"What exactly is that light?" Ling Hao frowned. Is it a glowing creature on the seabed? After all, the depth there is less than 100 meters, and it is connected to the outside world, so it is impossible for any deep-sea species to appear. Is there some underwater treasure? Ling Hao shook his head. He was a little fanciful. He must have read too many fantasy novels.
There were less than 40 hours left for the rescue. Ling Hao had no time to hesitate. As soon as everyone was ready, they had to launch the "Stone Crab" and "Pippi Shrimp" into the water.
Shi Si wore a diving suit and was about to climb up the "Stone Crab" while holding his laptop. Ling Hao asked in surprise: "Aren't you afraid of water? Why do you have to force yourself to dive?"
Shi Si did not smile playfully, but said seriously: "You have to overcome this hurdle in your heart. Sooner or later, you have to face your fears. I am only providing you with information support in the Stone Crab. I will not leave the cabin, okay? ?”
Ling Hao smiled and said, "It's up to you. It's a good thing to have the courage to face your own fears."
As a result, all seven members of the diving team were going into the water this time. In order to save time, Ling Hao took Yang Xueting and Tian Yong to take the "Pippi Shrimp" to find their professor's submarine, while Zuo Pengfei and the four of them went He drove the "Stone Crab" and stationed himself on the rocks at the entrance of the underwater cave, ready to provide support to Ling Hao and the others at any time.
The sea water in "Guadalcanal" is so clear and has good light transmittance. Although the water depth has reached nearly 90 meters, the visibility can still reach more than 20 meters without lights. Ling Hao and the others drove the "Pippi Shrimp", changed the breathing gas to helium and oxygen, and while pressurizing, they drove into the cave where the professor and the others lost contact, and began the search.
No wonder the professors in the video made such a fuss, the landscape in this cave is so beautiful and fantastic. Even Ling Hao and the others were a little dumbfounded, and even began to wonder if they were in a dream.
In the deep blue sea water, the bottom of the cave is full of colorful corals, large and small. Almost all the coral species that Ling Hao and the others know can be found here, growing crowded together like a dense forest. They compete with each other for precious sunlight and living space as much as possible. Countless colorful fish swim among the corals, creating a picture of a tropical underwater paradise.
Tian Yong sighed: "If tourism is developed here, it will definitely be the second 'Great Barrier Reef'."
Ling Hao shook his head and said, "It's a pity that this place is too deep. How many people are capable of diving to this depth? It is destined not to become a tourist attraction."
Yang Xueting sighed: "For this place, it is a good thing that not many people can come down. Without human interference, this place will be a pure land in the ocean."
After continuing to sail in for more than ten minutes, they had entered the deeper area of the cave. Although the space had become much narrower, the top of the cave was still more than ten meters high from the bottom, and the width was nearly thirty meters. It's hard to get sunlight here, and the sea water is as dark blue as blue ink.
The "Pippi Shrimp" turned on the strong underwater lighting, and the surrounding cave walls immediately appeared clearly in front of them. Ling Hao and the other three took a breath of cold air again. The scenery here was completely different from the cave entrance area. It was a dream. and beautiful. Stalactites that are more than ten meters long either hang down from the top of the cave, or pierce upward from the bottom of the cave, making people feel like they are in the mouth of a giant dragon. The colorful corals have disappeared, replaced by large and small round pools. The pools are full of milky white liquid, which is distinct from the clear sea water and does not infiltrate each other at all. The water is full of plankton, and occasionally you can see some snow-white cave creatures on the cave walls, some of which are quite small.
"Oh my God, how did this kind of cave come about? What is in those pools down there?" Yang Xueting couldn't help but sigh.
Jiang Mingyu's voice suddenly sounded in the communicator. Apparently everyone in the "Stone Crab" was observing their rescue operations through high-definition underwater cameras: "This is a typical cave-type blue hole, and the reason for its formation is also very special. In During the Ice Age, the sea level was much lower than it is now, and this place was originally land. The geological structure here is obviously calcium carbonate limestone. In addition, it is located near the equator, with abundant rainfall and abundant freshwater resources. Rivers and groundwater It is not uncommon for such limestone caves to form under the erosion of ice. With the end of the glacial period and the arrival of the interglacial period, the glaciers at the poles melted, sea levels rose, and the seawater submerged the caves, perhaps due to the erosion of seawater or the destruction of wars. The thin top of the cave in the ground was destroyed and collapsed, and the entrance of the cave was exposed to the broad daylight and became a blue hole. The liquid in those pools should be colloidal calcium carbonate slurry, because calcium carbonate is insoluble. It is heavier than water, and its specific gravity is greater than water, so long-term sedimentation will form the white liquid pool you see. In layman's terms, it is 'lime slurry', which is really a rare sight."
Ling Hao and the others sighed while continuing to drive the "Pipi Shrimp" forward. The cave was gradually narrowing. After more than forty minutes of sailing, it was now only as wide and narrow as a larger highway tunnel. Very suddenly, a faint lavender halo appeared on the cave wall, which dazzled people. It was not just something.
"Is this the thing in the video? Maybe it's really a treasure." Tian Yong became a little excited.
Yang Xueting looked at Ling Hao and asked, "We still have more time, would you like to go over and have a look? If it's a treasure, wouldn't we give it away?"
Ling Hao chuckled and said, "Just take a look, but be careful. The professor and others lost contact nearby, so there may be any danger."
Yang Xueting smiled and said: "Don't worry, the 'Pipi Shrimp' is different from their crispy new product submarines. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is an underwater tank. It is a combination of special equipment and 'general merchandise'" Essential difference." After saying that, he cautiously drove towards the place where the purple light flickered.
When it got closer to about 5 meters, the purple light suddenly disappeared, and what appeared in everyone's eyes was a large white clam with a diameter of more than half a meter. The bottom shell was embedded in the depression on the rock wall. When it closed the shell If you don't look carefully, you won't be able to spot it.
"Oh my god, Mazu bless you. This is the 'Big Mother of Pearl'. This kind of shell is usually only about 20 centimeters in size. The largest one I've ever seen is only 35 centimeters. This one is about 70 centimeters. I just saw it. The purple light I arrived is definitely a well-formed southern pearl. The brilliance is so bright that I'm afraid it won't be small. This time I have found a treasure." Yang Xueting, who was born in a fisherman's family, has rich experience in this field, and her voice was filled with excitement. Some trembled.
Ling Hao frowned and said: "My family is a descendant of pearl divers. Although I, an unscrupulous descendant, did not inherit the craftsmanship, I still have some common sense. Purple and pink pearls are freshwater pearls, and sea pearls do not have this color. "
Yang Xueting rolled her eyes at him and said, "You don't understand. Does the pearl that emits purple light have to be a purple pearl? The pearl's light in the sea water is very gorgeous. It was purple light just now. Maybe the next time the shell is opened, it will be red. The light is transformed by the sea air condensed in the pearl. What's more, it can still emit light without water. This is the origin of the "night pearl". Those so-called experts who say that the night pearl is fluorite are purely Self-righteous nonsense, our ancestors knew how to use fluorite during the Yin and Shang Dynasties. Could it be that the ancients were so stupid that they couldn’t even understand the difference between fluorite and luminous pearls? It’s our turn to make a fortune today, let’s find a way to make this happen first Let’s pry off the large mother-of-pearl oyster.” Then she planned to use the mechanical arm of the “Pippi Shrimp”.
"Wait a minute, such a big mother-of-pearl has lived for hundreds of years at least. Aren't you going to kill it by using the mechanical arm? It's better to leave this kind of work to the descendants of the 'pearl divers' ." Ling Hao patted the "Dragon Arc" sword tied to his leg, smiled and made a no problem gesture, took out a large support rod from the tool box, put it into the carrying bag, and began to carry the gas bottle. , put on a diving helmet, and put on fins.
"What kind of knife is that? It looks so weird?" Tian Yong asked Yang Xueting, who also shook her head in confusion.
Ling Hao got out of the cabin and slowly swam toward the mother-of-pearl. Almost at the same time, a lime mortar pool three meters below them suddenly seemed to be boiling. An arthropod more than one meter long suddenly burst into flames. He got out of it and rushed towards Ling Hao at an extremely fast speed. The remaining lime slurry on his body turned into a wisp of white smoke in the blue sea water. Although the latter has rich underwater experience, after all, the movement resistance is large and there is no time to react.
At this critical moment, a mechanical arm of the "Pippi Shrimp" quickly popped up and stood between the arthropod and Ling Hao. At the same time, the former also launched its attack, a pair of mantis-like claws It popped out suddenly and hit the mechanical arm hard. There was a "dang" sound, and the huge "Pippi Shrimp" was almost flipped upside down by it. This shows how powerful this blow was.
"Nani? This is a real Pipi shrimp. Why is it so big?" Tian Yong said in shock as he rubbed his forehead, which was knocked out. Pipi shrimp is also called "mantis shrimp" because its attack method is similar to that of a mantis. But in addition to being able to grab small fish and shrimps, its chelicerae are extremely tough at the joints and can attack enemies like a hammer. Pipi shrimp often use this attack method to break the shells of crustaceans and eat their flesh. The strength of the attack is evident.
"This guy is so powerful. The hydraulic pipe of this robotic arm was destroyed by it. If this hit Ling Hao, he would definitely die." Yang Xueting adjusted the attitude of the submarine as she spoke.
"Hurry up and save Ling Hao, or we'll hit him." Tian Yong was also anxious.
"No, don't forget, we are the 'Pipi Shrimp', and we are not called this name for nothing." As she spoke, Yang Xueting had already adjusted the posture of the "Pipi Shrimp" and pressed a button on the joystick with her thumb. On the top, another mechanical arm suddenly popped out, exactly the same as the attack of the "Mantis Shrimp" just now. The front end of the mechanical arm is a round stinging hammer, which looks similar to a meteor hammer. It hits the mantis shrimp directly. With a "click", the opponent is killed immediately and is hit by the backup mechanical arm of the Pipi Shrimp. He caught it and put it back into the water-proof cabin.
"What are you doing? You want to take it back to eat?" Tian Yong's eyes widened.
"Don't eat it if you can." Yang Xueting rolled her eyes at him and immediately told him to shut up.
Ling Hao breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the big Pippi shrimp was killed. He almost scared him to the point of peeing just now, and then he turned around and continued swimming towards the big mother-of-pearl.
When he came to the pearl shell, Ling Hao first knocked on the shell. It was at least two centimeters thick. It was so tightly closed that no one could even open it with a crowbar. Ling Hao pulled out the "Dragon Arc" sword, thinking about the legend he heard when he was a child, and used the barbs on the back of the "Dragon Arc" sword to slowly scrape along the "annual rings" of the shell. I don’t know what the reason is, but the metallic sound and tremor caused by this kind of scraping is like scratching the itchy flesh of a person’s armpit. It is obvious that the big mother-of-pearl begins to tremble. In less than a minute, it actually starts to tremble. Obediently, he opened the shell.
A light green light flashed, suddenly illuminating the deep sea water. Sure enough, this precious light can change color. Ling Hao suppressed his inner excitement and propped the telescopic rod on the edge of the shell to prevent the shell from suddenly closing when he reached in, which would be a tragedy.
Facing the large lump of squirming soft flesh in the basin, Ling Hao overcame his psychological barrier, gently stretched his hand in, and groped carefully bit by bit, and soon he found the so-called " "The pearl sac" was opened, and I used "Dragon Arc" to gently cut an inch-long hole on it, and then I saw pearls the size of fingernails flowing out from it, as many as five or six.
Ling Hao was overjoyed and packed all the pearls in a small sealed bag. When he finally checked the pearl sac, he found that it was still bulging, as if there was something inside. Since it didn't come out on its own, Ling Hao had no choice but to stretch out his fingers to pick it out. With a "pop", Ling Hao pulled out a drop-shaped object as big as a pigeon egg. In an instant, the colorful light shone brightly. It turned out that it had been inside the shell all along. This is what shines.
Ling Hao was a little flustered, as if he was a treasure thief. After confirming that the bead bag was empty, he took off the telescopic rod, turned around and swam towards the "Pippi Shrimp".
The big mother-of-pearl shell seemed to be amnesty. It closed the shell with a "click" and never wanted to open it again.
Back on the "Pippi Shrimp", Ling Hao took off his mask and looked confused. Tian Yong quickly asked: "How is it, but what have you gained?"
"I'm not kidding, we are really prosperous this time." Ling Hao's voice, which was already high-pitched due to the helium and oxygen inhalation, sounded even weirder now.
