Chapter 12 Descending into the Abyss

Accompanied by the deep rumble coming from the ballast tanks, the submersible passed the inverted, decaying world and continued its descent into the even more unknown and terrifying abyss.

The tentacle forest hanging from the bottom of the city-state and that huge, pale eyeball completely disappeared from the beams of the searchlights. The empty, boundless darkness of the water once again filled the space outside the portholes, with only the occasional twinkling of starlight emerging from the dark depths (reflective bubbles or plankton) reminding Duncan that he was in a submersible navigating the ocean, rather than floating in the empty expanse of space.

But he couldn't help but have some strange associations—if only from the perspective of "unknown and fraught with terror," what was the difference between the empty cosmic space and the dark deep sea filled with billions of tons of water?

The steam core drove the propulsion system, and a low noise came from the machinery compartment. A series of pressure gauges in front of the console occasionally hissed, indicating the current operating status of the submersible. Duncan slowed the descent to avoid drastic pressure changes damaging the hull, then turned to look at the Gatekeeper standing silently beside him.

"Agatha, what are you thinking about?"

"I was thinking... the pioneers who carried out the Abyssal Project, did they actually see what we saw?" Agatha hesitated, "The truth beneath the city-state, the indescribable remains, the tentacles and eyeballs drooping towards the deep sea... Before the entire project went out of control, during the repeated dives, did no one out of curiosity—or even recklessness—look back 'up'?"

Duncan was silent for a moment, recalling the secrets of the Abyssal Project he had heard from Tyrion.

Even General Frost, who was once deeply trusted by the Queen, seemed unaware of the full picture of the Abyssal Project—did no one really discover the truth beneath the city-state? Or... was this terrifying truth, like the secret in the Boiling Gold Mine, buried?

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

"... Many people would go mad," Agatha said slowly. "Even without being affected by the power in the deep sea, just a terrible fact is enough to trigger widespread nightmares and panic—then, the nightmares and panic would materialize and possibly create unpredictable connections with the 'reality' beneath the city-state. In the worst case... 'it' might come alive."

"Mortals live in a dark sea filled with terror, and even the ground beneath their feet is built on twisted and grotesque corpses. Dullness and blindness are the only graces bestowed upon all living beings, allowing most ordinary people to stay away from those maddening truths—and in most cases, as long as the truth is not perceived, it will never enter our real world. But the key is that there is always a 'small part' of cases."

"... Are you going to reveal our findings?"

"At least for now, I won't tell any ordinary people about this shocking news, because the peaceful and ordinary lives of most people don't need to be disturbed by it. But you should have heard a saying—'Once you know of its existence, it is already a part of the fate of the world.'"

"Anomaly and Aberration Law, Second Article," Agatha nodded, "What is known cannot be erased. The truth beneath the city-state has already appeared before us, and the connection of fate has been established. Sooner or later, we will deal with it again."

Duncan nodded slightly, saying nothing more.

Just then, a strange, abrupt, and deep "thump, thump" sound suddenly rang out in the submersible, interrupting his and Agatha's thoughts.

The sound seemed... as if something was knocking on the outside of the submersible's hull.

Agatha was instantly startled by the sound. In bewilderment, she suddenly looked up: "Did you hear something? It sounds like someone is knocking outside..."

Duncan was also startled by the sudden sound, but soon he glanced at the instruments in front of the console, his brow furrowed slightly as he said in a deep voice, "It should be the water pressure—the immense pressure of the seawater is causing the submersible's hull to deform slightly. Don't worry, this is normal and within the design limits."

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

Submerging in the dark deep sea was an unprecedented experience. Even as a powerful Gatekeeper, she couldn't help but feel a sense of powerlessness and tension, a feeling that was unimaginable on the stable ground.

In this place far from the civilized world, the blessings of the gods had waned, and the power of the individual had become insignificant. Cold physical laws and unknown fate constructed an increasingly narrow "gap," with survival in the gap and annihilation outside it. All that could be relied upon in between... was just a steel-forged shell.

And the "thump, thump" sound coming from the submersible's hull constantly reminded Agatha: Faced with billions of tons of seawater pressure, it was actually as fragile as paper. What kept this shell from collapsing was not only the toughness of the steel itself, but also the delicate balance in its physical structure.

This was a terror completely different from facing heretical gods or anomalous disasters. This terror... was called "the laws of nature."

Perhaps out of tension, or perhaps because the silence in the submersible and the sounds outside made the atmosphere too oppressive, Agatha began to look for a topic after a few seconds of silence. She watched Duncan operate the levers and cranks: "You have a talent for operating machines—I originally thought you would have the Tyrion magistrate send an engineer who knew how to drive along, but I didn't expect you to be so skilled."

"Skilled?" Duncan tilted his head slightly. "But I actually don't know how to drive at all—at least, not before today."

Agatha: "... Ah?"

"But neither do Tyrion's men, including those engineers who can read blueprints," Duncan shrugged, then continued, "They can only tell me what these levers are for according to the drawings, but once they understand the function of each lever, their 'driving skills' are actually the same as mine. No one knows how to drive, no one has ever driven it. This thing was built by the magistrates of Frost, its operation is completely different from those submersibles of fifty years ago, and the people who really understand it are all dead. That's the truth."

Agatha opened her mouth, seemingly not knowing what to say all of a sudden.

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. No matter how bad the situation is, I can return safely. Second..."

He paused and looked down at the control lever in his hand and the console in front of him.

Tiny, ghostly green flames wandered between the gears and connecting rods, sacred steam and oil soaked the complex and massive machine, and the brilliance of spirit fire filled the steam and oil.

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

Of course, it wasn't as "obedient and easy to use" as the Vanishing Sea. This soulless machine could only provide some rigid and weak perceptual signals, but that was 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, filled the hissing steam and gears, flowing like blood inside this soulless machine, resonating faintly with the flames flowing inside her.

This trickle of spirit fire even made her feel a little safe in this dark and cold seabed.

She lowered her head slightly, as if paying tribute to Duncan.

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

After all, even though the spirit fire allowed him to better perceive the state of the machine, he still had to do the specific operations himself.

There was no way around it. He had never driven a ship when he was forced onto the bridge of the Vanishing Sea—he had become accustomed to this rhythm of life where "although I don't know how this thing works, I can only grit my teeth and rush forward"...

Just then, another knocking sound suddenly came from outside the hull—

"Thump."

Short and clear, as if hitting something, subtly different from the "knocking sound" from the hull before.

Agatha immediately noticed this unusual movement: "Another sound... is the hull deforming again?"

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

"It doesn't seem like it... it's something else."

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

A mechanical hum came from inside the submersible, and the searchlight outside the porthole slowly rotated in the darkness, the propeller spinning, adjusting the submersible's orientation.

Finally, something appeared in the light outside the porthole.

A person.

Something that looked like a human... thing.

Agatha instantly "saw" it—the human-shaped outline suddenly appeared in her vision, emitting a spiritual glow like she saw other people on the ground.

It was just that the glow was slightly dim and even paler.

She let out a low exclamation: "Ah!"

Even Duncan's eyes widened instantly, and a "holy shit" almost escaped his lips!

In the deep sea nearly a thousand meters below the Vanishing Sea, directly below the Frost city-state, a person suddenly floated out of the submersible's porthole. The impact of this scene was almost no less than seeing the tentacle forest at the bottom of the city-state and the pale, large eyeball between the tentacles!

And then, as the submersible's position adjusted and the lights swept, even more bizarre, terrifying, and even spine-chilling scenes appeared in Duncan and Agatha's vision—

People, densely packed "people," floating in this dark, cold water!

(End of chapter)