The Lost Tomb : The Southern Archives Mysteries

Chapter 5: South China Sea Plague Ship

Zhang Haiyan poked his head out again, but didn't glean any more information. He retreated back into the darkness and wondered, "What's under this reef?"

"What do you think? Have they just been digging one hole on this reef for the past ten years, or have they been digging holes all over the reefs here?"

Zhang Haiyan nodded. He knew what Haixia meant, but what could be under this reef? Reefs were structures formed by coral reefs on top of undersea mountains, after all.

If they had dug all over the reefs here, then did that mean there were special minerals in the reefs? Or did it mean that precious treasures were stuck in the aged coral reefs?

"Should we go down and have a look?"

"It's not possible. Look. These guard posts form a ring. There aren't any blind spots, and the lighting is very sufficient." Zhang Haiyan said. He wondered if the workers were passengers from ten years ago. If so, it was truly miserable to be abducted and then ordered to work here for ten years. "We'll do the usual. Catch someone and ask what's going on."

Both of them looked around. There was only one conning tower [1] on the deck of this steamship, along with two huge chimneys. The main superstructure was arranged in the middle of the hull, and the cargo hold was placed between it, the bow, and the stern. The bow was straight and shaped inward just below the waterline, which was typical of North Atlantic bows [2].

The guard tower was on top of the superstructure and there were about seven or eight guard posts around the two large chimneys. There were probably hundreds of ropes hanging down, all connected to the ship's railings, and clear lanterns had been hung three or four meters apart. The deck was very clean and no one was around.

They could see that in addition to the bow, the windows of the cabin and superstructure were both dark. It seemed like no one was around, but Zhang Haixia shook his head. "I can smell them moving around inside. There must be people in the cabin."

"You're smelling people going to the toilet again?" Zhang Haiyan looked at Zhang Haixia empathetically.

Zhang Haixia huffed, "It's the smell of wine." As he enunciated each word, he pointed to the bow, where someone just so happened to come out to check the extinguished lights. But the bow was quite far away from them, so it was very easy to be spotted if they tried to go over there.

The person who had come out was dressed in a military uniform. They looked at the broken glass on the ground in confusion, and then said something in the Guixi dialect to the guards posted above.

These people were also Chinese, and it was well known that when it came to Chinese and Malays, Chinese were more difficult to deal with. The closer the Chinese were to the mainland, the harder they were to deal with. But Zhang Haiyan was able to understand a few words this time. They were saying that they had just met two people with amazing skills on the reef over there, and now that there was a strange situation here, it was probably related to them.

After they were done speaking, the sentries nodded and raised their guns, aiming them at the deck. Soldiers with loaded pistols also appeared on the deck and started searching.

Zhang Haixia looked at Zhang Haiyan sullenly. It was obvious that he had an opinion on Zhang Haiyan's reckless handling of the lights.

Zhang Haiyan listened to the approaching footsteps in the dark. Although the two of them had incredible skills, he also knew that they had absolutely no chance of fighting back against those kinds of automatic pistols. It was the sorrow of the changing times.

Mind racing, Zhang Haiyan quickly raised his head and took aim at the cyan-colored lantern hanging in the middle of the hole on the reef. He spit out a blade, and the precise hit caused the lantern to shatter. Sparks and glass fell to the ground, causing a commotion below.