Mei Ziqing had just left the Bella International Conference Center to return to her hotel when, as she crossed the Bella Lawn, she saw a man stand up from a bench and wave at her with a smile.
Mei Ziqing was stunned for a moment. This man was so handsome! He looked somewhat mixed-race, probably 80% East Asia and 20% Western, maybe Italy or Greece. In any case, he looked classically elegant and very sunny.
She pointed to her nose in confusion and asked in broken Japanese-English, "Are you calling me?"
The man replied in fluent Japanese, "You must be Professor Mei's assistant?"
"Ah, yes! May I ask who you are? Are you looking for the professor? He's still in a meeting at the center!" Mei Ziqing felt a special connection to the Japanese accent and bowed politely as she spoke.
"Oh, I know." The man said, taking out an envelope. "I'd like to trouble you to give this to the professor."
Mei Ziqing took the envelope with a puzzled look and asked, "May I ask what this is? I can't..."
"Don't worry, it's just a very ordinary private letter."
The man's voice was as gentle and warm as a spring breeze, making it impossible for Mei Ziqing to refuse.
"Alright!" she said, putting away the envelope. "But could you tell me who you are?"
"My name is Xingzhi, you can also call me Situ," the man suddenly said in Chinese.
Inside the second conference room on the third floor of the Bella Center, more than sixty top scientists were whispering among themselves, trying to find out why the conference agenda had suddenly changed.
Besides the host Frederick, on the stage were several initiators and conveners of the meeting. They all had solemn faces and grave expressions, as if World War III had taken place.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Please be quiet!" Frederick adjusted the microphone. "I'm sorry, something has happened that forces us to adjust the meeting agenda. Also, I have two very unfortunate pieces of news to share."
The room fell silent, everyone waiting for him to continue.
"The most important agenda item of this conference is the archaeological verification of the seabed remains discovered in the South Pacific Basin. All of you here are highly influential scientists, and I believe you have all heard about it. However, just the day before yesterday..." Frederick paused, then said gravely, "Our research vessel went missing."
"My God..." the people in the hall exclaimed in surprise.
"There are 27 researchers and 46 crew members on board, including seven scientists as great as any of you here today. They are all my friends, and everyone's friends. As of now," Frederick glanced at his watch, "They have been out of contact for 63 hours."
"How exactly did they go missing? Were they caught in a storm? What's the status of the search and rescue operation?" someone asked.
"In fact, we don't know exactly what happened. The research vessel had been stationed near 150°W and 30°S for 15 days, maintaining normal communication with us. We have two meteorological satellites monitoring airflow changes over the South Pacific Basin region 24 hours a day. On the day we lost contact, everything in the nearby waters was normal, and no storms occurred."
Frederick rubbed his nose and brow; clearly, he'd been having this headache for more than a day.
"Please rest assured, we have requested search and rescue assistance from the governments of the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina. Please trust in their sincerity; there are scientists on board, and they will do their utmost."
"Without a storm, could there be an underwater earthquake? Tsunamis are more terrifying than storms!" some people said.
Frederick shook his head. "No, no. According to WWSSN's monitoring report, there were 79 detectable earthquakes in 23 locations worldwide at that time, with only one in the South Pacific Basin. This one was approximately magnitude 4.5, and its epicenter was more than 300 nautical miles from the research vessel, insufficient to cause any damage. Seismic networks and monitoring stations in New Zealand, Chile, and Argentina also did not detect any strong earthquake signals from that area. Furthermore, our research vessel is fully equipped; if an earthquake occurred, they would have at least several hours to respond and contact us before a tsunami engulfs the ship."
"Could there be a problem with the research vessel itself?"
"We can't rule out the possibility, but it's very unlikely," Frederick said. "This ship, built by Taihe Shipbuilding of Japan, has a displacement of 4,800 tons, a crew of 80, is capable of withstanding Force 13 winds, has a range of 18,000 nautical miles, and meets the requirements for unlimited navigation areas. Moreover, scientists have modified and upgraded the ship, and it possesses state-of-the-art electronic communication and experimental equipment. In the past twenty-odd missions, there hasn't been a single mistake."
"Have you searched the nearby islands? Haven't you found any wreckage or anything?"
"No," Frederick shook his head. "In fact, it's not just our research vessel that's gone missing. Four Ghost Island, including Maria Tressa Reef, which was repositioned a month ago, two regular reefs in the southern Tubuai Islands, and the underwater ruins we're exploring—they're all gone."
Mei Yiqiu at Frederick, carefully recalling every detail of his words, discerning the suspicious points and considering the possible causes behind them.
He knew Frederick was telling the truth; he couldn't possibly lie about something so important.
As one of the world's top scientists, he can accept anything strange and unusual; this is the exploratory spirit that science must possess.
But this happened so suddenly!
The loss of contact with the ship is relatively easy to explain. Even without earthquakes or storms, it's not insurmountable, given the vastness of the South Pacific Basin. Perhaps the signal equipment malfunctioned, perhaps a new discovery was made, or perhaps magnetic interference caused them to lose their way. In any case, there are many possible explanations.
But how could the islands and underwater ruins have disappeared?
Most people were pondering the same question as Mei Yiqiu, and the room fell into a deathly silence.
After an unknown amount of time, someone finally remembered that the host Frederick, hadn't finished speaking.
"You just mentioned two pieces of bad news. We already know the first one. What is the second one?"
Everyone felt uneasy. Could there be anything more unfortunate than the first piece of news?
Frederick's expression shifted from solemn to grief-stricken, and he said in a strained voice, "Our beloved, great Mr. Evans Lester passed away early this morning."
His grief was genuine; those sitting close by could see that his eyes were moist.
His words were like a bomb dropped into the meeting room; after a brief silence, the bomb exploded.
Oh, my God!
Some screamed in terror, some covered their faces and wept, some beat their chests and stamped their feet...
Mei Yiqiu felt a huge hammer sweep down from the void and slam heavily into his chest.