Ashes Of Deep Sea
Chapter 451 - Chapter 451 Chapter 452 All Is Permitted

Chapter 451: Chapter 452 All Is Permitted Chapter 451: Chapter 452 All Is Permitted The Frost Queen’s deep abyss project half a century ago was aimed at identifying and resolving the boiling gold issue beneath the City-State. Generation after generation, the Governors inherited secrets about boiling gold, the queen, the curse, and the Deep Sea Ancient God. The power of the Saint formed a physical projection within the City-State and carved out this tremendous hollow area… Every single piece of intelligence was heart-stirring.

But for Duncan, the combined weight of these pieces of intelligence was nothing compared to the shock of “the Ancient God that invaded the City-State is a replica.”

Fenna also realized the staggering implications encompassed in that statement. The professional Judge, who regularly dealt with heretical aberrations, now looked extremely grave as she gazed at the “colossal pillar” supporting the entire cave. After a long silence, she began, “First and foremost, this object is indeed a remnant left by the ‘Ancient God’ that invaded the City-State… And the source of this object is still located beneath the City-State, in the deep sea. Therefore, what Agatha referred to earlier as a ‘mockery’ can be interpreted in two ways.”

“Yes, two interpretations,” Duncan nodded, “The first interpretation is that the ‘source’ at the seabed is authentic. Hence, in a sense, the ‘erosion entity’ that the source projects into the City-State could be seen as a kind of replica, a counterfeit. As for the second interpretation…”

He paused, looking up at the colossal pillar that supported the entire cave, and after a moment, he exhaled.

“The second interpretation is that the ‘source’ at the seabed is also a replica–another one that Agatha touched upon in the final moments, not just the Ancient God’s tendrils in this ‘cave’, but through these tendrils, she learned the truth of the deep sea. However, due to limited time, she wasn’t able to leave much explanation.”

The room fell quiet for a time as Alice raised her head, her curious gaze sweeping over everyone–she hadn’t fully grasped what everyone was discussing, but she was earnestly listening and trying to comprehend. After quite a while, she finally tugged Duncan’s arm, “Sounds a bit scary?”

“Yes, and it’s not clear which possibility is scarier,” said Duncan, his use of “scary” contrasted by a hint of amusement in his eyes. He patted Alice’s hair reassuringly, comforting the doll who seemed tense despite not understanding the situation, “You don’t have to worry so much, things won’t be any more troublesome than a mirror Frost.”

“Yes, no more troublesome than a mirror Frost–as long as we don’t let the ‘source’ under the sea continue to develop,” Agatha interjected. She turned her head and “looked” into Duncan’s eyes, “Just as you said last time, we ultimately need to explore beneath the Frost again, to see if the ‘Ancient God’ that has invaded the real world is still there…”

Duncan softly “Hmm” in agreement; he knew Agatha had not been idling and was already preparing for this matter, so he didn’t urge further. However, at that moment, he suddenly caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye.

A glowing object flickered in Agatha’s right hand, seemingly some sort of metallic artifact.

“Agatha, what is that in your hand?”

“In my hand?” Agatha suddenly looked startled, raising her hand subconsciously, and only then did she suddenly realize the sensation of a foreign object in her palm–a cool metal, yet as if it had been warmed slightly by body temperature.

It was an oddly shaped brass key.

“A key…” Fenna stared at the object in surprise and then realized, “Ah, is it the key you mentioned earlier–the one passed by Governor Winston to another ‘Agatha’? The key left by the Frost Queen?”

Duncan’s expression shifted slightly, “Let me have a look.”

“Of course.” Agatha, without hesitation, handed the key over to Duncan.

The brass key, with a robust “infinity” symbol as its handle, had no serration at its tip. Instead, there was a round rod structure with grooves, akin to… a “winding key” used for winding up dolls.

Alice curiously drew closer, clinging to Duncan’s arm, “Let me see, let me see… Ah? Is this a key? It looks different from any key I’ve seen… What is it for?”

No one spoke up.

All eyes fell on the young doll lady.

“Why are you all looking at me?” Alice, belatedly realizing, pointed at herself, “Did I screw 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 a sense of familiarity, or an impulse to touch it?”

“Not at all…” Alice shook her head, looking completely clueless, “I’ve never seen it before.”

Fenna leaned closer and whispered in Duncan’s ear, “Captain, do you think…”

“I remember Nina mentioning,” Duncan said slowly, “Alice has a keyhole in her back.”

Hearing this, Agatha turned with surprise to look at the gothic doll standing nearby.

In an instant, as if everything was interconnected, points spanning across time connected inside the Ancient God-corroded cave, forming a winding line.

The key left by the Frost Queen and the doll, “Anomaly 099,” bearing an uncanny resemblance to the Frost Queen, were the two endpoints of this cross-temporal line.

However, under several scrutinizing gazes, Alice merely looked around bewilderedly before lifting her arm, fumbling on her back with effort.

“I didn’t touch it,” she said, somewhat aggrieved and a bit apologetic, “my clothes got in the way.”

“Let’s talk about it when we get back, this matter… requires caution,” Duncan said in a deep voice, breaking the somewhat tense atmosphere in the cave. Then he looked up at Agatha, “May I take this key with me?”

“…In theory, this key is an heirloom of the Frost Governor from generation to generation, and according to what Governor Winston said, it also contains ‘information’ left by the Frost Queen, so…”

Agatha paused, then shook her head gently.

“It’s all in the past, of course, you can take it.”

“Thank you.” Without further politeness, Duncan handed the key to the pigeon that was perched on his shoulder, and in a flash of a ghostly green light, Ai Yi and the key vanished from his shoulder. The next second, the pigeon returned, but the key had disappeared.

It had been sent to the ship, into the hands of Duncan’s own body.

Duncan fiddled with the key that had just been delivered to his hands on the Homeloss, while in the underground caverns of the Frost City-State, he turned to glance at the giant pillar that supported the cave and tapped the hard, cold stone on the surface.

“We should leave now,” he said.

The cave was immense, and even with the help of the Spiritual Fire, the group had only explored a small part of the hollow. But for Duncan, the information gathered so far was sufficient.

He needed time to slowly organize and digest his findings from this place, and the follow-up exploration… could be entrusted to Agatha and her subordinates.

Having confirmed that there was no remnant pollution from the Ancient God and that the cave had a stable support structure, Agatha could safely bring her people here.

Following the path left by the Spiritual Fire, the group safely withdrew from the vast hollow and took the elevator back to the mining tunnel on the upper level.

On the way out of the molten gold mine, Duncan asked Agatha curiously, “What do you think about the hollow area below?”

“Thoughts?” Agatha pondered for a moment, “I’ll probably lead a few more explorations to at least understand the surface of the cavern and the area around that huge pillar. If during this process, we find anything valuable, I’ll share the information with you immediately. As for the future…”

She stopped here, seeming to consider seriously before speaking slowly, “Later on, I would suggest that the City-State find a way to mine the molten gold within the cavern, trying to extract it without causing the hollow area to collapse or damaging that ‘pillar.’ Of course, how exactly that’s done is up to the professionals at the municipal hall.”

“Aren’t you worried about the hidden dangers of that molten gold?” Duncan asked offhandedly, “After all, it could be something left by the Ancient God.”

“…The City-State must first survive, then consider everything else,” Agatha shook her head slightly, “And after ‘seeing’ what’s in the cavern, I’ve thought of something.”

“Oh?”

“If the molten gold beneath Frost is a product left after the corrosion by the power of the Ancient God, what about the other City-States above the Endless Sea? Is the underground of each City-State… really without problems?”

The scene fell silent.

“After the exhaustion of the vein during the Queen’s era, Frost mined molten gold from the mirror world for fifty years–we instinctively think that the molten gold from the mirror world, like other things from that world, are all ‘replications,’ but the fact is, the molten gold didn’t disappear after the mirror City-State was destroyed, and even left a new ‘rich vein’ in the underground cavern we just discovered… The only possible explanation is that the ‘molten gold’ created by the power of the Ancient God is not ‘twisted.'”

“If the molten gold created by the power of the Ancient God isn’t twisted–then it can only be a natural part of the world,” said Duncan, his words laden with depth, “This is already sounding a bit close to the heretical ‘Creation of the Saint’ theory of the cult of obliteration.”

“Yes, it’s content that would be considered heresy,” Agatha admitted calmly and openly.

“But you don’t seem to be shaken.”

Agatha stopped, slowly lifting her head, her gaze seemingly piercing through the black cloth band, quietly looking straight ahead.

At the end of the passage was the ground exit of the mine, where bright sunlight was pouring in, warm and compelling.

In Agatha’s perception, the whole world was still cold, cold like a tomb.

But she knew that the sunlight was warm.

“Just like I said earlier, the City-State must first survive,” the devout priestess whispered, clasping her hands at her chest as if in prayer, “There’s only one kind of heresy in the world–anything that hinders our survival is heresy, beyond that, all is permitted.”