The signal in the lower right corner of the monitor disappeared, like a drop of water falling into an iron pot without even a bubble.
Chen Hao stared at the screen for ten seconds, pressing the playback button three times. The waveform on the screen only flashed once before returning to zero completely.
"Just for a moment?" he asked.
Nana stood behind him, the robotic arm interface still connected to the analyzer. "Scan complete. No sustained energy fluctuations in the sample, no electromagnetic residue or abnormal chemical reaction detected."
"That was just a scare for nothing." Carl breathed a sigh of relief and casually tossed the wrench into his tool bag with a clang.
Susan didn't speak, but looked down to check the oxygen cylinder pressure gauge. The needle was firmly at full, and the green area was blindingly bright.
"This place won't let us have any peace." Chen Hao leaned against the wall, looking up at the overhead light. "First the metal cracked, then it started glowing on its own, and now it's sending a heartbeat-like signal. Is it trying to talk to us?"
“The probability is less than 0.3 percent,” Nana said. “It is more likely to be a momentary charge shift caused by the release of stress in the microstructure of the material.”
“I don’t understand,” Carl waved his hand, “but I know one thing—it’s always better to be in bed than in the water.”
“If you really want to lie down, don’t sign up next time.” Chen Hao took off his coat. “The equipment has been modified. The Deep Dive Type 3 can withstand 1,500 kg of pressure. We’re leaving tonight.”
"Tonight?" Carl's voice rose a half-octave. "Didn't we say we'd wait a couple of days to see how things went?"
"Wait for what?" Chen Hao walked to the shelf and patted the silver-gray diving suit. "Wait for it to send us another text message to invite us to dinner? Losing the signal is a safety window. If we miss this ship, we don't know when the next one will depart."
Nana shut down the main unit. "The navigation system has been updated. The path markings in the unknown ecosystem are clear, and the buoy signal left last time is still active."
“Then there’s no reason to delay.” Chen Hao opened the cabinet, took out a helmet, and said, “Get dressed. We might as well go.”
It took the four of them twenty minutes to change. The new wetsuits were heavier than the old ones, and there were additional metal plates at the joints, which made a slight rubbing sound when they moved.
Carca got stuck in the doorway twice, and finally Susan pushed him to get through.
"Has this thing shrunk?" he asked, twisting his waist. "I haven't gained any weight."
“You’re too slow.” Susan tightened her backpack strap. “Don’t dawdle. The current data says the current is slowest tonight. If you miss it, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”
When the base exit opened, it was pitch black outside. The seawater pressed down on the transparent dome like a thick sheet. A few searchlights shone in the distance, their beams distorted into crooked lines by the current.
They slid into the water one by one.
After descending just fifty meters, the sonar started to malfunction. The rock walls of the fault zone distorted the signal, leaving only a jumbled mess on the screen.
"Inertial navigation activated." Nana's voice came through the communicator. "Based on the route reconstruction from the last marker, we are expected to arrive at the target area in thirty minutes."
"Do you still remember the way?" Chen Hao adjusted his breathing rhythm.
“The database has a complete record,” she said, “including the third pillar that Carl hit last time.”
"That's not my fault! That pillar shouldn't have been there in the first place!"
"I suggest maintaining formation." Nana ignored him. "Ahead we enter a narrow section, less than two meters wide."
They advanced in a single file. Nana led the way, using her robotic arm to clear away the floating rubble. Chen Hao was in the middle, occasionally turning back to make sure Karl hadn't fallen behind. Susan brought up the rear, clutching a vibration detector.
Halfway through his swim, Carl suddenly stopped.
"Is it stuck?"
“No.” He reached up and touched his back. “It feels like I’ve scratched something.”
Upon closer inspection, Chen Hao discovered a cut on the back of his shoulder armor, revealing the underlying carbon fiber layer.
"You bumped into the rock face."
“I didn’t touch it!” Carl turned his head. “I just felt a chill down my back, and then this happened.”
“Keep going,” Susan advised. “Don’t linger here too long.”
Ten minutes later, the passage finally widened. A vast expanse opened up before us, with the seabed sloping downwards to form a gentle slope.
"We've arrived," Nana said. "The edge of the low-activity ecological blind zone."
They stopped. The soil beneath their feet was soft; each step would sink half an inch. The only sounds were their breathing and the faint hum of oxygen circulating.
"Start sampling." Chen Hao opened the sampling box. "Test the water quality first, then look for live organisms."
Susan crouched down and inserted the probe into the mud. As soon as the reading appeared, she frowned.
"Something's not right. The dissolved oxygen is low, but the organic matter content is extremely high."
"Does that mean there shouldn't be any life here?" Carl asked.
“It means this place shouldn’t be this quiet,” she said. “This kind of environment usually has a large accumulation of microorganisms.”
As they were talking, the ground in front of them suddenly moved.
A patch of grayish-green moss slowly rose up, as if being pushed up from below by something. Then, a group of translucent soft-bodied creatures emerged from the mud and crawled densely towards them.
"What is this?" Karl took a step back.
“Never seen one before.” Susan quickly put away the probe. “But there are too many of them; charging in might trigger a swarm attack.”
"Let's try to drive them away," Chen Hao said.
Conventional sound waves were ineffective. The creatures merely paused for a moment, then continued on their way.
“Change to low-frequency vibration,” Susan suggested. “Some marine worms are sensitive to specific frequencies.”
Nana retrieved the data. "The safe range is between 30 and 40 hertz. The test will begin at 35."
She activated the handheld device and pressed a button.
The ground trembled slightly.
A few seconds later, the creatures turned and slowly retreated back into the mud, disappearing from sight.
"It's done." Karl patted his chest. "Thank goodness a fight didn't break out."
"Let's take samples from another spot," Chen Hao said, pointing to the slope on the left. "That area wasn't very clean."
They had moved less than twenty meters when Karl lost his footing.
The moss beneath our feet collapsed, revealing the vine-like plants that coiled around us. Those vines shimmered with a blue light, a soft yet incredibly penetrating light that illuminated every grain of sand within a five-meter radius.
"Huh?" Karl squatted down. "This thing glows on its own?"
The three people surrounded them.
The vines are covered with a thin film that ripples with light when gently shaken. They are neither warm nor flickering, remaining as stable as an old-fashioned desk lamp.
"Take one and let's see." Chen Hao handed over the insulated pliers.
Susan took it and carefully cut off a piece. Just as she placed it in the sample box, her helmet display flickered a few times.
"The sensor is malfunctioning?" Chen Hao asked.
“Local interference.” She checked the circuit. “A weak charge was released upon contact, but there was no toxic reaction.”
Nana remotely accessed the system. "The affected module has been isolated. Preliminary assessment indicates that the attack was caused by static electricity generated between the surface ion layer and the metal, and is not a biological attack."
“So that’s security?” Carl leaned closer to the box. “This light is pretty bright.”
“The brightness is equivalent to a three-watt LED lamp.” Nana scanned the sample. “The luminescence mechanism originates from a stable redox reaction within the cell, requiring no external energy input.”
"It saves electricity and doesn't get too hot to handle." Chen Hao laughed. "Those light bulbs at our base that blow fuses every day can finally retire."
"Don't think that far ahead," Susan reminded us. "We only have two hours of oxygen left, and we'll have to see if that's enough for the return trip."
Chen Hao checked the time, then looked back at the glowing vines. The pale blue light reflected on the rock face, like a sleeping starry river.
"I can't go back empty-handed," he said.
"You want to stay longer?" Carl became nervous. "But going overtime isn't worth it."
“We don’t get to do things that are profitable.” Chen Hao stood up. “I’ve already informed you that the priority of this mission has changed. This light is more durable than our lamps and doesn’t need electricity. As long as the crops can survive, we won’t need to carry batteries when we go into the water anymore.”
“But it’s dark now,” Carl muttered.
“So we need to hurry.” Chen Hao opened the communication channel. “Everyone, listen up. Expand the sampling area, take one set from each different depth to ensure sample diversity. Nana, record the light intensity, temperature, salinity, and sediment composition. Susan, be in charge of packaging to prevent cross-contamination. Carl—keep an eye on the back, don’t let those soft-bodied creatures sneak up on us.”
“I’m not a guard dog,” Carl muttered to himself, but still turned to stare at the path they had come from.
For the next forty minutes, they split up. Chen Hao dug in the shallow layers, Susan went to the bottom of the slope to collect samples from deeper layers, and Nana used a drone to photograph the growth distribution.
When the fifth set of samples was collected, Susan suddenly raised her hand to signal.
"What's wrong?"
She pointed to a small area not far away. The vines there were a darker color, the light was slightly bluish, and their arrangement was different from the other places, as if they had been deliberately placed there.
"Has someone been here?" Karl asked in a low voice.
“Impossible.” Chen Hao shook his head. “This area isn’t marked on any map, and even the base doesn’t know about it.”
“Perhaps it formed naturally,” Susan said.
“But the shape is too regular.” Nana zoomed in on the image. “The arrangement is in a ring, about 1.8 meters in diameter. The soil density below the center point is abnormal.”
Chen Hao walked over and gently dug away the surface layer with a shovel.
There was a stone buried underneath. The surface was smooth, and the edges showed signs of polishing, clearly indicating that it was not a natural object.
He turned it over.
A short horizontal line is engraved on the back.
It's very fine, like it was cut with a sharp object.
"Who did this?" Karl swallowed hard.
No one answered.
Chen Hao stared at the line for a long time. It didn't look like a symbol or a mark; it was just a scratch. But its presence here was highly unusual.
"Take a picture for record-keeping." He put the stone back in its place. "Don't touch it."
"Should we continue?" Susan asked.
“Of course.” Chen Hao closed the collection box. “The mission isn’t over yet.”
They completed the final round of recording. All seven samples were sealed and stored, and the data was simultaneously uploaded to a portable terminal.
The return route had been planned. Nana led the way, and the others followed in turn.
After swimming 300 meters, Chen Hao suddenly stopped.
He turned to look at the glowing vines. The blue light continued to shine quietly, spreading a sense of tranquility across the dark seabed.
He raised his hand and gently touched the mask through his gloves.
Then turn back and continue swimming forward.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com