A steadily approaching presence suddenly interrupted the current topic, and Agatha immediately withdrew her fingers from the mirror's surface.

"Someone's coming, it's a servant."

"Understood, I won't scare him." The voice from the mirror went directly into her mind, "I'm right beside you, you'll find me when you look carefully." Agatha nodded.

But just before the "she" in the mirror departed, she seemed to suddenly think of something and subconsciously asked, "Is it cold over there?"

"It's not cold anymore." The voice dissipated in her mind, and the feeling of being watched gradually faded. The other Agatha reflected in the mirror returned to a normal reflection, eyes covered with a black cloth, wearing a priestess's robe, quietly standing in front of the mirror. Agatha hesitated, tentatively reaching out towards the mirror's surface, only to touch the cold glass—it even made her wonder if everything that had just happened was just an illusion; and almost at the same time, she heard footsteps approaching the door, along with a soft knock.

"High Priestess, are you inside?" Her old subordinates among the guardians still habitually called her "Gatekeeper," while the clerical officials in the church had already begun to call her "High Priestess." Agatha composed herself, and turned around without batting an eye: "I am, come in." The door opened, and a high-ranking church attendant in a gray tunic appeared in the doorway, bowing to Agatha in salute.

"High Priestess, there's an urgent message from City Hall, requesting you go to South Port immediately. General Tirian is already waiting for you there."

"City Hall? Asking me to go to South Port?" Agatha frowned subconsciously, feeling that this news was somewhat unusual.

"Was there any explanation as to what it's about?"

"No, they said it's an emergency and not suitable for spreading." The high-ranking attendant's tone was somewhat hesitant, "But General Tirian sent word, saying that the Master of Fire might be interested."

Agatha's expression changed slightly in an instant. "I understand, prepare the car, I'll leave immediately." Not long after, Agatha had already boarded the steam car bound for South Port. Considering the message Tirian had sent, she didn't bring any followers, but went alone; and on the way to the port district, her mind was filled with endless speculation. What exactly had happened to make that "General Tirian" react like this? During the previous war, South Port was once occupied by counterfeit monsters, and the cleanup work was still ongoing. Could it be that they had discovered something among those ruins? Was it a blasphemous relic left behind by the Annihilation Cultists, or a suspicious "sample" left over after the counterfeit monsters retreated? No matter which possibility, it shouldn't have caused General Tirian to react this way; with these chaotic and somewhat烦躁 thoughts, Agatha quickly passed through the deserted streets, which seemed empty due to the state of martial law, passed through checkpoints and checkpoints, and arrived at the southern port district, which was still under complete lockdown.

Soldiers of the City-State Guard guarded all the intersections, fully armed Church Guardians patrolled and inspected the severely damaged buildings, marking contaminated areas awaiting disposal. Priests were collecting samples in those contaminated areas, and occasionally one could see students from the Academy wearing heavy protective equipment, walking among the buildings under the guidance of their instructors. They were civil engineering students, and today they were here to check the condition of important port facilities and prepare for subsequent repairs.

The car stopped in an open space on the edge of the restricted area, and Agatha, led by two soldiers, passed through a series of busy "work sites," walking towards a rather remote direction within the port district. They finally stopped in front of a large building that looked like a warehouse.

"We can only take you this far." The two soldiers who led the way turned around and said to Agatha with a slight apology, "We don't know the specific situation below. The General will explain it to you."

Below? Agatha keenly noticed this statement, but she didn't ask anything, just nodded lightly to the two soldiers in thanks, and strode towards the warehouse, which seemed to have been sealed for a long time, with traces of war still remaining on its exterior;

Guarding the warehouse door were not soldiers of the City-State Guard, but a squad of undead sailors. In Agatha's eyes, the living were warm and clear figures emitting a faint light, while the undead were empty and pale shells. From their blurred silhouettes rose smoke that reminded one of ashes. After realizing that the entire warehouse was guarded by the undead, Agatha further realized that the situation here was definitely unusual, because compared to the City-State Guard, General Tirian obviously trusted his undead legion more.

"Madam," an undead guarding the door walked over. His upper and lower body were separated, with nearly a quarter of his torso missing in the middle, with only some messy floating strips of cloth connecting the two halves of his body. His upper body was draped in a new coat symbolizing the Frost Guard, but on the sleeve of the coat was also a sleeve badge representing the Queen's Guard. The undead sailor came to Agatha, and despite his terrifying appearance, gave an incredibly standard military salute.

"After you go in, someone will take you to the elevator. The General is already waiting for you in the underground facility."

Agatha nodded. She was now certain that unless she arrived on the scene, no one would reveal to her what was down below.

After entering the warehouse, she met another team of undead sailors who were there to meet her, and under their guidance, she found the elevator hidden in the corner of the warehouse, seemingly "dug out" from behind a pile of disguised wall panels. Then she boarded the elevator, and as the iron cage descended all the way down, it took several minutes to reach an underground facility buried deep underground that had never appeared in any official records. Stepping out of the car, in the dim and chaotic view, she "saw" a spacious hall. In the hall, the "sludge" remaining after the counterfeit invasion could be seen everywhere. Undead sailors were cleaning up those things, and a tall figure stood at the end of the hall, guarding a door; it was General Tirian—the new governor of Frost City-State. Agatha strode towards that figure.

"Oh, Ms. Agatha, you've finally arrived," Tirian took the initiative to greet her, "I thought you would arrive here in a gust of wind, directly from the central district of the Upper City, as the rumors say." "I'm used to using Greywind to travel—but not to the point of having to run over here myself even across half the city," Agatha said casually, then raised her head, her gaze falling on the door behind Tirian, "What exactly is going on here? Why is there such a facility under South Port?"

"You're surprised, everyone is surprised—this facility doesn't exist in any official records. If it weren't for cleaning up the ruins here, we really wouldn't have found it." Tirian shook his head, "Guess what we found in this hidden large facility?"

"Don't play games, General," Agatha sighed, and in her eye sockets covered by black cloth, a faint green flame flashed, "There are no outsiders here." Tirian smiled, then his expression finally became serious, and he slightly stepped aside, "See for yourself, it's behind this door."

Agatha turned her "gaze" to the door. Traces of blood and bullet crater dents left in the battle could still be vaguely seen on the door. Obviously, during the previous Frost City-State defense battle, an unknown battle had also taken place deep within this unknown facility. However, now, both the invaders and the defenders had disappeared in that battle. She reached out and "slightly" used force to push the heavy door open little by little. The door's locking mechanism had been destroyed, and the heavy alloy door retreated to the side with a creaking sound. A more spacious space, illuminated by gas lamps and electric lights, appeared in Agatha's perception, and the salty smell of seawater also entered her nostrils. She stood at the entrance of this hall, staring blankly at the huge machine shaped like an ellipsoidal giant egg, fixed between sturdy beams in her field of vision. And at the lower oblique of this huge machine, at the end of a long chute, was the source of the seawater smell—it was obviously a waterway, with the other end leading directly to the sea. After standing in shock for a long time, Agatha broke the silence.

"This is a deep-sea submersible," Tirian breathed softly, his tone carrying an indescribable complex emotion, "Manufactured based on the blueprints of the last generation of deep-sea submersibles, it uses many newer technologies, more advanced than what we used back then..."

"Her speculation in her mind was confirmed," Agatha couldn't help but gasp, "Then she suddenly turned her head: "Who built this?"

"Possibly Governor Winston, or perhaps several previous governors—we haven't found detailed construction and approval records, so we can't confirm who issued the original construction order," Tirian said slowly, "Judging only from the small amount of information currently found, this facility was secretly operating until at least two months ago."