Lin Yu'an returned to the rectangular ice trough that he had enlarged, and at that moment, his sense of anticipation reached its peak!
He squatted down and began pulling the gigantic "closed loop rope", his movements steady, his eyes fixed intently on the deep ice trough, floating with fragments of ice.
Underneath the ice, the "underwater wall" began to slowly move in the darkness.
He started rhythmically, hand over hand, retrieving the rope, the wet and cold nylon sliding evenly through his gloved palms.
All that was transmitted back was the dull drag of the water on the fifteen-meter long fishing net, a lifeless weight.
The world beneath the ice seemed utterly silent, and the unchanging feedback from the rope sank his heart.
Could it be that a whole night of waiting and meticulous setup were all in vain?
Just as his patience was about to run out and he started feeling a tinge of disappointment, a very faint yet unmistakably clear tremor came through the rope!
