Qingmu walked among the piles of white bones, his slippers clattering like a monk's wooden fish drum—monotonous yet possessing a power to soothe the soul.
He climbed the altar and saw that it was filled with rainwater, turning into a square pool. The water was crystal clear, and he could see the shadowy reflections of the black stones at the bottom. Some larger stones protruded from the surface, like small islands in the sea.
Qingmu looked around and felt a sense of familiarity. He walked around the edge of the altar before realizing that the distribution of the stones protruding from the water was exactly the location of Tapu Island marked on Petru's nautical chart. This sacrificial pool, filled with rainwater, had become a microcosm of the South Pacific Ocean.
He finally understood why the Swordfish hadn't rotted before. Ronald Cohen activated the Altar of Fire, corresponding to the pyramids of Giza, which is located in the Sahara Desert. Could the altar, after activation, gradually be covered by sandstorms, becoming a microcosm of the Sahara? This would explain the Swordfish's incorruptibility. But how did the crew survive the dehydration?
Qingmu returned to the lakeside, found some new pine resin to use as material for torches, made several torches, and then returned to the Swordfish.
The moment he entered the hangar, he saw that the others still retained the posture and gaze he had when he left, like a frozen photograph. But as he walked in, they suddenly came to life.
Qingmu felt as if he had stepped into a painting.
The only thing to worry about now is whether the ship outside will rot and sink. If the ship sinks, then water will flood in. They can't be sure how long it will take to escape the Spacetime Deep Well well after the ship sinks.
Next, using Situ's consciousness atomic clock as Situ, they went out every two hours to observe changes in the external environment and the condition of the ship. Of course, they also took care of their meals and bathroom breaks outside, while the food stored in the hangar was reserved for emergency use.
The first time they went out, things hadn't changed much from what they'd seen before. They had a picnic on the rusty deck and brought back extra fresh water and dried food to the hangar, because nobody knew what might happen outside while they waited.
On their second voyage, they found the ship was even more severely corroded. Many hatches were locked, and the deck was so rusted that it was impossible to walk on it, making one worry that a hole might break at any moment. Fortunately, the Swordfish's steel plates were thick enough that, despite the corrosion, it remained sturdy.
On their third trip out, they discovered that the lake level had risen, and the Swordfish, which had been stranded, was now afloat. It was quite a miracle that such a severely corroded ship could still float on the water.
But on their fourth trip, they discovered that the boat seemed to be taking on water. Fortunately, the water level had dropped by then, and the boat ran aground on the lake shore, with the water only submerging about one-third of the bottom of the boat.
By the fifth time they went out, the entire lake had dried up, leaving only silt at the bottom and some shallow ponds. This eased their worries about the large ship sinking and completely rotting, but they were immediately troubled by the problem of water. If the lake disappeared, they would have to fetch water from the distant mountains, and they did not have good water storage facilities.
Later, the environment seemed to be irreversibly deteriorating towards dryness, and obtaining water became increasingly difficult. By the time they came out for the sixteenth time, the entire lake had completely dried up, leaving only cracked earth. The once lush forests were gone, and as far as the eye could see, there were only barren, desolate mountains.
It was difficult to find direct water and food nearby, and the fresh water stored in the hangar was only enough for them to use sparingly for three days. If they did not exit the Spacetime Deep Well after three days, they would face a shortage of water and food and would have to go to a more distant place, and they would no longer be able to hide in the time bubble and wait to return to normal time.
Heaven did not bring them dew or rain, but it gave them another way to survive. When they arrived at the original site of the Huracan Tribe three days later, after searching for water and food, they found that it had been surrounded by yellow sand and there was no trace of anyone having ever lived there. Only the black altar still stood conspicuously on the ground.
Fortunately, the water in the altar did not dry up, and the stones exposed above the water still retain the appearance of those islands in the South Pacific. In the square in front of the altar, where thousands of Itza People's bones were once piled up, the bones have now been buried by the sand, while many green succulent plants that look like cacti have grown in the sand.
After some daring experiments, they confirmed that the water in the altar and the cacti growing outside it were both non-toxic and edible. They searched the nearby mountains and fields, built a makeshift transport vehicle, and transported the water and cacti back to the time bubble on the Swordfish, which had stopped decaying in the arid environment.
Although no one said it aloud, everyone knew in their hearts that these cacti growing there must be related to the dead Itza People; perhaps their rotting flesh and blood that seeped into the ground nourished these strange plants.
They slaughtered the Itza People, but in the end, it was the Itza People saved their lives. The world is so strange, and karma is so swift.
The water from the altar and the plants that grew from the blood and bones of the Itza People finally sustained them through the most difficult time.
When they emerged from the dark cabin for the last time, without needing Situ's atomic clock to calibrate it, they knew that Ramla had silently left the Spacetime Deep Well. The first thing they saw when they stepped onto the deck was the four bright Sun in the sky, while the starry sky had vanished.
At this moment that should have been filled with celebration, no one spoke. People remained silent, feeling the hardship of crossing the river of hell and brushing past death countless times.
The bitter taste of cactus still lingered in their mouths, and a strange, wandering sound, like the low murmur of a ghost, echoed in their ears.
Qingmu recalled that night when the Itza People chanted their prayers, those generous words echoing in his mind:
I will transform myself into a pillar supporting the sky;
With my eyes, I transform into the gaze that wanders the heavens;
I used my own hands to turn the sword into weapons;
With my blood, I transform into a sweet spring.
I will be with the Holy Land.
generation after generation,
The day the gods return.
He discovered that the prayer had been unknowingly etched into his memory, shining with a peculiar light in his consciousness. He began to feel that the world might not be as simple as it seemed on the surface, and that the creator and the savior might not be the same person.
Next, they will face a new problem: how to leave this place?
If they cannot leave this place, it's no different from living in Spacetime Stasis Zone; they will still grow old and die in this desolate place.
They must leave this place and go to the next altar. Only after activating all five altars will they have any hope of returning to Earth.
"Fog, we must wait for the fog to rise," Situ said.