Ashes Of Deep Sea
Chapter 554 - Chapter 554 Chapter 555 Its Alive

Chapter 554: Chapter 555 It’s Alive Chapter 554: Chapter 555 It’s Alive The corridor of the underground archive fell into silence.

This place was located beneath the highest-tier university in Light Breeze Harbor, comparable to the central cathedral of a city-state managed by the Death Church or the deep sea–it was clear that the “sealed artifacts” contained here were far from ordinary. At the very least, they would have to be exceptional beings like Alice, ranking within the top one hundred, or pollutants with a similar level of danger.

And such beings or pollutants shared a common trait: characteristics of living things.

They might possess inconceivable cognitive abilities, means of communication with humans, or tendencies to move and escape, and regardless of how pronounced these “characteristics of living things” were, they at least had the instinct to seek benefit and avoid harm–just like Alice, who had instinctively behaved herself before Duncan even though she had no memory of him.

In short, they had a bit of brains–though not much, but enough to fear death.

Duncan appreciated these somewhat intelligent beings, which often made things easier for him on many occasions.

Lucresa looked over here with a hint of awe, Nina and Sherry first widened their eyes in surprise, then raised their faces pridefully–God knows why they felt so pleased with themselves.

Ted Riel, on the other hand, first paused, then looked at Duncan with a complicated gaze–not with common fear, but also devoid of vigilance and hostility. It seemed he was pondering something and only after several seconds did he suddenly blurt out, “You can come here more often while you’re in Light Breeze Harbor.”

“Oh?” Duncan was somewhat surprised, “During my first encounter with other city-states, they couldn’t wait for me to stay as far away as possible. Places like the central cathedral were guarded by heavy forces straight away. Why are you inviting me over here?”

Ted pointed his finger at the now quiet corridor: “When you’re here, I can take a break.”

Duncan: “…?”

However, the Truth Confidant in front of him did not pay attention to the subtle reactions of the others to his words. He just mentioned it and continued to walk deeper into the corridor.

The others picked up their pace to follow him, but this time Duncan intentionally lagged a few steps behind. He approached Lucresa and asked in a low voice, “I don’t remember much about this ‘Confidant,’ does he always act like this? I mean… this resentment, as if he’s been overworked for a lifetime.”

Lucresa lowered her voice as well: “Lord Ted has recently been teaching the graduating class.”

Duncan froze upon hearing this: “…The leader of the city-state’s guardians still has to do this? I remember that Fenna didn’t have other duties like this when she was a Judge.”

“The Divine Power and the actions of the Believers are closely related. Studying and disseminating knowledge are necessary parts of performing the sacred rites for the followers of Rahm. That’s why the entire clerical system of the Academy of Truth is structured as an ‘academy,’ where senior clergy must teach students. The higher the rank, the heavier and more difficult the teaching duties are–thus, the Truth Confidant has to teach the graduating class, and it’s the most difficult one to manage.”

Duncan: “…”

As he listened to Lucresa share this astonishing new knowledge, a strange feeling welled up in his heart, and he could not help but look up and take in the Confidant a few paces ahead.

Ted Riel, who was walking in front, immediately noticed the gaze and turned his head back. A flicker of puzzlement crossed the Confidant’s mind–

Why did “Captain Duncan,” who had lost his memory due to Subspace interference and was just now as estranged as any other, now have a look filled with inexplicable understanding, nostalgia, and sympathy?

After a brief moment of confusion, Ted Riel shook his head and stopped in front of a door at the end of the corridor.

“Here we are, containment room number twenty-four.” He raised his hand and pointed at the door before them.

That door was engraved with many Holy Symbols and seemed to be cast from black steel, with its surface inlaid with tiny particles of silver-white metal. Sherry curiously glanced at the door a few times, feeling as if drawn into the profound black and specks of silver-white, a sense of her perception leaving her body emerging. Frightened, she quickly withdrew her gaze.

Nina looked up at the corridor from whence she came, and then around containment room twenty-four, furrowing her brows curiously, “There’s not even a single guard around here? For a place so important and dangerous, isn’t there supposed to be someone on watch?”

“People are stationed at critical nodes, but the fewer people are near the containment chambers, the better,” Ted Riel glanced at the curious girl and casually explained, “Some ‘anomalies’ have the ability for psychic parasitism and mind transfer. Too many guards around the containment chambers could inadvertently give those things the potential to breach containment.”

“For the vast majority of ‘anomalies’ and contaminants, the correct sealing method is far more important than the number of security personnel,” Lucresa added an explanation, “A stone placed correctly or a scattering of metal powder on the ground can keep certain anomalies quiet for years, but an extra ‘person’ might cause an intangible and immaterial force to break through containment. Therefore, the core areas of many sealing facilities actually have the fewest people, with numerous sealing measures taking effect in the absence of personnel.”

“The guards stationed outside the core area are there not so much to deal with the monsters inside, but rather to protect against external invaders, to prevent someone from coming in to disrupt the containment conditions,” Ted Riel nodded, placed his hand on the door of the sample containment chamber, and with the sound of a ‘click’ that seemed to come from nowhere, the door opened, “However… the ‘sample’ that was brought in this time is truly the most special one I’ve ever seen, and I’m not even sure whether it should be placed in the sample containment chamber or somewhere else.”

The door opened to reveal a brightly lit room that was not particularly spacious. The floor and walls were covered in complex and precise holy symbols, and the number of oil lamps, smeared with special grease, and gas lamps on the walls was surprisingly abundant. Besides that, there was no other furniture in the room, only a square platform in the center on which that peculiar… “sample” was placed.

A clergyman wearing college robes with a pitch-black, peculiar mask on his face and hands securely locked by shackles stood next to the platform, seemingly the guard for the containment chamber–when Ted Riel walked into the room with the group, the “guard” with bizarre shackles on their hands looked up and after seeing Ted Riel, nodded slightly.

“Any signs of the sample activating?” asked Ted.

The guard shook his head silently.

“Any sign of the shackles opening?” Ted inquired further.

The guard lifted his own hands to show the shackles to the Truth Confidant and shook his head again.

“Good, you’ve worked hard. Go and rest,” Ted appeared relieved and gave a slight nod, “I’ll take over here–remember, personally place the ‘shackles’ back on the ‘statue’ hands, don’t attempt to exchange places with the statue, and don’t react to its ‘cries for help.'”

The guard nodded silently and left the room.

“The shackles are part of Anomaly-087, ‘the statue,'” Ted Riel began to explain to Duncan and the others after the guard had left, “Through a special ‘pact’ ritual, we can borrow the shackles from the ‘statue’ for a certain period. The wearer of the shackles must not speak and can, while wearing them, restrain and bind a designated entity in front of them. We usually use them to help control those recently discovered, yet unidentified dangerous items.”

“Like… a ‘reality invader’ that suddenly appears at the market, mysteriously out of nowhere.”

Lucresa murmured softly, lifting her head to look at that quiet mass on the central platform of the room, which emanated an iron-grey metallic luster.

It looked like a mass of steel that had cooled and solidified, yet the surface contours still retained an unusual softness and smoothness, as if it had once undulated like some kind of soft-bodied creature and then quickly solidified into this form. Scattered across that smooth “skin” were occasional angular protrusions, giving the impression…

As if something was trying to break free from inside the mass.

“These protrusions appeared after the sample was brought to the containment chamber,” continued Ted, “In the few minutes after its arrival here, it suddenly showed strong activity, and its surface structure changed drastically. We thought it might try to break the seals, and even considered moving it to a higher-level containment area. But after those minutes, its activity dropped off a cliff, to the extent it’s almost hard metal now.”

“Almost?” Duncan keenly caught a key point in the word choice.

“Yes, almost, because it’s actually still ‘alive’,” Ted nodded, “At the very core of the mass, there’s a faint active ‘signal.’ Even as the whole mass has solidified like this, that core is still active, and you can even listen to it–”

While speaking, the Truth Confidant opened his magical book to a page and tapped it gently with his finger.

A device, much like a stethoscope, materialized out of the air just above the page.

Ted casually tucked the book under his arm, picked up the “stethoscope” and placed it around his neck, then pressed the other end carefully against the surface of the “solidified metal.”

In the next second, a rhythmic sound echoed throughout the room–

Thump, thump, thump…

“It has a heartbeat,” Ted looked up, “Inside this mass of metal, there’s a heart that’s still alive.”