Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 330: Crimson Soil (3)

Dragon Raja 3

Their drilling in Thunder Valley is, on the surface, commissioned by the “Disaster Countermeasure Committee.” Recently, there have been frequent tectonic movements, and the climate around Tokyo has been unusually strange. After hearing a report from the chief scientist, the Chief Cabinet Secretary grew concerned that Japan might experience large-scale earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in the near future. Under these circumstances, it was imperative to quickly confirm whether Mount Fuji’s condition was stable, so they dispatched the elite from the Yamanashi Prefecture Environmental Science Research Institute. Meanwhile, the family seized this opportunity to explore the ancient relics in the strata. This time, they were authorized to use the most advanced high-speed drilling machine, which could penetrate the strata and reach the Akioni River within days.

Sakurai Masahiko felt a vague sense of unease. The hydraulic drill had been running continuously for twenty-four hours, and if this continued, it could overheat and shut down at any moment. This was cutting-edge equipment, and if something went wrong, it would be difficult to repair.

What truly worried him wasn’t the hydraulic drill but the fact that the rain tonight was falling too heavily… so much so that it made him feel uneasy.

As he thought this, the roar of the drill suddenly stopped, and the workers ran toward the drill.

Sakurai Masahiko held an umbrella and walked over to the drill. The drill was pulling out the several-hundred-meter-long drill rod from the hole. The drill rod was connected section by section, with each section over ten meters long. Dozens of drill rods were joined end to end, and the topmost rod was equipped with a diamond drill bit. Yellow, sticky mud was oozing from the hole, splattering all over the workers. Normally, water would be injected during drilling for cooling, but not enough to produce so much mud. It seemed the drill had reached an aquifer, perhaps even made contact with the Akioni River. Yet, at this critical moment, the drill malfunctioned.

“What’s the problem?” Sakurai Masahiko asked.

The project supervisor wiped the mud from his face. “We seem to have hit an extremely hard rock layer. The drill rod won’t go any further. If we force it down, the drill bit might get damaged. We’re pulling it up to take a look.”

“Silicic rock?” Sakurai Masahiko pondered.

The drilling depth had already exceeded 300 meters, where they should have encountered soft, porous volcanic rock, yet they had struck something harder than quartzite, something that even the diamond drill bit struggled with.

“Set up a safety perimeter. Everyone except the drill operators should move outside the perimeter. Don’t get too close to the drill hole, in case boiling water gushes out,” Sakurai Masahiko warned.

No one knew the temperature of the Akioni River’s water. It passed through magma and could reach temperatures of over 100 degrees Celsius. Sakurai Masahiko had seen superheated geysers erupt at Yellowstone National Park before.

“Don’t worry, we’ve brought protective suits,” the project supervisor waved his hand, signaling the workers in white protective suits to take over the drill while the others retreated outside the safety zone.

The protective suits weighed thirty kilograms, made with layers of asbestos, rubber, carbon fiber, and metal mesh. They not only provided heat insulation but were also extremely tough, able to withstand the high flames of burning oil wells. The suited workers removed the drill rod section by section, passing it outside the perimeter. Sakurai Masahiko collected samples from the drill rod. Every few meters, there was a sampling port, and soil was pushed into these ports. By analyzing the soil samples, they could obtain stratigraphic information from different depths. The sampling ports were filled with moist black mud. Sakurai Masahiko tried lighting the black mud with a lighter, and flames immediately rose from it.

“Be careful, there may be methane in the hole!” Sakurai Masahiko shouted to the workers inside the perimeter.

No sooner had he spoken than a stream of high-pressure black gas burst out of the hole. The gas shot out with such force that it made a sound like a train whistle. The gas lamps hanging above shattered, and the black gas made contact with the bluish-purple electric arc, instantly transforming into a blazing pillar of fire.

It was indeed a methane drilling hole. The flammable black mud was methane-rich soil. Methane is produced by bacteria anaerobically decomposing rocks over millions of years, accumulating vast quantities over time. Fortunately, the workers were wearing protective suits and were unafraid of this level of flame. They professionally suppressed the fire with high-pressure hoses and continued to extract the drill rod. As they removed the last few sections of the drill rod, the black mud turned dark red.

Sakurai Masahiko pinched a bit of the dark red mud. It was incredibly sticky, and when he held it up to his nose, there was a faint fishy smell. He frowned. The fishy smell was usually associated with the breakdown of proteins, but where could protein come from in the strata? Only living organisms could produce protein.

The last drill rod left the hole, the pillar of fire extinguished, and dark red liquid gushed from the hole, forming a red fountain over ten meters high. Everyone was stunned. They were all experienced geologists, but none had ever seen such a spectacle. The red fountain turned into crimson rain, splashing around the mining site and flowing stickily down the protective suits. The water quickly rose above the workers’ calves. Sakurai Masahiko felt a strange illusion in his heart; it seemed to him that his colleagues within the safety perimeter were standing in a pool of blood.

The workers, supported by their protective suits, were unafraid. They collected water samples with test tubes and sealed them before passing them along with the last drill rod outside the safety perimeter, into Sakurai Masahiko’s hands.

“Water rich in iron?” Sakurai Masahiko shook the test tube thoughtfully.

The only common mineral that is red in color is hematite. In South America, there is a river whose waters are red due to hematite residue… But rather than just iron-red, this looked more like thick blood.

He then went to inspect the drill bit, and this time, he was genuinely shocked. The drill bit was twisted, deformed, and covered with damage. It was so severely damaged that it had become scrap metal, no wonder the drilling had been obstructed. But what kind of thing could damage a drill bit made of hard alloy? Moreover, the damage didn’t look like wear and tear—it looked like… something had crazily bitten into it! What was beneath the earth that had chewed up the drill bit?

A tremendous sense of fear flooded Sakurai Masahiko’s mind, just as he heard gasps of astonishment.

Silver-blue glowing points were being swept out of the ground by the red water, in the hundreds, in the thousands. They dispersed into the black night sky, as beautiful as stars. The glowing points landed on the visors of the protective helmets—each point was a tiny silver-blue fish, short-bodied with long, thin tails, the jagged vertebrae of their tails clearly visible under their thin scales. The fish were covered in mucus, like glue, and squirmed clumsily on the visors. It wasn’t strange for there to be life in underground rivers; famous “blind fish” are typical underground river creatures, living without sunlight, causing their eyes to slowly degenerate. But for so many fish to live in the Akioni River, which was around 300 meters underground, was nothing short of a miracle.

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