ASHES OF DEEP SEA

Chapter 263: Chapter 267: Beneath the Darkness

“The ‘model’s’ base was growing.

As Zhou Ming-Duncan’s thoughts spread, the structures representing Plunder City-State’s subterranean world began to emerge in his mind one by one; those that appeared in his cognition were now becoming the new parts corresponding to this “collectible.”

It was a rough object, resembling a stone disc, which grew at a visible speed and covered the entire underground portion of Plunder City-State. It then started to gradually extend, displaying even more bizarre and intricate details—layers of sediment thousands of years old, growths resembling tiny spikes, and strange protrusions meandering between the layers of sediment.

It felt like the coarse exterior of an echinoderm or the ugly outer layer left by rocks corroded in strong acid.

Finally, the growth process came to a halt.

The ‘model’ representing Plunder City-State had now acquired a base that resembled a disc.

However, Zhou Ming furrowed his brows.

He could feel… his consciousness, which was spreading throughout Plunder City-State, had not stopped but was continuing to extend “downward”!

In the darkness, in the cold, and within the transcendent perception beyond ordinary senses, he felt his spirit seeping into the soil like mercury, continuing to permeate and flow downward. He clearly felt his “gaze” passing through thick concrete, soil, and rock, beyond an extremely dense “shell” that was neither metal nor stone, sinking into the icy cold seawater, then carrying on downward, further and further!

In just the blink of an eye, he felt he had plunged into the pitch-black deep sea, bypassing the 850-meter-thick base, and quickly extending along some invisible yet existing “pathway!”

And how much further had it stretched after that? A hundred meters? Two hundred meters?

Zhou Ming could not be sure. He only knew that his perception was still spreading downward, even though he had already left the boundaries of Plunder City-State, and even though no new structures were appearing on the “collectible” in his hand, his thoughts were still flowing along some invisible “medium!”

His first reaction was, of course, nervousness, and he subconsciously tried to control this tendency of his thoughts to “fall” into the deep sea. Yet before he could react, this continuous “fall” suddenly stopped.

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It was as if he had suddenly hit some invisible “limit,” or had reached the end of the “medium.” His perception ultimately settled in the deep water beneath the city-state at some depth and stabilized there.

Zhou Ming felt his heart pounding. It was like a sudden fall halted abruptly mid-descent by a rope, causing a severe adrenaline rush, and it took him nearly half a minute to calm down and regain control over his breathing and heartbeat.

Once he had steadied his nerves, he slowly lifted the Plunder model in front of him to observe the thick “rock plate” that had spread out from under its base.

The structure was rough and ugly but relatively orderly overall. Its bottom was a rugged fracture surface, giving the impression that it had been clumsily snapped off from somewhere, or that it had been interrupted during the “generation” process from top to bottom, leaving an ugly break.

The internal structure of this disc was utterly chaotic and impenetrable, almost impossible to sense or scout.

But Zhou Ming’s attention was not on the disc-shaped base. Instead, it was on the space beneath the base.

A part of his “consciousness” that had extended out was now hovering in that position.

Zhou Ming slowly closed his eyes.

The next second, the sensation from afar was instantly intensified.

He felt himself in the dark, icy depths of the sea, enveloped and weighed down by immeasurable waters. The pressure was so real that it seemed to suppress and bind even his consciousness. He tried to open his “eyes” in this darkness, but he could only see endless nothingness.

Gradually, however, tiny specks of light appeared within that nothingness.

Were those some deep-sea plankton? A school of bioluminescent fish? Or something else entirely?

Zhou Ming strained to discern for a long time before realizing… that was the bottom of Plunder.

He was “looking up” at Plunder and saw the underside of the rough disc base in the pitch darkness, where there were small glowing structures.

But it was impossible to clearly see what those were… Pure conscious perception, separated by such vast distances and thick seawater, transmitted information that was too vague.

Zhou Ming then slowly adjusted, attempting to focus his attention in another direction: even deeper beneath the seafloor.

He only felt an endless void, an endless darkness.

In the deep sea… there seemed to be nothing.

But after a while, he vaguely sensed something.

Something enormous and lifeless, possibly as gigantic as Plunder itself, was slumbering in that vast expanse of darkness.

Zhou Ming could not see it, could not hear it; the extreme darkness and silence concealed all details of the enormous presence. However, he was certain that something was there, silently lurking as if it had always been.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Zhou Ming returned without success.

In the end, he was unable to “see” whatever lay in the deep sea directly beneath Plunder.

Yet, he had an inkling of one thing—

That vast structure hidden directly under the city-state was probably the reason why Lei Nora, the Frost Queen, stubbornly pursued the Deep Abyss Project half a century ago!

Beneath Frost there was something; beneath Plunder there was something; and beneath the other city-states… there was likely something as well!

Zhou Ming took a deep breath, stood up, cradled the Plunder City-State model, and slowly approached the shelf at the end of the room.

The model now had an additional “base,” but it still fit into the storage compartment on the shelf—as if from the beginning, the model and the compartment had been designed with ample space in mind.

Before placing the model into the compartment, Zhou Ming’s gaze once again fell on the base below, and a hint of curiosity surfaced in his mind.

His consciousness could spread throughout the City-State, yet in the deep sea, his consciousness clearly exceeded the physical boundaries of this City-State model… The structure at the base came to an abrupt halt at 850 meters, but beyond that, his consciousness extended further down another hundred or two hundred meters… How did it continue to extend in the subsequent meters? What was the invisible medium that facilitated it?

Zhou Ming slowly returned the model to the storage rack.

…

Once again, the sun rose as normal into the sky.

In the Lower City District of Plunder, in the small open space in front of the antique shop, Duncan watched as Nina rode her bicycle around in a cheerful circle, then up and down the street, before coming to a steady stop right before him.

“Uncle! I’m already very proficient!” Nina said, one foot steady on the ground, her face showing excitement and pride.

Duncan’s face broke into a smile, “Not bad, you’re riding quite proficiently—but you’ve stopped on my foot now.”

Nina quickly looked down and, in a flurry, moved the bicycle wheel away: “Ah! I’m sorry!”

“No problem.” Duncan smiled and waved his hand before heaving a sigh of relief and looking up at the sunlit street.

Everything in the City-State remained unchanged.

Below the sunlight-bathed streets, the profound darkness and massive shadows seemed like they belonged to another world, not impacting people’s daily lives in the slightest.

However, ever since he completed the scouting of “underneath” Plunder, he couldn’t help but think of the cold, dark depths of the sea and the immense structure he sensed there.

It caused him to drift off in thought frequently.

He even couldn’t resist wondering if the Frost Queen from half a century ago felt the same way. Had she also glimpsed the secrets in the deep sea through some means… perhaps even more than he had uncovered?

“You’re spacing out again, Uncle?” Nina’s voice suddenly came from beside him, interrupting Duncan’s thoughts.

“Are you alright? You’ve been daydreaming since the morning.”

“I’m fine,” Duncan quickly said, waving his hand and then glancing toward the end of the street as if to change the subject, “But speaking of which, Alice still hasn’t returned, huh.”

“She just left not too long ago,” Nina said casually, “And you don’t need to worry so much, right? It’s just a trip to buy a newspaper, not crossing half the city. She shouldn’t get lost, right?”

“I can’t help but worry,” Duncan sighed, “This is her very first time going out on her own—even if it’s just to the newsstand at the corner of the street.”

“I think it’ll be fine,” Nina considered before stating confidently, “I rehearsed it many times with her before leaving, including how to tell the vendor what she wants to buy, how to make change, and to say thank you after receiving the items… She learned it all.”

“Well, I hope so,” Duncan sighed, “Mainly because when she was first on the ship, just going to the kitchen to get a plate would get her a smack with a frying pan.”

Nina paused: “I think these two things aren’t comparable…”

As they were talking, Alice’s figure appeared in the sight of the uncle and niece.

The doll lady was running towards them with a newspaper in her arms, a bright smile on her face, and calling out, “Mr. Duncan! I’ve bought the newspaper!”

Nina laughed: “See, I told you Miss Alice would be fine!”

But Duncan, upon seeing Alice running towards them, was suddenly alarmed and hurried forward while calling out loudly, “Don’t run! Slow down!”

Just as feared, during their conversation, he watched helplessly as Alice tumbled to the ground, right in front of him less than five meters away, falling flat on her face.

The next second, however, the doll got up as if nothing had happened, dusted off her skirt, picked up the newspaper that had fallen on the ground, and arrived before Duncan with a beaming smile: “Newspaper!”

Duncan didn’t take the newspaper right away; instead, he gazed at the doll miss, whose head was still on, in disbelief for a moment before finally managing to say, “… How did your head not fall off after a fall like that?”

Alice continued to maintain her confident posture, head held high, with a radiant smile: “I’ve found a good way to reinforce it!”

Duncan looked at the doll with suspicion: “A good way?”

Alice: “I used glue!”

Duncan: “…?!”

After being stunned for a couple of seconds, he couldn’t help but ask, “Who taught you that?”

“Sherry!”

(Because of the memorial day, the update for tomorrow is moved to today.)

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