Chapter 447 A Key

The Frost Queen's Submersion Project half a century ago aimed to investigate and resolve the Boiling Gold issue beneath the city-state. Successive governors have inherited secrets regarding the Boiling Gold, the Queen, the curse, and the ancient gods of the deep sea. The power of the Abyssal Sovereign has formed a tangible projection in the city-state and has penetrated this massive cavern… Each piece of information was shocking.

But for Duncan, all this information combined was less astonishing than the revelation that "the ancient god invading the city-state is a replica."

Vanna also recognized the staggering implications of this statement. The Inquisitor, who professionally dealt with heretical entities, now wore an unusually serious expression. She gazed at the "giant pillar" supporting the entire cavern for a long time before speaking, "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 located in the deep sea beneath the city-state. So, Agatha's earlier statement about a 'copy' actually has two interpretations."

"Yes, two interpretations," Duncan nodded. "The first interpretation is that the 'source' at the bottom of the sea is the original. Therefore, in a sense, the 'infestation body' projected into the city-state from that source could be seen as a copy, a counterfeit. The second interpretation…"

He paused, looking up at the giant pillar that supported the entire cavern, and then sighed after a moment.

"The second interpretation is that the 'source' at the bottom of the sea is also a copy—that the other Agatha, in her final moments, touched not only the ancient god's tendrils in this 'cavern,' but also learned the truth in the deep sea through these tendrils. But because time was limited, she didn't have time to leave many explanations."

The scene fell silent for a moment. Alice looked up, her curious gaze sweeping over everyone—she hadn't fully understood what everyone was talking about, but she was trying to listen and understand. After a long while, she tugged on Duncan's arm, "Does that sound scary?"

"Yes, and it's hard to say whether the first possibility is scarier or the second," Duncan said, saying "scary," but with a hint of a smile in his eyes. He patted Alice's hair, comforting the doll who seemed to have become nervous despite not fully understanding the situation, "You don't need to worry too much. Things won't be more troublesome than a Mirror Frost."

"Yes, not more troublesome than a Mirror Frost—provided that the 'source' at the bottom of the sea is not allowed to continue developing," Agatha said, turning her head to "look" at Duncan's eyes. "As you said last time, we will eventually need to explore beneath the Frost again to see if the 'ancient god' that invaded the real world is still there…"

Duncan hummed softly. He knew that Agatha hadn't been idle and must have already started preparing for this, so he didn't urge her. But at that moment, the corner of his eye suddenly caught sight of something.

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

"Agatha, what is that in your hand?"

"In my hand?" Agatha was taken aback and subconsciously raised her hand. Only then did she suddenly notice the sensation of a foreign object in her palm—cold metal, but seemingly warmed slightly by body temperature.

It was a uniquely shaped brass key.

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

Duncan's expression changed slightly, "Let me see."

"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, and the key's tip had no serrations. Instead, it had a grooved, cylindrical structure, like… a "winding key" used to wind up a doll.

Alice curiously leaned over, clinging to Duncan's arm, "Let me see, let me see… Ah? This is a key? How is it different from the keys I've seen… What's it used for?"

No one around spoke.

Everyone's gaze fell on the doll.

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

"Do you not feel anything special when you look 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, whispering in Duncan's ear, "Captain, do you think…"

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

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

In an instant, everything seemed to connect. Points across time and space connected into a winding line in this cavern infested by an ancient god.

The key left by the Frost Queen, and the doll "Anomaly 099," who looked exactly like the Frost Queen, were the two ends of this line across time and space.

However, under the gazes of several people, Alice simply looked around blankly, then raised her arm and groped hard on her back.

"Can't feel it," she said, a little aggrieved and apologetic, "It's blocked by my clothes."

"Let's talk about it back on the ship. This matter… requires caution," Duncan said in a deep voice, breaking the somewhat heavy atmosphere in the cavern. Then he looked up at Agatha, "I'd like to take this key. Is that alright?"

"...In theory, this key is an inheritance of the Frost Governors, and according to Governor Winston, it contains the 'information' left behind by the Frost Queen, but…"

Agatha paused, then gently shook her head.

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

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

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

Duncan fiddled with the key that had just been delivered to his hand on the Vanishing Sail. In the underground cavern of the Frost city-state, he looked back at the giant pillar supporting the cavern and reached out to knock on its hard, cold stone exterior.

"We should leave," he said.

The cavern was vast, and even with the assistance of the spectral fire, the area that the group had explored was only a small part of the cavern, but for Duncan, the information gathered so far was enough.

He needed time to slowly sort through and digest what he had gained here, and the subsequent exploration… could be left to Agatha and her subordinates.

After confirming that there was no residual ancient god contamination in the cavern and that the cavern itself had a stable support structure, Agatha could safely bring her subordinates here.

Following the path left by the spirit fire, the group safely withdrew from the vast cavern and took the elevator back to the mine tunnel on the upper level.

On the way out of the Boiling Gold mine, Duncan curiously asked Agatha, "What do you think about the cavern area below?"

"Thoughts?" Agatha pondered for a moment. "I should lead the team for several more explorations, at least to understand the situation on the surface of the cavern and around that giant pillar. If there are any valuable discoveries during this process, I will share the information with you as soon as possible. As for later…"

She stopped here, seemingly considering it carefully before slowly saying, "Later, I will suggest that the city-state find a way to mine the Boiling Gold in the cavern, and try to transport the Boiling Gold out of there, while avoiding the collapse of the cavern area and avoiding damage to that 'pillar.' Of course, how to implement this specifically depends on the skills of the 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 an ancient god."

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

"Oh?"

"If the Boiling Gold beneath the Frost is a product left behind after the permeation of the ancient god's power, what about the other city-states on the boundless sea? Is there really no problem beneath every city-state?"

The scene fell silent.

"After the depletion of the mines in the Queen's era, the Frost mined Boiling Gold from the Mirror World for another fifty years—we instinctively believed that the Boiling Gold mined from the Mirror World, like other things in the Mirror World, was a 'counterfeit,' but the fact is that after the Mirror city-state was destroyed, the Boiling Gold did not disappear, and even a new 'rich mine' was left in the underground cavern we just discovered… The only possible explanation is that the 'Boiling Gold' generated by the ancient god's power is not 'distortion.'"

"The Boiling Gold generated by the ancient god's power is not distortion—then it can only be a natural component of the world," Duncan said meaningfully. "That sounds a bit close to the 'Sovereign's Creation' theory of those Annihilation cultists."

"Yes, it's already heretical." 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 cloth strip, quietly gazing forward.

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

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

But she knew that the sunlight was warm.

"As I said earlier, the city-state must first survive," the devout priestess 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. Everything else is permitted."

(End of Chapter)