Ashes Of Deep Sea
Chapter 478 - Chapter 478 Chapter 479 Human

Chapter 478: Chapter 479 “Human Chapter 478: Chapter 479 “Human With the rumbling noises coming from the ballast tanks, the submarine surpassed the drooping realm of decay and continued its descent into an even more unknown and terrifying abyss.

From the City-State, tentacles hung down and that huge, pale eyeball completely vanished in the spotlight’s beam; the vast, boundless dark waters refilled the view outside the porthole, with only occasional specks of light emerging from the depths (reflections from bubbles or plankton) to remind Duncan that he was inside a submarine navigating through water, not floating in the open, unsupported universe.

But he couldn’t help forming strange associations–if seen from the perspective of “unknown and laden with horror,” what difference was there, really, between the empty expanse of space and the dark, deep sea filled with billions of tons of water?

The steam core propelled the propulsion system, a dull noise came from the engine room, and the control panel in front of the helm occasionally hissed as the pressure gauges indicated the current operating conditions of the submarine; Duncan slowed the descent to avoid drastic pressure changes from damaging the hull, then he turned his head to look at the silent sentinel standing beside him.

“Agatha, what are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking… about the pioneers who originally embarked on the deep abyss mission, whether they actually saw the same things we’re seeing,” Agatha hesitated before speaking, “the truth beneath the City-State, the indescribable corpses, the tentacles and eyeball dangling towards the deep sea… Before the whole project spiraled out of control, during those dives, did really no one out of curiosity–or even recklessness–look back ‘upwards’?”

Duncan remained silent for a moment, his mind recalling the secrets about the deep abyss mission he had once heard from Terrian.

It seemed that even Frost’s general, once deeply trusted by the queen, did not know the full scope of the deep abyss mission–Did no one ever discover the truth beneath the City-State? Or was it… this too horrifying truth, like the secrets in the boiling gold mines, buried and concealed?

“Perhaps, someone really did look back, but what they saw was destined not to be recorded,” Duncan said softly after several seconds of silence, “You are the protector of the City-State, you understand better than I do what this truth means.”

“…Many would go mad,” Agatha slowly said, “even without being influenced by the powers of the deep sea, merely one terrifying fact can trigger widespread nightmares and panic–after that, nightmares and panic might materialize and possibly form an unpredictable connection with the ‘reality’ beneath the City-State, in the worst case… ‘It’ might come to life.”

“Mortals live in a sea of darkness filled with horror, with their very foothold established atop twisted, grotesque corpses; dullness and blindness are the only mercies bestowed upon all beings, allowing most ordinary people to stay away from those maddening truths–yet the key issue is that there are always ‘a few cases’.”

“…Are you going to reveal our findings?”

“For the time being, I won’t share such impactful news with any ordinary person because the calm, ordinary lives of the vast majority don’t need to be disturbed by it; but there’s a saying you might have heard–‘Once you are aware of its existence, it is already a part of the earthly fate.'”

“Abnormal and Anomalous Law, Article Two,” Agatha nodded, “What is known cannot be erased. The truth beneath the City-State has already appeared before us, the connection in fate has been established, and sooner or later we will have to deal with it again.”

Duncan nodded gently, adding nothing further.

At that moment, a strange, abrupt, and low “thud thud” suddenly echoed within the submersible, interrupting thoughts between him and Agatha.

The sound seemed… as if something was banging on the exterior of the submersible.

Agatha was instantly startled by the noise, and she looked up in shock, “Did you hear that? It sounds like someone is knocking from outside…”

Duncan was also startled by the sudden noise, but soon he glanced at the several instruments in front of the control panel, and while furrowing his eyebrows slightly, he said in a solemn voice, “This should be water pressure–the immense pressure of the sea water is causing the submersible’s shell to deform slightly. Don’t worry, this is normal, and within the design parameters.”

Agatha seemed a bit reassured, yet she still appeared a bit tense.

Submerging in the dark depths of the sea was an unprecedented experience, and even as a guardian with immense power, she could not help but feel a sense of helplessness and tension, a sensation unimaginable on the stable surface.

In this place far removed from the civilized world, the blessings of the gods had waned, and individual power had become insignificant, with the cold physical laws and unknown fate constructing an ever-narrowing “crevice.” Inside the crevice lay survival, while outside lay nothing but skeletons, and the only thing they could rely on in between… was merely a steel sphere.

Now, the “thud thud” coming from the submersible’s shell continuously reminded Agatha: facing the enormous pressure of billions of tons of sea water, it was actually as fragile as paper, and what kept this shell from collapsing, besides the toughness of the steel itself, was only the delicate balance of its physical structure.

This was a type of terror completely different from facing the heretical Evil God or bizarre natural disasters, a terror… named “Natural Law.”

Perhaps out of nervousness, or perhaps because the silence inside the submersible and the sounds from outside made the atmosphere too oppressive, Agatha quieted down for a few seconds before looking for a topic of conversation. She watched Duncan operate the levers and cranks, “You have a knack for operating machinery–I initially thought Governor Tyrion would send an engineer who knows how to pilot, but it turns out you’re quite skilled.”

“Skilled?” Duncan slightly turned his head, “But to be honest, I don’t know how to operate it–at least not until today.”

Agatha: “…Ah?”

“But Tyrion’s people don’t know either, including those engineers who can read blueprints,” Duncan shrugged and continued, “They can only tell me what these levers do based on the diagrams, but once they understood the function of each lever, their ‘driving skills’ are actually the same as mine. No one knows how to operate it, no one has operated it before, it was built by the governors of Frost City-State, and its mode of operation is completely different from those submersibles from fifty years ago, and the people who truly understood it are all dead, that’s the reality.”

Agatha opened her mouth, seemingly suddenly unsure what to say.

Duncan, noticing her reaction, smiled and shook his head, “However, I have at least two advantages over them. First, I don’t have to worry about safety issues, even if things get worse, I can still return safely, and second…”

He paused, then looked down at the control stick in his hands and the control panel in front of him.

Tiny, ghostly green flames flitted between the gears and connecting rods, the holy steam and grease saturating this complex, massive machine, while the glow of the Spiritual Fire filled the space between the steam and grease.

The steam core, like a powerfully throbbing heart, obeyed Duncan’s every command.

Of course, it wasn’t as “obedient and handy” as the Homeloss–this soulless machine could only relay rigid and faint sensory signals, but that was enough.

“Secondly, these machines are quite obedient in my hands.”

Agatha felt the flow of the flame.

The flames filled the steel and machine oil around her, the hissing steam and gears, flowing within this soulless machine like blood–just as the flames flowed within her body, subtly resonating with each other.

This trickle of Spiritual Fire even made her feel somewhat safe in the dark, icy depths of the sea.

She slightly bowed her head, as if to pay her respects to Duncan.

But Duncan paid no attention to Agatha’s reactions; his focus had already returned to the task of piloting.

After all, even if the fire of the Spiritual Body allowed him better perception of the machine’s status, when it came to actual operation, he still had to do it himself.

There was no helping it–he had never sailed a ship before being abruptly thrown at the helm of the Homeloss–He had already adapted to this life’s rhythm of “even though I have no idea what this thing does, I just have to go ahead and deal with it…”

And then, as if knocking, a sudden sound came from outside the hull–

“Thud.”

Short and clear, as if something had been struck, different from the previous “knocking sounds” coming from outside the hull.

Agatha immediately noticed this strange noise, “Another sound… is it the hull deforming again?”

But Duncan suddenly frowned and placed his hand on another lever beside him.

“It doesn’t seem like… it’s something else.”

He distinctly felt that something had collided with the submarine’s hull from below.

A buzz of machinery emanated inside the submarine, and the searchlight outside the porthole slowly rotated in the pitch dark, adjusting the submarine’s orientation with the rotating propellers.

Finally, something appeared in the light outside the porthole.

A person.

A figure that looked like a person… a thing.

Agatha instantly “saw” it–the outline of that figure suddenly emerged in her vision, emitting a spiritual glow much like she would see other people on the surface.

Only, this glow was dimmer and paler.

She let out a soft gasp, “Ah!”

Even Duncan’s eyes widened, nearly exclaiming “Fuck!”

In the deep sea nearly a kilometer deep beneath the Frost City-State, a person suddenly drifting into view from the submarine’s porthole brought a shock nearly comparable to the scene previously seen under the City-State: a field of tentacles and the pale, enormous eyeball amidst them!

And then, as the submarine adjusted its position and the light swept across, an even more eerie, terrifying, and spine-chilling scene appeared before Duncan and Agatha–

People, densely packed “people,” floating in the dark, icy waters!