Hanran knew the way to the savage tribe, which saved Qingmu and his companions a lot of time.
The river in the savage's dream and the stream outside the cave were not the same; the one outside was on the other side of the lake. Hanran led them over two hills, and during that time they finally saw the large lake on the island up close.
The distant mountains are like dark eyebrows, and the lake is as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the outlines of the mountains in the water, creating a serene and picturesque scene. It must be said that such scenery is truly captivating, but when one thinks about the various events that have occurred on the island, no one is in the mood to appreciate the view.
The Boss Coal dared not fly too high, for fear of crashing headfirst into the sea again.
Qingmu asked him, "Did you fall into this lake last night?"
The Crow circled low over the lake once, then returned and said, "It's cawing, it's cawing! But strangely, I could hear the tide yesterday, but today it's as still as a mirror!"
Su Huilan said, "The fact that we can hear the tides means that this place is still affected by the moon's gravity, but we couldn't see a single star last night."
The Crow perched on the Qingmu, its claws gently scratching the Qingmu's surface. "Yes, yes, it was so dark last night, there wasn't a single ray of light! It scared me Guagua, quack quack!"
Hearing his words, Hanran, who was leading the way, turned around, meowed, and wagged its tail proudly.
The Crow cawed in annoyance, "What are you so smug about! So what if you can walk at night? Look at your filthy yellow fur!" It then flew to the ground and walked side-by-side with the cat. "Um... quack... just to be safe, don't wander around tonight. We'll sleep together. I'll protect you, Guagua..."
The cat meowed and rubbed its head against the Crow's feathers.
Su Huilan said, " Qingmu, your bird is really shameless!"
Qingmu was speechless, but Crow suddenly turned around and said, "Hehehe, don't talk bad about me behind my back just because I don't approve of your relationship! Let me tell you, the bond between good brothers isn't something a little girl like you can destroy! So, I suggest you give up your hopes of being a third party. With your looks, where can't you find a good man? If you're nice to me, I can introduce you to a few... Hmm, like Captain Shi from the Criminal Investigation Team, he's pretty good, Guagua..."
Su Huilan was so angry she didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "When did I say I wanted to be a third party?!"
The Crow said, "You might be able to fool people with your little schemes, but can you fool birds?"
Su Huilan grew increasingly angry, arguing, "Even if I had such thoughts, I'm not a third party! It's just fair competition!"
The Crow said, " Guagua, what do you have to compete with?"
"I..." Su Huilan thought for a long time. Yes, what could she compete with? She possessed beauty, vast knowledge, and inexhaustible wealth—but did he care? Besides, these weren't exactly groundbreaking achievements. Her only uniqueness was probably her accomplishments in Mental Power, but...
As she thought about this, she suddenly realized she seemed to have fallen into a mental trap. Why was I thinking about these things? When did I start having such thoughts?
She saw a cunning glint in the Crow's darting eyes and scolded angrily, " Qingmu, what kind of bird do you have?! Is it some kind of spirit?!"
Qingmu, standing to the side, walked with his hands in his pockets, shuffling along with an air of nonchalance, as if their conversation had nothing to do with him.
Su Huilan couldn't help but wonder if she'd been tricked. Had this man and bird planned this all along? Was this how they'd tricked the bar owner in Liuying Lane?
The Crow swooped down and landed on the Qingmu, Guagua, "Beautiful lady, since we're destined to meet, I'll show you the way..."
The more Su Huilan listened, the more it sounded like she had encountered a fortune teller swindler.
"Intervening is an art, and competition takes courage. When you've mastered making braised pork hock, or can make something even tastier than braised pork hock, then you can pass my test, Guagua..."
As the Crow cawed all the way, they saw the river leading to the savage tribe.
This is a deep ravine between two mountains, lower than the lake surface. The lake water overflows from a small opening in the mountains, cascading down dozens of meters to form a deep pool at the bottom of the ravine. The pool water then flows forward along the ravine, forming a river.
The river was more than ten meters wide, much wider than the stream they had come from.
"Caw..." The Crow tilted its head. "I feel like something's off here, caw?"
Su Huilan was angry that Crow had teased her earlier, so she turned her head away and ignored him.
Seeing her expression, the Crow cawed, "Hey, woman, don't be so stingy! How are you going to win over my brother if you're so stingy?"
Qingmu slapped the Crow above his head and said to Su Huilan, "That bird's been corrupted at the bar, just ignore him."
Su Huilan shook her head helplessly and laughed, "Don't worry, I wouldn't stoop to the level of a bird!"
She pointed to the river and said, "The river's flow is the same as what the wild man saw in his dream, but it doesn't conform to scientific principles. Rivers generally originate in mountains and are formed by the convergence of streams. This island's area is insufficient to form such a large river, and since the river flows outward from the central lake, it means the terrain outside is lower than here. That leaves only two possibilities: either the lake's water level is higher than sea level, and the lake water flows into the sea, or there is an even larger lake at the end of the river."
"But no matter which possibility it is, there's one major problem: where does the freshwater in the river come from?" Su Huilan bent down by the river, dipped her finger in the water, and put it in her mouth. "The water has a relatively high mineral content, but it definitely doesn't taste like seawater, and the water temperature is high, which may be due to volcanic activity."
Qingmu asked, "Didn't you say this is a Klein Bottle? The bottle is round, so why is there talk of elevation differences? And since the sea outside the island and the lake in the center of the island are connected, why isn't the lake water seawater?"
Su Huilan said, "The Earth is round, and water flows across its curved surface, but there are also different elevations. The Klein Bottle is the same; it's an independent space with a special structure and gravitational field, not a bottle standing upright on the Earth. As for seawater and lake water..."
She thought for a moment and said, "Do you know the dividing line between the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean?"
Qingmu said, "I know. At their boundary, you can see a clear line. The Pacific Ocean's water level is slightly higher than the Atlantic Ocean's, and its color is also lighter."
Su Huilan said, "That's right. Because of the different compositions and mineral concentrations of seawater, coupled with the influence of climate and ocean currents, the merging of the two types of seawater is very slow. Therefore, although the two oceans are connected, they are naturally separated and will not mix. The same is true for the lakes and seas here. Although it is not yet clear where they are connected, there is definitely a dividing line. The biggest problem is that the sea is too big. To maintain this boundary, a sufficiently large lake and a sufficient amount of fresh water are needed."
Qingmu nodded and said, "Just follow this river and you'll see. Didn't you say you saw the strange sight of a waterfall flowing backwards in the savage's dream?"
She Hanran around and meowed a few times, indicating that she had also witnessed this spectacle.
They walked along the riverbank, which was sometimes narrow and sometimes wide, reaching a width of thirty to fifty meters at its widest point. After emerging from the narrow mountain stream, the terrain gradually opened up, giving them the feeling of walking through the Amazon Jungle.
As they walked along the river, which flowed forward and whose banks were rugged and difficult to traverse, they didn't notice anything amiss until Crow suddenly cawed, "Hey, look back!"
Qingmu and Su Huilan turned around at the same time and saw the river behind them, like a white ribbon, winding through the mountains. Due to the obstruction of the mountains, they could no longer see the lake, but one thing was very obvious—the terrain where they came from was much lower than where they were now.
This river is actually flowing upstream with an extremely slight slope!