Ashes Of Deep Sea Chapter 394

Chapter 394: Chapter 398: Intersecting Waterways Chapter 394: Chapter 398: Intersecting Waterways In the depths of the secret passage connected to the Second Water Route, Nemo Wilkins held a lantern and led the way, remarking rather schadenfreudically, “Our people have caught wind of the situation, evacuated, and 'swept' clean the traces beneath us. The Church folk are now burrowing here and there in the Central City District and the Western City District–the spreading darkness is sure to give them headaches now.”

“I was worried you would take this chance to cause some destruction,” Duncan said casually, “especially since the Second Water Route is your home ground.”

“It is unnecessary for us to do that,” Nemo shook his head, “we are loyal to Captain Terrian, and Captain Terrian never wishes to destroy this City-State–from the perspective of protecting the City-State, we and the Church, even the city hall, don't really have any conflicts. Right now, Church members are trying to get rid of the heretics in the city; we're not petty enough to aid those heretics.”

Duncan nodded, then asked curiously, “The old ghost didn't show up today?”

“The old ghost…,” Nemo's words faltered with hesitation followed by a faint sigh, “the old ghost's mental state has become increasingly unstable recently. He's too old, and the church's manpower search in the Second Water Route has stimulated his nerves a bit, rekindling memories of past battles in the sewers–to avoid issues, I had no choice but to let him rest in the tavern cellar.”

The last warrior who had served the queen could, after all, not escape the nightmares of decades past–Duncan could only sigh and silently proceed with Alice to the depths of the Second Water Route.

They passed through the secret passage, traversed several dark doors, and spots seemingly monitored by hidden guards, and finally entered the Second Water Route using a path completely different from the last.

Clearly, to deal with the church's and authorities' search operations, the Mist Fleet agents lurking within the City-State had activated an already prepared system of disguise and early warning.

Eventually, Duncan and Alice, led by Nemo, returned to that hallway–where Crow had met his demise.

“I should head back now,” said Nemo to Duncan, “The tension in the city is rising, and there are more stalkers; I need to keep an eye on the situation above. Be mindful of the Church in here…”
He intended to remind Duncan to be careful, to watch out for the Church's search teams here, but suddenly stopped mid-sentence, feeling something was not quite right, and after choking back his words, he added, “Go easy on them; they're not really bad people…”
Duncan couldn't help but laugh, “Don't worry, I know my limits–hurry back now, you've been away from the tavern too long.”

“Okay.”

Nemo left quickly, and the cavernous, chill underground waterway quieted down.

Duncan lifted his head and looked at the empty hallway ahead, recalling his previous visit here.

A young man known as “Crow” had died not far ahead, next to a drainage ditch, drowned by seawater, yet found on the dry ground; and stuffed in his pocket was a page transcribed from some “Holy Scripture.”

Now, the hallway had been cleaned, probably by Nemo and the old ghost.

Duncan turned his head and saw Alice diligently following, her eyes, visible beyond the veil, carrying a serious expression–but he knew that this automaton was actually just zoning out, thinking of nothing.

Duncan certainly knew better than to expect to discuss or deduce anything with this automaton; he brought Alice along only because she could see those “lines”–even occasionally those leaking from the mirrored world, which could not escape her eyes.

“If you see the 'lines' again, tell me immediately,” Duncan said seriously.

“Mm-hmm!” Alice nodded vigorously.

Duncan slowly walked forward.

His mind still pondered Crow's incident.

At that time, he and Morris and others had speculated that Crow must have mistakenly entered some place leading to his misfortune, and after scouring the entire hallway without finding any clues, the investigation reached a deadlock, but now it seemed… they might have an answer to where Crow had mistakenly entered.

It was highly likely that, in this hallway, Mirror Frost had briefly converged with real Frost, perhaps through a fissure or a fleeting reflection emerging on some puddle–Crow had unfortunately fallen into it.

Regardless of how he had crossed that boundary, one thing was clear:
This hallway must be a weak point connecting the mirror and the real world.

Underground, chilly and damp, the air filled with a decaying, moldy smell, it felt as though the entire City-State was a rotting corpse–and one was walking within this corpse's viscera.

Footsteps echoed in the eerie, odorous sewer hallway, sounding somewhat heavy, as Agatha slowly proceeded forward, using temporary divination and spiritual perception to confirm her direction while carefully remaining alert to any slight movement around her.

Her black garments were seriously torn, the soft armor lining and the ceremonial bandages wrapped around her body stained with even more blood. The injuries on her body had surpassed the critical point of self-repair, and she could only use Divine Arts to stop the bleeding, with no time to consider the healing of flesh.

But the good news was that Agatha was increasingly certain that she was headed in the right direction–having destroyed more and more counterfeit monstrosities and, after several confrontations with this malevolent Replication City-State, she finally began to clearly “smell” the scent of those heretics.

Following this scent, she navigated through the streets and alleys of the Lower City District, through the vacant, twisting subway routes, and into the collapsing sewers, at last finding this world located deep beneath the City-State, abandoned for who knows how many years.

Here, the vastness exceeded the records she had seen in the archives and went beyond what she had imagined after viewing those files.

Agatha lifted her head and looked at the dimly lit, spacious corridor ahead. Old gas lamps were embedded in the walls on both sides of the corridor, the flame flickering from insufficient gas supply, dancing within the glass covers. The arched corridor ceiling displayed a crisscross of pipes and support structures, casting shaking, distorted shadows under the flickering gas lamps, as if countless unseen entities wriggled in the dimness.

Along the sides of the corridor on the ground were ditches flowing with sewage, the foul black water flowing down from the grilles in the walls and merging into the channels, making a loud flowing sound.

Agatha knew where she was.

This was the “Second Waterway” beneath Frost, exactly the place she had originally planned to lead her team to explore.

The only difference from the plan was that she had intended to explore the underground of the real-world City-State, but now she found herself trapped in a Replicated Frost.

Agatha closed her eyes slightly, finely discerning the flow of the air, shutting out those filthy, offensive odors, and relying on her Spiritual Intuition to search for the whereabouts of the heretics.

She could feel, the longer she lingered here and the more dealings she had with those monstrosities, the “connection” between her and this counterfeit city was also gradually strengthening.

Ahead.

The gatekeeper opened her eyes, ignoring the faint pain from wounds all over her body, chose a fork in the corridor, and continued deeper into the corridor.

She suddenly remembered something.

Not long ago, she had visited a presumed ancient god or avatar who had descended in Frost. At that time, he hinted that she should go “underground” to find clues.

Now, she was getting closer to the dens where the heretics hid, guided by the scents.

Indeed, the heretics were hiding beneath the City-State, within this abandoned Second Waterway–not in the real Frost City underground but within a replicated foreign realm.

Agatha tugged at the corner of her mouth.

The road twists, but returns to the origin.

She had initially misunderstood the hint from the one who had descended, thinking the enemy was hiding in the real world's Second Waterway. Now, however, by some bizarre mistake, she had entered this Replicated City-State and found clues in the replica of the Second Waterway.

Wandering through the forks and ultimately moving in the right direction–was this also a form of luck?

Agatha observed the surroundings.

Though she had never deeply explored the Second Waterway in the real world, she knew some general information–that ancient sewer system had long been completely abandoned and sealed. All pipes, shafts, and drains leading to the Second Waterway had been closed off; theoretically, it should be a dry or relatively dry place.

But the sewers in front of her were filled with flowing sewage, and from time to time, one could hear the sound of drainage from the surrounding pipes.

In this replicated Frost City-State, the Second Waterway appeared in a state of constant use–was this also a difference between the counterfeit and the genuine?

Agatha pondered, then suddenly stopped.

Sticky, nauseating wriggling sounds came from around, from those sewage pipes and the walls covered with black contaminants, black mud continuously seeping out.

Those persistent monstrosities had come again.

Her body was very tired, wounds ached, ceremonial bandages torn, and the blessing of the god of death was also gradually weakening, the weakness caused by blood loss reached a level that could not be ignored.

But Agatha simply calmly lifted her head, watching the deformed monsters that were amassing in front of her.

“Come, meet your death.”

Chapter end

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