Through a remote scan by the Data Terminal, Hao Ren discovered that the bottom of the Great Vortex was a passage leading straight into the earth. It was highly likely to be connected to the crashed spaceship from before. He suspected that when the spaceship had "crashed" onto the lakebed, it had already damaged the geological structure there. The spaceship itself had happened to plug the breach it had created like a stopper, which was why nothing had happened all this time. However, after those little green men dragged the spaceship away, the fragile structure had begun to collapse.
The fissure had not ruptured on the spot. At the time, there should still have been a thin layer of rock barely holding it up. Hao Ren recalled the cavity left in the lake after the spaceship was teleported away. In that instant, who knew how many tons of lake water, carrying the immense pressure of hundreds of meters of water, had slammed into the lakebed? That was probably the final straw that caused the breach to collapse.
The rock crust had held out for more than a day after that, but now it had finally collapsed.
That was the deduction he had made based on the scan transmitted by the Data Terminal. Both Hao Ren and Vivian felt that this guess had at least an eighty percent chance of being correct.
"I have to take the blame for this," Hao Ren sighed. "Fortunately, nobody died. Otherwise, the pressure on me would be even worse. We absolutely can't let Ofra find out about this."
Vivian knew that Hao Ren was a very principled person in this regard, and that he had a strong sense of responsibility. He would inevitably blame himself in a situation like this, so she consoled him from