivan said, shaking his head.

"What about the 'Last Queen's Guard'?" Agatha asked. "Why did you suddenly bring this up?"

"The 'Last Queen's Guard' was a force that refused to surrender after the rebels broke through the Queen's Palace and fought to the end, relying on the city-state's underground facilities," Bishop Ivan said in a low voice, as if lost in memories. "Their last stronghold was the entrance to the Second Waterway—after that, they blew up all the connecting shafts and were buried underground. The reason I bring this up today... is because I suddenly recalled a rumor from back then."

Agatha's eyes became serious. "A rumor?"

"It is said... that when the shafts were destroyed, the soldiers attacking underground suddenly heard strange noises from deep below. In the completely collapsed underground, the Last Queen's Guard suddenly shouted, as if attacking someone," Bishop Ivan slowly recalled. "For a long time after that, people often reported hearing shouts and charges from deep underground. Eventually, a rumor spread, saying that the 'Last Queen's Guard' had 'become a mutated legion deep underground. They fight in the darkness every day, their hearts filled with anger, waiting for the moment when the new order established by the betrayers is at its weakest, and they will emerge from the ground to settle the old scores...'"

Agatha's expression became solemn. "The weakest moment of the new order... You just said that we are facing a crisis beyond understanding, that the city is filled with an atmosphere similar to that of fifty years ago—could this be the weakest moment? Will that legendary 'Queen's Guard' emerge from the ground? Do you think this rumor is true?"

"I don't believe this rumor—the Queen's Guard was wiped out long ago, I witnessed it myself, even if..." Bishop Ivan said, then suddenly paused, as if thinking of something, but shook his head. "Even if some survivors temporarily survived in the Second Waterway, they could not have lived to this day. The few surviving descendants cannot shake the rule of the city-state, even if we are now facing a crisis."

Agatha didn't speak for a moment. After a dozen seconds of silence, she suddenly said, "The legend of the 'Last Queen's Guard' may be false, but the existence of a large-scale, uncontrolled area beneath the Frost City-State is real. You are not worried about the Queen's Guard who disappeared fifty years ago, but something else in the Second Waterway?"

"We have been searching the city for a long time, and although we have caught many Annihilation cultists, they are all insignificant small fries, and most of them do not have strong concealment skills—they could not have created so many 'fakes' and 'elemental contaminations' in the city-state, let alone caused the anomalies on Dagger Island," Bishop Ivan nodded. "Now it seems that those lackeys we caught are more like stragglers 'leaking' out of a large nest. Most areas in the city-state have been searched more than once. If there is any place that has not been searched... it is probably only deep underground."

Agatha pondered for a moment, then hesitantly said, "But according to the data, most areas of the Second Waterway have severely collapsed, and are isolated into a network of death, coupled with toxic substance pollution and large areas of darkness, it is impossible to survive there—Annihilation cultists are also living people. Except for a few priests who are about to transform themselves into abyssal demons, most Annihilation cultists still need a normal human living environment... How could they have been hiding in that place all along?"

"At least we should look for it," Bishop Ivan said slowly. "Start searching from the collapse points around the Boiling Gold Mine."

Agatha thought for a moment and nodded lightly. "This requires the cooperation of the City Hall—protective equipment, underground machinery, professional engineers. The Cathedral does not have these reserves."

"I will negotiate," Bishop Ivan nodded. "List what manpower and equipment you need, and I have ways to get them for you."

"Okay, I will give you the list before noon," Agatha said without ceremony. "In addition, before the personnel and supplies are in place, I want to 'chat' with those Annihilation cultists who have been caught again, to see if they can reveal any useful information..."

The night faded, the sky gradually brightened, and Anomaly 001 began to rise from the edge of the city-state. The glorious sun climbed into the sky, and the double rune rings swept across the towering spires and roofs. The sunlight brought heat, dispelling the cold accumulated overnight.

At the entrance of Cemetery No. 3, the heavy carved iron gate creaked open. The gate swept the snow on the ground, leaving two arc fans like unfolded wings. The old caretaker, wearing an old coat, stood in front of the opened cemetery gate, took a deep breath, and looked at the already clear sky.

The sky was clear, but for some reason, this clear morning failed to stop the restlessness in his heart. The old caretaker looked in the direction of the city streets, only feeling that the faint sound of vehicles and horses was blurred and noisy, like the restless wind last night.

Even the clear sky at this moment seemed fake.

He complained in a low voice, then looked at the slope in front of the cemetery.

The wrinkles on the old man's face relaxed a little, but the next second, all the wrinkles were twisted together again, and his eyebrows were also tightly furrowed.

He saw a small figure appearing on the slope, walking towards him with difficulty but full of motivation—after noticing the old man's gaze, the figure deliberately stopped and waved happily at him.

The old caretaker put on a stern face.

He waited for the other party to approach, and only after Annie began to pat the snow off her pants and boots did he speak with an unkind expression: "You're here again—I had a quiet day yesterday, and thought you could finally stay home honestly, but you're here again today?"

"I wanted to come yesterday too," Annie stuck out her tongue, "But Mom said there was too much snow on the road yesterday, and I had to wait for the snowplow to clear the avenue before I could go out." After speaking, she didn't wait for the old man in front of her to speak, and already skillfully took out a small bag and handed it over: "Cookies!"

"...I'm eating cookies every day now," the old man glanced at what the other party handed over, his eyelids twitched, but he still reached out and took it. "Thank you for me to Ms. Beronie."

Annie smiled happily.

"What else?" The old caretaker glanced at the girl in front of him. "The cemetery does not offer tours today."

"Nothing, just to talk to you," Annie said with a smile. "Do you know? Some new guests have moved into our house recently, guess who?"

A twelve-year-old child is really not good at suppressing secrets in her heart.

"I'm not interested," the old caretaker felt inexplicable and waved his hand impatiently. "The house is yours, you can rent it to whoever you want, what does it have to do with me?"

"It's that big uncle with a lot of bandages wrapped around him, wearing black clothes!" Annie didn't care about the old man's response, her smile became even brighter, with a strange smugness in her tone. "It's the one at the cemetery gate last time... Grandpa Caretaker, are you okay?"