98: Chapter 98 Twelve Iron Boxes

He stopped before the gap, not rushing to enter. First, he turned on the headlamp on his helmet, and a beam of light shot into the gap, scanning the area.

It was dark inside, even darker than he had anticipated. At this depth, the daylight had already attenuated significantly, and the amount that could penetrate into the cabin was negligible. As the headlamp's beam struck inside, he could see a range of about two or three meters; beyond that was a blur of deep darkness.

He reached into the equipment bag on his right side and took out the Water-Repelling Bead.

He had obtained this bead from an ancient tomb back home. It was the size of a fist, with a smooth surface and a deep bluish-green color. Usually, it looked like an ordinary piece of jade, but once it entered the water, it would react. It didn't emit light, but rather underwent a subtle change, as if the way water flowed around it became different. He had used it a few times, and every time he held it underwater, the surrounding currents would become exceptionally steady, and visibility would be slightly better than normal. He had never fully understood the principles behind this object, but since it was effective, he kept it with him.

Holding the Water-Repelling Bead in his left hand, he turned sideways and began to crawl into the gap.

The edge of the gap was a bit narrower than he had estimated. As he entered sideways, the air cylinder on his back scraped against a jagged piece of wood above. He paused for a moment, adjusted his angle, lowered his body a bit more, and pushed further in. The air cylinder passed through, then his waist, and then his legs.

His entire body entered the cabin.

The moment he entered, he felt a very distinct change.

Outside, the water was flowing. Even at this depth, the currents had a direction and subtle pressure changes. But the water inside the cabin was still—as still as a pool of stagnant water sealed for hundreds of years. There was no flow, no direction; it just sat there, filling the entire cabin.

He hovered in place for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the light inside the cabin.

Right then, he noticed something.

The Water-Repelling Bead had lit up.

It wasn't a very strong light, but a soft, bluish-green shimmer emanating from inside the bead. It was as if something had been ignited within, yet it didn't look like fire; it was more like the texture of moonlight diffusing through thin jade—soft, pervasive, with no clear direction, yet capable of illuminating the immediate surroundings.

He raised his left hand and looked at the bead.

The bead glowed in his palm, reflecting a bluish-green hue onto his hand. He looked around; this soft light could illuminate a range of about two meters around him. It wasn't strong, but in this enclosed cabin with almost no external light source, it was enough for him to see his surroundings clearly.

He hadn't expected this object to have such a use in the dark.

He dimmed the headlamp on his helmet by one level to conserve power, relying primarily on the light from the Water-Repelling Bead to see the way.

He began to move deeper into the cabin.

The situation inside the cabin was more complex than it had appeared from the outside. The degree of wood decay was uneven; in some places, the cabin walls still maintained a relatively intact form, while in others, they had completely collapsed into a messy pile of timber. He had to navigate around them rather than trying to push through. That rotting timber looked like it was still holding up, but in reality, it might be so brittle that it would crumble at a touch. Triggering a secondary collapse underwater would be difficult to handle.

After swimming for about four or five meters, a wooden board blocking the path appeared ahead.

The board had collapsed from the ceiling above, wedged diagonally between the cabin walls on both sides, blocking most of the passage and leaving only a narrow gap at the bottom that someone could barely fit through. He leaned down and first pushed the board with his hand; it didn't budge, being wedged very tightly. He then tested the gap below, measuring it with his hand—he could make it.

He pushed the Water-Repelling Bead through first, letting the soft light illuminate the area ahead, then pressed his body against the cabin floor and slowly crawled through the gap.

The silt on the cabin floor kicked up as he passed, a fine layer that looked like slow-motion smoke in the bluish-green light of the Water-Repelling Bead. He held his breath and waited a few seconds for the silt to settle a bit before continuing forward.

After passing the board, he stood up straight again and looked ahead.

The space ahead suddenly opened up a bit.

This should be the Main Cabin of the cargo area. He had judged from the cabin wall structure outside that the ship's cargo hold should be divided into two areas, front and back. The section he had just passed through was a transition zone; where he was now was the actual Main Cabin for loading cargo.

The soft light of the Water-Repelling Bead illuminated the area around him. He slowly turned in a circle, taking in the situation here.

The space in the Main Cabin was larger than he had anticipated. The ceiling was about a meter and a half above his head and hadn't completely collapsed, still maintaining its basic form. On the cabin walls on both sides, he could still see the wooden racks used for securing cargo in the past. Most had rotted and deformed, but the frames remained. Some racks still had rotting ropes hanging from them, drifting in the water like seaweed.

There was something on the floor.

He raised the Water-Repelling Bead a bit higher to let the light reach further, then swam forward two steps and crouched down to look.

It was ceramics.

Not just one piece, but many, scattered in the silt at the bottom of the hold. Some were already broken, leaving only shards, while others remained intact, half-buried in the silt with only a portion exposed. He reached out and gently brushed away the surrounding silt, and the outline of a blue-and-white porcelain bowl appeared. The bowl was face down; its glazed surface reflected the bluish-green light of the Water-Repelling Bead. The color was very pure; the blue-and-white pigment was steady—not the kind of blue that floated on the surface, but a deep blue that had sunk into the glaze. He had seen too many imitations in antique markets and could tell at a glance that this texture couldn't be faked.

He wasn't in a hurry to retrieve it, first wanting to see the surroundings more clearly.

He stood up and moved slowly along the edge of the Main Cabin, the light from the Water-Repelling Bead following him and illuminating the places he passed one by one. As he walked and looked, he mentalized the situation here.

The preservation of the cargo in the Main Cabin was better than he had expected. This might be related to the water temperature in this area; low temperatures can slow down the decay of organic matter and, to some extent, protect the glazed surfaces from erosion. Among the ceramic items he saw at the bottom of the hold, there were more intact pieces than broken ones, which was good news.

In the northwest corner of the Main Cabin, he discovered a pile much denser than elsewhere. There was a wooden frame once used to secure large cargo; the frame had mostly rotted away, but its original shape was still discernible. The items inside and around the frame were mostly covered by silt. He crouched down and gently brushed away the surface layer of silt.

The first layer was wood scraps, parts of the frame itself that had rotted and fallen off.

The second layer was fabric—or rather, what used to be fabric. It had completely rotted away, leaving only a layer of black, film-like residue stuck to the items beneath.

On the third layer, his fingers touched something hard.

He brushed aside the silt and gently peeled away the residue of the rotted fabric, revealing the outline of an object.

It was a jar, slightly larger than his fist, with a rounded body and a short neck. The lid was still there, featuring a lion-shaped knob. The lion's sculpting was very vivid—its four limbs crouched, head raised, and mouth slightly open. The glaze was a very pure bluish-white, giving off a warm luster in the light of the Water-Repelling Bead.

He slowly lifted the jar from the silt, cradled it in his hand, and turned it over to look at the bottom.

There was a mark on the bottom. He brought the Water-Repelling Bead closer to see—blue-and-white regular script, four characters.

He looked at it for a long time underwater and confirmed those four characters.

His heart skipped a beat.

He carefully placed the jar into the System Space and then continued looking inside the frame.

There were more things in the frame. He continued brushing and clearing, finding the items in the silt one by one. For each one he found, he first examined it carefully to confirm its completeness and condition before putting it into the System Space.

He stayed by this frame for a long time.

By the time he finished clearing everything he could find in the frame, he had stored nearly twenty items in the System Space: fourteen intact pieces and six with minor defects that didn't affect the overall piece. He collected all the completely broken ones through the System Space as well.

He stood up and stretched his wrists. Having maintained a crouching and bent-over position underwater for a long time, his back and waist muscles were already somewhat sore. He did a few stretching movements and then scanned the Main Cabin once more.

There was an area on the east side of the Main Cabin he hadn't examined closely. A collapse in the ceiling there had covered most of that section with fallen timber. He swam over and looked inside from the edge of the collapsed wood; there was still space inside, but entering required squeezing through at a very narrow angle. He reached the Water-Repelling Bead inside to let the light shine in and checked the situation.

There were boxes inside.

They weren't wooden boxes but iron ones—or rather, what used to be iron boxes. Hundreds of years in seawater had corroded the iron beyond recognition, leaving a thick layer of rust and marine growth on the surface. However, the basic shape of the boxes remained. He counted them; there were about a dozen visible, stacked together. The lid of the topmost one was nowhere to be found, and the contents inside were vaguely visible in the light of the Water-Repelling Bead.

He turned his body sideways and squeezed in from that angle.

The moment he squeezed in, he understood why this area was mostly sealed off by the collapsed timber—the space inside was much smaller than it appeared from the outside. Iron boxes were stacked upon iron boxes, occupying nearly four-fifths of this small compartment. The remaining space was barely enough for him to unfold his body; the slightest movement would cause his shoulder to bump into the rusted walls of the adjacent boxes.

Keeping his body sideways, he tried to minimize the range of his movements. First, he raised the Water-Repelling Bead to scan the entire space.

Twelve iron boxes. He counted them again and confirmed there were twelve.

They were stacked in two piles of six each. In the topmost box, which was missing its lid, he could see something inside. But blocked by the rusted walls of the box, he couldn't see clearly; he could only make out some irregularly shaped objects that gave off a dull luster in the light of the Water-Repelling Bead.

Now was not the time to check.

He placed his hand on the side of the topmost iron box, activated the System Space, and directly stored the box inside.

There was no sound or vibration when the System Space stored it; the iron box simply vanished from beside his hand as if it had never existed.