Discovering Treasure

Without the navigation turned on, Zhang He's yacht had already entered New Guinea's economic zone without them realizing it.

Close to the equator, the deck was sweltering, so everyone jumped into the sea to cool off.

"Huh? There's another island base here."

As long as they were in the water, everyone could see the seabed just a few meters below their feet.

Sunlight shone through the water, illuminating the silt, rocks, and large patches of coral, with fish and shrimp teeming within.

It was likely an island before, but the rising sea level had submerged it.

"Could there be pearls here again?"

"Whether there are pearls or not, this place is so beautiful."

This time, the water was only four or five meters deep. Except for the girls, several of the guys were too lazy to put on wetsuits and just held their breath to dive down and play.

After playing for a while, they discovered there were no pearls here. The few small shells they found were only edible.

However, there were fish, shrimp, and shellfish here, all delicious tropical ingredients, which still surprised everyone.

"Finally, we can go fishing! Hurry and get the fishing rods!" Zhang He said.

Xiao Kun, however, said, "What fishing rods? It's too hot, let's just catch them with our hands."

Everyone agreed, searching for the delicious fish they recognized in the water and chasing them.

However, after more than ten minutes, they surfaced helplessly and asked, "This is too difficult. Xiao Mo, how did you catch fish with your bare hands?"

A few days ago, they had seen Mo Qiong holding a fish with his bare hands, and it looked easy, so they wanted to try it this time.

Who knew that in the sea, they were easily toyed with by the schools of fish.

Mo Qiong smiled, "Quick hands and sharp eyes."

His so-called quick hands and sharp eyes meant that as long as he touched a fish, it would be unable to escape his grasp.

"Must have been a coincidence. The fish here are too agile. Try catching a few more," Xiao Kun said. He had been out at sea many times and knew how difficult it was.

Mo Qiong said nothing more, leaped into the water, and before the waves had even settled, he surfaced holding a large mackerel.

"Holy crap..." everyone exclaimed. It hadn't even been five seconds.

"Wait! Wait! Catch another one for us to see." Everyone dived underwater, wanting to see how Mo Qiong caught fish.

Mo Qiong smiled, sank into the sea, and slowly approached the school of fish, then suddenly scooped his hand into the middle of them.

A fish was slapped by him and, in panic, tried to escape, but couldn't get out of Mo Qiong's palm.

Mo Qiong pressed the fish against his chest, and his other hand, which had been waiting, immediately hooked its fingers into the fish's gills.

"Here..." Mo Qiong surfaced, holding the fish and smiling.

Everyone else surfaced too, dumbfounded. They had watched closely. The grip strength was incredible; he held the fish so tightly that it couldn't slip away in the water.

"How do you make the fish not slippery?" Zhang He asked.

Mo Qiong replied, "Nothing special, just practice."

"I love eating fish the most. I've been catching fish in the water since I was a child, and the more I practiced, the more skilled I became."

As he said this, Mo Qiong chuckled. He was reminded of Qin Ya again. He didn't really have a favorite food, but after saying it so many times, he felt like he was starting to believe he truly loved eating fish the most...

After catching a few more fish for everyone, he took the opportunity to slap one towards the GPS that had previously lost contact.

No, to be precise, it was towards that can. Every can had a marker, and unless the can was carried away by a fish, the Crown would be nearby.

As expected, the fish Mo Qiong slapped this time slipped out of his grasp and swam directly out of the school, faster and faster, leaving its companions behind.

Mo Qiong quickly pursued it and saw the fish disappear into a coral reef.

"Hmm, it was hidden by this coral."

Mo Qiong noticed that the coral itself was damaged. He broke off a few pieces and saw only silt underneath, but there was a small hole. At that moment, the fish was shoving its face into it, burrowing deeper and deeper.

The small hole was somewhat slanted, with traces of plowing several meters long, as if an object had been inserted diagonally into the ground.

"The treasure is down here. My previous can must have crashed into it and been destroyed, which is why it lost contact."

With this thought, Mo Qiong continued to observe the small hole. He saw mud and sand occasionally churning out like mist with the disturbed water flow.

This meant the small fish was still drilling, and when it stopped, it would have reached its destination.

After counting for a while, Mo Qiong noticed the movement had stopped. He estimated the treasure was buried about two meters underground.

Mo Qiong smiled and immediately covered up the traces of the can, then re-covered it with coral.

He then went and caught two more fish and brought them back to the boat.

After everyone played for a while longer, Mo Qiong began to follow Zhang He. When Zhang He approached the area where the coral could be seen, Mo Qiong suddenly blew a breath.

The air shot into the coral reef like an arrow underwater.

Mo Qiong knew the air must have entered the small hole. He then reached out and patted Zhang He.

Zhang He didn't understand, but he saw Mo Qiong pointing at the coral, gesturing for him to look.

He looked over and saw bubbles rising from the coral, as if something underneath was blowing bubbles.

This was simply the air naturally rising after reaching its destination.

But Zhang He didn't know that; he thought there was a big shrimp there.

The two surfaced, and Zhang He said, "So many bubbles, it must be something big. Let's surround it, one on each side. We'll eat it tonight!"

Mo Qiong chuckled, "Okay."

The two took a deep breath and dove down again. They reached the coral from either side, poking their heads into the crevices to look.

Seeing nothing, Zhang He pried it open.

He didn't find a big shrimp, but he saw a small hole.

Although the hole was filled with silt, it had been cleared by fish once and then filled with gas, making it very obvious.

Zhang He crouched down and reached into the hole.

Suddenly, he felt something. When he pulled it out, it was a small fish.

The small fish struggled for a moment before escaping, leaving Zhang He deflated.

Meanwhile, Mo Qiong started digging, widening the small hole considerably and continuing to go deeper.

Zhang He thought he was determined to find the big shrimp hiding inside, so he also helped dig.

The silt was very soft, and they easily dug half a meter deep.

But soon Zhang He stopped and signaled Mo Qiong to surface.

They both came up, and Zhang He shook his head, saying, "That doesn't look like a shrimp's burrow."

"I think so too. It's deep and narrow, and there's gas coming out. What do you think it could be?" Mo Qiong said.

Zhang He thought for a long time, still believing that only a big shrimp would behave like this.

"Strange... the hole is too small. That much air couldn't possibly be from an ordinary small shrimp; only a big shrimp would release gas," Zhang He said.

Mo Qiong chuckled, "Why don't we dig it open and find out?"

Zhang He nodded, "Let's go back to the boat and get our gear."

The mysteries of the sea could only be discovered through exploration. Zhang He was an idealistic navigator with considerable curiosity, which was why Mo Qiong chose to explore with him.

If it were Xiao Kun and the others, they probably would have just ignored it.

After putting on their diving suits and grabbing their tools, the two returned to the small hole and began to dig.

Unexpectedly, when they dug about a meter deep, they unearthed bones. Buried in the soil and soaked in the sea, they were unrecognizable, almost turned to dust.

After digging out several, Zhang He suddenly realized they were human remains.

"Holy shit..." Zhang He quickly surfaced.

When Mo Qiong came up, he said, "Are you saying dead people were farting here?"

Finding skeletons in the seabed silt was normal; who knew how many years ago someone had died here.

Mo Qiong chuckled, "Just bones, and you're scared."

Zhang He shook his head and laughed, "I'm not scared... I just didn't expect to dig up human bones."

As he spoke, he suddenly got excited and shouted, "Little Mo, let's keep digging! There might be something good around here!"

"Why?" Mo Qiong was stunned. Did he think there was treasure just from this?

Zhang He laughed, "These bones have been here for at least a few hundred years. Maybe there are some old things around here that are just as old."

"Little Mo, trust me, there will definitely be a surprise here."

Mo Qiong understood. So this was considered something good.

Clearly, Zhang He had never thought in terms of pirate treasure. To him, finding any personal belongings near these bones that had survived to this day would be a treasure.

As he spoke, Zhang He got excited and dove down on his own.

However, unaware of the treasure below, Zhang He dug horizontally, clearing away the surrounding coral and digging up a large area of silt, discovering many skeletons buried there.

Meanwhile, Mo Qiong continued to dig deeper, staying in place and digging.

At about two meters deep, Mo Qiong suddenly dug up a chest.

It was a damaged redwood chest. After clearing away the silt, Mo Qiong saw the can he had thrown out at first glance.

"The Crown was in the chest. My can must have directly knocked the chest open," Mo Qiong said helplessly.

He saw that the can was also dented, and the GPS inside was useless. Clearly, after being squeezed down to a depth of two meters, the can couldn't withstand it anymore.

Mo Qiong hugged the can and swam out of the deep pit. Seeing that Zhang He wasn't paying attention, he threw the can far away, letting it chase after a school of fish.

A moment later, Zhang He looked over and saw Mo Qiong gesturing to him.

When he also swam into the deep pit and saw the treasure chest, he was stunned.

Through the damaged opening of the chest, he could see a large amount of jewelry inside, and a magnificent crown inlaid with over forty pearls was placed on top.

"This is a treasure trove!" Without any further reminders, Zhang He instantly realized this.

He wanted to lift the treasure chest, but it was heavy, and it was difficult to float up while holding it.

As he pushed it aside, he noticed the corner of another chest sticking out of the mud beside it.

"There are more around!" Zhang He looked at Mo Qiong and gestured.

Mo Qiong nodded, and together they dug out several more chests, but the more they dug, the more they saw others scattered around.

They had been playing for so long and digging for so long that their air tanks were almost depleted, forcing them to surface.

"Holy crap! There's a treasure buried here!" Zhang He exclaimed excitedly as soon as he got up.

Mo Qiong was also excited, "Is this the 'good stuff' you were talking about?"

Zhang He grabbed Mo Qiong and growled, "It's so much better! I thought finding some ancient coins would be great, but I didn't expect so many chests. It's a treasure! Do you even know what a treasure is!"

Seeing how agitated he was, Mo Qiong seized the opportunity to probe, "But how are we going to take all these chests back?"

Zhang He said, "If we found a treasure, you think we'd be afraid we can't take it back? Come on, let's call everyone over to help. Let's find all the chests and move them onto the boat. The contents of these chests are definitely worth a fortune."

"Does that mean we're rich?" Mo Qiong asked with a look of pleasant surprise.

Zhang He, however, was grinning foolishly to himself, "I actually found a treasure. This is the first time for me! Hahahaha!"

"Little Mo, do you know? In the world of marine exploration, finding treasure is one of our greatest joys. A few big shots I know are considered to have struck gold in the community just for finding some ancient coins or discovering some broken pottery jars..."

"But we've discovered a real treasure trove! These treasure chests must have been buried here by someone hundreds of years ago. This is a real underwater treasure!"

"Hahaha, we found it so easily!"

"I must be a treasure hunter chosen by fate! I'll just go with the flow from now on, drifting for a few days whenever I go out to sea!"