Chapter 36 Chapter 35 The Polar Ice Worm

Hawthorne asked, "Have you ever seen an alien creature?" "No," said the warden. Hawthorne said, "These bugs are." These worms that burrow through the ice like earthworms are called polar ice worms.Ice worms can be called the only creatures on earth that are not frozen to death, and they have the characteristics of alien life idealized by scientists.Scientists believe that ice worms, a rare cold-resistant creature, can live on alien planets, and there are also cold-resistant creatures like ice worms on alien planets. Among the world's unsolved mysteries, it's still unclear how ice worms can walk freely in solid ice.Some scientists believe that ice worms travel through ultra-fine cracks in the ice bed; others believe that ice worms secrete a chemical that dissolves the ice.The lifestyle of ice worms is also full of mystery. In winter, ice worms are almost extinct, and scientists do not understand the mystery of ice worms.

What Hawthorne and the others entered was a nest of ice worms, and more and more ice worms gathered. They wriggled and crawled upwards in the ice layer, which was shocking.Everyone's weight is maintained by the only remaining safety wedge. They hang in the air like a swing, watching the black ice worms from bottom to top, and the black formed by the gathering of countless ice worms is about to swallow them. Once the ice worms Climbing to the position of the safety wedge, there will be a gap in the ice layer around the safety wedge, and it will loosen and fall off, and they will also fall into the abyss.

Keith said, "Just figure it out." "Yes," said the warden, "we're about to fall down this black chimney." Dora said, "How to stop them?" Hawthorne said, "Turn on the light." Ice worms have a fatal flaw - they are afraid of heat.Direct sunlight can dissolve ice worm cell membranes, and the enzymes in the cells also turn into a pile of sticky matter.Everyone turned on all the spotlights. This kind of light has a strong light and has a refraction function on the ice wall. Those ice worms avoided under the scorching light, and there were still dense numbers of ice worms climbing up from below.Hawthorne fired a tracer bullet, which was a signal flare for distress. The tracer bullet dragged a dazzling light and shot down the hole. Dr. Sloppy also fired a tracer bullet. Under the irradiation, the ice worms gradually dispersed.

Hawthorne and the others seized the time to drive steel drills and a circle of safety wedges into the ice wall. Everyone was exhausted. They fixed the hanging tent, planned to take a rest, recharge their batteries, and then prepared to go down to the bottom of the cave in one go.This kind of hanging tent is also commonly used for climbing snow mountains and cliffs. When preparing to spend the night on the rock wall, the night rest tent must be fixed and protected by ropes through fixed points and hung on the rock wall. Their tents were hung in the ice cave like bats. In order to distribute the weight, Hawthorne hung ice axes, folding shovels, crampons and other equipment on the safety wedges. Everyone was still in shock and rested for a while.Dora noticed that there were a few big ice worms coming up from the hole. They were moving very fast. Before Dora had time to remind everyone, a large piece of ice fell with a bang, and then a crack extended in an instant. , covering the ice wall like lightning, the tent also fell, everyone shouted and fell into the abyss together.

The ice cave was very deep, and there was a pool of water at the bottom, which saved everyone. They climbed up from the water one after another, each of them still in shock, unable to believe that they were still alive.Dora's face was pale, Linfeng hugged her, and then Dora burst into tears.Hawthorne noticed that the water in the pool is not bone-chillingly cold. This is due to geothermal heat. The average temperature rises by 3°C for every 100 meters below the surface.After the opening of the ice cave, the geothermal heat rose, and the ice worms hiding in the ice cave escaped one after another, looking for a more suitable habitat. This also caused the ice wall to crack, causing Hawthorne and others to fall down.What makes people feel bad is that the climbing equipment such as ice axes and crampons are still hanging above the ice cave and did not fall together.

The warden said: "We fell to the bottom of this cave, how can we get up?" Dr. Sloppy said, "I can't go up." Keith said, "Yeah, we didn't fall to our death, but we didn't live either." Iga looked up at the ice cave: "Without tools, it is impossible to climb such an ice wall with bare hands." Hawthorne said, "Leave that alone and see what's in the hole." They looked around, and there were some honeycomb-shaped ice caves around them, and the ice walls were riddled with holes.Hawthorne led the crowd and chose the largest cave to drill in. They walked like ants in the maze of ice caves. There were forks and corridors everywhere. Hawthorne kept making marks along the way.The crowd passed through one ice cave after another. Ice shoots hung upside down in each ice cave. The icicles, ice curtains, ice waterfalls, ice flowers, ice Buddhas, ice beds, ice clocks, ice men, ice Buddhas, etc. on the ground were all kinds of strange things. , and so on.All kinds of scenery in the ice cave are amazing. This exquisite and crystal-clear world is attributed to the uncanny craftsmanship of nature.

They entered a cave hall, and a large group of ice needles stood on the ground. The group of ice needles is one of the strange phenomena in nature.The ice needles vary in size, the thin ones are like embroidery needles, and the thick ones are like cones, ranging from a few centimeters to a few meters.These ice needles are densely packed into pieces, each one is as hard as iron and shines brightly when walking on it. The ice needle is getting higher and higher, and when it reaches the end, an ice bridge appears. The ice bridge is transparent and clean without any impurities. Walking on it is like walking in mid-air. Below the ice bridge is an abyss. Everyone holds hands and fears every step they take.Dora saw her own shadow appearing in the ice, squinted her eyes and looked down. The clouds and mist were lingering below, and she felt dizzy. She felt that she was not walking on the ice, but suspended in the clouds, which made her eyes go blank. , her body fell limply, but fortunately Linfeng hugged her in time, and after a while, she regained consciousness.The arc of the ice bridge was not big, and it slowly extended downward. A group of people walked through the ice bridge carefully. The ice layer at the end was slightly thinner, and many places had completely peeled off, exposing the hard rock wall, and a cave appeared in front of them.

The cave was narrow, and Hawthorne entered first, and was stunned as soon as he entered. The warden squeezed up from behind, and was immediately stunned. He held his breath for a full minute, and the people behind entered the cave one after another. Everyone opened their mouths wide and couldn't speak. After a long time, Hawthorne let out a breath and said to himself: "This is so beautiful..." What they entered was a radiant crystal cave. The roof of the cave was dyed red by iron oxide. Several thick and large white diamond-shaped crystals inserted straight into the outline of the vault above. There were ice waterfalls hanging on the cave wall, and the ice cubes were in strange shapes. As if carved, the rock face is very wet, covered with clusters of crystals that are as sharp as razor blades, and looks flawless.The drooping fiber-like stalactites look like elegant and delicate gauze curtains. There are some giant crystal columns with luminous obelisks criss-crossing on the ground. In the open space, there are many colored crystals. Clusters of yellow crystals gather together, clusters of purple crystals The crystals are huddled together, like a flower bed, with cold air rising from the cracks in the ground, surrounded by clouds and mist, like a fairyland on earth.They were in such a spectacular crystal garden, everyone was stunned.

"I thought, I need to take some ore samples," Keith said. General Rogge said: "It is simply a treasure house, don't snatch it." The warden said: "Whoever gets it first will own it." The King of Pain said, "My God, not only are there crystals, but here are diamonds." Dr. Sloppy said, "I found a blood diamond!" Huge diamonds are worth a fortune, and diamonds with deep color penetration command even higher prices.It is very rare for a diamond to have blue, green or pink color, and the price is higher if the color is deep and conspicuous. The most expensive colored diamond is a diamond with a pure red color. This kind of diamond is also called a blood diamond. There are three existing ones. Two have been lost.

The crystal garden is surrounded by a vertical pit. The crystals beside the pit are very crowded. Everyone stands on the dense crystals and looks down. This circular vertical pit sinks more than ten meters vertically from the ground. Everyone goes down to the bottom of the pit with difficulty, and gradually opens up. The large cavern is connected to a dozen small caverns, which radiate out and surround the large cavern, where the diamonds were found.Hawthorne noticed that there is a hard dark blue rock under the soil layer, which is the diamond protorock-Kimberlite.Kimberlite is a volcanic rock formed deep in the earth, often containing fragments of peridotite and eclogite from deep in the earth.The impact of extraterrestrial bodies on the earth produces instantaneous high temperature and high pressure, which can also form diamonds.

Everyone went down to the cave and scrambled for diamonds. Dr. Sloppy asked Hawthorne what he found. Hawthorne looked around and said in an incredible tone: "This cave was dug by hand!" Dora saw that the crystal pillars on the ground were like entangled beams of light, surrounding a crystal ball. Dora picked up the crystal ball and said, "This is mine." The crystal ball is flawless and crystal clear. Obviously, it is also artificially carved.There is also a cluster of crystal clusters on the crystal ball. The crystal clusters present a faint pink color. Below the crystal clusters, there is a diamond-shaped obelisk crystal embedded in the crystal ball. Through the crystal ball, the diamond-shaped crystal shows seven colors of the rainbow. It emitted a dazzling light, and it looked like a rainbow crystal sword inserted into a crystal ball. The crystal cluster could be said to be the hilt of this rainbow sword.Everyone gathered around, and Dora tried to pull out the rainbow sword, but Hawthorne stopped her with a wink.Dr. Sloppy was overjoyed. He told the warden that the rainbow crystal sword must have been made of the meteor ice they were looking for, but he didn't know who made it.The warden grabbed the crystal ball and said to Dora, "little girl, let me keep it for you for a while." Dora said, "It was I who discovered it first." Linfeng's eyes were full of anger, and he clenched his fists. Hawthorne shook his head at him, implying that he should not act rashly. Gies said: "The firework sword in the underground palace of Qin Shihuang's mausoleum is already amazing. I don't know what power this sword has." Nanook said: "It is said that ice and snow can be summoned." General Rogge said, "Pull it out and have a look." The warden was about to pull out the Rainbow Sword from the crystal ball, but the King of Pain suddenly yelled, pointing to a nearby cave and said in horror: "There, there is something watching us!" This sentence made everyone shudder. Turning their heads, they saw a pair of bright eyes staring at them in the cave. The eyes were neither human nor some kind of animal. After watching for a while, everyone seemed to be hypnotized, and their bodies were limp and unable to move.Hawthorne and Dr. Sloppy noticed that there were twelve caves around them, and in each cave there was a pair of weird shining eyes looking at them, but Hawthorne and Dr. Sloppy were speechless, as if they were possessed, feeling There seemed to be an ancient and powerful force in those eyes. Dora and Baal were the first to faint, and the others also fell to the ground. After an unknown amount of time, Linfeng and Yihe woke up drowsily, while the others were still unconscious, lying on the ground in disorder. Linfeng and Yihe struggled to stand up, seeing the people on the ground, they both shouted in surprise at the same time, they rubbed their eyes, they couldn't believe it was true, when they saw each other, Linfeng and Yihe At the same time, they yelled loudly and pointed at each other. The two people who had always been calm and calm were unable to speak with trembling fingers...