For the next minute, Tirian was immersed in a state of temporary confusion and dullness caused by the huge impact. His eyes were difficult to focus, and there were countless noises in his mind. His mind was like a lonely boat up and down in the storm.
But even so, his mind remained clear.
He knew that it was the spiritual flames that appeared in the darkness that preserved his mind and prevented it from being contaminated by the power of the Holy Lord of the Deep.
After a while, he gradually adjusted his breathing. Since he was not too mentally polluted, the illusion in his mind quickly dissipated. At the same time, he heard a steady voice coming from the other side: "It seems that you have recovered."
Tirian raised his head and looked at the tall figure across from the navigation table: "You were the one who pulled me out just now..."
"You've been staring at it for too long. Vanna said you're in a nightmare," Duncan said calmly. "Fortunately, I've done some research on 'intervening in dreams' recently."
"Nightmare," Tirian rubbed his brow subconsciously, "Do I look like I'm in a nightmare just now..."
"It looks like you've had an unusual experience?" Duncan's tone was a little curious - he did intervene in Tirian's spiritual world urgently just now, but unlike the scenes he saw in the past after using the power of spirit walking to enter other people's dreams, he didn't "see" anything after his intervention this time. There was only darkness in Tirian's "nightmare", as if the "source" of the nightmare had left before he intervened, which made him even more curious about what had just happened.
"I...saw a being that is hard to describe in words," Tirian recalled the scene he had just seen with difficulty, and described it carefully at the same time. "I can't tell its form, nor dare to recall all its details, but I believe this is the Lord of the Deep.
Tirian related what he had seen and heard in the darkness, and added his many spiritual feelings in the middle. Except for the fact that he could not correctly recall the outline of the huge mountain-like shadow, he did not hold back anything.
After listening to Tirian's story, Duncan immediately frowned: "You mean, the only thing this person who looks like the 'Lord of the Deep' said to you was to 'run away'?"
Vanna didn't say anything, but fell into thought for a moment.
Tirian was startled, then reacted: "I'm sorry, father, I thought...
But you just made this association and did not make any judgment on the nature of the Holy Lord of the Deep. The reason is simple: there is insufficient evidence. I will not draw a careful conclusion about something I have not personally come into contact with.
Tirian was stunned. "What did you say, father?"
He spent two days in this research facility, and during these two days, he spent half of his time in this hall, dealing with the diving bell.
"... You are probably the only one in the world who describes the Deep Lord as slime mold," Duncan said with a strange expression, but nodded gently, "But it is indeed as you said. If the information we have obtained from these demon souls and cultists is correct, the Deep Lord is just such a 'silent heretic god'. The only thing he does is to continuously differentiate more Deep Demons from his body or absorb those Deep Demons that died in the battle."
"Whether or not this shout of 'Run' showed good intentions, the situation on the Obsidian was obviously the result of the influence of the Holy Lord's power, and now there are Annihilation Cults active in the Frost City-State, and they are probably here for this matter," Tirian said slowly, "If the influence I just felt is really related to my participation in this plan, then even the Abyss Project is now related to this matter. If we reason further, I think what we should pay most attention to now is probably this 'Dagger Island', which is the aftermath of the Abyss Project half a century ago."
"Yes, we haven't opened its hatch yet," Professor Bellazzo nodded, "so we can't clean its interior either."
Duncan couldn't help rubbing his forehead: "... This sounds like a fungal tumor..."
"From Captain Tirian's description and his own feelings, even if it's not the Lord of the Deep
, or at least a heretical god," Vanna replied immediately, "but as for the shout of 'Run, what's going on... Sorry, Mr. Duncan, I dare not make a hasty judgment."
"Yes - whether it is the Abyss Demons that have separated from the body, or these insane Annihilation Cultists who have signed a contract with the Abyss Demons, they are all great enemies of the civilized world."
He looked at the round glass window covered with dirt and peered inside curiously.
He paused, as if he felt that this answer was not responsible enough, and added: "There is a lot of information about the Lord of the Deep, and even the information held by the four major churches is limited. The current mainstream view is that the Lord of the Deep is a huge single entity located in the center of the Deep Realm. He has no mobility and will not actively project power into the real world. He cannot communicate and does not seem to be able to think, just like..."
Duncan tapped his forehead, as if he was struggling with what words to use to describe such an existence. Seeing this, Vanna said casually, "Like a piece of slime mold sinking in the deep sea? A living, huge, but thoughtless and inactive mass of fungi?"
"It has nothing to do with subjective consciousness. Is his existence itself a danger?"
Tirian rubbed his brow, the noise in his head had not completely faded away, and now there was only a slight dizziness and fatigue as if he had been up all night. When Duncan told him the information about the Lord of the Deep, he also had his own thoughts.
"This is a military restricted area now. Even with the power of the Sea Fog Fleet, there is no way to get close. The Lost Homeland should be able to forcibly land on the island with its advantages, but it may be difficult to find the submersible in a short period of time. After all, this island is very large and the research facilities are simple in structure. The military personnel on the island may directly order the destruction of the submersible in an emergency..."
Fanna seemed to be thinking: "So when people are in a state of high spiritual inspiration, they can't hear the whispers of the ancient gods clearly..."
"Ah, nothing, nothing to do with this matter," Vanna waved her hand and turned her attention back to the matter at hand. He thought for a moment, then turned to look at Duncan, "Do you think that the person Tirian met was the Lord of the Deep? I think it was for the purpose of protection that Tirian was asked to 'run fast, right?"
"This is the only sentence I can understand," Tirian spread his hands, "It seemed to say a lot to me, but it was all lost in the huge noise. Finally, it seemed to give up and said the shortest word, and I could barely hear it..."
For some reason, what he was thinking of at this moment was the "black sun" that was dying in flames and supporting the false corona.
The more Vanna listened, the more she felt something was wrong, so she quickly interrupted the pirate leader: "Stop, stop, stop, when did I ever say we were going to charge in directly?"
But Duncan was no longer surprised by this. He ignored the words he didn't understand and continued the topic naturally. "Overall, the Lord of the Deep can actually be considered a relatively harmless heretic god, because at least he has never shown a tendency to corrode the real world. But even so, in the classification of the Four Gods Church, he is still classified as an evil god."
It was rusty and covered with dirt inside and out. It hung on the hook like a piece of scrap iron and looked unremarkable.
The dirty dark red mud was surging slightly in the submersible. An object shaped like an eyeball stuck to the glass window and met Myerson's sight through the gaps between the dirt.
He was not a professional researcher and did not understand mechanical matters, nor did he understand the significance of the series of physical and chemical tests that scholars had conducted on these samples. He stayed here purely because he was curious about this mechanical device that was surrounded by a mysterious atmosphere and had a strange background.
After a long while, the general withdrew his gaze: "It's dark inside, I can't see anything."
As a Frost man who was not even seventy years old, he had not experienced the great event that had occurred half a century ago, but as one of the city-state's top officials, he had at least learned about the Abyss Project from these confidential files.
"The fourth one is Submersible No. 3," Vanna said in a deep voice, "How much do you know about the situation on Dagger Island?"
Fanna waved her hand, signaling that the other party did not need to explain: "Let's not talk about this. Just tell me roughly what you know about Dagger Island. Maybe you can send
come in handy."
Submersible No. 3 occupies the most important position in all the files and is the most chilling part of the entire Abyss Plan.
"Okay, about this island...
Professor Bellazzo stood next to the general and introduced the safety measures of this laboratory.
"… the sling leads directly to the furnace. If there is a tension, the hook will be released in an instant, and the submersible will smash through the grille and fall into the furnace. If the submersible does not fall into the passage after the release device is activated, a linkage mechanism will be activated, and the entire room will be unhooked from the frame of the 'secret room' and fall along the slide into a cave behind the bay-which is full of nitroglycerin explosives."
Irresistible curiosity.
"We have thirty seconds to evacuate - then the evacuation passage will be locked," Professor Bellazzo said, "but the reality is... the top person in charge, that is, me, can choose not to open the evacuation passage."