Chapter 62 Greed Arises

However, accidents always happen unexpectedly.

The estimated time arrived, but they didn't show up.

Luo Yin was extremely anxious. She tugged hard on the rope in her hand and found that it was still being pulled, so it was obviously still there.

What exactly happened underground?

She waited a few more minutes, which was almost the limit, and then she yanked the rope several times in quick succession, waiting for a response from the other end.

However, no!

There's nothing there!

Even the one who was tying up Sister You suddenly loosened his grip, making Luo Yin uneasy. She quickly turned on her flashlight and shone it into the sea several times.

The flashlight beam quickly penetrated the water's surface and refracted downwards.

Loin pulled and tugged, managing to pull most of the ropes out.

Where are they?

She was all alone in the dark night.

At this moment, Luo Yin experienced firsthand what it meant to be extremely anxious.

The urge to plunge into the sea and see what they were up to kept driving her.

But the reality is that she didn't have any; she still had two ropes left in her hands.

Once she gives up, what will happen to the other two?

Loin could only keep shining her light on the water's surface, trying to get some response, but to her disappointment, the water below was completely still, with no movement except for the constant lapping of the waves.

Luo Yin waited a while longer, until she discovered that the second rope with three ropes had started to malfunction.

She actually managed to pull them all up, just like Sister You's, which had been cut in halfway through.

What happened to them?

As she was pondering, she suddenly noticed a small boat drifting towards her in the distance.

Yes, a ship with its lights on in the night is like a beacon.

Conspicuous and obvious!

"What's going on? Could it be that people from the nearby islands have come over?"

She began packing in the dark, disregarding everything else, determined to leave before the visitors landed on the island.

After she finished tidying up, she squatted down and carefully smoothed out the footprints she had left behind.

As the ship approached, Loin darted away.

Fortunately, the surrounding environment protected her, allowing her to leave.

Meanwhile, on the Maria, with the increase in manpower and equipment, after several meetings, the two underwater archaeology projects led by Professor Xia and Professor Yu respectively officially began to interact.

Fang Peng played a crucial role in maintaining order on both sides, facilitating communication between the ships and teams.

After listening to the entire plan, he anticipated that if it was successfully implemented, it would be a major development for archaeology and Guangdong Province over the next decade.

He was the most excited person at the scene, apart from the experts and leaders.

He was even more excited than the researchers next to him. Despite having little to do each day, he was always among the first to arrive and the last to leave.

He put in a lot of effort to control every step of the process.

He was most wary of the foreigners on the ship.

Although it was with his help that they were able to connect and cooperate in the first place, that did not prevent him from secretly observing their intentions.

"How was it, Elder Xia? Were the porcelain pieces you salvaged today badly damaged?"

"Fortunately, we made preparations in advance today, and apart from the few that were crushed at the top, everything else is intact."

"That's great! That's great!"

Fang Peng was excited and thrilled, as the Maria no longer had as many people as before.

Because most of the personnel had already transferred to the opposite ship, they placed the salvaged artifacts directly onto the military vessel, where the soldiers acted as protectors.

Hatcher grumbled inwardly several times, and his subordinates also looked displeased.

What do these people mean? Why do I not understand them and yet suspect them?

Although they do have a bad temper!

But you can't show disdain for them in public.

Don't they have any pride?

James remained silent. No one gave them the audacity to say such things. Even he, watching from the side, was drooling with envy. Who knew there were really so many cultural relics and treasures down there?

If it weren't for that warship there, he really would have been tempted to do something wicked!

However, James, being a seasoned veteran, noticed something amiss in his men's eyes and took the opportunity to reprimand them, explaining the purpose of their voyage.

Don't lose sight of the bigger picture; these things don't belong to them.

The real focus is on those thousands of tons of treasure!

A seasoned sailor disagreed. He'd been on the boat for the past six months and was thoroughly uncomfortable. Seeing so many genuine treasures, he thought that if he could just take out one of them, he'd be set for life.

He thought about how those Chinese people even borrowed their machines from them.

If I find a few more people to work together, we can secretly take one or two items at night without being discovered.

After all, those of them who were in charge of starting the crane had seen firsthand how many cultural relics could be brought up at once.

It was practically piled up.

With so many things, what's wrong with giving them one or two items?

"Alright, keep your hands to yourself these days, and stop spending all your time drinking."

The more the man on the ship interacted with them, the more he sighed.

Look how easy it is to lead other people's teams; they are hardworking, diligent, and can execute tasks precisely as instructed.

Looking at the people around him, he had eaten, drunk, gambled, and spent all his time on the boat.

If it weren't for the limited resources, it would have all four poisons!

What he envied most was their efficiency and cooperation; they would get to work almost as soon as he gave them instructions. And, not to mention anything else, even the veteran crew members at the helm would have a few drinks before setting sail.

They witnessed this once, and James saw firsthand the shocked expressions on the faces of the opposing team.

Then everyone looked at him with sympathy.

After more than half a month of continuous salvage operations, more and more wooden crates were neatly placed in the ship's hold.

Meanwhile, some researchers were working overtime on the deck of the warship.

They've been incredibly busy lately, working in two shifts, taking turns to carry out emergency preservation of cultural relics.

At that moment, near the stern of the warship, a large hand reached out from below.

With a fierce grab, he stepped on something and leaped onto the boat, whereupon a person, fully wrapped up, jumped aboard.

The man was very agile, as if he knew where the guards were, and he dodged them time and time again.

As they got closer to the center of the deck, there were now three or four people gathered around it.

Three of them were engrossed in their work, oblivious to the world around them.

The person next to me was moving around, but never looked up.

He moved precisely to the three people's side, and after they finished, he began to record the information according to the numbers.

Normally, there would be another person to help him with the recording and registration, but unfortunately, that person had been staying up all night and was already in bed because he couldn't take it anymore.

The person who came over had witnessed this scene, and so he quietly approached during the shift change on the ship.

There was only one light on the deck. The light wasn't very bright, but it covered a fairly large area, enough to see the surrounding environment.

They mainly rely on headlamps for their work, which are not only bright but also able to illuminate precisely where they need to.

The group worked busily, occasionally feeling the wind and waves on the sea.

They overlooked some of the faintest footsteps.

Or rather, most people wouldn't even notice it.

The person moved very carefully, quietly squatting in a corner for a while. Then, as if he had spotted something, he reached out and picked out the most pleasing item from a pile of things: a small teapot about the size of a palm.

Then he did the same thing again, while keeping an eye out for anyone coming, he picked out one item from several places, and soon he had five items in his pocket.

The sound of synchronized footsteps rang out, and a group of people was approaching from not far away.

The newcomers immediately realized what was happening, quickly ducked down, and ran towards the point where the two boats were joined.

Even the busiest people instinctively stopped what they were doing at this moment.

One of the researchers touched his back. "Why does it feel so chilly?"

"Oh, really? Aren't you a little cold? Go put on another layer of clothing."

"Yes, yes, health is the foundation of everything. Get up and put on another layer of clothing so as not to delay our work."

The man thought about it and agreed, since they were already doing the work of two people.

He then spoke to the recorder and followed the light down to the bottom of the boat.

He has a habit of looking into the distance when he leaves work. He is usually too busy to pay attention to his eyes, but he still has to take care of them when he has time.

It was at this moment that he saw a person with their buttocks sticking out, leaning on the mast of the boat.

At first, he was stunned, wondering who would be so foolish as to jump into the sea?

But when he saw that the figure was a dark mass, he suddenly shouted, but the person on the other end just kept shouting back.

"Thief! Help!"

"There's a thief trying to steal something and run away!"

His words were quite loud in the quiet night!

Footsteps soon came from behind. "Neng, where is he?"

Soldiers charged over, seething with rage.

They received instructions from the highest leadership that they must protect these cultural relics; not a single one can be missing.

We had made plans to guard against them day and night, but they still showed up right under our noses.

"Look there!"

He pointed to the constantly moving sound and shadow.

The visitor took a look and saw that it was indeed true.

"Stop right there! Hand over what you're carrying, and I might spare your life. Otherwise, you'll face the consequences!"

A voice, both domineering and authoritative, rang out.

The man who was discovered was even more startled.

Then he heard the sound of a gun being cocked behind him!

Oh no!

Upon hearing the commotion nearby, the remaining researchers immediately stopped what they were doing and began to examine the surrounding area.

Since the incident had just occurred, the traces were quite obvious.

Sure enough, the researchers deduced which artifacts he might have stolen.

"Xiao Zhang, that man took at least five items!"

"What?! That damned bastard!"

"Captain Chen, you can scare people all you want, and you can deal with them, but please, please don't break anything."

The thought of losing any artifact in their hands is the greatest blow to these researchers.

"Don't worry, we'll try our best to handle this."

Not only did the warships make a commotion, but people on the opposite Maria also noticed something amiss.

Originally, it was Jiang Cong, Captain Jiang, and others who were on guard duty on the Maria ship.

However, due to reasons such as water safety, he was later replaced by his deputy, Xiao Meng.

Later, it turned out that Xiao Meng and Xiao Du were also transferred out, so they had no choice but to arrange for others.

Tonight, the Maria was back in Captain Jiang's hands. Several colleagues nearby heard the shouts from the other side and rushed over. Sure enough, they saw people rushing towards them.

-----------------------

The author's note: I've had symptoms like coughing, dizziness, sore throat, and even a low-grade fever for two consecutive days. I went to the hospital today and tested positive. The doctor said that June is the peak season for viruses, and everyone should take precautions and strengthen their immunity!