For the next minute, Tirian was immersed in a state of temporary confusion and dullness caused by the huge impact. His eyes could hardly focus, and countless noises were surging in his mind. His mind was like a lone boat rising and falling in the storm - but even so, his mind was still clear.

He knew that it was the spiritual flames that appeared in the darkness that preserved his mind and prevented it from being contaminated by the power of the Holy Lord of the Deep.

After a while, he gradually adjusted his breathing. Since he was not too mentally polluted, the illusion in his mind quickly dissipated. At the same time, he heard a steady voice coming from the other side: "It seems that you have recovered."

Tirian raised his head and looked at the tall figure across from the navigation table: "You were the one who 'pulled' me out just now..."

"You've been staring at it for too long. Vanna said you're in a nightmare," Duncan said calmly. "Luckily, I've done some research on 'intervening in dreams' recently."

"Nightmare," Tirian rubbed his brow subconsciously, "Do I look like I'm in a nightmare just now..."

"It looks like you've had an unusual experience?" Duncan's tone was a little curious - he did intervene in Tirian's spiritual world urgently just now, but unlike the scenes he saw in the past when he used the power of walking in the spiritual world to enter other people's dreams, he didn't "see" anything after his intervention this time. There was only darkness in Tirian's "nightmare", as if the "source" of the nightmare had left before he intervened, which made him even more curious about what had just happened.

"I...saw a being that is hard to describe in words," Tirian recalled the scene he had just seen with difficulty, and described it carefully at the same time, "I can't tell its exact appearance, nor dare to recall all its details, but I suspect that it is the Lord of the Deep..."

Tirian related what he had seen and heard in the darkness, and added his own spiritual feelings in the middle, except that he could not accurately recall the complete outline of the huge mountain-like shadow, without reservation.

After listening to Tirian's story, Duncan immediately frowned: "Are you saying that the only thing the one who is suspected to be the 'Lord of the Deep' said to you was to 'run'?"

"Strictly speaking, it was the only sentence I could understand," Tirian spread out his hands. "It seemed that He said a lot to me, but it was all lost in the huge noise. Finally, it seemed to give up and said the shortest word, and I could barely hear it..."

Duncan thought thoughtfully: "It turns out that when people are in a state of high inspiration, they can't hear the whispers of the ancient gods clearly..."

Tirian was stunned. "Father, what did you say?"

"Ah, nothing, it has nothing to do with this matter." Duncan waved his hand and turned his attention back to the matter at hand. He thought for a moment, then turned to look at Vanna, "Do you think that the person Tirian met was the Lord of the Deep? Do you think He told Tirian to 'run' for the purpose of protection?"

"From Captain Tirian's description and his own feelings, even if it's not the Lord of the Deep, it's at least a heretical god," Vanna replied immediately, "but as for what that 'Run' means... Sorry, Mr. Duncan, I dare not make a rash judgment."

She paused, as if she felt that this answer was not responsible enough, and added: "There has always been very little information about the Lord of the Deep. Even the information held by the four major churches is limited. The current mainstream view is that the Lord of the Deep is a huge single entity located in the center of the Deep. He has no mobility and will not actively project power into the real world. He cannot communicate and does not seem to be able to think, just like..."

Vanna tapped her forehead, as if she was struggling with what words to use to describe such an existence. Seeing this, Duncan said casually, "Like a piece of slime mold sinking in the deep sea? A living, huge, but silent and inactive mass of fungi?"

"...You are probably the only person in the world who describes the Lord of the Deep as slime mold," Vanna had a strange expression on her face, but she nodded gently, "But it is indeed as you said. If the information we have obtained from those demon souls and cultists is correct, the Lord of the Deep is such a 'silent heretic god'. The only thing He does is to continuously differentiate more Deep Demons from His body, or absorb those Deep Demons that died in the battle."

Duncan couldn't help rubbing his forehead: "...This sounds like a fungal tumor..."

The captain is speaking in that incomprehensible "subspace dialect" again.

But Fanna was no longer surprised by this. She ignored the words she didn't understand and continued the conversation naturally: "Overall, the Lord of the Deep can be considered a relatively harmless heretic god, because at least he has never shown a tendency to corrode the real world. But even so, in the classification of the Four Gods Church, he is still classified as an 'evil god'."

"It has nothing to do with subjective consciousness. Is His existence itself a danger?"

"Yes - whether it is the Abyssal Demon that evolved from Him, or those insane Annihilation Cultists who signed a contract with the Abyssal Demon, they are all great enemies of the civilized world."

Duncan didn't say anything, but just fell into thought for a moment.

For some reason, what he thought of at this moment was the "black sun" that was dying in flames and supporting the false corona.

But he just made such an association and did not make any judgment on the nature of the Holy Lord of the Deep - the reason was simple, there was insufficient evidence, and he would not draw conclusions about something he had not personally come into contact with.

Tirian rubbed his brow, the noise in his head had completely faded away, and now there was only a slight dizziness and fatigue as if he had been up all night. When Vanna told him the information about the Lord of the Deep, he also had his own thoughts.

"Whether that 'Run' was a show of goodwill or not, one thing is certain, the situation of the Obsidian was obviously the result of the influence of the Holy Lord's power, and now there are already Annihilation Cults active in the Frost City-State, and they are probably here for this matter," Tirian said slowly, "If the influence I just felt is really related to my participation in that plan, then even the Abyss Project is now related to this matter - further reasoning, I think what we should pay most attention to now is probably the 'Dagger Island', which is the aftermath of the Abyss Project half a century ago."

"The eighth 'Submersible No. 3'," Duncan said in a deep voice, "How much do you know about the situation on Dagger Island?"

"It's a military restricted area now. Even with the power of the Sea Fog Fleet, it's impossible to get close easily. The Lost Homeland should be able to forcibly land on the island with its special features, but it may not be easy to find the submersible in a short time. After all, the island is very large and the research facilities are complex. The military personnel on the island may directly order the destruction of the submersible in an emergency..."

The more Duncan listened, the more he felt something was wrong, so he quickly interrupted the pirate leader: "Stop, stop, stop. When did I ever say we were going to charge right in?"

Tirian was startled, then reacted immediately: "I'm sorry, father, I thought..."

Duncan waved his hand, signaling that the other party did not need to explain: "Let's not talk about this. Just tell me roughly what you know about Dagger Island. Maybe it will come in handy."

"Okay, about that island..."

※※※

Berazov looked seriously at the diving bell hanging in the middle of the hall.

He had been in this research facility for two days, and during these two days, he had spent half of his time in this hall, dealing with the diving bell.

He was not a professional researcher and did not understand mechanical matters, nor did he understand the significance of the series of physical and chemical tests that scholars had conducted on the samples. He stayed here purely because he was curious about this mechanical device that was surrounded by a mysterious atmosphere and had a strange background.

Irresistible curiosity.

As a Frost man who was not even forty years old, he had not experienced the great event that happened half a century ago, but as one of the top officials of the city-state, he had at least learned about the Abyss Project from those confidential files.

Submersible No. 3 occupies the most important position in all the files and is the most chilling part of the entire Abyss Plan.

It was rusty and covered with dirt inside and out. It hung on the hook like a piece of scrap iron and looked unremarkable.

Professor Myerson stood next to the general and introduced the safety measures of this laboratory.

"…The sling leads directly to the furnace. If an emergency occurs, the hook will be released in an instant, and the submersible will smash through the grille and fall into the furnace. If the submersible does not fall into the passage after the release device is activated, a linkage mechanism will be activated, and the entire room will be unhooked from the frame of the 'secret room' and fall along the slide into a cave behind the bay - where nitroglycerin explosives are piled."

"Where are the people in the lab?"

"We have 30 seconds to evacuate - then the evacuation passage will be locked," Professor Myerson said, "But if it is really the worst case scenario... the top person in charge, that is, me, can also choose not to open the evacuation passage."

Belazov nodded slightly and slowly walked to the diving bell.

He looked at the round glass window covered with dirt and peered inside curiously.

The dirty dark red mud was surging slightly in the submersible. An object shaped like an eyeball stuck to the glass window and met Belazov's line of sight through the gaps between the dirt.

After a long while, the general withdrew his gaze: "It's dark inside, I can't see anything."

"Yes, we haven't opened its hatch yet," Professor Myerson nodded, "so we can't clean its interior either."

General Belazov smiled: "That should be the case."