Chapter 36: “Does it feel like coming home?”
Redstone Windbreak Bay.
The pale white sunlight spread flat on the sea, and the waves rose and fell, crashing against various metal structures, making a drumming sound that echoed for a long time in the sea, land, and air.
Cheng Ming and her colleagues got out of the car one by one, and were all attracted by this rare sight, gazing into the distance.
This was a sea area artificially enclosed by the Defense Center. The peninsulas on both sides formed a natural bay, which was highly mechanized. The vertical breakwater by the sea was as high as a city wall, and a quarantine net was built to block mutated monsters, ensuring safety to the greatest extent and facilitating field research for researchers.
The observation tower stood on the strait like a giant that reached the sky. The collision of human creation and the great power of nature was so magnificent that it left one speechless.
“Does it feel like coming home?”
Cheng Ming stood on the edge of the cliff and asked a certain Fish-Fungus in her mind.
It also seemed to be deeply attracted by the sea. For a moment, besides the buzzing of the engine, there was only the sound of the tide rising and falling.
It was a long time before it replied, “If I say I want to jump down—”
“You don’t.”
Cheng Ming decisively stepped back, interrupting it impolitely, and turned back to the vehicles.
The preliminary simulation experiment had passed, and the effect of Virus Extract No. 1 was significant. It took another month to further modify and enrich the concentration, and Algaefungus Toxin No. 2 and No. 3 were obtained.
Now, what they were about to conduct was a local experiment, with this enclosed sea area as the object—
Redstone Bay, which covered nearly a thousand hectares, was a site that their project group had temporarily borrowed from the animal research team.
It was a 4-hour drive. A team from the Security Department accompanied them to their destination and would be responsible for their safety during their subsequent off-site research.
The team leader was named Yan Li.
Cheng Ming felt that the other’s figure was a little familiar and took a few more glances.
The latter was organizing the members to assemble. Noticing her gaze, she turned her face.
Cheng Ming curled her lips and nodded politely.
However, the woman, who was of medium height but had a magnificent temperament, looked straight ahead and avoided her, not responding.
Cheng Ming didn’t mind too much. Her attention was soon drawn away—she saw her old classmate.
A nimble figure like a leopard cat jumped out of the car. As soon as she saw her, her eyes lit up with a “whoosh.” She turned on her toes and was about to go over and greet her.
But then, she received a sidelong glance from team leader Yan Li.
Han Xuhua froze, withdrew half of her foot, and dejectedly returned to the team.
After the initial experiment passed and its feasibility was confirmed, and seeing that there was a high hope of success, the research institute sent new researchers to join the project. There were four vehicles for personnel alone.
There were also about ten transport vehicles loaded with large and small materials, including daily necessities and experimental equipment.
It took five or six hours to unload the goods, and it was already dark by the time they settled down.
The ground floor was the living area. Below was the experimental area, and further down were the survey platform, sampling points, and manual operation stations, which were reached by shuttle elevators.
Here, they could only take off their protective suits after entering the living area.
The building complex was half-embedded in the cliff and surrounded the bay in a semicircle. Most of the walls were made of a special glass-like material, which was strong and transparent. On the premise of ensuring safety, it was convenient for the personnel to observe the sea area at any time and place.
The lighting equipment in the corridor outside the room was sensor-activated and only lit up when people passed by, and the light was very dim, not as bright as the observation tower high up.
After all, it was close to the source of pollution, and the range of activities was strictly restricted. All arrangements had to comply with the regulations.
This team sent by the Security Department was responsible for both protection and supervision.
Just as she had finished checking the schedule with Song Manqing and the others, Yan Li walked out of the door, preparing to return to her post, when she was suddenly called—
“Are you Team Leader Yan?”
She paused, turned sideways, and saw a girl coming out of her room, smiling and extending her hand to her.
It just so happened that the white light scattered from the top of the tower swept past. In the intertwined light and shadow, she could clearly see the other’s appearance.
It was Cheng Ming.
“Yes. Yan Li is fine,” she shook her hand back, and the swaying floating light swept from the back of the other’s hand to hers.
“Is there anything I can help you with?” a business-like tone.
“Were you at the North Building of the research institute on the night of December 12th last year?” Cheng Ming asked, looking at her seriously.
“Yes,” after a brief confusion, Yan Li understood why she was talking to her.
“As expected,” Cheng Ming smiled. “It was a life-saving grace. I haven’t said thank you to you yet.”
“No need, it’s my duty,” Yan Li said immediately. “It’s just part of my job.”
After the two of them had a “friendly” conversation with their own thoughts, Cheng Ming stood there until her figure was completely submerged in the darkness.
“What’s wrong?”
“She’s a little strange.”
“How is she strange?”
“I can’t say…”
Her symbiotic partner was getting to the bottom of it, but she still stared at the direction where the other had disappeared for a long time, pondering.
Perhaps, this team leader was paying a little too much attention to her.
She was clearly very sensitive to her occasional, unintentional gaze, but when Cheng Ming really looked over, she acted extremely normal… abnormally normal.
It was the same when they were discussing the schedule just now.
Because after the effectiveness of the algaefungus toxin was verified, they needed to go to the bottom of the sea to collect data every 12 hours. The ecological survey pod in the deep was not suitable for a long stay, but in order to maintain the continuity of the values as much as possible, they decided to rotate in three-day cycles and draw lots to determine the order.
Yan Li had subconsciously asked her which round she had drawn first.
This level of attention was a bit beyond the normal social distance. And for a person like her with a strong sense of boundaries, it was inevitable to be sharp.
Xiao Ming did not speak again, and seemed to have fallen into deep thought.
Cheng Ming asked it what it thought.
“Humans are really unpredictable,” it said with emotion.
Perhaps it didn’t mean anything by it, but it sounded strangely sarcastic.
Asking it was asking the wrong creature.
Cheng Ming: “…”
…
Because the experimental site was borrowed, they had to familiarize themselves with the place, learn new instruments and new operations, and repeatedly confirm the progress and follow up on the experiment…
They worked 16 hours a day, 24 hours a day.
In the two months after the new year, there was another small-scale monster raid. Solving the third stage of pollution was imminent, and both the upper and lower levels attached great importance to this project.
The greater the investment, the greater the pressure.
Everyone was working hard and did not dare to slack off in the slightest.
The monotonous activities day after day were only fresh for the first two weeks, and then even the parasitic monster could not be active.
Cheng Ming stepped into the shuttle elevator. Facing the seawater that was so close, she was a little unaccustomed to the lack of harassing sounds in her ears.
“You don’t want to go home this time?” she teased Xiao Ming.
She had drawn the last round last time, and now it was finally her turn to go to the underwater survey pod.
The shuttle elevator was a long and narrow passage built with special materials, which was anti-corrosion and anti-high pressure. The corners of the car were rounded to reduce resistance.
As the altitude slowly descended, the last trace of weak light was annihilated by the water ripples, and dead silence and deep darkness became the main theme.
“Didn’t you tell me not to think about it?” Xiao Ming replied simply.
Well, it sounded sarcastic again.
“Parasites really have no sense of humor,” Cheng Ming said in its tone.
At a depth of two or three hundred meters, it was completely isolated from the world.
Before coming down, they had to undergo a psychological test to determine whether their current state was suitable for underwater operations.
Claustrophobia and loneliness were sometimes fatal.
Even so, the safety regulations still stipulated that each exploration could not last for more than 2 hours. That is to say, like all marine mammals, they had to go up to “breathe” every once in a while.
However, she had a Fish-Fungus that she could bicker with from time to time, so it was not so torturous.
Thump. Her feet shook slightly, and a dull collision sound echoed.
The safety clamp was tightened, and the shuttle elevator had reached the bottom.
She stepped out of the car and walked towards the survey pod along the signs.
This was a sphere with a diameter of about two to three meters, which could slide along the dense tracks on the seabed.
She had been trained on the operation method before she came. At that time, she had thought it was child’s play, comparable to teaching a child to use a claw machine.
Now that she saw the real thing, she knew that it could be even more of a child’s play.
Because the focus was on collecting and recording rather than skillful movement, all the control devices were in a minimalist mode. She could give voice commands or turn on automatic cruise, and she basically didn’t need to do anything.
After entering, Cheng Ming exported the chart, turned on the automatic mode, and let the pod roam freely.
The metal shell was sealed, and the ecological survey pod detached from the strong magnetic suction port and slid into the depths of the bay.
The sampling and analysis were fully automated. She was only responsible for organizing and recording, and judging whether there were any abnormalities and whether the track needed to be modified based on her own research experience.
When she first faced the sea, besides Xiao Ming’s irrepressible excitement, she had actually felt that impulse.
She couldn’t tell if it came from it, or from this modified body.
The instinct of a sea creature to yearn for the sea.
She lowered her head and focused on the refreshing values, occasionally glancing out of the glass pod.
A large expanse of black was like the giant mouth of a monster. The faint blue light of the pod shone out, and even the light was swallowed.
Thump!
The pod shook, and something hit the front glass, exploding into a cloud of unknown, turbid slurry.
Cheng Ming was startled and quickly pressed the pause button, shining her flashlight on the silt at the side.
A sea fish.
It was rotten and already dead.
She didn’t know if it was because of the “accident” just now, or if it had died of lack of oxygen and rotted a long time ago.
Although the creatures in the bay had been filtered and screened, for the sake of data accuracy, it was still a semi-open area. The water was connected to the open sea, and the situation at the bottom of the sea was unpredictable. This was why the upper levels needed the Security Department to monitor manually, and the lower levels needed the research institute to investigate manually.
She couldn’t go down to check. She remotely controlled the joystick to pick it up and put it in the storage compartment, deciding to take it back for further research.
It was really like a claw machine.
Restarting the program, she looked at the endless, deep darkness, and the look in her eyes also gradually became deep… She always felt that the sea fish just now had come from a certain direction.
Hesitantly, Cheng Ming pressed the run button and changed the original direction of advance.
There was no light in the deep sea, and the over-proliferating algaefungus blocked out the sky and the sun. Besides the half a meter of nothingness, she couldn’t see anything.
It suddenly gave her the feeling of being soaked in nuclear wastewater without any protection. It was not like she was surveying the seabed, but rather that she belonged here.
Her eyes flickered, and she couldn’t help but slowly reach out and press against the glass.
Suddenly, her vision darkened.
Cheng Ming suddenly came to her senses and stepped back, but to no avail.
She shook her head and realized that it was the mycelia that were blocking her vision.
“What are you doing?”
The dark, filamentous substance grew and covered her headgear. It was unclear if it was trying to stop her, or if it itself was eager to squeeze out of the gap and return to the embrace of the sea.
It was just that the multi-layered composite structure of the protective suit was strong and the internal space was small. Besides making her skin itchy, this Fish-Fungus could neither do any harm nor help.
“Cheng Ming,” a voice sounded, like a muffled stick hitting her ear. “Don’t go over there.”
Boom. A dull impact was transmitted through the seawater.
Along with a slight dizziness, Cheng Ming was in a daze for a moment.
She adjusted the light intensity and shone it forward.
The light beam, which was visible due to the Tyndall effect, seemed to have fallen into a black vortex. Hidden behind the layers of water and shadows was a huge arched door.
It should be made of metal, but it did not reflect any light at all. There were reefs on both sides, like the entrance to hell.
She didn’t even know how she had gotten here.
Looking at the electronic navigation map again, it was not even on the predetermined track, and the warning lights on the screen were constantly flashing and reminding her.
What had happened?
Whoosh—hiss—
Whoosh—hiss—
Her chest was like a plastic film blowing in the wind. Cheng Ming heard her own involuntarily heavy breathing.
She seemed to have lost a small part of her memory. If it weren’t for Xiao Ming’s sudden voice, she would have probably let the survey pod crash into it.
Boom.
Another wave of water shook, and the collision became stronger. The glass of the pod trembled faintly.
It was not an illusion.
There was something behind that metal, and it was hitting the door, one after another, like a fierce beast locked in a gate that had smelled a living thing and wanted to break out of its cage and pounce on her.
What was that?
A creature raised by the animal team at the bottom of the sea?
Were they studying living monsters?
“What did you feel?” Cheng Ming asked.
“Attraction,” its voice was also very low. “It should be infrasound. You can’t hear it, but you will be affected.”
“It’s luring you over.”
