Chapter 62: Mirage

"Hey, Master, look at the big stretch of water up ahead! Could it be that we are about to cross this desert and reach the seaside? Zhao Haiping's eyes widened, pointing ahead, and he shouted, "Master, look! In the middle of that stretch of seawater, there's still a small island!" ”
"Idiot, haven't you eaten pork and never seen a pig run?" Zhanxiage rolled his eyes and said, "This is a mirage!" This play is because hot air rises on the surface, causing the air to refract, reflecting the blue sky above your head. Think about it—we're not even halfway through the entire desert, and in this location, where could there be any sea?! ”
Zhao Haiping looked at the vast expanse of blue ripples before him—wasn't that real seawater! And in the middle of this sea, there really is a small island! Even if that sea is a reflection of the blue sky, what about that little island? There's no way there's an island in the sky too, right?!
Zhao Haiping said unwillingly, "What a huge sea! If there really was a sea ahead, how much fresh water could we extract? We could catch fish from the sea, set them up to roast them, and sprinkle a bit of salted salt on top. That would taste absolutely wonderful!" Behind our old mountain village, there was a small river. We often used sharpened wooden sticks to spear fish, scrape the scales with a small knife, then set up a pile of stones to heat them, put them inside the fish's belly, grilled the fish from inside, and sprinkled a bit of salt. This kind of grilled fish tastes especially fresh and delicious, with a hint of sweetness—the taste is truly wonderful......
Zhan Xiagege sniffled, swallowed hard, and pointed to a small sandbag less than fifty meters away from them, more than four meters high above the ground. He said to the still-unwilling Zhao Haiping, "Go up and take a look." ”
Zhao Haiping looked at the war hero song in confusion, but in the end, he climbed onto the little sandbag. When he looked into the distance again, Zhao Haiping was stunned. That area was almost within reach, who knows how much fresh water they could extract, how many fish they caught, and completely escape the damned desert sea, all of which suddenly disappeared! Before him was still a barren stretch of golden, barren desert. The midday sun shone on the beach. Standing on a small sandbag and looking down, Zhao Haiping could clearly see steam billowing from the earth, scorching the air more than two meters high, as if cursed by a devil, twisting with a strange rhythm and rhythm into various gentle wave-like movements.
Zhao Haiping was truly stunned. He muttered to himself, "My water, my fish...... But why did I see a small island? I clearly saw an island! ”
Zhanxiage pointed to an area about three kilometers away from them and said, "Step down from the sandbag and take a look. The island in the sea in your eyes is probably that dune with nearly thirty meters of vertical drop from the ground, right?" ”
When Zhao Haiping stepped down from the small sandbag over four meters above the ground, the blue, drifting, almost endless sea before his eyes appeared again. Zhao Haiping tried climbing onto the small sandbag, and when he reached about 2.5 meters above the ground, the strangest scene appeared before his eyes. At this moment, the distant sea representing endless vitality and hope, and the vast desert, symbolizing death and desolation, were perfectly fused by a magical force. In his eyes, half seawater and half desert seemed to merge into a miraculous combination of pale blue and pale yellow, then sharply divided, each occupying its own end. In between, the scorching waves of scorching air drifted upward. All of this made Zhao Haiping's vision slowly blur, no matter how hard he tried to open his eyes.
Soldiers skilled in desert warfare and ethnic groups who have lived in the desert for a long time know that finding a place more than three meters above ground level in the desert allows one to avoid the hot air at the surface and thus overcome mirages. Zhao Haiping dejectedly stepped down from the small sandbag, staring into the distance at a world that had turned into sea again. He kept swallowing hard, muttering softly, "Quenching thirst by looking at plums, I'm not thirsty; quenching thirst by looking at plums, I'm not thirsty......
Zhan Xiaoge crouched down and used his shovel to dig a small pit over two feet deep into the ground. He reached out and picked up a handful of sand, examining its contents carefully. In his palm, the sand strangely reflected a few strands of light. Looking at the granular objects in the sand that could reflect light, he raised his eyebrows slightly and said in slight surprise, "Quartz?!" ”
Zhao Haiping, who was walking toward the war hero song, opened his mouth wide: "Huh?!" ”
Zhanxiage suddenly shook off the grains of sand in his hand, which were filled with natural quartz, and dashed toward the small sandbag fifty meters away. He jumped onto the sandbag, quickly set up his military binoculars, and carefully looked around for a long time. Then he jumped off the sandbag and spun around the bag at least a dozen times. That seriousness, the determination, and the burning light in his eyes were just like a super pervert suddenly spotting a stunning beauty streaking off the street.
Zhanxiage closed his eyes and stood foolishly on the small sandbag facing the sun, lost in thought. After basking in the sun for a full fifteen minutes, he suddenly bent down quickly, used a shovel to dig a shallow hole in the small sandbag, then removed the safety pin from the last grenade on his body and placed it into the sandbox. Zhanxiage hesitated briefly, then simply buried two magazines under the grenades.
No one would believe that a master of weird mine design like Zhanxiage would waste his last grenade and two magazines, watching this classic guerrilla warfare, strange mine warfare, and desert terrain special operations by military satellite. Special forces soldiers from around the world raised their hands together to the instructor. But this time, even their instructors fell silent. After thinking for a long time, they finally whispered, "Everyone, keep your eyes wide open and watch carefully. Learn from them!" ”
To solve the problem of military satellite surveillance not being able to transmit live audio to everyone, in various national security departments, those agents responsible for monitoring the war, who could read lip readings and speak fluent Chinese, became temporary translators. They stared intently at Zhanxiage's lips, translating every word he uttered without missing a word, and then sent them directly via special lines to the special forces' multifunctional broadcast halls where they were observing and learning. Behind them, even more translation experts were replaying the recordings, afraid of mistranslating even a single word of the heroic song!
Thirty minutes later, this translated manuscript, without any editing and fully preserving the original videotape, was included in the most classic "Spectral Mine" warfare cases among top-secret special training materials from various countries' militaries, forever recorded!
"There are two types of mirages: one occurs at sea. The air humidity here is high, and within a certain range, the air is quite humid. Additionally, the thickness is large, so when large areas of water vapor move, it can inadvertently form a huge lens system. Like a giant magnifying glass and microscope, it reflects the scenery from other locations right before our eyes. Additionally, mirages often occur after rain, when the air humidity is high and lens systems are more likely to form. In calm seas, rivers, lakes, snowfields, deserts, or Gobi, mirages occasionally appear in the air or 'underground.' ”
After listening to the war hero's explanation, Zhao Haiping felt even more confused. In fact, it wasn't just Zhao Haiping—at least 150,000 senior special warfare experts worldwide were listening intently, afraid to miss a single word, because they were just as confused as Zhao Haiping.
"When the temperature near the ground changes drastically, there are large differences in atmospheric density. Distant scenery experiences abnormal refraction and total reflection during light propagation, resulting in mirages. Simply put, a mirage is caused by large temperature fluctuations near the surface, with air density shifting strongly with height. Light in layers of vertical density is refracted and enters the observer's eye, and such phenomena usually do not last very long. In Qinhuangdao, China, a mirage lasting two hours occurred, which has been hailed as a miracle. ”
Zhao Haiping asked a key question for 150,000 senior special operations experts worldwide, "Since mirages are a very fleeting natural phenomenon, what does it have to do with us?" And you buried our last grenade on this little dune. I really don't see why the enemy would waste energy basking in the sun on this dune. ”
Zhanxiage laughed—he really laughed. He grabbed a handful of sand and said, "If I'm not mistaken, there was once a salt lake here in history. Although it dried up, it left behind a large amount of natural quartz in the sand." If mirages are just a fleeting and accidental natural phenomenon, then in this area, as long as the temperature meets the standard and the quartz is under the influence of these quartz figures, I expect the mirages in this area to continue for four hours—from 1 PM until 5 PM! ”
By this point, more than half of the senior special operations experts had already understood the meaning behind his words. Cold sweat instantly soaked through their underwear, and some special forces soldiers hadn't yet reacted. They all looked curiously at the instructor they called "Iron Man," watching as fine beads of sweat slowly seeped from his forehead.
The senior combat experts and instructors of the special forces almost simultaneously said a shockingly similar phrase: "Now that group of terrorists is in big trouble for the joint pursuit unit!" ”
Trapped in the mirage illusion, not only are all the seawater and islands in front of you meaningless, but it also obstructs the troops' vision, preventing them from locating distant enemies. Just as Zhao Haiping taught in the war hero song, the way to break the mirage is to find a terrain at least three meters above the ground and stand on it, which can escape the influence of the hot air.
Those who understand this are, of course, those Afghan guerrillas who grew up in the mountainous desert and fought nine years of "holy war" against the Soviet army!