On the morning of this day, a light mist floated on the surface of Poyang Lake, and although it was spring, the temperature was still so low that people kept walking back and forth, rubbing their hands together to keep warm. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info Lao Qi stood at the bow of the boat, his expression was cold, as if he had something on his mind, and looked directly at the lake calmly. Indeed, even I, who seldom get on a boat, can see that the surface of the lake, without wind and waves, seems to be emitting heat from the bottom up, and even the mist seems to have condensed, and there is no birdsong or fish swimming, like a pool of stagnant water without life.

We can't remember when the lake became what it is. As soon as dawn broke, our group of people backpacked on the boat, and when we were ready to set off, Lao Qi seemed to have great reluctance, complaining that the weather was too cold, and the fog was foggy again, and discussed with me whether to wait for the sun to come out and the fog to disperse before sailing.

But since Lao Huang took us to Lao Qi's house for a drink that day, he had a great opinion of Lao Qi, and even despised it in his heart, thinking that Lao Qi wanted to retreat, and said coldly on the side: "Lao Qi, our boatman in Poyang Lake, who has never been out of the boat on a foggy day, knew that you wanted to save money and get your own fishing boat out, it is better for me to find a big boat yesterday and sit safely." ”

Lao Qi was not angry, beckoned his own boatman to carry the sacrificial pigs and sheep onto the boat, and said to Lao Huang lightly: "I have been fishing for half my life, Lao Huang, what do you say I am afraid of? My own boat is easy to use, don't look down on my boat, the waves in the lake in the summer of 93 are not big? I walk back and forth in the lake." Teacher Chang, they haven't been to the lake, I'm not afraid that they won't be able to stand the wind and waves for a while? Get on the boat, get on the boat, and go as soon as possible. ”

But we didn't see any wind and waves along the way, but the surface of the lake became calmer and calmer, and calmly made you slowly start to be afraid.

Zeng Qian and her assistant, a young man in his twenties with glasses, have been busy since they got on the boat. It is also to measure the water temperature and collect water samples. Zeng Qian set up the microscope in the cockpit, looked at every water sample carefully, and then kept recording it on the pre-drawn form. Soon, a bunch of test strips were spread on the table, and after the test, they were numbered one by one, and after a while, the cabin was covered with small strips of paper of various colors.

Since the lake is calm and always the same, and there is no change in the sameness, everyone simply looks at Zeng Qian's work with great interest, and when they see her serious appearance, it is not easy to go up and ask, and on the wooden boat, except for the sound of the engine, there is no other sound.

The boat went out for more than forty minutes, Lao Qi beckoned the boatman to throw the sacrifice into the water, kowtowed respectfully at the bow of the boat, chanted a few words in his mouth, walked to my side, and whispered: "Mr. Chang, walk for more than ten minutes, and you will arrive at the Winter Melon Reef, the weather is a little strange today, just take a look, don't delay for a long time." ”

After speaking, without waiting for my answer, he turned his head back to the bow of the boat, and continued to stare blankly at the water, as if there was something hidden under the calm water. But it can be seen that several of his own shipwrights brought by Lao Qi are very serious about the sacrificial activities, and their faces are full of solemnity from beginning to end.

At this time, Xiao Lei came over from the stern of the boat, holding a satellite phone in his hand. I looked into his slightly anxious eyes and knew that the phone still couldn't get through. didn't wait for me to speak, but Zeng Qian spoke first, "Xiao Lei, Team Cao, they still can't be contacted?"

Xiao Lei nodded, and immediately said: "Sister-in-law, you don't have to worry too much, I drew a sketch before getting on the boat, marked the general direction of our going, entrusted the workers on the dock, and handed it to the Cao team and their boat, their boat arrived at noon, and when they saw the sketch, they should come to us." ”

Zeng Qian glared at Xiao Lei, obviously dissatisfied with his title, but didn't speak again, and continued to bury her head in measuring the water sample.

The boat went on for a while, and the sun rose high, but the fog did not seem to disperse, but was thicker than before, and the sun and the fog were entangled, and soon they were engulfed in, leaving only a faint halo. Lao Huang helped Zeng Qian's assistant collect water samples on the side of the boat, carried a stainless steel bucket the size of a thermos cup from the bottom of the lake, walked to my side, and said softly: "Mr. Chang, there is a geothermal river below, you can try it." ”

I reached out and touched the water in the bucket, and it was true that the water temperature had risen a lot, and it was still faintly steaming, and it was estimated that the geothermal river below must be fifty or sixty degrees.

Lao Qi took a long bamboo pole more than a zhang long at the bow of the boat, tied a small bamboo tube to the head of the pole, and also picked up water under the lake, he did not test the water temperature, but put it next to his nose and sniffed it vigorously. Then he shook his head, poured the water, and ignored us, and directed the ship to change course, and continued to fetch water as he went. I've never heard of this method of smelling water and setting directions, so I can't help but be curious.

I walked up to him, patted him on the shoulder, and asked, "Old Qi, what's wrong?"

Lao Qi didn't look up, but said in a very low voice: "Mr. Chang, the water in the lake has risen earlier than usual this year, and the winter melon reef should have been submerged, I can only roughly get a location for you, not necessarily accurate, you smell it, it should be very close." He took the small bamboo tube from the head of the pole and handed it to me.

I sniffed it on the bamboo tube, and there was a strong smell of sulfur, but it was different from the hot spring water I had seen before, how to say? In the sour smell, there seemed to be something else mixed in, not only minerals, but also the smell of rotting corpses.

"Old Qi, does the geothermal river water smell like this?" I asked, looking up. At this time, Lao Qi straightened up at the bow of the boat and looked at the thick fog on the lake. Following his gaze, I noticed that the fog seemed to be lighter than before, faintly, and there was an outline of an island in the fog, but it seemed far away from us.

"That island is the falling star pier, I'm not mistaken, a few hundred meters to the north, is the winter melon reef, this year's geothermal river lane change is more powerful than in previous years, the fish may not be easy to fight, dog, put anchor to test the depth of the water." Lao Qi shouted to the stern.

A sturdy man in his thirties answered at the stern, and soon our ship was not moving. At the bottom of our boat, there was a large white heat in the water, and it seemed that we were stopped above the geothermal river or the spring, and the lake here was obviously more turbid than in other places, and occasionally a large string of bubbles appeared, and the smell of sulfur diffused in the air, which made people feel a little tight. But when one stares down at the surface of the water, one always feels that something lurks at the bottom of the lake.

At this time, Zeng Qian called me in the cabin, I entered the cabin, and she pulled me to the microscope: "Uncle Chang, come and take a look." ”

In the round hole of the microscope, I saw several strange-looking microorganisms. Unlike the microbes I saw before, they are not translucent, you can see the structure of the cells, they look like puffer fish full of gas, the small spines on the body are open outward, and under the small spines is a hard carapace, but in the gap between the carapaces, there is a faint milky white light, as if the carapace is wrapped in a glowing ball of light.

Underneath the carapace, there are dozens of pairs of whip feet that are not too long, and the speed of the stroke is very fast, the carapace seems to be heavy, but when the whip foot strokes, it moves very quickly.

"What is this? Is it a freshwater glowing fungus?" I looked up at Zeng Qian.

"No, it's not the same kind of creature as the luminescent fungus we talked about before, I've never seen this kind of creature, and it's not recorded in the book, Uncle Chang, you see, I'll drop a little cold water on it." Zeng Qian said, using a test tube to drop twice on the test piece.

I leaned over to the microscope again, and several microorganisms in the lens, as if shivering, as if shivering when they touched the cold water, quickly put their whip feet into the shell, and the shell slowly wrapped tightly, turning into a round ball, completely blocking the light in the gap, and then they remained motionless.

Zeng Qian sucked some hot water with the dropper again, and re-lit it, the ball quickly felt the temperature, the shell stretched out again, the whip foot stretched out, the white light reappeared, and swam happily in the water.

"What is the temperature of the hot water, Xiao Zeng?" My eyes didn't take my eyes off the eyepieces.

"It's about between forty and fifty degrees, Uncle Chang, this thing is thermophilic, but this self-luminous principle has never been documented, and it is probably a new species. I could tell that Zeng Qian's words were full of excitement.

"Then our previous assumption is correct, this microorganism is very sensitive to temperature, and it is likely that when the water temperature is low, it goes into a dormant state. Why do luminous objects only appear in spring and summer, and why do shipwrecks change along geothermal rivers? It seems that meteorites, geothermal rivers, luminous objects, strange weather conditions, shipwrecks, these are all interrelated, but there is still one link missing. I looked up at Zeng Qian.

"The wreckage of the ship?" Zeng Qian used tweezers to file a little rust from the corner of the iron table, and continued: "Before coming to Poyang Lake, I happened to see a paper in a foreign scientific journal, which said that American marine biologists found a thermophilic microorganism in the underwater abyss of the Pacific Ocean, which lives near the underwater lava rock at a depth of seven or eight thousand meters, and when there is no organic food, it will decompose the surrounding metal minerals to obtain energy. They believe that these microorganisms in extreme environments have evolved into a new life form that is completely different from the general ecological chain. ”

Zeng Qian said as she carefully sucked the crushed rust powder into the dropper, and I gave her the seat, and she dripped the hot water from the dropper and rust onto the test piece, and began to adjust the focus of the microscope.

"Uncle Chang, in my impression, the thermophilic bacteria discovered by the Americans should also be luminous, so I was thinking that the luminous objects in the lake may not be luminescent fungi, but thermophilic bacteria, or not bacteria at all... Oh my God, Uncle Chang, come and see. ”

(The Taoist, the origin of the gods.) The gods are within the degree and see outside the degree. Those who are within the degree are self-evident. Those who are seen outside the degree are not easy to say. Those who are within the degree are still and immovable. Those who are seen outside the degree are not moving. Moving and still without moving, moving without dissolving, so it is called God. --"The Four Classics of the Yellow Emperor") (To be continued.) )