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墨書 Inktalez
China is the earliest country in the world to discover and utilize oil. The renowned scientist Shen Kuo from the Song Dynasty wrote in his work "Mengxi Bitan": "In the territory of Lu Yan, there is oil. The old Gao Nu County produces oily water, which is what this refers to. It emerges from the water's edge, mixed with sand and spring water, bubbling forth. The locals collect it in bags made from pheasant tails and pour it into jars. It resembles pure lacquer and burns like hemp, but the smoke is thick, staining everything black. I suspect the smoke could be useful; I tried sweeping it up to use as ink, and it was as dark and glossy as lacquer, though not as fine as ink made from soot. This will surely become widely used in the future." Here, he not only documented the discovery and uses of oil but also predicted that "this substance will surely become prevalent in the world."
Excited by this, he even composed a humorous poem: "Snow falls thickly beneath Erlang Mountain, while I study the ways of the nomads. My white garments are transformed by winter's embrace; oil flows like dust in Luoyang."
Unfortunately, with humanity's insatiable greed and overexploitation, oil resources are gradually depleting and nearing exhaustion. One day, it will no longer resemble "dust in Luoyang."
Cold Bench shook his head, unsure whether he disagreed with A Chen's method or if he himself was confused.
At that moment, those above noticed our lack of action and asked what was going on—if we had encountered any trouble.
A Chen shouted up, "It seems like there's an oil field down here; the lake is full of oil!"
My junior disciple gasped in excitement, "Oil? Then we must be rich!"
Everyone else also showed expressions of surprise, except for Third Granduncle Master, who remained clear-headed: "Rich? If it's oil, we can't go down there, you fool!"
My junior disciple fell silent, having not considered this point. He could only turn to Old Qiao for help: "Old Qiao, what should we do? In your tomb raiding experience, have you ever encountered any burial mechanisms using oil?"
Old Qiao furrowed his brow for once and shook his head slowly while staring at the oil below. Clearly, this was a first for him: "In my decades of traveling across the land, I've encountered drought battles, water battles, sand battles, sea battles, stone battles, cloud battles... but this 'You Dou'—this is indeed my first time."
"Stop wasting time! Do you have any solutions or not?" Liuzi said impatiently. "If I had known today would turn out like this, I might as well have left that Witch behind; two cobblers could match Zhuge Liang!"
Old Qiao asked, "What Witch?"
Liuzi chuckled: "Your old rival—her surname is Huang; everyone in our circles calls her Huang Fuzi! That woman is quite impressive; if she were here, we might have even lifted Li You's coffin lid."
Hearing Liuzi praise someone else so highly—especially a competitor—Old Qiao felt a pang of jealousy; his expression darkened.
A Li noticed this and spoke up for him: "Hmph! What Huang Fuzi? She's just a swindler! How can she be compared to my brother?"
As A Li criticized her, he forgot that Old Qiao was also a swindler; he simply played his role too convincingly that even those who knew the truth willingly fell for it. Perhaps even he had been deceived himself.
Liuzi was unaware of Huang Fuzi's background and engaged in a heated argument with A Li. In his eagerness to defend his brother, A Li revealed everything about Huang Fuzi's concocted Shui Lai Tou and her use of disguise techniques. Realizing he had spoken out of turn, he quickly added: "I've always wondered why Huang Fuzi would want to harm me when I have no grudge against her. Just now I recalled that when she bandaged my wound earlier, I vaguely woke up once; she was very close to me then. I noticed her skin around her eyes was peeling up a bit. She must have sensed something at that moment and feared I would expose her identity upon waking up; that's why she took action against me."
As it was explained, it made sense, and thus the group engaged in a heated discussion about how to approach this "Self-Flowing Well." With nothing else to do, the three of us began to discuss the working principles of the Self-Flowing Well technology, hoping to uncover a breakthrough for our descent.
The first Self-Flowing Well in our country was drilled in Daqing. By drilling and completing the well to penetrate the Oil Layer, the pressure balance between the wellbore and the Oil Layer was disrupted. When the pressure inside the well dropped below that of the Oil Layer, it caused elastic expansion of the rock and fluid, driving a corresponding volume of crude oil into the well.
As crude oil extraction increased, the formation pressure gradually decreased. After a period of self-flowing production, it transitioned to artificial lifting methods, including gas lift, rod pump extraction, submersible electric centrifugal pump extraction, hydraulic piston pump extraction, and jet pump extraction.
I had seen all this information in a Geological Magazine during my university days. It also introduced the components of the Self-Flowing Well apparatus, including Suspended Seals and Regulation Control, along with three additional parts, each containing various components. Overall, it was quite complex and certainly not something that could be accomplished in the era of cold weapons.
With this information at hand, I felt we were closer to the truth. However, these were raw materials that needed processing. To find a breakthrough for our descent, we had to connect our current reality with this information, analyze it carefully, and identify points of intersection.
This task sounded simple but required extensive mental organization, reasoning, discovery, rapid validation, overturning some conclusions, and then repeating this process in a spiral cycle—testing one's logical thinking and investigative skills.
Even the fastest thinkers needed time to complete this process, and the results were not guaranteed to be one hundred percent accurate.
However, Cold Bench interjected right after A Chen and I finished discussing the Self-Flowing Well technology: “Even in an energy-rich Oil Field, its self-flowing period is quite limited—no more than five years at most. Moreover, if crude oil is not stored promptly after being ejected from the well and is left exposed to air, it can easily evaporate. If humans or animals inhale it or have extensive skin contact with it, it can lead to Benzene Poisoning, resulting in symptoms like headaches, nausea, vomiting, convulsions, confusion, or even death. Yet none of us are experiencing these symptoms.”
A Chen's face turned pale when he heard "Benzene Poisoning," but upon hearing that we were not exhibiting any symptoms, he instinctively pressed his hand against his chest to feel for any changes: “Zhao Fuzi, what does this mean?”
Cold Bench replied: “It indicates three points. First, this oil well was only recently drilled; those who constructed ancient tombs likely had no knowledge of it and stumbled upon it by accident. Second, clearly this person did not drill for oil but rather for Tomb Raiding; however, they probably didn’t expect there would be an Oil Field below. Thirdly, there are no human or animal corpses found here; it's possible that the crude oil has been diluted by rainwater or that harmful substances have already been degraded.” He looked at us and added, “So we arrived late; someone has already gone inside.”
“Damn it! Another group has gotten there first?!” A Chen exclaimed excitedly.
I tried to reassure him: “This is actually good news; it means this route is viable and someone has already paved the way for us.”
A Chen scratched his head with a reluctant expression: “That may be true, but always eating off someone else's plate... Damn! These Tomb Raiders really... Uh... Zhao Fuzi, I’m not like you.”
Cold Bench did not respond further but instead isolated himself from the surrounding world as he organized his Safety Rope and some scattered gear in preparation for descending into the lake.
A Chen thought he had offended Cold Bench and quickly sought my help with his eyes. I said reassuringly: “Don’t worry; he has selective mutism—if he doesn’t want to hear or see something, he won’t notice anything at all. Even if you pointed your finger at him and cursed him out right now, he wouldn’t pay you any mind.”
As I spoke, Cold Bench made a loud splash as he jumped into the oil lake, further confirming my words. I shrugged at A Chen as if to say “See?” A Chen smiled helplessly.
The people above fell silent upon seeing what had happened; they were likely stunned by Cold Bench ’s act of “self-sacrifice.”
Old Qiao was the first to regain his composure: “As long as we have green mountains…” He intended to sound poetic but was interrupted by his junior brother shouting: “Don’t do anything stupid!”
I suddenly felt a sense of vanity from being watched, so I deliberately teased, "The mountain man has his own clever plan! Don't worry!" I exchanged a satisfied glance with A Chen, both of us putting on our goggles, stuffing cotton strips in our ears and nostrils, securing our Safety Ropes, and then we descended into the oil lake.
This was my first time diving in oil—no, not diving in water, but in oil. It felt both novel and thrilling. Below the surface was a thick, sticky darkness. We turned on the three tactical lights above our heads, but the light was immediately obstructed and could barely penetrate the Oil Layer; it only reached about four meters. Due to the high viscosity, diving felt like swimming through sand; it required twice the effort compared to underwater operations just to maintain balance, which drained our stamina significantly.
According to the principle of the Self-Flowing Well, it would only form when the pressure in the well is lower than that inside the Oil Layer. A Self-Flowing Well can last for at least a year and up to three to five years. The surface of Black Lake still had ripples, indicating that the Self-Flowing Well was still functioning and crude oil was continuously surging upward. Therefore, as we sank deeper, the pressure on us increased.
Soon, I felt as if two massive stone mountains were pressing against my sides, squeezing inward while an air pump inside my chest kept inflating. The external pressure and internal inflation made me feel like I was about to burst! Before long, I began experiencing symptoms similar to what Cold Bench had described earlier: dizziness, nausea, and confusion.
Although A Chen had the Turtle Breathing Technique protecting him, his condition wasn't much better than mine. His face turned dark blue from lack of oxygen, almost resembling a pig's head. He didn't even bother to wipe his goggles as his body floated along with the flow of crude oil.
I quickly kicked my legs and swam over to him, grabbing hold of the Safety Rope around his waist. Wandering aimlessly like this was not a solution; even if we could hold our breath for another three and a half minutes, the physical toll was too great. Just dealing with Benzene Poisoning alone would be unbearable.
I searched around for Cold Bench's shadow but found nothing; it was eerily dark everywhere. Apart from the light sources above A Chen and me, there was no other illumination in sight.
Panic surged within me as I struggled to hold my breath; my vision blurred more and more. The goggles were smeared with oil, and just as I raised my hand to wipe them clean, something suddenly tugged at me.
Thinking it was Cold Bench, I turned to look but saw only one of his sleeves caught on my watch strap while his body floated above me sideways. I couldn't see his face clearly; for some reason, the tactical light above us had gone out, leaving us in darkness... A sense of foreboding crept over me as I pulled downwards—something felt wrong; he was too light!
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