The holiday was about to end, and every day, Hailong would call, pouring out his longing to Hu Jing, who was deeply moved and missed her sworn brother very much. She had been wondering why Hailong hadn't called so late today, and the young girl couldn't help but worry, fearing that something had happened to Hailong, or that he might be sick. Wearing only a light coat, she stubbornly waited by the phone, refusing to listen to her parents' and brother's劝阻, determined to wait for Hailong's call.
The cold winter wind, carrying snowflakes, howled incessantly outside the window. Although a layer of plastic film was added to the window, the cold still seeped through, chilling the room. The room was dimly lit, as it was already past ten o'clock, the time for lights out and sleep. Afraid of disturbing her parents' rest, Hu Jing turned on a small desk lamp, sat by the phone, and continuously rubbed her arms to generate heat and reduce the chill.
The shivering young girl stubbornly waited by the window, causing her family great concern, yet they were helpless. Just as the clock was about to strike eleven, the landline rang. Hu Jing quickly picked up the phone and anxiously said, "Hello, who are you looking for?"
Hailong hadn't expected the girl to answer so quickly; the phone had barely rung once. Checking the time, Hailong felt a warm feeling in his heart. In this harsh world, it was comforting to find something that still brought warmth. Hailong felt a sense of indescribable satisfaction.
Hearing the girl's voice, Hailong chuckled and said, "It's me, silly girl. Why did you answer so quickly? Were you waiting by the phone all along?"
Hearing Hailong's words, Hu Jing was furious. She thought, "This bad guy, not only did he call so late without apologizing, but he also teased me. How infuriating!" So Hu Jing angrily replied, "I wasn't waiting for you. I just happened to be sitting by the phone."
Hu Jing had once told him that the phone was always on the windowsill. How could this silly girl be sitting on the windowsill? She must have been waiting for his call. Just then, Hu Jing sneezed.
Hailong, feeling sorry, said, "I'm sorry, girl. I was busy today, so I called you so late. Don't wait for me like this next time."
Hu Jing stubbornly replied, "No, I can't sleep if you don't call me." Hearing Hu Jing's words, Hailong's heart melted.
Hu Jing curiously asked, "Brother, what have you been busy with lately? You call me so late every day."
Hailong couldn't tell Hu Jing what he had been doing, fearing she would be scared. He made up a reason and said, "I've been tutoring recently. During the holiday, I took on two kids to teach piano. I've been teaching them every day, so I get home late."
Hu Jing, surprised, said, "Brother, you're so amazing! You're tutoring now? Tell me more about it."
Hailong, feeling a bit overwhelmed, had to continue making up stories. He chuckled and said, "For a while, I was a driver for a boss. When he finished his business here and went back to another place, I had some free time. During the holiday, I went out with a friend and saw an advertisement for a piano teacher. I applied and got the job. Then, the parent of one of the kids asked me to teach another child."
Then, Hailong proudly said, "Do you know, girl, I earned 200,000 yuan this holiday just from teaching these two kids."
Hearing this, Hu Jing exclaimed, "Wow, that's a lot! Brother, you're so amazing! I admire you so much."
Hailong chuckled and said, "You wait for me by the phone every day. I should treat you well. How about I take you out for a big meal every day when I come back?"
Hu Jing happily said, "Sure, sure! I'll have free meals in the new semester. Haha~."
Then Hu Jing said, "Brother, have you seen the news lately?"
Hailong asked, "What news?"
Hu Jing said, "It's about the National Geographic. They reported that an international salvage team found a sunken ship off the coast of the United States. The ship was full of treasures, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. How about we go on a treasure hunt at sea this summer? I want to find treasure too, hahaha."
Hailong smiled and said, "Sure, when school starts, if you like, I'll take you to the nearby islands to look for treasure." As he said this, Hailong suddenly realized something. Yes, he could go deep-sea treasure hunting. There were countless sunken ships in the ocean. Hailong had once read that scientists estimated there were nearly three million undisturbed sunken ships in the world's oceans. Any one of these ships could be filled with treasures. Just salvaging one could make someone incredibly rich, with more money than they could ever spend. Why limit himself to catching crabs in the Devil's Sea?
Hailong's mind was already drifting to the ocean. After chatting with Hu Jing for a while, he hung up the phone and opened a webpage to search for information on underwater salvage. He found that not long ago, a Vietnamese man had salvaged 1,700 ancient porcelain pieces from the southern Chinese sea and sent them to Christie's auction house in Melbourne, Australia. The value of these porcelains exceeded 10 million RMB. The man first spent 1.6 million RMB to buy a villa in Cyprus and then changed his nationality to Cypriot, moving his entire family there. Hailong couldn't help but think, "This is more profitable than catching crabs. I work hard all day and can only make a few hundred thousand RMB, while this guy made over 10 million RMB in a day. It's so profitable."
After closing the webpage, Hailong continued searching for information on sunken ships. According to Baidu, the areas with the most concentrated sunken ships were mostly regions with developed ancient maritime trade, such as the Mediterranean, the route from Europe to North America, the route from China to Southeast Asia, and the route from China to Japan. Java Island was a major hub for trade between Europe and Southeast Asia, and there were about 2,000 sunken ships in the southern Chinese sea.
Seeing this, Hailong couldn't sit still. He rubbed his hands and prepared to control the Dragon King to explore the southern Chinese sea the next morning. If he could just salvage a few sunken ships, he would be rich. Hailong didn't have high demands; salvaging ten or eight ships would be enough. He could then sell them for a few billion RMB and retire. He planned to move his mother to Europe, buy a villa in Sri Lanka, where the average temperature is 28°C year-round, and another in Iceland, where the summer temperature is only 10°C to 13°C. When it was hot in summer, he would take his family to Iceland, and when it was cold in winter, they would go to Sri Lanka. He would hire a few Filipino servants, marry Hu Jing, hire a British butler, and find a French chef. What a wonderful future! Hailong drooled at the thought.
Just as Hailong was daydreaming, he saw on the webpage that in recent years, foreign explorers had been increasingly active in treasure hunting in the South China Sea. Since Southeast Asian countries lacked the capability to salvage underwater ships, they collaborated with international salvage companies to recover their underwater treasures, splitting the profits 40-60. However, most of the treasures were in the southern Chinese sea, so many international salvage companies, under the guise of working in other countries, secretly operated in the southern Chinese sea. Hailong was furious when he read this. He stood up and paced around the room, thinking, "No, I must take the Dragon King there to find sunken ships tomorrow. Otherwise, those international salvage companies will take them all."
Sitting in front of the computer, Hailong thought that deep-sea salvage was as complex as space exploration. Due to the underwater working environment, such as low visibility and ocean currents, the actual operation was extremely difficult. The working time underwater was also limited, often only a few hours a day, unlike land archaeology, where work could continue day and night. Underwater salvage was extremely costly, with a small boat costing 50,000 RMB per day, and a larger professional salvage ship costing over 100,000 RMB per day, which was ten times the cost of land archaeology. Additionally, advanced detection and diving equipment, as well as trained divers, required significant investment. Salvaging a deeper sunken ship could cost tens of millions of RMB. In 1977, China had organized a large-scale salvage operation for a modern Japanese ship, the "Abamaru," with a budget of 120 million RMB.
Hailong had a significant advantage: the Dragon King didn't care about the underwater environment, visibility, or ocean currents. As long as Hailong had the energy, the Dragon King could work 24 hours a day without any cost, no need to hire people or rent boats. The only thing to be cautious about was aggressive marine life.
Another major advantage was that no one could detect his presence, as the Dragon King was a marine creature. Hailong couldn't help but feel smug, thinking that even the most advanced salvage companies couldn't match him.
Hailong thought that once he finished dealing with Li Wanhu's matters, he could focus on finding sunken ships. He had already agreed to buy the cargo ships from Li Wanhu, and he needed to pay for them. Hailong thought that when Li Jihao came to collect the money the next day, he would be shocked to see 100 million RMB in cash. Even a wealthy young man like Li Jihao probably hadn't seen 100 million RMB in cash before. Thinking of this, Hailong felt very pleased.