Chapter 387: Heading Out to Sea

Ye Yaodong glanced again at the four soldiers standing behind them. He had no idea whether these four hastily recruited soldiers were even professional—the seabed was only about ten meters from the surface, and a decent free-diver could make it down in two or three minutes.

"One thing I'll say upfront—taking you out to sea is fine, and I won't ask you for fuel money either; I'll cover it. But you can't touch anything on my boat. The machinery on board is expensive and breaks easily. It's everything my father and I own—we can't afford to lose it."

Fortunately, both he and his father were very careful with the machinery and equipment. Every time they finished using it and before docking, they would wipe it down, then cover it with a nylon tarp, and finally throw an old cloth over it so it wouldn't draw too much attention.

The old man from the cultural center hurriedly nodded in agreement. "Don't worry about that. I can guarantee no one will touch so much as a single thread on your boat. We just need you to take us to that stretch of sea. We'll pay for the fuel too."

The others chimed in with nods, all telling him not to worry, that they wouldn't touch anything recklessly.

"As long as you don't touch the stuff on my boat, that's fine. I trust you cultured folk all have manners."

Whether they had manners or not, the pleasant words had to be said first—flatter them a little. Otherwise, if curiosity got the better of them and they started poking at this and prodding that on his boat, and the diving gear got exposed, what then?

"Don't worry, thanks. To save time, shall we head out now?"

"Wait a moment," Ye Yaodong said to his father. "Bring a bucket of boiled water along. There are still two buckets at the workers' place anyway. I'll have Lin Lin Xiuqing boil another bucket and leave it to cool later to make up for it."

Lin Lin Xiuqing also said, "Go ahead and take it. I'll pour out the mung bean soup I just cooked in the pot and boil another bucket right away."

Ye Yaodong smiled at the leaders again. "Why don't you all go wait outside the dock first? This sudden decision to go out to sea caught us off guard, and we haven't had time to prepare things in advance."

"No problem, no problem. It's our fault for being so sudden. You go ahead and get ready."

"Alright then, just sit by the door and wait a moment. It'll be quick."

Ye Yaodong changed into rain boots and put on his sun hat. He had no idea how long they'd be out at sea and hesitated over whether to bring noodles. There were too many people—did he really have to feed and water all of them?

Lin Lin Xiuqing simply packed a bucket of the mung bean soup she'd just cooked for him to take along. If they got hungry, they could fill their stomachs with it—waterlogged or not. She'd just be staying home anyway, so she could always cook another pot.

"Fine then, mung bean soup it is. Can't afford anything else."

Once Ye Yaodong was ready, the whole group set off grandly toward the dock, with the villagers trailing behind them as well.

Along the way, he heard them constantly brainwashing the village committee and the locals, saying the bronze artifacts were cultural relics, belonged to the nation, were thousands of years old, were cultural heritage, blah blah blah on and on… and they even gave a rough rundown of the origins and history of the bronze artifacts…

In any case, he only half-understood what they were saying. The villagers probably had their heads full of mush by now.

Once they all boarded one after another, the villagers would probably have plenty to grumble about again.

It was right along the coast—Ye Yaodong remembered the location. At a normal speed, it would only take about 20 minutes by boat. It was so close he hadn't even considered whether they might get seasick, and besides, they were the ones who'd made the last-minute request to go out to sea.

He hadn't expected that after just ten or twenty minutes at sea, they'd already be pale-faced. All his worry about them fiddling with his boat's machinery had been for nothing.

They couldn't even pay attention to the several small wooden boats and the 8–9-meter motorized boats trailing behind them, letting those curious folks follow along to watch the excitement.

Once the boat stopped and the anchor was dropped to hold it in place, aside from the four soldiers and the village chief and party secretary, who were still standing ramrod-straight, the rest were already slumped in a row along the gunwale, waves of retching rising up.

"Ugh~"

"Ugh~ fish…"

"There's fish…"

Ye Yaodong poked his head out for a look and said, "Chumming the water."

After throwing up, the leaders finally felt better. "Chumming the water?"

"Your vomit is the bait."

"Ugh…"

Someone changed the subject and asked, "How much longer?"

They'd been holding back the urge to vomit the whole time, none of them daring to speak, afraid that opening their mouths would make them throw up on the spot. Only now did someone finally speak up to ask.

"We're already here. The boat's stopped."

"Huh? We're here? Good, good. If we'd gone any further, these old bones of mine would've been done for."

"Is it right under here in the seabed?"

"Pretty much," Ye Yaodong pointed at the island not far away, and the surrounding green mountains. "I noticed the surroundings before—it's roughly around this area. You can send two people down first to see if they find anything. If not, search around the perimeter."

"Alright, alright."

"Huh~ why are there so many boats following behind us?"

"Must be the boats that were working out at sea earlier, right? When we pulled out, there weren't that many extra boats by the shore."

"Probably…"

"The moment we got on the boat, our legs went wobbly within minutes. We didn't have any spare energy to pay attention to anything else…"

"Get in the water and look around first. Don't worry about them for now."

Ye Yaodong's job of leading the way was done. He just stood to one side and let them make their own arrangements. He kept quiet too—it wasn't his place to speak. As long as they didn't ask him anything, he and his father just had to stand there like background props from here on out.

Two splashes sounded, water spraying everywhere. The two soldiers didn't linger on the surface at all, diving straight down toward the seabed.

Ye Yaodong looked at the seawater today—it was quite blue. Mainly because the weather was good, the blazing sun overhead made the water look especially clear. Visibility underwater was probably very high too.

Ten-odd meters wasn't exactly deep. Without lingering, getting to the bottom wouldn't take long. The only thing to watch out for was the pressure of ten meters of water.

Everyone on the boat crowded along the gunwale, staring at the spot where the two soldiers had just jumped in, watching intently.

The fishing boats nearby had also just seen two people jump into the water and gradually drew closer, keeping their distance from their boat while also staring at the patch of sea where the divers had gone down.

But those two surfaced about ten meters away on the other side of the boat two minutes later.

Hearing the sound of them breaking the surface, everyone instinctively looked left and right at the sea, but saw nothing.

It was only after Ye Yaodong pointed out that the two were on the other side that they finally spotted the heads bobbing on the surface.

When the two soldiers first surfaced, they were also confused for a moment. After getting their bearings, they realized they were quite a distance from the boat, and then quickly swam toward the fishing boat.

"How was it?"

"Any luck?"

"Why did they come up over there?"

"Did you make it to the seabed? How deep is it down there?"

"Did you find anything? Is it right under there?"

A crowd gathered around, all firing off questions at once.

One of the soldiers wiped the seawater from his face. "We made it to the bottom—about fifteen meters. When we first went down, we didn't see anything. After searching around a bit, we found this at the spot we just surfaced from."

He pointed to the bronze wine cup held in another person's palm; the old man from the Cultural Center's eyes instantly widened as he took the cup, which was still stained with various mud.

Ye Yaodong also stretched his neck, took a look, and saw it was much like the one he had brought up, just a bit dirtier.

"Are there more down below?"

"Yes, several more are scattered on the seabed. We couldn't hold our breath any longer, so we just grabbed one to come up first; we'll continue in that direction later to save some time. But one thing to note: there is a submerged reef down there, and I suspect it is an artificial reef."

"A sunken ship?!"

Upon hearing "artificial reef," the first reaction of those from the Cultural Center was a sunken ship.

Submerged reefs are divided into natural submerged reefs and artificial submerged reefs.

An artificial reef, put simply, is placing large objects on the seabed to form a solid obstacle.

Because long ago people discovered a principle: after a ship sinks to the seabed, many fish gather around it, making it relatively easy to catch fish in the sunken ship area.

For instance, when he hauled the bronze tripod ashore, a green rock cod swam out from inside it, but fishing nets easily get snagged on the bottom, of course.

So many people choose to sink abandoned ships or old furniture into the seabed; this attracts fish and is very helpful for future fishing. This is the relatively early form of artificial reef.

However, these large objects cannot sink too deep; if they sink relatively deep, they are very likely to be corroded away.

Only if the position is relatively shallow can it become an artificial reef.

In shallow positions, surrounding creatures can receive sunlight, perform photosynthesis to generate energy, and the fish that feed on these creatures will accumulate in greater numbers.

Ye Yaodong and Ye's father's first reaction upon hearing "artificial reef" was also a sunken ship!

At that time, it was already dark underwater, and visibility on the seabed was unclear; Ye Yaodong only knew there was a submerged reef nearby, had no way to observe it carefully, and could only quickly free the fishing net and surface.

Afterwards, he also wondered if it might be a sunken ship; after all, there was a bronze tripod nearby, along with scattered bronze wine cups and a box of gold cakes.

Throughout history, countless sunken ships lie on the seabed; some sink deep, some shallow; some can be salvaged, while others corrode away at the bottom.

The two soldiers nodded. "It is very likely a sunken ship. Judging by its size, we need to go down again; it would be best to find a professional salvage team."

The county official smiled and said, "Thank you, comrades of the Liberation Army; you've worked hard. Today, we must trouble you to go down as many times as possible. These are cultural relics, of great significance to historical research. We will submit a report to apply for a salvage team; I believe the authorities will attach great importance to this."

"No need for courtesy; we will do our best to cooperate with the work."

The speaker was likely the captain of the four-man squad. After speaking, he walked toward Ye Yaodong, saluted him with a military salute, and asked him to steer the boat in that direction.

Ye Yaodong was stunned by the military salute and the military posture; it was the first time he had seen a soldier salute him at such close range. Just like on television, it was truly straight, precise and methodical; he couldn't help but feel ashamed and also raised his head, puffed out his chest, and straightened his back.

If the few boys in this family cannot study well, sending them to join the army would not be bad!

That straight, straight back looked spirited; compared to a lazybones with no sitting posture and no standing posture, it was much more comfortable.

Better than being good at neither literature nor martial arts, good at nothing. By then, they could only loaf around at home; in these times, joining the army still has good prospects.

Thinking and pondering this in his heart did not stop him from skillfully steering the boat.

After the soldier squad captain finished speaking, he turned and walked toward the other two who had not yet entered the water, reminding them to watch out for underwater reefs and such.