Chapter 330: Setting Sail! Showdown

Someone from the hotel came and took several people away. Xiao Peng had no idea what kind of punishment these guys received. He thought it was very likely that they would not be subjected to any punishment. After all, this was a five-star hotel. If they didn't have connections, how could they sneak in here and cause trouble?

However, what happened later proved Xiao Peng wrong: it was two hotel security guards who let these guys in, and the two security guards were also the planners of the whole incident: in their eyes, Xiao Peng from China and the Cousteau brothers from France were a few fat sheep.

The hotel is very dedicated to the security here, but a thousand-mile dam is destroyed by ants, and a few grassroots security guards can cause such a big thing.

And it’s really not difficult to get guns in Ukraine: when Xiao Peng first arrived here, a gang fight broke out in the suburbs. In addition to weapons, those gang members also used grenades. . . .

It’s so fucking scary!

Two years ago, Xiao Peng was shocked by an incident in Nikopol, Ukraine: during a hearing in the local court, the victim's father threw a grenade at the defendant, killing him. A little earlier, during a protest in Kyiv, Ukraine, someone threw a grenade at the protesters, killing four and injuring 141.

Such a thing is simply unimaginable in China!

In fact, Ukraine also had a gun ban, which only allowed ordinary people to own and use hunting rifles.

But since the outbreak of the war in eastern Ukraine, in order to deal with pro-Russian armed forces, they no longer monitor the flow of weapons. At that time, many militias were conscripted into the army, resulting in a large amount of weapons flowing out of the war zone. Here, even missile launchers can be purchased like normal goods. What's the difficulty in buying a few guns? Even a bazooka is not difficult!

At "Seven Kilometers", a Chinese businessman told Xiao Peng: You are wasting money by shopping like this, be careful of being targeted.

Xiao Peng agreed with what he said. He was about to thank the Chinese businessman for the reminder when he saw him actively trying to sell him weapons: "How about grenades? 400 hryvnia each!" (100 RMB)

Xiao Peng hadn't originally planned to buy these things, and he didn't plan to stay in Ukraine for long, but after something like this happened, it would be better to equip Walter and the others with weapons! This guy was just throwing grenades for fun, and Xiao Peng wanted to buy a tank to go out.

The richer you are, the more afraid you are of death. The ancients were right.

At this time, Duan Bo told Xiao Peng the good news: the Bronze Five's transformation mission was complete. The multi-beam sonic scanner's cable had been extended by 900 meters, allowing it to explore depths up to 1,500 meters with the original cable. Thankfully, the weather there was quite good. They could search the smuggling route from Celta to Inebolu.

Five sailboats could maintain a distance of 600 meters between them, dragging multi-beam sonic scanners across the seabed. This allowed them to scan a three-kilometer width at a time, completing a round trip in ten days. Xiao Peng's designated exploration area could be completed within 300 days.

However, considering the inclement weather there in the fall, this exploration mission definitely couldn't be completed in one go. And Xiao Peng didn't plan to return to the Black Sea. So, this time, he decided to work intensively until mid-August. If he couldn't find it, he'd find it. If not, he'd call it a day!

And considering the cost issue of the "Calysop", Xiao Peng decided that the "Five Little Strongmen" would go for a sweep first, and the "Calysop" would depart ten days later.

Another reason why the 'Calysop' set out late was that not much supplies could be taken on board.

Xiao Peng bought too much stuff at Seven Miles, including dozens of boxes of hot pot bases of various flavors! These items were moved to the Calysop's warehouse, severely impacting the Calysop's supply capacity and endurance.

However, Chen Cheng and his men had no objection to Xiao Peng buying so many things and affecting their supplies. Instead, they were very happy: what they missed most when they were abroad was food at home, and now that Xiao Peng had brought back so many, how could they not be happy?

They now spread fermented bean curd on rye bread. It's not cheap to buy this stuff here! A bottle of fermented bean curd costs over 100 hryvnia, and three bottles can buy a grenade!

Anyway, the first group of twenty people on the five sailboats who were to carry out the exploration mission had already set off to work and began exploring the designated sea area. Including the sailing time at sea, the "Calysop" would set off to meet them in nine days.

After watching Moro and Duan Bo lead the team off, Xiao Peng originally wanted to go straight back to the hotel. He planned to relax for the next nine days, as he had a long and grueling period of work at sea. But before he could leave, Chen Cheng stopped him: "Boss, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Of course." Xiao Peng and Chen Cheng arrived at the conference room.

Chen Cheng actually wanted to work with the 'Five Little Strongmen' and let the first mate command the 'Calysop', but this proposal was rejected by Xiao Peng, so he wanted to talk to Xiao Peng.

"Boss." Chen Cheng handed Xiao Peng a cigarette and said, "Does our salvage operation rely so much on luck this time?"

Xiao Peng lit a cigarette and took a puff. "Deep-sea salvage always involves a lot of luck. Why did you insist on going with the 'Five Little Strongmen'?"

Chen Cheng was silent for a moment before saying, "Boss, you said the other day you never asked about our identities. I'm telling you our true identities: everyone on the Calypsope is from the Naval Mobile Salvage Squadron."

Xiao Peng's face showed a hint of surprise after hearing this: "Someone from the Navy Mobile Salvage Squadron? Oh my god, he comes from a famous family!"

When he said that Chen Cheng "came from a prominent family", he was not joking. The Naval Mobile Salvage Squadron is affiliated with the Chinese Navy. Since its establishment on Army Day in 1958, it has been China's first special force responsible for rescue and salvage, underwater disaster relief and other tasks.

In 1963, the first modern ocean-going freighter built by China, the "Great Leap Forward", sank in the high seas on its way to Japan. This incident caused an uproar: Japan immediately said that the "Great Leap Forward" was sunk by a torpedo. At that time, the local situation was extremely tense. Countries including the United States, the Soviet Union and Korea immediately shifted the blame and said that it had nothing to do with them. However, they all had reasons to be suspected. If this matter was not handled properly, it would easily lead to military disputes.

At the time, China believed in no one but evidence, so it dispatched a mobile rescue squadron to investigate. In those technologically backward times, these divers risked their own lives to uncover the truth and ease the regional situation. Since then, they have been at the forefront of projects such as the construction of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge and the rescue and salvage of distressed ships both domestically and internationally. They represent the pinnacle of Chinese marine salvage and rescue.

Chen Cheng smiled bitterly and said, "Boss, what do you mean by 'from a famous family'? We always thought we were good enough, but your ability to search for shipwrecks is truly amazing! We actually came out this time to learn from you... How did you find those shipwrecks?"