The Sands of Time Chapter 11 Deck

The deck had been corroded by sea water for many years and could no longer bear the weight. When my 80 kilograms of body weight pressed on it, it immediately made a creaking sound and seemed to be about to break. But I didn't care about that and hurried to see how the woman was.

Half of her body had been dragged into the dark hold. I was anxious when I saw it, because I had no lighting equipment and no sharp weapon in my hand. Once I was dragged in, it would be hard to predict whether I would live or die.

I rolled over, grabbed her legs, and pulled a few times with all my strength, but found that the woman didn't move at all. What's more, she was wearing a tight diving suit. Not only was there no place to pull, but it was also very slippery due to the sea water. I could only use 80% of my strength.

I saw that if this continued, the woman would definitely be doomed. I couldn't think of a good solution for a moment, so I rushed over to the woman and hugged her waist. The combined weight of the two of us was at least 130 kilograms. I wanted to see how these two wax-like hands would pull.

I didn't expect that the deck had reached the critical point. As soon as I pressed on it, the whole deck collapsed with a loud bang. Within a few seconds, I fell into the hold along with a lot of rotten and damp wood chips. Fortunately, the bottom of the ship was still solid, otherwise we would have fallen directly into the sea.

This fall was quite hard. I sat up swayingly, and couldn't help but smile bitterly. I had just tried so hard not to enter the hold, but now it was so refreshing to enter. At this time, I heard the woman shouting from below: "Get away! You're crushing me!"

I found myself sitting on her buttocks, and quickly moved away, thinking that this was good. In the idol dramas I watched before, women always sat on men, but now it was the other way around. The woman struggled to support her waist and sat up. The hands on her shoulders were gone. I was shocked and asked quickly, "Where did those two ghost hands go?"

She touched her shoulder and said in surprise, "I don't know either. I was confused when I fell on this boat and I don't know when I disappeared. Didn't you see it?"

I shook my head. "It was too chaotic when I fell just now, so I didn't notice it. But those two hands could drag a living person. It must not be an illusion. They are real things. It is impossible for them to disappear out of thin air. They must have been knocked off when I fell just now. Look under you to see if there is anything."

As soon as I said this, the woman turned pale with fear and quickly lifted her butt to look. Unfortunately, there was nothing under her body except the wood chips. I said, "Maybe it was torn off when you fell. It was still holding on to the steps of the warehouse. You fell so suddenly that it didn't have time to let go, so it might still be there."

She nodded, thinking it made sense, and said, "I don't know why it pulled me here. I think I should be more careful."

We both looked around. Because there was a big hole in the deck, the light was still quite clear. The inner wall of the hold was also covered with thick white sea embroidery, which almost covered everything inside. We peeled off some of it and saw some general items used for sailing, but they had basically rotted away and only their shapes were left.

Judging from the scale and structure of the ship's hold, it should be a medium-sized fishing boat from the 1970s or 1980s. It has a metal hull and a large hold space, which is separated by wooden planks in the middle. It should be divided into the crew's lounge, the captain's room, and the cargo hold. Our current position should be in the cargo hold, but judging from the things that have been stripped out, this ship definitely did not sink while loading cargo.

The keel of this ship should not have been completely corroded, so it still has a certain endurance, otherwise it would have been disintegrated in such big waves.

The woman shook her head and said, "I know a lot about ships, but the condition of this ship is totally unreasonable. With such thick sea rust, it should have been on the seabed for at least a dozen years."

I asked, "Could it be possible that a large storm brought it up from the bottom of the ocean?"

She replied: "The possibility of this happening is very small. A shipwreck that has been there for decades should have been buried deep in the sea sand. Even if you use a crane to lift it, it would be difficult to lift it. Moreover, its hull is very fragile and it may be torn apart if you are not careful."

I thought of what she said, but I still couldn't figure out one thing. If the ship had sunk, how could it still float on the water? Even if someone fished it out, there must be a hole in its hull left by the distress. Could this hole be repaired by itself?

I couldn't see anything here, and the two hands were gone, so I felt relieved. I patted the wood chips on my body and stood up, and asked the woman to walk into the warehouse. The two warehouses were separated by a wooden plank, which was now rotten and full of holes. I wanted to kick the plank away, but the woman stopped me and said, "The wooden plank is attached to the deck. If you use more force, I'm afraid the whole deck will fall off."

I thought to myself, it would be great if the entire deck fell down, then the light would come in and I wouldn't feel so panicked.

With the experience in Prince Lu's Palace, I have a deeper understanding of many things. Especially after hovering on the brink of life and death several times, my ability to respond has been greatly enhanced. So when I was on this ghost ship, although my nerves were still tense, I was not so scared that I couldn't think.

There was a door firmly installed on the wooden partition. I didn't know whether to push or pull it, so I tried to pull it, and the handle and half of the door panel were pulled out. I looked at the woman and said, "Isn't this almost the same as removing the whole board?"

She ignored me and looked into the dark doorway. This woman must be very brave, but I think after what happened just now, she probably wouldn't dare to go in rashly. I said to her: "There is not enough light inside. If you want to go in, you'd better open a skylight on the deck to get some light, otherwise you won't have anything to put in after entering."

I knew that this sentence would definitely be useful, and as she hesitated, I chuckled, went forward and tried to pry it off a few times, and almost broke the whole board off. There was a large bed board frame in the warehouse inside, which was made of iron, so it was still there. The bed board had rotted away. Judging from the furnishings, it should be where the boatmen stayed. I saw an iron cabinet in the corner of this warehouse, which was still closed. I went forward and pulled it, and it was quite loose.

It is difficult to find written records on this kind of ship. Nowadays, captains have to write navigation logs every day. At that time, not many people could read, so I didn't expect to find anything useful. When I opened the iron cabinet, I was surprised to find an old waterproof bag inside. I opened the bag and a notebook that was almost falling apart fell out. I took a look and saw a few words written on the cover: Xisha Wanjiao Archaeological Record.

I opened the title page and saw a few beautiful words on it: July 1984, Wu Sanxing presented it to Chen Wenjin