Chapter 144 A Colossal "Pillar"

The team moved forward in the darkness, faint spirit flames serving as a path, outlining the traces left by their deep penetration into the cave. The light of the lanterns and spirit flames reflected the road ahead, allowing them to barely discern their surroundings.

And along the way, the most common thing Duncan and his party saw was boiled gold (feijin).

High-purity boiled gold formed every inch of the terrain within the cave. Layers upon layers of dense rock strata formed a sturdy spherical structure, with a large amount of loose ore scattered across the pit floor, in quantities too great to estimate.

This ore was the foundation of modern industry, the lifeline of Frost—yet its presence here only made the atmosphere feel more and more bizarre.

However, Duncan didn't care about the strange atmosphere. He was a pragmatist. Ancient gods or not, boiled gold that could be used was good, even if this boiled gold really was the "product" of the Deep Sea Lord. He wouldn't mind putting it to use.

One could even say that if he were the city-state's magistrate, the only thing he would be considering at this point would probably be the feasibility of opening a branch mine in the deep sea and formulating a sustainable exploitation plan for the Deep Sea Lord.

But he didn't voice these thoughts.

After all, such a development philosophy might be a bit extreme for ordinary people like Agatha.

Various thoughts ran through Duncan's mind, but at that moment, a hazy shadow appearing at the end of his vision made him suddenly stop.

Immediately afterward, the others stopped as well. Morris seemed to have seen something too, and while raising his lantern to illuminate his surroundings, he said, "There seems to be something ahead."

In the limited light emitted by the lanterns and spirit flames, a huge shadow vaguely emerged from the boundless darkness of the cave. It seemed to be a pillar standing in the distance, or the trunk of a towering tree. The upper part of it vaguely diffused, as if some branching structure extended into the darkness.

Although they couldn't see it clearly, even with just that hazy silhouette, Agatha could feel the enormity of the thing—like a giant pillar capable of supporting an entire mountain. Even from a great distance, it constantly exuded an extremely oppressive aura.

Vanna tightened her grip on her greatsword, reminding everyone, "Proceed with caution."

The group continued to move forward in the darkness, and as they got closer, the vague shadow gradually became clearer in their eyes.

A huge "pillar," resembling a church tower, stood in the center of the large cavern, presenting a breathtaking sight in the lantern light!

"Eye of Wisdom..."

Morris exclaimed subconsciously, his hand holding the lantern shaking. He stared at the pillar, seeing its dark surface rough and uneven, like some deep-sea creature's tentacle magnified countless times. Its lower part was deeply buried in the ground, surrounded by a large amount of wrinkled, broken rock, as if this thing had grown out of the sea beneath the city-state, brazenly penetrating the island's base. Its upper part extended all the way into the endless darkness above, and divided into some small, hazy branches in the darkness, like a strange giant tree, winding and growing in this unknown darkness, and then quietly dying.

Its scale was so large that the lantern light couldn't possibly illuminate the entire pillar—it was difficult to even illuminate a small part of its front. Morris could only see a part of the rough surface that was lit by the lantern light, while the larger, more hazy structures were illuminated by the surrounding spreading green flames. As for the parts that even the green flames couldn't illuminate… he could only rely on his imagination,勉力分辨 the extremely vague shadows.

Even the usually careless doll lady was deeply shocked by this scene.

Alice raised her head, then grabbed her head with both hands and pulled it down hard, making a "pop" sound. She held her head up and looked up hard, but found that she still couldn't see clearly, so she threw it up hard again—after throwing it several times in a row, she finally groped and pressed her head back onto her neck, and continued to stare blankly with her head raised: "Wow..."

Vanna turned her head to look at Alice: "...Wow."

"What is this thing?" Morris's entire attention was focused on the spectacular but also terrifying giant pillar. He couldn't help but take two steps forward, cautiously touching the latter's pitted surface—a cool, rough, rock-like sensation came from his fingertips. "It feels like stone, but it looks like some kind of..."

"Some kind of giant limb," Duncan said. He raised his head and looked at the upper part of the pillar, and after a few seconds, he said softly, "It seems to be supporting the entire cave."

"So this is the real reason why the cave hasn't collapsed..." Morris muttered to himself, approaching the pillar and carefully observing its surface by the light of the lantern. "Judging from the texture, this also looks a bit like boiled gold (feijin) ore, but it's different from any kind of ore mentioned in books... it seems to contain impurities."

"To speculate boldly, perhaps this is part of the Deep Sea Lord's limb," Duncan said casually. "It extended into the city-state and was burned into stone here."

The scene fell silent for a moment. After a few seconds, Vanna twitched the corner of her mouth and broke the silence: "That sounds a little scary..."

"Scary, but very likely—the reason I added 'perhaps' just now was to take care of your feelings," Duncan shook his head. "Don't forget, my flames once spread here. Although the situation was chaotic at the time and I didn't have time to perceive it in detail, I remember... things here are very resistant to burning."

As he spoke, he walked forward and reached out to touch the rough, rock-like surface of the giant pillar.

On the other side, Agatha also groped her way to the vicinity of the "giant pillar."

Everything in her "vision" was still shaking, disturbed by some kind of resonance force. In her eyes, this empty cave was a strange place filled with chaotic ripples, but even in this boundless interference, she clearly "saw" the "pillar" in front of her.

A faint attraction was driving her closer.

Agatha carefully reached out and stroked the pillar. Her fingers moved across the cold surface, as if flipping through a book carved from stone, reading the... memories that remained in the stones.

Some dents caught her attention.

She groped over those dents, outlining their contours in her mind. She placed her palm in the dents and found that each of her fingers could fit perfectly.

They were handprints.

After a moment of surprise, she reached out with her other hand, following the inexplicable guidance in her mind, she groped and found another handprint.

In the handprint, there seemed to be a little bit of fine ash remaining.

Agatha suddenly stopped, subconsciously wanting to turn her head to tell Duncan about her discovery, but in the next second, she found many scattered, encircling lights and shadows suddenly appearing in her dark, chaotic vision.

Memories emerged in her heart, thin but real emotions mixed in with those memories, countless pieces of information poured into her mind—those pieces of information seemed to have been sleeping in Agatha's mind from the very beginning, as if they were her own personal experiences, and at the moment she touched those two handprints, they suddenly awakened in her heart!

The exploration in the darkness… encountering the echoes of Magistrate Winston… the truth about the Deep Dive Project… the preparations of past magistrates… the ancient god's power invading the city-state, the ancient god's thoughts wandering between illusion and reality, and…

This is a fake.

"Ah—"

Agatha suddenly let out a soft cry, then stumbled and almost fell.

But a hand reached out from the side and supported her body in time. Duncan's voice then rang out in the darkness: "What's wrong?"

Agatha was dazed for a moment before she regained consciousness. Then she became aware of the fragments of information that had been newly added to her mind. She quickly steadied herself and said quickly: "I came into contact with some memories… left by 'her'!"

"'Left by her'?" Duncan frowned, immediately realizing the meaning of her words. "The clone? Her memories remained here?"

"Yes, listen to me, it's very important—she met Magistrate Winston here and learned the truth about the Deep Dive Project..."

Agatha spoke quickly, as if afraid that she would forget those fragments of memory that had suddenly poured into her mind in the next second. She poured out everything she had just seen and heard almost non-stop, regardless of whether the people around her had time to react. From the magistrate's last words to the source of the Frost Queen's obsession in those years, and finally, the strongest thought—the most persistent thought that "she" had left behind before disappearing.

The key information that "she" wanted to convey—the "ancient god" that invaded Frost City was a fake.

A copy of the Deep Sea Lord.

Everyone fell silent, no matter how bizarre and terrifying the content of Agatha's story was, no one interrupted her.

It wasn't until Agatha finished saying the last word that the scene was silent for another ten seconds before Morris was the first to break the silence.

"...The history in the mist and the mist in the history..."

The old scholar couldn't help but sigh like this.

And on the side, Duncan's gaze had already fallen on the giant "pillar."

His expression was more serious than ever before.

(End of Chapter)