The weather was great, the seawater was a clear blue, and the sky was azure. The blue-violet electric light in the distance became the most enchanting smear of color between the sea and sky.
After all the gun smoke that had been in the air, this rare tranquility was even more precious.
Huo Shaoheng bowed his head and kissed Gu Nianzhi, then held on to her as he swam towards the scientific research boat.
Gu Nianzhi recalled how Huo Shaoheng had trembled as he received electric shocks in the seawater and touched his arms while whispering, “Are you still hurting?”
Her voice was barely audible, and it was so slight that it appeared on the verge of being blown away with the wind, yet it struck at the center of Huo Shaoheng’s heart, and for some reason it made Huo Shaoheng’s eyes water. He was at loss for words, but he held Gu Nianzhi tighter and swam faster.
Gu Nianzhi only asked once then refrained from asking any further. She thought that a tough man like Huo Shaoheng wouldn’t be above admitting his pain in front of others, but no matter how much pain he felt, he would just bear the burden and suffer silently inside.
…
Huo Shaoheng swam in the sea with Gu Nianzhi for a while, and not long after, they encountered the speedboat from the scientific research boat on their way to meet them.
“Huo Shao! We’ve finally found you!” The man on the speedboat was a member of the Special Operations Forces who had followed Huo Shaoheng. He seemed so emotional at finally seeing Huo Shaoheng that he appeared on the verge of crying.
Huo Shaoheng clung to the side of the boat, pushed Gu Nianzhi up first, then calmly asked, “What about everyone else? Have they all returned?”
“They’ve all returned already! Only you and Miss Gu are left! We saw the blue-violet electric light from afar. It was so scary!”
They were afraid that Huo Shao and Miss Gu would be buried inside of the buoy circle, and as soon as they saw the blue-violet electric lights, several members from the Special Operations Forces jumped from the scientific research boat, intending to save Huo Shaoheng and Gu Nianzhi.
The man wiped the tears leaking from the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand, helped drag Huo Shaoheng on board, and then contacted the scientific research ship to inform them that they had located Huo Shao and Miss Gu. Over the communicator, they could also hear the cheers coming from the scientific research ship.
Huo Shaoheng remained impassive and picked up the communicator to tell Colonel Liu, who was on the expedition ship, “You have all worked hard. We will return immediately.”
…
The speedboat soon carried them back to the scientific research ship. Song Jinning greeted them anxiously, holding Huo Shaoheng’s hand in one hand and Gu Nianzhi’s hand in the other. She looked them up and down with emotion, then asked worriedly, “Did either of you get injured?”
The people who came back earlier all had some sort of minor injury, and since Gu Nianzhi and Huo Shaoheng came back last, Song Jinning was worried that they would be more severely injured.
Gu Nianzhi said quickly, “I wasn’t injured, not at all. Huo Shao protected me very well. But Huo Shao received some electric shocks, so he has to be taken back to the local hospital for a thorough examination.”
“Did he receive them inside the buoy circle?” Song Jinning’s heart sank. That was where the high-voltage electric field was concentrated!
Gu Nianzhi nodded, knowing what Song Jinning was worried about, then she explained quickly, “But we were lucky. We escaped before the blue-violet electric light emerged, so Huo Shao’s electric shocks were not as serious as they could have been.”
Huo Shaoheng added nonchalantly, “I’m fine. That electric shock was nothing.”
Song Jinning breathed a sigh of relief and patted Huo Shaoheng’s shoulder. “It’s okay, but be careful. We’ll take you back to the station by speedboat.”
Huo Shaoheng nodded. “I’ll go right away.” He glanced at Gu Nianzhi without saying anything, then went back to the cabin to change clothes.
Because these people all received injuries to varying degrees, they would not stay on the scientific research ship but would be sent back to the Special Operations Forces’ City C station by speedboat along with Hong Kangquan.
Song Jinning held Gu Nianzhi’s hand and asked with worry, “Are you really okay? Why don’t you go along with them and get examined?”
Gu Nianzhi thought for a moment and then asked, “Will you go back with us?”
Song Jinning shook her head. “I won’t be leaving for the time being.” She looked at the blue-violet light between the water and the sky, then frowned and said, “I still haven’t figured out what the blue-violet light is. Mother nature is amazing. Our researchers might never truly understand the wonders of nature in a lifetime.”
Gu Nianzhi didn’t know what to say. She really didn’t believe that Song Jinning had no idea what was going on! However, Song Jinning looked genuinely confused, so Gu Nianzhi didn’t say anything else and went back to the cabin to change her clothes.
Song Jinning continued to stay there with the scientific research ship to observe the blue-violet electric light while sending back information to the capital, saying that a magical blue hole had suddenly appeared between the sea of City C and the sea of Japan, and that the blue hole also had electric light. It was truly a mystery…
…
Gu Nianzhi followed Huo Shaoheng back to the Special Operations Forces’ station in City C. This was the place where she had lived for six years. When she went back there, she felt at home and at ease.
She had a full 24-hour rest in the bedroom she had lived in from the time she was 12 years old until she was 18. When she woke up, she felt like she was bursting with energy and had completely recovered her physical strength. Huo Shaoheng also slept for nearly 20 hours. The trip to and from the buoy circle had exhausted much of their energy.
While Gu Nianzhi sat in the dining room, the spring light shining outside appeared just right, and the sun was shining brightly. It was lunch time, and she was slowly eating a bowl of sea cucumber and red date millet porridge.
Huo Shaoheng came in, turned on the wall-mounted TV in the dining room, sat down opposite her, and nodded to her. “Did you sleep well? Was there any discomfort?”
Gu Nianzhi shook her head. “I was just tired, and now I feel replenished after a good night’s rest,” she said, then asked Huo Shaoheng, “What do you want to eat? All the dishes here are ones I love.”
Huo Shaoheng took the tableware from her. “I’ll eat whatever you eat.”
Gu Nianzhi smiled a little sheepishly, then lowered her head and continued eating the porridge while tucking stray strands of hair behind her ear. She had just washed her hair, so it was still a little damp. She ate her porridge heartily while glancing at the TV. The noon news was on. Suddenly, a female anchor said in a serious tone, “We have an important piece of news that has just been received. Japan’s government has protested against our government, claiming that the recently electrically charged blue hole in the area between the City C and the Sea of Japan was a conspiracy by our country in order to frame 200 elite frogmen from Japan’s Marine Corps.”
Gu Nianzhi glanced at Huo Shaoheng. “What’s going on?”
Huo Shaoheng ate his lunch, then said after a while, “General Ji called and asked me what was going on.”
Gu Nianzhi’s heart tensed up. “What did you say?”
Huo Shaoheng did not look at her as he said calmly, “Of course I told him the truth.”
Gu Nianzhi felt bitter inside. She silently lowered her bowl of porridge, stood up, and started to leave. As she walked by Huo Shaoheng, Huo Shaoheng grabbed her by the wrist and asked, “Where are you going?”
“To pack up my stuff and turn myself in,” Gu Nianzhi said unpleasantly. “I have caused such a big fuss…”
“Turn yourself in for what?” Huo Shaoheng pulled hard and pulled her over to sit on his lap. “This is obviously mother nature’s uncanny workmanship. How would you know anything about it?”
Gu Nianzhi felt that her whole being was alive again, and she asked in surprise, “You really said that to General Ji?!”
“Well, I made it very clear to General Ji that I don’t know what happened. I almost died there. If we had been the victims, would General Ji also protest against Japan?” Huo Shaoheng took Gu Nianzhi’s bowl of porridge and put a spoonful by her mouth. “Open your mouth.”
Gu Nianzhi opened her mouth without thinking and let him feed her. After swallowing a bite of porridge, she asked, “What did General Ji say?”
“General understood, so he didn’t ask again.” Huo Shaoheng wiped her mouth with a napkin.
Gu Nianzhi came to her senses. “Don’t treat me like a child!” She sat beside Huo Shaoheng and grabbed the porridge bowl to feed herself.
At that moment, a spokeswoman appeared on TV and was answering questions from reporters from Japan. The spokeswoman on the monitor pointed at the bluish-purplish electrical buoy circle at the scene and said, “Japan’s government is really overestimating us. This is clearly mother nature’s uncanny workmanship. Our scientific research boat has already gone to the site for scientific research. If you have to claim that this was a man-made incident instead of a natural phenomenon, then we really have nothing else to say. This is too heavy a claim against us.”
The reporter from Japan was of course dissatisfied and continued asking, “How can you say something like that? We still have more than 200 frogmen soldiers trapped there!”
The spokeswoman was now blatantly poking fun at him. She spread her hands out helplessly and said, “In the past, India has also claimed that the planet Venus appearing over the country was one of our drones, claimed that we were monitoring them, and have repeatedly protested against our country.
“We explained many times but they still didn’t listen. In the end, we had to say, if you think it’s a drone, you can strike it down. If you can strike it down, then it’s our loss. In the end, India spent tremendous effort only to discover that the alleged drone was actually a star in the sky, and that the planet our people had been calling ‘Venus’ was actually not a drone…
“The same thing goes for you, Japan. Don’t blame a natural phenomenon on us. You’re responsible for the soldiers in your own country. Think about why they appeared there. As far as I know, it’s not Japan’s territorial waters.” The spokesperson rendered the reporter speechless with her silver tongue.
