"In addition...it's not just Pompeii that's weird, but also the Japanese branch."
"Japan branch?" Manstein pondered. "If I remember correctly, many students who were sent to Japan for internships did not respond well."
"Not only is it not very good, it is simply dire straits." Schneider said, "Strictly speaking, the Japanese branch is not an institution directly affiliated with the college, so the executive department rarely asks for their assistance. But this time there is no way, we can only ask Japan for help
branch, and the Japanese branch was unexpectedly enthusiastic.”
"What's the meaning?"
"Not only did they mobilize all their high-level cadres, they also invested the entire Rock Flow Research Institute. They were more interested in the things in the abyss than we were. What's even more weird is that they always refused to admit that the things were dragon embryos.
"
Schneider Road,
"In addition, the Japanese branch, which had previously insisted on continuing to observe embryos, suddenly expressed its full support for the Longyuan Project. Within two days, it obtained an injunction from the government, controlled the sea area, and quickly mobilized 6 floating platforms to build a sea base. It was like
…It’s like they knew something in advance.”
"It sounds like in this operation, the headquarters that should be the protagonist has become an outsider." Manstein complained.
"Yes. Pompeii and the Japanese branch have us sandwiched in the middle. It looks like we are getting help from both sides, but in fact we are like little mice in the laboratory. And the most helpless thing is that even if we know what's going on below
It’s very dangerous, so we have to bite the bullet and rush forward.”
Schneider's face was expressionless.
"But the problem is..." Manstein suddenly looked confused, "Caesar, the heir to the Gattuso family, and Minamoto Chisei, the representative of the Japanese branch's executive department, are both participants in this operation. They are all from the commissioners of this department.
There is only Chu Zihang."
He spread his hands: "I understand what you mean, but judging from the results, the three of us are evenly matched."
Schneider said with a deep look: "What I am most curious about now is what is the relationship between Pompeii and Frost, or in other words, the internal structure of the Gattuso family."
"The Long Yuan Project is right under your nose. Do you still have the time to worry about other people's parents?"
"This is not a family feud, this is very important." Schneider whispered, "The acting head of the family, Frost, desperately tried to prevent Caesar from going to the sea, but the real head of the family, Caesar's father, Pompeii, raised his hands to support Caesar from going to the sea. Don't you
Do you find it strange? I always thought that Frost was the leader of the Gattuso family, but looking at it now, I am afraid that this guy was kept in the dark by Pompeii or the family."
"Do you suspect... that Frost is a puppet?" Manstein's eyes widened.
"The puppet may not be so," Schneider said quietly, "but at least he is far from touching the core of the Gattuso family's secrets."
A shrill siren interrupted their conversation.
Superimposed holographic projection screens quickly appeared in front of and behind Schneider.
The dense data scrolls upward crazily!
On the section view of the Trieste, air compartments No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 are all marked in red and flashing.
Schneider's expression suddenly changed: "Is the air chamber leaking?"
After many inspections, the Trieste actually had a mechanical failure!
…
…
The Trieste is shaking violently.
Caesar looked surprised: "Oh! The deep submersible is malfunctioning! This is a deep submersible malfunction! Everyone, hold on, don't panic!"
"The pressure of watertight compartments No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 dropped at the same time, we are losing buoyancy! Call Xumizuo, repeat, we are losing buoyancy!"
Yuan Zhisheng yelled.
There was nothing abnormal beforehand, but suddenly the submersible faltered, and the readings of all the instruments fluctuated violently.
The Diriaste has a total of 4 air chambers, and 3 air chambers leaked at the same time.
The compressed air was escaping crazily. The feeling of weightlessness immediately struck, the numbers on the depth gauge jumped wildly, and they were falling into the deep sea at high speed!
"2400...2680...3260..."
Chu Zihang quickly reported the count. In just one minute, they had sunk one kilometer. He shouted,
"At this rate we will sink to the bottom in ten minutes!"
The deep submersible is still sinking at a high speed. Not only is it sinking, it is also rolling!
"What's going on? Team Caesar! Check the instruments and valves, quickly!"
The anxious voice belonging to the crow on the Xumizuo came from the earphones.
"Slow down! Find a way to slow down! A sudden increase in water pressure will damage the shell of the submersible!" Yuan Zhisheng yelled.
"Young Master? Young Master, are you okay?!" Crow shouted.
"Everyone calm down, everything will be fine." Caesar comforted.
"Stop talking nonsense! Find a way quickly! Safety hook! Yes, we still have a safety hook! Activate the safety hook!" Yuan Zhisheng suddenly remembered that they also need the safety hook, the last important insurance.
"Safety hook? Okay, okay! Who is that, activate the safety hook! What the hell do you see what I do! Activate the safety hook for me quickly!" Crow roared angrily.
"Calm down. At times like this, you can't lose your composure." Caesar said calmly and calmly like a leader.
"Young master, please calm down. It will take some time for the safety hook to activate. Please ask a few of you to position the submersible in the meantime."
Sakura's reliable voice came from the intercom, like a cup of iced mung bean soup in the dog days of summer, making Yuan Zhisheng calm down instantly.
"I'm trying to open the balance rudder and straighten the submersible first," Chu Zihang said solemnly.
"Ying, don't act too hastily when activating the safety hook. You must control the strength of the winch, otherwise the safety rope will break!" Yuan Zhisheng said very fast.
"Understood! I will personally direct it!"
Everyone was in a hurry, and the only exception was Caesar.
This guy waved his cigar and loudly comforted everyone not to give up hope. A hopeful tomorrow is waiting for them, and he will definitely take everyone back alive...
"Shut up!"
Yuan Zhisheng and Chu Zihang turned their heads at the same time, with veins popping on their foreheads, and roared together.
The harsh sound of metal bending came from above the cockpit, and the feeling of weightlessness suddenly disappeared, followed by the feeling of overweight.
At a depth of 7,500 meters, the speedometer finally returned to zero.
The Trieste submersible was suspended in the deep sea with difficulty, tilting slightly as if it was being held up by a wire. All the lights in the cockpit flickered and suddenly went out.
Yuan Zhisheng and Chu Zihang almost jumped up from their seats, grabbed flashlights, and quickly checked various instruments on the operating table.
"Okay, there's no damage. It took us ten minutes to complete the originally planned four-hour dive. Everything is under control."
No anti-theft
Caesar's lazy voice sounded.
"The circuits and pipelines are still normal, and the No. 4 watertight cabin can still work normally." Chu Zihang turned to look at Yuan Zhisheng and said seriously, "I remember I reminded you last night."
Yuan Zhisheng took a breath and grabbed the walkie-talkie with an expressionless face, "Sakura, go find out who was responsible for the comprehensive testing at the institute last night."
"yes!"
Putting down the walkie-talkie, Yuan Zhisheng said in a deep voice: "The Japanese branch will give you two an explanation for this matter."
"Don't worry about small problems." Caesar waved his hand proudly.
He was now satisfied. Although the falling process was extremely uncomfortable, it was very exciting. This was a different kind of pleasure for him, as if he had conquered this abyss.
Looking at Caesar, Yuan Zhisheng felt doubtful.
He felt that Caesar's behavior just now was very suspicious. It was a life and death crisis, but Caesar acted with great expectation, just like a lunatic.
"You've just……"
Yuan Zhisheng was about to say something, but Caesar pointed to his lips to signal him to be silent.
Yuan Zhisheng suddenly fell silent.
He also felt that something was wrong...
The lighting system inside and outside the watertight cabin was powered off just now. Logically speaking, the watertight cabin should be completely dark now, but at this moment he could clearly see the faces of Caesar and Chu Zihang, and there was no need for a flashlight at all.
He slowly turned his head and moved his eyes towards the porthole...
Both Chu Zihang and Caesar are doing the same thing.
They didn't dare to turn their heads suddenly, lest they frighten themselves. It was better to get used to this incredible thing... slowly.
Something was lying on the side window watching them, and the child's light was like a giant candle, illuminating the entire watertight cabin into a blaze of fire!
They were stunned at the same time, shocked by the incredible creature that appeared outside the window.
That's a whale!
"This is... Basilosaurus?" Yuan Zhisheng asked in surprise.
This behemoth quietly left the deep submersible.
It slowly moved away into the distance, its long tail churning the seawater, leaving behind a transparent vortex with a diameter of more than ten meters. Its huge body impacted the seawater, making a thunderous sound.
"This guy is over a hundred meters long. There shouldn't be such a big whale in this world." Caesar whispered.
"The appearance does look like the extinct Basilosaurus whale." Chu Zihang agreed with Yuan Zhisheng's statement.
"The ecological environment here is abnormal. It seems that something has changed the environmental structure here." Yuan Zhisheng whispered, "Such a deep sea is not suitable for large creatures like Basilosaurus to survive."
"Hey, look, there are manta rays and turtles there!" Caesar suddenly shouted.
The three people huddled together in front of the porthole and looked at the same time. Only then did they realize that the water in this area was emitting glow like the flowing sunset.
Thousands of large schools of fish floated in the twilight water, some rising in a spiral arc, while others plunged into the bottom of the sea like whirlpools. Some of these fish were as white as silver, some had almost transparent bodies, and some
The ones emit faint blue fluorescence.
Occasionally, huge manta rays flap their fleshy, feathery fins to penetrate the school of fish. At this time, the school of fish will open a gap for the manta rays to pass through, and then the school of fish will quickly return to its original shape.
Most of these fish have never been seen before, and even though they are similar to some fish, they are very different.
For example, the head of a manta ray has a black and white patterned exoskeleton.
The turtle's carapace is not hard but fleshy, like cracked red basalt.
The scene in front of me has a vast and glorious momentum.
This is a dreamy beauty that goes beyond the limits of imagination. It makes people mistakenly think that the sunset-colored sea water outside the porthole is the sky before sunset, and schools of fish are swimming in the sky.
"Kacha."
The flash almost blinded Caesar and Yuan Zhisheng's eyes.
"Where...where did you get the camera?"
"Kacha."
There was another shutter sound.
While recording the scenery of the deep sea outside the porthole, Chu Zihang explained: "Lu Mingfei sent me his camera a few days ago. When we contacted him last night, he asked me to help him take some pictures of the sea.
Photos to make up for the regret of not participating in the mission."
"Did you still have contact last night?" Caesar asked in surprise.
Yuan Zhisheng was slightly moved in his heart: "Lu Mingfei... what kind of person do you think he is?"
Hearing this question, Caesar silently lit a cigar for himself again, and Chu Zihang put down the camera and fell into deep thought.
"Is this question difficult to answer?"
Seeing no reply for a long time, Yuan Zhisheng couldn't help but said.
Caesar patted him on the shoulder: "Excellent, the next president of the student union."
Chu Zihang muttered: "A very extraordinary guy. By the way, he asked me to say sorry to you."
The lackluster apology made Yuan Zhisheng frown, but Chu Zihang didn't give him a chance to ask questions because he didn't know the answer either.
"Look down, we are directly above the abyss."
Caesar and Yuan Zhisheng lay on the observation window and looked down.
I finally understand why the sea water here is as red as sunset.
They are currently directly above the Japan Trench.
On the left is the gently sloping seabed, which belongs to the Eurasian plate.
On the right are rugged cliffs, belonging to the Pacific Plate.
When they collided with each other, they formed an extremely deep submarine canyon. At the bottom of the canyon was a golden crack running from north to south, where the earth's crust broke off and the red-red rock layers rolled out.
The magma spewed out intermittently and slowly overflowed all around. The cold seawater and the hot magma blended like water and milk, and vague thunder echoed all around.
"It's so beautiful." Caesar praised sincerely, "It's like a wound in the earth. Someone opened the earth with a knife, and the molten golden blood belonging to the earth flowed out."
"Kacha." Chu Zihang took a photo and continued to explain, "This is the wound of the earth. The crust cracked here, and the mantle layer was directly exposed. Below the polar abyss is a warehouse that stores trillions of tons of magma.
.”
"Luckily, we fell directly into the right place." Caesar said happily, he put on the headphones again, "Now let's continue to dive, we haven't reached the end of this trip yet."
There was silence in the watertight cabin.
Chu Zihang and Yuan Zhisheng returned to their seats and took charge of their own work. No one spoke because no one knew what to say now.
Under Caesar's operation, the bathyscaphe reached a depth of 8,100 meters.
Caesar successfully stabilized this "classic car" at this depth, and 400 meters further down is the bottom of the Japan Trench, where magma flows across and thunders and earthquakes occur.
In various versions of myths, this environment is uniformly called - hell!
The propellers are turned on, and the Trieste swims slowly above the magma, maintaining depth.
The three people in the cabin were lying on the observation port, looking around.
"The embryo should be down there. If I guess correctly, it changed the surrounding environment."
"But hasn't it hatched yet?"
"For ancient species, hatching is not birth, but rebirth. They were just sleeping before."
At this moment, if you look down from above, the crack in the seafloor is like a burning abyss, and the 15-meter-long Dieste is as small as a midge.
It glided lightly and smoothly over the blazing flames, and its entire body was reflected in gold.
…
…
"Has the fault that caused the submersible's sinking been found?"
Campus headquarters, central control room, Schneider holds the phone.
"It is speculated that the pressure valves of the three watertight compartments are leaking. Those valves were all made in 1960, so it is not surprising that the problems occurred. The remaining watertight compartment is enough to help them return."
Sakura, who temporarily took over Crow's position, said calmly, "Even if the fourth watertight cabin breaks down, we can use the safety rope to pull them up."
"How can I trust the equipment that the equipment department has touched?" Schneider touched his forehead and felt a layer of cold sweat.
This chapter has been completed!