It's unbelievable that there is still air under deep water where people can survive.

I thought I would suffocate to death if I choked on the gelatinous liquid in my mouth and nose, and then sink to the bottom of the river to feed the fish.

But everything was beyond my expectation.

While floating in the water, I once again felt the numbness and itching sensation all over my body when I escaped from the cocoon.

In the haze, I saw with my own eyes a layer of skin with white hairs and strange spots floating on my hands. The skin first cracked on my body, and then dissolved in the water like foam.

Along with the dissolution of these shed skins, all the gelatinous liquid in my throat and nasal cavity was expelled from the body, and even the river water that poured into me for picking my nose during the sinking process was also expelled.

This gave me a chance to breathe. I took advantage of the gaps where the molted skin had not yet evaporated in the water to quickly breathe and hold my breath. During this period, I felt like a flexible fish swimming in the water. Not only did I not have to rely on my lungs to breathe, which would cause me to choke on water and suffocate.

, and it seemed as if a protective film appeared all over my body. Until the shed skin with strange spots and white hairs was dissolved, I could ignore the resistance in the water and swim to my heart's content.

I don't understand more and more whether it is a blessing or a curse that I got that strange disease because of those parasites that trapped me in the cocoon.

This is the so-called "misfortunes are caused by blessings, and blessings are caused by misfortunes".

Recalling Shang Qingyun's nervous expression on the Sanmul Sacred Tree, I was worried that this strange disease would be life-threatening.

But along the way I repeatedly ran into danger, and this strange disease saved me many times, so that I became more and more curious about what the symptoms were.

I tried to go upstream and return to Limuling, but as I went higher I found that the entrance where I fell into the water just now was no longer found.

Now my only option is to explore to the bottom of the river. There is no end to the road.

After I swam a certain distance and reached the limit of my breathlessness, I saw a mast and saw the torn cloth strips on the mast. I could basically tell that there was a sunken ship buried at the bottom of the river, and it was a modern cruise ship.

.

I grabbed the mast and moved closer to the sunken ship.

Sure enough, I found the deck of the sunken ship under the sand at the bottom of the river.

I cleared away the sediment covering the deck and opened the deck bulkheads.

As soon as the hatch was opened, a stream of gas was discharged from inside.

I wasn't sure whether the exhaust gas was poisonous, so I evaded immediately.

But this cabin seemed to be attractive, and as the gas was exhausted, I was sucked in.

By the time I reacted, the deck hatch was already closed.

Now there's good news, and bad news.

The good news is that although this is a sunken ship, there is enough air in the cabin and there is no sign of being flooded.

The bad news is that I can't get out. I have no food or drinking water. I may have to eat my own flesh and drink my own urine like Han Qi did.

When I was feeling depressed, I suddenly felt a vibration in the waterproof bag that was tied around my waist. I took out the waterproof bag and saw that it was actually my mobile phone!

The phone screen shows that I have an unread text message, but the phone has no signal.

This reminds me of when I watched The Ring before, our professional class teacher specially recommended us horror movies like The Ring and The Grudge to help us practice our courage. After all, archeology always involves dead bodies.

Dealing with people is not for the faint of heart. I sneered in my heart at the time. While you were still peeing in the mud, I was provoking living corpses in the underground palace.

But when you are locked in an uninhabited sunken ship with no signal and no way to call for help, and you suddenly receive such a text message, you can really understand the state of mind of the protagonist in the horror movie.

I stared at the screen of my phone, hesitating whether to click on it or not.

There was silence all around, except for the water dripping from the edge of the deck, ticking.

In this atmosphere, if I opened the text message and a female ghost's head popped up, accompanied by a horrible scream, I would probably go into shock on the spot.

Toot——

The phone vibrated again, as if urging me to read the text message quickly, and this time another text message was sent.

The content of the second text message was simple: it was not a prank.

Hearing what the other person said made me even more panicked, which meant that this person knew my current situation.

I subconsciously scanned the surroundings and found that there was no one around at all. Looking out through the glass of the cabin, there were only groups of swimming fish.

Anyway, you will die anyway, so just watch it!

I clicked on the text message interface and found that the first text message was actually an audio message.

"Chen Siyu..."

The text message called my name as soon as it came up, which really shocked me.

The voice was very deep and hoarse, and it was a man's voice, and he obviously made the voice like this on purpose. I even suspected that it was not the original voice of the texter, and that it was probably a voice changer.

"If you want to live, don't ask me any questions. Then do as I say, and you will see the person you want to see most right now."

The person I most want to see right now?

Are you referring to Liu Sa and Er Pang?

"You are now on a passenger ship that was silent more than ten years ago. What you have to do is to solve the mystery of the sinking of this passenger ship. Only in this way can you see your friends."

The mystery behind the sinking of this passenger ship?

Could it be that there is another reason for the silence of this ship?

It's a pity that the other party only contacted me unilaterally. I tried to find the source of the text message, but found nothing. In addition to being anonymous, not even the mobile phone number was displayed. It was obvious that it had been specially processed.

Dudu, another new text message:

"Friendly reminder, this sunken ship is located directly below the five-story underground palace in front."

Directly below?

This hint is already very obvious, which means that the reason for the silence of this ship is directly related to the five-story underground palace in front, or to the Sea Eye Dragon Palace.

My current location is on the top floor of the cruise ship. From here, I can directly reach the captain's cabin, where important clues are usually found.

I searched around the cabin, and the first thing I looked for was the staff room.

In the locker room of the staff room I found the uniforms of the sailors of this ship.

The nameplate on the chest of the uniform reads: "Fangyuan Ocean Fishery Group Company"

What is certain is that Fangyuan is not a place name, is it a person's name?

Or is it another name?

For a while, I really couldn’t figure out what this square circle meant, but I was also sure that it was not a local fishing company.

Generally, marine fishery companies are built in coastal ports. Although Nanyang is adjacent to the Yangtze River, it is inland. Generally, there are few ports here, and they are all state-owned assets.

The name Fangyuan sounds like a private enterprise, so it can be basically concluded that this sunken ship came from other places.

Then there are only two situations. One is that the ship passes the Yangtze River during its business trip, and the other is that,

The purpose of this ship is to salvage something underwater in the Danjiang River.

There is no way to draw a hasty conclusion based on just a nameplate, not to mention that the only thing I know now is that this ship does not belong to the Yangtze River port.

As for why it sank, and why it sank right under the first five ancient tombs, I am still confused.

As I left the staff room and walked forward, I suddenly realized something strange.

I didn't see any corpses along the way. Logically speaking, if a ship, and a cruise ship, suddenly sank underwater, it would be difficult for the staff and passengers on the ship to escape.

Please refer to "Titanic" specifically.

But along the way I saw neither the remains of employees nor any signs of carrying passengers.

Even some facilities in the cabin were still unused. I took a look at the passenger cabin on the third floor. Except for the cups on the cabinet that fell to the ground due to the tilt and sinking of the ship, the pillows, towels and bedding were all new.

In other words, it has never been used by anyone.

The disposable items in the drawer have not been opened, and the trash can is also clean.

Could it be said that this is simply an empty ship?

I came to the end of the third-floor corridor, where there were two stairs, one up and one down. The one going up was undoubtedly the one leading to the captain's cabin, and the one going down was the one leading to the second-floor cabin.

I shined a flashlight on it to make sure there was nothing upstairs, and then I climbed up to the cabin of the ship little by little, holding on to the handle.

I always feel that the stairs leading to the captain's cabin were deliberately damaged. The cabin in front is intact, but the stairs leading to the captain's cabin are in tatters, as if they were smashed away.

I finally climbed up the last step, only to find that the only iron ladder leading straight up and down from the captain's cabin had been removed. Given my height, it would be difficult to climb up.

Unless I have Shang Qingyun's skills, I can jump several meters high.

In addition, on the wall where the iron ladder leading to the captain's cabin originally hung, it is unknown who wrote in red pen, or it may have been written in real blood:

There's a ghost on the boat! Run!

Seeing this, I laughed.

Suddenly I recalled the on-campus adventure club I joined in college. In the club, there were a group of ambitious young people who, like me, liked to go to places that others didn’t dare to go.

We often go to various haunted houses to explore, such as the famous "Beijing No. 81". Similar words are written on the wall of the sealed narrow passage in Jingcheng No. 81. Only when we actually got in did we realize that it was all a prank by our predecessors.

.

It seems that the idea of ​​going to the captain's cabin cannot be realized. Now all I can hope to do is to go down and look for any clues.
To be continued...