Tomb Raiders Notes: If Innocence Had a Brother

A siphon occurred just before daybreak. When the temperature came up the next day, Li Rui and I put on the equipment. Some of it was brought in by us, and more was brought in with the tent and placed at Agui's place. After getting ready, we put the inflatable raft into the water. Li Sian was waiting on the shore, and Li Rui and I started to go into the water for the first time.

After going down, I discovered that the light in the lake was darker and quieter, and I couldn't hear anything except the sound of paddling. Anyway, I really miss my last diving experience in Xisha. When you get down to a certain depth, you can only see things in the distance with the light of a searchlight. Very little natural light can reach the bottom of the lake. After vaguely seeing the underwater village and figuring out the surrounding terrain, Li Rui gestured to me to indicate that the two of them could dive.

After recording the pressure and oxygen consumption, we took all the equipment and started the second dive.

This time it was five meters deeper than the first time. When I looked up, it was all blurry. After confirming that the underwater camera in my hand was working properly, I gestured to Li Rui and swam towards the wooden building in the deep ditch at my feet.

It is said to be a wooden building, but in fact there is only a shelf left, covered with cotton-like sediment. Getting closer, there are more than one wooden building like this, and there are many intertwined black shadows, and you can even see tile-roofed houses. Going down the slope of the deep ditch, the stone steps and fences gradually became clearer under the searchlights.

We followed the slope to the stockade. Li Rui was holding a shuttle in the back to prevent any accidents.

A rough count of fifty or sixty wooden buildings with stilts is more primitive than those in the village outside, and there are even low walls reinforced by stones around them.

Under the deep water, the cold blue light spread out with the ripples caused by paddling. Li Rui pointed to the stone tablet in front of him. It was covered with rust and the stone was soaked in pits. I had to adjust the equipment to record the vague words on the stone tablet.

Huo Sisi said that the Han-style courtyard is in the center of the Miao village. When we arrived near the center, we didn't see the target yet, only a very huge compound stilt tower. I felt a little impatient. In fact, I had been nervous since I got into the water. When we were in Xisha, the water was not that deep, the underwater ecology was also good, and there was not much visual oppression.

It makes me almost claustrophobic now. It has been twenty minutes since we entered the water, and our dive depth is nearly sixty meters. Our equipment can only last about fifty minutes.

Trying to put the depression behind me, I took a deep breath. Li Rui swam next to me and pointed at the pressure valve of the oxygen bottle, signaling me to use it sparingly.

At that time, I actually felt ashamed of being caught by the teacher when I was distracted in class. I nodded to him and the two of them continued forward.

When I got closer to the tower, I realized that this building was the Chinese-style courtyard I had been looking for.

It is said to be a courtyard, but it is actually a Chinese-style building built on the foundation of a stilt building. Compared with ordinary wooden buildings, the outer edge of the Han-style building is a stone structure and has overhangs.

If I hadn’t seen so many eaves in Beijing, I wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell the difference. Moreover, this Chinese-style building is completely wrapped in the surrounding stilt buildings, and the tiles on the top are exactly the same, forming a natural camouflage. If you weren't in the water and looking down, it would be hard to spot on flat ground.

I motioned to Li Rui to open the way ahead. Huo Sisi asked me to clarify the layout of the ancient building in the water. After some discussion, I felt that it would be more reliable to get the image data directly. So I spent a lot of money to buy underwater photography equipment.

Entering from the Drum Tower and passing through the wooden arch, we officially entered the Chinese-style building.

Starting from the first floor, according to the plan, with the patio as the center, explore from the left to the right of the entrance of the house.

There are large pillars all around the patio, with two pillars on each side of the middle, a total of twelve pillars, supporting the three-story building. On the outside is a corridor of wood and stone, and at the back are the rooms.

Exploring in order, the carvings on the windows have long been dilapidated, and the back door of the front hall has completely collapsed, but the wooden couplets have been completely preserved.

Yile Yanran sings triumphantly

I still think about Qufu and recite poems in a low voice.

When we arrived at the front hall, most of it collapsed, and the plaque fell to the ground with a layer of attachments. Li Rui went over and wanted to wipe it, but I hurriedly stopped him and signaled him not to move. I knew that was the plaque written by the owner of the Zhang family, but I left it to Wu Xie to think about.

Most of the structures on the first floor have collapsed, and many rooms are inaccessible to us, and our target this time is the upper floors.

Due to time constraints, we swam directly from the outside into the second floor. The windows had long been rotten and shattered into pieces with the slightest push. Li Rui took the lead, and I followed behind, paddling with my flippers to pick up tiny particles in the water, which shone like tiny specks of light under the light of the searchlight.

To my surprise, the second floor was empty, with pieces of wood scattered on the floor. Li Rui went over to pick it up, gestured in his hand for a long time and shook his head. I motioned him to go take a look at the beam.

After wiping away the attachments, there are vaguely carved patterns and text-like graphics on the beams. Record it and continue to the third floor in the same way.

The third floor is as empty as the second floor, but there is a solid wood platform in the center, which looks like a whole piece of fir and is well preserved. Li Rui cleaned up the large area of ​​wood carvings on the wall, and I went over with the camera. The more I looked at it, the more strange it became, but I couldn't tell what was wrong.

Here, Li Rui walked around the third floor and said that he had not found anything and that our oxygen supply was almost over half. He motioned for me to hurry up.

I gestured to him to find the attic, and Li Rui pulled me directly outside. According to the measurements, there was no attic at all.

In desperation, the two prepared to return.

After leaving the Han-style compound, Li Rui suddenly pulled me and signaled me to stop. The two of them were suspended in the water, with the sound of water flowing in their ears. Li Rui pushed me hard, and the two of them separated to both sides by the mutual force, a gray-brown line The figure passed between us.

When the thing came back, I used the searchlight to see clearly that it was a giant salamander, commonly known as giant salamander.

The giant salamander looks to be 1.4 meters tall, extremely fat, and has four legs like a snake. This thing is very strong in the water and is a serious meat eater.

Li Rui saw that the beast was looking at it eagerly and wanted to rush over. He picked up the shuttle and was about to give it a shot. I grabbed his wooden stocking from behind. Who knows if this giant fish has become Fatty's messenger. If Li Rui was beaten to death now, how would Wu Xie know that Fatty and Zhang Qiling were trapped; how would Fatty pass on the news following the vortex.

When Li Rui saw me holding the butt of his gun, he became anxious and wanted to snatch Mucang from my hand. At this time, the giant salamander rushed toward us again, and I had no choice but to let go and push Li Rui away.

The beast changed its direction halfway, and even though I had moved away from the original position with the reverse thrust, I was still hit hard on the stomach by it, my lungs were squeezed by the abdomen, and a series of bubbles came out of my mouth. The giant salamander turned its head and opened its mouth to bite me. Li Rui took the shuttle's wooden warehouse, hit it on the head with the wooden warehouse, and then pointed the gun at it.

The giant salamander's head was bruised by the wooden warehouse, and blood flowed out along the water. Maybe it was because it was afraid of the wooden warehouse in Li Rui's hand, or maybe it was because it didn't recover at that moment, and lay motionless on the mess. on a stone.

Li Rui wanted to avoid future troubles, but I firmly stated that I couldn't touch it. There was constant pain in the abdomen and it was difficult to breathe every time. I was afraid that something might happen if it was too late, so I urged him to go up quickly.

After diving for a while, the giant salamander didn't follow me. I breathed a sigh of relief, but I didn't have much strength in my body. The last ten meters depended on Li Rui pushing me from behind from time to time.

When we showed our heads, Li Sian was still waiting for us on the raft. Li Rui held me under the water, and Li Sian pulled me up. I opened my diving goggles and lay on the raft breathing slowly. Li Rui was treading water below and pushing the raft toward the shore.

"What's going on?" When we arrived at the shore, Li Sian didn't know the situation and didn't dare to move me.

Instead, Li Rui threw the equipment on the shore, took off all the mess on his body for me, dragged his armpits and put them on the shore, unbuttoned his diving suit and exposed his upper body. Li Rui put his head on my abdomen, tapped again and then said to me: "I want to press a little."

After saying that, he rubbed it down without waiting for my reaction. I didn't even have the strength to howl.

"He was hit by a giant salamander. There should be no bleeding in the abdominal cavity at present, but we can't rule it out." Li Rui said to Li Sian without even looking at me, and went straight to pack his equipment.

I had no choice but to lie on the shore and bask in the sun with a wry smile. No matter what the circumstances, a "holy lady" like me who won't let anyone kill a giant salamander is a first-rate annoyance.