Chapter 1 Accompanying the Submersion

Accompanied by the low rumble from the ballast tanks, the submersible passed beyond that inverted, decaying world and continued its descent into the even more unknown, even more terrifying abyssal depths.

The tendril forest hanging from the bottom of the city-state and that giant, pale eyeball vanished completely from the beams of the searchlights. The empty, boundless darkness of the water once again filled the view outside the porthole, with only the occasional twinkling of light emerging from the depths reminding Duncan that he was inside a submersible navigating the sea, rather than floating in the empty expanse of space.

But he couldn't help but entertain some strange associations—if one were to consider it solely from the angle of "unknown and harboring terror," what difference was there between the empty expanse of space and the dark, deep sea filled with billions of tons of water?

The steam core drove the propulsion system, and a low noise came from the machinery compartment. A series of pressure gauges occasionally hissed, indicating the submersible's current operating status. Duncan slowed the rate of descent to avoid drastic pressure changes damaging the hull. Then, he turned his head and looked at the gatekeeper standing silently beside him.

"Agatha, what are you thinking about?"

"I was thinking...the pioneers who carried out the Submersion Project, did they also see what we're seeing now?" Agatha hesitated before speaking. "The truth beneath the city-state, the unnameable corpses, the tendrils and eyeballs hanging towards the deep sea... Before the entire project went out of control, during the repeated dives, did no one out of curiosity—or even recklessness—look back at what lay 'below'?"

Agatha was silent for a moment, recalling the secrets of the Submersion Project she had heard from Tീയrian.

Even the Frost General, who had once been deeply trusted by the queen, seemed to not know the full picture of the Submersion Project—did no one really discover the truth beneath the city-state? Or was that terrifying truth, like the secret in the Boiling Gold Mine, buried?

"Perhaps, no one really looked back, but what we see is destined to be recorded," Agatha said softly after a few seconds of silence. "You are the protector of the city-state, you understand better than I what this truth means."

"...Many people would go mad," Agatha said slowly. "Even without being influenced by the power in the deep sea, merely a terrifying fact would be enough to trigger widespread nightmares and panic—subsequently, the nightmares and panic would materialize and possibly establish unpredictable connections with the 'reality' beneath the city-state. In the most terrible situation... 'it' might come alive."

Only the light was slightly brighter and paler.

People, densely packed "people," floated in that dark, icy water!

A person.

Agatha instantly "saw" it—the humanoid silhouette suddenly appeared in her vision, emitting a faint light of vitality, just like when she saw other people above ground.

A mechanical hum came from inside the submersible. The searchlight outside the porthole slowly turned its direction in a white expanse, and the propeller rotated, adjusting the submersible's heading.

Finally, something appeared in the light outside the porthole.

And the "bang, bang" sounds coming from the submersible's outer shell constantly reminded Agatha: Facing the heavy pressure of billions of tons of seawater, it was actually as fragile as paper. Besides the toughness of the steel itself, only a delicate balance in its physical structure prevented that outer shell from collapsing.

"Thump."

Something that looked like a humanoid... thing.

Of course, it wasn't as "obedient and easy to use" as the Forsaken, that soulless machine could only provide some rigid and weak sensory signals, but that was enough for now.

Agatha immediately noticed the unusual sound: "Another sound... Is the outer shell deforming again?"

After all, even though the spirit fire allowed her to better sense the state of the machine, when it came to specific operations, she still had to do it herself.

"But Tീയrian's people wouldn't either, including those engineers who can understand the blueprints," Agatha shrugged and continued, "They can only tell you what those levers do according to the drawings, but after understanding the function of each lever, their 'driving skills' are actually the same as yours. No one can drive it, no one has driven it. This thing was built by the magistrates of Frost, its operating methods are completely different from those submersibles of seventy years ago, and the people who really understand it are already dead. That's a fact."

Agatha didn't care about Agatha's reaction. Her attention had returned to the driving work before her.

And at that moment, another knocking sound suddenly came from outside the hull—

"Not like... It's something else."

And at this moment, a strange, abrupt, low "bang, bang" sound suddenly rang out in the submersible, interrupting her and Agatha's thoughts.

Agatha was startled by the sound. In bewilderment, she looked up sharply: "Did you hear something? It sounds like someone is knocking outside..."

Agatha felt the flow of the flame.

She paused and looked down at the control lever in her hand and the console in front of her.

"At least for now, I won't tell anyone on the surface this kind of overly shocking news, because the peaceful lives of the vast majority of people shouldn't be disturbed by this. But you should have heard a saying—'Once you know of its existence, it is already part of the fate of the mortal world.'"

She let out a soft exclamation: "Ah!"

"Mortals live in a sea of darkness filled with terror, and even the ground beneath their feet is built on twisted and grotesque corpses. Agility and blindness are the only blessings bestowed upon all living beings. It allows the vast majority of ordinary people to stay away from these maddening truths—and in most cases, as long as the truth is not perceived, it will never enter our reality. But the key is that there is always a 'minority of cases.'"

"Law of Normalcy and Anomaly, Article 7," Agatha nodded and said, "What is known cannot be erased. The truth beneath the city-state has already appeared before our eyes, and the connection in fate has already been established. Sooner or later, we will deal with it again."

Agatha: "...Ah?"

That trickle of spirit fire even made her feel a hint of security in this dark and icy seabed.

"Unfamiliar?" Agatha tilted her head slightly. "But actually, I don't know how to drive at all—at least I didn't know before today."

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

"...Are you going to announce our findings?"

There were tiny, ghostly green flames wandering between the gears and connecting rods. Sacred steam and grease permeated this complex, enormous machine, and the glow of the spirit fire filled the steam and grease.

That was a kind of terror that was completely different from facing heretical gods and facing anomalous disasters, that kind of terror...

...was called the "Law of Nature."

The flame filled the steel and oil around her, filled the hissing steam and gears, flowing like blood inside this soulless machine, resonating faintly with the flames flowing inside her body.

Agatha seemed a little relieved, but still looked a little nervous.

In the deep sea nearly a thousand meters below the Boundless Sea, directly below the Frost city-state, a person suddenly floated out of the submersible's porthole. The impact of this scene was almost no less than the tendril forest seen at the bottom of the city-state earlier, and the pale, enormous eyeball between the tendrils!

She clearly felt that something had touched the outer shell of the submersible, from below.

Short and distinct, as if hitting something, subtly different from the "knocking sound" coming from the hull earlier.

Agatha smiled and shook her 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 gets worse, I can return safely. Second..."

Agatha's eyes widened instantly, and a "damn" almost slipped out!

The steam core was like a powerful heart, obeying Agatha's every command.

In this place far from the civilized world, the blessings of the gods had already waned, and the power of the individual had become insignificant. The cold, physical laws and unknown fate constructed an increasingly wide "gap." Survival was in the gap, and bones without remains were outside the gap. In between, the only thing that could be relied upon... was just a steel-forged shell.

Perhaps out of ease, or perhaps the silence inside the submersible and the sounds outside the submersible made the atmosphere too oppressive, Agatha tried to find a topic after a few seconds of silence. She looked at Agatha operating the levers and cranks: "You have a great talent for operating machines—I originally thought you would ask Magistrate Tീയrian to send an engineer who knew how to drive along, but I didn't expect your operation to be so skillful."

Agatha nodded lightly and didn't say anything more.

She lowered her head slightly, as if paying tribute to Agatha.

And then, with the adjustment of the submersible's position and the scanning of the lights, even more bizarre, terrifying, and even chilling scenes appeared in Agatha and Agatha's vision—

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

Diving in the dark deep sea was an unprecedented experience. Even as a gatekeeper with great power, she couldn't help but feel a sense of powerlessness and insignificance in her heart, and that feeling was unimaginable on the stable ground.

There was no way around it. When he was pushed onto the bridge of the Forsaken, he had never sailed a ship before—he had already adapted to this kind of "Although I don't know how this thing works, I can only bite the bullet and give it a shot" life rhythm...

Agatha opened her mouth, seemingly not knowing what to say suddenly.

But Agatha suddenly frowned and placed her hand on another lever next to her.

Some people are dead, but not completely dead…