Chapter 189 The Key

The Frost Queen's Submersion Project half a century ago was to investigate and solve the problem of boiling gold beneath the city-state. Successive governors have inherited the secrets of boiling gold, the Queen, the curse, and the ancient gods of the deep sea. The power of the Obscure Saint Lord has formed a tangible projection in the city-state and penetrated this huge hollow area... Each piece of information was shocking.

But to Duncan, all this information combined was not as astonishing as the statement that "the ancient god invading the city-state is a replica."

Vanna also realized the startling information contained in this sentence. The inquisitor, who professionally dealt with heretical evils, looked unusually serious at this moment. She stared at the "giant pillar" supporting the entire cave, and after a long time, she opened her mouth and said, "First of all, this thing is indeed a remnant of the 'ancient god' that invaded the city-state... And the source of this thing is still located in the deep sea below the city-state, so what Agatha said just now about a 'fake' actually has two explanations."

"Yes, two explanations," Duncan nodded. "The first explanation is that the 'source' located on the seabed is the genuine article, so in a sense, the 'erosion body' projected into the city-state from that source can be regarded as a replica, that is, a fake. The second explanation..."

He paused, looked up at the giant pillar supporting the entire cave, and took a breath after a moment.

"The second explanation is that the 'source' on the seabed is also a replica—the other Agatha touched more than just the ancient god's tentacles in this 'cave' at the last moment. She also learned the truth in the deep sea through this tentacle, but because of the limited time, she didn't have time to leave too many explanations."

The scene was quiet for a while. Alice raised her head, her curious eyes scanning everyone—she didn't fully understand what everyone was talking about, but she was also trying to listen and understand. After a long time, she tugged on Duncan's arm: "Sounds a little scary?"

"Yes, and it's hard to say whether the first possibility is more scary or the second is more scary," Duncan said "scary," but with a hint of a smile in his eyes. He pressed Alice's hair, comforting the doll who seemed to be nervous even though she didn't understand the situation, "You don't have to worry so much. Things won't be more troublesome than a Mirror Frost."

"Yes, it won't be more troublesome than a Mirror Frost—provided that the 'source' on the seabed is not allowed to continue to develop," Agatha said, turning her head to "look" at Duncan's eyes, "Like you said last time, we will eventually need to explore below Frost again to see if the 'ancient god' that invaded the real world is still there..."

Duncan gave a soft "hmm." He knew that Agatha hadn't been idle and must have already begun preparing for this matter, so he didn't urge her. But at this moment, the corner of his eye suddenly caught something again.

Something glowing flashed in Agatha's right hand, seemingly some kind of metal object.

"Agatha, what is that thing in your hand?"

"In my hand?" Agatha was stunned and subconsciously raised her hand. It wasn't until this time that she suddenly noticed the touch of a foreign object coming from the palm of her hand—cold metal, but it seemed to have been warmed slightly by body temperature.

It was a strangely shaped brass key.

"A key..." Vanna looked at the thing in surprise, and then reacted, "Ah, is that the key you mentioned earlier—the one that Governor Winston finally handed over to the other 'Agatha'? The key left by the Frost Queen?"

Duncan's expression changed slightly: "Let me see it."

"Of course." Agatha did not hesitate and immediately handed the key to Duncan.

The key was made of brass. The handle was a solid "infinity" symbol. The front of the key did not have serrations, but instead had a grooved round bar structure, like... a "winding key" used to wind up a doll.

Alice curiously leaned over, grabbing Duncan's arm: "Let me see, let me see... Ah? This is a key? Why is it different from the keys I've seen... What is it used for?"

No one around said anything.

One after another, gazes fell on the doll.

"Why are you all looking at me?" Alice belatedly reacted, pointing to herself, "Did I mess something up again?"

"Don't you feel anything special looking at this key?" Duncan lowered his head, looking into Alice's eyes, "Like familiarity, or an urge to touch it?"

"No..." Alice shook her head, looking blank, "I've never seen it before."

Vanna leaned over and whispered in Duncan's ear: "Captain, do you think..."

"I remember Nina mentioned," Duncan said slowly, "Alice has a keyhole on her back."

Upon hearing this, Agatha looked at the gothic doll in surprise.

In an instant, it seemed that everything was connected together. Points across time and space connected into winding lines in this cave eroded by the ancient god.

The key left by the Frost Queen, and the doll "Anomaly 099" with the same appearance as the Frost Queen, are the two ends of this line across time and space.

However, under the gaze of several pairs of eyes, Alice just looked around blankly, then raised her arm and groped hard on her back.

"Didn't find it," she said, feeling a little aggrieved and apologetic, "It's blocked by my clothes."

"Let's talk about it when we get back. This matter... needs to be handled with caution," Duncan said in a deep voice, breaking the somewhat heavy atmosphere in the cave. Then he looked up at Agatha again, "I want to take this key, is that okay?"

"...Theoretically, this key is a legacy of the Frost Governors of all ages, and according to Governor Winston, it also contains the 'information' left by the Frost Queen, but..."

Agatha paused, then shook her head gently.

"It's all in the past. Of course you can take it."

"Thank you." Duncan didn't stand on ceremony and directly handed the key to the pigeon perched on his shoulder. With a flash of ghostly green fire, Ai disappeared from his shoulder along with the key. The next second, the pigeon returned, but the key was gone.

It had been sent to the ship, to Duncan's main body.

Duncan was fiddling with the key that had just been sent to his hand on the Vanishing Sea. In the underground cave of Frost, he turned his head and glanced at the giant pillar supporting the cave, and then reached out and knocked on the hard, cold stone on its surface.

"We should leave." he said.

The scale of this cave is very large. Even with the aid of the spirit fire, the area that the group has explored so far is only a small part of the hollow area. But for Duncan, the information collected so far is enough.

He needs time to slowly sort out and digest the gains here, and subsequent explorations... can be left to Agatha and her subordinates.

After confirming that there was no residual ancient god contamination in the cave and that the cave itself had a stable supporting structure, Agatha could bring her subordinates here with relative peace of mind.

Following the path left by the spirit fire, the group safely withdrew from this huge hollow area, and then took the elevator back to the mine tunnel located on the upper level.

On the way out of the Boiling Gold Mine, Duncan curiously asked Agatha: "What do you think of the hollow area below?"

"Thoughts?" Agatha pondered slightly, "I should lead the team for a few more explorations, at least to grasp the situation on the surface of the cave and around the huge pillar. If there are any valuable discoveries in the process, I will share the information with you as soon as possible. As for later..."

She stopped here, seeming to consider it very seriously, before slowly saying: "Later, I will suggest that the city-state find a way to mine the boiling gold in the cave, and try to transport the boiling gold there while avoiding the collapse of the hollow area and avoiding damage to the 'pillar'. Of course, how to execute this part specifically depends on the skills of those professionals in the city hall."

"Aren't you worried about the 'hidden dangers' of those boiling gold?" Duncan asked casually, "After all, it might be something left behind by the ancient god."

"...The city-state must first survive before it can consider other things," Agatha shook her head gently, "And after 'seeing' the situation in that cave, I thought of something."

"Oh?"

"If the boiling gold under Frost is the product of ancient god power penetration, then what about the other city-states on the Boundless Sea? Is there really no problem under every city-state?"

The scene fell silent.

"After the exhaustion of the mines in the Queen's era, Frost mined boiling gold from the Mirror World for another fifty years—we instinctively believe that the boiling gold mined from the Mirror World, like other things in the Mirror World, are 'fakes', but the fact is that after the Mirror City-State was destroyed, the boiling gold did not disappear, and even left new 'rich mines' in the underground cave that we just discovered... The only possible explanation is that 'boiling gold' generated by the power of the ancient gods is not 'distortion'."

"Boiling gold generated by the power of the ancient gods is not distortion—then it can only be a natural component of the world," Duncan said meaningfully, "This sounds a bit close to the 'Saint Lord's Creation' theory of those Annihilation Cultists."

"Yes, it already belongs to heretical content." Agatha admitted calmly and frankly.

"But you don't seem shaken."

Agatha stopped. She slowly raised her head, her gaze seeming to penetrate the black blindfold, quietly watching the front.

At the end of the tunnel, there was the ground exit of the mine, and bright sunlight was pouring in from there, warm and bright.

In Agatha's perception, the whole world was still very cold, as cold as a grave.

But she knew that the sunlight was warm.

"Like I said just now, the city-state must first survive," the devout goddess said softly, clasping her hands to her chest as if praying to someone, "There is only one heresy in the world—that which hinders our survival is heresy. Apart from that, anything is permissible."