Chapter 313 "Siren"
The team withdrew from the ruins.
I had thought before that I might encounter a fierce battle and something that would tear apart my cognition, but there was nothing here, it was really just an empty shell.
Abandoned egg shell, what fell was its embryo, soaked in the community that once lived here. In the end, the contents did coalesce into one and incubate that kind of thing, but no matter what the existence that broke out of the shell was, it had nothing to do with the yolk and egg white.
Before leaving, Kraft knocked out a few samples from the stone pillars made of special material to keep. To be honest, he was curious about how these "died".
They returned to the ship unscathed, the vanished objects turning into a substantial weight that pressed on fragile nerves.
The formation of the embryo requires nutritional support, but now it seems that the formation is far from over. It still needs to grow, and the population that is gradually shrinking underground obviously cannot meet the demand, and if there is any place to meet the demand.
Everyone thought in unison that just above, a whole city was shaking and trembling.
The ship is offshore and the fuel consumption rate is higher than expected. It can explore further and consume more than one-third of the total amount before returning.
The remaining two-thirds include detours, lost situations, and possible rescue situations such as being in place.
After breaking away from the shoals and reefs, the torches were extinguished and the flame of the oil lamp became the only illumination again.
Adjust the course, aiming at the foot of another larger and deeper giant pillar in the lake.
The light of the lighthouse basically disappeared behind him, shrinking into a faint needlepoint, struggling to penetrate the thick fog like gray cloth, and it was already at the end of its strength. Fortunately, the giant pillar with visible outline has become another kind of navigation mark here, which can be used as a reference for direction.
The mist became thicker, and the mist that obscured the vision did not dissipate over time. Instead, the density gradually increased, turning into lead water that enveloped the senses, making the perception of the surroundings increasingly dull.
There is a slight delay when talking to each other. Watching each other's lips open and close, it takes a while to understand the meaning.
A cool feeling fell on the back of his hand. Kraft wiped it and the feeling became a small patch. The team members made soft noises one after another, and brought their unprotected skin to the light to check.
Ordinary water droplets. The water vapor here is so thick that it condenses and falls on the dome, forming a strange phenomenon similar to rain.
For a moment, they really felt like they were back on the surface, rafting on the River Teme or some other body of water on a rainy day, and just turning the boat around a little could get them back to shore.
But the fact is that the waters in the fog never end, and the "rain" is getting heavier and heavier.
The cold water droplets penetrated the burqa and passed through the chainmail, soaking the lining and drawing the warmth out of the body.
They didn't take any measures to prevent rain. No one expected that it would rain even though there were dozens or hundreds of meters of rock formations.
The Dunling people who have lived in a mild climate for a long time are still patient, and the only northerners who know the troubles of freezing rain have begun to look for cover.
Kraft removed the outer water-blocking wrapping of some spare items and unfolded them so that everyone could get closer and take shelter. The waxed cloth or paper is of decent quality. It can at least be used as a poncho to withstand most of the raindrops, and will not cause a group of hypothermia here in half an hour.
This situation is not sensational. For outdoor activities, sometimes rain can be more troublesome than simple snow.
"I don't quite understand how those people survived." The temperature in the lake was so low that it made people's hair stand on end in a literal sense. It was the most uncomfortable kind of clammy coldness. The hands holding the poncho could feel their bone marrow cooling down.
Kraft, who had a good tolerance for cold, was in good condition. Several monks who had not thought about protecting themselves from the cold were already shivering a little from the cold. They snorted and squeezed out suppressed breaths from their mouths and noses to prevent themselves from making any noise.
The low humming sound moved forward with the ship, and even formed a rhythm after grasping the new breathing frequency.
A high, low, rhythmic hum, an ensemble of allergic rhinitis and abortion sneezing.
I don't know who found his own melody in the extremely dull air. From a moment without noticing, the sound really became musical, repeating in a certain cycle, like humming some melody. Sometimes I can hear a small piece of memorable tune, which overlaps with the mouth of a tavern poet begging for coins deep in my memory, the chapped mouth of an old man in the countryside, or the performance of a church choir, and the next second it changes. In a direction that has never been heard before.
The melody is a bit clumsy, but it can evoke resonance, like a broken lullaby that has been widely circulated, with a familiarity that seems to come from swaddling clothes, and the urge to hum along with the familiar fragments.
However, when you break away from intuition and try to find a specific key, it is difficult to sift it out from various sounds. It was just a simple hum, flowing out of the nasal cavity through the clammy mucosa, it was just a coincidence.
This feeling is quite uncomfortable, as if there is a flying insect surrounding my ears, but I can only hear the buzzing sound when I am half asleep.
Someone finally had had enough, and he detected a subtle impatience on his own and the others' faces.
"Stop, stop humming." The monk's eyes lingered on every face for a moment, including the two oarsmen who looked over, without finding out who they were.
Everyone looked innocent and confused, shaking their heads, then continued to lower their heads and retracted into their ponchos.
After a while, they realized that the humming tune did not listen to the advice and was still playing lowly and continuously.
Green frowned. He was already irritable when he was wet, cold and uncomfortable, and with this behavior, it became even more annoying.
"Stop humming!"
he warned, sure the entire ship could hear. Everyone held their breath temporarily, fearing that the sound they made would be misunderstood and regarded as the guy who had committed public outrage.
Even the oarsmen stopped for a moment.
"." The rough tone crept across the ear in a low and heavy tone. It hasn't stopped yet.
Maybe it's a psychological effect, the air is getting colder, so cold that you can't feel the warmth of the clothes on your body. The water mist moistens the clothes unconsciously, and the cold droplets condense on the surface of the skin, sliding down the neck and into the collar.
Craft got out of his poncho, pushed the rower who was still hesitant to continue rowing back into the boat, lowered himself and looked around at the water around him.
At the same time, on the other side, the priest made a gesture to the monks, grabbed a waterproof package that had never been touched, took out the contents, stepped on the pedal to pull apart the string made of flax and metal wire, nocking the arrow, and shouldering it. Ready, waiting for the signal.
The humming sound was almost drowned out by the sounds of hasty preparations in the belly of the ship, but its position was already erratic.
Like aerogel dissolved in fog, it can be in your ears or anywhere.
Where?
Kraft saw Green mouthing exaggerated gestures, but his eyes couldn't catch anything over the side of the boat.
The water in the air and the water under the boat merged into one, making it difficult to see anything. Only the faint light from the same unknown source outlined the distant scenery, but it was completely indistinguishable from near.
Cold sweat flowed from his forehead, past his eyelashes and into his eyes, stinging his corneas. Something was near them for a while.
【when? 】
Was it just entering the freezing rain, or was it after they huddled under their ponchos?
The mist squirmed like a living thing, slowly and silently, weaving into a layered curtain, pretending that the ripples on the water surface, the ripples of raindrops, and the bubbles looked suspicious, covering up the real changes.
He turned his back to everyone and closed his eyes.