Chapter 45 The Original Blueprint

As the submersible's lights swept around, the shapes floating in the dark seawater came into Duncan's view—people, countless people, floating in the water.

However, as Duncan observed carefully, he discovered the unusual nature of these human bodies.

They had no facial features, not even clearly defined hands and feet, and no clothes on their bodies—they were merely "shapes" roughly resembling the human form, with a rough texture and a dark color on their surfaces.

They looked like crude clay figurines, clumsily made from black mud.

Duncan told Agatha the details of what he saw.

"Only outlines?" Agatha's tone was hesitant and doubtful. "But in my eyes... they radiate a spiritual glow like living people in the city-state..."

Duncan said nothing, only frowned slightly, cautiously controlling the submersible to approach a "human figure" floating not far outside the porthole.

The current stirred up by the submersible disturbed the tranquility of the deep sea, and the dark human figure slowly rolled at an angle in the water. Its smooth, spherical "head" turned towards the porthole first, followed by short, bald arm structures that appeared unfinished.

The mechanical arm slowly extended, its hook catching onto the torso of the human figure, and carefully nudging it.

It showed no reaction, exhibiting no signs of being "alive."

Duncan looked up again, his gaze passing through the porthole, towards the countless human figures floating quietly in the distance, watching them extend into the distance in the light, eventually disappearing into the darkness of the deep sea.

How many are there? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Or tens of millions?

Suddenly, a memory surfaced in his mind. Duncan recalled a detail he had heard when discussing the Deep Dive Project with Tirian—Submersible No. 3 ascended frantically during its last deep-sea mission, and the explorer, driven mad, frantically shouted a sentence after returning to the sunlight:

"We all died there!"

Duncan frowned slightly, gazing solemnly at the countless human bodies floating quietly outside the porthole—was this the scene the explorer had seen before going insane?

Agatha suddenly broke the silence, her tone serious. "This reminds me of... the 'replicas' that invaded the city-state before."

"I thought so too," Duncan nodded gently. "But it's not quite the same—even if those replicas exhibited various inhuman characteristics, they at least had detailed structures like facial features, hands, and feet, and they also tried to imitate humans, wearing normal clothes. But these 'humanoid objects' only have the most basic outlines. If I had to say... they are more like 'crude models' even simpler than replicas."

"Some kind of semi-finished product?" Agatha suddenly wondered. "Were those replicas 'manufactured' based on these 'crude models'?"

"Hard to say," Duncan said uncertainly. "These things may have been floating in the deep sea for many, many years, at least they were already there when the Deep Dive Project started. Also, the power that invaded the city-state intervened in reality by means of 'mirroring', while this is a 'physical object' in the deep sea. There is a connection between the two, but it shouldn't be a direct 'semi-finished product' and 'finished product' relationship."

Agatha listened thoughtfully. For some reason, she suddenly recalled a sentence the cultist had said when confronting her before—

"There were never any replicas to begin with, or rather... we are all replicas..."

At almost the same time, Duncan seemed to have thought of something as well. His gaze passed over the floating human bodies, towards the unknown depths of the sea below, and then he reached for the control stick.

Some devices deep in the mechanical compartment made death throes-like roars and squeals, and the hull made unbearable creaking noises. Accompanied by the sound of water filling, the submersible began to descend further.

Listening to the terrible noises coming from all around, Agatha couldn't help but look at Duncan. "Captain, can this thing still hold?"

Duncan's gaze swept across the various instruments on the console, and he sensed the faint information conveyed to him by the Spirit Flame. The hand pulling the descent control stick did not relax.

"It can still hold," he said in a deep voice. "We should be almost there."

"Almost there?" Agatha was stunned. "Do you know what's down there?"

Duncan didn't answer, but continued to cautiously control the submersible to descend, while also subtly adjusting the angle of the thrusters—the hull, nearing its limit, was making terrifying noises almost every second. Even the edges where the porthole was connected to the hull began to make creaking sounds, as if the fragile balance would be broken in the next second, and the entire submersible would turn into a crumpled piece of metal under the heavy pressure of the seawater.

But it continued to descend, on the narrow blade of collapse and balance, continuing to dive into that darkest place.

But the noise from the hull and mechanical compartment was not the only terrifying sound. Another sound was even more chilling—it was a real impact sound coming continuously from outside the hull:

"Bang," "Bang," "Bang"...

The human figures like crude black clay models occasionally collided with the outer shell of the submersible, like stones hitting a skull. The dull sound was particularly terrifying.

Even Agatha couldn't help but grip the handrail in front of her tightly.

She could feel the submersible tilting forward as a whole, and the tilting angle had reached the point where it was difficult to stand steady without holding onto the handrail.

Then, she suddenly "saw" something appear outside the porthole.

A continuous, undulating, seemingly boundless chaotic outline appeared at the edge of the spotlight beam, near the lower edge of the porthole.

It looked... like a land surface.

"Seabed?" Agatha exclaimed in astonishment. "What am I seeing... is that the seabed?"

Duncan silently stared out the porthole, watching the undulating land surface suddenly appear in the dark deep sea, watching its winding, craggy "coastline" and the hazy structures in the distance that could not be seen clearly. After a long time, he gently shook his head. "Not the seabed. We haven't even touched the so-called 'seabed' yet—that's a piece of land floating in the water."

Agatha asked doubtfully, "A piece of land floating in the water?"

"...Another Frost Island," Duncan replied softly, "Although I can only see a small section of the coastline, I'm very familiar with this terrain. That's Frost Island—the original Frost Island without city-states, without ports, without any buildings."

Agatha's body trembled slightly.

Duncan looked up, looking at the seawater around and above that "Frost Island."

Countless human figures floated around that "deep-sea floating island," like bees surrounding a hive.

And this scene, like amber, was sealed in the deep, dark, and cold depths of the sea, as if time had been paused, quietly solidifying some extremely ancient moment.

Agatha's voice sounded beside him: "What... exactly is this..."

"...Original blueprint," Duncan said softly.

In the Third Long Night, the "Crawling King" bestowed the blueprint to the Collective and began the work of Genesis. To avoid repeating the mistakes of the Dream King and the Pale Giant King, He divided the blueprint, so that there would be no more kingdoms in the mortal world, and that the kingdoms would be transformed into one thousand two hundred cities...

Civilization was able to continue after the Third Long Night, the Deep Sea Era began, and everything in the Deep Sea Era was built on the Crawling King's "one thousand two hundred cities" blueprint.

Another part of the contents recorded in that "Book of Blasphemy" was confirmed.

But could there be other possibilities?

Thoughts churned in Duncan's mind, and he fell silent for a moment. Agatha next to him had already reacted. After realizing the meaning of "original blueprint," she opened her mouth in disbelief: "You mean... the current Frost and the Frost people, even all the city-states and mortals in this world... are all based on these 'things' in the deep sea..."

"That's a possibility," Duncan shook his head gently and said in a deep voice. "The heretical theories of the Annihilation Cult record the creation process of the Abyssal Sacred Lord. This is certainly a heresy, but it is undeniable that the ancient books in their hands may also reveal part of the truth of history."

Agatha opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything.

From the moment she dived into the deep sea, the world in her perception seemed to be undergoing a world-shaking reshaping. Too much shaking, too much doubt, made it difficult for even the strong-willed gatekeeper to sort out her thoughts for a while.

The original island "template" floating in the deep sea, countless humanoid "crude models"... If the Annihilation Cult's claim about the "Abyssal Sacred Lord creating the world" is true, then... aren't all the living beings in the mortal world equivalent to creations of the Abyssal Sacred Lord?

Even after experiencing the Frost's mirror crisis, re-stabilizing her faith and strengthening her beliefs in the great test, Agatha found it difficult to accept this "possibility" that was too challenging to her values.

But she did not blindly deny everything she saw in this great contradiction and hesitation.

From the moment she decided to make this deep dive, she was mentally prepared—

In the deep sea, anything is possible.

"Should we... continue to approach?" She turned her head and said to Duncan in as calm a tone as possible.

Duncan didn't touch the control stick again.

His gaze swept across the many instruments on the console.

His perception permeated the submersible.

"...We've reached the limit," he said. "The submersible's outer shell can't withstand it."

"...We were so close," Agatha said with obvious regret. "We were about to touch that floating island in the sea..."

"It's okay, it's just that the submersible can't hold on," Duncan shook his head gently, his gaze cast out the porthole. "There are things here that can hold on."

Agatha turned her head in confusion.

Duncan was still quietly watching out the window, watching those... humanoid things floating in the light.

"I remember you said just now that in your eyes, these 'crude' humanoid objects radiate a spiritual glow like living people."

Outside the porthole, a "humanoid object" with a rough outline slowly turned its head towards Agatha.

(End of this chapter)