Chapter 160: The Demon's Eye, Sinking into the Swamp!
When Lin Shenlu and An Muxi finally walked back, a long time had already passed.
The few companions who had been waiting in place finally spotted the two of them strolling back along the path in the distance.
"They're back, they're actually back!" Naihe shouted in pleasant surprise.
It had been far too boring waiting here.
With no particular scenery to speak of, waiting in the exact same spot was absolute torture.
Had they known, they would have just tagged along with Lin Shenlu.
"Do you think those two unreliable folks went off to have some wild romance in the wilderness?" He Ku'er asked curiously, watching the pair slowly return.
"No way, right? This place is nothing but sand, and neither of them brought bedding... What if the sand gets inside? Wouldn't that rub them completely raw?" Yan Wen chimed in, discussing the matter with He Ku'er.
"Hahaha... Yan Wen, stop teasing me, how could it possibly rub them raw?" He Ku'er laughed, clutching her stomach.
"I'm not joking at all. Remember the Alashan Off-Road Heroes event a thousand years—I mean, did you not see the news? A girl wearing a bikini in the desert... and then she got sand all over her... Later that night when she went for a midnight run with a bunch of guys, the sand got inside... Man, it was bleeding profusely by the middle of the night..." Yan Wen said with absolute conviction.
He Ku'er stared in utter shock. Was this really what Yan Wen was like? Did she always drive completely off-road with her jokes?
As expected of a Northeast girl, utterly bold and ruthless in conversation.
He Ku'er's gaze soon shifted to Lin Shenlu.
What was he holding in his hand?
A glass bottle? Filled entirely with a yellowish liquid?
Wasn't that supposed to be for collecting saline lake water?
Along the way, He Ku'er had noticed Lin Shenlu filling glass bottles with water every time they passed a lake!
Why was this one filled with a bright yellow liquid?
Could it be that he actually went off to pee?
The color was far too similar!
He Ku'er had never in her life seen yellow lake water.
And yet it was so clear and transparent.
Wasn't that just utterly disgusting?
He Ku'er pointed a finger at the approaching Lin Shenlu.
"Uncle... did you bring your pee back with you? You are not allowed to get in my car later!" He Ku'er said in shock.
Lin Shenlu was driving his own Cyber Tank.
If a bottle of urine like that was brought aboard, she might as well just abandon her car.
"This is lake water..." Lin Shenlu felt utterly speechless.
"Oh, please. When you left, I said you were going to take a pee... and you wouldn't admit it. Uncle, you've become such a creep!" He Ku'er refused to believe him.
"This really is lake water. If you don't believe me, ask your Sister An." Lin Shenlu felt profoundly wronged.
Though, upon looking at the bottle in his hand, it really did look a bit suspicious...
"Sister An wouldn't tell the truth either, she always takes your side!"
"How can you even think that?" Lin Shenlu sighed and said.
"If it's not pee, take a sip of it then..."
Lin Shenlu was speechless. Leaving aside the fact that he couldn't possibly drink urine, he couldn't even drink the alkaline water of this sulfur lake either... It had low toxicity, not even fish could survive in it, so why would he?
...
Driving back, they returned the electronic tracker and navigation tablet.
Lin Shenlu and his group continued their journey.
Heading toward their next stop.
Huatugou.
The Devil's Eye.
Aiken Spring.
A place both mysterious and alluring.
They had just barely left the Devil's City and were now heading straight for the Devil's Eye.
Along this magnificent and stunning National Highway 315, there were far too many mysterious and breathtaking sights like this.
After driving for a long time, Lin Shenlu finally returned to the main road.
The convoy lined up in a loose formation and pressed forward once more.
This time, the lead vehicle remained Lin Shenlu's RV.
Following closely behind were He Ku'er's car and Yan Wen's car, with the three sisters' car in the middle, and Zumureti bringing up the rear as the tail vehicle.
What started out as just Lin Shenlu and An Muxi setting off had now evolved into five cars and eight people.
They had only just crossed the halfway point of the road ahead. Would even more people join them along the way?
To be honest, Lin Shenlu was looking forward to it.
It had been many years since he last felt this kind of atmosphere.
When the number of vehicles reached five, Lin Shenlu began to view the convoy with a sense of importance.
This was no longer just a casual encounter and companionship between a few people traveling together.
These were people truly moving forward for their dreams and futures.
Thinking about it, He Ku'er probably stood to gain the most from this trip.
After all, her assignment was to travel the entire length of National Highway 315 so that upon her return, she could qualify as the head of the new self-driving tour convoy for TuYou Network.
In a way, Lin Shenlu had given her a head start by involving her in this project early.
Right now, it truly felt like a proper convoy.
Of course, the group was still relatively small. A true, long-term touring convoy spanning years would require dozens of vehicles and hundreds of travelers journeying together, wouldn't it?
That would truly be magnificent and fascinating.
...
"In Qinghai, in Huatugou of Mangya! There is a spring that gushes endlessly day and night. This spring was accidentally struck by petroleum workers! Nowadays, it has become the most stunning natural landscape... Especially when viewed from the sky, it literally looks like the devil's eye staring right into the eyes of God!" Lin Shenlu lit a cigarette and spoke to the beauties of the convoy behind him during a roadside stop.
"The entire ground is the color of sulfur! Against the bright yellow surface are reddish-brown veins, resembling the bloodshot lines around an eye, and the reddish-brown encases a jade-green circular pupil. Both its shape and structure are identical to an eye! That's how it earned the name the Devil's Eye." Lin Shenlu spoke fluently with great eloquence.
"Uncle, didn't you say the water in your bottle earlier was from a sulfur spring... is this one also sulfur?" He Ku'er asked curiously.
"It's different. The sulfur spring water is saline-alkaline water with low toxicity... whereas the Devil's Eye, Aiken Spring, actually contains sulfur internally, making it much more toxic than the saline-alkaline lake," Lin Shenlu explained, casting a glance at An Muxi as he did.
He had already mentioned this part of the journey to An Muxi.
"Well, that makes no sense. Why is the one with sulfur called Aiken Spring, while the one without sulfur is called the Sulfur Lake?" He Ku'er debated with Lin Shenlu.
"That question of yours... is just like asking why Director Zheng is actually the deputy director, while Deputy Director Fu is the actual director!"
Lin Shenlu didn't want to continue arguing with He Ku'er.
She was simply too silly.
"What's this about positive and negative directors?" He Ku'er looked completely bewildered.
She didn't get the joke at all...
Too lazy to bother with He Ku'er any longer, Lin Shenlu continued: "Aiken Spring is over ten meters in diameter, and at its peak, the daily water discharge reaches a full three thousand cubic meters. This spring water constantly boils and surges upward like boiling water, and the brownish color is the accumulation of sulfur minerals over countless years, brilliant and dazzling, as if a devil's eye had been inlaid upon the earth," Lin Shenlu said.
"So the original itinerary was for us to stay overnight in Huatugou tonight, and visit the Devil's Eye first thing tomorrow morning!"
Pausing for a moment, Lin Shenlu continued: "However, there isn't really anything worth visiting in Huatugou anyway, aside from resting and restocking supplies. Instead of making a detour to Mangya later, we might as well drive straight to the Devil's Eye today!"
...
After resting for a while, the group continued on their way.
Lin Shenlu drove forward leisurely to the rhythm of the music.
They were not far from their destination now. Once they reached Huatugou, they could check on the vehicles, top up on gas and water, and press onward.
Come to think of it, Huatugou was quite a fascinating place.
For such a small, remote location, it actually had its own airport!
This left Lin Shenlu quite amazed.
At the very least, if he hadn't traveled National Highway 315, Lin Shenlu probably would never have discovered the name Huatugou in ordinary life.
Of course, even Lishui hadn't finished building its airport yet!
...
The drive from Huatugou to Aiken Spring wasn't very far.
Basically, driving another thirty kilometers or so would get them there.
Enjoying the scenery along the way was also quite pleasant.
According to the navigation system, the Devil's Eye was just ahead.
What amused Lin Shenlu was that... as they pressed forward, he spotted a stone tablet by the roadside.
Inscribed upon it were two lines of red characters.
The Angel's Eye, Aiken Spring.
Lin Shenlu couldn't help but chuckle.
The local relevant departments probably couldn't bring themselves to carve the word "Devil" onto a stone tablet.
After all, within the travel community, if you asked about the "Angel's Eye," nobody would likely know what you meant.
Whereas if you asked about the "Devil's Eye," everyone knew exactly where it was.
He remembered when the Devil's Eye, Aiken Spring, first went viral online, many netizens commented thinking it was a photograph of Mars taken by NASA.
They even wondered out loud if there was water on Mars.
Only later did they discover that this jaw-dropping location was actually Aiken Spring in Qinghai, not some alien planet.
Lin Shenlu felt that the National Highway 315 leg of this journey truly lived up to the name *Lonely Planet*.
Because the scenery along this entire route was simply that desolate.
So niche that almost nobody knew about it.
The Devil's Eye at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains was so lonely that even birds and beasts kept their distance in awe, not daring to approach for thousands of years.
So far, starting from Xining, Lin Shenlu had traveled roughly 1,200 kilometers westward.
The route he took was essentially the ancient Silk Road.
At this moment, entering the western rim of the Qaidam Basin, at Moherbuluke Village, 37 kilometers away from Mangya in Haixi Prefecture, Lin Shenlu encountered Aiken Spring, which never froze even in winter.
This geothermal spring hidden deep within the Alaer Wetland at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains.
Truly made one feel a sense of wonder.
Though some said Aiken Spring was accidentally excavated by oil workers, the legends said otherwise.
After all, landscapes accompanied by legendary tales were always the most alluring.
Lin Shenlu remembered reading reports stating... professional geological analysis suggested that the formation of Aiken Spring was likely due to a low-temperature subterranean river beneath the spring, which encountered a geological fault, causing the water to spiral outward and create this irregular, gushing wonder.
Within a radius of several dozen meters around the spring, there were also two smaller blue springs.
The water flowing out of these springs passed through the Alaer Grassland before ultimately emptying into Lake Gaskule.
Of course, research into Aiken Spring had already been discovered as early as 1884 by the Russian explorer Nikolai Przhevalsky.
Yet it failed to cause any sensation.
He merely recorded the date clearly as November 4th, with a spring water temperature of 11.2 degrees Celsius.
It wasn't until 131 years later, in November 2015, that someone uncovered the historical records of this Russian explorer from back then.
And the description within matched the hot springs hidden deep within the Alaer Wetland.
This was what the Mongols called Aiken Spring at the time.
Lin Shenlu unfolded his drone and began to launch it into the air.
He wanted to see what Aiken Spring looked like from its absolute highest perspective.
On the screen... Aiken Spring, with its oval-like shape, resembled a massive, giant "eye."
The seemingly clear spring water was completely undrinkable because it contained a massive amount of minerals, such as sulfur.
Of course, it was precisely the presence of these mineral-rich components that gave Aiken Spring certain medicinal and health-promoting properties.
Through years of sedimentation, the spring water had stained the surrounding ground a reddish-brown color, while simultaneously ensuring that not a single blade of grass grew wherever the water flowed.
The area immediately surrounding the spring was actually a marshland, and once anyone stepped close to it, they ran the risk of sinking in—even birds and beasts held it in awe, keeping their distance for millennia.
Because of this, Aiken Spring acquired many bizarre monikers, such as the legendary names of the Eye of the Earth and the Devil's Eye.
Perhaps such overly magical titles might deter some timid tourists, so when the scenic area first opened for business, it was officially named the Angel's Eye.
Unfortunately, after all these years, the Devil's Eye remained the name most beloved by the public.
Because just like reality... a devil's eye was terrifying like this, while an angel's eye should probably be a lot cuter.
Lin Shenlu couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
Aiken Spring in the video footage was simply breathtakingly gorgeous.
Its aesthetic appeal was shockingly high.
The central spring vent was over ten meters in diameter, gushing forth ceaselessly twenty-four hours a day. Using a drone for a high-altitude bird's-eye view, Aiken Spring looked precisely like an eye that was crying endlessly.
A bit further out lay the classic color palette of the Qaidam Basin—brownish hues.
Accompanied by sparse, yellowish-green grasslands, it formed a colorful yet desolate painting, silent yet magnificent.
This was the scenery captured by the height at which Lin Shenlu flew.
This place had only officially opened to the public as a scenic area in July 2020.
Before that... it was entirely a no-man's-land...
Alright, now came the problem!
Just as Lin Shenlu was recalling his drone, An Muxi, along with He Ku'er, was preparing to walk closer to Aiken Spring.
And An Muxi was holding a glass bottle in her hand.
What was this... was she planning to collect the water herself?
"Wait!" Lin Shenlu shouted anxiously.
Any later and they would be in danger.
"What is it?" He Ku'er quickly hid her hand behind her back and asked.
"Don't move, step back slowly!" Lin Shenlu yelled.
"The area around that spring is a marsh... you'll sink right into it..." Lin Shenlu hurried over.
Stepping too close could pose a mortal danger.
Lin Shenlu himself was debating whether he should even try to collect water from this lake.
If it was too dangerous, he would simply have to give up.
At this moment, everyone was gathered around the brownish perimeter of the outer edges of Aiken Spring.
Indeed, that damp-looking, watery ground made it dangerously easy for someone to become deeply entrapped.
An Muxi looked somewhat helpless as she handed the bottle over to Lin Shenlu.
"There's no other way. I wanted to help you fill this bottle with lake water... but now I'm powerless to do it," An Muxi sighed and said.
"Don't worry, I have a way!" Lin Shenlu smiled.
The only method Lin Shenlu could think of right now... was to try using the DJI drone An Muxi had given him to fetch the water...
Drones had varying load capacities.
Only, Lin Shenlu hadn't bothered to check beforehand.
However, his glass bottle combined with being filled with water shouldn't be too heavy.
Collecting water at the edge, far away from the central gushing fountain, should be completely fine.
Of course, Lin Shenlu was also terrified that the drone might accidentally plunge into the lake.
That would be terribly awkward.
This was, after all, the first gift An Muxi had ever given him.
And losing her drone right in front of her would be the ultimate embarrassment.
Therefore, he had to operate it with absolute precision.
Hovering at low altitude close to the water's surface... was not an easy task to control to begin with.
And he had to fly it back after it was filled with water.
Lin Shenlu felt the palms of his hands growing slightly damp.
Seeing Lin Shenlu pull out the drone once more and tie a glass bottle to the bottom with a piece of string, An Muxi's eyes lit up.
"Are you planning to use the drone to fetch water with the bottle tied to it?" An Muxi asked.
Lin Shenlu nodded.
"Yes, it's the only method I can think of. I'll give it a try first. If I can manage it stably on the ground, I'll test it over the water. If not, I'll stop immediately..."
What Lin Shenlu feared most was that the weight of the water-filled bottle would drag the drone down and cause it to crash straight into the lake.
"Let me think... when I bought it, the salesperson told me... its payload capacity is twenty kilograms!"
Pausing for a second, An Muxi continued: "That's right, that's the number. A single bottle of water is totally fine."
Hearing this, Lin Shenlu finally let out a sigh of relief.
If it could handle twenty kilograms, then it shouldn't be a problem at all.
Forget one bottle of water, he could even try ten bottles.
Fortunately, the central gushing vent of Aiken Spring wasn't located dead center.
It was slightly skewed toward the outflow side.
Therefore, the water surface on the other side remained relatively calm.
After all, Aiken Spring, with its diameter of ten meters, was quite large.
Lin Shenlu operated the controls gently, and the drone moved slowly forward.
The bottle suspended underneath swung back and forth...
Lin Shenlu's nerves were taut.
The most crucial aspect of flying a drone like this was maintaining absolute stability.
If the center of gravity was unstable, trouble would ensue.
That swinging glass bottle was precisely the kind of unstable center of gravity that caused problems.
When it reached the edge of the center of the lake, Lin Shenlu slowly lowered the drone.
He gently brought the bottle close to the water's surface, leveling it out...
The water surface here was by no means calm.
Just a few meters away, it was churning and surging violently.
The ripples in the spring were extremely intense.
Naturally, because of this, a fair amount of water began flowing into the bottle on its own.
Until, once there was enough water inside the bottle, it suddenly flipped over...
The bottle, which had been floating on the water's surface, instantly sank downward...
This made filling the bottle even faster!
However, a new problem arose.
The load-bearing force on the drone instantly shifted from supporting the weight of a bottle with water to fighting the suction pull within the water.
Lin Shenlu licked his slightly dry lips, praying for the water to fill up quickly. If worst came to worst, he could just make two trips.
Glug, glug, glug.
Glug, glug, glug.
Finally, amid Lin Shenlu's heart-pounding anxiety, the bottle was completely filled with Aiken Spring water.
Lin Shenlu quickly maneuvered the drone to lift out of the water.
The heavy bottle, carrying the blue-green lake water, rose into the air together.
It was obvious that the drone was struggling a bit.
At last, the bottle completely cleared the air, breaking free from the suction of the spring water.
Lin Shenlu took a deep breath and carefully guided the drone to fly outward.
Crashing into the lake was out of the question, and crashing into the marshland was even worse!
...
Lin Shenlu stroked the glass bottle in his hand, a heavy stone finally lifting from his heart.
The water of Aiken Spring—he had successfully secured it!
Just as Lin Shenlu and An Muxi were celebrating, they heard He Ku'er shouting not far away: "Come back quickly! Don't go over there!"
Before Lin Shenlu could even turn around... He Ku'er screamed another warning...
"Oh no! It's sinking in!"
That sentence nearly scared the wits out of Lin Shenlu. If someone sank in, wouldn't that spell absolute disaster?!
"What the heck? Who is it?!" Lin Shenlu yelled frantically.