The crew members in the diving cabin all looked over, and then turned back, busy with their own affairs. No abnormality in the deep sea is a trivial matter. The depth and high pressure of hundreds of thousands of meters are enough to magnify all problems. This
It is the summed up experience of many years of blood and tears.
A sudden disconnection may be a false alarm, but it may also be a huge trouble.
Qiao Iwama calmly gave the order: "Maybe the signal is blocked, continue to float and keep in touch."
"Understood!" The operator skillfully controlled the submersible to slowly float upwards. Once it surpassed the height of the 'mountain', which was suspected to be an artificial creation, the connection might be restored.
The submarine floated upward at the fastest speed in the silence, but compared to the water depth of several thousand meters, it was too slow. It kept going upward, but it never saw light. There was only deep darkness, and the maximum power was
A powerful searchlight can only illuminate a short distance.
"Eh!" The lookout in charge of the lighting uttered doubts and surprises. The voice was not loud, but it made everyone feel nervous. Ever since they gave up the survey mission and began to surface, the situation continued. Although no one said anything, they felt nervous in their hearts.
He is no longer as relaxed as before, he has become nervous, and he is frightened at the slightest sign of trouble.
Joe Iwama was dealing with the disconnection. Hearing the sound, he quickly turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"
"There seems to be something wrong with the searchlight." The lookout started checking according to the manual, but what surprised him was that the value did not change and the system did not report an error. Obviously everything was normal, but many years of experience told him that the illuminated range
Shrunk.
Iwama Joe couldn't sit still now. There is no light in the deep sea. Searchlights and sonar are equivalent to the eyes and ears of the submersible. Now there may be something wrong with the 'eyes'. Even if it is normal, it is not a trivial matter, let alone here.
What if things go wrong one after another?
Thinking about it, Iwama Qiao turned to look at the cameras installed around the submersible. The real-time picture captured showed only bunches of lamp posts shining in the seawater, illuminating the nearby seawater, while further away there were still
It was pitch black. Just looking at it, Iwajian Qiao couldn't help but frown and said: "Have the searchlights been turned on to the maximum?"
The lookout glanced at the screen in front of him, confirmed it, and then said: "Yes, director, it has been turned to the maximum."
"It shouldn't be." Iwama Joe whispered. Experience told him that the distance illuminated by the searchlight was a bit short, so there might be a fault in the line.
He was about to ask someone to check the offline line, but he felt that it seemed to have shortened a little. This made Iwama Qiao startled. He couldn't help but widen his eyes and looked at the 'outside' on the screen carefully, and then realized that this was not his illusion.
The distance illuminated by the searchlight is indeed shortening at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"This..." Qiao Iwajian, who had always thought he was well-informed, was confused at this time. He had been engaged in deep-sea exploration for so many years and had encountered many problems, but this was the first time he had seen such a situation.
After a few quick clicks, images from the other three directions were also displayed on the screen in front of me.
In this comparison, the gap is even more obvious, which means that the range that the searchlight can illuminate in this direction is indeed shorter by at least one-third, and it is continuing to shorten.
As he watched, an idea came to Joe Iwama's mind. Either the searchlight was malfunctioning and was steadily reducing its power, causing the illumination range to continue to shorten, or there was something that could not be illuminated by the light beam.
Close.
"Leave immediately," Iwama Joe thought of Megumi's 'warning' just now, and immediately shouted: "Back up, back up."
"Ah! Yes!" The operator quickly carried out Iwama Joe's order and turned the engine power to the maximum. Unable to float quickly, the operator could only move sideways.
The roar of the engine echoed on the seabed, making the submersible shake rhythmically. The crew members nearby couldn't help but glance at Director Iwama Qiao from the corner of their eyes. It was very dangerous to push forward at full speed in such a deep seabed.
thing, so I really want to know what it is that is worth taking such a risk.
Iwama Qiao had no time to care about anything else, his eyes were fixed on the screen in front of him, staring at the dark sea water that the searchlight could not penetrate, but the results of visual inspection made him feel extremely uneasy. The illuminated area was still there.
Shrinking means that the speed of the submersible is not fast enough.
Immediately afterwards, he saw an even more disturbing scene. The No. 2 unmanned probe, which was returning according to the procedure, fell to the limit of the searchlight range because it was not fast enough, and was chased by the dark sea water.
Above, a cluster of fierce sparks burst out in the darkness, and then fell into silence.
A report sounded immediately inside the submersible: "Detector No. 2 has lost its signal and is re-establishing the connection."
Now Qiao Iwama knows how the No. 3 detector was disconnected, and he has also determined that what cannot be illuminated is not the dark sea water, but something else.
The range of the searchlight is still being compressed. If this continues, the submersible will also be caught up. By then...
Iwama Qiao didn't know what would happen, but it would definitely not be a good thing. He took a deep breath, picked up the communicator next to him with trembling hands, and said: "Headquarters, this is the Ryugu, currently at 215,515 in the R sea area.
Point, the water depth is 3015 meters..."
Joe Iwama's voice echoed in the submersible, causing all the crew members to turn their heads, either shocked, puzzled or horrified to look at Joe Iwama, who was basically 'confessing his last words'. Some people couldn't help but ask:
"Director, what happened?"
"...We will be overtaken soon, and the communication may be interrupted, but before that, we may be able to see clearly what it is. We will try our best to convey the information." After Iwama Qiao finished speaking, he did not wait.
In response, he immediately shouted to the crew: "Prepare emergency communications, use everything."
The crew members were shocked, and strong fear and uneasiness emerged in their hearts. The atmosphere in the submersible instantly dropped to freezing point. However, long-term training and strict discipline allowed them to still execute orders and use all the communication methods they carried.
Buoys, drifting beacons, dyes, etc. are all turned on. As long as Qiao Iwama gives an order, relevant information will be input and then released.
"Come on, let me see what you are?" Iwama Joe's eyes were widened as never before. They couldn't escape anymore, so let's see what is trying to take their lives.
At this time, as soon as Intermediary Hui boarded the Sherlock car, a message came out from the internal communication of TPC: the Dragon Palace lost contact. The last message sent was vague, and the words that could barely be distinguished were——