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 and Natasha entered the "Stone Crab".
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 tense, 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, hung on steel cables, and slid down along the 60-degree downward cave wall with their feet supported. .
A quarter of an hour later, the "Stone Crab" fell into the water, and 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 and unhooked them at the same time. The pulley fell off and slowly fell to the bottom of the lake. After they completed their task, they had to stop on the pulley and reinstall the buckles. Being winched back to the ground.
Ling Hao and the other two 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 complicated internal-circulation hot-water diving suits. 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. Zhu Xin is a little unfamiliar with the operation. It's normal. Fortunately, the working principle of the equipment is the same, so you can quickly become familiar with it. Saturation deep diving is dangerous. Logically speaking, Ling Hao should not bring a novice like Zhu Xin on a mission. However, firstly, this is a quiet lake, there is no danger of water flow, and secondly, the water depth does not exceed 200 meters, and the depth is not too deep. , it’s okay to treat this place as another deep dive training. Ling Hao loves water and is fascinated by the mystery and depth of the blue. From his subconscious mind, he hopes that the person he loves can experience and share this happiness with him. He has fantasized more than once about being able to swim in the water with Zhu Xin. .
"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 Let’s test the radio headsets, 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's very comfortable. The compressed gas bottles on the back are in groups of 3. The exterior adopts a "castle" design. The gas bottle mouth and other parts 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. Safety. Including Zhu Xin, this is not the first time for everyone to act together, and the tacit understanding is still very good. Ling Hao still has his "Dragon Arc" scimitar on his right leg, but this time he also doesn't have it on his left leg. I made a metal weapon about one foot long. It looks a bit like a "Vajra Subduing the Demonic Pestle", but it doesn't have as many decorations and patterns as the "Vajra Subduing the Demonic Pestle", and the bottom is not triangular. Instead of a pointed cone, it is a three-pronged fork that is gathered together. Although the shape is a bit weird, it is cold and silvery. Tian Yong and the others also asked him what it was, but Ling Hao smiled mysteriously and excused him 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, crutch 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 dealt with 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 kind of animal is attacking our underwater robot? We still don’t know it yet, so I hope you all will be careful and always observe 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. Think of 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 between them, 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 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. Worry, even though Zhuxin solved a major case and was given an extended leave by her superiors, she won't be able to take as long as she wants. Three months is enough. We have been tired of Ling Hao in Italy for more than a month. It is estimated that it will take another month to come back to Taklimakan. I have to stay for a few days to accompany my parents. Otherwise, my parents will think that this daughter was raised in vain?
Ling Hao also gave up when he saw good things, and just beat him a little bit. 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. A scholar who either digs soil at archaeological sites all year round or teaches in schools says he is very familiar with deep-sea archeology and has a lot of saturation diving experience? Ling Hao believes in him! What are the chances that the remains of human life will end up in the deep sea? Even if there are, how many have been discovered? 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 did not believe that full-time archaeologists would 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 "rhino shrimps" looking for food, as densely packed as ant colonies, which gave people goosebumps. .
Shi Si was not idle in the cabin. She took pictures 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. Eat it if you can. 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 silkworm", a freshwater subspecies has never been found in our country, maybe it is a newly discovered subspecies. If it is convenient, you can put a bottle back and find relevant experts to study it. Uh... I digress. Closer to home, lugworms are not at the bottom of the food chain. They are carnivores. According to the current data, they eat live food. Even if the species here are scavengers, that means 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, there would be no way there would 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 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 will inevitably 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 nights and 30 years are days, 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 nearly overwhelming diurnal animals that have been born during the 30 years of daylight. I was thinking, shouldn’t we go into the water just in time for the ‘alternation of day and night’?”
Shi Si's words were really scary. 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 child's play. 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 we 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 all alone. Went toward 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 present, so it is unreasonable to stop action based on mere speculation. Everyone, please be alert and careful. Don't separate the five of us for a while, and don't leave them alone. It's too far away, 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. It's hard for us to explain if anything happens." After the arrangement was completed, he waved 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. Crazy attack and devouring "rhino shrimp". Perhaps it was because there was too much food, and because these almost albino "spotted snakeheads" had never seen anyone before, they simply turned a blind eye to Ling Hao's choice.
Seeing that their appearance did not cause chaos, everyone happily found a place and started excavation work. The southern city where they were located was a wealthy area. The structures of the houses were relatively stable and most of them had not collapsed. Seeing Stevenson and Natasha entering a house, Ling Hao led people into the next one. Tian Yong and Xue Ting carried the spear gun and went up to the roof like a sentry, watching 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. The war was naturally accompanied by looting, but not a single valuable thing was left, and many large items that could not be taken away were destroyed and damaged. Only bottles and jars of daily necessities and some items that the soldiers at that time despised were found. items, such as women's dressing mirrors, rouge boxes, inkstones, bamboo slips, wood chips and carved clay tablets in the study, as well as some 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, which is why the "Steamed Grouper" was still able to find some remaining gold and silver vessels in the ruins of the north city.
No matter what, these things found in Nancheng, especially the bamboo slips, wood chips, clay tablets, and 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 groups of "rhinoceroses". "Shrimp" rolled up and eaten in an instant without leaving any bones.
Above the royal 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 stunned.
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 right."
