Deep Sea Embers - Chapter 480

[Chapter 478 Submarine]

Under Duncan’s unfamiliar and careful control, the submersible slowly adjusted its orientation.

The “pedestal” below the Frost City-State is like a vast, rough and weird cliff in the sea, slowly moving in the dark sea water outside the porthole.

The sunlight shining from the sea above has faded, and only the beams of light from the three sets of large searchlights in front of the submersible remain in the water. The beams of light cast a huge light spot on the surface of the “cliff”, and beyond the light spots, there is unknown depth and darkness.

The low hum and the hiss of certain valves automatically adjusting the air pressure come to the ears from time to time, but these monotonous and lifeless sounds make people feel more… lonely.

It is the loneliness caused by the individual being far away from the group and the mind far away from the territory of civilization, and the uneasiness caused by gradually sinking into a boundless darkness and being wrapped in endless sea water.

Agatha quieted down. She stood in front of the porthole and only “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 I ‘see’ the base of the city-state, which still emits a very faint light, which is the only thing I can see in the dark.” The world she

observed is obviously different from the vision of ordinary people.

“Do you know what I’m thinking?” Duncan’s voice suddenly came from behind her.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking, maybe this is the way we observe the world,” Duncan said in a low voice, as if blending in with the humming of the surrounding machines, “The world is like the sea, and we regard the entire civilization as a whole If we do this, we will be diving in such a boundless abyss.

“The unknown darkness covers the whole world, and we carefully peek at the scenery that accidentally emerges from the darkness from the lights of civilization, and try to recover from those flashes of light. The outline of the whole world is speculated and pieced together in the passing pictures, but we almost never have the opportunity to truly understand the whole truth behind those lights and shadows——

“Behind a small fallen leaf may be an entire forest, behind a stubborn rock stands an entire mountain, a vine passing by in the light may be just a tentacles extended by a mythical monster – beyond the twilight is The unknown, the twilight is just a one-sided impression of the truth presented to us at a specific location and at a specific time.”

And in such a careful submersion, some people accidentally peeked at the part outside the lights, And so they go crazy, and there are those who try to expand the light, and they are what we call pioneers—and in many cases, there is not even a clear line between these pioneers and the madman. 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 narrowed their sights.

“They are called ‘ordinary people’.

” “The predictable and measurable world brings them a precious sense of security, and they can no longer cast their eyes on the darkness outside the ark… But it is these weak and powerful people who occupy the largest proportion.” Powerless ordinary people maintain the operation of the entire ark, even supporting those pioneers and lunatics. “

The sound of sea water being injected into the pressurized tank came from under the feet. The submersible adjusted its angle slowly and began to dive faster. Outside the observation window in front, within the spot range of the searchlight, the uneven cliffs continued to rise. ——In the next second, the scenery in the spot of light may turn into an empty dark body of water, but it may not.

Duncan retracted his gaze and glanced at his surroundings.

The cabin lighting sprinkled from above, everything in the submersible All bathed in light, it is indeed a visceral sense of relief to look back at this cozy cabin after staring at the darkness outside for too long.

But occasionally there is a “creak” from somewhere in the hull “The sound reminded the people in the crew cabin all the time that there was only a layer of fragile spherical shell steel plates between this comfortable and bright cabin and the hundreds of millions of tons of seawater outside. This layer of fragile spherical shell steel plates

, It is something that countless “ordinary people” tapped and hammered little by little. Those craftsmen who may never step out of the city-state in their entire lives used their skills and wisdom to send this simple submersible to the world. Into the endless abyss below the city-state.

Agatha was silent for a long time, then said softly: “Actually… I sometimes feel lucky that my eyes can now see more things than ordinary people, just like you said, we are all diving in the boundless darkness , with my eyes, now I can see farther where the light can’t reach, but I often feel frustrated, because compared with this endless darkness, this slightly farther field of vision seems meaningless …”

“Yes, for this boundless sea, looking a little farther is insignificant,” Duncan said softly, but then changed the topic, “But for us who are diving in the dark, even if it is just It is very meaningful to be able to see one meter more.”

He turned off the main lighting in the cabin, leaving only the necessary lights on the console.

The inside of the submersible became dark, but with the contrast of the lights, the beams of light from the high-power searchlights appeared brighter in the darkness outside the portholes, and within the range of the spot of light, the details on the surface of the “cliff” became more and more vivid. clear up.

“The world you describe is almost hopeless, but your attitude seems to be always optimistic,” Agatha said, “This surprised me…” “

I described a world of despair to you, because this world was originally It’s so bad, my attitude is optimistic, that’s because I’m an optimistic person,” Duncan said casually, “We can’t change the world, but the ‘attitude’ belongs to us.” “I didn’t expect you to have such a

personality , not to mention that you would be so affectionate,” Agatha seemed to have a smile on her face, “Yeah, I always accidentally forget that you were originally the greatest explorer in the world.” Duncan just

laughed He smiled and didn’t respond, but his eyes fell outside the porthole, carefully observing the “cliff” that was gradually rising by the beam of light shot out by the searchlight.

The texture looks like a stone, and some parasites similar to seaweed and coral are clinging to the surface.

But such a vertical structure and such a regular “pedestal” do not seem to be something naturally formed.

He steered the submersible forward cautiously, hovered at a very close distance, and then found a certain control lever on the console with a little rustiness, and released the mechanical arm located directly in front of the submersible.

In the light, the mechanical arm slowly unfolded, and the sharp structure at the end touched the “cliff” in front of it, tapping and scraping lightly.

Some debris fell slowly in the water.

But inside the debris appears to be a much tougher structure.

“I’ve always been curious about one thing,” Duncan suddenly broke the silence, “over the years, in so many city-states, there has never been a lack of digging deep into the ground—whether it’s mining, building underground facilities, or simply doing research. Well…so no one has ever dug through this ‘pedestal’?”

Agatha was taken aback for a moment, this question seemed to her to be a bit off the mark, but after a short thought she shook her head: “As far as I know I know… there has never been such a ‘dug through’ situation. Because the underground is dangerous, the lower the place is below sea level, the higher the probability of mutations in the dark. Even with the protection of steam and flames, the mines Mental pollution and weird accidents also happen every year, not to mention digging deep with the crazy idea of ‘cutting through the city-state’, and…”

She paused, sorted out her memories, and then said: “And even if Really digging deep with this crazy idea, it seems that no one has ever succeeded. I have heard that the Institute of Truth has tried this, and their conclusion is… When digging to a certain depth, The drill bit can no longer be drilled, and it gets harder and harder until the hardest and most advanced drill bit breaks.” “It gets harder as it

goes down?” Duncan frowned, and turned his head to look at the “cliff” knocking on the “cliff” outside the porthole. The manipulator, it has now knocked off some attachments, and after the loose debris fell off, the inner layer of the cliff revealed a darker, denser structure.

Can’t tell if it’s rock or metal.

But its surface seems to have relatively regular lines, just like… the ravines on the surface of some kind of creature.

Duncan manipulated the mechanical arm, trying to scrape some samples from the dense black structure, but in vain.

The power of the mechanical arm is insufficient, and the layer of black matter is harder than imagined… Some kind of “bottom shell”?

Various speculations arose in Duncan’s mind, and even some bold detection plans emerged, but in the end he tried his best to suppress this curiosity, and began to control the submersible to continue moving into the deep sea.

After all, exploring the “huge unknown entity” directly below the frost is the primary goal of his trip. Under the premise of not being sure whether there is a second chance for deep diving, the precious endurance time of the submersible cannot be wasted on the way .

With the noise from the pressurized tank, the submersible continued to dive.

After a while, they finally crossed the “fault” under the base of the city-state.

Very suddenly, the “cliff” within the range of the searchlight stopped abruptly, and the huge spot of light seemed to be swallowed by darkness suddenly, and the boundless dark water rushed towards us.

No matter how powerful the searchlight is, it is impossible to find the target in such an empty and boundless sea——Duncan can only see the hazy boundary of light and shadow extending outside the porthole, but he cannot see it whether it is inside or outside the light. to the slightest reference.

This sense of oppression of being trapped in the huge darkness and constantly sinking is far better than facing that weird big hole in the depths of the boiling gold mine.

Agatha also clenched the armrest in front of her a little nervously.

The last gleam of her “vision” faded.

(end of this chapter)