386: The raw gems in the box

Yang Qi and Bai Xue surfaced immediately. After boarding the "setting sail," he grabbed his binoculars and scanned the surroundings. After confirming there were no ships nearby...

The two of them started the Crane and hoisted the two boxes onto the deck.

"Keep them on the deck for now and wrap them in a tarpaulin."

Yang Qi pulled out a tarpaulin and tightly covered the two boxes in the corner.

"How are you? Shall we continue?"

Yang Qi asked, looking at the slightly panting Bai Xue.

After all, a single box of gold bricks weighed over two hundred pounds. Even with Bai Xue's greatly increased strength, moving two in a row was exhausting.

"I'm fine. Let's go move a few more loads; we need to hurry."

Bai Xue shook her head, indicating she could keep going.

"Let's move a few lighter boxes to the deck first. Then I'll go down alone and hoist them up in several turns."

Yang Qi suggested.

"Husband, that's a good suggestion. How about this: we move two heavy boxes first, then a few lighter ones, and put them all on the deck. Then I'll come up to operate the Crane and get some rest in between."

Bai Xue thought about it and realized she really wouldn't be able to last many more turns if they kept moving gold.

"Alright, let's do that!"

Yang Qi took Bai Xue back to the shipwreck once more.

This time they followed the plan. After the two of them hauled out another two heavy boxes, Bai Xue's arms were visibly trembling.

Yang Qi grabbed her arms and massaged them for a while. Bai Xue nodded at him and pointed toward the cabin.

Yang Qi understood; she wanted to keep moving boxes. This time, he started moving boxes from the other side.

He moved two boxes in a row, both of which were very light. Yang Qi had no choice but to open them and look; as expected, they were empty, likely having completely corroded away.

The two looked at each other and shook their heads, helplessly setting the empty boxes aside.

They found two more boxes that were at most half the weight of the gold bricks, though they didn't know what was inside.

However, since they weren't empty and were items the japanese had prepared to ship back to their homeland, one could guess even with their heels that they were definitely valuable goods.

In this manner, the two found another six boxes and moved them all to the deck area.

Seeing that they had gathered ten boxes, Yang Qi immediately stopped Bai Xue, who wanted to push herself a bit more.

"This girl, she's so tired she can barely stand, yet she still wants to keep moving things."

He grumbled inwardly, grabbing Bai Xue and swimming toward the surface.

Back on the "setting sail," Yang Qi used the Crane to hoist a box of gold onto the deck.

"Xiao Xue, rest for a bit. I'll go down to strap the boxes."

As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Qi leaped and dove back into the sea.

To be safe with the heavy gold bricks, they hoisted only one box at a time. The lighter boxes were hoisted two at a time.

Going up and down like this, it took five trips to hoist all ten boxes from the shipwreck deck onto their own deck.

On the last trip, Yang Qi also pulled up the 150-160 pound Giant Grouper he had shot and the ten-pound Red Grouper. Since they were already dead, he couldn't just leave them there to rot!

"Xiao Xue, I'm going down one more time to bring out some of those lighter boxes. We'll hoist for a bit longer and try to salvage a few more."

"Go make some food first and keep a constant watch for any approaching ships. If you see anything, start the boat and leave this place. I'll catch up with you. Don't panic if something happens; take the speargun and prioritize your own safety."

Yang Qi checked the time; it was just past three o'clock. If they hurried, they could salvage another batch of boxes.

"Alright then, I'll cook some Fish Porridge first so you can have something in your stomach when you return. You be careful too!"

Yang Qi nodded and went back into the water. This time he didn't go to the pile of gold bricks; instead, he picked six boxes from the topmost layer and moved them to the outer deck.

On the shipwreck's deck, Yang Qi secured three boxes and returned to the surface with the rope.

He saw Bai Xue's figure on the deck of the "setting sail," peering through the binoculars. She was likely scanning for any appearing ships.

Yang Qi immediately climbed aboard and signaled Bai Xue to hurry and hoist the boxes. Fortunately, his binding technique was good, and the three boxes were safely hoisted onto the deck.

"Husband, do you want to have some porridge first to fill your stomach?"

Bai Xue asked, looking at the panting Yang Qi.

"It's already 4:30; we have to hurry. One last trip, and we leave as soon as they're hoisted!"

Yang Qi covered the boxes with the tarpaulin, grabbed the rope, and jumped into the sea. He quickly tied the remaining three boxes and returned to the "setting sail" at top speed.

"Xiao Xue, how is it? Any sign of anything?"

Yang Qi asked as soon as he broke the surface.

Bai Xue put down the binoculars and said to him in the water:

"Nothing at all. Husband, come up first."

At top speed, the two of them hoisted the final three boxes onto the deck.

"Go, go, go! Let's get out of here first! Xiao Xue, go start the boat immediately."

Yang Qi instructed Bai Xue while covering the boxes on the deck with the tarpaulin.

Just as the "setting sail" accelerated away from the area, Yang Qi spotted several bright spots appearing from the south through his binoculars. Clearly, ships were heading toward this part of the sea.

Three hours later, Yang Qi told Bai Xue to stop. They anchored near a reef close to the Zhongsha Islands.

Philippines ships still didn't dare come to this sea area; the two of them only needed to watch out for domestic vessels.

Yang Qi used the binoculars to scan the area and found that there wasn't a single fishing boat operating in the nearby waters.

Only then did the two of them hurriedly eat breakfast: a large pot of Fish Porridge with steamed buns, a large plate of stir-fried greens, and a plate of the pickled radishes Wang Yan had made last time.

This was the most casual meal they had eaten since they set out to sea.

It couldn't be helped; while Yang Qi was underwater earlier and Bai Xue was on sentry duty, she had spent most of her time keeping watch.

After breakfast, the two began opening the boxes to inspect the treasure. There were sixteen boxes in total covered by the tarpaulin on the deck.

The four heaviest ones were indeed gold bricks. Using a trolley, the two pushed these four boxes into the Freezer Hold for storage.

Then they returned and opened one of the lighter boxes, only to find it was a box of stones, each about the size of a head.

"Eh? What does this mean? I don't get it."

"Why are there stones inside?"

Bai Xue looked at the five stones in the box, feeling a bit confused.

Yang Qi was also stunned. He picked up one of the pebble-like stones and looked it over from all angles but couldn't make heads or tails of it.

"Xiao Xue, logically speaking, given the bandit-like behavior of the japanese, they wouldn't put ordinary stones in a box and store them with gold."

"Do you think there's a possibility that these aren't ordinary stones, but rather..."

Before Yang Qi could finish, Bai Xue immediately raised her voice and exclaimed:

"Rough Stones! They must be Jadeite Rough Stones, and high-quality ones at that!"