Mother-of-pearl Reef is located in the waters bordering the inner and outer Vatican Seas. It was not a reef at first, but just a sea area where mother-of-pearls flourish. Although the female oysters produced here are only the size of a thumb.
However, the pearls collected from the shells are the size of a thumb, and the color is very special glazed blue, which is very popular among the nobles and rich people of the empire.
In the early years, there were many private pearl fishing boats in this sea area, and a large number of waste shells of the collected mother-of-pearl were dumped here by the whole boat. After years of accumulation, this special calcareous shell reef was formed. group.
Later, due to the needs of the port construction of Vatican Port, the fishing of mother-of-pearl shells was strictly carried out, and the pearl fishing boats stopped operating.
After hundreds of years of cultivation, the mother-of-pearl oysters in this sea area have gradually multiplied again, and some fishermen have even encountered giant mother-of-pearl oysters in this area that are big enough to swallow young sharks on the bottom of the sea.
But most of the time, Zhenmu Reef is calm and calm. Under the tile-blue sky, when the sun shines directly, the sea water turns bright blue for a while, and green for a while, which is very beautiful.
After the little boy Yudan from the fishing village broke free from Salman, he jumped into the water like a dragon entering the water, very comfortable.
His family is poor, and because of his mother's illness, he is in urgent need of money.
When he was only three or four years old, he heard that the fishermen next door were fishing for pearls near Zhenmu Reef. After making a fortune, he moved to the city.
He is young and does not have a separate fishing boat, but he has heard from fishermen who steal pearls that as long as there is an astronomical high tide, when the tide rises and falls, a large number of thumb-sized mother-of-pearl will wash up on the reef .
After all, Yudan is a child who grew up in a fishing village. After he found out the day of the astronomical high tide, he planned to sneak away to Duzhenmu Reef and stay there all night. I just thought, as long as I stay on the Zhenmu Reef for one night, I can easily pick up a bunch of mother shells and go back the next day.
Unexpectedly, they bumped into Yue Jinghua and Salman who were on patrol, and that's how the accident happened earlier.
The fish ball swam for more than an hour, until a layer of white floated out of the dark skin, and only then did I see the piece of Zhenmu reef that emerged from the water.
He shook the water, and when he climbed up to the reef, he tore off a few clusters of sea reeds growing beside the reef, and weaved a simple reed basket to hold the mother reef.
Although I have heard the name of Zhenmu Reef for a long time, it is the first time for Yudan to visit this reef.
After drying off the water on his body, he looked around.
At this time, the sky was a little dark.
Yudan carefully took out a pack of flints wrapped in oiled paper, and lit it up carefully, so that he could see the whole picture of Zhenmu Reef.
The reefs without edges and corners washed by the sea are dark, and the surface seems to be coated with a layer of beeswax, which is very slippery.
The entire Zhenmu Reef is about 100 square meters, and there are some common local seaweeds and hermit crabs growing beside it.
At night, the tide began to rise gradually, and the sound became more violent, and the fish ball couldn't help but tremble a little.
After all, he is just a child of seven or eight years old.
"It's okay, it's only three or four hours. When the tide recedes, I'll have money to buy medicine for my mother and food for my younger siblings," Yudan murmured, hugging her long and thin hands and feet, sitting on her own. On the reef, staring at the sea level that is higher than the wave.
After nightfall, the sea breeze also changed from humid and warm during the day to icy cold, and the fish protein was tired of swimming in the day, and fell asleep in the dull sound of the waves without knowing it.
In the middle of the night, he felt wet under his body, and suddenly woke up.
Looking at the reef under his feet, Yudan's face turned pale immediately. He obviously underestimated the scale of the rising tide of the sea during the astronomical high tide. Getting smaller and smaller.
Depending on the situation, it will be completely submerged in more than half an hour.
Yudan will be tired and hungry now, and he is terribly afraid of something in his heart. Amid the uproar of high tide, he seems to have heard some strange noises.
"Wait a little longer, the tide will ebb soon," the poor child swallowed, comforting himself.
But at this moment, his eyeballs suddenly shrank, and his knees became weak.
In the turbulent waves, he saw a triangular fish back.
As a kid living in a fishing village by the sea, Yudan knows exactly what that means.
The Triangle of Death, a species of humphead shark off the coast of the Vatican, has sharp teeth and a body as hard as steel.
Legend has it that a group of humphead sharks attacking together can even sink a sea and air ship.
Seeing the humphead shark getting closer and closer, Yudan was terrified and tired, and Yudan couldn't stand it any longer, and collapsed on the last rock.
At this time, Yue Jinghua and the others had already set sail from the port of Vatican Port, heading for Zhenmu Reef.
Although the helmsman was sent by Captain Yalei, Ke Yue Jinghua's sea-air ship was not going smoothly.
After nightfall, the direction of the sea wind changed, and they had to temporarily stop the sailboat and start to adjust the direction of the air sail.
But just after the sailboat adjusted its direction, the fishermen found that the boat suddenly couldn't move.
At this time, wind and waves were gradually rising on the sea surface, which vaguely foreshadowed the coming astronomical tide. Everyone gathered around the deck and looked down, and they all took a breath of air.
I thought it was the aquatic plants on the sea surface that entangled the hull, but I didn't know it was...
"It's a lantern jellyfish, it's a punching card, the sea beast is a punching card." The bottom of the boat was like a neon light, with a faint orange circle, and the experienced fishermen recognized the things at the bottom of the boat at a glance.
I don't know if it's because of the high tide, those sea beasts that were active during the day and then underwater rushed to the surface of the water one after another.
After they adjusted the direction of the sailboat, the boat encountered the first round of sea beast punching cards, which also greatly delayed the speed of Yue Jinghua and others' boats.
That was also the first time Yue Jinghua saw the so-called punch card.
The sea beast that grows in the inland sea of Vatican Harbor is a large number of lantern jellyfish. Its whole body is shining with orange light. Looking at it in the dark night, it looks like a small chrysanthemum lantern.
It is these beautiful-looking jellyfish, but they are the deadliest killers along the beach.
Their cold and soft bodies are covered with thick and short tentacles, and there are poisonous sucker-like barbs growing all over the tentacles. Whether it is human skin or the smooth deck of the hull, once the lantern jellyfish absorbs the pillars, it will be dead. It's hard to get rid of.
"What can we do?" Those experienced fishermen were all terrified. When they went out to sea, apart from sea beasts like sharks and whales, they were most afraid of encountering this kind of soft jellyfish.
"Don't worry, just wait a little longer," Yue Jinghua seemed much calmer than the panicked fishermen.
Her eyes, as bright as stars, shone like a wolf king in the dark night.