Chapter 315 – Dagger Island
Chapter 315 – Dagger Island
As far as the eye could see from the Frost City, a rocky island could be seen at the end of the sea cliffs – it was narrow and curved, resembling a thin scimitar or a strangely shaped dagger, and was covered with jagged rocks and barren sandy soil, so the people of the Frost named it “Dagger Island” directly after the shape of the rock. They called it “Dagger Island”.
In the vast and boundless sea, land is the most valuable foothold resources, even the most barren and narrow island, people will try to make it useful, Dagger Island is no exception.
The island had fresh water, but no cultivated land or a wide enough flat plot to serve as a solid settlement or food-producing area, and no usable flora or fauna, but the island had small deposits of zeolite gold, and the Frosts set up diggings and refineries on the island, and after that little bit of zeolite gold had been mined out, it assumed the role of a transit port for a while, and after the Frost Rebellion After the Frost Rebellion, the shipping routes around the city-states were adjusted, and the island’s port was converted into a special storage facility for dangerous things that had to be kept far away from the civilized world.
As the years passed, the world went through its ups and downs, and the barren and rocky island changed its management structure, and now it is under the control of the Frost military, and has been turned into a classified “Temporary Research Base” for the study of that strange thing that was salvaged from the depths of the sea.
The sealing devices used to keep the dangerous things and the tight security measures on the island are a strong guarantee for such research.
A mechanical fast ship came from Frost at midday, approaching the military harbor on the sunken side of Dagger Island, its flag flying high to indicate its affiliation with the Frost Navy.
After a series of complicated and strict verification, inspection, and registration procedures, the fast ship named “Sea Petrel” was allowed to dock in the harbor, and accompanied by the dwindling roar of the steam core, it came to a stop beside the trestle bridge and lowered the diving boards from the side of the ship.
Several men in blue and black naval uniforms came down from the gangplank first, followed by a tall, stout officer with short gray hair.
There were already several military personnel stationed on the island waiting on shore.
The lanky officer with short gray hair surveyed the situation near the trestle bridge for a moment, and then went up the shore along the diving board, and the several receiving personnel waiting here immediately came forward and performed military salutes, and one of them opened his mouth, “General, you’re twenty-five minutes behind the scheduled time, which requires registration as well as an explanation-you have to go to the registration room in person.”
“Well,” the burly officer known as the General nodded, not considering it any offense for an ordinary non-commissioned officer to say such things to a General of his own – this was a special research facility, and all the strict approved regulations were normal and reasonable security requirements, and “We’re heading over to …… Professor now… what’s the situation over there?”
“Professor Myerson is in the ‘back room’, he’s made a discovery while running analytical tests on a new batch of samples, and the substance scraped from the surface of that thing seems to be taking on wonderful properties under special test conditions,” the responding officer said. “But we’ll have to wait until we get into the ‘chamber’ to talk more about the specifics.”
“Good, take me to the registration room.”
……
Not far from Dagger Island’s military harbor, on the inner side of the bay, inside a sturdy building constructed from a mixture of reinforced concrete and huge rocks, research was still going on in an intense and busy manner.
This unassuming, grayish-looking building was the so-called “secret room”, and it was also one of the most heavily protected and structurally strongest laboratories on the island.
Inside the building, the halls are brightly lit.
It was a large six-pronged room, with each wall made of the strongest cement, the tops of the walls carved with symbols of occult significance and religious symbols, and huge ribbons of scripture hanging down from the ceiling, interspersed with gas lamps in the gaps of light and shadow, steam pipes crisscrossed through the roof of the hall, and some of the valves were making a slight hissing sound, while incense burned quietly in the corners of the hall, and sacred fumes slowly melted into the air. Sacred fumes were slowly blending into the air.
Researchers in short robes were busy in all parts of the hall, a metal device with a diameter of about five or six meters and a bulbous shape like a large bell was suspended in the center of the room by thick chains, the surface of the metal device was mottled and old, as if it had already experienced a long time in the sea water immersion, and the complex valves and connections on the top of the device were enough to show its role.
It was a “diving bell”.
In the center of the hall floor, right below the suspended diving bell, there is a huge circular grille plate, the diameter of the grille plate is much larger than the long axis of the diving bell, and through the grille plate, you can vaguely see the striking red light of the depths of the underground.
A tall and thin old scholar with silver hair was standing in front of the diving bell suspended in the air, supervising several assistants to carefully scrape samples from the surface of the thing.
A clergyman in a priest’s robes walked slowly behind the assistants, carrying a brass incense burner in his hands, and light smoke from the incense rose from the burner accompanied by soft murmurs of benediction, drifting slowly through the air.
“Professor, General Belazov has arrived at the harbor,” an aide said as he stepped from the sidelines behind the tall, thin old scholar, “and after completing the necessary registration handovers, he is to come directly here to see you.”
“Oh …… Belazov, I did receive word that he’s going to come in person, looks like things are finally getting a little tense over at City Hall,” said the short silver haired Professor Melson with a hint of helplessness in his tone, “Come as you are! …… What’s the status of the samples sent to the lab this morning?”
“A final round of testing was conducted, and it is now certain that the stuff, though it looks like rust, is in no way a substance of any kind that we know of, and the nature of what it exhibits has been changing over time,” the assistant replied, “giving the impression …… as if the thing was still in some sort of evolutionary process, so that it never steadily manifested its own properties.”
“Hmm.”
Professor Myerson nodded slightly, but his gaze remained fixed on the dangling diving bell. The exterior of the diving bell was heavily corroded, but the circular hatch structure on its side could still be clearly seen, and the hatch was now tightly closed, having not been opened since it was brought into the “chamber”.
On the other side of the diving bell, you can see the round window, where a very, very thick piece of special glass is set, but for some reason, the inside of the round window is covered with dirt, and the black stuff covers almost the whole glass, so that you can’t see what’s going on inside the diving bell at all.
One could only vaguely see that there was a messy cavity in there, and something that looked like liquid.
What was inside the diving bell?
Prof. Melson himself had actually had this curiosity more than once, however, no matter how curious he was, he did not have the slightest thought of opening the hatch.
He was sixteen years old the year the Subterranean Abyss program began.
He knew what there was to be curious about and what there was to be cautious about.
In the midst of his thoughts, his assistant’s voice came from behind him again, “Professor, do you think we’ll be ordered from above to open that hatch?”
“…… In all fairness, I don’t expect to receive such an order at all,” Professor Myerson shook his head and turned to look at his assistant, “Courage and the spirit of exploration have kept mankind alive on the Infinite Sea, but these two traits become recklessness and death once they cross the line.”
The assistant blinked, followed by a third and fourth eye.
“But we’re moving too slowly now – what if another submersible does surface, as you predicted?”
Myrson mused for a moment, and shook his head gently, “When that happens, I’m afraid it’ll take more than just opening the hatch – we’ll have to be prepared to face the depths head on.”
The aide looked plausible.
The aide was still too young – but then again, how many people would still be able to comprehend the horrors of the Subterranean Abyss program today, half a century later?
Professor Myerson looked up at the figures that were busying themselves around the diving bell.
Some of those figures didn’t seem quite the same as when they first came to the island.
Others, on the other hand, occasionally felt a little strange to the old professor.
There seemed to be many more unrecognizable figures in this research facility without realizing it.
But there was nothing strange about it, it was normal for people to move around in a research team, especially for such complex special projects that required the participation of multiple experts – everything made perfect sense.
The cleric who was carrying a brass incense burner in his hand walked over and nodded slightly in greeting in front of Professor Myerson.
The incense burner in his hand opened its eyes slightly, surreptitiously surveying the old scholar’s appearance.
The marvelous scent of incense wafted through the air.
“Today’s blessing is complete,” the cleric said softly, “I will be back here this time tomorrow to bless the machines.”
“Good work, %$&%@* Priest.” The old professor smiled and nodded, addressing the other naturally, “I should buy you a drink if I didn’t have a bunch of trouble I’m sure I’ll have this afternoon.”
“It’s better to receive the general first,” the priest smiled, “That’s a big shot who came here to ‘supervise’ on behalf of the Frost City State.”
(End of chapter)