Dream Guide

Mei Ziqing had just left the Bella International Conference Center and was going back to the hotel. As she was walking across the Bella lawn, she saw a man standing up on the bench, smiling and waving to him.

Mei Ziqing was stunned for a moment. This man is so handsome! He looks a bit mixed, probably 80% East Asian, and 20% Western, maybe Italian or Greek. Anyway, he looks classic, elegant, and very sunny.

She pointed to her nose in confusion and asked in broken Japanese English: "Are you calling me?"

But the man said in fluent Japanese: "You are Professor Mei's assistant, right?"

"Ah, yes! Who are you? Are you looking for the professor? He is still having a meeting at the center!" Mei Ziqing felt particularly cordial when she heard Japanese, and she bowed and said politely.

"Oh, I know." The man said and took out an envelope. "I would like to trouble you to give this to the professor."

Mei Ziqing took the envelope in confusion and asked, "Can I ask what this is? I can't..."

"Please rest assured, this is just a very ordinary personal letter."

The man's voice was as gentle and warm as the spring breeze, and Mei Ziqing couldn't refuse.

"Okay!" She put away the envelope, "But can you tell me who you are?"

"My name is Xingzhi, you can also call me Situ." The man suddenly said in Chinese.

…

In the second conference room on the third floor of the Bella Center, more than sixty top scientists were whispering among themselves, trying to find out why the meeting suddenly changed its agenda.

In addition to the host Frederick, there were several initiators and conveners of this meeting on the rostrum. They all had solemn faces and solemn expressions, as if World War III had occurred.

"Everyone! Please be quiet!" Frederick adjusted the position of the microphone. "I'm sorry, something happened and we had to make adjustments to the agenda of the meeting. In addition, I want to tell you two very unfortunate news. ."

The venue fell silent, everyone was waiting for his next words.

"The most important item on the agenda of this meeting is the archaeological demonstration of the submarine remains discovered in the South Pacific basin. All of you here are important scientists, and I believe you have heard about it. However, just the day before yesterday..." Frey Derek paused and said with some seriousness, "Our research vessel is missing."

"Oh my God..." Everyone at the venue exclaimed in surprise.

"There are 27 scientific expedition personnel and 46 crew members on the ship, 7 of whom are as great scientists as you here. They are all my friends and everyone's friends. As of now," Frederick took a look Watch, "They have been out of contact for 63 hours."

"How did we lose contact? Did we encounter a storm? How is the search and rescue situation?" someone asked.

"In fact, we don't know exactly what happened. The Discovery research vessel picked up Mr. Robbins and Mrs. Larry at the Port of Auckland, New Zealand. They encountered a heavy snowfall when they went out to sea, which delayed the trip for a day, but at that time the ship was Everything was normal. Then Discovery followed the established route and headed for the sea area near 150° west longitude and 30° south latitude to conduct a scientific research mission. However, it suddenly lost contact when passing near Maria Theresa Reef. We have two Meteorological satellites monitor airflow changes over the South Pacific basin 24 hours a day, and on the day of the loss of contact, everything was normal in the nearby waters and no storms occurred."

Frederick rubbed his nose and eyebrows. It was obvious that he had been having a headache about this for more than a day.

"Please rest assured that we have applied for search and rescue support from the US government, the Australian government, the New Zealand government and the Argentine government. Please also believe in the sincerity of these governments. There are their scientists on board and they will do their best."

"Without a storm, would there be an undersea earthquake? A tsunami is more terrifying than a storm!" someone said.

Frederick shook his head and said: "No, no. According to the monitoring report of WWSSN, a total of 79 monitorable earthquakes occurred in 23 places around the world at that time, of which there was only one in the South Pacific Basin, with a magnitude of approximately 4.5, and the epicenter was not far from the scientific research ship. More than 300 nautical miles, it is not enough to cause any harm. The seismic networks and monitoring stations of New Zealand, Chile and Argentina have not detected strong seismic signals from this sea area. Moreover, our scientific research vessels are fully equipped. If an earthquake occurs, there will be no tsunami They had at least a few hours to react and contact us before they engulfed the boat."

"Is there something wrong with the research vessel itself?"

"This possibility is not ruled out, but the possibility is very small." Frederick said, "This ship is manufactured by Japan's Taihe Shipbuilding Industry, with a tonnage of 4,800 tons, a capacity of 80 people, a level 13 wind resistance, and a endurance of 18,000 nautical miles. It meets the requirements for an unlimited navigation area. Moreover, scientists have modified and upgraded the ship and it has the most advanced electronic communications and experimental equipment. In the past more than 20 missions, there has not been a single error."

"Have you searched the nearby islands? Didn't you find any wreckage or anything?"

"No." Frederick shook his head, "In fact, it is not just our scientific research ship that is missing, but four ghost islands including the Maria Theresa Reef that were repositioned a month ago. The two conventional islands and reefs in the southern part of the Tubuai Islands, as well as the undersea ruins being explored, are all gone."

…

Mei Yiqiu looked at Frederick, carefully recalling every detail of what he said, identifying the doubts in it and thinking about the possible cause and effect behind it.

He knew that Frederick was telling the truth, there was no way he could lie about such a big matter.

As the world's top scientist, he can accept any weird and bizarre things. This is the spirit of exploration necessary for science.

But this happened so suddenly!

It's okay to say that the ship lost contact. Even if there are no earthquakes and storms, it is not unexplainable. After all, the South Pacific basin is so big. Maybe there was a malfunction in the signaling equipment, maybe there was a temporary new discovery, maybe it was magnetic field interference that made them lose their way, anyway, there are many explanations.

But how could islands and underwater ruins disappear?

Most people were pondering the same question as Mei Yiqiu, and the venue fell into a deathly silence.

…

After an unknown amount of time, someone finally remembered that the host Frederick had not finished speaking.

"You just said that there are two pieces of unfortunate news. We already know the first one. What is the second one?"

Everyone was uneasy. Is there anything more unfortunate than the first news?

Frederick's expression suddenly changed from solemn to mournful, and he choked and said: "Our beloved and great Mr. Evans Lester passed away early this morning."

His grief was not fake. People sitting close could see that the corners of his eyes were moist.

His words were like dropping a bomb in the venue. After a brief silence, the bomb exploded.

Oh, My God!

Some people screamed, some covered their faces and cried, some beat their chests and feet...

Mei Yiqiu felt a huge hammer sweep from the void and hit his chest hard.

Thanks to Luo Chenli and Qian Yuxiangyi for their rewards, and thank you to everyone for your votes. Argentina plays France tonight. I have already bought beer and roasted duck elbows in sauce. The coal boss will give live commentary. Let’s get excited.