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墨書 Inktalez
This time, I was separated from Shunzi; I was in the first team while he and Mike were in the second. This arrangement was for the best; if anything happened, we could still provide assistance.
I was among the first to dive for reconnaissance. Our team of six returned after about an hour of searching, having found nothing but some marine life. There was no sign of any wreck. The fishing boat continued on for a while, and Mai Lao led another dive team into the water. After more than an hour, they returned empty-handed as well.
This routine continued for nearly half a month. We had scoured almost every inch around the Yellow Sea without discovering a single Ancient Shipwreck. Instead, we stumbled upon a few civilian wrecks. I began to doubt the validity of that cursed Nautical Chart; it lacked clear distance markers, and the hand-drawn scale was vague at best, merely indicating a general location. In this boundless ocean, where were we supposed to dig?
Yet Mai Lao remained calm. He said that salvaging required patience and could not be rushed. After all, the Ming Dynasty Shipwreck had been underwater for hundreds of years; if there had been any geological shifts, it might have been displaced. He had a point—underwater tectonic movements could influence tsunamis and storms, inevitably pushing wrecks to different locations. Given this, we had no choice but to keep searching. Since we were already here, we might as well give it our all! Even if we didn’t find it, I expected to be compensated.
These past weeks had truly worn us out. Shunzi complained about being tired every day, but he wasn’t alone; all the sailors were exhausted, including Mai Lao. At over forty years old, he was also feeling the strain from all this work. The only one who seemed to have it easy was Jiao Ba; he didn’t have to dive at all! He spent his days lounging on the ship, pretending to sympathize with us whenever we returned: “Oh dear, you two must be suffering! Hurry up and rest!”
Seeing his smug demeanor made me furious. No matter how tired I was, I felt compelled to kick him just for his attitude.
One afternoon, after our team of six had prepared everything, what started as a sunny day suddenly turned dark with thick clouds. Seabirds flew chaotically in the sky as the wind picked up and waves crashed more violently than before. A flash of lightning lit up the sky, followed by thunder that hinted at an impending storm; the atmosphere felt heavy and oppressive.
Mai Lao looked at the darkening sky with concern and said, “Just a moment ago, the weather was fine; how did it change so suddenly?”
I knew well that oceanic weather could not be predicted; even modern instruments couldn’t help. One moment it could be sunny, and the next it could turn into a storm.
I shouted loudly, “Everyone prepare to dive! If there’s any danger, get back to shore immediately!”
At that moment, Jiao Ba approached me and whispered in my ear, “Brother Yi, something feels off! I sense a faint smell of blood in the air.”
"That's just your overly sensitive nose, a habit from your profession. Even if there's a fishy smell, it's just the scent of fish," I patted his shoulder, indicating that he was being overly cautious. A tomb raider's nose is typically sharp; I couldn't smell anything at all.
Jenny also seemed reluctant to go underwater, as it appeared there might be rough waves. I glanced at Mike, waiting for his signal. His expression was troubled, but he eventually sighed and agreed for us to dive in, though he kept reminding us to be extremely careful.
The six of us sailors prepared everything and nodded to each other. I made a gesture and jumped into the sea first, followed closely by the other five. We formed a line and quickly descended into the depths. This time, I had also strapped on weighted lead blocks; Mike had mentioned that this area was about forty meters deep, and without the weights, I would expend a lot of energy.
We were six people, three spears, and three lights, cautiously diving deeper. Fish swam around us as I descended to about twenty meters. I felt the pressure underwater increasing significantly; my body struggled under the weight. I glanced at the others; they seemed to be feeling it too.
Minutes later, we had descended to approximately thirty meters. This was the deepest I had ever dived in my life. The sunlight could no longer reach us due to the clouds above, and the underwater world was pitch black, eerily silent like a legendary black hole in space.
Aside from our underwater lights, there were almost no other sources of illumination. We split into three groups and began searching for traces of the wreck in different directions. To ensure safety, each of us was connected to the ship with a two-hundred-meter-long thin iron chain. Someone on the ship monitored our movements; as we swam further away, more chain would be released. If danger arose, we could pull on the chain to signal for help.
I teamed up with Heizi as we slowly swam toward the front of the ship. The underwater light wasn't very effective in deep water; visibility was only a few meters. Holding my spear tightly, I stayed close to Heizi while scanning our surroundings.
The darkness around us made me feel uneasy; an unfamiliar sense of fear washed over me. Even facing sharks hadn't frightened me this much before, but now my heart raced with anxiety because I didn't know what lay ahead. The unknown always provokes imagination and dread.
After swimming about a hundred meters without finding any signs of wreckage—just some marine life around—we continued our search. Heizi used his underwater light to scan the area when suddenly a moving shadow darted past our light, startling both of us.
The creature moved incredibly fast; we couldn't discern what it was. Heizi turned to look at me, and I shook my head to indicate that I hadn't seen it clearly either. We were close together, feeling each other's tension; honestly, even as someone who had been on battlefields before, I felt a twinge of fear.
The underwater light swept around again and finally revealed a creature—a small shark over a meter long. It appeared to be an old shark; those typically pose little danger to humans. I figured that shadow must have been it.
Suddenly, the weight on my heart lifted as I patted Heizi to signal that it was safe. He relaxed at last, and we continued swimming forward. We had already covered over a hundred meters but still found nothing. Just as we were about to turn back, I noticed something glowing not far ahead—a flickering red light...
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