In the afternoon, the divers focused on exploring the underground river.
We advanced nearly two kilometers upstream and downstream along the cave, and conducted a preliminary inspection of the hydrogeological conditions, stalactites and other geological conditions. Then, Professor Ye Rongguang took his daughter Ye Qianpian to conduct fishing research on the creatures in the water. Sure enough, in addition to the small fish discovered earlier, there were also some shrimps, crabs, snails, and a few plankton that had been living for centuries.
Both archaeological expedition teams made huge gains.
When we came to Dejing, the first phase of the entire joint archaeological expedition was over. The divers and expedition members who came to reinforce the mission, as well as some vehicles and equipment, were all withdrawn.
As for the second phase of the mission, thanks to the underground river map provided by the nameless skeleton in the cave, it was mainly to explore the source and outlet of the underground river from the surface.
After a large number of first-hand joint archaeological artifacts and materials were handed over to Jinmen University and relevant departments. The joint team ended its station in Tunliu Village and headed straight for the primitive mountain forest where Wang Ke and the others conducted wild survival training.
After a few months, Wang Ke felt particularly warm when he returned to this primitive mountain forest.
It was already late autumn and camping outside was almost impossible, even with a tent. Wang Ke suggested that the camp should be placed in the Roe Deer Cave.
Entering the Roe Deer Cave, you can see that the reed mats made by Wang Ke and his command platoon are still there. Wang Ke introduced everyone one by one where the salt wall was and how to scrape the salt powder from there and use it to pickle salted fish, bullfrog and roe deer meat. Where is the place to warm yourself by the fire? How to get up to the second floor? How to use the transparency of the patio to cook, hold meetings, and study there. Where is the storage room and where is the place where the small salted fish are hung to dry? Where is the place where honey locust pods are boiled for laundry, and where are the plantains and hemostatic vines found to treat Hu Xinrui's eye injuries?
All the experts who investigated the archaeology said they were dumbfounded.
After talking about these legends, everyone began to clean the Roe Deer Cave. Arrange the reed mat originally laid on the ground, spread the tent you brought on the reed mat, and cover the entrance of the cave with a thickened outdoor curtain. Then pull up a rope in the cave and use cloth as a curtain to separate the holes. A lantern was hung on the top of the cave, and Ye slept in the innermost part, while several other experts slept outside.
Wang Ke insisted that he was young and wanted to sleep at the entrance of the cave. The others saw that they couldn't compete with him, so they agreed.
Some important archaeological equipment and food were placed in the cave on the second floor.
These conditions have far exceeded the conditions of field survival training at that time. I don’t know how many times better it is.
Since no large animal that could hurt anyone has ever been found in this primitive mountain forest, everyone was silent all night and slept very soundly.
Early the next morning, the joint archaeological team met and was divided into two groups. The first group was led by Professor Wen, with Wang Ke and Ye Qianqian as team members. The second group is led by Professor Ye Rongguang, with experts from the Institute of Archeology and the province as team members.
The two teams were each equipped with a compass, a telescope, a walkie-talkie, a camera, and two flare guns borrowed from the army. Each person was also equipped with a whistle, a day's supply of dry food and drinking water. With these, even if contact was lost, , and can also carry out mutual rescue and self-rescue in a timely manner.
Before setting off, the two groups agreed that everyone would walk four kilometers away from each other with the cave as the center, and then rotate clockwise in a semicircle. Everyone carried out archaeological inspection work in their respective semicircles, so as not to overlap on the terrain. The two groups agreed that everyone should return to the camp before sunset at the latest.
At the same time, the two groups agreed that if there is an emergency, they can call through the walkie-talkie. If the walkie-talkie has no signal, a flare is fired into the air.
Since the single goal of this archaeological expedition is to find the source of the underground river, all possible unexpected situations will mainly revolve around the entrance of this underground river. After the task was clear, everyone split up.
Professor Ye's group went west by south, then rotated to north by west at two kilometers, then continued forward to east by north and turned back.
The direction assigned by Professor Wen, Wang Ke, and Ye Qianqian was east by north, and they started in the same way as the first group. But as soon as they went out, they discovered a problem. If they went directly to the east and north, they would inevitably reach the 520 Highland. Therefore, it is necessary to stagger the ridge and take a detour to the left, that is, first go north, follow the seasonal river below, pass through the 40-50 meter high stone cliff that was climbed according to the azimuth direction, and then circle back to reach the East-north direction. After reaching two kilometers, turn south, and finally return to the cave in the west-south direction.
The two groups are equivalent to drawing a circle in this area.
Professor Wen's group walked and stopped along the way. This seasonal river flows eastward, and the east side should be said to be the lower reaches. The dry season has arrived at this time, but the river is still flowing. From time to time, you can see small puddles in the shallow areas. At the narrowest point, you can cross to the other side in one step.
When he reached the foot of the 40- to 50-meter-high rock cliff that he climbed down, Wang Ke looked up and pointed it out to Professor Wen and Ye Qianqian. An eagle was parked on the cliff at this time. It had caught something like a bird or a pheasant under its talons, and was pecking at its feathers in preparation for eating.
It was late autumn at this time, and the grass had begun to turn yellow. The warm sunshine shines on the cliff, making the eagle particularly eye-catching.
This was the first creature they saw today. "Uncle Wen, I want to ask you a question. Under what circumstances would there be no animals in the forest?" Ye broke the silence.
"You should ask your dad about this! But I can tell you simply that animals feed on food seeds, and their feces provide nutrients for plants and help spread seeds. There is a relationship between animals and plants Some kind of causal relationship. If there are few animals, the balance here must be broken. For example, there are fewer plants in this area, which provides less food, so the animals have gone further into the forest." Professor Wen said talk.
"That's very strange. We just came out of that forest, and there were surprisingly few birds." Ye Qianqian still asked, "Have the birds also gone to hibernate?"
"No, there are still little birds. Look at the cliff, aren't there two of them?" Wang Ke pointed at the mountain eagle.
"There is only one, Brother Bing." Ye Qianqian was not convinced.
"Isn't there one caught at the foot of the mountain eagle?"
"Well, even if it is, we haven't seen many birds along the way." Ye Xianqian still asked.
"Last time during our field survival training, one of the soldiers in our class had his eye pecked by a myna." The two began to bicker.
But Professor Wen was thoughtful.
Ye was right. This was the first time I saw two birds since I came out this morning. If a bird likes peace and quiet, it should hide in the forest. In this desert mountainous area, except for the two birds in front of me, there are really no other small animals found.
The three of them continued walking forward.
After walking for a while, Professor Wen suddenly stopped and said to Wang Ke: "Comrade Xiao Wang, during your last field survival training, the largest animals you caught were two roe deer. What else did you catch?"
"Small fish, bullfrogs, rabbits, and pheasants. Among them, small fish and bullfrogs are the most common."
"Nothing else?"
Wang Ke thought about it and realized that it really wasn't the case. He said: "Maybe there is too little food in this area, and the little animals can't find anything to eat, so they have all moved away."
"Comrade Xiao Wang, what you said makes sense, because there is also a biological chain in the animal kingdom. For example, big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimps, and shrimps eat screws. If everyone has nothing to eat, If the biological chain is broken, then survival will be a problem. For example, if there are no insects now, the bullfrog's biological chain is broken, and if the bullfrog's biological chain is broken, the snakes in this area will no longer exist."
"That's not right, Teacher Wen! Last time we caught bullfrogs here, we caught so many bullfrogs, but we didn't see a single snake."
"Hey, Comrade Xiao Wang, the situation you mentioned is very rare. Didn't you find a single snake during your last field survival training?"
Wang Ke shook his head. During the entire field survival training, I had never heard of any comrade seeing a snake. At that time, they also brought a lot of snakebite first aid medicine but did not use it.
"Where did you say you caught bullfrogs?"
"Teacher Wen, it's in the opposite direction to us. It's where Professor Ye and his group went today. The reed marsh there is at least several kilometers wide, and you can't see it at a glance. The breeze blows, and the reed leaves rustle like music. It's like a piano. We once caught several hundred kilograms of bullfrogs there, and the asparagus and asparagus there were very delicious." Wang Ke recalled.
"You just know how to eat." Ye happened to be behind Wang Ke and pinched Wang Ke's butt so hard that Wang Ke ducked to the side.
"Then did you find anything in the reeds? For example, anything abnormal!" Professor Wen continued to ask.
Wang Ke shook his head, seeming to remember something. "That patch of reeds grows in a river bend. There is still water flowing here upstream, and then flowing downstream from the bay, it flows to where we are now."
"That's not a flow. It flows back and forth, and now it's drying up." Ye Qian thought Wang Ke said nonsense.
"Comrade Xiao Wang, I mean, have you found any fish in this reed bend?"
"Teacher Wen, there must be fish. At that time, we caught a lot of small fish that came upstream from the lower reaches, which were about the same size as what we saw in the underground river. And this river bend was relatively deep, so we only I took a bath in it and didn’t catch fish in this bend.”
"In addition to going to this patch of reeds, you have also been to this river bend, but you have never caught fish in this river bend, right?" Professor Wen asked, feeling a little regretful that he should not have divided into two groups today, but We should go directly to that patch of reeds.
"Yes, Teacher Wen. We also built many shacks on the willow trees next to the river beach in the reeds."
"Wait a minute, Comrade Xiao Wang, there are many willow trees next to the river beach you mentioned."
"Yes, Teacher Wen, we also made baskets and beds out of willow and wattle branches."
"Then let me ask you another question. When is your field survival training?"
"It should be April or early May? Yes, it's when April and May intersect." Wang Ke thought for a moment and answered affirmatively.
"Have you ever heard the cicada's cry? That was the time when the cicadas were most abundant." The "cicada" Professor Wen mentioned was the cicada.
Wang Ke tilted his head and thought about it carefully before saying with great certainty. "No, I have never heard the cry of cicadas."
"There are a lot of weird things here!" Professor Wen said to himself, "Let's go over there tomorrow and have a look. Come on, let's keep moving forward."
At noon, after the three of them had eaten in the forest, they continued their inspection from east to south. Along the way, Ye Xianchan collected many small yellow and white wild flowers, tied them into a garland and put it on his head.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, Professor Wen's group returned to Roezi Cave first, but the other group had not arrived yet. Professor Wen used the high-frequency walkie-talkie he brought to call, but there was no response. Considering that the terrain was complicated and it was still early, I lowered my head to sort out the information.
But Ye just pulled Wang Ke up to the second floor, and the two of them went to cook first.
