Everyone's hearts are in their throats. This is not only a matter 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 had just attacked 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 quite large among the cities in the Western Region. The city wall is seven or eight meters high and nearly three meters thick. What surprised Ling Hao was that the edges and corners of the city wall had not been worn away 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 Qiemo Ancient 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 and said: "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" didn't 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 are more than 10,000 buildings in the city. The main roads are arranged in a "well" shape two vertically and two horizontally. There are hundreds of side roads and alleys. There are many in the north of the city. There are stone pillars standing in an open space. It should be a mule and horse market or a slave market. The houses in the North City are relatively chaotic, and they are also relatively low and narrow. It seems that most of them are adobe or cement structures, and most of them have collapsed. It has become ruins, but the houses in the south of the city are all very tall and relatively well-preserved. They should all be made of masonry. They must be in the wealthy area. There is a tall building complex in the middle of the city, which should be the royal 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-turned "overhanging" design, which is obviously inspired by 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. The little girl got 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's 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, and those with trypophobia almost screamed out in surprise. I saw densely packed white arthropods on the ground, 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 animals. The layers are like waves.
"What is this? A trilobite?" Dr. Natasha couldn't bear 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 the light and turn white, I can recognize their appearance at a glance. Where we are Some people call it 'rhino 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 rhino shrimp, 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 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. He hovered the "Steamed Grouper". Extend the lens and look 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 look.
"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 even used a begging tone. .
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 yelled. After Shi Si adjusted the focus of the camera back in a panic, 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. Snakehead fish, also known as snakehead, is a frequent visitor to Asian dinner tables. It is extremely ferocious and territorial. It can grow up to more than 1 meter in length and will even bite people if it gets impatient.
"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 grabbing 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. 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, it is estimated that 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 slide rails in the cave. It is said that they also need to make a "pulley" to completely fix the "Stone Crab" and ensure that it slides into the lake below without any bumps.
The moonlight was like water that night, and the sky was cloudless. Because it was the fourteenth day of the lunar calendar, the full moon was as bright as a silver plate, illuminating the desert. Everyone is very busy. Shi Si and Xueting are conducting final inspections, charging, and adding helium, oxygen and diesel to the "Stone Crab" and "Pippi Shrimp". Tian Yong and Jiang Mingyu are carrying boxes of diving equipment. Equipment, food, drinking water, first aid supplies, etc. are moved into the cabin. In order to protect underwater cultural relics this time, the British archaeological team prepared a number of sealed boxes with constant temperature and pressure to prevent precious cultural relics from being broken due to rapid decompression when leaving the water. These sealed boxes were also moved into the "Stone Crab" "No." Fortunately, the world's most advanced deep-sea living cabin is big enough, otherwise it would really be filled with supplies.
The people who go into 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 the aura made Ling Hao's neck shrink.
"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, 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."
"Really or not, is he 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 me staying by your side 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 in front of Ling Ling. The door of Hao's room was 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. The three of you 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 for 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 many 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 want to go too, 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 doesn't know what he means? Not bothering to look at him at all, he just smiled politely at the two Stevensons and said, "We have never cooperated before, so there will definitely be some problems with our cooperation this time. Since you two must participate, and you said you won't bullshit My hind legs, I also said some things in front. Saturation diving is very dangerous. Even if you don’t take a breath right, it can kill you. We have limited manpower and a large working surface. We dive at a depth of nearly 200 meters underwater. Between us, It's difficult to take care of each other 100% in the time, and the underwater situation changes rapidly. If something happens to you two, I can't take 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, in this Three Kingdoms archaeological operation, I am the representative of my country underwater, 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 Go, that 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 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 stretched out his right hand.
"Wish us luck." Stevenson also stretched out his hand and shook Ling Hao's hand vigorously.
