Zhong Cheng is a team leader in the engineering department of Treehouse Group, which is also known as the "cleaning team" inside Treehouse.

The cleaning team led by Zhong Cheng is good at underwater exploration, but he himself is no longer suitable for deep diving because he has undergone middle ear surgery a few years ago. So some people joked that Zhong Cheng was a seasoned fisherman, throwing bait, and the team members swam over to bite the hook like fish.

Underneath the water, only a faint light barely confronts the darkness. is diving silently, is Zhong Cheng's son Zhong Yi, and team member Zhou Daiwen.

Their frogman suit features a closed circulatory breathing system that does not produce a large number of bubbles, and is often used for underwater reconnaissance by frogman troops, reducing the risk of detection during combat.

"Have you got a reading?" Zhong Cheng asked.

Zhong Yi looked at the miniature galo counter strapped to his arm again: "Not yet." ”

"Keep diving." Zhong Cheng said.

"Roger."

At a depth of 40 meters, the oxygen content is extremely low, and most freshwater fish will not like to dive to this depth. Only occasionally can you faintly see a shadow about three meters long moving in the darkness, and when you turn on the searchlight, it disappears without a trace.

"Why do we always feel like there's a big fish swimming around us?" Zhong Yi looked at Zhou Daiwen.

"It's the Galo radiation that caused us to hallucinate." Zhou Daiwen replied.

"If you take the written test again now, I'm sure you'll get a zero." Zhong Cheng cut into the channel.

The two looked at each other and smiled.

"It's probably a cod perch, leave it alone, it's a big deal to have dinner tonight." Zhong Yi patted the P-11 underwater pistol on his body and signaled to continue diving.

"Protecting wildlife is everyone's responsibility." Zhong Cheng said.

The Australian freshwater bass is an endangered national treasure, and although it can grow to more than two meters, its habitat is along the Murray River. How can a lake like Lake Bahrain, which is not circulated and is formed entirely by the accumulation of rainwater, have such a fish as cod perch? Thinking of this, Zhou Daiwen's back couldn't help but feel a little cold.

Listening to the sound of their own heartbeats, the two dived vertically towards the lake bed.

"There is a reading," the counter light on Zhong Yi's arm flashed, "The Galo radiation value is 0.1G." ”

"Nonsense, it's almost to the lakebed." Zhou Daiwen teased.

"Roger, continue diving." Zhong Cheng replied.

The micro galo counter has a detection radius of 10 meters, a counting range of 0-10, and a minimum value of 0.1.

On the shore of the lake, Shi Quan and Pete Hunt, sitting in the Humvee, were silently listening to the communication in the communication equipment.

Pete Hunt is a manager in the business department, that is, the leader of the "firing squad". Like the engineering department, the business department also has another internal name, called "firing squad".

Pete is Fang Yeyou's apprentice, and when he first became a member of the firing team, he kicked Fang Yeyou every day, all the way until he became the team leader. Pitt just celebrated his 25th birthday last month, and although he is British, he has big blue eyes, but his naturally curly hair is a beautiful black.

In fact, Pete is of mixed Chinese and British descent, and his father is Chinese. He grew up in China and occasionally returned to England for two months, causing him to speak Chinese more than English. Before joining Treehouse Group, he always felt that the Chinese college entrance examination would be the most memorable experience of his life.

Although the cleaning team is a subsidiary department of the firing squad, the position of the on-site commander of this mission is still given to the captain of the cleaning team, who has 30 years of service. The people in the boat in the center of the lake, including the two young men underwater, and the people who stayed on the shore to operate the construction truck, were all members of their cleaning team.

"0.1, the Knight of the Divine Tree is quite low-key." Pete muttered.

"The sealed inscription is very weak in Galo radiation, and it would be nice to have a reading." Shi Quan said.

Shi Quan and Zhong Cheng are the same age, but unlike Zhong Cheng, who is old and strong, Shi Quan is bald when he is young. If you change his elegant suit into a white vest, it will look no different from the old man in the community who rushes to the morning market with a vegetable basket.

"What's the name of the Divine Tree Seed down here?" Pete asked.

"You might as well ask the wall if you ask me." Entitlement answer.

"I heard that the Divine Tree Knight has also been found in China, and that seed seems to be a 'conjuring spirit'." Pete said.

"Yes, your master went in person, and he should have gone back to the tree house by this time," Shi Quan said, "It's a girl." ”

"In this way, out of seven seeds, the treehouse will have three to its own." Pete said.

The bed of the lake, where the water is 60 meters deep. Due to the effect of water pressure, the physical consumption of people underwater is very huge, even if it is a combat frogman of the army, the usual diving task is completed in the water at a depth of more than ten meters.

Zhong Yi adjusted his headlamp and checked the galo counter again.

"Arrived at the lakebed, read 0.1G." Zhong Yi said.

"Roger, start homework." Zhong Cheng replied.

0.1G is the minimum reading for a miniature galo counter and simply indicates the presence of galog radiation. Regardless of whether the actual radiation dose is 0.1G or 0.01G, the readings show 0.1G.

Zhong Yi and Zhou Daiwen moved close to the lakebed to clear the sediment, and the small body of water became muddy.

Soon after, the rock face was revealed. They looked closely and found a figure resembling an oracle bone on a rock face.

"Found an inscription, ask for instructions." Zhong Yi pressed the communicator.

"Received, Mr. Shi, do you want to place the 'key'??" Zhong Cheng's voice was almost drowned out by the manic sound of rain.

Empowerment cuts into the channel: "Agree to place." ”

"Roger, start placing the 'key'."

Zhong Yi took off the small package hanging from his waist, opened the iron box inside, and took out a metal card the size of a card from it.

The card is made of high-carbon steel and looks very cheap, except that on one side is an ancient Chinese key carved into it. The shape of the key resembles a stick figure of an elementary school student, and the head is an oval-shaped hollowed-out handle, with a long tubular structure connecting the two protruding "teeth" at the tail.

From the moment he entered the deep water, Zhong Yi felt a little dizzy, which was a phenomenon of "nitrogen anesthesia".

If a person dives to 60 meters, the nitrogen in the blood will dissolve at an accelerated rate under the action of pressure, and this feeling is close to drunkenness. Zhong Yi has been trained rigorously and has long been accustomed to this symptom, but he was injured during an operation in Indonesia last month and has not fully recovered, so his fitness has declined.

Zhou Daiwen saw that there was something wrong with his state, pulled the safety rope attached to Zhong Yi's frogman vest, and said: "It takes time to decompress when floating, you go up first, I can complete it here alone, our task is only to confirm the precise location of the tomb, and after opening it, we will hand it over to them." ”

Zhong Yi shook his hand and said, "If I leave you here alone, your brother will definitely shoot me." ”

With that, Zhong Yi pinched the corner of the key and slowly stretched out towards the rock wall with the inscription, and the inscription immediately emitted a faint red light, and the closer the key was, the brighter the red light became.

Bite.

As the key touched the rock wall, a crisp crashing sound spread underwater, like a jade musical instrument being struck, and the inscription emitted a dazzling red light to clear the endless darkness underneath.

After a few moments, the red light faded until it vanished, and the infinite darkness enveloped the two of them again.

Zhong Yi touched the rock wall a few more times with the key, but nothing happened. He had no choice but to put the key in a tin box and tie it around his waist.

After nearly ten minutes of waiting, there was still dead silence around me.

The two looked at each other. They had read the playbook repeatedly before they flew to Australia, and the current situation was far from what was described in the literature.

"Zhong Yi, Zhou Daiwen, please reply if you receive it." It was Zhong Cheng's voice.

"Roger." Zhou Daiwen replied.

"Debriefing process."

Zhong Yi pressed the communicator: "The key is placed, it's just ······ It doesn't feel right. ”

"Describe it."

"According to the records, 'the burial mound of the seed of the sacred tree is the burial place of the ancient knights; With the whispers of the Old Gods, the door of the tomb will open for the new knights who find it', and we only hear the key's unlocking sound, not the 'Whispers of the Old Gods', and we don't find a passage similar to the entrance to the tomb. Zhong Yi said.

"Could it be, we're not worthy?" Zhou Daiwen teased.

"You two are definitely qualified," Zhong Cheng then asked, "Has that inscription been unraveled?" ”

Zhou Daiwen once again put his upper body close to the rock wall and touched it with his hand: "Unraveled, the inscription has disappeared, and this rock wall is so smooth that it is like throwing light, so the function of this inscription is to polish the stone?" ”

"Fisherman, do you try underwater blasting? The passage may have been opened, but it was hidden under the rock formations. Zhong Yi asked.

Zhong Cheng didn't reply immediately, he was waiting for the people on the shore to give instructions. Although he wanted to drag Zhou Daiwen and his son up immediately, he was not the on-site commander of this mission after all.

Inside the Humvee.

"Lao Shi, do you want explosives?" It was Pete who spoke first.

Shi Quan was accustomed to Pete's nonsense, so he didn't take his words, and immediately replied to him: "It depends on whether you want to see the volcano erupt or not." ”

"Suspension of underwater operations, withdrawal of the action group to the camp." After a long period of contemplation, Shi Quan cut into the channel.

"Roger."

After receiving the order, Zhong Cheng quickly got up from the deck and got into the cabin, bringing in a large amount of rainwater, and he beckoned the team members inside: "Start pulling the No. 1 and No. 2 safety ropes." ”

For the sake of safety, Zhong Cheng and Zhou Daiwen were equipped with safety ropes. Even so, in order for them to adapt to the change in water pressure, the entire traction and floating process must be carried out slowly, otherwise for Zhong Yi, who is still in the recovery period, it is easy to cause acute decompression sickness.

The iron door of the cabin had not yet been closed, and the raging wind continued to blow the rain in. Zhong Cheng looked at the rain hitting the floor, and his heart was faintly uneasy, always feeling that Bahrain Lake was trying to tell him something.

At this time, Zhou Daiwen's voice came from Zhong Cheng's headphones: "Hey, Zhong Yi, your dinner has swam over." ”