Under Duncan's somewhat unfamiliar and careful control, the submersible slowly adjusted its direction.
The "pedestal" below the Frost City-State is like a vast, boundless, rough and weird cliff in the sea, moving slowly in the dim seawater outside the porthole.
The sunlight shining down from the sea above has faded, and only the light beams from three sets of large searchlights in front of the submersible remain in the water. The light beams cast huge light spots on the surface of the "cliff", and beyond the light spots, there is unknown depth of darkness.
The low buzzing sound and the hissing sound of certain valves automatically adjusting the air pressure reached the ears from time to time, and these monotonous and lifeless sounds made people feel more and more... lonely.
It is the loneliness caused by the individual being far away from the group and the mind being far away from the territory of civilization. It is the uneasiness caused by gradually sinking into the boundless darkness and being wrapped by the endless sea water.
Agatha became quiet. She stood in front of the porthole and just "stared" in one direction outside for a long time. After an unknown amount of time, she broke the silence softly: "All the light is fading... but I can still
'Seeing' the base of the city-state, it still emits a very faint light, the only thing I can see in the darkness."
The world she observed was obviously different from ordinary people's vision.
"Do you know what I'm thinking?" Duncan's voice suddenly came from behind her.
"What are you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking, maybe this is how we observe the world," Duncan said in a low voice, as if blending into the hum of the surrounding machines, "The world is like a sea, and if we look at the entire civilization as a whole, we are like this
Scuba diving in the boundless ocean.
"The unknown darkness covers the entire world. We carefully peek at the scenery that accidentally emerges from the darkness from the lights of civilization, and try to deduce from those fleeting pictures to piece together the outline of the entire world.
Yet we almost never get the chance to truly understand the whole truth behind those lights and shadows -
“Behind a small fallen leaf there might be an entire forest, behind a stubborn rock there might be an entire mountain, and a vine passing through the light might just be a tentacle extending out from some mythical beast—beyond the glimmer of light is
Unknown, the glimmer of light is nothing more than a one-sided impression presented to us by the truth at a specific location and at a specific time.
"And during such cautious diving, some people accidentally glimpsed the part beyond the light, so they went crazy. Some people tried to expand the light. They are called pioneers by us - in many cases,
There is not even a clear boundary between these pioneers and lunatics. As for more people, they gathered inside the ark of 'civilization', gathered in the limited but enough light to illuminate their feet, lowered their heads, and carefully restrained themselves.
Keep your sight.
"They are called 'ordinary people'.
"The knowable and measurable world brings them a precious sense of security, and they can no longer cast their gaze on the darkness outside the ark... But it is these ordinary people who account for the largest proportion, weak and powerless, who maintain the entire
The operation of the Ark even supported those pioneers and madmen."
The sound of seawater being injected into the pressurized water tank came from beneath the feet. The submersible slowly adjusted its angle and began to accelerate its dive. Outside the observation window in front, within the spot of light cast by the searchlight, the undulating cliffs continued to rise upwards -
—The next second, the scenery in the light spot may turn into an empty dark water body, but it may not.
Duncan withdrew his gaze and glanced around him.
The lighting in the cabin is sprinkled from above, and everything in the submersible is bathed in light. After staring at the darkness outside for too long, looking back at this comfortable cabin will indeed make people feel a sense of relaxation from the heart.
.
But the occasional "crunching" sound coming from somewhere in the hull reminds the people in the crew cabin all the time that there is only a fragile layer of ball between this comfortable and bright cabin and the hundreds of millions of tons of sea water outside.
Shell steel plate.
This layer of fragile spherical shell steel plate is something that countless "ordinary people" hammered and hammered bit by bit. Those craftsmen who may never step out of the city in their entire lives use their skills and wisdom to
, sending this simple submersible into the endless abyss beneath the city-state.
Agatha was silent for a long time and then spoke softly: "Actually... I occasionally feel lucky that my eyes can see more things than ordinary people now. As you said, we are all diving in boundless darkness.
, then my eyes can now see further where the light cannot shine, but I often feel frustrated because compared to this endless darkness, this slightly farther vision seems meaningless.
…”
"Yes, for this boundless sea, a slightly distant view is insignificant," Duncan said softly, but then changed the subject, "But for us who are diving in the darkness, even if we can only see more
Just one meter out is of great significance."
He casually turned off the main lighting in the cabin, leaving only the necessary lights on the operating table.
It became dark inside the submersible, but as the contrast of the lights changed, in the darkness outside the porthole, the light beam illuminated by the high-power searchlight became brighter. Within the light spot, the details on the surface of the "cliff" became increasingly clear.
Become clear.
"The world you describe is almost desperate, but your attitude seems to be always optimistic," Agatha said, "This makes me... a little surprised."
"I described to you a hopeless world because the world is already so bad. I am optimistic because I am an optimistic person," Duncan said casually. "We can't change the world, but we can't change it."
The 'attitude' is our own."
"I didn't expect you to have such a personality, let alone be so affectionate." A smile seemed to appear on Agatha's face, "Yes, I always accidentally forget that you are the greatest person in the world."
explorer."
Duncan just smiled and didn't respond. His eyes fell out of the porthole, using the beam of light from the searchlight to carefully observe the "cliff" that was gradually rising.
The texture looks like stone, with some parasites similar to seaweed and coral clinging to the surface.
But such a vertical structure and such a regular "base" do not look like something naturally formed.
He maneuvered the submersible forward cautiously, hovering at a very close distance, and then found a control lever on the control panel with some unfamiliarity, and released the mechanical arm located directly in front of the submersible.
In the light, the robotic arm slowly unfolded, and the sharp structure at its end touched the "cliff" in front, and gently tapped and scraped.
Some debris falls slowly in the water.
But the interior of the debris seems to have a harder structure.
"I have always been curious about one thing," Duncan suddenly broke the silence. "For so many years, so many city-states have never lacked digging deep underground - whether it is mining, building underground facilities, or simply doing research.
Well...no one has ever dug through this 'pedestal'?"
Agatha was startled for a moment. This question seemed a bit out of line to her, but after a brief thought, she shook her head: "As far as I know...there has never been such a 'digging through' situation. Because the underground is dangerous.
Yes, the lower the place is than the sea level, the higher the probability of abnormal changes in the darkness. Even with the protection of steam and flames, mental pollution and weird accidents in the mines occur every year, let alone holding a 'cut through'
The city-state's crazy thoughts dug deeper, and..."
She paused, sorted out her memories, and then said: "And even if you really dig deeper with this crazy idea, it seems that no one has ever succeeded. I have heard that the Academy of Truth has made attempts in this area.
, and their conclusion is that... when the excavation reaches a certain depth, the drill bit cannot drill down, and the drill bit becomes harder and harder as it goes down, until the hardest and most advanced drill bit breaks."
"The harder it gets as you go down?" Duncan frowned and turned to look out the window at the manipulator that was knocking on the "cliff". It had now knocked off some attachments. After the loose debris fell off, the inner layer of the cliff was exposed.
A darker, denser structure.
Can't tell if it's rock or metal.
But its surface seems to have vaguely regular lines, just like...the ravines on the skin of some kind of creature.
Duncan controlled the robotic arm and tried hard to scrape some samples from the dense black structure, but in vain.
The power of the mechanical arm is insufficient, and the black material is harder than expected... some kind of "bottom shell"?
Duncan had various speculations in his mind, and even came up with some bold detection plans, but in the end he tried to suppress his curiosity and began to control the submersible to continue moving into the deep sea.
After all, exploring the "huge unknown entity" directly under the frost is the primary goal of his trip. Without knowing whether there will be a second chance for a deep dive, he cannot waste the valuable endurance time of the submersible halfway.
.
Accompanied by the noise coming from the pressurized water tank, the submersible continued to dive.
After an unknown amount of time, they finally crossed the "fault" under the city-state's foundation.
Very suddenly, the "cliff" within the range of the searchlight stopped abruptly, and the huge spot of light seemed to be suddenly swallowed up by darkness, and the endless dark water followed.
No matter how powerful the searchlight is, it can't find the target in such an empty and boundless sea water - Duncan can only see a hazy boundary of light and shadow extending out of the porthole, but he can't see it either inside or outside the light.
to the slightest reference.
This sense of oppression of being trapped in a huge darkness and sinking continuously is far better than facing the weird big hole in the depths of a boiling gold mine.
Agatha also clenched the armrest in front of her slightly nervously.
The last glimmer of light in her "vision" disappeared.