Chapter 1646: Spiral At The Bottom Of The Lake
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It was a great tracker, the signals were transmitted relying on the satellite, and it had a complex radio frequency signal that could cover up to two kilometers.
However, this was on land, and the Inuit man jumped into the lake after that. When he jumped into the water, the signal on the tablet became bad instantly.
Li Du quickly asked, “Is the tracker waterproof?”
Making an ‘OK’ sign with his hand, Young Markelov said, “The signal would be worse in the water, but rest assured, it is waterproof.”
Indeed, the signal reflected on the computer could be clearly visible although it was a little weaker.
They would not dive into the water because the boy from before had jumped in and disappeared, and Li Du was always cautious of the lake.
Young Markelov had an idea that they could track from the surface of the lake in the kayak. The lake was not more than 500 meters deep anyway, still within range of the tracker.
“Besides, I don’t believe this man can dive down five hundred meters. Come on, he doesn’t he equipment, and he doesn’t have a submersible to protect him either, so he would not be able to go that deep, right?” said Young Markelov.
Li Du said, “Be careful. Let’s stay close to him.”
The signal flickered on the screen for another moment, and eventually, the red dot disappeared.
The position of the kayaks was in the middle of the lake at that moment, not far from the island, still part of the lost island base, but at the end of it. The water was hundreds of meters deep.
The people on the kayak were shocked and Big Markelov asked, “What is your record for unassisted freediving?”
Brother Wolf said, “Mine is about 40 meters, Black Ox is superior in this aspect, his results are about 50 meters.”
“It is at least a hundred meters deep here!” said Young Markelov as he gasped a breath of cold air.
Li Du said, “Leave it for now. The signal disappeared, so what had actually happened?”
“Either the signal has been cut off, or the tracker has been destroyed. Either way, we’re not getting the signal anymore,” said Young Markelov, scratching his head.
“Write down the position, prepare the submersible, and let’s go down there to take a look,” said Li Du.
“Go straight down?” asked Brother Wolf.
Li Du shook his head. “No, we will put down the water camera first. Mr. Elson sent us an ocean exploration robot, didn’t he? Let it go down and we will see what happens.”
He didn’t want to risk it directly. The lake was hundreds of meters deep. Who knew what was under the water?
After all, he was going to be a father soon. He couldn’t afford to have anything happen to him. He had to go back in good condition to see Sophie and wait for his child to be born.
Soon, the ocean exploration robot was lowered into the water.
The robot was spherical, with multiple wheels and support on all sides, and it could adapt to the complex terrain of the lake floor.
It was connected with a cable that supplied it with electricity and relayed back the images captured by the camera.
The robot slowly sank into the water, followed by a number of cameras around it, which were fixed on the supporters around it. At every certain depth or predetermined position, the robot could be controlled by the computer to release the supporter, and the camera would be sent out.
Eventually, the robot landed on the bottom of the lake, illuminating the underwater scene with intense light.
So deep underwater, the sun could not penetrate. It was dark there. If the robot didn’t turn on the light, they would not be able to see anything.
The lights were on, and a blurry view of the lake bottom appeared on the screen.
As Li Du already knew, the bottom of the lake was made of layers of sand and stone.
Generally speaking, lakes were relatively empty compared to oceans, where fish, shrimps, algae and other organisms that lived in them would die and rot, settling on the lake floor over time, forming slags.
At Lake Angikuni, however, the sediment appeared to have been stirred up, which made the water murky, while the bottom of the lake, which should have been a bog, revealed layers of the earth’s crust below instead.
The robot’s vision was limited, so Li Du maneuvered it to move forward, and then after some distance, it was blocked by a rock.
On the rock grew some water snails and shellfish, some of which had a white base with a complex and beautiful pattern.
Li Du quickly took out the two shells he got from the young man and Peter. As expected, they were alike.
“They must have come from here…” Before he could finish the sentence, the screen went dark all of a sudden and no signal came back.
This made Li Du feel surprised, and he quickly sent a command for the robot to return.
At first, he thought something was blocking the camera, but after a while of not getting any response, he realized it wasn’t something that was blocking the camera, but rather, something that removed the robot.
Brother Wolf pulled back the cable that was attached to the robot, and sure enough, the cable was broken and the robot was lost.
Looking at the broken cable, Brother Wolf said, “It was cut with a sharp knife, the cut is very smooth and nice.”
Young Markelov scolded, “F**k, who has been up to something in the water? Let’s change into the diving suits and go down to see what is going on!”
Li Du stopped him. He was not excited or angry, but smiled at ease and said, “Don’t get too anxious. I think we are getting closer and closer to the truth. They got rid of the robot, but we still have the cameras.”
Again, after he had given the command, several cameras in the water were activated by remote control.
The camera came with a battery that powered both video recording and lighting. Li Du wouldn’t use the lighting normally because the battery didn’t hold much power.
However, this was clearly not the time to save power, so he turned on all the cameras in the water.
As if a sword was thrust into the darkness, the sunless bottom of the lake brightened in several places.
One of the cameras was pointing straight down, and the footage it captured was projected back onto the computer screen, to the surprise of Li Du and his team.
In the lamplight, the broad bottom of the lake was not flat, but rather, there were circles of ridges on it. These ridges came from the earth’s crust, but because of the spiral shape, it seemed as if a whirlpool had appeared at the bottom of the lake.
The rock blocking the little robot’s path was the bulging part of the bottom, but the protuberance was so long and wide that it was hard to see it unless one looked down.
Looking at the raised spiral, Brother Wolf was surprised. “What is this? A spiral breakwater?”
Firecrackerʼs eyes were sharp. He pointed at a corner of the screen and said, “Switch quickly, switch to this camera quickly, there is someone…”
At his words, Li Du quickly changed the view of the camera, but it was too late. When he did so, the screen was blank except for a few whitefish wagging their tails and passing by.
In addition, the small screens on the big screen shut down one after another. Someone had disconnected the cameras.
