It took Tirian a few seconds to notice that Duncan had mentioned a "chance meeting" with the Frost Queen, and his astonishment was evident in his words.
Duncan was not surprised by this reaction. He just shook his head slightly and said, "My 'meeting' with her was very special. It was not in the normal timeline. You can understand it as I once intervened in the gap of history and met Lenora from the perspective of an observer. In normal history, I have no contact with the Frost Queen."
Tirian frowned, as if trying to understand the meaning of these difficult words. Then his eyes flickered slightly, and he restrained all his emotions and looked up at Duncan: "Why are you interested in the Frost Queen? Is it because of that 'first encounter'? Or is it because of... this doll who calls herself 'Alice'? Did she tell you anything?"
"Alice doesn't know anything about the Frost Queen. Her memory is as pure as a blank sheet of paper," Duncan said calmly. "I'm interested in the Frost Queen because everyone says that the Frost Rebellion was caused by the conspiracy of Ray Nora colluding with the Lost Homeland. Don't you think it's normal for me to be interested in her after hearing this rumor?"
"...colluding with the Lost Homeland," Tirian's voice was low and his eyelids were drooping, making it impossible to tell what his emotions were at the moment. "Yes, that's how they framed Her Majesty Lenore."
"Judging from your reaction, this is indeed a frame-up," Duncan's voice came from the mirror, "So, the Frost Rebellion back then was just a complete conspiracy, and the charges against Lenora were completely unfounded?"
As he said this, he observed Tirian's reaction.
But Tirian did not answer him immediately. Instead, he frowned slightly and asked: "Does this truth mean anything to you?"
"Yes," Duncan said seriously, "After all, from a certain perspective, I am half a party to this matter."
Tirian was visibly stunned, seemingly unable to refute his father's answer. Then he smiled helplessly, sighed, and shook his head: "That rebellion did have a conspiracy, but if I must say, the name used by the rebels is not completely fictitious..."
"oh?"
"The Frost Queen has never colluded with the Lost Homeland, but she did... do some research in forbidden areas. Once these research plans are made public, even if there is no rebellion, it will be difficult for her to continue to remain as the ruler of the city-state."
Duncan's eyes were deep. After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly spoke: "It's called 'Project Abyss', right?"
Tirian's head shot up in surprise.
"I know much more than you think," Duncan said calmly.
"But all the information related to the Abyss Project has been destroyed. Even the spies who exposed the plan have been liquidated and executed by the rebels..." Tirian said in disbelief. "Everyone firmly believes that the name of the plan itself has been cursed, and the last person who knew about it has passed away..."
"Oh? All the information has been destroyed?" This time Duncan was a little surprised. He thought that this matter might be confidential, but he didn't expect it to be covered up so extreme. "Even all the people who knew about it died?"
Tirian hesitated. He knew the situation better than anyone else, and naturally knew why the plan was buried. But after a moment of silence, he slowly spoke:
"This forbidden plan is tainted with too many things related to curses, the warp, and mental pollution, so that even the rebels back then did not dare to talk about the information they found.
"But in fact, the name of this plan was made public once, and it was the only time. That was at the final execution ground. The rebels said these words to announce the Frost Queen's guilt. On that day, the Sea Cliff of the Frost City-State collapsed in an unprecedented and horrific way. The entire cliff and a quarter of the city fell into the boundless sea. All those who heard the words 'Abyss Plan' were killed and turned into dead souls in the deep sea.
"Back then, the rebels had prepared a series of follow-up propaganda work for the 'Abyss Project', intending to make the matter public without revealing those taboo elements, in order to completely wipe out the Frost Queen's influence in the northern seas and emphasize the justice of the rebellion. However, after the sea cliff collapsed, these propaganda plans were immediately abolished. As I said just now, they firmly believed that the name of the 'Abyss Project' had been cursed and contaminated, so they simply destroyed all the information related to the plan, including its name.
"That's why I'm particularly curious... How did you learn about the 'Abyss Project'?"
Tirian finally stopped avoiding the question and looked Duncan in the eye. After hearing the plan from half a century ago, his thoughts became so mixed that he could not calm down. For a moment, he even began to suspect that there was some kind of "collusion" between the Frost Queen and the Homelander.
"I said before that I have 'observed' some things in the cracks of history," Duncan said frankly, and asked again, "So, what exactly is the Abyss Project? Why is this project so secretive and taboo that even you... seem to still have a little fear when you mention it?"
Tirian's face was serious. He was silent for a long time before he finally spoke in a low and slow voice: "Simply put, it is an exploration plan - but unlike those explorers who explore new routes at the border of civilization, the Abyss Plan explores the deep sea."
"Explore the deep sea?" Duncan frowned. "You mean the spirit world, the abyss, and the subspace? But if it's just research in these areas, it shouldn't be considered 'taboo'. Although it's indeed dangerous, this kind of mystical research has always been legal in various city-states. The Academy of Truth even has a special research group..."
"I don't mean the 'deep sea' in the mystical sense," Tirian shook his head gently, "I mean the deep sea in the true sense, the deep sea in the natural realm - a 'deep sea' that is right in front of all of us, but everyone pretends not to see it, does not touch it, and dares not touch it."
As Tirian spoke, he suddenly asked a question: "Father, have you ever thought about this question? What is it like under our city-states, under these isolated islands in the sea that carry the entire civilization today?"
Duncan said nothing.
But beneath his calm appearance, there was a sudden wave of turmoil in his heart.
He really hadn't thought about this issue, or rather... he didn't even realize that this was an issue that needed to be considered!
In this world, people have become accustomed to using terms such as "spiritual world", "deep sea" and "subspace" to refer to the "depth" of the world, and this structural model can indeed explain to a certain extent the way the world works today. But in fact, this model is only an interpretation based on the "mystical concept". Strictly speaking, it only describes the "dimensional" structure of this world, not the "physical structure" of the real world!
What Tirian was talking about at this moment was obviously not the dimensional model based on the concept of mysticism. He was referring to the physical concept of the water body from the sea surface down.
Corresponding to the classic model of "reality - spirit world - abyss - subspace", the "deep sea" mentioned by Tirian is actually on the first layer of the model: the real dimension. However, this "deep sea" that is only located on the first layer seems to be a complete blank in human cognition.
Duncan had never considered this problem because he had a preconceived set of "common sense". He took it for granted that under the city-state there must be a geological structure raised in the sea, such as a mountain range in the sea, or a raised crater. And further down, of course, there should be something like the seabed. But at this time, he carefully recalled the various knowledge he had come into contact with after coming to this world, and found that...human beings have never conducted research on the underwater world more than two hundred meters deep!
"Obviously, you haven't thought about this either," Tyrian's voice suddenly came, interrupting Duncan's thoughts. "And before I met the Frost Queen, I had never thought about this either. The Infinite Ocean covers the entire world, and our city-state is an isolated island floating on the sea. The protection of the gods has laid a solid foundation for the real world, and the illumination of Vision 001 has brought us safe and stable daylight. As for what's under the water... why should we care? The spirit world, the abyss, the warp... these 'deep sea areas' in these 'dimensions' are enough to give us a headache."
Tirian said, shaking his head slightly.
"But Her Majesty Lenora told me that this question is very important, just as important as the secrets of the 'spiritual world', 'deep' and 'subspace'. Right under our feet, under the city-states and the sea, in our real world, there is such a vast unknown area. She is a person full of exploration spirit, and she cannot accept that such a large area under her jurisdiction is shrouded in the unknown."