Volume 2Chapter 7: Women

The other party was a large international marine resource development company. The so-called marine resource development is actually based on the analysis of existing information on various routes and historical records to infer the location of certain shipwrecks and salvage shipwreck materials.

This behavior is very similar to that of professional marine tomb raiders, but it is legal because a considerable proportion of the resources of wrecked ships found on the high seas can be legally inherited by the finder. Of course, it is impossible to verify whether the resources come from the high seas.

There are two types of companies like this. One is to salvage modern wrecks, disassemble the still-intact hulls for auction, or sell the resources obtained. The other is to salvage ancient wrecks and sell the antiques on them to collectors or museums.

This company belongs to the latter, i.e. it mainly targets ancient wrecks. It has many archaeological consultants. Each project requires a large number of experts in archaeology and marine science to spend two or three years to complete.

In order to find the underwater tomb as soon as possible, Uncle San borrowed equipment and personnel from this company in the form of a guarantee, and sent a five-person temporary expedition team in the name of this company. This was supposed to be a very profitable deal. But five days after the ship set sail, contact between their logistics department and the expedition team’s ship was lost.

They waited for 48 hours, and finally only sent someone to search the missing sea area, but found nothing. The last confirmed information three hours before the disappearance was that Uncle San and the other two explorers had entered the ancient tomb on the seabed.

The reason they came to me was that before he left, Uncle San had told them to call me if anything happened.

The person on the phone said, “We can’t confirm the situation inside the tomb yet, and we don’t know whether the three people are alive or dead, so we’re going to organize another team to go in and take a look. At the very least, they must help them find the exact location of the tomb.

I heard him emphasize the word “guide” very strongly, as if to imply that he knew my true identity. I had reservations, but this matter was too important, and I had to go there in person. I had to stall, saying, “I don’t know the exact situation on your side.

The other party said, ”Okay, the sooner the better.”

I hung up the phone and decided to leave immediately. I packed my things in a hurry and asked the hotel to book the earliest flight to Haikou for me. I had been to Xisha once before and knew that if I wanted to reach the real Xisha Islands, I would have to take at least three different modes of transport: plane, car and boat.

For the next dozen hours, I traveled non-stop, and I didn’t have time to think about anything. I just kept praying that things wouldn’t turn out the worst. The next day at noon, my plane arrived in Haikou, and the company had already sent a car to pick me up.

The man who came to pick me up was surnamed Liu, and he told me that the company’s senior management was taking this matter very seriously because one of the people who disappeared with Uncle San was the son of a senior executive, and the project was being carried out in the South China Sea, so it could not be publicized, so they were looking for a civilian.

At first I didn’t understand what he meant by “civilian,” but then I realized that it wasn’t funny. But this Mr. Liu was just an ordinary driver, and he didn’t know any more details. I talked to him for a while, but then I realized that the car had actually driven to the dock.

I was confused. At this time, a middle-aged man came over and asked, “Are you Mr. Wu?”

I nodded, and he opened the car door and said, “Please follow me. The boat is about to leave.”

I was very confused and said, “Boat? What boat? Aren’t you taking me to the hotel?”

He shook his head and said, “The time is too urgent. We must arrive at the location within seven hours and complete the operation within ten hours, otherwise it will enter the half-month wind season, and there will be no maritime support, which will make the situation even more troublesome.”

I felt a little uncomfortable when I heard that they were taking matters into their own hands, but since it was a matter of life and death for my uncle, I had no choice but to mutter a little and follow him with my luggage. When we arrived at the pier, he pointed to a very old seven-ton steel fishing boat and said, “This is it. This is our boat for this time.”

I thought he was joking, but he explained helplessly, “There’s no other way. Our large-scale search in that area has already attracted the attention of the border guards. We have to disguise ourselves. Don’t worry. The equipment on the boat is already state-of-the-art, and there will be absolutely no problem sailing.”

Then someone on the boat took my luggage and handed it to me. He spoke a few words to the fishermen on the boat in the local dialect, then shook my hand and said, “Miss Ning is in charge of some things on the boat. She’s right behind you. Good luck!”

They were so efficient that I hadn’t even caught up with the pace, and he had already left quickly. I turned around and saw a young woman with short hair in a tight-fitting wetsuit looking at me. She looked at me as if I were standing there innocently, and couldn’t help laughing. She waved and said, “Follow me.”