Deep Sea Embers.

Chapter 406 Impact and Awakening

Fog is everywhere, and the whole world seems to be sunk into the depths of a chaotic gray-white fluid. Everything that enters the sight is blurred in this fog, the city in the distance, the road nearby... Everything becomes ambiguous.

After only being active underground for a period of time, the scene on the surface completely changed into something he didn't recognize.

Agatha, who hurried back to the surface from the second waterway, stood at the exit of the traffic station, looking at the situation on the street with some astonishment. Now there are no pedestrians on the road at all. Under the thick fog, even the nearby street lights are left. A hazy glow floating in mid-air, other than that, you can only see some dark red lights moving slowly in the fog, with the sound of the steam engine running in the middle - that is The warning light above the steam walker was blinking.

"The city-state guards and the sheriff's troops have rushed to various intersections. Now the movement of people between the urban areas is strictly prohibited, and all private vehicles are prohibited from going on the road. People who fail to return home in time are arranged to take refuge nearby," a church pastor who came to respond said. Agatha reported, "Most of the night shelters are already full, and we can only cooperate with the security department to divert people to churches, warehouses and the nearest subway station."

Speaking of this, the pastor paused and sighed heavily.

"Sigh... Originally, more people could have arranged to take refuge in places like libraries, but now the places where books are piled up are beginning to erode, and all the stacks have been blocked... The time when the fog rises happens to be the time when most of the city-state When factories change shifts, too many people are away from their homes.”

Agatha didn't respond, but slowly looked away from the street, and looked up at the sky thoughtfully.

Thick clouds and mist in the city-state covered the sky, and the sky was as dim as dusk, and in the chaotic and unclear sky, the shadow of the sun could not be seen.

"It's daytime..." she said softly.

"Yes, it's daytime now, but this weird fog may have interfered with the power of the sun," the priest said with a solemn expression, with a trace of tension, "The erosion in the library is because of this..."

"Nothing can interfere with the power of the sun during the day—as long as Vision 001 hangs in the sky, even if clouds cover the sun and the whole city is as dark as night, the power of the sun will not be weakened," Agatha shook her head lightly , "In my judgment, this layer of thick fog is not the cause, it may just be a 'phenomenon' caused by a bigger crisis... How is the situation on the mountain?"

"The cathedral is full of people now," the pastor said quickly, and at the same time, several steam walkers with their warning lights on rattled into the open space near the exit of the traffic station. It was a car with a church flag flying, "The car that picked you up is here, let's go back to the mountain first, and we'll talk on the way."

Agatha and the pastor got into the car, and the steam walker cast a powerful light on the thick fog. On the barely illuminated road, the car started and headed for the cathedral on the top of the mountain at a much slower speed than normal.

"When it was foggy, there were still many prayers and tourists stranded on the mountain. The cathedral sheltered everyone as much as possible. Those who couldn't get in were arranged in the old church museum next to them, and shelters were also arranged at the city hall. So, I didn’t keep people outside,” the pastor continued to report the situation to Agatha in the car, “Archbishop Ivan has stabilized the situation and did not let panic spread in the church. He has been in the church since just now. Use psychic communication to keep in touch with churches all over the city-state, so far, there has been no pollution caused by crowd panic..."

A low mechanical roar came from outside the car window, and Agatha turned her head to look in the direction of the sound.

She saw several long aerial guide rails extending from the top of the mountain road, passing through the thick fog, pointing to the distance, the towering support towers were supporting the rails like giants, and there was a dark warehouse hanging on one of the rails. It roared and drove towards the depths of the dense fog. The red warning lights around the warehouse were like many eyes, blinking in the fog.

That is the transportation system of the boiling gold mine. The boiling gold ore mined from the mine will be transported to the crushing, sorting plant and large melting furnace at the foot of the mountain through those huge cargo boxes and mountain tracks.

"...The mine track is still running?" Agatha turned her head in surprise, and looked at the priest beside her. "Didn't the workers take refuge?"

At the same time, what emerged in her mind was the scene she had just seen in the depths of the ground not long ago, the ancient mine tunnel that had been exhausted decades ago.

"The workers must have taken refuge." The pastor was also surprised when he saw the rail container, but he still replied with certainty, "The church of the mine has confirmed it. The ones that have passed now may be the last ones sent up by the excavation area." A batch of raw ore should be arranged automatically by the difference machine—you know, the boiled gold raw ore mined will be sent away after staying in the storage area for a period of time. The machine will only follow the instructions set on the program tape. ..."

A disturbing roar suddenly came from the other side of the thick fog, interrupting the pastor's vowed words. Everyone's eyes instantly turned to the direction of the sound, but they only saw another dark warehouse car coming from The other end of the track in the sky was approaching quickly—it was on the same track as the warehouse that had just passed over the mountain road.

"I'm going to hit it!!"

The pastor only had time to let out an exclamation, and the earth-shattering impact had already occurred. The two columns of warehouses collided violently on the track in the sky, making terrifying roars and explosions. Then, as the two rows of warehouses swayed violently on the track, the power wheel and auxiliary wheel fell off, the axle broke, and the unrecognizable car fell into the valley with sparks and smoke.

A piece of wreckage that fell from the sky almost grazed the roof of the car Agatha was riding in, and slammed hard on the side of the road.

But before the people in the car could react, another tooth-piercing and extremely terrifying sound of metal tearing came from the sky again.

The track in the air that had suffered the severe impact was twisting and deforming. Sparks flew from the top of one of the iron towers supporting the track, and the tight steel beams and cables cracked and cracked, and then the whole section of the track was smashed directly from above. Falling!

"Get out of the way!"

The priest on the car immediately exclaimed loudly, and before he spoke, the convoy had already started to avoid the falling objects from the sky—several steam walkers immediately dispersed, and the steam car in the center of the team suddenly accelerated forward, in a thrilling A few seconds later, a terrifying roar came from behind Agatha.

She turned her head and saw that the broken track had already smashed into the mountain road, completely destroying the main road. The two steam walkers were blocked opposite the falling object, but luckily they were not injured——they walked a long way The mechanical joints began to climb the mountain next to it, and white high-pressure steam spewed out from the gaps in the armor plates, blending with the surrounding dense fog.

"Pedestrians No. [-] and No. [-] can't get through. They should be going to climb the path above and take a detour back to the cathedral. We don't have to wait for them," Agatha glanced back, quickly judged and ordered, " Keep going."

"A close shot..." The pastor beside him couldn't help but wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, "It almost hit the head."

Agatha did not speak for a while.

Was it an accident just now?Or... malicious?
Why is there a row of warehouse cars traveling in the opposite direction on the mine track that should have been one-way for one-way traffic?

The workers in the mine have all gone to evacuate at this time, and the operators of the track system will theoretically go to evacuate after setting up the last train... There is a safety lock in the last step when the warehouse is hung on the track, if there are other warehouses on the track , it will never start the car... The difference engine controls this process, and a normal operation difference engine will not make mistakes. The gears and levers will faithfully execute the program set on the punched paper tape, and the metal meshes will not There is shaken.

"There may be a problem with the differential engine of the mine..." Agatha said as if talking to herself.

And it's not just the mine's differential engine that went wrong—if the library can be corrupted by evil spirits in broad daylight, then the scope and urgency of this mutation will exceed everyone's imagination.

……

The sound of alarm bells in the distant streets came to the ears faintly, the chaotic and disorderly cold wind was blowing through the empty cemetery, and the thick fog enveloped everything in sight, and in this inextricable fog, there seemed to be countless The deep whispers are overlapping and echoing, like the restless restlessness of the dead.

The sound of the gun safety opening broke the tranquility in the cemetery, and the faint light of a lantern dispelled the shadows in the fog. The stooped old man was holding the loyal and reliable double-barreled shotgun tightly, standing like a vigilant sentinel. On the path, he stared at the neatly arranged coffins in the fog.

The murmur was just an illusion, at least for now, the coffins were still lying on the mortuary table obediently, and the people in the coffins were still lying obediently - but the strange atmosphere in the air could not be hidden from the veteran's perception.

He knew that something was happening, and it was absolutely impossible for the cemetery to settle down today—some of the "residents" he "cared for" were gradually waking up.

(End of this chapter)