Dragon Clan: Lu Mingfei Returns from Japan

Chapter 486 Dive Mission (II)

After receiving the order from Professor Mans allowing him to continue diving, Shude Aki took off the guide rope he had been carrying with him and hooked it to the buckle left by Ye Sheng on the guide rope.

"From now on, there will be no more guide ropes to pull us, and we will need to explore the interior of the cave on our own."

Jiude Aki looked at Lu Mingfei and said, "Again, mapping the internal structure of the 'Eye of Kuimen' is Ye Sheng and Selma's task. My Word Spirit is not good at dealing with this kind of situation. We just need to help them with the outpost. If we encounter a fork in the road, we just need to leave a buckle on the guide rope and then return the same way."

Lu Mingfei's answer was quite relaxed: "Maybe we can find the mission target this time we dive?"

"Junior brother, you are very optimistic."

Shude Aki nodded and said, "I hope so. I can finish it sooner and have a holiday sooner. I actually really want to travel. But when carrying out a mission, I can't leave the result entirely to luck. Hold me tight."

I don’t know if everyone at Kassel College likes to make sudden changes in their conversation. The paralyzed senior brother always changes the subject while chatting with him.

However, Lu Mingfei knew that there was no meaning in Jiude Aki's words, it was simply an order to move. The tunnel in the cave below might be further narrowed, and the two of them could only dive smoothly if they stuck close to each other.

Aki Jude held the guide rope with one hand, and only slowly let go after she felt Lu Mingfei's hands clasped around the hook of the diving suit behind her waist did she let go.

The diving lead weight on the quick-release buckle dragged them slowly down under the action of gravity. As the two continued to dive, the guide rope used as a mark in their hands slowly slipped out from Aki's fingertips.

The corridor of this cave might be even narrower than they imagined. The uneven stone walls on both sides sandwiched the two people together like a sandwich.

The two people facing each other simultaneously turned down the spotlights above their heads to avoid being blinded by the overly bright light.

After all, in dark waters, even the brightness of an ordinary flashlight shining into a person's pupils can produce an effect similar to that of a flash bomb.

"Help me take a look at my pressure gauge." said Aki Shude.

Lu Mingfei lowered his head in cooperation. The spotlight beam shone on Jude Aki's wrist, and the count on the pressure gauge dropped at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"140 meters. Senior sister, our descent speed seems to have exceeded expectations. I have been counting silently in my mind. Within 5 minutes, we have descended 20 meters in depth, which is about the height of an 8-story building. The oxygen cylinder is also being consumed at a faster rate." Lu Mingfei looked at the count on the pressure gauge on Aki Jude's wrist and said while taking a deep breath.

"There may be a small vortex under this cave." Shude Aki looked down at the bottomless tunnel, "I can feel that the suction in the tunnel is very strong, as if there is a force pulling us down."

"I felt it too." Lu Mingfei said, "We need to adjust the speed of our descent, otherwise the sudden increase in pressure will break our eardrums."

Jiude Aki nodded: "I think so too. Mingfei, help me loosen the lead weight on the quick-release buckle on the back of my diving suit."

The four heavy plumb bobs on the two quick-release buckles were removed at the same time. The metal plumb bobs swayed in the river and fell into the bottomless abyss. Of course, with the visibility at that time, Lu Mingfei and Jiude Aki could not see the plumb bobs sinking. They could not even hear the sound.

Only the sound of breathing was exchanged between them through the earphones, heavy but rhythmic, which proved that the breathing of both of them was not disordered and everything was still under their control.

After loosening the lead weight, the pressure in the eardrum was indeed much less, and the helium-oxygen gas released by the diving suit's pressure-equalizing valve quickly helped them balance the pressure difference between inside and outside.

After the two continued diving for a while, Jiude Aki signaled Lu Mingfei to stop again.

"It's already 160 meters." Shude Aki said, "We have descended to the deepest depth originally planned. This is also the depth that the two cave divers who explored the 'Eye of Kuimen' descended to. They were an accident at this depth and were sucked away by a huge suction force in the cave."

“But I didn’t seem to feel any particularly strong suction that could sweep people away. I could only feel the same small suction as before.” Lu Mingfei replied.

"I didn't feel a similar suction either."

"But it seems that this cave is far from the bottom."

"Yes. The academy's sonar detection estimates that the deepest depth of the 'Eye of Kuimen' should be more than 300m. If this cave is the deepest cave of the 'Eye of Kuimen', we may be just halfway through the middle of this corridor." Shude Aki made a half gesture.

"Is it possible that the door is at the deepest part of the cave?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"I don't know either, but it shouldn't be possible. Although according to the cave divers who took the photo of the 'Alchemy Door', they didn't know how many meters they were sucked to. But they found the way back to the surface with the guidance of the guide rope."

Aki Shutoku lowered his head and used a spotlight to illuminate the soles of his feet. "If the Alchemy Gate is at the deepest point, let alone there is no guide rope at such a depth, even if there is a guide rope, they can't quickly return to the surface from 300 meters below the water. Their diving suits are not as good as those made by the academy's equipment department. The huge pressure difference between the inside and outside may crush them into paper figures."

Lu Mingfei nodded inwardly after hearing this. Jiude Aki was right. The Alchemy Gate should not be that deep. Besides, the two cave diving enthusiasts were middle-aged men. Their combined body sizes would take up more space than Jiude Aki, who was thin in clothes, and Jiude Aki, who was petite as a woman.

Just for Aki and I, we had to stick together to barely complete the dive. The passage in the cave would only get narrower as we went down. It was impossible for the two cave diving enthusiasts to sink deeper than they were now.

"The oxygen meter shows that I still have one-fifth of oxygen."

Aki Sakutoku said: "Diving to a depth of 160 meters has exceeded our expectations. Ye Sheng and Selma should have returned to the 'Moniah' by now. I think we can go up first. Let's take a rest and adjust our condition before planning the next mission. With the guide rope left here, our dive speed will be much faster the second time."

Lu Mingfei nodded. He had the same idea as Jiude Aki, and felt that returning to the destination was the best option.

The oxygen in their oxygen tanks was running low, and the goals they had achieved had already exceeded expectations, so there was no need to brag. When carrying out such a dangerous mission, knowing when to advance and when to retreat was the most important thing.

After sending a request to return to the "Moniah" through the headset, Lu Mingfei soon felt the lifeline on the back of the diving suit pulling the two people quickly back to the surface of the water.

This time the lifeline did not have any accidents like the one Lu Mingfei had in the "Three Gorges Project". Lu Mingfei only felt a severe pressure difference between the inside and outside of his lungs, which made him want to cough. When he opened his eyes again, he was already supported by Ye Sheng and pulled from the side of the ship to the deck.

"They still have enough oxygen, so there's no need to take off their diving suits right away." Zhou Li put one hand on his waist and calmly directed the sailors: "They were just quickly pulled up from the deep water, and they need the pressure relief valve in their diving suits to help them balance the air pressure inside and outside their bodies. If they take off their diving suits now, they may suffer from decompression sickness."

After waiting for about ten minutes, until Lu Mingfei and Shude Aki's breathing gradually stabilized inside the misty masks, the two took off their heavy diving suits with the help of the sailors.

Perhaps because they had just returned to the surface from the 160m deep water, both of them looked pale and their lips were so dry that they were completely bloodless.

Selma considerately handed two bottles of water to the two people.

"Including the time for returning, you dived for a total of 1 hour and 30 minutes. The time was very tight. You did a good job."

Professor Mance looked at the two people leaning against the outer wall of the cabin and said, with his arms open and a smile on his lips that was full of praise and admiration.

"This is our first dive, Lu Mingfei, and you performed better than we thought. You are worthy of our 'S' rank. Aki, you also performed very well, leading the newcomers to dive to 160 meters smoothly. We originally planned to spend about 2-3 days to reach this depth."

160m cave diving may sound like an understated number. But diving is not just about relaxing your body. It is a sport that constantly challenges your own athletic ability and mental limits. Anyone who has known the sport of cave diving knows what this number means.

Moreover, Lu Mingfei and Yaji had no experience diving in the "Eye of Kuimen" cave before, and the terrain inside was completely unfamiliar to them. Reaching a depth of 160m in one go was already a pretty scary achievement.

Yaji smiled and shook his head when he heard that. "It's mainly because Lu Mingfei performed well. Lu Mingfei is not a newcomer. His father taught him diving in Hawaii. I even doubt whether Lu Mingfei has a diving instructor certificate. I feel that he is calmer underwater than me."

"Really?" Mans looked at Lu Mingfei in surprise: "Did your father take you to learn diving in Hawaii? If I had known this, I would have put you in the same group with Ye Sheng. After all..."

Lu Mingfei scratched his face in embarrassment. Learning diving in Hawaii, did they really think he was Edogawa Conan?

He didn't expect that the Japanese person Shude Aki didn't even notice the 2D joke he made underwater and took it seriously... But in this situation, he couldn't say that he was joking, so he could only stammer and change the subject.

"Senior Brother Ye, how deep did you dive? Did you have success drawing the topographic map?" Lu Mingfei looked at Ye Sheng and asked.

Ye Sheng smiled bitterly helplessly.

"It went quite smoothly. The space inside the cave is not very large. 'Snake' quickly mapped out the general terrain inside the cave. It has just been drawn in the captain's cabin and handed over to Professor Mans... But the cave we chose is very shallow. We only descended to 135 meters before hitting the bottom. Then we returned along the lifeline. How about you, Junior Brother Lu?"

"The cave we dived into seemed very deep. Sister Aki and I dived to 160 meters, but it felt like there was still a lot of room to dive deeper. But we didn't feel the suction that the two cave diving enthusiasts talked about." Lu Mingfei replied.

Ye Sheng nodded when he heard this: "Perhaps the suction force doesn't happen often. It could just be an occasional underwater vortex that sucked those two people away."

At this time, Professor Guderian, who was chewing a bag of boneless chicken feet nearby, suddenly asked: "How many caves like this are there in the 'Eye of Kuimen'?"

"Not sure, the visibility underwater is very low." Ye Sheng shook his head: "There should be more than two."

Professor Mans, the commander-in-chief of this mission, folded his arms, looked around at everyone, and lowered his head in deep thought, with no one knowing what he was thinking about.

Ye Sheng, Selma, Jiude Aki and Lu Mingfei stood quietly aside, waiting for Mans to give orders.

"I see."

After a moment, Professor Mans raised his head and said, "Mingfei and Yaji, go to the crew room and rest for a while. Miss Zhou, you are a doctor. Please help monitor their physical conditions to see if there are any abnormalities. Professor Guderian and I will discuss the subsequent task arrangements and will notify you to assemble later."

At lunch time, Lu Mingfei sat in the slightly low dining room of the "Moniah". The sun shone in from the portholes around the cabin, making it very bright. However, the traces of rivets on the ceiling were so abrupt that they drove people with obsessive-compulsive disorder crazy.

But the food on the boat was good, better than what I had in the five-star hotel last night. They cooked light northern Hubei dishes, which was said to be because the chef was also invited by Zhou Li, who was from northern Hubei.

Professor Mans announced the next task arrangement at the dining table.

The grouping naturally remains unchanged, still Group A: Ye Sheng and Selma; Group B: Shude Aki and Lu Mingfei.

The mission arrangement is to take a day off today to adjust your mental and physical state, and then carry out the dive mission at the same time tomorrow morning.

Lu Mingfei and Jiude Aki’s mission is to continue exploring the deep hole that the two people dived into today.

This is because the two men have experience in exploring deep caves and have a better understanding of the structure inside. In addition, they have also arranged guide ropes, so there should be no accidents during the second dive.

And based on the descriptions of Lu Mingfei and Jiude Aki, Professor Mans and Professor Guderian judged that the cave they explored might be the cave leading to the "Gate of Alchemy", and the probability of this happening should be low.

Ye Sheng and Selma were responsible for surveying other caves.

After a night of swaying and restless sleep on the research vessel, the next morning arrived as expected.

As usual, Ye Sheng and Selma went into the water first, and twenty minutes later, Jiude Aki and Lu Mingfei followed.

After adapting on the first day, Jiude Aki and Lu Mingfei dived very quickly today. It took only twenty minutes to reach the first fork in the sea at 120 meters.

After confirming that there was nothing abnormal with each other's oxygen supply and physical condition, Lu Mingfei and Jiude Aki hugged each other again and dived down along the guide rope that had been set up yesterday.

……

(End of this chapter)