Seeing these words, I was almost so shocked that I felt faint. Wu Sanxing and Chen Wenjin—aren’t those the full names of my uncle and Wenjin? Could this notebook be something they left behind back in the day? But how could such a thing appear on a ghost ship?

If we assume that before this ghost ship sank, there just happened to be two people on board named Wu Sanxing and Chen Wenjin, and that they also happened to be engaged in archaeological work, and that they coincidentally came to the Xisha Bowl Reef for archaeology, the odds of such a coincidence occurring must be astronomical—enough for me to win several five-million jackpots.

I thought for a moment and realized that there was no need for too much consideration. This notebook can have no other explanation; it must undoubtedly be something left behind by my uncle and the others. Moreover, judging by the signature on it, this notebook should have been given to Wenjin by my uncle, and Wenjin used it to record the daily progress of the archaeological work at the Bowl Reef. The owner of the notebook should be Wenjin.

Then this ghost ship must be related to my uncle’s archaeological activities back then, and it might even be the medium-sized fishing boat that did not return on time.

After pondering for a moment, I couldn’t help but feel a multitude of question marks flooding my brain, and I began to feel a splitting headache.

The true intricacies of these matters are probably known only to those directly involved. What I currently know is merely the surface of these events, and it seems there is still a core that connects all of this. If that old fox, my uncle, could honestly tell me everything, I might already have a rough idea of the key to the whole matter.

Or perhaps the contents of this notebook could provide me with some clues. I initially thought about hiding it and looking at it when no one was around, but my overwhelming curiosity was unbearable. I figured that she would eventually find out about this, so there was no need to keep it so mysterious. Without hesitation, I began to flip through it.

Wenjin was a very serious person when it came to her work; every day’s record was written in the same format, clearly laid out. I saw that the first page was from their first day of departure, July 15. It listed a roster, and sure enough, the team leader was Wu Sanxing. As for that gloomy guy, I recalled my uncle mentioning that his surname was Zhang. Sure enough, there was someone named Zhang Qiling on the list. Could that be him?

Flipping further, the main content at the front detailed the process of locating and confirming the specific position of the underwater tomb, even more detailed than what my uncle had mentioned, including the types of ropes used and the reasoning process. It was truly different from my uncle, who was rather rough around the edges. I really couldn’t understand how the two of them could work together. However, I didn’t need to read through this content again; I flipped straight to the end and was dumbfounded.

In fact, I didn’t even need to read the last part; just looking at the last few recorded titles was enough to astonish me and make me curse that old bastard, my uncle, a hundred times.

I saw it written there: July 21, first entry into the underwater tomb.

Personnel: Wu Sanxing.

Progress: Clearing the left and right ear chambers and the passageway, preparing to clear the rear chamber.

Work: Using a gas pump to ventilate the tomb chamber, preparing for long-term clearance.

Artifacts recovered: Gold-thread wood double phoenix carved coffin (infant coffin).

Remarks: Emergency incident occurred; detailed record to be supplemented.

Then there was only one more record: July 23, second entry into the underwater tomb.

Personnel: All members.

Progress: None
Work: Avoiding the summer storm
Artifacts: None
Remarks: None

It turns out that before my uncle took them inside, he had already gone in once himself. With his bandit nature, he must have taken a lot of things out. What he wrote here only mentions the clearing of the left and right ear rooms and the corridor; who knows if he opened the back room! Perhaps he has already rummaged through everything in the coffin. What exactly did this old fox do the first time he went in? I couldn’t help but feel a surge of resentment.

I skimmed through the notes and saw that there should still be many useful but non-critical records inside. There was no need to examine them so closely at the moment, so I put them away and returned them to the waterproof bag, then turned to observe the woman’s reaction. To my surprise, it seemed she hadn’t noticed me at all; she was just desperately scraping away at the sea rust on the partition of the captain’s cabin.

Her movements were swift, almost as if she were smashing rather than scraping. That half piece of board had already been cleared away, and I could see that what was wrapped in the sea rust was actually steel. She continued to scrape down to the junction between the ship’s body and the partition, and I found that the edges of this partition were welded to the ship, appearing to be very sturdy. The door on top was also made of steel and had a rotating seal lock similar to a car steering wheel.

As she scraped, the woman was talking to herself, as if saying, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, I’ll get you out soon.”

Hearing this, I sensed something was off and realized she was a bit unhinged. I watched as she deftly cleared away the sea rust around the steel door. To my surprise, there was a layer of rubber between the door and the frame. The compartment inside seemed to be sealed. After clearing all this, the woman desperately tried to turn the rotating seal lock, but her strength was far from enough. The lock itself was very heavy, and with all the sea rust inside, it couldn’t be opened without someone as strong as a seasoned sailor. She turned it several times with no response.

I felt uneasy and said to her, “The things inside might not have been soaked in water. It’s better not to open it. What if there’s some kind of monster inside? We have no weapons on us; we’d definitely be done for here.”

She completely ignored me and continued to struggle with the lock. I shook my head; this woman was truly unreasonable, and I had completely lost my good feelings towards her.

In the next few minutes, I stood with my hands on my hips, watching her waste her effort, feeling somewhat vindicated. At that moment, she turned around to look at me, and I thought she had come to her senses. But to my shock, she suddenly let out a strange scream, leaning backward as two withered hands shot out from her hair like lightning, grabbing the rotating seal lock and applying force. Those strange hands were incredibly strong, and I immediately heard the sound of the sea rust cracking inside.

I was so scared that my scalp tingled, and I almost collapsed to the ground. This scene was utterly incomprehensible; no wonder those strange hands had disappeared—they had hidden in her hair. What had just spoken to me—was it a ghost or a human?

At that moment, the rotating sealing lock had already loosened. The woman had turned it several times and was just about to pull open the steel door when suddenly there was a loud bang, and a massive surge of water burst out from behind the door. The door was slammed open by the water, hitting her hard in the back and sending her flying. It knocked me down to the ground, and I realized that something was terribly wrong. Just as I was about to push her aside to escape, the seawater rushed in, sweeping both of us out several meters. I struggled to lift my head and saw a gigantic face covered in scales peering out from behind the door, staring directly at me.