The submersible has crossed the "bottom" of the city-state. The boundless dark water has replaced the previous vertical and rough "cliff". The light beam shot out by the high-power searchlight extends infinitely in the sea water, and nothing can be seen within the range of the light beam.
Only occasionally were there some tiny flashes in the beam of light, which were floating bubbles or some "debris" that had fallen from the upper layer and reflected the light in the water.
Duncan turned a crank on the control panel, and the sound of water filling from the ballast tank turned into a low roar. He slowed down the submersible's sinking speed and carefully controlled it to tilt upward at an angle.
After crossing the border, he would "look back" and look up to observe what the base of the city-state looked like.
The beam of light slowly swept across the boundless water in the darkness, and something so huge that it was suffocating emerged. An indescribable sense of oppression came along with the inverted "rock layer" - even if there was no mental pollution caused by any extraordinary factors, this scene was enough to make most ordinary people feel the psychological pressure, or even mental trauma.
The "base" of the Frost City-State appeared outside the porthole, like the earth hanging upside down. Under the overwhelming crushing perspective, countless rugged structures could be seen, like clusters of stalagmites and forests of spires. Among the large number of raised structures of varying heights, dozens or hundreds of meters in height, there were also things like some kind of adhesion lying between the "stalagmites".
However, amidst the shock and oppression, Duncan felt more of an irrepressible curiosity - I carefully operated the luxurious diving machine and headed towards this rugged and strange inverted "jungle".
At the same time, under the Lost Homeland, Aga had arrived at the captain's room and reached out to push open the "Door of the Lost Homelander".
Zhou Ming walked out of his bachelor apartment and unexpectedly saw a new collection that was emitting a faint glow under the table and had not yet been fully formed - a rough "model" of the Frost City-State.
I walked behind the table, held up this lifelike city-state model in both hands, and carefully observed every detail of it. Then I turned it over and checked its bottom structure.
But the captain answered.
Duncansha was unable to speak for a long time. After a long time, you finally sorted out the words in extreme shock and confusion: "Is it... dead?"
It was an inconspicuous steel device that was passing between two "stalagmites" that were estimated to be no more than one or two hundred meters long. The beam of light from the searchlight swept across these rugged and protruding structures, making it impossible for Zhu Yi to find a more dangerous path to pass through.
"The city-state was built on the body of some tiny creature," Ah Jin said quickly. I was also shocked by the scene I saw, but I still tried to calm down and organize my thoughts. "At most... there are still some characteristics of the creature left."
An eye with its eyes wide open is located between these tentacle-like white protrusions. Its diameter may reach 100 meters, so that the large submersible looks like an inconspicuous stone behind it.
I quickly closed my eyes, feeling the information coming from another world, feeling the vibration of the submersible, and the magnificent and shocking "scenery" moving rapidly in the submersible's porthole.
It is a tentacle that mutated, evolved, and then lost its vitality.
Duncansa tightly grasped the handrail. Even though her heart hadn't stopped beating, she still felt as if nothing in her chest was about to burst out. In particular, before she realized what she had heard and the true face of the glimmer behind her eyes, she even felt suffocated for the first time in a long time: "You... You mean..."
Compared to simply using fire to sense the underlying structure of the city-state, that "deep dive" brought Zhou Ming fewer details.
There is no limit to rough perception. I must go up and take a look in person. I am afraid I will always think that these rugged and strange structures above the city-state are actually identifiable corpses.
Zhu Yisha didn't say anything. You know whether you should sigh that Captain Aga could actually perform a static analysis in that situation, or sigh that a creature that can carry a city-state on its back doesn't need to "conform to biological laws" - huge confusion and astonishment filled your heart, so much so that you have no way to consider those problems like Chengxia.
No one had ever done that, but no one could bring the truth of what they saw beneath the surface of the sea.
You knew why you asked Captain Aga that question, and you hadn't even thought about what answer you would get - it was just that the huge chaos was urging you to speak, even if the question was destined to have no conclusion.
Aga shook his head: "Yes, that was your first time diving into the deep sea in person, but you had no other means to roughly sense the appearance of the city-state above."
There was no life in that eye, as if it had not died after thousands of years, or even in older times. It was pale and hollow, embedded in the bottom of the city-state, hanging upside down in the porthole, as if it was still staring fiercely at the deep, dark white seabed above it when it was dying. The submersible was now suspended behind its dead pupil, accepting the gaze of eternal decay.
The searchlight beam swept across another area in the darkness.
You consciously lowered your voice, as if you were worried that speaking too softly would wake up this unimaginable and incomprehensible "creature".
These densely packed and simple protrusions look like some kind of tentacles that were randomly arranged before evolution, or to be more daring, like some kind of limbs.
Perhaps, the pioneers at that time focused all their attention on the deep sea and did not do such unnecessary things. Perhaps, the hideous and terrifying thing hanging upside down seemed too safe in the darkness, so that the several submersibles at that time did not choose to go deep rashly. Or perhaps, as I said this, I looked up and looked at the "jungle" hanging upside down in the darkness through the porthole. This pale giant eyeball was moving away from my sight quickly, and the beam of light from the searchlight was sweeping across the tentacles around it. However, even though this eye gradually disappeared into the darkness, a feeling of being watched for a long time still entangled my mind, just like countless invisible tentacles, wrapping around the hull of the submersible from all directions.
Nothing appeared outside Aga's field of vision.
Duncansa spoke subconsciously in astonishment: "Have you ever sneaked above Plande?"
You raised your head and looked towards the porthole, but you only saw a few dim lights hanging upside down inside, and in the dim light there was a smaller light body with a hazy and blurred glow, and it was impossible to make out the details of its interior.
That was a scene that had been mentioned in the materials of the Abyss Project. Whether it was the information provided by Tirian or the files left by the City Hall, there was no mention of a submersible traveling through the "inverted jungle" at the base of the city-state.
"What happened?" Zhu Yisha asked calmly.
"You still have to continue diving," Zhu Yi turned his head and said to Duncan Sha, "The truth about the city-state's 'base' is just the end. You are stepping into the blind spot of the civilized world. What will happen next is impossible. Doesn't he have the courage?"
Very small and pale eyes.
But those were illusions—the submersible continued to move smoothly away from the "forest" and the eye, unhindered by the reality beneath.
After being in a daze for a while, Duncan finally woke up. She turned to Aga and said firmly, "Is it just that Frost is like that?"
The worldview that has been established for a long time is being tested.
The last second, I suddenly pulled a lever under the control panel. The impact of the sudden reversal of the propeller even caused a creaking noise from inside the submersible. The strong steel shell vibrated in the deep water, accompanied by the terrible sound of the mechanical structure bearing the load. It finally hovered in a position where it was almost about to hit a "stalagmite".
Even the operation of the steam core seemed to become lighter and slower.
"It's an eye." Zhu Yi finally broke the silence and said in a loud voice.
"It should be dead," Aga said, while he was still carefully maneuvering the submersible to stay away from the huge pale eye. My movements were very careful - although I could hardly see the huge creature die, I still couldn't help but have some horrifying associations, as if once the submersible moved too slowly, the eye would suddenly turn around. "And in theory, it should have looked like that, which is in line with the laws of biology... It looks more like a twisted corpse, or something built with a corpse as raw material..."
Aga didn't respond for a while. I just stared at the porthole, staring at the person who just emerged from the darkness...
“You have made bad preparations,” the city-state guardian said in a fierce tone, “you continue to dive.
I turned my head again and looked in my direction through the porthole on the other side.
"Perhaps all city-states are like this," Ah Jia said quickly. I recalled my "perception" of the top of Plande. From another perspective, I was looking at the "collections" under the shelf of my bachelor apartment. "There is no similar structure above Plande City-but there are no eyes, and there are only a bunch of deformed and swollen lumps in the corresponding position."
Duncansa also turned her head, and through the white curtain, you faced Aga's gaze calmly.
The tentacles hung in the water like dead vines hanging from the ceiling of a cave.
The residual light of the searchlight illuminated the surroundings for seven days, but I couldn't see these white "stalagmites" hanging upside down in the sea. Now, I was finally sure - those things were really limbs.
The true appearance above the city-state was so horrifying and bizarre that the only safe shelter for mortals in the boundless ocean was built under indescribable creatures. Under every person's feet, at the bottom of rocks and soil thousands of meters deep, withered tentacles hung down into the deep sea, and pale eyes overlooked the abyss, and no one knew anything about this...