With the low roar coming from the pressure tank, the submersible passed the inverted and decaying world and continued to dive towards the more unknown and terrifying abyss.

The tentacles hanging from the bottom of the city-state and the huge pale eyeball disappeared completely in the beam of light from the searchlight. The vast dark water once again filled the porthole. Only the occasional flashes of light emerging from the depths of the darkness (those were reflective bubbles or floating objects) reminded Duncan that he was in a submersible sailing in the sea, not floating in the empty and helpless space.

But he couldn't help but have some strange associations - if he only looked at it from the perspective of "the unknown and hidden horror", what was the difference between the empty and vast universe and the dark deep sea filled with billions of tons of sea water?

The steam core drove the propulsion device, a low noise came from the machinery compartment, and a series of pressure gauges in front of the control panel occasionally made a hissing sound, indicating the current operating status of the submersible. Duncan slowed down the sinking speed to avoid the drastic pressure changes from damaging the hull. Then he turned his head and looked at the gatekeeper who was standing silently beside him.

"Agatha, what are you thinking about?"

"I'm wondering... did the pioneers who carried out the Abyss Project actually see what we saw?" Agatha said hesitantly, "the truth beneath the city-state, the unspeakable corpses, the tentacles and eyeballs drooping into the deep sea... before the entire plan went out of control, during the repeated dives, was there really no one who, out of curiosity - or even out of recklessness, turned back to look 'up'?"

Duncan was silent for a moment, but in his mind he was recalling the secrets of the Abyss Project that he had heard from Tirian.

Even General Frost, who was once trusted by the queen, seemed to be unaware of the full scope of the Abyss Plan. Has no one discovered the truth beneath the city-state? Or... has this horrible truth been buried, just like the secrets in the boiling gold mine?

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

"...Many people will go crazy," Agatha said slowly, "Even if they are not affected by the power in the deep sea, this horrible fact alone is enough to trigger widespread nightmares and panic. Afterwards, the nightmares and panic will materialize and may have unpredictable connections with the 'reality' beneath the city-state. In the most terrible case... 'it' may come alive."

"Mortals live in a dark sea full of horrors, with even the ground they stand on built on twisted and grotesque corpses. Dullness and blindness are the only graces that all living beings have received, allowing most ordinary people to stay away from those crazy truths. In most cases, as long as the truth is not discovered, it will never enter our real world. But the key to the problem is that there will always be a 'small number of cases'."

"...You want to publish our findings?"

"At least for now, I will not tell this overly shocking news to any ordinary person, because the peaceful and ordinary lives of most people do not need to be disturbed by this. But there is a saying you should have heard - 'You know of its existence, and it is already a part of your earthly destiny.'"

"The second law of anomalies and phenomena," Agatha nodded and said, "Once known, it must not be erased. The truth beneath the city-state has appeared before our eyes, and the connection in fate has been established. Sooner or later, we will deal with it again."

Duncan nodded slightly and said nothing more.

At this moment, a strange, abrupt, low "bang" sound suddenly sounded in the submersible, interrupting his and Agatha's thinking.

The sound sounded... as if something was knocking on the hull of the submersible from outside.

Agatha was instantly startled by the sound. She looked up suddenly in astonishment: "Did you hear any sound? It seems like someone is knocking outside..."

Duncan was also startled by the sudden sound, but he quickly glanced at the instruments on the console, frowned slightly, and said in a deep voice: "This should be the water pressure - the huge pressure of the sea water is causing the outer shell of the submersible to deform slightly. Don't worry, this is normal and within the design value."

Agatha seemed to be relieved a little, but she still looked a little nervous.

Diving in the dark deep sea is an unprecedented experience. Even as a gatekeeper with great power, she couldn't help feeling powerless and nervous in her heart. This feeling is unimaginable on the stable surface.

In this place far away from the civilized world, the blessing of the gods has declined, and the power of the individual has become insignificant. There is an increasingly narrow "gap" between the cold laws of physics and the unknown fate. Inside the gap is survival, and outside the gap is a complete destruction. The only thing you can rely on in between... is a layer of steel shell.

At this moment, the "bang bang" sound coming from the outer shell of the submersible kept reminding Agatha: facing the pressure of billions of tons of sea water, it is actually as fragile as paper. The only thing that prevents this outer shell from collapsing, apart from the toughness of the steel itself, is the delicate balance of its physical structure.

This is a kind of terror that is completely different from facing heretical evil gods or strange phenomena and natural disasters. This kind of terror... is called "natural law."

Perhaps out of nervousness, or perhaps because the silence inside the submersible and the noise outside made the atmosphere seem too depressing, Agatha began to look for topics after a few seconds of silence. She watched Duncan operate the levers and cranks and said, "You are very talented in operating machines. I originally thought that you would ask Archon Tirian to send an engineer who knows how to drive, but I didn't expect you to be so skilled in operation."

"Are you skilled enough?" Duncan tilted his head slightly. "But actually I can't drive at all - at least not before today."

Agatha: “…Ah?”

"But none of Tyrian's men know how to drive it, including the engineers who can read the blueprints," Duncan shrugged, and continued, "They can only tell me what the levers are for based on the blueprints, but when they understand the function of each lever, their 'driving skills' are actually the same as mine. No one can drive it, no one has ever driven it. This thing was built by the archons of the Frost City-State. Its operation is completely different from those submersibles of fifty years ago, and those who really understand it are all dead. That's the fact."

Agatha opened her mouth, as if she suddenly didn't know what to say.

Duncan smiled and shook his head after noticing her reaction: "But I have at least two advantages over them. First, I don't have to worry about safety issues. Even if the situation is bad, I can return safely. Second..."

He paused and looked down at the joystick in his hand and the control panel in front of him.

There were tiny green flames wandering between the gears and connecting rods, sacred steam and grease permeating this complex and huge machine, and the glow of the spiritual fire filled the steam and grease.

The steam core is like a powerful heart, obeying every command of Duncan.

Of course, it is not as obedient and easy to use as the Lost Hometown. This soulless machine can only feedback some rigid and weak perception signals at best, but this is enough.

"Second, these machines are quite obedient in my hands."

Agatha felt the flow of flames.

Flames filled the steel and oil around her, filled the hissing steam and gears, flowing like blood inside this soulless machine, and like the flames flowing in her body, the two resonated faintly.

This trickle of spiritual fire even made her feel a little safe in the deep, dark and cold seabed.

She bowed her head slightly, as if in salute to Duncan.

Duncan didn't care about Agatha's reaction, his attention was back on the driving work at hand.

After all, even though the spiritual fire allowed him to better sense the status of the machine, he still had to do the specific operations himself.

There was no other way. When he was pushed to the bridge of the Lost Hometown, he had never driven a ship before. He had already adapted to the rhythm of life where "even though I don't know how to do this thing, I can only go for it"...

At this moment, another knocking sound suddenly came from outside the hull -

“Boom.”

It was short and clear, as if it had hit something, and slightly different from the "knocking sound" coming from outside the hull before.

Agatha immediately noticed the unusual noise: "Another sound... is the shell deforming as well?"

Duncan suddenly frowned and put his hand on another pull rod next to him.

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

He clearly felt that something had really hit the hull of the submersible from below.

There was a humming sound of mechanical operation coming from inside the submersible. The searchlight outside the porthole slowly turned in the darkness, and the propeller rotated, adjusting the direction of the submersible.

Finally, something appeared in the light outside the porthole.

one person.

A thing that looks like a human...

Agatha "saw" it instantly—the outline of a human figure suddenly appeared in her field of vision, emitting a spiritual glow just like the other people she saw on the surface.

But the faint light was slightly dimmer and paler.

She uttered a low cry of surprise: "Ah!"

Even Duncan's eyes widened instantly and he almost said "Oh shit"!

In the deep sea of ​​the Boundless Sea, nearly a thousand meters deep, right below the Frost City-State, a person suddenly floated out of the porthole of the submersible. The impact of this scene was almost as great as the forest of tentacles and the pale and huge eyeball between the tentacles seen at the bottom of the city-state before!

Then, as the submersible adjusted its position and swept its lights, an even more bizarre, terrifying, and even horrifying scene appeared in Duncan and Agatha's vision.

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