Under the Ice Wall
"It's okay. I couldn't sleep, so I got up and walked around." Before he was sure if there was any change, Ding Can was not ready to express his doubts.
But after being together for so long, Xia Jialian could still see something from that almost expressionless face.
So I followed her, walking slightly behind her to the railing.
The main material used to make large ships is wood, which is coated with a layer of moisture-proof paint. However, the seaside is often more corrosive, so there is inevitably a lot of wear and tear on the railings.
Xia Jialian cast her gaze towards the shimmering sea, then quickly withdrew: "Do you think it's too peaceful?"
To be honest, in some cases, the absence of danger is the biggest crisis for the trainees in the training camp.
It's like there's a sharp sword hanging over your head, which will fall down quickly and take your life if you're not careful.
“It’s a bit uncomfortable indeed.”
Walking here, Ding Can took another deep breath and smelled a saltier taste than before, but he didn't find anything strange.
Maybe I'm really worrying too much, but now we are just before the storm, so it's better not to take it lightly.
They understand this more clearly than the members of the Bingxi tribe.
Ding Can lowered his head slightly. The sunlight was strong and the sea water was clearer than in the early morning. He could almost see dozens of meters below the water surface.
Because there was no wind, the water surface was even calmer than before.
Some bright lines were floating in the sea water. Some people's fishing rods had not been reeled in yet. If a fish could be caught, they would feel the movement at the other end of the fishing rod and still have time to catch the fish and bring it to the deck.
Looking further away, there were no icebergs nearby. In short, there was nothing unusual.
Ding Can lowered his eyes: "Maybe I'm overthinking it. Let's go back so that Xiao Gao won't get nervous when he suddenly finds out we're gone."
She turned her head, and the moment she turned around, she noticed something flash by along the edge of the cabin, almost in the blind spot of her vision.
It is a completely different color from the hull, so it is very obvious.
She intuitively felt that it was different from the shimmering light reflected from the sea surface, it was something else.
"Wait a moment."
Ding Can supported herself on the railing with her hands and leaned forward, further forward than before, so that she could see more of the ship below. After taking in the scene clearly, she couldn't help but feel a tingling sensation on her scalp.
"What are those things?"
Xia Jialian was puzzled, and following her gaze, he also lowered his head and noticed that the entire bottom was covered with densely packed white species entangled with each other.
It appeared from the point where the water surface met, and then spread out over the wooden hull.
At first glance, the shape looks very much like a thin rhizome growing out.
"This should be some kind of submarine nemertean." Xia Jialian remembered the species he had seen in a nature documentary.
However, those all have some color and patterns. The one in front of me is similar in shape and should be the correct species, but the color is pure white.
Some of the nemerteans have already broken away from the seawater, and then were completely attached to the boat due to friction. Judging from their movement trend, they were gradually crawling onto the boat.
The deck where the two of them were now was actually nearly ten meters high from the seashore.
Due to the field of vision and distance, the nemertean body looks small from here, but in fact, Xia Jialian estimated that it must be at least two or three meters long.
If you think about it this way, if the nemerteans really crawled close to you, it would be very easy to cause panic.
Affected by gravity, these creatures' upward crawling speed is not very fast. To be able to reach such a position, they must have set out a long time ago.
It's just that it has been in everyone's blind spot so no one has noticed it.
Ding Can was stunned: "Shouldn't this kind of creature live on the seabed?"
The ocean is unfathomable, and nemerteans usually live on the seabed, attached to the vast underwater continents. It sounds like a fantasy that they can overcome resistance and swim to the surface of the sea from hundreds of meters deep.
"According to common sense, this is indeed the case." Xia Jialian did not say the second half of the sentence.
But both of them knew that it was not surprising for anything to happen in the copy that went against the principles of nature.
Ding Can lowered his head and noticed the way the nemerteans crawled. Creatures living in cold areas may have naturally lighter fur, perhaps because of stronger light or to adapt to the color of the natural environment.
Like the polar animals that you can usually think of, polar bears and the like.
I didn’t expect that the nemerteans living on the seabed are similar. Shouldn’t they be colorful?
They have countless imperceptible tentacles on both sides of their bodies, which move alternately as they move, and the sides of their bodies arch regularly.
If this posture were in the deep sea, it might look as beautiful as a butterfly spreading its wings.
But when it is exposed to the air, people's scalps tighten, especially those who already have a fear of this kind of reptile.
In addition, the tribesmen had been fishing for so long that many of them had not even put their fishing rods away, and they had not caught any nemerteans from the water.
Was it always following the direction of sailing and moving along with the bottom of the wooden boat? Ding Can felt something was wrong.
Xia Jialian quickly told the clan leader the news, and everyone was notified to go and see these creatures that almost covered half of the ship's hull.
No one thought that the nemerteans chose to climb onto the hull of the ship they were on just by chance or out of curiosity.
"These bugs, are they going to eat us..." A young girl was obviously frightened. She hid behind the crowd and only dared to glance over occasionally.
"Don't talk nonsense." The patriarch scolded softly, but his face was obviously tense.
Although it is unclear whether nemerteans use their mouthparts or something else to hunt, it seems, at least for now, that they have no interest in objects like wooden boats.
Maybe it was through some sensitive sense that it learned that there were living people here.
Someone searched around the entire ship and found that the nemerteans were mainly concentrated at the rear of the hull.
With the boat blocking their way, they would not be affected by the resistance created by the sea water while moving forward, and thus could climb up faster. They were also approaching the place where Ding Can had just rested, so they were discovered so quickly.
A small part of the cabin is in water, and through the water marks on the wooden boards above the water surface, you can clearly see the movement trajectory of the nemerteans.
This marine creature has tentacles on the bottom of its body, which are used to generate more friction and can be fixed on the cabin.
Even if half of their bodies are still floating in the sea, they will not leave the boat at all, which makes it seem that they have a strong desire to get close to people.
The people of the Bingmi tribe have lived on land for a long time, and their technology is not as advanced as modern technology, which allows them to have instruments to detect the seabed. Therefore, they do not have a rough idea of what species it is like Xia Jialian.
When you suddenly see such a big insect, the first thing you will feel is fear. Now that you are on an important migration route, this feeling is even more magnified, and all the sleepiness you had before disappears.
So much so that I hesitated and didn't know what to do.
"Hurry up and find the things and throw them back into the sea." The chief made a prompt decision and shouted to his fellow tribesmen to start taking action.
Being at a distance definitely gives you more time to react than getting close to him.
It just looks like the distance is not far, but it is actually quite difficult to reach it.
The only useful tools at hand are the fishing rods I used just now.
After extending the long and narrow fishing rod from the deck, it is not easy to move the other end accurately. In addition, there is a certain curvature around the hull, and the fishing rod cannot turn, so it is impossible to reach it.
The long stick was not hard enough, so some people tried to use fish hooks to catch the nemerteans.
With a turn of the wrist, the silk thread with the hook gradually spun up. After trying several times, someone actually succeeded.
"It's done!" The middle-aged man saw that the fishhook did not come out after it approached the nemertean pile, and it must have hooked something.
Lift the rod upward with force, feeling the pull at the tip.
The moment it was lifted up, its body even staggered forward. There were actually three nemerteans entangled together like a twist.
The natural biological reaction of this type of reptile seems to be entanglement. No matter what it encounters, the body will subconsciously produce an entanglement movement first.
Before the middle-aged man had time to be happy, the fishing line broke halfway.
There was a bang, the sound of the clump of nemerteans falling into the sea, stirring up small splashes of water.
Through the clear water, you can see that they are still falling, falling into the deeper parts of the sea, but there is no danger, they are just returning home.
The fishing line that is usually strong enough to support the weight of sea fish is inevitably outmatched by these three giant worms.
This approach also failed, and it seemed to have alerted the enemy to some extent.
The white nemertean looked much more aggressive than before, with many of its bodies stacked together like surging waves, making people dizzy.
"Are they going to mutate?" Gao Wenwen frowned. He originally thought that he did not have intensive phobia, but the scene before him still made him feel a little stuffy in his chest.
He wouldn't even find it strange if these nemerteans grew wings and flew up now.
Fortunately, there was nothing particularly out of the biological realm.
But now, the only method is no longer applicable. If you want to drive away the nemerteans, you have to take other measures.
Yin Jiu stood out from the crowd: "Isn't there an exit under the cabin? I can take a lifeboat out and drive these bugs away."
The clan leader immediately rejected the idea. Seeing that it was Yin Jiu who was speaking, he subconsciously looked up at the top of the cabin and said, "No, this is too dangerous."
The ship is indeed equipped with a small lifeboat, a small wooden canoe, which is designed to deal with emergencies that may arise during the voyage.
But it is really just to prevent emergencies, so it is built very small and can only accommodate two people at most.
If this situation continues, the two of them will have to face such a large number of nemerteans and keep the boat stable to prevent it from capsizing. It is really a test.
The patriarch pondered for a moment and said, "If that doesn't work, let them climb a little higher. When we can easily reach them, we can catch them and throw them back into the sea."
But things often don't go as smoothly as imagined, and some people began to notice something was wrong.
"Look, they seem to be trying to get into the cabin!"
The hull is made of thick wooden boards, which are fixed with metal at the connected parts and waterproof adhesives to ensure safety during long voyages.
Those gaps are the weakest parts of the hull, and no one knows how great the impact force will be when the nemerteans drill through the holes.
If a hole is drilled in the cabin by accident, the consequences will be unimaginable.
We must find a solution as soon as possible.
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