Daomu Biji

The plane passed over the Qiongzhou Strait, and the cabin was silent. All the passengers were already asleep.

A few hours ago, I entrusted Pan Zi to the hospital and took a red-eye flight to Sanya overnight with the two people who claimed to be from the International Ocean Development Company.

I had not exercised for a long time and was very tired after running around. I fell asleep as soon as I got on the plane. As a result, after nightfall, I couldn't sleep.

On the way to the airport, we introduced each other. The man’s name was Zhang Hao (my Chinese is very poor and I couldn’t read that word, so I had to call him Lao Zhang, and secretly called him Zhang Tuzi). The woman's name is Aning, and both of them are professional expedition leaders.

After getting along with her, Zhang Tuzi seems to be a good person. He is probably the kind of old-fashioned person in the company. He speaks more plainly. That woman is a bit cunning and doesn't talk much. From the time we got in the car to now, I have talked to her. No more than ten sentences.

The plane would land in half an hour, and I looked out the window in trance. The lights of the city in the distance were dotted and the colors were blurry.

Aning, who was sitting next to me, saw that I was awake, handed me a piece of information, and said: "We will be arriving soon. After we get off the plane, a car will take us directly to the dock. The people on the other side are ready. This is our timetable for this time, do you want to take a look and know the itinerary for this time?"

I came to my senses, took the document, flipped it over a little, and couldn't understand a word, so I shook my head and gave it back to her.

Aning continued to hand over documents to me: "Here is also an equipment list we prepared. Please take a look at it. If there are any gaps, I can ask the logistics to fill them in immediately."

I took it over and looked at it again. The equipment was quite complete, all standard equipment for maritime expeditions. They were all in English. I still couldn’t understand most of them, so I had to give them back to her with a wry smile.

She saw me smiling bitterly, thinking there was a problem, and asked me, "How are you doing? Is there anything else you need to prepare?"

I thought about it and asked her casually: "Can you help me get some black donkey hooves?"

When Aning heard this, he was stunned. After a long time, he asked: "Black donkey's hooves?"

I was so sleepy just now that I thought I was going to fight upside down, but I realized by looking at her expression that they were conducting a formal inspection, so of course they had never heard of this thing.

The situation was awkward, and I didn’t know what to say, so I waved my hand and said to her, “I’m sorry, pretend I didn’t say that.”

In fact, I am a little skeptical. Although every person who fights upside down will bring one of these black donkey hooves, no one knows whether it is useful or not. It also makes no sense. Why do we need black donkey hooves? White donkey hooves are different except for the color. , other ingredients are the same.

Aning glanced at me suspiciously, said nothing, and then handed me a lot of documents to look over. I scanned them as usual, looking at the ones I could understand, and returning the ones I couldn't understand directly to her, and the program went away. After that, I lay down and rested again.

In a daze, I saw Aning looking at me with a very strange look. I was wondering, why did this girl fall in love with me? Or, did she know what black donkey hooves were?

The three of us got off the plane and were taken directly to the port by their company's car.

We inspected a rented iron 7-ton fishing boat. It was dilapidated and had six sailors. The boss of the boat was a local man named Cai Wenji. His name was so elegant. When we arrived, people from his company were still negotiating with him because there was a tropical storm. , the boss of the boat insisted not to go to sea, and said to us in blunt Mandarin: "Go out now and find a place to die. The wind is too strong, the waves are big, and our boat is small, it may capsize."

After Zhang Tuzi learned about the situation, he immediately doubled the price of the boat rental and promised that if there was a strong wind, the boss of the boat could decide where the boat would go.

Twice the price is usually enough to cover a fisherman's annual expenses. The boss of the boat was still a little hesitant, but the sailors below him couldn't help it and tried to persuade him one after another.

Zhang Tuzi was a little relieved when he saw the boss of the boat, and immediately asked for 50% of the price, saying that he would go if he wanted to, and if he didn't go, there would be another boat waiting.

When the matter reached this point, the ship boss could no longer refuse and had no choice but to agree.

The sailors carried supplies onto the ship, and the boss of the ship set up an altar alone at the bow of the ship to offer sacrifices to Mahmu and pray for a smooth sailing. In accordance with the custom of my hometown, I gave each of the sailors a cigarette, which was regarded as surrendering my life. on their hands.

In addition to me, Zhang Tuzi and Aning, there were four other people on the ship who directly participated in the inspection. The person in charge of cultural relic identification was an old professor named Gu, the technician in charge of instruments Mu Ziqi, and the young engineer in charge of computers Wu Yong. There is also a foreigner with a big nose who is the medical officer on the ship.

In addition, we have to go to Woody Island on the way, where we will meet up with their other frogman team, and then turn to Huaguang Reef.

In the afternoon of the same day, we set off from Qinglan Port. The first leg of the voyage was very compact. If the weather was normal, it was expected to be completed in twelve hours. This was the ultimate speed that the ship could reach. It was my first time to go out to sea, and I was very excited. I looked from the bow of the ship and saw the mainland gradually disappearing. In front of me was the South China Sea, the most mysterious ocean in the world. Since ancient times, there have been secrets buried under this vast blue. There are too many to count. This time, we set out in a hurry, not knowing whether we could find out what happened under this confusing situation.