After listening to Team Cao's introduction, I realized that the scale of this search for the Dongxing was far beyond my imagination. Along with our research ship, there was also an ocean-going supply ship of more than 3,000 tons, with which we had no problem holding out at sea for two or three months. In addition, in our vicinity, there are two frigates and a rescue ship of the South China Sea Fleet, which are ready to arrive within two hours to provide support.

Our research vessel not only has a small helicopter, but also tows a small deep-sea submarine that can dive to a depth of 2,000 meters. As for satellite positioning systems, high-altitude sounding balloons, as well as various scientific observation instruments, are piled up with research ships and supply vessels.

The experts on the two ships can be roughly divided into three groups, one group is the maritime search and rescue experts under the Maritime Safety Administration, and the other group is the oceanographic experts from various universities and research institutes, both of which are based on the supply ship and are also the general headquarters of the mission.

The third group is the mirage chasing team led by Professor Lu Shanlin, with about 15 people, plus the Bund who participated in the first search and rescue, and the members of the fishing boat who accidentally met the Dongxing are also on the research ship. A rough calculation shows that the South China Sea Fleet has as many as 200 people participating in this mission.

Hearing this, I couldn't help but ask, "Team Cao, what is being transported on this Dongxing to put up such a big battle to search and rescue?"

Team Cao shook his head, "Chang, to be honest, I don't know, the secrecy level of this operation is very high, we are just the cooperation force of the search and rescue team, we must listen to the unified leadership of the command, once we find the Dongxing, we will hand it over immediately, it is estimated that the ship may not be able to board, you can imagine what is on the ship." ”

"I guess if it weren't for the fact that Professor Lu Zhanglin's gang was too unsociable and difficult to manage, I wouldn't have come to the research ship, to put it bluntly, our department is responsible for monitoring Lu Zhanglin. ”

"Why does the above attach so much importance to Professor Lu? Huansheng said that his mathematical model has not been recognized by the theoretical community, why does the above think that he can find the missing Dongxing?" The more mysterious Team Cao said, the more I felt that there were many questions in it, and I couldn't help but interrupt him to ask.

"Because it was tested before. In fact, at the beginning, the people from the command center just went to visit Professor Lu, hoping to listen to his advice, after all, he is a well-known expert in this field. Without telling him that the fishing boat had encountered the Dongxing, Professor Lu only relied on the photos of the mirage and the meteorological data of the observation point at that time, as well as the last route map of the Dongxing and the coordinates of the missing place, Professor Lu made calculations for two days and circled eleven possible locations of the Dongxing. ”

The experts who visited Professor Lu were quite unimpressed with those locations, because they were not only in the South China Sea, but also in the western Pacific Ocean, Malacca, and even a few hundred nautical miles south of the South Island of New Zealand. How it is possible for a ship to drift so far in two months with the help of ocean currents when it loses power, is completely unthinkable. But in the data of these locations, there were fishing boats that happened to encounter the coordinates of the Dongxing, which shocked the command center. ”

"But ask Professor Lu in detail about the mathematical model and calculation method, you have already seen Professor Lu's temper, and it is impossible at all. The command center can neither ignore Professor Lu's calculations nor bet on an unproven theory, so the current ridiculous situation has arisen, and I led Professor Lu's team to verify the coordinates in the South China Sea and the western Pacific Ocean, while the command center led another group of experts in ocean currents to search for the Eastern Star through the tracking of ocean currents. ”

"That is to say, the search team, which now seems to be spectacular, after surveying several coordinate points in the South China Sea, will go their separate ways, and in about two weeks, everything at sea will be on our own. ”

Thinking of this, he casually asked, "Team Cao, what do you think of Professor Lu's theory? I really can't think of any help I can do with the search and rescue at sea, why do you insist on letting me come?"

Team Cao turned around and leaned against the railing, his expression becoming relaxed, as if enjoying the bright sunshine and the gentle sea breeze. "Often, our positioning is a partial division, more than we don't have, less we are a lot, running in vain is reasonable, a little found that it was an unexpected joy, figured out this, there is no pressure, look for you to come as a vacation, look at the scenery of the South China Sea, taste the original seafood, a lot of time, enough to drink and chat, isn't this also a pleasure?"

I snorted, turned my face, and leaned against the railing with him. "Team Cao, if you want to hide, you can find a hundred reasons, it must be that you believe that Professor Lu will find out about this errand, but it is estimated that some of Professor Lu's theories are far beyond the scope of your understanding, so you will try to get me on the ship. ”

Team Cao straightened up in surprise, "Lao Chang, it seems that that kid Huansheng knows Lu Shanlin very well, what else did he tell you?"

I repeated Huansheng's words to Team Cao, especially emphasizing Lu Shanlin's abandonment of the desert experiment back then. Listening to my words, Team Cao's expression became serious.

"Timer? Could it be that Professor Lu already thinks that the mirage is not a simple optical refraction phenomenon?

This question is difficult to answer, and according to Huansheng's understanding, the main reason is the distortion of the refracted image, which causes the distortion of the scene. But there is still a non-mainstream view in the academic community that the scene in the mirage is not in our time and space, but dozens or even hundreds of years ago. There is a special particle in our atmosphere that, under the action of geomagnetism, can record the scene at that time, just like a video tape. Many years later, under the accidental magnetic field conditions, these recorded scenes were projected into the water vapor of the clouds again, and humans naturally could not find the real scene of that year. Hearing my words, Team Cao shook his head at me.

"You must not believe this statement, I remember you told me the story of the ghost wall and the sea eye well in the Forbidden City before, which seems to be very similar to the statement of the geomagnetic tape. But this time, I think it's different, and if these images have an impact on things in reality, it's not as simple as video playback, right?"

I nodded, and said to Team Cao with a smile: "Actually, old Cao, when you heard Professor Lu pressing the timer in the desert, you actually already have an assumption, I just think that our current speculation is a pavilion in the sand, I am curious about your communication with Professor Lu in the past two days, what did he tell you? It seems that you get along quite well?"

"Hey, I don't know you yet, lower your body, humbly ask for advice, and pat yourself on the back, don't you cultural people like this set? The other is to break up our previous story, and then mix some ingredients to tell him, so that he always feels that I agree with his research method from the bottom of my heart. However, we waited for the research ship to return to Hong Kong for four days in Sanya, and he basically locked himself in his hotel room, but I think what he has been studying is not the dossier, but the climatological data of the South China Sea and the reports of missing ships in the past. ”

"It's normal for Professor Lu to study meteorological data, but why is he studying reports of shipwrecks? There is a legend that there is a devilish sea in the South China Sea similar to the Bermuda Triangle, which causes the disappearance of passing ships. But later some scientists specifically studied, that is because the underwater geological structure of the South China Sea is complex, there are many raised reefs, when the wind and waves are very strong, ships often cannot determine the location of the reefs, resulting in reef sanking, and many of the missing ships in history have been found on the bottom of the sea. It's not a mystery, it's just that there is a higher probability of a wreck. ”

"I don't know about this, Professor Lu has never talked about the reason, but he and those mirages have been busy marking a new chart these days, and they should have their own plans. ”

"Team Cao, in your plan, if the location where Professor Lu marked the possibility of the East Star and no missing ship is found, what will you do next?" I took a deep breath of the damp sea breeze and asked Team Cao.

Team Cao sighed and said helplessly, "To be honest, we don't have a plan at all, I guess Professor Lu and they will definitely ask for a survey of all the coordinate points, but the South Pacific is too far away, and the supply ships don't act with us, where can we get there? There are also coordinates near Malacca and Kalimantan Island, which are in the territorial waters of other countries, and we can't get in." At that time, we will only have to wait for the order of the leader. ”

As Team Cao was talking, I suddenly saw a young man walking up from the cabin, about twenty-four or five years old, thin and tall, the most recognizable thing is that he has a ponytail, and jeans, and military boots have the temperament of an artist. He had an army-green painting clip under his arm, and he walked in a hurry.

At the first glance of him, I probably guessed the identity of this person, turned my head and asked Team Cao: "Old Cao, did you get the painter on the fishing boat too?"

"I didn't want to bring it, Xiao Lei and I just went to him to learn some information, as far as he and two fishermen had reappeared on the East Star, the fishermen have no culture, and they can't say much of value, only this painter can observe carefully, can describe the scene on the ship at that time, or the photographer of those photos. The most important thing is the painter himself, who is extremely curious, and if he has to follow, the leader will not object, of course why not do it. ”

(Away from Zhu Zhiming, the end of the inspection is a hundred steps away, down to the water gauge, and can not see the shallow depth.) It's not clear, it's hard to see. --"Prudence")