It is a deep and dark seabed. Beneath the city-state, the ancient god's tentacles penetrated the real world and grew stronger day by day in that indescribable darkness.
She is visible, and the filthy and terrifying flesh and blood touching her wrist is his entity. It is cold and chilling, but also invisible, because the upward spreading will has already crossed the dark abyss and penetrated the thickness of the city-state.
The unimaginable power of the rocks and soil has been drilling into this city for the past fifty years, or even longer, and piercing deep into the depths of this boiling gold mine.
"Ms. Gatekeeper, we are inside it now - this was once a rock, but the power of the ancient gods has transformed the rock here into a part of flesh and blood. This dark material is separated by more than a thousand meters of rock.
It pulsates with the sea water and the source of the seabed, and every beat of it is bringing the mirror city-state closer to our real world... Do you hear it? Plop, plop... the flesh and blood is squirming,
Contracting, talking in sleep, this place... is thinking."
Winston murmured softly like a prayer, slowly raised his hands, and pointed to the endless darkness around him like a hug, as well as the "branches" in the darkness that were crisscrossed and connected like thorn bushes, and among those branches,
The dim light spots were still flying around like fireflies. Gradually, Agatha really seemed to hear the deep sound - plop, plop...
This abnormal area of unknown size, buried deep in the boiling gold mine, is emitting a heartbeat.
Even my own heart seemed to be affected by the sound of this heartbeat and started to beat in resonance.
However, a weak warm current suddenly appeared in her heart, causing Agatha to wake up suddenly. She realized that her humanity had just returned from the critical point of madness, her expression suddenly changed, and she stared into Winston's eyes.
"You are out of your mind, Lord Winston - you are under the influence of this place."
"Ah...really? It's possible," Winston just waved his hand indifferently, "At first I thought I could calm this ancient god again like the queen, and then I thought I could delay it for at least a while.
For a while, I thought I could at least stay awake until the end, but it turns out... I have failed unknowingly?"
"Like a queen, calm this ancient god?" Agatha keenly noticed the key point in the consul's words. Her eyes suddenly changed slightly, and she vaguely realized the real reason why the consul appeared here, "
You mean, the Frost Queen half a century ago successfully put the power of Holy Lord Netherworld into a deep sleep?"
Winston laughed: "...What do you think happened when the sea cliff collapsed?"
Agatha was startled for a moment, then hesitantly said: "The sea cliff collapsed... After the queen was beheaded, the whole
The execution ground fell into the sea... wasn't that an accident?!"
"It was a sacrifice. The sacrifice was the queen herself and the first batch of speculators who chose to betray her after the uprising broke out. Of course, there were also the entire group of executioners and many rebel officers who were buried with her," Wen said.
Stone said calmly, "We blocked the details of that year, so few people know the details after the sea cliff collapse - thousands of people died in that accident, but in fact, almost all civilians died from that accident
Those who survived the collapse, but those who were swept into the waves... Even if they were only one meter away from the shore, they had no chance to struggle and were instantly sucked into the bottom of the sea.
"After the collapse, the abnormal area in the boiling gold mine stopped expanding for a time, and it was only then that the first-generation Archon realized that everything was in Le Nora's plan - the cold truth passed through the Queen
The key left behind was transferred to the Archon, and just as she said, now it's our turn."
Agatha fell silent, and after a moment, her eyes became a little complicated: "You came here because you wanted to recreate the sacrifice that year..."
', is rising. The knowledge contained in the key tells me that to inhibit this process, I must touch ','s thinking. Fifty years ago, the power of ', was still sleeping in the deep sea, so the queen could only sacrifice herself to the deep sea.
, and now, her power has penetrated deeply into the city-state, so this is the best place to touch - this is the method left by the queen in the key, every time
After a consul takes the key, he will be entangled with this responsibility, and then prepare for it for the rest of his life. I also made all preparations for this, but there is one thing I did not expect..."
Winston twitched the corners of his lips, it wasn't really a smile.
"Not everyone is Leigh Nora."
Agatha listened silently, then lowered her head and stared quietly at the brass key still lying in her palm.
This is something created by the Frost Queen with some extraordinary power - she condensed the "knowledge" she touched and part of her "thoughts" into the key in a physical form.
But for some reason, Agatha always felt that this key... might have other uses.
It should not only exist to tie the successive rulers of the Frost City State to a responsibility.
But at this moment, Archon Winston was obviously unable to answer any more of her questions - and she herself seemed to have no way back.
After learning the truth about this dark space, Agatha understood this: she did not reach a certain place through the stone wall, but she was directly integrated into a huge abnormal mass.
What awaits Winston here is death, and what awaits him is return and assimilation.
She looked at the palm of her hand and saw that the skin between her hand and the key had shown signs of softening and deformation, and some thick black substance was seeping out from the skin, covering the key bit by bit.
But she still wanted to go further. She was a little... curious about this place.
"Is there anything else we can do?" Agatha lowered her head and looked at the city-state governor who had stopped talking. "Are you going to wait here until death comes?
"Death has come, ma'am - we just look back on our failed lives before we take our last breath." Winston shook his head. "There's nothing more to do. Like me, sit down and rest."
Bar."
"...You have actually done what you should do. As the Archon of Frost, you have at least bravely faced this so-called 'curse,'" Agatha said calmly, "Being unable to do anything does not mean that you have done nothing.
.”
Winston just shrugged self-deprecatingly, "Incompetence is a sin."
"...I have to go forward, I have to go through this thorn, and go to the place where the tentacles are," Agatha said, "Do you want to come with me?"
"It means nothing to me, madam," whispered Winston, "if you wish to go, go ahead and leave me here—my journey is over."
Agatha stared at him for a few seconds, then handed over the brass key: "This is your thing."
Winston did not reach out, but raised his head and looked into Agatha's eyes: "Take it with you, you have taken it, it is yours, and this is how we have passed it on to this day."
Agatha was silent for a moment and put away the key.
"Okay, then I'll go on my way alone."
She said goodbye to Winston, then turned around, picked up her cane, and took steps in this dark and empty space.
"Ms. Agatha," Winston's voice suddenly came from behind, "does this really make sense?"
Agatha tilted her head slightly: "Why do you ask?"
"Even if you know more of the truth before, even if you can really walk through the bushes and touch the limbs of the ancient god, what will happen? You can no longer stop this, or even make it happen here.
The investigation has ended, and if the information cannot be conveyed, no matter how much you know, it will be meaningless."
Agatha stopped, and after thinking for a moment, she spoke softly: "I am the gatekeeper of Frost, this is my duty. And..."
She paused, and the hand holding the brass key unconsciously pressed her chest.
It was still cold all around, and the feeling of her blood gradually coagulating was stronger than ever. But for some reason, she had always felt a slight heat beating in her heart from just now, as if... there
A cluster of invisible flames jumped, supporting myself to move forward.
In my mind, thoughts that are not my own are jumping gently. The strongest among these thoughts is an obsession - the direction that the obsession points to is the illusory and extremely huge road outside this thorn bush.
"Touch the wrist".
"It makes sense. I am not moving forward alone - although there is no evidence, I think...everything I saw here will eventually be known to someone."
"Oh, yes, that's great...Ms. Agatha, you still had faith until the last moment, which is really enviable."
Winston's voice stopped, and there was no movement in that direction.
Agatha turned around and saw a small lantern shining in the darkness, illuminating a withered "tree stump". A middle-aged man in a dark blue coat was leaning quietly against the tree stump.
.
His temple was penetrated by a bullet hole, and in his hanging hand, he held a beautifully crafted revolver.