Deep Sea Embers

"The key left by the Queen?"

Agatha's expression changed instantly, and she fixed Consul Winston's eyes.

However, the latter was even more surprised than she was, and Winston's eyes were full of astonishment: "You don't know? Then how did you get in this place?"

Agatha's expression became serious, and she realized that the situation seemed to be different from what she expected - when she realized that she could "enter" the stone wall before, she thought that the Consul Winston who entered here first was following the I have the same existence as myself, but now it seems that this Mr. Consul uses other means.

He has more secrets than he expected.

"I have my own way," Agatha said slowly, with subconscious pressure in her tone, "You mentioned the 'key left by the Queen' just now, what exactly is that?"

Winston looked suspiciously at the gatekeeper in front of him, but after a moment of hesitation, he sighed in relief and reached into his breast pocket.

"Alright, anyway, we've reached this point, there's no need to keep a secret anymore."

He took out a small thing from his pocket, it was a brass key with ornate patterns, the handle of the key looked like a horizontal "8", or the infinite symbol in mathematics, but the head was not like a normal key The common tooth-like structure is a round rod with grooves.

Agatha looked curiously at the object in the opponent's hand, and suddenly felt that it was not like a key to open the door, but... very similar to something that winds dolls or other clockwork mechanisms.

"The clockwork key?" she subconsciously said, "You mean, this is something left by Queen Le Nora? Why is it in the hands of the consul?"

"The consuls have passed it down from generation to generation. This key is a gift from the queen to the rebels, and... a curse," Winston twitched the corners of his mouth, showing a bitter smile that even implied fear, "From the first From the moment the Archon takes the key, the shadow behind the Frost City looms over us, Lady Gatekeeper."

Agatha did not interrupt the seemingly frail middle-aged man who was babbling, she waited patiently for the other party to finish, and then said calmly: "You actually know the truth about the Boiling Gold Mine. situation, right?"

"If you mean that the Boiling Gold Mine showed signs of being exhausted as early as the queen's time... yes, I know," Winston sighed softly, and said frankly, "sorry, I knew from the beginning that the mine you found What happened to the door, but I thought there was still time to get everything back on track before the situation deteriorated. Frost."

"I need an explanation, Consul," Agatha said with a serious expression and a somewhat cold tone, "The boiling gold mine has been exhausted since the Queen's time, so what exactly are we digging out and transporting out in the past few decades? And what is the relationship between the vision of the city-state today, the actions of those cultists, and the depletion of the mine?"

"Boiling gold, it's still boiling gold, Ms. Gatekeeper, what we dug up is boiling gold, and what we ship out is still boiling gold, it's absolutely true, it's true," Winston raised his head, with a look of bewilderment on his face. It’s a crying or laughing expression, “That’s not pollution, we have tested it, and Queen’s Era has also tested it, if something looks like boiling gold, it’s boiling gold when used, the effect and the product left are the same as normal Boiling gold makes no difference—then there is no doubt that it should be boiling gold."

"Those are really boiling gold?!" Agatha's eyes widened suddenly, and the answer made her even more unimaginable, "But the mine was exhausted decades ago, and the ore that appears in the mine now..."

"This is the most terrifying and weird thing, isn't it?" Winston smiled wryly, "The ore veins are exhausted, but soon there will be new ore filling up certain corners that no one is watching, as if there is a city that is in harmony with reality. The world parallel and false "Frost City-state", after continuously injecting ore into the real world, or... When the mine goes deep underground, we have been mining minerals from a mirror world, and those phantom-like Something that goes against common sense... No matter how you test it after it is mined, it turns out to be true."

Agatha listened to all this with a stern face. These unbelievable truths hit her mind that was often muddled these days, but in the end she kept her calm and said softly: "Mirror Mirror Frost—the Ruling Frost Mr. Guan, what you said is correct. There is indeed a mirror image frost. The fog that envelops the city-state today, and the fakes that continue to appear in the fog, all ran out of that mirror city. This mirror image city-state is gradually eroding and replacing it. our real world."

Winston's expression changed slightly, and then he was silent for more than ten seconds, and finally let out a long sigh: "Ah, it seems that this is the price of those boiling gold."

"The price? You were too understated when you said this word—it's not just you and me who are suffering the price now, but also the people of the entire city-state. Most of them don't even know what happened..."

"But the vast majority of them are benefiting from everything brought about by the boiling gold trade—in this extremely cold city, it is the boiling gold that allows the whole city to have a warm place to live and sufficient food. After the collapse of the sea cliff, a relatively rich level can still be maintained, Ms. Gatekeeper."

When Winston said this, he paused for a few seconds, and then waved his hand.

"You should know that I never spend extravagantly, buy no real estate, and keep no personal wealth—I don't even have an heir. Ma'am, everything I do is not for selfish desires."

Agatha looked into the consul's eyes, but from the depths of those eyes, all she could see was exhaustion.

"Don't they all have a choice..."

She spoke softly as if talking to herself.

"Everyone has no choice," Winston shook his head. "I know what you mean. Today's road and today's price are not chosen by the citizens of the city-state—but it's not my choice either. There is no other way for anyone.

"The city-state is only so big, and there is no second frost on the boundless sea for us to stand on. We need food, fuel, houses and clean fresh water. We need boiling gold—even if it comes from the strange shadow world. There is no boiling gold, It only takes one winter, and a quarter of the people in the city-state will die, and the remaining people will gradually return to the dark city-state era before the great industrial development within a few years, and continue to lose a quarter or more of the population...

"Ms. Gatekeeper, take a break. You are as tired as I am. Maybe we should accept the fact that the city-state is a steam locomotive heading into the abyss. Everyone is sitting on the car, the protector of the city-state. The only difference between them and ordinary people is that ordinary people are eating and drinking with their eyes blindfolded, while we... just open our eyes."

But Agatha ignored Winston's self-defeating speech. She just stood in the darkness without saying a word, feeling the unbearable cold coming from all around again, feeling the blood in her veins gradually cool down.

Then, she broke the silence: "Someone made a different choice."

"...Yes, there was one, the Frostmen once called her the 'Queen', and the history books called her the 'Mad Queen'," Winston laughed, but he didn't know whether he was laughing at the Queen or himself, "A Great mortal, she even wants to fight against this sea, against the horrors in the deepest part of the sea."

"The Abyss Project..." Agatha said softly, all the clues she had mastered in the past finally came together in her mind little by little, turning into a clear thread, "So, the Abyss Project is not a simple project in the data records. Exploration plan... the queen wants to uncover the secrets deep in the city-state?!"

"We don't know why she thought the constant boiling gold in the mine had something to do with the 'deep sea', but she was clearly on the right track - the runaway plan of the Abyss and the terrible fate she later faced proved that she had touched the real The source, the irony of our world is nothing more than this," Winston changed his position next to the tree stump, he raised his head, looked at the endless chaos and creeping shadows above, and said slowly, "The truth points to Crazy, madness points to failure, every step you take towards your goal, you are heading towards the abyss.

Winston sighed.

"She wants to find out the truth about the Boiling Gold Mine, she wants to solve the hidden dangers behind the city-state, and she wants to use her wisdom and strength to fight against the sea itself... This is very good, but it turns out that she just consumed her own destiny in advance."

"So, you 'successors' decided not to follow her old path - you pretended to be blindfolded like everyone else, and rushed into the abyss with this car, and the queen who tried to hit the brakes or change the track, ended up Described by the history books as a madman bewitched by the Warp."

"An ancient saying of Frost—the dead must give way to the living," Winston slowly rolled his eyes and looked into Agatha's eyes, "If the determination of a once great ruler can make Frost turbulent After that, she recovered quickly, so she probably doesn't mind."

Agatha wanted to say something, but in the end nothing came out.

For a long time, she could only shake her head slightly.

"How did that key... get into the hands of the first-generation consul?"