Chapter 11 In the Depths

In the valley deep within Holy Land Island, Vanna, who was leading the team setting up camp at the tunnel entrance, received news from the cave. She widened her eyes in astonishment. "Shirley and Agou are missing?"

"Strictly speaking, they were 'transferred' somewhere by some kind of space-time mechanism in the cave," Duncan's voice sounded in Vanna's mind. "Have you observed any changes on the surface?"

"No, everything is normal on the surface. Amber just led a team to search the depths of the valley and found nothing except a few empty huts and some human remains swallowed by the island," Vanna replied immediately. "The island is very calm now..."

In the underground cave, Duncan nodded slightly after hearing Vanna's report from the surface, then his gaze fell on Morris and Alice beside him.

"Everything is normal on the surface. Holy Land Island hasn't shown any signs of 'activation'. It seems that the situation Shirley and Agou encountered is different from what happened to those Annihilation cultists."

"Where did they go?" Alice asked anxiously. "Didn't you say you could still feel the 'mark' of the two of them? Are they alright?"

"They're still alive, but in a place I can't locate. I suspect..."

Duncan stopped halfway, not rushing to a conclusion, but he obviously had a guess in his mind. After a brief silence, he looked up, thoughtfully gazing into the depths of the cave.

In the dim, dark depths, a huge object vaguely stood.

Every time he blinked, a massive prism surrounded by cables and pipes would appear, its surface flashing with lights, as if emitting a silent invitation.

He came to that place, letting the flames dispel the darkness—in the light brought by the spirit fire, a magnificent gate stood silently, as if directly embedded in the rock walls on either side.

On the open space around the gate, many tools scattered in haste could be seen, and some human structures, melted beyond recognition and seemingly swallowed by the soil and rocks, were embedded in the surrounding ground and walls, looking hideous and terrifying.

Undoubtedly, this was the "final chamber" Shirley mentioned, the last excavation site deep underground on Holy Land Island, the place where those Annihilation cultists finally "awakened" the entire island.

Duncan came to the gate and quickly observed its structure in the firelight—the dark stone door was tightly closed, its surface rough and uneven, as if once covered by overgrown vines, which had now become chaotic pits and patterns on the door. However, in those chaotic pits and patterns that seemed to have no rules or logic, Duncan vaguely recognized something.

It was the strange text he had seen in that "hall," the symbols he had once seen in the illusion of the New Hope's crash.

He frowned slightly, but before he could read the information hidden in those patterns, Alice, who was beside him, broke the silence in a low voice, "Navigator One... Intervention Interface?"

Duncan suddenly turned his head, looking at the puppet who was raising her head to observe the gate. "You understood the information on this door?"

Alice frowned and slowly shook her head. "I didn't see any information on the door... The thought just suddenly popped into my head..."

Duncan stared into Alice's eyes, his thoughts racing. He turned his gaze away, turned around, and came to the door—after a few seconds of hesitation and thought, he placed his hand on the gate and closed his eyes slightly while concentrating his mind.

Ghostly green flames spread from his fingertips and disappeared into the door in a flash.

And in his other perspective, in a dark and distant strange dimension, a point of fire seemed to be suddenly blown by the wind, flickering slightly in the depths of darkness.

In that cluster of weak, flickering fire, Duncan heard Shirley's voice—a little clearer than before, but still separated by a thick veil.

She was scared, she was cold, she had just lost something very important—she was carefully building a protective shell, and something malicious... was gathering around her.

Duncan suddenly opened his eyes.

"Lucille." He called out in his mind to the "witch" who was standing by on the Radiant Star.

Lucresia's voice immediately came: "Do you need me?"

"Bring the 'Saint' here. I've found the 'connection point'. Now I need to open a door and go to the Deep Sea to pick someone up."

"Understood."

The voice in his mind faded away, and Duncan slowly raised his right hand—a particularly bright flame, so bright that it was almost blinding, was gradually taking shape in his palm.

He pressed the flame against the dark stone door, watching it gradually seep into the gate, into the strange and dark dimension behind the gate. Before the flame completely disappeared, he whispered to it, "...Shirley, don't be afraid."

...

It was dark, cold, and the body was as heavy as lead. A strange stinging sensation spread from the arm, all the way to the shoulder, and then to half of the body. The stinging gradually turned into numbness, as if this body no longer belonged to itself, as if its flesh and blood had unknowingly turned into something it could not understand or control.

The surrounding "swamp" had gradually receded at some point, but an even stronger sense of malice and danger was constantly surging from all around. Shirley hid in the depths of a pile of "bushes" that looked like a chaotic jumble of bone fragments, curling up and remaining still.

Confused and crazy roars and whispers came from afar. Invisible hunters were patrolling in the darkness, searching for uninvited guests who had broken into this place. It was only a matter of time before the hunter's aura slowly approached and the "prey" was discovered.

But this time, there were no Deep Sea Hounds to protect her.

Shirley hugged her twisted and deformed arm even tighter, shrinking herself further into the depths of the bushes. She had "smelled" the aura here and understood where she was.

This was the Deep Sea, Agou's "hometown."

The demons' lair.

The faint sound of "thump, thump" rang in her ears. The throbbing from her chest awakened Shirley from her daze. She lowered her head blankly, looking at the two hearts she was holding in her arms.

"Papa... Mama..."

She muttered softly, just like when she was a child and didn't want to sleep, huddled in bed and whispering to "them"—

"I'm a little scared... I want to hug you..."

The two hearts were still beating slowly, the thump-thump sound so real—for many years in the past, they had been beating inside a Deep Sea demon, and through the thick bones and chaotic smoke, their beating had never been so clearly heard by Shirley.

Shirley tightened her arm slightly, but felt a strange sensation.

She lowered her head and saw a pair of arms covered in thin bone armor, with blade-like structures extending from the elbow joints, slowly unfolding as if they were alive. She also saw her chest—a frightening cavity, with bones and black smoke rising in the cavity. A damaged dark red organ was struggling to beat between the smoke and bones, gradually weakening every second.

That damaged organ was called a "heart" in the human body.

"...So my heart was bitten through by Agou back then... No wonder it's so cold..."

Shirley said softly, adjusting her posture slightly in the bushes. She saw that her legs were also gradually covered with a layer of hideous and strange black bone fragments, and the smoke representing Deep Sea pollution was constantly rising from the bone fragments, dissipating into the air.

She felt sleepier and sleepier.

Would she die as a Deep Sea demon? Or had she already been a Deep Sea demon in human skin ever since twelve years ago, when Agou merged with her?

The brief thought inexplicably floated into Shirley's mind, but soon, even this thought dissipated in the increasingly strong sleepiness.

She didn't want to think about this question, nor would she think about this question.

She didn't understand these things, these overly "philosophical" problems... were too profound for her.

She was more concerned about water, food, fuel for heating, and clothes for winter.

The roars and whispers were closer. The hunters in the darkness were approaching this edge of the land, their expanding and contracting forms casting darker shadows in the darkness, and the icy touch seemed to touch Shirley's skin one step ahead.

But her body was slowly falling down—the two constantly beating hearts could no longer awaken her from the intense sleepiness. In her fragmented chest cavity, the heart that had been gnawed on by the demon was slowly making its last beat.

Warm light appeared in the darkness, as if a warm sunlight was shining on her face. Shirley squinted her eyes slightly, comfortably and relaxedly breathing a sigh of relief.

It was a warm winter afternoon.

The sunlight shone through the window, falling on the peeling and faded wooden windowsill. The kettle on the stove was making a cheerful hissing sound. Mom was busy in the kitchen, and the aroma of baking cookies wafted into the living room. Dad didn't have to go to work today. He was squatting next to the dining table, trying to fix the table that always creaked. The clear sound of the postman riding his bicycle through the intersection and the sound of the carriage passing over the stone road came from the street.

Shirley was dozing on the sofa, about to fall asleep.

Then, Dad would come over, he would pick her up and take her to bed in the bedroom. Mom would come out of the kitchen and knock Dad on the head with a long-handled spoon—because his dirty hands had smudged his daughter's skirt...

Shirley lay on the sofa, a smile slowly appearing on her face. Like that afternoon many years ago, she gently turned over, her arm falling from the back of the sofa onto her body, and curled up on her chest.

She touched a heart that had stopped beating.

All the warmth collapsed in an instant. Darkness and coldness broke through the warm sunlight of the afternoon like an avalanche. She widened her eyes in the darkness, but as fear roared in, she saw the figure squatting next to the dining table, the figure that should have disappeared with the "collapse," slowly standing up and walking towards her.

That figure was transforming in the flames, scorching all things in the darkness.

"Shirley, don't be afraid."

(End of this chapter)