Chapter 213: A Chance Encounter Seeking Help

Taking a detour is normal; Ye Cheng didn't think much of it—fishermen, who wouldn't want to catch a bit more fish?

The boat headed north for ten-odd minutes, the sea surface gradually widened, there were far fewer small islands and fishing boats; on the calm sea, Ye Cheng's boat left a white trail as the sunset shone down, a scene of tranquil peace.

Gazing at the scene before him, Ye Cheng gradually became intoxicated; the sea breeze was gentle, the sunlight warm, no KPI, no PPT—what a leisurely life.

Just at this wonderful moment, a voice interrupted him,

"Brother, look at that—what is it? Something seems to have happened."

Ye Cheng followed the direction Xiao Hu pointed and looked over; on the distant sea surface a large ship was stopped, people on the deck running about in chaos, shouting loudly, a noisy scene, but he couldn't make out what they were shouting.

"Second Uncle, whose ship is this? I've never seen it before." Ye Cheng looked toward Wang Defa.

Wang Defa shook his head: "I don't know it, and it doesn't look like a fishing boat; maybe it's just out for fun."

"Let's go take a look, Second Uncle—we've come all the way to our turf; any help is good help."

Wang Defa pushed the throttle, and the fishing boat moved toward it.

The ship over there seemed busy; everyone paid no attention to Ye Cheng and them, letting them slowly draw near.

As the distance closed, once he could clearly see the people on the deck, Ye Cheng's brows furrowed instantly,

"How come it's them?"

On the opposite deck, Ye Cheng didn't know the others, but he recognized Cui Shuran and Xiao Rou, who were anxiously looking down into the water.

"Young Master Cui! Xiao Rou!"

Ye Cheng stood on the bow and shouted loudly.

Cui Shuran turned his head in surprise, saw it was Ye Cheng, and his face lit up with joy; he loudly ordered the people on board to pull Ye Cheng up.

As soon as Ye Cheng arrived, Xiao Rou anxiously pulled him to the ship's side, pointing downward and saying,

"Ye Cheng, we have a diver missing underwater—can you help by going down to look?"

"A diver?" Ye Cheng only then noticed two people in diving suits sitting on the deck, nervously describing the underwater situation to someone.

"Is the salvage you mentioned yesterday taking place here?" Ye Cheng looked at Cui Shuran.

Cui Shuran nodded: "Yeah, that's it. Now a diver has gone missing; those who went down can't find him. Ye Cheng, can you help by going down to look?"

Ye Cheng frowned—not that he couldn't go down, but with so many people going down, wouldn't that expose himself?

Cui Shuran thought Ye Cheng was asking for money, so he quickly said, "I can pay; as long as you bring the person up, I'll give 20,000."

Ye Cheng glanced at him and said lightly, "Saving lives doesn't involve payment."

Xiao Rou looked at Ye Cheng in surprise, "You said before you'd only go into the sea for money, didn't you?"

"Beautiful lady, that was work; this is saving a person."

Ye Cheng still holds to his basic principles—taking money now would seem too vulgar; of course, after bringing the person up, if Cui Shuran understands a bit, he ought to at least give a big red envelope.

Ye Cheng said to Cui Shuran, "Young Master Cui, I can go down, but you need to give me a set of diving gear, and we should agree on that first—I'm not making any guarantees."

Cui Shuran nodded, "I'll go tell the head of the survey team."

Taking advantage of this moment, Wang Defa came over and warned Ye Cheng, "Lao Er, it seems there's a cave down there, a very deep one—going down is dangerous, don't be foolish."

If there's a cave, it's no wonder the diver went missing.

Then I also need to be careful; who knows what's down in the deep sea.

Soon, Cui Shuran came over with two people—a middle-aged fat man and an old man wearing glasses.

Upon approaching, Cui Shuran said to the old man, "Mr. Li, this is Ye Cheng, a local fisherman with excellent swimming skills; I've told him he'll go down to help us find the person."

Mr. Li looked at Ye Cheng sternly and asked, "Young man, are you familiar with this sea area?"

"Not familiar." Ye Cheng replied directly.

The old man's beard twitched—he hadn't expected Ye Cheng to say that; normally one wouldn't claim to be very familiar.

"Then do you have confidence you can help us bring the person up?"

"No."

This unconventional answer immediately made the atmosphere awkward.

The middle-aged fat man glared at Ye Cheng,

"If you're not sure, what are you saying for? Aren't you just wasting time?"

Ye Cheng let out a cold snort,

"Do you have confidence? Then you go down yourself."

Damn it!

Looking at you like this, I know you're a leader.

But!

None of my business.

Having said that, Ye Cheng turned around intending to leave, but Xiao Rou behind him grabbed him.

Seeing this country bumpkin dare to talk back to him, the fat man felt his authority challenged, his beard bristling as he pointed at Ye Cheng and said,

"You... what kind of attitude is this?!"

Ye Cheng spread his hands at Xiao Rou, "Well, you and Young Master Cui saw—it's them who don't need me, not that I'm unwilling to help."

Having said that, he turned to leave again, but Xiao Rou quickly grabbed him, "Ye Cheng, wait a moment."

Cui Shuran looked at the scene before him, his head swelling—how did a good thing turn into this all of a sudden?

"Young Cui, next time you should think more before acting, understand?" The fat man, unable to deal with Ye Cheng, could only grab Cui Shuran and give him a scolding.

Cui Shuran felt helpless, so he tried to placate the fat man: "Director Zhao, don't take him seriously—he's just like that; saving lives is urgent now, let him go down and have a look first."

Having said that, he then said to the old man,

"Mr. Li, time waits for no one—if we don't go down soon, it'll become dangerous."

Upon mentioning time, the old man glanced at his watch, his expression worsening; he coughed once and looked toward the middle-aged fat man,

Director Zhao, let him go down and try first; there's no other good option now.

The middle-aged fat man didn't dare to speak harshly to this old man; he could only nod and stay silent.

Seeing that the two had agreed, Cui Shuran hurried over to persuade Ye Cheng: "Ye Cheng, help out, we really don't have much time."

If it weren't a matter of life and death, Ye Cheng would definitely not bother this time.

But knowing he had a chance to save someone and yet not doing so, if that person ended up dying, Ye Cheng felt his conscience wouldn't be able to bear it.

"I'll go down, but I'll still say the same thing: I'll do my best, I can't guarantee I'll find him. Tell me what's down there and where he went missing."

Soon, the two divers came over and said, and indeed it was just as Wang Defa had said: there is a cave on the sea bottom, very deep, and that's where the person disappeared.

The three of them went down, never expecting such a deep cave below; they had thought a quick swim would reach the bottom, but they swam for half a day without hitting bottom, and there were many side passages.

The three made a hand signal underwater to prepare to return, but just then one of them accidentally dropped his handheld equipment onto the sea bottom; he gestured, then dove straight down to look for it.