Ashes Of Deep Sea

Chapter 246: Chapter 250 Beneath the Surface

Tirian took a few seconds longer to notice that Duncan had just mentioned an “acquaintance” with the Frost Queen, and his astonishment was written all over his face.

Duncan was not surprised by this reaction. He just shook his head gently, “My ‘encounter’ with her was quite unique, not within the normal timeline. You could understand it as though I had intervened in the crevices of history and observed Lei Nora from the perspective of a bystander—whereas in the regular course of history, there was no contact between me and that Frost Queen.”

Tirian frowned, as if he were trying to comprehend the profound meaning of these words. All of a sudden, his eyes flickered subtly, and he gathered all his emotions before looking up at Duncan, “Why are you interested in the Frost Queen’s affairs? Is it because of that ‘acquaintance’? Or because of… this puppet who calls herself ‘Alice’? What has she told you?”

“Alice is unaware of the Frost Queen’s matters; her memory is as pure as a blank sheet of paper,” Duncan said indifferently, “I am interested in the Frost Queen because everyone says that the Frost rebellion back then was due to Lei Nora’s collusion with the Homeloss conspiracy becoming exposed—don’t you think it’s normal for me to be intrigued upon hearing such rumors?”

“…Colluding with Homeloss,” Tirian’s voice was deep, his eyelids lowered, hiding his current emotions, “Yes, that’s how they fabricated the charges against Her Majesty Lei Nora.”

“From your reaction, it seems to be a framed charge,” Duncan’s voice came from the mirror, “So, was the Frost rebellion just an utter conspiracy, and the crimes leveled against Lei Nora were entirely unfounded?”

While saying so, he was observing Tirian’s reaction.

However, Tirian did not respond immediately but slightly furrowed his brows and countered, “Does this truth matter to you?”

“It does,” Duncan expressed solemnly, “after all, from a certain perspective, I am a half-party to the affair.”

Tirian clearly startled for a moment, seemingly at a loss to contradict his father’s answer. He then laughed helplessly and sighed, shaking his head, “The rebellion certainly involved a conspiracy, but if it must be said, the cause touted by the insurgents was not entirely fictitious…”

“Oh?”

“The Frost Queen never colluded with any Homeloss, but she indeed… engaged in some research in forbidden areas, had the plans come to light, even without a rebellion, she would have found it difficult to remain in her position as the ruler of the City-State.”

Duncan’s gaze deepened. After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly spoke, “It was called ‘The Abyssal Project,’ wasn’t it?”

Tirian looked up abruptly, astonishment in his eyes.

“I know much more than you can imagine,” Duncan stated placidly.

“But all the data regarding the Abyssal Project has been destroyed. Even the insiders who exposed the project were dealt with and executed by the rebels…” Tirian said in disbelief, “Everyone is convinced that even the name of the project itself has been contaminated by a curse, and the last people in the know had died off long ago…”

“Oh? All the records have been destroyed?” This time, Duncan seemed somewhat surprised. He had thought the matter might be sensitive, but he had not anticipated that the cover-up would be so extreme, “And all those in the know are dead?”

Tirian hesitated. He knew the circumstances back then better than anyone and was clearly aware of why the project was buried. After a moment of silence, he finally began to speak slowly:

“This forbidden project was tainted with too much related to curses, subspace, and mental contamination, so much so that even the rebels of the time dared not casually discuss the evidence they found.

“But in fact, the name of this plan was made public only once—the sole instance was during the execution of the final judgment, where the rebels proclaimed the crime of the Frost Queen using these words. On that very day, the Sea-viewing Cliff of the Frost City-State experienced an unprecedented and terrifying collapse, as a quarter of the city along with the whole cliff fell into the Endless Sea, and all who heard the words ‘Deep Abyss Plan’ perished without exception, becoming lost souls in the depths of the sea.

“In that year, the rebels had initially prepared a series of follow-up propaganda efforts targeting the ‘Deep Abyss Plan,’ intending to widely expose the affair without revealing the forbidden elements, to completely erase the influence of the Frost Queen over the northern seas, and to emphasize the justice of the revolt. But after the great collapse of the cliff, these propaganda plans were immediately abandoned—as I’ve just mentioned, they were convinced that even the name ‘Deep Abyss Plan’ had been tainted by a curse, and so they simply destroyed all materials related to the plan, including its name.

“So, I am especially curious… how did you come to learn of the ‘Deep Abyss Plan’?”

Tirian finally stopped avoiding the matter and looked directly into Duncan’s eyes. After hearing about that half-century-old plan from the other man, the turmoil in his heart could hardly be stilled. For a brief moment, he even truly began to suspect some kind of “collusion” between the Frost Queen of those years and the Homeloss.

“I’ve said that I ‘witnessed’ some events in the cracks of history,” Duncan spoke candidly and asked again, “So what exactly is the Deep Abyss Plan? Why is this plan so secretive and forbidden that even you… seem to retain a hint of fear when mentioning it?”

Tirian, with a solemn face, remained silent for a long time before finally speaking slowly and gravely, “Simply put, it is an exploration plan—but unlike the adventurers who explore new sea routes on the Civilization Frontier, the Deep Abyss Plan explores the deep sea.”

“Exploring the deep sea?” Duncan furrowed his brows, “Do you mean the Spirit Realm, the obscure depths, and the Subspace? But if it’s just a study of these domains, it shouldn’t involve any ‘forbidden’ matters, should it? Despite being dangerous, studies in the mystical arts have always been conducted legally in the City-States, and the Academy of Truth even has specialized research groups…”

“I’m not referring to the ‘deep sea’ as a concept in mysticism,” Tirian shook his head slightly, “I mean the real deep sea, the deep sea within the natural domain—an expanse that lies before the eyes of us all, yet everyone pretends not to see, dares not to touch, and refuses to approach.”

While speaking, Tirian suddenly posed a question, “Father, have you ever considered this—what lies beneath our City-State, under these sea-bound isles that carry our entire civilization… what does it look like?”

Duncan didn’t respond.

But beneath his calm exterior, a wave had suddenly surged in his heart.

He truly had never considered this question, or rather… he had not even realized it was a question that needed consideration!

In this world, people had grown accustomed to referring to the world’s “depths” using terms like “Spirit Realm,” “obscure maritime regions,” and “Subspace.” This structural model could indeed explain the current operation of the world to some extent, but in truth, this model is based on an interpretation of “mystic concepts” and strictly speaking, it describes only the “dimensional” structure of the world, not its “physical structure”!

What Tirian was talking about was clearly not this dimension-based model rooted in mystical concepts; he was referring to the physical concept, the body of water extending downward from the sea’s surface.

In the classic model of “Reality-Spirit Realm-obscure depths-Subspace,” the “deep sea” that Tirian was talking about would actually be at the first layer: the reality dimension. Yet, it is this very “deep sea,” which is merely at the first layer, that seems like a complete blank in human cognition.

Duncan had not considered this before because he possessed a set of “common knowledge” deeply ingrained in his thinking, naturally assuming that beneath the City-States must be geological structures like undersea mountains or volcanic rises, and further below, of course, there would be things such as the sea bed. However, at this moment, when he carefully recalled the various pieces of knowledge he had come across since arriving in this world, he realized that humanity had never conducted research into the water world beyond a depth of two hundred meters!

“Clearly, you haven’t thought about this matter either,” Tirian’s voice suddenly came, interrupting Duncan’s contemplation, “And before I met the Frost Queen, I hadn’t thought about it either—the Endless Sea covers the whole world, our City-State is an island floating on the sea, the gods’ protection lays a solid foundation for our reality, and the shine of Anomaly 001 brings us a secure and stable daylight. As for what lies beneath the water’s surface… why should we care? The Spirit Realm, the obscure depths, Subspace… these ‘dimensional’ deep-sea regions are already enough to trouble us.”

Tirian continued, shaking his head slightly.

“But Her Majesty Lei Nora told me that this question is important, as significant as the secrets of the ‘Spirit Realm,’ ‘obscure depths,’ and ‘Subspace.’ Right beneath our feet, beneath the City-State and below the sea surface, in our very reality, there lies such a vast area of the unknown. And she, with a spirit of exploration, could not accept that such a large expanse within her realm was shrouded in mystery.”