Chapter 1 A Descent

Descending from the entrance, the initial section was a narrow, low-slung slope. The rough marks of manual excavation were clearly visible on the surrounding rock walls, but after proceeding for more than ten meters, the passage ahead began to widen, and the slope became slightly gentler.

Eerie green light spread across the rocks, illuminating the path ahead. Duncan watched the tunnel stretching into the darkness, his brow gradually furrowing.

"These were all dug out by those cultists in the days after the sun went out?" He couldn't help but look at Shirley. "In such a short time, they dug such a deep passage?"

"No, they only dug through the entrance to this passage and the stone at the very bottom," Shirley shook her head. "This section under our feet seems to have existed before..."

"A passage that already existed deep beneath this 'Holy Land Island'?" Morris frowned slightly upon hearing this. He walked to the rock wall in front, carefully observing the surrounding stones and the ground beneath his feet. He spoke thoughtfully, "In other words, someone was digging here before those cultists found this place..."

He suddenly stopped, his brow furrowing in confusion. After a moment, he slowly raised his head, looking towards the path ahead illuminated by the eerie green fire.

"No, it doesn't look like manual excavation... This 'previously existing passage' was made by something else..."

Duncan walked forward upon hearing this, "What did you find?"

"Look at the marks on these rock layers," Morris raised his hand, pointing to the surrounding walls. "These smooth, undulating faults and regularly distributed ring-shaped patterns... These don't seem man-made."

Duncan immediately noticed the unusual marks on the surrounding rock walls that Morris had mentioned.

He saw that the rock walls of the tunnel ahead were smooth. The hard black and gray stones seemed to have been cut as a whole by something sharp, presenting a continuous form. There were also circular, raised structures every three meters or so, distributed around the entire tunnel. The ground underfoot was flat and gentle, and the stones, large and small, seemed to have been carefully carved, seamlessly inlaid on the entire slope—these were certainly not marks that could have been made by the cultists' manpower and tools, or their evil magic, nor were they the "excavation results" of anyone before them.

Even the current city-states didn't have such underground excavation and construction technology.

Morris slowly stroked the smooth rock walls on both sides with his fingers, muttering softly, "It's like we're walking inside a giant pipe..."

"...Back then, some areas of the great underground cavern in Frost also exhibited this state... And the scholars in the city-state were ultimately unable to explain how these smooth faults were formed, simply believing them to be 'erosion cavities' left behind after the flesh and blood of the Deepsea Lord receded," Duncan said in a low voice. "But this Holy Land Island... it is entirely a part of the Deepsea Lord. Why would these 'erosion cavities' be left inside it?"

Shirley, who had been listening to Morris and the captain's conversation, suddenly had a flash of inspiration: "...Maybe this is the Deepsea Lord's rectum?"

Everything fell silent at this statement. Duncan and Morris's expressions immediately turned darker than Shirley's inspiration. Duncan glared at the girl, "Couldn't you at least say it's a blood vessel?!"

Shirley subconsciously shrank her neck, scratching her head while pretending to be calm and changing the subject, "Blood vessels seem quite possible too, heh..."

Duncan didn't continue to argue with Shirley. After blurting out that sentence, he frowned thoughtfully again.

Blood vessels... Pipes inside the body?

If this Holy Land Island was truly a "lump of flesh of the ancient god" as Shirley described, then would there really be so-called "blood vessels" and "nerves" in this lump of flesh? If so... would they really look like this "channel" in front of them?

Duncan subconsciously connected the dots, imagining what form the Deepsea Lord would have, what kind of "physiological structure" it would possess. Just then, he suddenly noticed that Alice hadn't spoken for a long time.

Normally, the doll girl who followed the captain to explore unfamiliar environments would be chattering non-stop, but today she seemed unusually quiet.

"Alice," feeling something was amiss, Duncan immediately looked at the doll who was standing beside him, seemingly lost in thought. "What are you thinking about?"

It took two calls for Alice to finally snap out of her reverie, quickly turning her head. "Huh... huh? Captain, what did you say?"

"I asked what you were thinking—you seemed to be spacing out just now," Duncan frowned slightly, looking at Alice's eyes with some concern. "Did you see or hear something again?"

Alice looked around in confusion, hesitating for a long while before speaking to Duncan with particular caution, "I haven't seen anything yet... But for some reason, after walking here, I have a feeling of... great familiarity."

Duncan and Morris said in unison, "A feeling of familiarity?"

"Yes, familiar, comforting, like..." Alice gestured, finally finding a suitable description after thinking for a long time, "Like lying in my wooden box."

As she spoke, she raised her hand, pointing to the deeper darkness of the tunnel. "And in that direction, there's an even stronger sense of familiarity, like... I've been to this place a long time ago, or... I've been in this place for a very long time..."

Duncan listened to Alice's description with a serious expression, nodding gently after a moment. "We'll continue deeper—Alice, Shirley, Agou, tell me immediately if you see or hear anything unusual."

With an increasingly cautious mood, the group began to walk deeper into this seemingly endless tunnel.

The flames slowly spread through the tunnel. After advancing for an unknown amount of time, Duncan noticed that the surrounding area had suddenly become much wider.

They seemed to have entered a huge underground cavern structure. The tunnel-like passages on both sides suddenly expanded into spacious rock walls, and the cavern ceiling above became more than ten meters high—the sudden expansion of the underground space plunged the surroundings into a brief darkness, but in just a second or two, the eerie green flames quickly spread to the surrounding ground, beginning to illuminate this wide area.

Shirley looked up, watching the underground cave, which resembled a giant assembly hall, with a look of amazement. Although she had caught a glimpse of it in the "illusion," she couldn't help but marvel at the spaciousness of this place when she saw it with her own eyes. "...Holy crap..."

"...I suddenly think Vanna might be okay coming here," Duncan stroked his chin thoughtfully. "This place seems big enough for her to jump around in..."

Morris, however, didn't say a word. The old scholar's attention seemed to be completely immersed in this unfamiliar and mysterious cave. He carefully observed the surroundings as he slowly walked forward along the path illuminated by the spirit fire, then suddenly stopped in front of a rock wall.

"There's something on here!"

Duncan quickly walked over, and a scene resembling a "relief" came into his view.

On the dark stone wall, a creature with strong limbs, crawling, and a slender body was vividly depicted.

Shirley and Agou also followed closely, looking at the "relief" on the wall with Duncan.

After a long while, Duncan heard Shirley mutter softly, "...Is this a Deepsea Hound?"

"It seems... so," Agou's voice was unusually uncertain. "But it doesn't look much like me... This one looks like it has flesh and blood, and the body proportions are also wrong..."

Before it could finish speaking, Morris's voice came from ahead, "There's more over here!"

Following Morris's guidance, Duncan saw a second relief.

It was a creature floating in mid-air, shaped like a jellyfish—however, it wasn't made of smoke, but had a solid body, a more delicate tentacle structure, and even organs resembling eyes could be seen in its "head."

Duncan slowly raised his head. In the cave illuminated by the spirit fire, more reliefs were vaguely embedded in the rock walls, seemingly extending infinitely into his vision.

He frowned slightly, taking another step towards another relief—

A flickering glimmer appeared at the edge of his vision.

Duncan stopped abruptly.

Almost at the same time, the light and shadow in front of him changed.

Everything seemed to suddenly turn into shattered fragments of light and shadow. The dark cave and the ancient, mysterious reliefs silently disintegrated before his eyes. After a moment, the collapsing fragments of light and shadow swirled and surged up again, recombining, lighting up, and revealing—

In a silent "roar," he saw a hall, a hall that seemed to have no boundaries. It roared and reorganized before Duncan's eyes. He saw a silver-gray substance of unknown material extending in his vision, becoming a solid ground. Mysterious lines emitting a dark blue glow covered the floor. The high dome was brightly lit, and huge pipes and cables were intertwined on the dome like nerves and blood vessels.

And in this hall, stood one cylindrical platform after another.

These platforms emitted a faint light. Above the platforms, there seemed to be some kind of invisible force field, imprisoning various things that were frozen in the force field—hound-like creatures with strong limbs, predatory beasts, various kinds of birds, and many creature outlines that he simply didn't recognize or couldn't see clearly.

The light and shadow in front of him flickered. The lights in the hall flickered on and off. In the blink of an eye, Duncan felt as if he saw the dark cave again, saw those "reliefs" neatly arranged on the cave walls—

But the next second, the dim cave collapsed back into the shape of the hall. He saw something standing at the end ahead, something that looked like a huge machine, or some kind of... terminal. Countless pipes surrounded the complex prism, and a metallic black mud surged in the pipes. On the prism that served as the core, lights flickered, and something like a holographic projection floated in front of it, with lines of characters constantly refreshing.

Those were unfamiliar characters. Duncan didn't recognize that kind of writing—but just a glance, and the meaning of those words seemed to be directly imprinted in his mind—

"...New Hope... Main system offline...

"Lh-01, Navigator One, Ecological Reconstruction Host... Status abnormal.

"Lh-02, Navigator Two, Data and Master Control Host... Status abnormal.

"Lh-03, Navigator Three, Navigation Host... Offline.

"The ship has disintegrated..."

(End of Chapter)