Underground in Nangang, the submersible control hall is brightly lit.
The light from the gas lamps and electric lights made the entire hall as bright as day. The huge oval diving equipment was suspended on the top of the slide leading to the sea by steel cables. Undead engineers were busy everywhere, preparing the submersible to enter the water.
Making final inspections and adjustments.
Next to the steel platform where the submersible was fixed, Duncan was sitting on a chair watching all this calmly, waiting for Tirian's men to get everything ready.
Those undead people who are weird and ugly in appearance, almost terrifying, look enthusiastic, and even have a faint sense of joy and excitement.
A bald man with a nervous and nervous look on his face walked over from a short distance away and bent down uncomfortably in front of Duncan: "Um...Old Captain, it's nice to see you..."
Duncan raised his head and glanced at this strong man wearing a sailor's shirt, with a shiny head and a complexion as pale as a dead man. He compared the information he had learned before in his mind and nodded lightly: "You are Aiden. You are missing."
He followed Tirian during the time of the Home Fleet."
"It's me," Aiden suddenly grinned, "Do you still remember me?"
"I don't remember," Duncan shook his head, "Sorry, I don't remember most of the things. The subspace damaged my memory. I heard about you and the other "first-term sailors" of the Sea Mist Fleet from others.
of."
"Don't apologize, don't apologize," Aiden suddenly looked even more embarrassed and shook his head as he said, "It would be great if you... can come back. Everyone misses you."
"You must be quite scared, right?" Duncan smiled and glanced around the hall, and many eyes were unconsciously fearful and dodged as he glanced. "Fortunately, I am only using an avatar now. If it is the main body,
Coming here, I’m afraid most sailors won’t be able to work with peace of mind.”
"Most of the people here are from the 'second phase', and they are really afraid of you," Aiden grabbed the buttons of his shirt awkwardly, "After all, this is their first contact with you..."
"I know, about the frost encounter half a century ago." Duncan exhaled softly and said casually, and as he finished speaking, Tirian walked over quickly.
"The submersible is ready, father."
"Oh, it looks like it's time to set off."
A smile suddenly appeared on Duncan's face. He stood up from the chair and walked with Tirian towards the platform used to fix the submersible. The diving equipment that embodies the wisdom and hard work of countless people was already waiting quietly -
—
The circular hatch on its side has been opened. Opposite the thick water-proof cabin, light illuminates the structure inside the sphere. The inside does not look spacious. Apart from the many dazzling pipes, valves and control consoles,
The space for human activities seems to be able to accommodate at most three or four people.
Duncan observed the situation of the submersible and then took steps forward.
But the next second he suddenly stopped and looked in a certain direction as if he sensed something.
A swirling gray wind suddenly swept into the hall, and quickly circled to the submersible platform, condensing and forming in front of Duncan, Tirian and others.
Agatha's figure stepped out of the gray wind - still dressed as a blind nun in a black dress and long hair.
"I want to go with you."
She didn't talk nonsense and spoke directly after coming to Duncan.
"You want to dive too?" Duncan looked at Agatha with some surprise, "Why?"
"Because I want to 'see' with my own eyes what is under the frost," Agatha said calmly and firmly. "As the protector of this city, I cannot stay in the safety of the cathedral and wait for your results.
,and……"
She stopped suddenly, and after a few seconds of silence, she raised her head and "gazed" into Duncan's eyes through the thick black cloth.
"Furthermore, this is the city of the Frostmen. It is about the Frostmen. In the submersible we build, there must be at least one Frostman. Let me act on behalf of Winston Archon, as well as the Frostmen.
The successive consuls should go down and have a look."
"Reasonable reasons, and you should already know the risks of doing this. Since you are aware, I will not persuade you any more." Duncan nodded, then turned his head and looked at Tirian.
The latter reacted quickly and said: "The submersible is designed to accommodate up to four people. Of course it's no problem for two people to go in, but..."
"It doesn't matter, I don't need to breathe either." Agatha spoke softly, interrupting Tirian's words.
Tirian was startled for a moment and stepped back: "Okay, then there will be no problem."
Duncan laughed, walked to the submersible's hatch, turned around and stretched out his hand to Agatha: "Very good, let's go."
He and Agatha got into the submersible, and the heavy circular hatch slowly closed.
Two strong undead sailors stepped onto the platform and tightened the hatch's locking structure from the outside.
Thick steel separates the inside and outside of the submersible, and the narrow crew cabin becomes quiet. Only the occasional hum from some machines and pipes can be heard.
There was no place to sit in the crew cabin, so Duncan and Agatha stood in front of the control console, holding on to the iron pipes on both sides that served as guardrails. Through the extremely thick and solid glass portholes inlaid on the side bulkhead, they could see
Undead sailors around the platform are loosening the steel cables holding the submersible in place and releasing the safety pins on both sides of the steel frame.
Tirian's voice came from a small device in the corner of the submersible's console: "Father, Ms. Agatha, can you hear me?"
Duncan came to the console: "Okay, it's clear."
"Okay. I won't go into details about the control of the submersible. Its function is actually very simple. You should not get it wrong. Now let me talk about what happens after entering the water.
"The power of the submersible is provided by a small steam core and a generator connected to the steam core. In theory, it is enough to complete all deep diving tasks, but if there is a problem with the steam core or generator, its bilge will still be
There are two batteries that can continue to operate the submersible for about two hours...
"The external lighting has three sets of high-power searchlights, but the effect is limited in the deep-sea environment, so please be careful to control it. In addition, the resistance of the seabed is very large, and the power of the propulsion system can only make the submersible move slowly. This also needs to be noted...
"The effective range of the communication device on the submersible is only three hundred meters, so after the depth exceeds three hundred meters, we will no longer be able to talk like this, but your power or Ms. Agatha's psychic resonance should not be affected.
"In addition... although I may be worried too much, even you, please pay attention to the dangers in the deep sea - if something goes wrong, please float up immediately. The lever in the upper left corner of the console is for emergency floatation. Pull it
It will directly throw away the ballast structure at the bottom of the submersible and open buoyancy balls on both sides of the hull... In the worst case scenario, just abandon the submersible and use your power to teleport back directly with Ms. Agatha.
It's also possible, the machine can be rebuilt..."
Duncan listened carefully to these reminders from Tyrion.
To be honest, this "former pirate of the Cold Sea" was indeed a bit verbose, and many of his instructions were unnecessary in Duncan's opinion.
But Duncan still patiently listened to every word of Tirian's words. It wasn't until the other party's voice fell that he spoke in a deep voice: "I understand, let's get started."
Outside the submersible, on the command seat at the end of the hall, Tirian took a gentle breath, and then nodded to the subordinates beside him.
"Open the sea valve!"
"Fire the channel with water!"
"Disconnect the external cable of the submersible and prepare to release the hook!"
A low roar penetrated the steel shell of the submersible, echoing faintly in the spherical cabin. A slight vibration came from under the feet, accompanied by a creaking and rubbing sound outside the hull.
The sea valve was opened. In the channel below the facility that led directly to the sea, seawater was rising rapidly and gradually reached the predetermined water level. The last two steel cables above the submersible began to creak and were released downwards little by little.
Duncan and Agatha first felt a shaking, and then they sank. After a brief weightlessness, the submersible entered the water. They began to sink along the inclined tunnel, and were guided by a series of slides quickly toward the direction of the water.
An opening to the sea on the outer edge of Nangang has moved.
Outside the porthole, the sea water rose up, and then gradually fell into darkness. In the darkness, only occasional flashes of light could be seen. Those lights flashed faster and faster, and the vibrations of the submersible became more intense - and in the end, all the vibrations calmed down.
.
Outside the porthole window, there is only an endless deep blue that is gradually dimming.
Sunlight shines through the seawater above, casting continuously moving light beams of light and dark outside the window. In the gradually darkening seawater, bubbles float up from the outside of the boat hull, accompanied by the afterglow of the sun, like some kind of lingering
Psychedelic colors of sea creatures.
Agatha seemed to be attracted by the "scenery" outside the porthole window.
She slowly left the bridge, held the armrest and came to the porthole. She walked over curiously, and through the thick black cloth, her empty eyes stared at the area that was rapidly sinking into darkness.
of dark blue.
"What can you see?"
Duncan turned around and asked casually while getting familiar with the not-so-complex levers and buttons on the console.
"Light, all kinds of glimmers," Agatha said softly, as if talking to herself, and as if she was intoxicated in ecstasy, "they flow like rivers, forming a huge, complex but orderly
circulation...but it’s actually dark outside now, right?”
"There is still a little bit of sunlight left, but it will be completely dark soon," Duncan controlled the submersible to slowly turn an angle, "What now?"
"An extremely huge 'light curtain' was weak, but filled my entire field of vision," Agatha said, with a sense of shock in her tone, "What is that?"
"It's frost," Duncan said calmly. He looked through the porthole. Under the increasingly faint sunlight and the high-power searchlight of the submersible, an extremely wide and rough and mottled "cliff" was standing quietly in the sea water.