Chapter 475: Chapter 476: Dive Down Chapter 475: Chapter 476: Dive Down South Port underground, control hall for the subrsible, ablaze with light.
The glow from the gas and electric lights made the hall as bright as day, and the colossal egg-shaped diving apparatus was suspended by steel cables at the top of the slide leading to the ocean. The Undead engineers were all around, busily engaged in the final checks and adjustnts for the subrsible’s launch.
Beside the steel fra platform that held the subrsible in place, Duncan was sitting calmly in a chair, watching everything, waiting for Tyrion’s subordinates to get everything ready.
Those Undead, with their strange, ugly, and almost horrifying appearances, seed to be full of enthusiasm, even showing a hint of joy and excitent.
A bald, burly man with a nervous look on his face approached from not far away and bent awkwardly before Duncan, “Um… Captain, it’s great to see you…”
Duncan looked up at the man in the sailor’s shirt with an eerily shiny bald head and pallid skin like that of a corpse, and after ntally checking the information he had previously gathered, he nodded slightly, “You’re Aiden, you’ve been with Tyrion since the Exiled Fleet era.”
“That’s ,” Aiden’s mouth stretched into a smile, “You rember ?”
“I don’t,” Duncan shook his head, “Sorry, I’ve forgotten almost everything. Subspace damage affected my mory. I heard about you and the ‘first-generation sailors’ of the Mist Fleet from soone else.”
“Don’t apologize, don’t apologize,” Aiden imdiately looked even more uneasy, shaking his head as he spoke, “It’s… good that you could co back. Everyone has been thinking of you.”
“It’s more like they’re quite scared, right?” Duncan said with a smile as he glanced around the hall, noticing many eyes darting away in fear as he looked their way, “It’s fine, this is only an avatar I’m using. If it were my actual body here, I’m afraid most of the sailors wouldn’t be able to work peacefully.”
“About half here are ‘second-generation,’ and they’re indeed more afraid of you,” Aiden said awkwardly, fiddling with the buttons on his shirt, “After all, their first contact with you…”
“I know, the Frost Encounter half a century ago.” Duncan sighed lightly as he spoke, and just as he finished talking, Tyrion ca striding over.
“The subrsible is ready, Father.”
“Oh, it seems it’s ti to depart.”
Duncan’s face broke into a smile, and he rose from his chair to walk with Tyrion toward the platform that held the subrsible, which was silently awaiting—
Its circular side hatch was already open, with thick watertight compartnts opposite it, lit by lights that revealed the spherical interior’s structure. Inside, it looked cramped, able to accommodate at most three or four people amidst the dazzling array of pipelines, valves, and control panels.
Duncan inspected the subrsible, then took a step forward.
But in the next second, he suddenly stopped as if sensing sothing and looked in a certain direction.
A spiraling Grey Wind abruptly entered the hall and swirled rapidly to the side of the subrsible platform, coalescing before Duncan and Tyrion and the others.
Agatha stepped out of the Grey Wind—in the sa high-necked, black-draped nun’s attire, with her long hair cascading over her blind eyes.
“I want to go with you.”
Without beating around the bush, she got straight to the point as soon as she approached Duncan.
“You want to dive as well?” Duncan looked at Agatha in surprise, “Why?”
“Because I want to ‘see’ for myself what lies beneath the Frost,” Agatha said calmly, her determination evident, “As the protector of this City-State, I can’t just stay in the safe cathedral waiting for your results, and besides…”
She suddenly paused, and after a few seconds of silence, she raised her head, looking through the thick, dark fabric “directly” into Duncan’s eyes.
“And, it’s the city of the Frostfolk, the concern of the Frostfolk. In our constructed subrsible, at least one Frostfolk should be present. Consider it… let go have a look on behalf of Winston the Governor and the previous Governors of the Frost.”
“A reasonable request, and you must be aware of the risks. Since you are prepared, I won’t dissuade you further.” Duncan nodded his head, then turned to Tyrion.
The latter quickly caught on, saying, “The subrsible is designed to accommodate up to four people. Two people going in is certainly fine, but…”
“It’s okay, I don’t need to breathe,” Agatha interjected softly, cutting off Tyrion’s words.
Tyrion paused for a mont, then stepped back, “Well, then there’s no problem.”
Duncan laughed, stepped to the subrsible’s hatch, and turned to extend his hand toward Agatha, “Good, let’s go.”
He and Agatha crawled into the subrsible, and the heavy circular hatch slowly closed behind them.
Two strong Undead sailors stepped onto the platform and began tightening the hatch’s locking chanism from the outside.
The thick steel isolated the inside of the subrsible from the outside world, leaving the cramped crew cabin quiet; the only sounds were the occasional hums from so machines and pipes.
There were no seats in the crew cabin, so Duncan and Agatha stood in front of the control panel, holding onto iron pipes that served as a railing. Through the embedded, extrely thick and sturdy glass portholes in the cabin wall, they could see the Undead sailors on the platform loosening the steel cables used to secure the subrsible and releasing the safety pins on both sides of the steel fra.
Tirian’s voice then ca from a small device on the corner of the subrsible’s control panel: “Father, Miss Agatha, can you hear ?”
Duncan approached the control console: “Yes, very clearly.”
“Good. I won’t say much about controlling the subrsible; its functions are actually quite simple, and I don’t think you’ll make a mistake. Now, let talk about what happens after it enters the water.
“The subrsible’s power cos from a small steam core and a generator connected to the steam core. Theoretically, it should be enough to complete any deep-sea mission, but if there’s a problem with the steam core or generator, there are two battery packs at the bottom of the subrsible that can keep it operational for about two more hours…
“There are three sets of high-power searchlights outside the cabin, but their effects are limited in the deep-sea environnt, so please be careful when controlling it. Besides, the resistance at the seabed is significant, and the propulsion system can only move the subrsible slowly; this needs attention as well…
“The communication device on the subrsible has an effective range of only three hundred ters, so after we descend beyond that depth, we won’t be able to talk like this. However, your power, or Miss Agatha’s Psychic Resonance, should be unaffected.
“Moreover… although I might be overly worried, please be aware of the dangers in the deep sea—even for you. If you encounter any problems, ascend imdiately. The lever at the top left of the control panel is for ergency ascent, pulling it will drop the ballast from the bottom of the subrsible and open flotation balls on both sides of the hull… In the worst-case scenario, just abandon the subrsible. With your power, you can directly transport yourself and Miss Agatha back. We can rebuild the machine…”
Duncan listened attentively to Tirian’s cautionary advice.
To be honest, this “forr Chill Sea pirate” was indeed a little verbose, and Duncan found many of his reminders unnecessary.
Still, Duncan patiently listened to every word Tirian said, and only when his voice ceased did Duncan speak with a grave tone: “I understand, let’s begin.”
Outside the subrsible, at the command podium at the end of the hall, Tirian took a light breath and then nodded to his subordinates.
“Open the sea valve!”
“Fill the passageway with water!”
“Disconnect the subrsible from the external power cable and prepare to release the locks!”
A low rumble penetrated the steel shell of the subrsible, with a faint echo bouncing inside the spherical cabin, and a slight vibration traveled up from the floor, accompanied by the squeaking and screeching noises from the hull.
The sea valve opened, in the passageway located beneath the facility that led directly to the sea, water rapidly surged upward and gradually reached the predetermined level. The last two steel cables above the subrsible began to creak and slowly release.
Duncan and Agatha first felt a shake and then a sudden descent—after a brief mont of weightlessness, the subrsible entered the water. They started to sink down the sloping passage and, guided by a series of slides, quickly moved toward an ocean outlet at the edge of the southern port.
Outside the porthole, the water surged upward before gradually subrging into darkness. In the darkness, occasional flashes of light sped by, growing faster, and the subrsible’s vibration intensified—until, at last, all vibrations settled into stillness.
Outside the porthole, there was nothing but an expanse of deep blue that gradually dimd into darkness.
Sunlight pierced through the water above, casting shifting beams of alternating light and shadow. In the darkening waters, bubbles rose from the outside of the hull, with the remaining sunlight reflecting off them, giving the illusion of enchanting, colorful marine creatures.
Agatha seed captivated by the “scenery” outside the porthole.
She slowly moved away from the control station and ca to the porthole, leaning on the handrail. Driven by curiosity, she leaned in close, staring through the thick, black strips at the deep blue that was swiftly sinking into the abyss with her hollowed-out eyes.
“What can you see?”
While Duncan familiarized himself with the levers and buttons on the control panel, which were not too complicated, he casually turned his head to ask.
“Light, all kinds of faint glimrs,” Agatha murmured softly, as if speaking to herself or as if enraptured by the illusion. “They flow like rivers, forming vast, complex, yet orderly currents… But it’s already dark outside now, isn’t it?”
“There’s a little residual sunlight left, but it will soon be completely dark,” Duncan said, maneuvering the subrsible to slowly turn an angle. “And now?”
“A trendously large ‘screen of light’, faint, but filling my entire field of view,” Agatha said, her tone imbued with a sense of awe. “What is that?”
“It’s Frost,” Duncan said calmly, his gaze piercing through the porthole. In the waning sunlight and the glow from the subrsible’s high-power searchlights, an imnsely vast and roughly mottled ‘cliff’ stood silently in the water, “It’s the ‘foundation’ of the City-State.”
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