Chapter 254 – The Great Frost Rebellion
Chapter 254 The Great Frost Rebellion
Tirion’s narration had finally come to an end, however, in Duncan’s opinion, the end of this bizarre tale was too hasty.
“It’s all over? It’s really just over?” He couldn’t help but look at the big pirate across from him through the mirror with a questioning tone in his voice, “A submersible with a silo of explosives that ran underwater at a depth of a thousand meters solved the ‘Runaway Transcendent Phenomenon’ that was worsening? Let’s not discuss how much power those explosives can unleash underwater at a depth of one thousand meters – analyzing only from the transcendental realm, is it possible for that kind of explosion to destroy a …… paranormal phenomenon?”
“We can only assume so,” Tirian said, apparently unsurprised by his father’s skepticism, “The fact is that no one knows exactly what was going on under a thousand meters of water at that time, no one knows exactly what Submarine Four saw there, and the only connection we have to the deep water below is the priest’s psionic energy through the The only contact we have with the deep water is the partial perception shared up by the reverberations …… a scream, a roar, and a boom, and there’s really not much truth that can be pieced together from these tiny fragments.
“And from the fact that there really was never another replica of ‘Submarine Three’ that surfaced from the depths after Submarine Four exploded, we can only assume …… that things worked out. ”
“Things worked out …… ” Duncan frowned and shook his head, “Well, we’ll assume things worked out, so Project Submarine …… “
“Project Subterranean isn’t over, and that’s what’s most wrong with things,” Tirian said bluntly, “After what happened, and at great cost, and the fact that we’ve managed to solve the bizarre crisis with Submersible Three, it’s only logical that we should really revisit Project Subterranean, and and put the brakes on this dangerous project in a timely manner, yet Her Majesty Rae Nora has forcefully argued against it, not only announcing that the program will be restarted and construction of Submersible Five will begin, but even …… raising the priority of the Subterranean Abyss Program to the highest level, and for this reason, she has spared no effort to use extraordinary manpower and material resources.”
Duncan’s eyes immediately became deep, he vaguely realized that the real “out of control” of this matter is afraid to start from here, the Frost Queen’s “crime”, half a century ago the rebellion, all originated from here.
He looked into Tirion’s eyes, “It sounds like you didn’t support your queen.”
“I had an argument with her, a very heated one, which is why I said I stopped being directly involved in the Subterranean Program after the depth of ‘one thousand meters’ – -Because after that, I felt things were slipping dangerously,” Tirian said slowly, his voice low, “but now that I think about it, I should have done everything in my power to stop the Frost Queen instead of avoiding her. …… I was so trusting of her that I didn’t realize she could actually make mistakes.”
“You think the Frost Queen did make mistakes?”
“The Subterranean Abyss Project caused a series of crises in Frost and gave the opponents an opportunity to take advantage of it, this increasingly extreme exploration operation even ended up taking the life of Her Majesty Rae Nora, at least from this point of view, it was certainly a mistake.”
“…… What else happened after Rae Nora insisted on pursuing the Subterranean Abyss program?”
“I stopped being directly involved with the program after that, and know very little, but just from the occasional inquiry, the program wasn’t going well, and …… the weird and gruesome things were getting more and more serious,” Tirian said calmly. “Submersible Five was completed, using the most advanced engineering and tough materials of the time, but its dives were always accompanied by all sorts of accidents, as if there was something in the underworld that was preventing mankind from continuing to dive into the sea ……
“People involved in the project began to have people go crazy, people were inexplicably injured, people suddenly disappeared and appeared in city-states in a muddled manner, and the explorers who went down in the submersible became paranoid and cranky, no longer resembling rigorous and honorable scholars and soldiers, but more and more like eerie and bizarre fanatics, and even… …It is said that even the ‘Submarine Five’ itself has undergone certain incomprehensible changes from dive to dive, and that its inner workings are becoming more and more like some sort of …… ‘living thing! ‘.
“And the most bizarre thing is that even with this series of changes, even with the atmosphere of the entire project becoming more and more frightening, the advancement of the Submersible Project still proceeded without any hesitation, and those who were involved in the project, those who spent their days in the company of insanity and accidents, and even those who began to experience frequent traumas themselves, none of them even withdrew timidly, and none of them even had any suspicion of resistance to the directives of the higher-ups It was as if ……”
Tirian was a bit stuck, and couldn’t seem to find the right words to describe the atmosphere back then.
Duncan saw this and spoke softly, “It was as if the deep sea was calling them.”
“Yes, it was as if the deep sea was calling them,” Tirian was stunned and immediately nodded his head, followed by a somewhat strange look at Duncan, “A very …… accurate description. ”
“There’s no need to think about it, go on.”
Tirian withdrew his gaze and organized his thoughts, “That’s it, the whole plan proceeds as if it’s being called and pushed by some force, it’s even as if this ‘plan’ itself has generated some kind of will, moving obsessively towards the deep sea, and those members who are involved in the project have all turned out to be this individual cell in the huge will. “And it was in this atmosphere that Submersible 5 had unconsciously crossed a depth of one thousand meters, and I don’t know how deep it finally dived, only that I heard …… that it was a staggering figure, very, very staggering, and that engineering-wise, material-wise, and from the state of the art back then …… a number that was simply impossible to achieve.
“The deep embraced Project Submarine, the deep embraced Submersible Five, and that increasingly eccentric machine and its increasingly eccentric occupants traveled as easily as if they were going home through the dark depths of the deep sea thousands of meters deep, while the …… bizarre incidents in the waters surrounding Project Submarine were gradually increasing.
“Merchant ships began to constantly observe ‘reflections’ of ships identical to their own appearing near the surface of the sea, thick fog frequently descended upon the Frost East, shadows of what looked like ships and what looked like giant beasts drifted through the fog, and a number of city-states began to appear in the… …’strangers’, very, very many strangers, who gathered near the facilities associated with the Subterranean Program, all claiming to be participants in the program, and the number of these strangers even exceeded the actual number of participants in the Subterranean Program.
“It was under such circumstances that the rumors …… in fact could no longer be considered rumors, rumors began to spread around, people at first just said that the Frost Queen was doing some dubious research, but very soon, the claims became that the Frost Queen was researching subspace, and then further, it became that the Frost Queen was colluding with Subspace, and has already entered into a cooperation with the big head in Subspace – Captain Duncan ……”
Tirian exhaled softly and spread his hands, “And then what happened, you know, the Great Frost Rebellion that shocked the North.”
The small warehouse full of “antiques” fell into silence for a while, after an unknown period of time, Duncan’s voice came out of the mirror in a nonchalant manner, “It’s understandable that people associate this incident with subspace, but associating it with the Lost Country is really over-imaginative. ”
“Actually, it’s a very normal association, and this association process even has something to do with me,” Tirian shook his head with a bitter smile, “Who made me your son – and who also happens to be loyal to the Queen of Frost, and was involved in the lead-up to this terrible project. You should know that conspiracy theorists have always had the strongest imaginations.”
Duncan did not deny it, and after a short period of thought, he added: “To look at it this way, in fact, the outbreak of that great rebellion is really not to blame, Rae Nora’s insistence on pursuing the Subterranean Abyss program is too dangerous, and from your description …… her mental state at that time was really not quite right either. ”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to mention additionally,” Tirian said suddenly, “I know that all signs point to the Frost Queen’s actions at the time being out of her mind, and that she was acting like a madman bent on having her way like something seduced her, but I know that she . . has been lucid, very lucid, very sane, and perfectly aware of what she was doing.”
“Oh?”
“I had an argument with her, but I was still her trusted general, and I could get up close and personal with her – in fact, so could the other high ranking officers of the City-State, and they all knew that the Queen had never been mad or had any plots to destroy the City-State or to threaten the world, and yes, they knew that …… but they were afraid, hesitant, and some were bought off and compelled, and they weren’t as determined as I was.
“But I know that perhaps the other participants in the Subterranean Project are indeed gradually coming under the influence of something, but she …… is clearly carrying that influence and utilizing it in reverse.”
“So you’re saying that the Frost Queen actually has a clear and ‘safe’ plan, and that she’s sure of accomplishing it, but she just hasn’t told anyone about it – or even explained it to you, the “Duncan looked thoughtfully at Tirian, “and you still trust her unconditionally? Because you believe that even if there is something under the deep sea threatening the city-state, everything is under Rae Nora’s control?”
“In your opinion, that trust should be too blind.”
“Blind or not is your business,” Duncan shook his head, “I’m just saying that the Frost Queen didn’t really seem to have ‘everything under control’- -she ended up dead at the hands of the rebels, the Subterranean plan was completely buried, and things didn’t go as she had planned.”
“…… I really can’t argue with that.”
Tirian sighed helplessly.
(End of chapter)