At 6 o'clock in the morning, the entire archaeological team, who had been busy all night, not only welded four strong slide rails in the cave, but also welded a pulley full of wheels with I-beam steel, and connected six electric winches with six steel cables, which was enough
Drag the heavy "Stone Crab".
Regardless of fatigue, everyone fixed the "Stone Crab" on the buckle of the pulley. Because others had to remove the buckle and remove the pulley after arriving in the lake, only Shi Si, Zhu Xin, and Stevenson
Entered the "Stone Crab" with Natasha.
The bumpers of the two trucks were wrapped with old tires and were placed on the edge of the pulley. The engines roared and the pulley was slowly pushed onto the slide rail along the paved steel plate road. As the cave tilted downward, six steel cables
Suddenly tensing, the truck backed away, the electric winch began to rotate, and the "Stone Crab" was slowly lowered.
Ling Hao, Tian Yong, Xueting, and Pengfei were wearing thickened cold-proof diving suits, with zip lines tied around their waists, hanging on the steel cables, and sliding down along the 60-degree downward cave wall with their feet supported.
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A quarter of an hour later, the "Stone Crab" fell into the water. Shi Si started the engine and floated on the water. The four Ling Hao people who followed down landed next to the four buckles of the pulley. They unhooked the hook at the same time, and the pulley fell off and slowly fell flat.
At the bottom of the lake, after they completed their task, they had to stop on the pulley, reinstall the buckle, and be pulled back to the ground by the winch.
Ling Hao and the others entered the "Stone Crab", and Shi Si skillfully operated the dive while heading towards the ancient city of Qiemo.
The cabin began to slowly pressurize, helium and oxygen replaced nitrogen and oxygen, and everyone's voices began to become shrill. Except for Shi Si who was driving, the others were not idle either and began to wear complex internal circulation hot water diving equipment.
Everyone is a veteran, so they can naturally handle their own equipment. Only Ling Hao is helping Zhu Xin adjust the air valve and water valve. Their equipment is naturally much more advanced than the one in the Interpol training camp, and Zhu Xin is a little awkward to operate.
It's normal to feel unfamiliar. Fortunately, the equipment works on the same principle, and you can quickly become familiar with it. Saturation deep diving is dangerous. Logically speaking, Ling Hao shouldn't bring a novice like Zhu Xin on a mission, but after all, this is a
There is no danger of water flow in Jinghu Lake. Secondly, the water depth does not exceed 200 meters, and the depth is not too deep. It is not a bad idea to treat this place as another deep diving training. Ling Hao loves water and is obsessed with the mystery and depth of the blue. He
Subconsciously, he hopes that the person he loves can experience and share this happiness with him. He has fantasized about being able to swim in the water with Zhu Xin more than once.
"Everyone, the current water depth is 194 meters, the water temperature is 12.3 degrees, and the visibility under the diving light is about 20 meters. We have arrived outside the city gate in the south of the ancient city. In order not to harm the ancient city, I will sit at the bottom of the lake 15 meters away from the city wall. Please
Please test the radio earphones, bring your personal equipment and self-defense weapons, and wish everyone good luck." Shi Si was like a professional captain at this moment, easily parking the "Stone Crab" at the bottom of the lake, and surveying the entire living cabin.
Make a broadcast.
Ling Hao, Zhu Xin, Tian Yong, Xueting and Pengfei each hung a pocket speargun on their waist. The latest compact "hot water diving suit" is not as bulky as the old hot water suits in the past. It is very close to the body and easy to move.
It is very comfortable. The compressed gas bottles on the back are in groups of 3. The exterior adopts a "castle" design, and the parts such as the mouth of the gas bottle that are easy to hook foreign objects are wrapped inside, ensuring the close fit, solidity and comfort of the gas bottle to the greatest extent.
Safe. This is not the first time for everyone, including Zhu Xin, to act together. The tacit understanding is still very good. Ling Hao still has his "Dragon Arc" scimitar on his right leg, but this time he has it on his left leg.
There is also a metal weapon about one foot long. It looks a bit like a "Vajra Subduing the Demonic Pestle", but it does not have as many decorations and patterns as the "Vajra Subduing the Demonic Pestle", and the bottom is not
Instead of a three-sided cone, it is a three-pronged fork that comes together. Although the shape is a bit weird, it is cold and shining, and the silver light is bright. Tian Yong and the others also asked him what it was, but Ling Hao smiled mysteriously.
Then, he was excused on the grounds of "secret weapon".
Professor Stevenson and Dr. Natasha were also dressed up, with pocket spearguns hanging on their waists, and each also carried a constant-pressure sealed box.
Professor Stevenson glanced at Ling Hao and the others and asked: "I have to ask in advance, this is an archaeological excavation. Does your diving team have any experience in this area? If thousands of years of antiquities are destroyed due to operational problems,
If it is accidentally destroyed, it will be an irreparable loss."
Tian Yong and others immediately took out a triangular hoe, hand shovel, brush, probe, key and other archaeological tools from their carrying bags. Ling Hao smiled and said: "Don't say they are ancient artifacts that are thousands of years old.
We have handled the older ones. Having said that, when conducting archaeological excavations in such a place, work is one thing, and life-saving is a more important thing. You have also seen the video just now, what is the animal that attacks our underwater robot?
We still don’t know for sure, so I hope you all will be careful and pay attention to the surrounding environment when working. If you find danger, you must notify your teammates as soon as possible and then retreat towards the living cabin."
Before they even started taking action, there was already some quarrel between Ling Hao and Stevenson. There was nothing serious about it, they just looked down on each other. Stevenson was very disapproving of Ling Hao's self-righteousness and confidence, while Ling Hao was already preconceived.
They regard Stevenson as an international antiquities dealer with ulterior motives, and those who have come to this ancient land under the guise of explorers or scholars for hundreds of years, taking away countless historical and cultural heritage and priceless treasures, and displaying them in Western museums.
Guys don't make any difference.
Natasha had a rough time in the middle, which prevented the two people's verbal sarcasm from turning into a quarrel.
"Don't waste time." Zhu Xin looked at the diving watch and said: "It's already 10 o'clock. We have finished our work and left in the morning. Don't forget, we will need to decompress in the Stone Crab.
In the next ten days, don't you plan to celebrate the New Year in the desert?" After saying that, she quietly pinched Ling Hao's arm. I'm worried. Although Zhu Xin solved a major case and was given a big leave by the superiors, she still has a big holiday.
I don’t think I can take as long as I want. Three months is enough. I’ve already been tired of staying in Italy with Ling Hao for more than a month. I think it will take another month when I come back to Taklimakan. I have to leave a few days to spend time with my parents.
, otherwise the parents would not think that this daughter was raised in vain?
Ling Hao also took it easy and just gave it a beating. There was no need to break up with the other party without any evidence. But one thing he was sure of was that these two foreigners were definitely not archaeologists. One of them was not at the archaeological site all year round.
Digger is a scholar who teaches in a school. He is very familiar with deep-sea archeology and has a lot of saturation diving experience? Ling Hao believes him! What is the chance that the remains of human life will reach the deep sea? Even if there are, there are
How many have been discovered? And then it is absolutely necessary for a group of people to risk their lives to conduct archaeological excavations? In terms of probability, Ling Hao simply does not believe that professional archaeologists will be proficient in saturation diving.
The seven people got out of the cabin and swam towards the ruins of Qiemo Ancient City. In the short 15-meter distance to the city gate, the ground was full of foraging "rhinoceros shrimps", as densely packed as ant colonies, which gave people goosebumps.
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Shi Si was not idle in the cabin. She took photos of these "rhino shrimps" through the cameras on everyone's masks, and compared and checked the information on the computer. Seeing that everyone was about to enter the city gate, she said with some worry:
"Everyone, I think something is not normal. From a biological point of view, it is certainly not normal for such a large single animal population to carry out foraging activities like a collective carnival. No matter how abundant the food is, it cannot sustain them endlessly.
You can eat it. I checked that earthworm-like insect, and it should be a type of 'Spiny Nereis'. Most of the Nereis worms are seawater species, but there are also a few subspecies that live in fresh water, such as '
Japanese Spiny Nereid, a freshwater subspecies has never been found in our country. It may be a newly discovered subspecies. If it is convenient, you can put a bottle back and ask relevant experts to study it. Uh... I am off topic.
Closer to home, lugworms are not at the bottom of the food chain. They are carnivores. According to current data, they eat live food. Even if the species here are scavengers, it means that there must be a huge source of animal food. But right now we
I didn't see it at all. Logically speaking, if there were no plankton as dense as dense fog at the bottom of the water, it would be impossible for there to be so many lugworms, let alone so many 'rhino shrimps'. So, I guess
, The day we went into the water may be a bit special, it happens to be the day when people have a monthly or even annual 'dinner party', and there are still at least one or two links in this food chain that have not appeared in front of us."
Ling Hao was confused by what she said, and asked impatiently: "We are not biologists. We can't understand these contents. What exactly do you want to say?"
Shi Si was anxious: "Stupid! Don't you understand? The food chain is balanced. The existence of countless bottom organisms must mean the existence of top predators. Otherwise, these small animals will overflow and the lake will still be
Is it clear? I remembered a movie I watched before. On an uninhabited planet, due to the movement of celestial bodies, 30 years are night and 30 years are day, and the cycle repeats. There is an extremely ferocious nocturnal animal that dominates the long
The darkness of the night can kill almost all the almost overwhelming diurnal animals that have been born during the 30 years of daylight. I was thinking, why don’t we go into the water just in time for the ‘alternation of day and night’?”
Shi Si's words were really scary, and everyone stopped and hesitated in the city gate.
Professor Stevenson smiled disdainfully: "Don't be alarmist, science is a serious matter. With a layman girl collecting some specious information on the Internet, plus fabrications from science fiction movies, it was actually used as a basis for scientific expeditions.
The basis for judgment is really childish. If you are afraid, you can just go back to the living cabin and wait, there is no need to use any alien creatures as an excuse."
Shi Si was almost furious and immediately shouted: "Is this old man really a man? Why does he act like a menopausal shrew? My aunt has studied more weird things than he is full of arrogance. Let him commit suicide in a while.
Don't stop him, and don't let my aunt rescue you when you have the ability!"
Now she was embarrassed, Natasha smiled awkwardly and said: "The little girl is quite powerful, what should I do? How about we go back to the living cabin and wait and see?"
"What are you waiting for?" Stevenson also got angry: "With so many people and machinery in the desert, do you know how much it costs per day? Do you want to go or not?" After saying this, this guy turned out to be angrily alone.
They headed towards the city. Natasha smiled awkwardly and had no choice but to swim along.
Ling Hao pondered for a moment and changed the communicator to the private channel of several of his own people and said: "Sisi's worry is not groundless. In fact, the thing attacking the 'Steamed Grouper' has always made me a little uneasy. But Stevenson said
It's not unreasonable. We are not in danger at the moment, so it doesn't make sense to stop taking action based on mere speculation. Everyone, please be very alert and act cautiously. Don't let the five of us separate for a while, and don't leave them either.
It's too far away, so Tian Yong and Xueting are responsible for the security, and the three of us are responsible for the excavation work. After all, we are a team, so we should keep an eye on the two of them. We won't be able to explain anything if something goes wrong." After the arrangement was completed, he waved his hand.
He waved his hand and led his four people into the ancient city.
The situation inside the city is similar to that outside the city. There are still feasts and carnival scenes all over the place, but what is even more lively is that there are a lot of "spotted snakeheads". The small ones are less than 1 foot long, and the big ones are almost 1 meter long.
They attacked and devoured the "rhinoceros shrimp" crazily. Perhaps it was because there was too much food, and these "spotted snakeheads", which were almost albino, had never seen anyone before, so they simply turned a blind eye to Ling Hao and the others.
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Seeing that their appearance did not cause chaos, everyone happily found a place to start the excavation work. The southern city where they were located was a wealthy area, and the structure of the houses was relatively stable, and most of them had not collapsed. When they saw Stevenson and Natasha entering
In one house, Ling Hao led people into the one next door. Tian Yong and Xueting carried spear guns like sentries on the roof to look out for the people on both sides.
This city should have been destroyed by the war. Ling Hao made this conclusion as soon as he entered the house. The room was in a mess, as if it had been robbed. There were also rusty machete remains on the ground. It must have been here back then.
There are many corpses that have been soaked in the water for thousands of years, and no traces are left. War is naturally accompanied by looting, but not a single valuable thing is left, and many large items that cannot be taken away have been destroyed.
It was destroyed, and only some bottles and jars of daily necessities and some things that the soldiers looked down upon at that time were found, such as women's dressing mirrors, rouge boxes, inkstones in the study, bamboo slips, wood chips and clay tablets with inscriptions, and some
The broken statues of primitive religions. The looting in the south city was so serious. Perhaps the north city was regarded as a slum and no one went there to plunder. That's why the "Steamed Grouper" was still able to find some remaining statues in the ruins of the north city.
Gold and silver utensils.
No matter what, these things found in Nancheng, especially the bamboo slips, wood chips and clay tablets, as well as the broken statues, are of extremely high academic value for studying the history of Qiemo. Ling Hao and the others carefully packed these things into boxes and transported them again and again.
Returning to the "Stone Crab", they also changed the breathing cylinder. Soon, they had almost gone through half of the southern city.
Suddenly, Ling Hao, who was lying on the ground using a shovel to pull a clay pot, suddenly jumped up and swam out of the house on his hands and knees. Zhu Xin and Zuo Pengfei were confused and had no choice but to follow them out, and happened to meet someone falling from the roof.
Tian Yong.
"I'm going, come and see, those snakeheads, no, those snakeheads are crazy, there are so many of them!" Tian Yong was a little incoherent, and everyone went up to the roof, even Steve who heard Tian Yong's shouting next door.
The two Vincents also came out.
I saw countless large and small spotted snakeheads rushing toward the middle of the ancient city like a wave, looking crazy. Some even accidentally bumped into a building, and fell to the ground with a bloody head and were beaten by swarms of "rhinoceroses"
"The shrimp" was rolled up and eaten in an instant without even the bones left.
Above the palace in the center of the ancient city, hundreds of thousands or even millions of snakeheads gathered together, connected head to tail, circling and forming a huge "fishspout" with a diameter and height of tens of meters.
It was so spectacular that everyone was dumbfounded.
Xueting's face turned pale, she looked around nervously, and then said to Ling Hao: "Boss, we are in trouble now, I'm afraid that girl Sisi is really telling the truth."