Chapter 1

Down in South Port, the submersible control hall was brightly lit.

The light from gas lamps and electric lamps turned the entire hall as bright as day. A massive, ovoid submersible was suspended by steel cables at the top of a slipway leading to the sea. Undying engineers were bustling about, making final checks and adjustments before the submersible entered the water.

Beside the steel platform securing the submersible, Duncan sat in a chair, calmly watching everything. He was waiting for Tirian's subordinates to finish their preparations. The Undying – with their strange, ugly, even horrifying appearances – seemed enthusiastic, even subtly joyful and excited. A bald, burly man with a nervous expression on his face approached and bowed awkwardly before Duncan. "Uh… Captain, it's good to see you."

Duncan looked up at the burly man. He was wearing a sailor's shirt, his head was shiny bald, and his complexion was as pale as a corpse. Duncan cross-referenced him with the information he had learned. He nodded slightly. "You're Aiden. You were with Tirian back in the Lost Fleet days."

"That's me!" Aiden grinned. "You remember me?"

"I don't remember," Duncan shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't remember most things. The sub-dimension damaged my memory. I heard about you and the other first-generation sailors of the Sea Mist Fleet from others."

"Don't apologize, don't apologize." Aiden looked even more uneasy, shaking his head as he said, "It's… good you're back. Everyone missed you."

"More like they're scared, right?" Duncan smiled, glancing around the hall. Many eyes instinctively flinched away from his gaze.

"It's alright. I'm only using an avatar right now. If my true body were here, I'm afraid most of the sailors wouldn't be able to work in peace,"

"Most of them here are from the second generation, they are indeed more afraid of you," Aiden scratched the buttons on his shirt awkwardly.

"After all, their first encounter with you..."

"I know, the Frostwind skirmish half a century ago…" Duncan sighed softly, speaking casually. As he finished, Tirian strode over.

"The submersible is ready, Father."

"Oh, looks like it's time to depart."

A smile appeared on Duncan's face. He rose from the chair and walked with Tirian towards the platform securing the submersible. The submersible, a product of countless hours of intelligence and hard work, was waiting silently. Its circular hatch on the side was open. Beyond the thick watertight door, lights illuminated the interior. It didn't look spacious inside. Apart from a bewildering array of pipes, valves, and consoles, the space for people to move around seemed only enough for three or four people.

Duncan observed the submersible and stepped forward, but he suddenly stopped as if sensing something. He looked in a certain direction. A swirling gray wind suddenly swept into the hall, rapidly spiraling towards the submersible platform, and coalesced in front of Duncan, Tirian, and the others.

Agatha emerged from the gray wind – still dressed as a blind nun in a black robe with long, loose hair.

"I want to go with you." Without preamble, she spoke directly after arriving before Duncan.

"You want to go down too?" Duncan looked at Agatha in surprise.

"Why?"

"Because I want to see with my own eyes what's beneath Frostwind," Agatha said calmly and firmly.

"As the protector of this city, I can't just stay in the safe cathedral and wait for your results, and…" she stopped suddenly. After a few seconds of silence, she raised her head and, through the thick black cloth, stared into Duncan's eyes. "Besides, this is a city of Frostwinders. About the matters of the Frostwinders, there must be at least one Frostwinder in the submersible that we built. Let me… represent Governor Winston and all the past governors of Frostwind and take a look."

"Reasonable reasons, and you should already know the risks involved in doing so. Since you're prepared, I won't try to dissuade you," Duncan nodded, then turned to look at Tirian.

The latter reacted quickly, saying, "The submersible is designed to accommodate up to four people. Two people going in is certainly no problem, but…"

"It doesn't matter, I don't need to breathe," Agatha said softly, interrupting Tirian.

Tirian paused, then stepped back. "Alright, then there's no problem."

Duncan smiled. He stepped to the hatch of the submersible, turned, and extended a hand to Agatha. "Very well, let's go."

He and Agatha climbed into the submersible. The heavy circular hatch slowly closed. Two strong Undying sailors stepped onto the platform and tightened the locking mechanism on the hatch from the outside. The thick steel isolated the interior from the exterior. The narrow crew compartment became quiet, with only the occasional hum from the machines and pipes. There were no seats in the crew compartment. Duncan and Agatha stood before the console, holding onto the iron pipes that served as railings. Through the extremely thick and sturdy glass porthole on the side of the compartment, they could see the Undying sailors around the platform releasing the steel cables used to secure the submersible and disengaging the safety pins on both sides of the steel frame.

Tirian's voice came from a small device in the corner of the submersible console. "Father, Ms. Agatha, can you hear me?"

Duncan went to the console. "Yes, loud and clear."

"Good. I won't say much about the operation of the submersible. Its function is actually very simple. You shouldn't get it wrong. I'll talk about what will happen after entering the water."

"The submersible is powered by a small steam core and a generator connected to the steam core. In theory, it is sufficient to operate and complete all deep-sea missions, but if there is a problem with the steam core or generator, there are two batteries in the bottom of the submersible, which can allow the submersible to continue operating for about two hours..."

"There are three sets of high-power searchlights outside the cabin, but the effect is limited in the deep-sea environment, so please be careful when operating; and the underwater resistance is great, and the power of the propulsion system can only allow the submersible to move slowly, which also needs to be noted."

"The communication device of the submersible has an effective range of only three hundred meters, so after the depth exceeds three hundred meters, we will no longer be able to talk like this, but your power or Ms. Agatha's psychic resonance should not be affected."

"Also... although I may be worrying too much, even you, please pay attention to the dangers in the deep sea. If you encounter a situation that is not right, please immediately surface. The lever in the upper left corner of the console is for emergency ascent. Pulling it will directly drop the ballast structure at the bottom of the submersible, and the buoyancy ball will open on both sides of the hull... In the worst case, abandon the submersible. With your power, you can also directly teleport back with Ms. Agatha. Machines can be rebuilt..."

Duncan listened very carefully to Tirian's reminders. To be honest, this "former Great Pirate of the Frigid Sea" was indeed a bit long-winded. In Duncan's opinion, many of his exhortations were unnecessary, but Duncan still patiently listened to every word Tirian said.

Only after the other party finished speaking did he say in a deep voice, "I understand, begin."

Outside the submersible, in the command seat at the end of the hall, Tirian took a light breath, then nodded to his subordinates beside him.

"Open the sea valve!"

"Fill the channel with water!"

"Disconnect the external cables of the submersible and prepare to release the locking hooks!"

A low rumble penetrated the steel shell of the submersible, weakly echoing in the spherical cabin. A slight vibration came from underfoot, accompanied by the creaking sound of friction outside the hull. The sea valve opened. In the tunnel below the facility that led directly to the sea, seawater was rising rapidly, gradually reaching the predetermined water level. The last two steel cables above the submersible began to creak and release downwards bit by bit.

Duncan and Agatha first felt a shake, then sank downwards. After a brief moment of weightlessness, the submersible entered the water. They began to sink along the sloping tunnel and moved quickly towards a sea opening on the outer edge of South Port under the guidance of a series of slides. Outside the porthole, seawater surged upwards, then gradually fell into darkness. Only occasional flashes of light could be seen in the darkness. The flashes became faster and faster, and the vibration of the submersible became more and more intense.

And finally, all the vibrations subsided. Outside the porthole, there was only an endless deep blue that was gradually dimming. Sunlight shone through the seawater above, casting moving, alternating columns of light and darkness outside the window. Bubbles rose from outside the hull in the gradually darkening seawater.

Accompanied by the reflection of the afterglow of the sun, it was like some kind of sea creature lingering with psychedelic colors.

Agatha seemed to be attracted by the "scenery" outside the porthole. She slowly left the driver's seat, held on to the handrail, and came to the porthole. She curiously leaned over, and through the thick black cloth, her eyes, which had turned into empty sockets, stared blankly at the deep blue that was rapidly sinking into darkness.

"What can you see?" Duncan asked casually as he familiarized himself with the not-so-complicated levers and buttons on the console.

"Light, all kinds of faint light," Agatha said softly, as if talking to herself, or as if she was intoxicated in a psychedelic state.

"They flow like rivers, forming huge, complex but orderly currents... But in fact, it's already dark outside now, right?"

"There's still a little bit of residual sunlight, but it will be completely dark soon," Duncan slowly turned the submersible to an angle.

"How about now?"

"A very huge curtain of light, weak, but it fills my entire field of vision," Agatha said, her tone seeming to carry a kind of shock.

"What is that?"

"That is Frostwind," Duncan said calmly. His gaze passed through the porthole. Under the increasingly faint sunlight and the illumination of the submersible's high-power searchlights, an incredibly wide and rough, mottled "cliff" was quietly standing in the sea. "It is the foundation of the city-state."