Autumn has just begun, and it has rained heavily in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. On September 5 alone, a staggering 60 millimetres of rain fell from the Three Gorges Reservoir. The weather did not clear from morning to night. Nevertheless, the rain subsided a little the next day, and the sun finally broke free from the cracks in the clouds, and as soon as some sunlight was shining downward, a white research ship was already patrolling the river.

Although the length of the ship is only four or five meters, and the waterline is not deep, it is not embarrassed at all in the face of such wind and waves, and the engine roars, and it walks steadily on the white foam river.

The crew of the ship are all veterans, about four or five people, and they have been exploring the river for five days.

At this time, I saw a young man in a diving suit come out of the cabin, followed by two young people, and the young people were helping the young man fix the oxygen cylinder on his body. The young man's long black hair fluttered behind his head, and he put on his diving goggles and gestured to the people behind him before jumping into the river.

The water waves behind the young man jumped into the river spread out with white edges, the research ship stopped in place and waited quietly, several people on the boat put up a pergola in the dense rain and looked around, and saw a huge tugboat that often appeared like a ghost in recent days, and several people on the boat felt a little strange, how could it be the same as us, and the rain came out as soon as it was small?

"It can't be a ship from the Yangtze River Waterway Maritime Safety Bureau, right?" A middle-aged man asked.

"I don't know, it can only be theirs, only they will have nothing to do to drive such a big tugboat to the head of the reservoir, probably to measure the water level." Next to him was a man with glasses and a scholarly atmosphere, speaking in a thick Sichuan dialect.

The middle-aged man shook his head and said, "Whatever they do, let's go, go in." The young man estimated that it would take another hour and a half to swim to come out, and he didn't know why he was so good at water. After saying that, he got into the cabin with the eyed man.

Silence fell outside the ship...... It took a long time for Mance to lower his binoculars and reveal his eyes, his eyebrows locked deeply. He looked thoughtfully at the small research ship in the distance. It is like a small white gull, lying quietly on the surface of the river after the rain and swaying slightly.

The rain was already soaking Mance's shoulders and his face was chilling, and as he continued to observe, Thelma came out from behind.

"Professor, are you still watching?"

"Huh? Well, it always feels like something is wrong. Mance said.

"Isn't that right?" Thelma asked curiously, "What's wrong?" ”

"Although it has long been known that they are an ordinary underwater expedition, but ...... It still feels like it's too much of a coincidence. Mance replied, staring at the white ship in the distance.

Selma smiled: "Professor, you are too suspicious, Norma said half a month ago that there was such an expedition group, at that time we were still collecting information about the Three Gorges Tombs, they are just a team of ordinary people, will the intelligence be earlier than us?" ”

"Yes, but I didn't expect them to come so early, and it stands to reason that they should wait for the autumn flood to pass before setting sail." Mance shook his head slightly, reaching out to wipe the water droplets off the lens barrel.

"Who knows about this kind of thing? Norma's information can sometimes be wrong! ”

"You don't know, you haven't experienced something......" Mance looked up at the surrounding cliffs, his tone deep and melancholy, he remembered his mission in Northern Europe. Thelma listened and didn't speak. It was a long time before Mance said, "But depending on the weather, there will definitely be heavy rain in the evening." At most, they could stay until the afternoon, and even if they had any other purpose, they could not sail at night. Ye Sheng and Jiu De Aki, how are they preparing? Mance asked, turning his head.

"Everything is ready, just wait for the evening action." Selma said.

"Hmm." Mance raised his binoculars again and looked out, and there were people on the boat looking this way, and deliberately distanced themselves from their tugboat, perhaps thinking that they were members of the Yangtze River Maritime Administration.

"Whatever you want, wait until evening......," Mance snorted, "Thelma, get them ready and start tuning the sonar!" With that, he turned and walked back to the cabin.

……

Ling Lan had already dived into the water, and he was swimming back and forth 40 meters underwater.

The light here is dim, and you can barely see the deep-water fish swimming around through the dim light of the flashlight.

Ling Lan didn't come here to find the Bronze City, such a large area, it can't be found with the naked eye alone, although his speech is not weak, although it can barely be used for searching, but there is a disadvantage, it is only suitable for use in the space with gas as the medium, and it is difficult to play in the liquid.

But fortunately, his control of words and spirits has reached the point of perfection, and every time he enters the water, he will first bring a few "bubbles"; This can not only move quickly in the water, but also act as a "gas cylinder" when oxygen is insufficient, even if he encounters a dragon servant temporarily, he can fight a little......

The expedition on the river is just a pretense, Ling Lan has long known from the original book that such an expedition has never been on the field, so she gave a little money to "sponsor" and came here in advance. Ling Lan didn't know the exact date of Ye Sheng and Jiu De Aki's dive, but probably knew that it was carried out shortly after Lu Mingfei started school, so the earlier the day he came, the better, giving people the illusion that we were already here. He bought this research ship for these explorers.

Ling Lan swam 50 meters below the water for a while and then floated upward, he could not be detected by the sonar of the "Moniach", although the distance was very far and he did not dare to take risks, once he was discovered, the consequences were difficult to say.

At this time, if Jiu De Aki and Ye Sheng met him in the water, they would definitely be shocked, as an area where they should not go to as A-level half-breeds, only Ling Lan dared to swim around casually.

The pressure of each meter of depth in the water is different, one meter may be easy, two meters may die, plus this is the Three Gorges Reservoir, the water pressure of the riverbed is different from ordinary rivers and lakes, the skin will crack if you don't pay attention to it, especially when the lungs are severely squeezed, the coma is considered light, and it is not uncommon for blood vessels to rupture and die on the spot; Even when afloat, it is quite dangerous, and the strong water pressure difference can cause a strong gas plug, and a person will not be able to swim to the surface of the water before they can fall unconscious.

However, Ling Lan was like no one, slowly treading water at the bottom of the river, and occasionally bumped into a deep-water fish and was slightly frightened, but nothing. When he felt that he had almost surveyed this riverbed, he opened a "sac" with his hands, and in an instant, dense bubbles erupted, and the speed suddenly increased by four or five times.

With a bang, Ling Lan returned to the river.

When the people in the boat heard the sound, they came out of the cabin to meet him, pulled him aboard, and handed him hot towels, some to help undress, some to wipe the water.

"Thank you." Ling Lan took a sip of water comfortably, this is the power of money.

He turned his head to look back with cobalt-blue eyes. The Moniach, the warship-like tugboat, loomed in the mist of the autumn rain, like a dragon dormant in the river, motionless.

"Looks like the Dragon's Tomb is underneath it." Ling Lan thought.

……

The rain began to increase in the afternoon, and the foam on the river splashed on the boat, and after consultation, the people on the boat decided to return the same way and wait for the weather to be fine tomorrow.

Ling Lan watched as the twilight grew heavier and heavier, and the tugboat remained immobile on the water, as if it was looking at everything with a proud gaze. Ling Lan also wanted to go ashore to rest, but when he saw the Moniach like this, his heart moved—the original book was on a mission on a stormy night, and the reason for this was naturally to avoid other ships. And look at them like this...... Is it tonight?

Ling Lan decided to come back.

The snow-white research ship spun around and swayed downstream. The movement was detected by the Moniach, and Mance was relieved to see them disappear from view through the binoculars, and to be honest, he was very worried that the group had been sent by other forces.

……

The wind force exceeded force five. The raindrops made the surrounding river rattle, and the already dark col was now filled with fog caused by a day's rain. The rocks on both sides of the stream have blended into the night, and only the searchlight of the "Moniach" can faintly discern their outline during the day.

Mance stood outside the ship of the "Moniach" and saw that Ye Sheng and Jiu De Aki had already walked out in their diving suits. A communication cable was pulled out of the engine and attached to their backs. After the two put on the airtight helmet with the help of Selma, Ye Sheng gave a thumbs-up gesture to Mance, who nodded slightly, and then the two of them jumped into the river together.

Heavy rain hit the hull of the "Moniach", the river began to shake, the river began to roar, and the hull of the ship also shook. Mance walked back to the cockpit, the first mate was sitting at the console listening intently to the message from the bottom of the river, Selma was connecting with Norma, everyone was busy, and there was a solemn atmosphere in the cabin. Mance was already nervous, and felt that the air was a little dull, so he wanted to get out of the cabin to breathe.

Just as he turned to the side of the ship, he suddenly saw a black head through the rain-drenched glass! Mance's eyelids jumped, "Selma! Mance shouted. At this time, the searchlight turned to other places, and the head of the river disappeared. "Selma!"

"What's wrong. Professor? Thelma heard Mance's shouts and hurried over.

"Turn the searchlight around and shine it again!" Mance said, pointing to the river outside the window.

The searchlight was quickly turned back, but there was no shadow on the surface of the river that Mance had seen, and no matter how Mance adjusted it, he swept the surrounding water and did not see the head again.

Mance breathed a sigh of relief and sat heavily in his chair.

"Professor, you haven't slept well in the past few days, and it's possible that you're hallucinating. Why don't you take a break? Thelma whispered softly.

Mance sighed, and at this moment he also felt that he was in a bow. Rubbing his eyes, he said tiredly: "Whether there is anyone or not, you can't relax now, and ask Aki to report the underwater situation at any time." ”

……

The torrential rain splashed almost half a person high, but Ling Lan couldn't hear anything, and he dived into the water. Watching Ye Sheng and Jiu De Yaji jump into the water just now, he didn't know how excited he was, and he was glad that he had foresight, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to catch up with tonight's action. He originally wanted to wait a little longer, wait for Ye Sheng to dive deeper before coming back, but suddenly a searchlight hit, Ling Lan's eyes were pierced and he couldn't open them, so he had to hurriedly burrow into the water.

"Hopefully they didn't see me." Ling Lan prayed and found the communication line between Ye Sheng and Jiu De Aki at the bottom of the ship.

He couldn't see them, he didn't dare to turn the lights on too much, he couldn't see anything from a meter away, but at least there were communication lines.

Ling Lan was still wearing a simple diving suit, and he didn't even have fins to hide it, except for the special anti-pressure mobile phone: only half the size of a palm, bulging like a PHS, and a leather bag for collecting materials.

Unconsciously, he followed the two of them and dived thirty meters, the light disappeared completely, and there was only darkness and silence around, this kind of body floating in the darkness and silence felt very bad, as if he was the only one left in the whole world, unable to distinguish between up and down, left and right, and there was not even a beam of light.

Finally, when it reached a depth of almost 50 meters, the communication line in Ling Lan's hand no longer swayed. There was a faint light coming from below, it was the diving lamp of Ye Sheng and Jiu De Aki.

Ling Lan saw a wave of light spread under the water.

Ye Sheng has turned on the spirit of speech! Ling Lan cautiously floated up, trying to stay away from them as much as possible, so that she would basically not be discovered by Ye Sheng. He reduced his heartbeat to a minimum, which reduced his oxygen consumption, and it took a long time for the bubbles in his mouth to spit out.

Finally, seeing that the two lights began to move again, he seemed to have finished exploring the bottom of the riverbed.

Ling Lan sped up and wanted to keep up with them, but the surrounding water suddenly shook violently, just like his words in the air, Ling Lan was flustered, suddenly thought of something, her face turned pale, and she quickly took out a "bubble" and hurriedly swam in the direction of Ye Sheng.

However, it was too late, he barely saw the light of Ye Sheng and Jiu De Aki's flashlight, and there was a sudden violent vibration around him, and Ling Lan felt as if her head was being pressed by a truck.

I heard a terrible roar, rising with thousands of bubbles. Ling Lan's body spun involuntarily, everything around him became dreamlike and distorted, he screamed in fear, exhaled a bubble, and his body fell towards the cavity below with thousands of tons of water around him.