Deep Sea Embers

This is a safe place. For at least the past fifty years, the Frost authorities have never known that such a secret lies beneath their feet. Nemo Wilkins walked into this deep underground hideout and turned around. He said to Duncan and others who followed them in, with obvious pride in his tone. These ancient sewers are crisscrossed. Most of the areas have been abandoned, so they are dry and safe. There are also some branch roads leading to the upper pipeline system, but all are connected. The entrances are all safe, and even if one or two are discovered, the city hall cannot search the entire underground structure - they simply don't have that many manpower.

As the tavern owner spoke, he came to a nearby concrete wall and turned a valve on a certain pipe. A faint hissing sound of air flow came from the distance - more gas lamps suddenly turned on, And those gas lamps that had always been on became brighter.

In fact, the current Frost City Hall is quite good at maintaining the basic operations of the city. He turned around and grinned, with a trace of mockery on his slender face. What was hidden in the sewers half a century ago? I'm afraid only the old craftsmen who served the Frost Queen could explain it clearly.

Is this a facility left over from the Queen's era? !

Fanna immediately guessed the truth from the other party's words. She opened her eyes slightly in surprise. How did you hide these underground waterways?

Nemo shrugged: I didn't experience the chaos half a century ago, but my grandfather told me about it for half a lifetime - he told me that the Frost Queen had built a huge underground structure for the entire city-state. In order to cope with land pressure and lay the foundation for the long-term development of the city-state, these underground structures include underground waterways, power pipelines, power grids and a complete transportation system that were leading the world at that time. The sewer in front of you is the deepest one - strict Speaking of it, it should have been named the 'Second Waterway', because there is another

The first waterway is the sewer system currently used by Hanshuang.

After the great rebellion, the city-state actually did not

It fell immediately - although the rebels later claimed that they had completely dismantled the Mad Queen's last guard in a very short period of time, the actual situation was that they were captured in the Queen's Palace - today's Civic Center. For the entire seventy-two hours after the capture, the fighting continued. The loyalists who remained in the city moved from the ground to the underground. People were fighting everywhere in the criss-crossing network of subway stations and power pipelines.

The rebels who invaded the city center were declaring victory, and newspapers were publishing news about the change of power. Citizens were hiding in their homes and feeling uneasy. The subway station was blocked. People were lying on the ground near the tube well, listening to the sounds coming from the distant depths below. All kinds of disturbing sounds.

All this lasted until the day of the execution - the roar of the sea cliff collapse shook the entire city and finally ended the last resistance underground.

After that, the Queen's Guards blew up all the shafts leading to the Second Waterway and closed the gates connected to the First Waterway. Coupled with intermittent small attacks and artificial collapses, eventually the entire Second Waterway was destroyed. The waterway is completely separated from the upper level.

As Nemo Wilkins spoke, he raised his head and glanced at the thick dome above. His eyes seemed to be looking through the layers of steel, cement and stone at the busy streets of the city-state above.

In fact, the new government established by the rebels was not ignorant of this sewer. They knew of the existence of the frosty underground world - but so what? They just know it exists.

The sea cliff collapsed and the city was severely damaged. It took decades for the frost after the civil war to recover, and Boiling Gold became the only remaining economic pillar of the city. The once largest city-state in the Cold Sea now only has history books. The city still uses the pipeline system left by the queen to this day.

In this case, who still has the ability to search the huge network deep underground in the city-state? The cost of reopening and rectifying the second waterway is unacceptable to the new government - and for Hanshuang, whose population and city size have shrunk after the war, having the first waterway on the upper level is already enough. That's enough.

Since it is enough, then make do with it. Vanna suddenly remembered Morris not long ago

Something he once said, whispered subconsciously.

That's right, just make do with what's enough. This city is already riddled with holes and it really can't afford another big war. Besides, for such a big city, even if there are hidden things hidden deep in the sewers, Nemo said with a smile. A little moss, not a big deal, cults, darkness breeds, night shadows, out-of-control anomalies - there are so many things hiding in the gutter, none of which are more worthy of being brought to the attention of the authorities and the church than us. Headache.

Duncan didn't speak much, just silently listening to the informant's rambling story. Then he suddenly said: Such a huge underground facility, and I think there is gas and electricity supply here - it can't be done by you alone. Maintained, right?

Of course it’s impossible, Nemo Wilkins laughed. We still have some manpower distributed throughout the city, even in certain departments of the city hall. Most of them are descendants of the Queen’s Guards. For example, there are some brothers and sisters who passed the test with General Tirian and were confirmed to be loyal and reliable - but they are not suitable to show up.

...Tirion said that he had planted some "informants" in Frost, and he was so humble. Duncan couldn't help but shook his head. Did that kid actually bury such a large amount of power in Frost...

Nemo heard the name Duncan used when referring to Tirian. The expression on the middle-aged man's face visibly stiffened, but he didn't say anything.

While several people were talking, Morris was always observing the underground world with great interest. His eyes swept over the towering dome and the abandoned pipes crisscrossing from high altitude, as well as many nearby walls that were obviously installed later. After a while, he suddenly asked: Do you still control the entire second waterway?

Strictly speaking, it is only a small part of it. Nemo shook his head regretfully. Although I would like to say that the entire underground kingdom is under control, after all, our manpower is limited, and the scale of the entire Second Waterway is beyond imagination - now only About one-fifth of the abandoned sewers are under our control, while other areas are either isolated from each other due to collapse, abandoned, covered in toxic sewage, and in some places eroded by dangerous forces and difficult to access.

Dangerous power erosion? Fanna on the side immediately frowned, and her professional sensitive cells began to beat.

Sometimes, the hunted illegal supernatural beings will accidentally fall into the sewers. If they die below, they will cause large-scale pollution. But more often, it is the darkness itself that breeds monsters. Nemo said, after all, this is a huge In the underground world, the gas we secretly brought in from the pipe well above cannot maintain the lighting of the entire second waterway, and when the brightness is not enough... some places fall into darkness, and they will fall into darkness forever.

Fanna stared, not knowing what to say for a moment, she just felt a little suffocated.

Coming from the prosperous Purande, and being the protector of the order of the city-state, she really couldn't imagine that a city would allow such a thing to happen - a large area of ​​underground facilities has been in a dark state for a long time, and has even begun to breed shadows, which cannot be purified. , is this okay?

However, the facts before us proved that this was indeed possible, and the Frostmen had been living like this for half a century, and nothing major seemed to have happened.

It is not ruled out that occasionally unlucky people who mistakenly go underground will disappear from the world, or that the death rate of guards at night is higher than that of other city-states, but everyone is used to it.

Nemo obviously saw the shocked expression on Vanna's face. He had already judged that the people in front of him were all strangers, so he naturally knew what the other person was surprised about.

Every few years, several dangerous areas of the First Waterway and the subway branch line are cleaned up, incense and holy ashes are poured into the ground every now and then, and the death pensions of the guardians are increased a little, so that the gatekeepers can make two extra trips on a daily basis. Most ordinary people are still living well, which is already a good situation.

As he said that, the tavern owner paused and turned his head with a smile: Believe me, most city-states are actually not much better, and they have not been much better since ancient times.

Duncan and the others looked at each other for a moment, not knowing what to say, but after a short and awkward silence

After that, it was Vanna who spoke first - she looked at Morris next to her and asked: What is your judgment?

There are no signs of cognitive interference, and thinking and memory should be clear.

Morris answered Vanna's question, but his eyes kept falling on Nemo Wilkins, and in the old scholar's eyes, a light silver glow was gradually dissipating.

Nemo blinked, with a confused expression on his face: What are you talking about?

Duncan turned his eyes and stared at the other person quietly: Mr. Nemo, congratulations, you have not been affected by cognitive interference.