Mother of Pearl Reef is located in the waters bordering the inner and outer Vatican Sea. It was not originally a reef, but just a sea area where mother of pearl oysters flourished. Although the mother of pearl oysters produced here are only about the size of a thumb.
But the pearls collected from the shells are about the size of a thumb, and their color is very special, glazed blue, and they are very popular among the nobles and wealthy people of the empire.
In the early years, there were many private pearling boats in this area. A large number of collected waste shells of mother-of-pearl were dumped here by the whole boat. Over the years, this special calcareous shell reef was accumulated.
group.
Later, due to the needs of the port construction of the Vatican Port, mother-of-pearl fishing was strictly carried out, and the pearling boats stopped operating.
After hundreds of years of cultivation, the mother-of-pearl oysters in this area have gradually reproduced. Some fishermen once encountered giant mother-of-pearls in this area that could swallow a baby shark on the bottom of the sea.
But most of the time, the sea is calm at Zhenmu Reef. Under the tile-blue sky, when the sun shines directly, the sea water turns into bright blue for a while, and turns to aqua green for another time, which is extremely beautiful.
After Yudan, a little boy from the fishing village, broke away from Salman and jumped into the water, he felt as comfortable as a dragon entering the water.
His family is poor, and he is in urgent need of money because his mother is ill.
When he was only three or four years old, he heard that the fishermen from his next door neighbor were fishing for pearls near the Pearl Reef. After they made a fortune, they moved to the city.
He is young and does not have a separate fishing boat, but he has heard from fishermen who secretly hunt for pearls that as long as there is a high astronomical tide, when the mother of pearl reef rises and falls, a large number of thumb-sized mother-of-pearl oysters will wash up on the reef.
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After all, Yudan was a child who grew up in a fishing village. He found out the date of the astronomical tide and planned to sneak away to Zhenmu Reef and stay there all night. He thought that as long as he stayed on Zhenmu Reef for one night, he would be the best.
You can easily pick up a bunch of mother clams and take them back in two days.
Unexpectedly, they bumped into Yue Jinghua and Salman on patrol, which led to the earlier incident.
Yudan swam for more than an hour, until a layer of white appeared on his dark skin, and then he saw the piece of pearl reef emerging from the water.
He shook the water, and when he climbed up to the reef, he tore off a few clusters of sea reeds growing beside the reef and weaved a simple reed basket to contain the mother reef.
Although I have heard the name of Zhenmu Reef for a long time, this is the first time for Fish Egg to visit this reef group.
After he dried the water on his body, he looked around.
By this time, it was already a little dark.
Yudan carefully took out a pack of flints wrapped in oil paper and lit them carefully, and then he could see the whole picture of Zhenmu Reef.
The sharp-edged rocks washed away by the sea water are so dark that their surface looks like a layer of beeswax, making it very slippery.
The entire reef is about 100 square meters, with some common local seaweed and hermit crabs growing next to it.
At night, the tide began to rise gradually. The sound became louder and louder, and Yudan couldn't help but tremble with fear.
After all, he is just a child of seven or eight years old.
"It's okay, it's only three or four hours. When the tide recedes, I will have money to buy medicine for my grandma and food for my younger brothers and sisters," Yudan muttered, holding his slender arms and legs together, sitting quietly.
I stood on the reef and stared at the sea level where the waves were higher than the waves.
As night fell, the sea breeze turned from the moist warmth of the day to cold. Fish protein had been swimming hard all day, but he was tired and fell asleep amidst the dull sound of the waves unknowingly.
In the second half of the night, he felt wet underneath his body and woke up with a sudden jolt.
Looking at the rocks under his feet, Yudan's face immediately turned pale. He obviously underestimated the scale of the seawater's rise during the astronomical spring tide. Before the high tide, there were more than 100 square meters of pearl reefs, surrounded by seawater coming from all directions.
Getting smaller and smaller.
Depending on the situation, it will be completely submerged in more than half an hour.
Yudan was tired and hungry now, and he was terribly afraid of something. Amidst the uproar of the rising tide, he seemed to hear some strange noises.
"Just wait, the tide will recede soon," the poor child swallowed and comforted himself.
But at this moment, his eyeballs suddenly shrank and his knees became weak.
In the turbulent waves, he saw a triangular fish back.
As a child from a fishing village living by the sea, Yudan knows exactly what that means.
The Triangle of Death is a species of humpback shark in the Vatican Sea. They have sharp teeth and a body as hard as steel.
Legend has it that a group of humpback sharks attacking together can even sink a sea or air ship.
Seeing the humpback shark getting closer and closer, Yudan could no longer bear the fear and fatigue and collapsed on the last rock.
At this time, Yue Jinghua and others had already set sail from Vatican Port, heading straight for Zhenmu Reef.
Although captain Ya Lei sent the helmsman, Yue Jinghua and their crew's sea-air ship was not sailing smoothly.
After nightfall, the direction of the sea breeze changed, and they had to temporarily stop the sailboat and adjust the direction of the sail.
But just after the sailboat adjusted its direction, the fishermen discovered that the boat suddenly couldn't move.
At this time, wind and waves were gradually rising on the sea, vaguely indicating the upcoming astronomical tide. Everyone gathered around the deck and looked down, and they all gasped.
I thought it was weeds on the sea that had entangled the hull of the boat, but I didn't know it was...
"It's a lantern jellyfish, it's a card. The sea monster is charging." The bottom of the boat was like a neon light, with a faint orange circle. The experienced fishermen recognized what was under the boat at a glance.
I don't know if it was because of the high tide that all the sea beasts that were active underwater during the day came to the surface one after another.
After they adjusted the direction of the sailboat, the ship encountered the first round of sea monsters, which also greatly delayed the progress of Yue Jinghua and others' ship.
That was also the first time Yue Jinghua saw the so-called card rush.
The sea beast that grows in the inner sea of Vatican Port is a large number of lantern jellyfish. Its whole body shines with orange light. In the dark night, it looks like small chrysanthemum lanterns.
These beautiful-looking jellyfish are actually the deadliest killers on the beach.
Their cold and soft bodies are covered with stubby tentacles, and the tentacles are covered with poisonous sucker-shaped barbs. Whether it is human skin or the smooth deck of the hull, once it is absorbed by the lantern jellyfish, it will
It's hard to get rid of.
"What can we do?" The experienced fishermen all looked frightened. When they went out to sea, in addition to sea beasts such as sharks and whales, what they were most afraid of was encountering such soft-bodied jellyfish.
"Don't worry, just wait a little longer," Yue Jinghua seemed much calmer than the panicked fishermen.
Her eyes as bright as stars shone like a wolf king in the dark night.