Chapter 254: 253, Exploring The Ghost Ship, Hidden Killers, Secrets At The Boat Bottom
The small boat stopped beside the Ghost Ship.
Fang Wen examined this ancient ship that should have 200 years of history.
Why could it still appear on the sea? Instead of turning into a pile of rotten wood and sinking to the seabed?
The outer wall of the ancient ship was clearly divided into upper and lower parts.
The upper part was wooden and decayed, growing many barnacles.
The lower part, however, was relatively smooth, with a slight metallic sheen.
Professor Suarez analyzed, “It’s copper sheathing. Caribbean pirates used copper sheathing technology even earlier than the East India Company, no wonder they could cross the Atlantic Ocean for plunder back then. They should have wrapped copper pieces around the boat bottom, which could waterproof and prevent corrosion by seabed creatures.”
Lin Shuiwang, who had been a sailor for many years, spoke up: “Copper boat bottoms are poisonous, so seaweed and barnacles generally don’t grow there.”
Professor Suarez continued analyzing: “I think it’s because of the reinforcement from the copper sheathing on the boat bottom that this ancient ship could remain intact.”
So that’s how it was, everything had a reason. Fang Wen looked at the Ghost Ship but did not give the order to board.
He inexplicably asked, “Lin Shuiwang is someone I asked to come along, John Harvey, why did you dare to come on this adventure too?”
John Harvey replied, “Because I’m afraid of dying, it’s safest to follow the General Manager.”
As expected from the smart（ cunning） barrister, Fang Wen thought to himself with a sigh, this exploration was truly one ring inside another.
He then turned to Elizabeth Catherine Rockefeller, “In the last exploration accident, the diver’s death was man-made, someone was eliminating unfavorable factors. The diver was an unfavorable factor, and so was the pilot. So I volunteered to come command the exploration, after all, here I have more people, so it’s safer. Then why did you come over?”
Elizabeth Catherine Rockefeller stepped back, and two photographers protected her from left and right.
“My intuition has always been good, and my intuition tells me that you are the safest. After all, you’re so young, yet you’ve experienced so much, it can’t all be luck.”
Fang Wen nodded: “They should be targeting you four, now the enemy is in the dark and we are in the light, it’s better to sit back and watch the tigers fight. I’ve already notified your cousin and the Whitney couple, they will be careful. Now, take action.”
Wu Yingzong and Zhao Wanping suddenly sprang up and subdued the two crew members.
After these two were tightly bound with ropes, only Fang Wen’s group and Elizabeth Catherine Rockefeller’s group remained on the boat.
“Whether these two are enemies or friends, it’s best they stay here. John Harvey, can you watch them?” Fang Wen spoke up.
“Okay.” John Harvey nodded, picked up an oar, and stood guard beside the two bound crew members.
Only then did Fang Wen start boarding the ship.
（Galleon three-masted sailboat structural diagram）
The cables on the Ghost Ship had long decayed and could not be climbed, so to get up, they had to do it themselves.
Wu Yingzong swung the grappling hook connected to the rope and threw it up fiercely, hooking it onto the ship’s side.
But the wooden boards on the ship’s side were severely decayed and didn’t hold steady several times, until Wu Yingzong moved to the bow position and succeeded.
Wu Yingzong and Zhao Wanping went up first, followed by Fang Wen and Lin Shuiwang who also climbed up.
Next was Elizabeth Catherine Rockefeller and the two photographers. Because their strength was too small to climb up themselves, they tied Elizabeth Catherine Rockefeller with a rope and pulled her up onto the ship.
Now the 7-person exploration team had all come up, and the exploration action began.
Elizabeth Catherine Rockefeller took out her camera to shoot, while the two photographers took out their Kodak 8mm handheld movie cameras and recording devices to follow and film.
Fang Wen looked around.
They were currently at the bow position, with a large hole in the middle deck, which should be where the explorer had an accident and fell through last time.
Further ahead there were two more layered decks, but they had collapsed due to the ravages of time.
And the position they were in was the bow lookout platform.
He spoke up: “Professor Suarez, what do you think we should do?”
“Our current position is the bow lookout platform, there’s a main door below, generally the captain’s quarters are right below.” Professor Suarez replied.
Fang Wen nodded but did not go looking for that main door, instead having his men directly chisel at the bow lookout platform.
The already decayed deck was soon chiseled open with a hole, and Wu Yingzong shone his miner’s lamp down into the hole.
Below was a patch of darkness, not very clear.
Suddenly, a shadow ran below.
“I saw it. Rats, bigger than cats.” Wu Yingzong shouted.
It really was rats, it seemed they were the ones who attacked the explorers last time.
After knowing the answer, the fear instead disappeared.
Wu Yingzong took out his weapons and went down first, followed by Zhao Wanping, and then a burst of gunfire sounded.
“General Manager, they’ve run away, you can come down.”
Fang Wen descended along the rope and examined the results of the battle.
Several big rats over a meter long lay dead on the floor, heaven knows how these rats grew so big.
He shifted his gaze from the big rats’ corpses and looked around.
This should be the pirate ship’s captain’s quarters, yet it was a mess, with various implements scattered everywhere, and traces of sword strikes on the table and chairs.
“Look for a captain’s log.” Fang Wen spoke up.
Yes, if there was a captain’s log, most of the secrets here might be unraveled.
Everyone then began searching the room.
Empty wine bottles in the wine cabinet, weapons and nautical charts in the hidden compartment secret door, but no captain’s log.
Lin Shuiwang analyzed, “Could it be that the captain was illiterate, so there was no captain’s log?”
“Possible, in the 17th century there were no sextants yet, pirates back then all relied on compasses to determine direction, even illiterates could be captains.” Professor Suarez agreed with this analysis.
Since that’s the case, let’s continue exploring downward.
After exiting the captain’s quarters there was a slanted corridor connecting to the ship cabin space below.
Respectively, sailors’ rest room, mess hall, kitchen.
With the passage of time, most things in these rooms had decayed.
And a mutilated corpse.
It was that explorer who fell from the deck, he had suffered a brutal attack before his death.
Wu Yingzong took off his clothes and covered the corpse, but discovered a new situation.
In the corner of the ship cabin, there was a large amount of black hair.
But there were no big rat tracks here.
Fang Wen decided to continue exploring downward, after all this was only the first layer of the hull, there was more below.
Down the vertical ladder to the second layer.
That layer was all cannon rooms, with cannons placed on one side, and movable baffles in front; when firing, the baffles had to be moved to extend the cannon muzzles out.
Until a door appeared ahead, with several piles of dry bones at the doorway.
Fang Wen looked at Elizabeth Catherine Rockefeller, but saw she wasn’t panicked, instead showing an excited and tense expression.
It seemed this tycoon had some quirks too.
He signaled Wu Yingzong to open the door, Lin Shuiwang went forward proactively, trying to push open the door ahead, but it wouldn’t budge.
“General Manager, something is blocking behind the door.”
“I’ll do it.”
Zhao Wanping took a deep breath, rushed forward fiercely, and rammed with her shoulder.
The wooden door was rammed open a crack, and the things behind the door could be seen.
A large table, and some sacks.
After some dismantling, the wooden door was removed, and everyone worked together to move the obstacles behind the door, finally reaching the next room.
That was the scene of the tragedy on this Ghost Ship.
Many skeletons were scattered in the rear room.
This was a very eerie sight.
The room below was the storeroom, with supplies for the entire ship, but the pirates on the ship had mostly died inside here.
Not because food was exhausted, Fang Wen saw salted fish and apple cores scattered on the ground, even traces of rat bites.
Professor Suarez suddenly thought of a possibility and said in panic, “It’s the plague, they were infected with the plague, which caused infighting, and ultimately the plague took the lives of the survivors.”
Fang Wen’s face changed instantly.
Everyone on the ship had died, but the rats carrying the plague virus survived.
He knew well how terrifying the plague was, they absolutely could not contact those virus-carrying rats.
But the treasure that could enhance his abilities could not be abandoned either.
He concentrated his spiritual power perception.
The treasure should be below, on the third layer of the ship cabin, the supplies hold.
Which was also the lair of the giant rats.
He gave the order: “Cover your mouth and nose with handkerchiefs, absolutely no contact with the rats, make torches.”
Professor Suarez said in horror: “Don’t go down, you’ll die.”
The fear lurking in European blood was activated.
From 1347 to 1353, in just 15 years, the plague outbreak known as the “Black Death” that swept across Europe took the lives of 25 million Europeans, one-third of the total population at the time.
Professor Suarez didn’t dare go down, nor did the two photographer bodyguards.
Wu Yingzong and Zhao Wanping unhesitatingly followed Fang Wen’s orders to operate, and Lin Shuiwang joined the action after a moment’s hesitation.
After some preparation, they made torches, covered their mouths and noses, and held their weapons.
Elizabeth Catherine Rockefeller grabbed her assistant’s 8mm film reel camera, also covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief, and joined this adventure.
Fang Wen said seriously: “Follow my orders, don’t act rashly.”
To retrieve the secret treasure under the threat of the plague, Fang Wen was not acting recklessly.
The first thing he thought of was his mechanical perception supernatural ability.
He who had used this ability on the small steamship before also wanted to try it here.
He focused completely.
It seemed this ship was completely dead and could no longer serve as a container.
But the state of highly concentrated spiritual power was not entirely without effect.
The position of the exotic treasure became more precise.
Right in the middle of the third layer.
The group carefully descended the slanted ladder to the third layer, raising torches and miner’s lamps to drive away the darkness ahead.
The third layer really was the rats’ lair, full of rats everywhere.
How did so many rats survive?
This doubt was soon answered.
Wet big rats carrying sea fish drilled down from holes above, they had actually learned to catch fish in the sea.
With protein from fish meat and freshwater supplements, these rats proliferated offspring on the Ghost Ship.
Soon, the humans’ movements alarmed these rats.
A pile of big rats blocked the path ahead, some standing upright showing two fangs, some emitting squeaking shrieks.
But none rushed over, clearly having grown fond of the darkness, they were not adapted to light.
“Shoot.”
On Fang Wen’s order, Wu Yingzong, Zhao Wanping, and Lin Shuiwang unleashed bullets from their weapons.
The bullet rain splashed blood in the rat pile, even beasts felt fear and scattered fleeing.
“They’re scared, let’s go.” Fang Wen led the way forward, the others hurried to follow.
Beasts lack human wisdom and emotions, if they’re scared they’re scared, they won’t go back and forth, that was Fang Wen’s thinking.
He quickly rushed to the perceived position and saw the treasure of this Ghost Ship.
Chest after chest of goldware.
Under the light, though somewhat oxidized, it still reflected an alluring sheen.
Elizabeth Catherine Rockefeller, holding the film reel camera and filming, ran a gallery and usually dealt with collectors, well-versed in art and antiques.
She said in surprise: “It’s Maya civilization goldware, I’ve seen it in a Spanish museum.”
Lin Shuiwang couldn’t help saying: “So much gold, General Manager, you’re rich again.”
His words “rich again” made Elizabeth Catherine Rockefeller glance sideways.
Realizing he had said the wrong thing, Lin Shuiwang immediately shut up.
Fang Wen calmly replied: “According to the exploration agreement, we will distribute this batch of treasure together, before taking it away, it’s fine to appreciate it.”
Then, several people entered the treasure room.
Fang Wen’s target was clear, he clearly sensed the item was under a golden mask on the right.
He put on gloves, picked up the golden mask, pretended to examine it, but focused his attention on the treasure chest below.
“This should be a priest’s mask.” Elizabeth Catherine Rockefeller came over to explain: “Maya people believed in the wind and sky god Huracan, thinking everything in the world was Huracan, even humans. First, Huracan created humans from soil, but unsatisfied, destroyed them with flood. Second was wood, still unsatisfied, destroyed them. Third used corn to create humans, that is, the Maya people.”
These words stunned Fang Wen.
Creating humans from soil, wasn’t that the legend of Nüwa?
Great flood destroying the world appeared in different civilizations.
A coincidence? Why were ancient civilizations so similar.
He waved away the thoughts, pointed to another implement below and asked: “What is this?”
“Green jade mosaic mask, Maya civilization believed jade was closer to the gods than gold, so only great priests could wear such masks. Speaking of which, mosaic inlay first appeared in Maya civilization.”
Elizabeth Catherine Rockefeller explained, but her attention was soon drawn to other treasures and she turned to film other targets.
Only then did Fang Wen quietly make his move, removing a jade stone from the forehead of the green jade mosaic mask.
That jade was emerald green like jadeite, but not inlaid, Fang Wen easily took it off.
He took a handkerchief from his pocket, wrapped it, and put it in his trouser pocket.
Then after appreciating for a while, he spoke up: “Alright, we can’t take so much treasure, and there are still those rats around, what if there’s plague. Let’s go out first.”
Indeed, there were still those plague-carrying big rats around, Fang Wen’s group then returned the way they came.
When they returned to the second layer, Professor Suarez upon hearing the situation below immediately regretted it deeply, such a major discovery, yet he missed it because of fear.
Fortunately, Fang Wen promised he could participate in the later treasure research, which cheered him up again.
Then, the group retraced their steps back to the Ghost Ship’s deck level.
On the deck, Fang Wen saw flashes of fire in the distance, two boats were burning fiercely, clearly the anticipated events had occurred.
