An approaching breath suddenly interrupted the current topic, and Agatha immediately withdrew her finger from touching the mirror.
"Someone is coming. It's the servant."
Got it, I won't scare him." The voice in the mirror came directly into her mind, "I'm right next to you, when you look carefully, you will find me," Agatha nodded.
But just before the "her" in the mirror left, she seemed to suddenly think of something and asked subconsciously, "Is it cold over there?"
"It's not cold now." The voice dissipated in her mind, and the feeling of being watched gradually faded away. The other Agatha reflected in the mirror returned to a normal image, with her eyes covered with black cloth, wearing a priestess's robe, standing quietly in front of the mirror. Agatha hesitated for a moment, tentatively reaching out her hand to the mirror, but all she touched was cold glass - she even doubted that everything that had just happened was really just an illusion; and almost at the same time, she heard footsteps coming to the door, and at the same time there was a gentle knock on the door.
"Archbishop," are you in there? "The old subordinates among the guards still habitually call her "gatekeeper", while the civil priests in the church have begun to call her "Archbishop." Agatha adjusted her expression and turned around calmly: "I'm here, come in." The door opened, and a high-ranking church attendant in a gray short robe appeared at the door and saluted Agatha.
"Archbishop, there is an urgent message from the City Hall. Please go to South Port immediately. General Tirian is waiting for you there."
"The City Hall asked me to go to South Port." Agatha frowned subconsciously, feeling that the news was a little unusual.
“Did you explain what it was?”
"No, they said it was an emergency and should not be spread," "The high-ranking attendant was a little hesitant, but General Tirian sent a message, saying that the Master of Fire might be interested."
"The expression on Agatha's face changed slightly in an instant." "I understand. Go prepare the car and I'll leave immediately." Not long after, Agatha had boarded the steam car heading to South Port. Considering the message brought by Tirian, she did not bring any entourage, but went alone; on the way to the port area, her mind was full of endless speculations. What happened to make that "General Tirian" react like this? In the previous war, South Port was once occupied by fake monsters, and the cleanup work is still in progress. Could it be that they found some blasphemous relics left by the Annihilation Cult among the ruins, or some suspicious "samples" left after the fake monsters disappeared? No matter which possibility it is, it should not cause General Tirian to have such a reaction; with these complicated and somewhat irritating thoughts, Agatha quickly passed through the deserted and empty streets due to the martial law, passed through a series of checkpoints and checkpoints, and arrived at the southern port area which was still in a state of complete blockade.
Soldiers of the city-state guard are guarding all the intersections. Fully armed church guards are patrolling and inspecting the severely damaged buildings and marking the contaminated areas waiting to be treated. Priests are collecting samples in those contaminated areas. Occasionally, you can see college students wearing heavy protective equipment, walking between buildings under the guidance of their tutors. They are civil engineering students, and today they come to inspect the status of important port facilities and prepare for subsequent repairs.
The car stopped at an open space on the edge of the security zone, and Agatha, led by two soldiers, walked through busy "work sites" and headed towards a rather remote direction in the port area. They finally stopped in front of a large building that looked like a warehouse.
"We can only take you here." The two soldiers who led the way turned around and said to Agatha apologetically, "We don't know the details of what's going on down there. The general will explain it to you."
Agatha noticed this statement keenly, but she didn't ask anything. She just nodded to the two soldiers and walked towards the warehouse that seemed to have been sealed for a long time and still had traces of war on its exterior.
The soldiers guarding the warehouse gate were not from the city-state guards, but a team of undead sailors. In Agatha's eyes, the living were clear figures that were warm and emitting a faint glow, while the undead were hollow and pale shells. Smoke reminiscent of ashes rose from their blurred outlines. After realizing that the entire warehouse was guarded by the undead, Agatha further realized that the situation here was not ordinary, because compared to the city-state guards, General Tirian obviously trusted his undead army more.
"Madam," an undead guarding the gate came over. His upper and lower bodies had been separated, with nearly a quarter of his torso missing in the middle. Only some messy floating strips of cloth connected the two halves of his body. He wore a new coat symbolizing the Frost Soldiers, but on the sleeves of the coat he had an armband representing the Queen's Guard. The undead sailor came in front of Agatha, and despite his terrifying appearance, he still gave a very standard military salute.
"Once you're inside, someone will take you to the elevator. The general is already waiting for you in the underground facility."
Agatha nodded. She was sure that unless she arrived at the scene, no one would tell her what was underground along the way.
After entering the warehouse, she met another team of undead sailors who were waiting for her. Under their guidance, she found the elevator hidden in the corner of the warehouse, which seemed to be "dug" out from behind a pile of camouflaged wall panels. Then she took the elevator again, and as the iron cage descended, it took several minutes to reach an underground facility that was buried deep underground and had never appeared in any official records. She stepped out of the elevator and in the dim and chaotic vision, she "saw" an open hall. The hall was full of "silt" left after the counterfeit invasion subsided. Undead sailors were cleaning up those things, and a tall figure stood at the end of the hall, guarding a door; it was General Tirian, the new archon of the Frost City-State. Agatha walked towards the figure.
"Oh, Ms. Agatha, you are finally here," Tirian took the initiative to greet him. "I thought you would come here directly from the central area of the upper city with a gust of wind as the rumors said. "I am used to traveling with Grey Wind - but I won't run across half a city by myself," Agatha said casually, and then raised her head and her eyes fell on the gate behind Tirian. "What is going on here? Why is there such a facility under South Port
"You're surprised. Everyone is surprised. This facility doesn't exist in any official records. If it weren't for clearing the ruins here, we wouldn't have found it." Tirian shook his head. "Guess what we found in this hidden large facility?"
"Don't keep me in suspense, General," Agatha sighed, and a faint green light flashed between her eyes covered by black cloth. "There are no outsiders here," Tirian smiled, and then his expression finally became serious, and he slightly turned to the side. "Look for yourself, it's behind this door.
Agatha turned her "sight" and looked at the gate. There were still traces of blood and bullet holes left in the battle on the gate. Apparently, in the previous Frost Defense War, an unknown battle had taken place deep inside this unknown facility. However, now, both the invaders and the guardians had disappeared in that battle. She stretched out her hand and pushed the heavy door open a little bit with a little force. The locking device of the door had been broken, and the heavy alloy door retreated to the side with a creaking sound. Agatha perceived a more spacious space illuminated by gas and electric lights, and the smell of salty sea water also penetrated her nostrils. She stood at the entrance of the hall, staring blankly at the huge machine in the shape of an ellipsoid fixed between the solid beams. And diagonally below this huge machine, at the end of a long slide, was the source of the sea water smell - it was obviously a waterway, and the other end led directly to the sea. After standing there in astonishment for a long time, Agatha broke her silence.
"This is a submersible, ma'am."
Tirian exhaled softly, with an inexplicable complex emotion in his tone, "It is manufactured based on the blueprint of the last generation of submersibles, and uses many newer technologies. It is much more advanced than what we used back then."
"Agatha couldn't help but take a breath after her guess was confirmed," and then she turned her head suddenly: "Who built this?"
"It could be Governor Winston, or it could be previous governors. We haven't found detailed construction and approval records, so we can't confirm who gave the initial order to build it," Tirian said slowly. "Based on the little information we have found, this facility was operating in secret until at least two months ago.