Everyone's hearts are in their throats. This is not only a problem of losing an expensive robot worth 400,000 US dollars. If there are any animals attacking people below, it means that there is a great risk for divers to work in the water.
Fortunately, the "Steamed Grouper" was not attacked again after it broke away. Shi Si stopped it and turned around to check carefully. He didn't find any ghosts. The unknown thing that attacked just now had left.
Ling Hao pondered for a moment and said, "Forget it if you can't find it. The battery power is limited. Let's go explore the city first."
"That's fine." Shi Si continued to control the "Steamed Grouper" to swim in the direction of the ancient city, and soon arrived at the outskirts of the ancient city. This city is not small among the cities in the Western Regions. The city walls are seven or eight meters high and thick.
It reached nearly three meters. What surprised Ling Hao was that the edges and corners of the city wall had not been worn much by the erosion of the years. Instead, they had sharp edges and corners, and the city bricks were well preserved.
"These are stone bricks made of sandstone! You see, there are obvious traces of excavation on these stone bricks, and they have the same texture. They are obviously quarried from the same quarry. This is a desert, unless the sand is dug away
, otherwise there is no rock to be found at all. The nearest quarrying site is at the foot of the Altun Mountains, which is hundreds of kilometers away. How much manpower and material resources are needed to dig out the sandstone and transport it here to build a city?
It was simply unimaginable a thousand years ago, and the national power of the ancient Qiemo Kingdom at that time seemed to be much stronger than we estimated!" Professor Yu was so excited that his voice almost broke.
Professor Stevenson was much calmer. He nodded expressionlessly: "The sandstone city wall is much more resistant to weathering than the blue brick city walls of Loulan and the previous 'Wei Ling City'. This must be why it is so durable after being soaked in water."
The main reason why it hasn’t collapsed for a long time.”
The "Steamed Grouper" did not stay long by the city wall and entered the ancient city directly from above the city wall. Immediately, a sonar scan of the ancient city was sent back. There were more than 10,000 buildings in the city and two main roads.
The two horizontal lines are arranged in the shape of a "well", and there are hundreds of side streets and alleys. There is an open space in the north of the city with stone pillars erected. It should be a mule and horse market or a slave market. The houses in the north city are relatively chaotic.
And they are all relatively low and narrow. They seem to be mostly made of adobe or cement structures. Most of them have collapsed into ruins. The houses in the south of the city are all tall and relatively well-preserved. They should be made of masonry. They must be rich people.
District. There is a tall building group in the middle of the city, which should be the palace. The top of the main hall is a round spire, with obvious Persian architectural style, but the eaves of the palace adopt an upward-warping "overhanging eaves" design.
It is obviously influenced by the architectural style of the Central Plains.
The three experts all attached great importance to this architectural style and asked Shi Si to take dozens of photos before giving up. This made the little girl get angry and chewed the lollipop loudly.
Professor Yu quickly coaxed: "Be patient, little girl, do you know that there is only one building like this in the world, and the photos you took alone are enough to cause a sensation in the global archaeological community if you take them outside."
"Okay, the door of the palace hall is closed. Although it has iron bars as a frame, I estimate that the door is mostly made of wood. I'm afraid it will rot at the touch of a touch. Even if it is not rotten, the 'Steamed Grouper' will recommend it.
Don't move. Let's take a look at the nearby streets first and get familiar with the environment. If there is any danger, it's good to discover it in advance." Ling Hao didn't have any patience anymore. After all, he was not an archaeologist, so he had to advance step by step.
It drove him crazy.
The "Steamed Grouper" lowered its height and slowly cruised on the street. The scene in front of the screen made everyone's eyes widen. People with trypophobia almost screamed. I saw densely packed on the ground.
They were all white arthropods, like Pipi shrimps, but obviously much shorter and thicker than Pipi shrimps. They almost covered the ground. As they crawled, the streets seemed to be surging with waves.
"What is this? A trilobite?" Dr. Natasha couldn't stand it any longer. She covered her proud chest with an expression as if she had seen a cockroach.
Xueting smiled and said: "No wonder, your Russia is too far north, and the types of aquatic products are limited. Although these things grow in caves without seeing light and turn white, I can recognize their appearance at a glance. Where we are
Some people call it 'rhinoceros shrimp', while others call it 'sea cicada' or 'shrimp steak'. Its scientific name is 'Cicada shrimp', and its taste is no worse than lobster."
Jiang Mingyu adjusted his glasses and said, "Don't be so arbitrary. This is fresh water. Have you ever seen a 'rhino shrimp' that can live in the lake?"
"Then what is this?" Everyone looked at Jiang Mingyu.
"It does look like they belong to the same family and belong to the same family, but they are definitely not the same animal. How do I know what it is? If you want to think it is a rhinoceros shrimp, then just call it a rhino shrimp." Jiang Mingyu shrugged, as if it was no big deal.
Look.
These "rhino shrimps" were less than the size of a palm, and they were flipping in the sand, as if they were looking for something to eat. This suddenly piqued the interest of Shi Si, a snack connoisseur, and he hovered the "Steamed Grouper".
Extend the lens and observe carefully.
"Oh my God, this is so disgusting!" Natasha finally couldn't bear it anymore and ran outside to vomit.
On the screen was a close-up of a "rhino shrimp". It hooked an earthworm-like worm out of the sand, stuffed it into its mouth, and started to chew it like a spicy stick. The yellow-green juice spread in the water.
, it is indeed a bit disgusting.
"Damn, this is 'Nereis', this place is really weird. Is it sea water or fresh water?" Yuan Bing muttered.
"Shut up! I said this is fresh water, it's fresh water. Do you think my 'steamed grouper' can't even tell the difference between salty and salty?" Shi Si gave him a hard roll of his eyes.
"Sisi, I don't want to comment on your hobbies, but if possible, could you please watch something else? If we keep looking at such a close-up, we will almost vomit." Zuo Pengfei used a begging tone.
Already.
Just when a group of people were talking nonsense, an object suddenly flashed past the camera. The "rhino shrimp" that was feasting just now had disappeared, and only some carapace fragments slowly fell back to the sand.
"What?! Pull the camera back!" Everyone shouted in unison. After Shi Si hurriedly adjusted the focus of the camera back, everyone could clearly see what had just suddenly attacked.
Tian Yong smiled naively and said: "Finally I saw a normal one. Everyone knows this one, black fish, the kind that makes pickled fish."
In the lens, a black fish is suspended above a group of "rhino shrimps". There is still half of the rhino shrimp in its mouth that has not been swallowed. It is biting the carapace with great effort, and the debris falls off. The black fish is also called black snakehead and is a popular dish on Asian dining tables.
It is a frequent visitor. It has an extremely ferocious temperament and is very territorial. It can grow up to over 1 meter in length and will even bite people if it gets anxious.
"This is not a snakehead, this should be a kind of 'spotted snakehead'. It belongs to the family Snakehead for sure, but judging from its ferocity, I hope it won't be too big." Jiang Mingyu said while pulling his laptop.
"It's not big. It's only 1 foot long by visual inspection. Don't scare people, okay?" Tian Yong rolled his eyes at him.
Ling Hao has been silent. Ever since the "Steamed Grouper" was attacked, he has always felt a little uneasy in his heart, feeling that this underwater operation will not be that simple.
This exploration lasted for nearly 3 hours, and we also explored the interior of some houses that did not collapse. We also found some pottery, porcelain, and even some gold and silver items. We did not find any human remains. Even if there were, I guess.
After more than a thousand years, it should have been decomposed in the water long ago.
The diving operation will begin the next day. It is not a simple matter to put the Stone Crab into the lake below through a cave tens of meters deep. Yuan Bing and Zuo Pengfei worked overtime to install the sliding slide in the cave.
It is said that a "pulley" will be built to completely fix the "Stone Crab" and ensure that it can slide into the lake below without any bumps.
That night, the moonlight was like water and the sky was cloudless. Since it was the fourteenth day of the lunar calendar, the full moon was as bright as a silver plate, shining brightly in the desert. Everyone was very busy. Shi Si and Xueting were talking about the "Stone Crab" and "Pi."
"Pixia" carried out final inspection, charging, and filling with helium, oxygen and diesel. Tian Yong and Jiang Mingyu moved boxes of diving equipment, food, drinking water, first aid supplies, etc. into the cabin. This time in order to protect the underwater
Cultural relics, the British archaeological team prepared a number of constant temperature and constant pressure sealed boxes to avoid precious cultural relics being broken due to too rapid decompression when leaving the water. These sealed boxes were also moved into the "Stone Crab". Thanks to this world
The most advanced deep-sea living cabin is large enough, otherwise it would really be filled with supplies.
The people who enter the water in the diving team are usually Ling Hao, Tian Yong and Xueting. This time it may involve demolition operations, so Zuo Pengfei also joined in. Shi Si is responsible for on-site information control, so he also has to be in "Stone"
On the "Crab", what he didn't expect was that Zhu Xin would also follow, which surprised Ling Hao.
"This is a saturation dive, nearly two hundred meters deep." Ling Hao was a little worried.
"Why, Annie can go to the bottom of the sea with you, but I can't?" Zhu Xin said very calmly, but her aura made Ling Hao shrink his neck.
"You haven't received saturation diving training, what if you feel uncomfortable then?" Ling Hao said cautiously.
"Who said I haven't received training? Ever since I fell in love with you, I knew that sooner or later I would get into the water. After the 'Blue Marlin' case was over, some elite police officers went to Europe to participate in various training programs. I think there are
For 'Saturation Diving', I quickly signed up for it. The training lasts for two months. I have dived to the deepest depth below 300 meters. I will never let you down."
"Is it true that he is so powerful? Then you might as well join my diving team from now on, so that you can save yourself the trouble of handling cases all over the world."
"Aren't you afraid that if I stay by your side, it will affect the harmonious relationship between you and your president?"
"Why are you contacting me about this matter again?"
"Ahem..." A cough interrupted the two people hugging each other for an "intimate conversation". They panicked and quickly let go, only to see Professor Stevenson, Dr. Natasha and Professor Yu already standing at the edge of the building.
The door of Hao's room is open.
"Oh, why don't you close the door if you want to be intimate? Although we Russian girls are more unrestrained, we usually don't do things with the door open." Natasha said with teasing eyes and a sticky voice.
"We just hugged each other casually, and we didn't intend for you to see anything more exciting. You three came to see me, but what's the matter?" Ling Hao laughed twice and stretched out his hand to make a "come in" gesture.
.
Professor Stevenson remained expressionless and said word by word: "Dr. Natasha and I are also going to dive this time. Don't worry, we both have saturation diving licenses from our respective countries and have done a lot of things before.
Deep-water archaeological work, so you don’t have to worry about us holding you back.”
This time it was even more surprising. Ling Hao looked at Professor Yu who was standing behind the two of them. The little old man had a bitter expression at the moment. This time he was completely excluded from the archaeological activities. He could only hope that Ling Hao and his
People can keep a close eye on these two foreigners with ulterior motives.
"I also want to go, but let alone diving, I can't even swim, so I really can't go with you." Professor Yu said while exchanging glances with Ling Hao eagerly.
How come Ling Hao didn't know what he meant? He didn't bother to look at him at all. He just smiled politely at the two Stevensons and said, "We haven't cooperated before, so there will definitely be some problems with our cooperation this time. Since the two of us have
You must participate, and they said they won’t hold me back, so I have some words to say beforehand. Saturation diving is very dangerous. Even if you don’t take a breath, it can kill you. We have limited manpower and a large working surface. In the water
When diving at a depth of nearly 200 meters, it is difficult for us to take care of each other 100%. The underwater situation changes rapidly. If something happens to you two, I cannot bear the responsibility."
"Don't worry, we will be responsible for our own choices, and we will leave a suicide note before going into the water." Natasha also became serious at this moment.
"One more thing, I hope you won't be offended after hearing this. Since Professor Yu cannot go into the water, I am the representative of my country underwater during this Three Kingdoms archaeological operation, so I have to consider the issue from the perspective of the country.
This is China. According to our laws, the ownership of all antiquities unearthed in our country belongs to the state. As research partners and international friends, you and your team have the right to research the cultural relics excavated this time, but if you want to take
If you leave, it will hurt your feelings." Ling Hao smiled, but there was a cold glint in his eyes.
A stiff, weird smile finally appeared on Stevenson's paralyzed face. He nodded and said, "Thank you for your candor. We already knew the meaning of these words at the beginning of our cooperation. You don't need to remind me again."
"Oh, that's good. I wish us good diving in advance." Ling Hao smiled and extended his right hand.
"Wish us luck." Stevenson also stretched out his hand and shook it with Ling Hao vigorously.