Team Cao pulled me away from the staff running back and forth in the experimental center, found a corner where no one was around, and whispered to me about the current situation.

Wei was just in the cockpit and had already told Team Cao about his next step. Wei brought a lot of instruments and equipment to the scientific research ship, and it took two days to load and unload at the port, but most of them were disassembled parts, and the assembly and debugging began before the departure of the scientific research ship. Although Team Cao could see that these devices were strange and couldn't figure out the purpose at all, the two belonged to two completely different institutions, and he couldn't ask Wei too much.

But at this morning's meeting of the four-member leadership group, where Wei announced his upcoming plan, and talked about the purpose of the equipment he brought to the ship, Cao felt vaguely that there seemed to be a very similar thing to the Philadelphia experiment I talked about at the dinner table last night, and there should be a huge risk. But before he could put forward his opinion, Lu Binglin had already begun to ask a series of questions, and Cao felt that Lu Binglin's professional opinion on science was more convincing than his own questioning, so he simply did not squeak.

But just when Wei Chu and Lu Binglin couldn't convince anyone, the scientific research ship arrived at the predetermined position, and the weather changed suddenly. Team Cao has been in close contact with the headquarters these days, and also has recent weather information and forecasts in hand, all weather forecasts are consistent, and the weather conditions are good within three days. Strangely, the storm seemed to fall from the sky without warning. But obviously, Wei and Lu Binglin did not show the slightest surprise at this abnormal weather, and their disagreement was only about whether to use the equipment brought by Wei.

When several people left the conference room, Wei and Captain Jiang insisted on starting the experiment quickly, although Lu Binglin was against it, but at this time, Cao was quite conflicted in his heart and did not express his opinion. And so the experiment began. On the way to the cockpit, Lu Binglin walked at the end, happened to meet me, and walked out of the cockpit with me. During the period when we were not in the cockpit, the communication between the research ship and the headquarters and the supply ship was all cut off, and the research ship became a lonely boat.

The most troublesome thing is that the radar equipment on the scientific research ship also failed, and soon even the compass began to swing wildly, and the Cao team realized that things had begun to get out of control, so they suggested that Wei suspend the experiment, sail out of this sea area, and wait for the weather to clear before continuing to start. But Wei told him that the time for the appearance of the Dongxing mirage was coming, and he was very sure of this, but he evacuated now, and when the mirage reappeared, he didn't know what year and month it would be, and the superior unit gave a death order, and he had no time. Moreover, the ability of the scientific research ship to resist wind and waves is very strong, and Captain Jiang has experienced strong winds and waves, and is completely able to deal with them.

Another key problem is that now that contact with the supply ship has been lost, the supply ship must stop at the predetermined position of the research ship 40 nautical miles northeast of the research ship as previously agreed, and begin to cooperate with the operation. Once the research ship leaves, the supply ship cannot receive the signal, and the two ships act alone, without care, the risk will be greater, so the research ship must stay.

Seeing that Wei's will was firm and the reason was sufficient, and the Cao team was not easy to insist, Wei's plan was in full swing. Perhaps seeing the doubts of the Cao team, Wei took the Cao team to the experimental center, and on the way through the bilge, Wei briefly explained the whole plan to the Cao team.

It turned out that on the basis of the research results of the Lu Binglin mirage in Zhejiang, a new hypothesis was proposed. They believe that there is a mysterious underwater eddy in the sea where the Eastern Star disappeared, and that it is accompanied by a strong energy field due to the active movement of the earth's crust. On the one hand, it causes the failure of electronic equipment, and on the other hand, it can cause the sudden occurrence of extreme weather.

At that time, the Eastern Star strayed into the underwater eddy area and sank to the bottom of the sea in a short period of time. But this kind of underwater eddy with an energy field, another characteristic, is that it can record the image of the object in the form of electromagnetic waves, and under similar climatic conditions, this image will be projected into the clouds, forming a mirage, which explains why in European mythology, the mirage is always associated with a shipwreck, but the ancients believed that the mirage was an omen, and in the eyes of the researchers at the Zhejiang Institute, it was actually a fruit that had already happened.

Zhejiang's biggest invention was to build two high-power electromagnetic pulse transmitters, which were originally used to simulate the underwater eddy energy field, but by mistake, during an ocean test a few months ago, an image of the mirage of the East Star was accidentally projected. The speaker had no intention of listening, and Director Wei was already at a loss to search for the missing Dongxing, and when he got the news, he hurriedly rushed to the Zhejiang Institute.

In Director Wei's view, since the electromagnetic pulse emitting equipment can induce the image of the Dongxing, then it can prove that the theory of the Zhejiang Institute is valid, and the Dongxing must have sunk somewhere on the seabed. However, to find the location of the sunk, Lu Binglin's original mathematical model was needed to reverse it, and the data collection and calculation involved a huge amount of work, especially the substitution of some variables, which urgently needed the help of Lu Binglin's team.

Director Wei mobilized all the resources and tried every means to get Lu Binglin into the scientific expedition team, but to his surprise, Lu Binglin had a negative attitude towards his plan from the beginning. It is not because of the difference in concepts and research methods, but because Lu Binglin believes that Zhejiang Institute has not understood what the energy field of the underwater eddy is and what kind of terrible destructive power it has.

In the end, Wei Chu understood that he couldn't convince Lu Binglin, so he simply arranged for him to be responsible for the collection and analysis of data, and did not tell Lu Binglin the specific experimental methods and steps.

But at the wine table last night, listening to Lu Binglin talk about what happened to him in the desert, Wei Chu was still a little apprehensive in his heart, how could he not understand the danger? But the whole plan had been laid out, and he could not afford to look ahead and backward.

Hearing Team Cao say this, I couldn't help but interrupt his narration and asked: "Old Cao, if the inference obtained by Zhejiang is correct, then the Dongxing sank to the bottom of the sea, and the sea surface is just a residual image, in this way, isn't it that Ding Jian and Wang Huzi are all false, or they all have hallucinations, but where does the radiation on the ship's boss come from?"

Team Cao scratched his head, "Old Chang, I also asked Wei Chu this question, he thinks that the underwater vortex may roll the Dongxing that has sunk to the bottom of the sea again, like an underwater tornado, the energy of the vortex has dropped, and the Dongxing will sink again." Ding Jian and the others happened to come across the Dongxing that was swept up in the sea, so there were so many deposits of coral shells on the ship. ”

I reached out to Team Cao for a cigarette and shook my head at him, "No, Team Cao, if the Dongxing had sunk to the bottom of the sea, how could they still find those logbooks in the cockpit? And that fishing boat, the whirlpool reappeared, how could it be that it didn't see anything, and it was still safe and sound? Lao Cao, have you noticed, this time we will always encounter some contradictory things, as if both sides have a reason, such as Lu Binglin and Wei Zhihua's different views on the mirage, and Ding Jian and Wang Huzi's two diametrically opposed descriptions of a sighting, isn't it strange? Could it be that one side always deliberately fabricates facts, but what is the point of this?"

Team Cao shook his head, and reluctantly lit a cigarette, "This case is too brain-consuming, I really don't want to guess now, I have analyzed the words of Wang Huzi and Ding Jian, from the professional perspective of criminal investigation, neither of them looks like they are telling lies, but the contradictions in this statement are obvious, it is impossible to exist at the same time?"

I patted Team Cao on the shoulder, "This is the core of the problem, I have been thinking for the past two days, if what they describe is true, and under what circumstances this truth is true, maybe it is the key to solving the mystery." “

I saw that Team Cao was lost in thought, so I simply told him what I had just communicated with Lu Binglin. Team Cao stared at the endless waves outside the window with his eyes firmly fixed, and said slowly: "Bait? Lu Binglin's opinion is that Wei Zhihua is going to use a boat as bait to lure out the Dongxing? Then the machine under our feet is the key to open that door? If this is the case, then eighty percent of our ship is bait." ”

"Why?"

"If all this is as Lu Binglin said, then Wei Zhihua is indeed a madman, I have seen a lot of such madmen, but no matter how unreasonable their behavior is, there is one thing that all madmen are in agreement, that is, a madman will never put himself out of the matter, he must be a witness to the whole thing. Changing his previous doubts, when he said this, Team Cao's tone became extremely affirmative.

At this time, at the other end of the experimental center, there was an exclamation from the staff, and I noticed that Wei Chu and Lu Binglin, who had just been arguing at the computer, were both attracted to it, and one of them took a telescope and looked out the window.

"Let's go, Lao Chang, take a look, I guess the door is open" Team Cao extinguished the cigarette in his hand.

"Lao Cao, there is another question you have to ponder, this plan, it is understandable for Wei to pull Lu Binglin up, but why do you want to get Ding Jian and Wang Huzi on the boat, and why are there still a few of us?" I grabbed Cao Team's arm.

"Because we have been panicking about Ding Jian before, what he said is true, especially the description on the last few pages of the logbook, does it feel familiar? I think that's why you have to come, although I don't want to. A look of apology flashed across Team Cao's face, and he hurriedly walked to the floor-to-ceiling porthole opposite.

(It is not difficult for the husband to listen, it is not difficult to succeed, it must be successful, it must be in number, and it is necessary to listen to it.) Therefore, if you add fire, you will burn first, and if you fill the ground with water, you will be wet. Therefore, it is said that the movement is like this, and there are those who should not be safe, and the art of walking alone. --"Deng Xizi")