Chapter 476: Chapter 477: Submarine Cruise Chapter 476: Chapter 477: Submarine Cruise Under Duncan’s sowhat unfamiliar and cautious control, the subrsible slowly adjusted its heading.
The “foundation” beneath Frost City-State was like a wide, unbounded yet rough and bizarre cliff in the sea, slowly moving through the dim sea water outside the portholes.
The sunlight that fell from the sea surface above had faded, leaving only the beams of light from the three sets of large searchlights in front of the subrsible. Those beams cast huge spots of light on the “cliff” face, and beyond the illuminated spots lay unknown darkness.
The low buzzing sound and the hissing noise of certain valves automatically adjusting the pressure occasionally reached the ears, and these monotonous and lifeless sounds only made one feel even more… isolated.
It was the loneliness that cos from an individual straying far from the group, from the mind wandering beyond the frontiers of civilization. It was the unease of sinking into boundless darkness, of being enveloped by the infinite sea.
Agatha grew quiet, she stood in front of the porthole, staring in one direction outside for a long ti before she softly broke the silence, “All the light is fading… but I can still ‘see’ the foundation of the City-State, it’s still emitting a very faint light, the only thing I can see in the darkness.”
Clearly, the world she observed was different from that of ordinary people.
“Do you know what I’m thinking?” Duncan’s voice suddenly ca from behind her.
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that this may just be the way we observe the world,” Duncan said in a low tone, as if blending with the hum of the surrounding machinery, “The worldly sea, and if we consider the entire civilization as a whole, then we are like diving in such an endless abyss.
“The unknown darkness covers the whole world, and we carefully peek at the landscapes that erge from the darkness from the lights of civilization. We try to guess and piece together the outlines of the whole world from those fleeting images, but we almost never have the chance to truly understand the whole truth behind those lights and shadows—
“Behind a small fallen leaf may lie an entire forest, behind a stubborn rock stands a whole mountain, a vine that flashes in the light might just be a tendril extended by so mythological beast—beyond the faint light lies the unknown, and within the faint light is rely a partial impression of the truth given to us at a specific location, at a specific ti.
“And it is in such cautious diving that so people accidentally glimpse sothing beyond the lights, and they go mad, so people try to extend that light, and we call them pioneers—in many cases, there is not even a clear boundary between these pioneers and the madn. As for most people, they gather inside the ‘ark’ of ‘civilization,’ gathering within the limited but sufficient light to illuminate their footsteps, bowing their heads, carefully narrowing their sights.
“They are called ‘ordinary people.’
“The world that is known and asurable gives them precious security, and they can no longer cast their gaze into the darkness outside the ark… but it is these most nurous, weak and powerless ordinary people who keep the entire ark running, even supporting those pioneers and madn.”
The sound of seawater being injected into the ballast tanks ca from below, and the subrsible adjusted its angle slightly, beginning to dive faster. In the area illuminated by the searchlights in front of the observation window, the rugged cliff continued to rise—next second, the scenery in the light spot might turn into an empty dark body of water, or it might not.
Duncan withdrew his gaze, glancing around himself.
The cabin lighting was spilling from above, and everything inside the subrsible bathed in the light. After staring into the darkness outside for too long, looking back at this comfortable cabin really did bring a sense of visceral relief.
But the occasional “creaking” sound from sowhere in the hull kept reminding the people inside the cabin that between this comfortable and bright cabin and the billions of tons of ocean outside was just a layer of fragile spherical shell steel.
This fragile spherical shell was crafted bit by bit by countless “ordinary people,” those craftsn who might never step halfway out of the City-State in their entire lives, with their skills and wisdom, sent this rudintary subrsible into the endless abyss beneath the City-State.
After a long silence, Agatha spoke softly, “Actually… I sotis feel fortunate that my eyes can see more than ordinary people can now, just like you said, we are all diving in an endless darkness, so my eyes can now see a little further in places where the light doesn’t reach. But I often feel frustrated because, compared to this endless darkness, this slightly further vision seems aningless…”
“Yes, for this boundless ocean, a slightly further gaze is trivial,” Duncan said softly, but then his tone shifted, “But for us who are diving in the dark, being able to see even a ter further is extraordinary.”
He casually turned off the main lighting in the cabin, leaving only the essential lights on the dashboard.
The subrsible grew dim inside, yet with the change in light contrast, the high-power searchlight beams outside the porthole seed even brighter, and the details on the surface of the “cliff” within the lit spots beca clearer.
“The world you describe is almost desperate, but your attitude seems always optimistic,” Agatha said, “That surprises … a bit.”
“I described to you a desperate world because it is inherently so wretched, and my optimism stems from being an optimistic person by nature,” Duncan said casually, “We can’t change the world, but ‘attitude’ is our own to control.”
“I never expected you to have such a personality, let alone be so sentintal,” Agatha said with a hint of a smile on her face, “Yes, I always forget that you were the greatest explorer in this world.”
Duncan just smiled without responding, his gaze fixed on sothing outside the viewport, carefully observing the “cliff” that was gradually rising, illuminated by the beams from the searchlights.
It looked like stone, but was covered with parasitic organisms resembling seaweed and coral.
Such a vertical structure, with such a regular “base,” however, seed unlikely to have ford naturally.
He maneuvered the subrsible cautiously forward, stopping at a very close distance, then, a bit awkwardly, found a control lever on the dashboard and released the chanical arm situated at the front of the subrsible.
In the light, the chanical arm slowly unfolded, its sharp end touching the “cliff” ahead, and gently tapping and scraping.
So fragnts slowly fell through the water.
But it seed there was an even harder structure within the fragnts.
“I’ve always been curious about sothing,” Duncan suddenly broke the silence, “with so many years, so many City-States, there’s never been a shortage of digging deep into the ground—be it for mining, constructing underground facilities, or simply for research… Has no one ever dug through this ‘base’?”
Agatha was montarily taken aback by the abrupt question, but after a short contemplation, she shook her head: “To my knowledge… there’s never been a case of ‘digging through.’ Because the subterranean is dangerous, the deeper you go below sea level, the higher the likelihood of anomalies erging in the darkness. Even with steam and fla protection, mines suffer from spiritual contamination and strange accidents every year, not to ntion the mad idea of ‘piercing through a City-State’ to dig deeper. And furthermore…”
She paused, sorting through her mories before continuing, “And even if soone did dig with such madness, it seems no one ever succeeded. I heard that the Academy of Truth tried it, and their conclusion was… as they dug to a certain depth, the drills couldn’t proceed, the deeper they went, the harder it beca until even the hardest, most advanced drills broke.”
“Harder as it goes down?” Duncan furrowed his brows and turned his head to look at the chanical hand outside the viewport tapping on the “cliff.” It had knocked off so accretions, and after the loose fragnts fell away, an even darker and denser structure was revealed within the wall of the cliff.
It was indistinguishable whether it was rock or tal.
But there seed to be regular patterns on its surface, almost like… the crisscrossing grooves of so biological entity’s skin.
Duncan controlled the chanical arm, striving to scrape off so samples from the layer of dark, dense material, but to no avail.
The power of the chanical arm was insufficient, and the black material was harder than expected… so kind of “shell”?
All sorts of speculations floated in Duncan’s mind, even so bold exploration plans arose, but eventually he forcefully suppressed his curiosity and started maneuvering the subrsible further into the deep sea.
After all, his primary objective for this journey was to explore the “vast unknown entity” beneath Frost, and given the uncertainty of another deep dive opportunity, he couldn’t afford to waste the subrsible’s valuable battery life midway.
Amidst the noise from the ballast tanks, the subrsible continued to descend.
So ti later, they finally crossed the “fault line” beneath the base of the City-State.
Quite abruptly, the “cliff” within the range of the searchlight ceased, and the vast patch of light was abruptly consud by darkness, as an endless expanse of dark water rushed toward them.
Even the strongest searchlight couldn’t find a target to illuminate in such a vast and boundless sea—Duncan could only see a hazy boundary of light extending outside the viewport, but whether inside or outside the light, not a single point of reference was visible.
The oppressive sensation of sinking into vast darkness surpassed even facing that eerie great void deep within the boiling gold mines.
Agatha too tightened her grip on the handrail before her a bit nervously.
The last bit of light in her “vision” had disappeared.
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