The city-state floats rootlessly on the boundless sea. Under the 850-meter-thick base is a seemingly endless dark deep water. The deeper you dive into the sea, the more incomprehensible noises you hear and the more incomprehensible lights and shadows you see. The first explorer who crossed the thousand-meter depth of the water fell into madness after rushing to the surface frantically, and the only words he left for the world were—
"We all died there."
This is what happened as Frost City's "Abyss Project" began and gradually went wrong.
Duncan fell into a brief moment of contemplation. He suddenly realized that even if he did not go deep into the spirit world and the abyss, there were still many dangers and strangeness hidden in the boundless sea in the "real dimension" of this world. After a brief moment of contemplation, he suddenly asked:
"What happened to the explorer?"
"He died very quickly—the rapid ascent and the pressure took his life. He screamed and shrieked for a while before dying of a vascular embolism. At least that was the practical reason."
"Only one person in a submersible?" Duncan asked again.
"It can only accommodate one person. Of course, this will increase the mental pressure on the explorer, but it is also a helpless move. On the one hand, the technology at that time was limited. On the other hand, this kind of exploration is not suitable for multiple people to travel together. Deep in the sea, it is difficult to be sure that your companion will be replaced by something in the next second, and it is also difficult to be sure whether the sound you hear is real. So it is better to dive alone. At least there is no doubt that there are other people in the submersible."
"The deep sea, darkness, loneliness, and facing strange unknown waters far away from the civilized world, all of these may be the reasons that led to the madness of this explorer." Duncan shook his head slowly, "But that's not important. What's important is... that's still not enough to explain why the Abyss Project later became an extremely taboo topic."
He looked into Tirian's eyes and continued, "So far, what you have described is just an expedition that went wrong. Similar expeditions take place every year. The Academy of Truth even actively invests and encourages scholars and explorers to do those things. There is no so-called taboo, and it should not be related to the Lost Homeland."
"Empty?" Duncan raised his eyebrows slightly, then shook his head. "That makes me even more uneasy."
"Yes, the first one," Tirian nodded. "It rushed up in front of the naval soldiers and kept flashing light signals that they needed help to open the hatch. Although the well-trained soldiers were confused for a while, they quickly towed the submersible to the work platform according to standard procedures and aimed at its hatch with seventy-one rifles, two rapid-fire cannons and a flamethrower. Then a cowardly priest stepped forward, sprinkled holy water on it and opened the door lock."
At this time, even Ah Gou, who had been silent but listening intently, couldn't help but speak: "There's a second one?!
Tirian was still immersed in the memories of the past, but the puppet girl interrupted his thoughts at this moment. He opened his mouth for a long time and couldn't get his emotions back. "This... They didn't think about this at all..."
"After that, doctors and scholars from the church jointly examined the body. The Frost Queen also seemed to have personally visited the autopsy site, but the conclusion of the examination was not announced. Or rather, before they could announce anything, the second No. 2 submersible appeared."
"This monster also couldn't survive in the air for more than two minutes.
Tirian glanced at Alice subconsciously, his expression seemed a little strange. He seemed not used to someone who looked exactly like the Frost Queen standing here and making a fuss. But he quickly adjusted his expression and nodded gently:
The second one, and more than two—after that, every hour or so, a submersible would emerge from here…"
"...Yes, if we had stopped the plan at one thousand meters, the things that happened later would not have happened."
Tirian shook his head and sighed in his recollection, "After the accident of the No. 2 submersible, His Majesty Ray Nora once ordered a temporary suspension of exploration, but something happened a few days later that made the situation... gradually weird.
.
Alice was surprised to hear this strange and bizarre "story". After thinking for a while, she suddenly said, "So, they just need to wait here to get a steady supply of submersibles? Isn't this thing called 'submersible' too valuable? Is it more valuable than the cultists?"
"At the edge of the temporarily blocked test area, the No. 2 submersible surfaced."
"Don't bury him. Your thinking is different from that of ordinary people." Duncan glanced at Alice and said to Tirian with a serious expression, "Go on, what happened next?"
As Tirian continued to speak, Duncan's expression became more and more serious. Even Alice beside him seemed to notice the change in atmosphere and sat up straight.
Tirian came back to his senses, sorted out his thoughts and continued, "After the second submersible came up, it also sent a light signal requesting to open the hatch. This time the soldiers had some experience, they dragged the submersible to a more tightly protected area, and the priests delayed to set up a large number of supernatural protections before opening the hatch. And this time... what came out was a swollen and deformed humanoid monster that didn't look like an 'explorer' at all.
Zhuo Rui'an paused, as if there were some omissions in his memory. He organized his words and continued quickly: "I can't remember the details of the No. 2 submersible. It was completed in a hurry, and the Duncan Navy was only responsible for part of it. I only know that it is larger than the No. 2, can't accommodate two people, and has a sample chamber - scholars originally planned to use it to collect specimens from the deep sea, if there are specimens to collect.
Duncan was stunned for a moment, then he reacted: "Which submersible is the first one?!"
Alice frowned: "One thing?"
"Then, everything started. Submersible No. 1 never surfaced again, and no more Submersible No. 2 appeared in front of everyone." Tirian paused and spoke slowly: "The hatch opened, and a human who looked like an explorer walked out."
"The third submersible, and the last one you know of, is empty."
"Yes, it's empty, so it's even more disturbing. This matter has not completely gotten out of control, and we must find a way to end it," Tirian said in a deep voice, "But fortunately, the 'Submersible No. 3' is finally completed - it was not originally a successor to the 'One Thousand Meters' incident, and the plan was suspended after the 'One Thousand Meters' incident, and its construction work was also suspended. But as the 'Two Submersibles' surfaced one after another, the Queen ordered the assembly of the 'Three Submersibles' to be completed as quickly as possible, and decided to use it to figure out what happened under a thousand meters deep."
In this increasingly serious and solemn atmosphere, Tirian slowly said:
"On the first day after the first 'No. 2 Submersible' appeared, the No. 3 Submersible built by the city-state was thrown into the sea. Inside it sat a scholar, an officer, and a powerful priest. At that time, they forgot about the hidden dangers of 'multi-person exploration' and did everything possible to avoid the appearance of the fourth 'No. 2 Submersible'. The top priority was to do everything possible to avoid the appearance of the fourth 'No. 2 Submersible'.
Duncan's face was gloomy: "Very similar?"
"Submersible No. 3 detonated the explosives," the big pirate said slowly, "They filled the sample chamber with high-energy explosives to deal with the 'ultimate dangerous situation.
"In the third submersible, there were only a few white, fibrous, wet things that looked like unformed nerve structures or wet blood vessel specimens..."
"The facial features are similar, but the height and weight are different. He is wearing a navy uniform, but there are many problems with the details of the clothes. More importantly... the person who walked out of the submersible only moved around on land for a short while before dying. He didn't even have time to leave a word. After the soldiers undressed him, they found that his flesh and blood seemed to be grown together with the clothes, and there were incomprehensible wounds of various sizes on his body.
Tirian raised his head and looked into Aerith's eyes.
"What crawled out of the third submersible was a squirming mass of flesh. This time, not even the outline of a human could be discerned.
"But after the communication was interrupted for seventeen minutes, the chaplain on duty in the cathedral
The division suddenly heard the sound from the deep sea again. They first heard a scream, which was made by the priest. The priest screamed in a very terrified tone to remind others, saying: "Don't look! Don't think!" Then, the voice of the officer was heard, which was a roar, and then a deafening roar. "
"After the hatch of the third submersible was opened, nothing came out - the soldiers on the scene went forward to check and saw only a pool of suspicious dark red mud in the cockpit, which had a strong reaction of life.
"Submersible No. 3 dived all the way down and soon reached a depth of one thousand meters. The priests in the submersible relied on psychic power to keep in touch with the sea surface. Probably because the new submersible had better performance, they had a smooth journey and confirmed the scene of the city-state's "base" observed by previous explorers. But soon, the contact became intermittent, and after the depth reached one thousand meters, the cathedral on the platform on the sea surface could hardly hear any sound from the deep sea.