In the damp and cold second waterway corridor, the gatekeeper walked towards the darker depths.

The black clothes representing the defenders of the city-state have long been tattered, and the combat staffs made with special technology are already scarred. The pain and fatigue seem to have become some kind of distant illusion. The only thing that can be heard in the ears is the hollow echo reverberating from deep underground.

The blood seemed to be almost gone, but the heart was still beating. Death was so close that with every breath, he seemed to feel the coldness of the world of the dead - in this dark and lonely corridor, there were no more comrades, and he hadn't seen the enemy for a long time.

But there was still something accompanying Agatha. At the end of this journey to death, there was a flame that was not very bright but had some warmth.

Agatha held her left hand against her chest, carefully protecting the "spark" that was dancing in mid-air. The faint green color of the flame illuminated her chin and a short distance in the surrounding corridor. She felt and even enjoyed the slight warmth that the fire brought her - because she could feel that the road ahead was getting colder and colder.

Or maybe it was her own body that was cold.

"I have passed the intersection of the upper city and am approaching the branch corridor around the Boiling Gold Mine..." Agatha said softly to the flame. She raised her head and glanced at a plaque on the wall in front of her. The mottled and ancient plaque had the city streets corresponding to the sewers written on it - this could help her determine her current location. "I encountered almost no enemies on this road, but the road is getting harder and harder to walk on. There is a kind of... suffocating coldness that is slowing down my steps."

A majestic and deep voice sounded directly in her heart: "Perhaps, those cultists have given up using their minions to delay you... They are focusing their energy on the final moment."

"What's the situation outside?"

"There's a thick fog, covering the entire city. The city guards are maintaining order and urging residents to go home. Guard teams can be seen at some intersections. They carry lanterns for night patrol because the thick fog is blocking the power of the sun," said the majestic voice in Agatha's heart. "There's also fog on the sea around the city, and the coverage area may extend hundreds of miles away."

"...the heretics have taken action," Agatha said softly, "perhaps my actions have stimulated them to take action in advance..."

"You don't seem to be doing well."

"I may be seriously injured," Agatha continued to walk forward. She felt her breathing was a little heavy, but her mind was clearer than ever before. "But don't worry about me. I am ready to die - I will send your fire to their nest, no matter what means."

"I would rather see you complete this mission alive, Agatha - although you are the messenger of the God of Death, there is no need to rush to find Bartok to report. By the way, speaking of this, I suddenly feel a little curious. For you priests of the God of Death, is 'death' considered a demotion or a promotion?"

Agatha was stunned for a moment, and then she curled her lips: "Your sense of humor really surprises me - I'm sorry, I really can't answer this question. I'm afraid that the death priests throughout the ages have never thought about this matter. If I have a chance in the future... I will think about it carefully."

"Well, I hope you find the answer."

The voice in her mind was temporarily silent, and Agatha breathed a sigh of relief - she didn't know if it was an illusion, but she suddenly felt that her breathing was not as difficult and tired as before, and even her steps became a little easier.

She glanced at the fire held in her left hand, carefully protected it, and walked across another intersection.

Water overflowed from a nearby drainage channel, forming a small pool of water on the ground. The water was as calm as a mirror, reflecting the dim dome of the waterway.

Agatha stepped over the puddle, causing ripples on the calm surface of the water - in the suddenly broken reflection, a figure wearing a black windbreaker, wrapped in ritual bandages, and holding a tin cane in his hand was reflected.

The figure walked in the direction Agatha came from, and in this brief moment, they passed each other.

※※※

Agatha suddenly stopped and looked at the place she had just walked past with some confusion. She saw a small pool of water there, and ripples were still appearing on the water surface disturbed by her footsteps.

The reflection of the moment just now could no longer be seen in the shattered water surface, but Agatha always felt that she seemed to have seen something just now.

It was a figure that looked like her own, but not quite - the figure was wearing a tattered black suit, covered in scars, and looked as if it had experienced one battle after another, and the direction it was heading was into the depths of the second waterway.

That was exactly where he had just left.

Perhaps because he stopped a little too suddenly, his subordinates' voices came from behind him: "Gatekeeper? What happened?"

"That pool of water..." Agatha turned around and pointed not far away, "Is it there just now? Did you see anything strange in it?"

"Puzzle?" The subordinate turned around and looked with a puzzled expression, "It was there just now... but I didn't see anything strange."

Agatha did not speak, but suddenly fell silent, staring at the still shaking water for a long time. After a long time, a trace of solemnity and thought gradually appeared in her eyes.

"Did you see anything?" The subordinate couldn't help but feel a little worried.

Agatha was silent for a moment before she shook her head gently: "Don't worry, everything is fine, everything... is fine."

The subordinate was still a little confused, but facing the solemn look of his superior, he suppressed his excessive curiosity and changed the subject in time: "What did you find across the door just now? It seems that your expression is always serious after you come back..."

Agatha quickly gathered her chaotic thoughts, raised her head and looked in the direction she had just come from - the gate leading to the abandoned mine had disappeared on the other side of the intersection, but she still clearly remembered what she had discovered in that dark mine.

She did not explore the mine for too long. After confirming her discovery, she returned to the second waterway and hurriedly led the team back to the base. Out of necessary caution, she has not yet revealed to her subordinates what she found behind the door.

Even now, she didn't know how to explain that overly terrifying and bizarre... "conjecture" to the black-clad guards in front of her.

After a brief hesitation, she turned around and continued walking towards the stronghold.

After walking for a while, she suddenly said softly as if talking to herself: "Frost...how does it survive?"

"How do you survive?" The subordinate was slightly stunned and did not react for a while. After a few seconds, he hesitated and said, "You mean... the source of income for the city-state? The boiling gold business?"

"Boiling gold is the blood of Frost, and the mine is the heart of the city-state..." Agatha whispered to herself, saying words that confused the black-clad guards, "It seems that none of us have thought that this heart will stop beating..."

Another black-clad guard couldn't help but step forward, with a hint of nervousness on his face: "You..."

Agatha raised her hand slightly and interrupted her subordinate.

"Don't think too much about it for now. Everything is still uncertain. I did see something on the other side of that door, but I need to discuss with the archbishop whether I can reveal it to you."

She had calmed down from her previous restlessness.

Perhaps he was too nervous. It was just an abandoned and dry mine. For an old mine that had been mined for many years, it was not surprising that one or two mines were dry. The subsequent blockade decision by the City Hall was most likely due to other reasons - some kind of pollution that once existed but has now subsided was the most likely scenario.

Jumping to conclusions is a big taboo in investigations.

Agatha shook her head, but the scene she just saw in the puddle of water emerged in her mind.

The one walking in the opposite direction of myself in the reflection, the one who has experienced battles and is stained with blood... "myself".

Agatha closed her eyes slightly, and the knuckles of her fingers that were gripping the cane turned slightly white due to the force, but after a moment, she opened her eyes again and looked forward, her facial expression returning to calm.

I still have a lot of things to do.

In silence, Agatha led the Guardian team back to the base at the underground crossroads. As soon as she returned here, she noticed that the atmosphere around her seemed a little strange.

A slightly tense atmosphere enveloped the stronghold. A priest who looked like he had just come down from a shaft was nervously talking to the head of the stronghold's garrison. Several steam walkers that had set out earlier to clear the fork in the road were called back in advance, and seemed to be preparing to take the elevator back to the surface.

Agatha stepped forward quickly, and before she could ask, the commander of the black guards in charge of this stronghold spoke quickly: "Sir, the gatekeeper, there is a problem on the surface."

Agatha frowned: "What's going on?"

"Fog, a very thick and strange fog, covering the entire city-state and the surrounding sea. Even the sun can't be seen in the sky," the commander reported quickly, "and evil things have appeared in the library and archives. Although they have been suppressed in time by the scholars on duty, panic and chaos are spreading in the city - the archbishop has sent someone down, please go back immediately!"