Deep Sea Embers.

Chapter 405 Staggered
In the damp and cold Second Waterway Corridor, the gatekeeper is walking towards a darker depth.

The black clothes representing the defenders of the city-state have long been tattered, and the combat cane made with special technology has been scarred. Pain and exhaustion seem to have become some kind of distant illusions, and the only echoes echoing from the depths of the ground are heard.

The blood seems to be running out, but the heart is still beating, death is so imminent, it seems that you can feel the coldness of the world of the dead when you breathe - in this dark and lonely corridor, there are no comrades in arms, and it has been a long time since See the enemy.

But there are still things that accompany Agatha. At the end of this journey to death, there is a cluster of flames that are not very bright, but slightly warm.

Agatha put her left hand on her chest, carefully protecting the cluster of "fire seeds" that danced out of thin air. The faint green of the flames illuminated her chin, and also illuminated a short section of the surrounding corridors. She felt , even enjoying the warmth brought by this little bit of fire—because she could feel that the road ahead was getting colder and colder.

Or, it was her own body that was cold.

"I have crossed the intersection in the upper city, and I am approaching the branch corridor around the Boiling Gold Mine..." Agatha said softly to the flames, she raised her head, and glanced at a nameplate on the wall in front of her, a mottled ancient nameplate On it, there are urban streets corresponding to the sewers—this can help her determine her current location, "There are almost no enemies on this road, but the road is getting more and more difficult to walk, and there is a kind of... suffocating cold delaying my steps."

A majestic and deep voice sounded directly from the bottom of her heart: "Perhaps, those cultists have given up using minions to delay your steps... They are focusing on the last moment."

"How is the situation outside?"

"There was a thick fog, and the fog covered the entire city-state. The city-state guards were maintaining order and urging residents to go home. At some intersections, guard squads could already be seen—they were carrying lanterns for night watch, because the thick fog was blocking the power of the sun. "The majestic voice in Agatha's heart said, "There is also fog on the sea around the city-state, and the coverage may extend hundreds of nautical miles away."

"...Those heretics have taken action," Agatha said softly, "Perhaps my action has stimulated them and made them act earlier..."

"You don't seem to be doing well."

"I may be hurt a little bit," Agatha continued to walk forward, she felt her breathing was a little heavy, but her mind was clearer than ever, "but don't worry about me, I'm ready to die preparations—I will send your fire to their lairs, by any means."

"I'd rather see you complete this task alive, Agatha—although you are the messenger of the God of Death, there is no need to rush to report to Bartok. By the way, I am suddenly a little curious about this , to you priests of the god of death, the matter of 'death'... is it a demotion or a promotion?"

Agatha froze for a moment, and twitched the corners of her mouth: "Your sense of humor really surprised me—sorry, I really can't answer this question. I'm afraid the priests of death throughout the ages have never thought about this matter. If so... I will think about it carefully."

"Okay, I hope you find the answer."

The voice in her head fell silent for a while, and Agatha breathed a sigh of relief—whether it was an illusion or not, she suddenly felt that her breathing was not as hard and tired as before, and even her steps became a little easier.

She glanced at the tinder held in her left hand, carefully protected it, and walked across another intersection.

Water overflowed from a nearby drainage channel, forming a small pool on the ground, calm as a mirror, reflecting the dark dome of the waterway.

Agatha walked through the stagnant water, and the calm surface of the water was undulating in layers—in the suddenly broken reflection, there was a figure in a black windbreaker, with ritual bandages wrapped around his body, and a tin cane in his hand.

The figure walked in the direction Agatha had come from, and for a brief moment, they passed by.

……

Agatha stopped suddenly, and looked at the place she had just walked with some doubts. She saw a small pool of water there, and there were still layers of ripples on the surface of the water disturbed by her footsteps.

In the turbulent and broken water, the reflection of that moment just now could no longer be seen, but Agatha always felt as if she saw something just now.

It was a figure, resembling her own, but not quite like it—the figure was dressed in tattered black clothes, covered with scars, it looked as if it had experienced one battle after another, but its direction of travel was different. It is the depth of the second waterway.

That was exactly where I had just left.

Probably because he stopped suddenly, the voice of his subordinates came from behind: "The gatekeeper? What happened?"

"That pool of water..." Agatha turned her head and pointed not far away, "Was it there just now? Did you see any strange sight inside?"

"Accumulated water?" The subordinate looked back, with a puzzled expression, "It was there just now...but I didn't see anything strange."

Agatha didn't speak, but fell silent suddenly, and stared at the still swaying water surface for a long time. After a long time, her eyes gradually showed a trace of solemnity and thought.

"Did you see something?" The subordinate couldn't help but feel a little worried.

Agatha was silent for another moment before shaking her head lightly: "Don't worry, everything is fine, everything...is fine."

The subordinates were obviously still a little puzzled, but facing the dignified look of his superior, he restrained his excessive curiosity and changed the subject in time: "What did you find on the other side of that door just now? I feel that the expression on your face after you came back always It's serious..."

The chaotic thoughts in her heart were quickly gathered, and Agatha raised her head and looked in the direction she came from just now—the gate leading to the abandoned mine road had disappeared on the other side of the intersection, but she still clearly remembered that she was in the The discovery in that dark mine.

She didn't explore that mine for too long, but returned to the second waterway by the same route after confirming her discovery, and hurriedly led the team on the way back to the stronghold—out of necessary caution, she arrived He hasn't revealed to his subordinates what he found behind that door.

Even now, she doesn't know how to explain that too horrifying and bizarre... "conjecture" to the black-clothed guards in front of her.

After a short hesitation, she turned around and continued walking towards the stronghold.

After walking for a while, she suddenly said softly as if she was talking to herself: "Han Shuang...how does she survive?"

"What do you use to survive?" The subordinate was startled for a moment, unable to react for a while, and hesitated to speak after a few seconds, "You mean...the source of income for the city-state? Boiling gold business?"

"Boiling gold is the blood of frost, and the mine is the heart of a city-state..." Agatha whispered to herself, speaking words that confused the guards in black, "None of us seem to have thought that this heart There will be times when it stops beating..."

Another guard in black couldn't help but stepped forward, with a trace of nervousness on his face: "You..."

Agatha lightly raised her hand and interrupted her subordinates.

"Don't think about it so much, everything is still uncertain. I did see something on the other side of that door, but whether I can disclose it to you still needs to be discussed with the archbishop."

She has calmed down from the previous restlessness.

I may be too nervous, it is just a depleted abandoned mine, and for an ancient mine that has been mined for many years, it is not surprising that one or two mines have dried up. The city-state city hall’s subsequent blockade decision is very It could be something else—some kind of pollution that used to be there but has receded is the likeliest scenario.

Jumping to conclusions is a taboo in investigations.

Agatha shook her head, but the moment she saw in the stagnant water just now appeared in her mind.

The "self" who walked against him in the reflection, the bloody one who had gone through battles.

Agatha closed her eyes slightly, and the knuckles holding the cane were a little white due to the force, but after a while, she opened her eyes again and looked forward, and the expression on her face had returned to calm.

I still have many things to do.

In silence, Agatha led the guardian team back to the stronghold at the underground crossroads, and as soon as she arrived here, she noticed that the surrounding atmosphere seemed a little strange.

A slightly tense atmosphere enveloped the stronghold. A priest who seemed to have just come down from the shaft was nervously talking to the person in charge of the stronghold's defense. , seems to be preparing to take the elevator back to the surface.

Agatha stepped forward quickly, and before she could ask, the black-clothed guard commander in charge of the stronghold here has already said quickly: "Your Excellency Gatekeeper, something is wrong on the surface."

Agatha frowned: "What's going on?"

"Fog, a very large and strange dense fog, covered the entire city-state and the surrounding sea area, and the sky could not even see the sun," the commander quickly reported, "There are also evil things appearing in the library and archives, although they were The scholars on duty suppressed it in time, but panic and chaos are spreading in the city—the archbishop sent someone down, please go back immediately!"

(End of this chapter)