Jiang Hai didn't care about what had happened to Henry Morgan, and frankly, he was too lazy to. After all, Morgan had been dead for nearly four hundred years.
However, Jiang Hai was still very interested in the treasure Morgan had left behind. The shipwreck he was targeting this time was known as the City of Sin.
Of course, this name appeared on the nautical charts, but Jiang Hai wasn't sure if it was the real name.
In fact, the ship was widely known, even by the British government, because it was famous when it sank. At that time, the United States wasn't as powerful as it is now; it was still a colony of European countries. It wasn't until 1773 that Britain started to dominate alone.
Before that, it was a shared colony of Britain, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, and other nations.
During a particularly difficult period for both Britain and Spain, Henry Morgan had focused not only on South America, but also North America, especially Florida, which was the mouth of the Caribbean Sea.
Normally, to catch a rabbit, you had to strike once or twice.
The ship had been intercepted by the Spanish fleet after robbing their North American colonies. After a fierce battle, although Henry Morgan managed to escape, he left behind several warships. Some of these had long been recovered by Britain and Spain. Others, lying deeper underwater, were salvaged once the technology improved. But the ship with the most jewels had never been salvaged—because it was incredibly unlucky. The area it sank in had almost no bottom, with deep trenches all around.
By chance, there was only one place in this area where the trench wasn't quite as deep—over 3,700 meters deep. The ship itself was stuck around 1,760 meters deep.
At that depth, it was impossible for people to dive down. Even sending a submarine would risk the ship plummeting to the bottom, making it even more impossible to retrieve. So, despite knowing that the ship was there, no country had found a way to recover it.
They were reluctant to lose it but could do nothing to retrieve it, including the treasure inside. As a result, both the United States and the United Kingdom ultimately decided to leave it where it was, figuring that at least it wouldn't be lost.
Later, when treasure maps were being sold by fishermen, a few people found the wreck. But after taking a look, they decided to give up and even considered going back to beat up the seller—because it was impossible to recover the ship.
But just because others couldn't salvage it didn't mean Jiang Hai couldn't. At least, that was what he was aiming to prove.
The engine was running smoothly and quickly. Jiang Hai was moving at about 20 nautical miles per hour, covering over 100 nautical miles. After nearly six hours of travel, he reached the edge of the trench just as midnight approached.
He checked his Rolex watch and switched on his headlamp. As soon as the light flicked on, he was shocked.
Right in front of him, a huge fish was swimming swiftly by.
Instinctively, Jiang Hai reached for his spear gun, but after a closer look, he saw that it wasn't a shark. It was a bluefin tuna, which was far more valuable than any shark. The blue lines along its body and its streamlined shape made it clear.
Jiang Hai breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn't a shark, he had nothing to fear.
Once the tuna swam off, Jiang Hai scanned the area. Bluefin tuna were actually social creatures.
His headlamp revealed not only the bluefin tuna he had just seen, but also many others nearby—although the species were somewhat mixed. Most were bluefin, but there were some yellowfin too.
Having raised fish for many years, Jiang Hai had developed a good eye for them. After a quick estimate, he figured that if this wasn't just exaggerated fish hype, this group of tuna could be worth around 2 million US dollars.
This made Jiang Hai click his tongue in amazement. It was much more profitable than raising cattle. Salmon and American redfish weren't much different from these tuna. Unfortunately, these fish couldn't be farmed because they swam across vast areas all year round. His fish farm was still too small to accommodate them, and no one sold the necessary fish stock either.
It was a pity. If Jiang Hai had come by boat, he could have snagged a few, assuming he didn't get caught. But tuna fishing had a time limit—August to October each year was the only window for catching them. After that, fishing was prohibited.
So, Jiang Hai sighed with regret and continued his dive into the deep sea.
As he descended, the numbers on his GPS kept ticking downward, and he got farther and farther from the surface.
Along the way, he saw many creatures—mostly fish, with occasional surprises like jellyfish and even a few sharks in the distance. Unfortunately, they were all small sharks, either cat sharks or mako sharks. These sharks weren't big to begin with, and when they saw the light, they would approach briefly but quickly swim away.
Clearly, the sharks here had seen humans before and suffered at their hands, so they weren't interested in meeting Jiang Hai.
As the depth increased, Jiang Hai began to feel the temperature dropping. Even though he was dressed warmly, the cold was still biting, and he instinctively shrank his neck. The temperature of sea water changes throughout the year.
At the surface, the water temperature is influenced by the local climate, but 350 meters below the surface, the temperature remains relatively constant worldwide, except at the poles. This is called the isothermal layer. Below this layer, the temperature drops further. For example, in the Atlantic Ocean, the average temperature is 16.9°C, but at 1,000 meters, it's about 4-5°C, and another 1,000 meters deeper, it's 2-3°C. At around 3,000 meters, it's just above 1°C.
Though Jiang Hai was highly resistant to cold, he wasn't immune to it. As long as the temperature was above -20 or -30°C, he'd be fine. But once he passed 1,000 meters, the fish around him completely disappeared.
Before 1,000 meters, Jiang Hai occasionally saw ugly fish like the lanternfish—also known as deep-sea anglerfish. It resembled an anglerfish but had a small light on its head to lure in smaller fish, which it then devoured. This species lived between 700 and 900 meters, but beyond 1,000 meters, they vanished.
It was as if, all at once, the world around Jiang Hai had turned pitch black, except for the circle of light from his headlamp.
Honestly, it was a creepy sight. The feeling of being alone in such a vast, dark world made Jiang Hai imagine that perhaps some sea monsters were lurking behind him, preparing to pounce.
But he reminded himself that these were just irrational fears.
As he continued to swim down, keeping his focus, he found his target at around 2 a.m.
The City of Sin was a very old medieval sailing ship, about 30 meters long and 15 meters wide.
Although it had been sunk for a long time, being in the deep sea with no oxygen or sunlight had preserved it better than if it were on land. The natural corrosion rate was much lower here.
Jiang Hai wasn't sure how he was surviving without oxygen, but as long as he wasn't feeling suffocated, he wasn't going to overthink it.
The ship was stuck in an I-shaped position. The bow and stern were wedged on either side of the sea cliffs, hanging in midair. The sails had rotted away, and many of the planks were broken.
Inside the hold, seaweed and other plants had taken root and floated around, as if inviting anyone who came close. But who knew what would happen if anyone actually went inside?
The Virgin Mary statue, originally made of metal, was now unrecognizable, replaced by shellfish and other plants making their home there.
Seeing the boat's appearance, Jiang Hai felt a chill creep over him, as though the cold air was thickening around him.
The whole ship had the eerie aura of a ghost ship. Well, it was a ghost ship.
Jiang Hai had carefully observed when descending, noting that the ship was built near the edge of a cliff. Though it was unclear whether it could withstand the impact of his descent, Jiang Hai wasn't willing to risk testing it. If it fell, he'd be looking at a 2,000-meter swim to safety, which would be exhausting.
So, he decided to approach slowly from the cliffs on both sides. But when his headlamp illuminated the cliffs, his scalp tingled with dread, and his hair stood on end.
His whole back crawled with discomfort, and for a moment, he nearly dropped the engine.
Fortunately, he managed to steady himself, suppressing his nausea and taking another look at the cliffs.
Under his headlamp, countless insects clung to the cliffs.
At the sight of them, Jiang Hai froze, unsure of what to do next.
(To be continued...)