"Hahaha! Li, my friend, you are finally here. I have prepared the best caviar and vodka, just waiting for you." A rough man's voice with a North Caucasus flavor spoke in blunt Mandarin. , sounded like a muffled thunder, immediately startling everyone, and shattering the artistic conception of this beautiful scenery.
I saw a fat man wearing a black fur cloak walking over with a smile on his face, followed by a group of people. This must be the rich man Basharov. This man's appearance is completely different from that of a Caucasian. On the contrary, he looks more like an Asian. He should be of Tatar descent.
Li Liang also laughed and walked forward and gave the other party a big bear hug. The two parties looked very affectionate. Li Liang pulled Ling Hao over and introduced to Basharov: "My dear Evandrich, this is the son of my good brother, his name is Ling Hao. In the field of deep diving operations, his team He is one of the best in the world. I believe you have asked about them. This time I will help you contact him. Friendship is friendship and business is business. Don’t bully the junior."
Basharov laughed and looked at Ling Hao, then patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I, Basharov, am known for my credibility. Come on, I'll take care of you." Trailer After pulling the equipment to the dock, everyone followed Basarov into his luxurious villa by the lake. There were armed security guards everywhere outside the villa. The rich and powerful man from the fighting nation really lived up to his reputation.
The European-style dining table, which is huge enough to seat 20 people, is filled with all kinds of Russian delicacies, including caviar, grilled sturgeon steak, fried viviparous scallops, beef stew with potatoes, baked Lake Baikal lobster, boiled Lake Baikal conch, and so on. Song soup, brown bread, Russian smoked fish, red sausage, cheese, Russian dumplings, grilled lamb chops, extremely rich.
At the dinner table, Basharov said a lot of polite words, and Ling Hao and Li Liang responded to them one by one. Yuan Bing and other losers lowered their heads and ate and drank, making Ling Hao miserable. . After three rounds of wine and five delicious dishes, the conversation gradually got to the point.
"Your deep-diving equipment has been transported to the dock. I have modified a deep-diving operation ship. All the equipment will be hoisted onto the ship. I wonder if nephew Ling Hao wants to rest here for a few days before setting off?" Basharov said this sarcastically. , how come Ling Hao can't hear it?
"Winter has entered Siberia, and it's getting colder day by day. The lower the water temperature, the more detrimental it is to the salvage operation. I think it's better to set off as early as possible, while the ice is still not that thick, to finish the work early, and start early tomorrow morning." Ling Hao said with a smile. "But there is one thing, it involves diving operations, I have to ask in advance, I hope you don't mind. What exactly is the cargo we want to salvage this time, and how much is it?"
Basharov smiled awkwardly, dismissed all the servants in the restaurant, and then said: "Anyway, you will be able to see it then, so there is no need for me to hide it. I also have a palladium mine nearby, and the ship is loaded with finished products. The palladium gold bricks weigh a total of one ton, which is exactly one hundred yuan. That's why I spent such a high price to find people to salvage this ship. You can ignore other things. You only need to use these 100 yuan. Just catch the gold bricks and that’s it.”
Ling Hao and the others were not surprised. After all, they had estimated the situation before coming, and everything was as they expected.
"No problem, you just need to tell us which cabin on the ship the goods are placed on."
After the meal, Basharov asked his servants to arrange a room for Ling Hao and the others, and then called Ling Hao and Li Liang to the study alone, as if he wanted to communicate alone about something.
In the study, Basharov poured a glass of brandy for each of Li Liang and Ling Hao, then handed out cigars and said with a flattering smile: "I have used a deep-diving robot to take pictures of shipwrecks before. You can take a look." With that said, he handed a tablet to Ling Hao.
This is image data taken by a deep-diving robot. The picture is very clear. There is a small yacht leaning diagonally on the lake bed. It is less than ten meters long. It is full of bullet holes. There is a hole with a diameter of more than a foot below the waterline. , one can tell at a glance that it was sunk.
"Ivan, this ship was sunk. Did you encounter a robber? Or are there enemies who are against you?" Li Liang asked in surprise.
"Who would dare to attack me? Don't you know who my enemy is? It's not that bastard Valery, but don't worry, I've dealt with him. Now the grandson is hiding in Prague. , I don’t dare to come back at all, just don’t worry about your homework.”
Ling Hao remained silent and focused on watching the video, while Basarov's eyes never left Ling Hao's face as he observed Ling Hao's expression. The deep-diving robot made a thorough exploration and circled the sunken ship several times, but Ling Hao noticed something strange. The place where the ship sank should be a flat area on the underwater cliff of the island. Although it is wide, it is just a platform. Lake Baikal is extremely deep. The islands in the lake are actually mountains standing at the bottom of the lake. The part above the water is just the top of the mountain. And this mountain called "Olikhon Island" is very steep, and the underwater part is basically a staircase. The yacht sank on the platform between the first cliff and the second cliff.
Ling Hao was no stranger to this kind of terrain, but what bothered him was that while the diving robot was continuously taking pictures around the sunken ship, a cave on the cliff not far away flashed across the video. The cave was very strange, because it was too regular, like an artificial moon gate. It was obviously not natural. But this is a 410-meter deep water area. The number of teams that can reach here to salvage is already very rare. How about digging a cave here? It is simply an unimaginable thing.
"See the problem?" Basharov asked Ling Hao.
The latter nodded: "There is no big problem with the shipwreck. It's just that the cave that flashed past in the video was obviously dug manually. But how could there be an artificial cave under such deep water?"
Basharov nodded and said: "It's possible, maybe you don't know, Lake Baikal was created by the collision of the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate, that's why it's so deep. Until now, there are still hundreds of thousands of people of all sizes here every year. After the earthquake, 336 large and small rivers including the Selenga River merged into it, and the Angara River flowed out from it. Every winter, all rivers freeze, and Lake Baikal will enter a dry period. The 410 meters mentioned before is actually The depth at the turn of summer and autumn is now 398 meters. The 12-meter drop surprises you, right? This is a common phenomenon every year. You also know that Eastern Siberia has an inland mountainous climate. It will be very dry, and if it is a severe drought that has not happened in a century, it is not impossible for the water level of Lake Baikal to drop to that level."
Ling Hao didn't seem to care very much. He put down his tablet, cut his cigar with a cigar cutter, and asked casually: "What do you mean by letting me see this cave? Do you want my people to go in and have a look? Don't you have it?" A diving robot? This kind of thing doesn’t necessarily require humans, and cave diving is dangerous. It’s not worth the risk for an unknown cave.”
Basharov smiled and said: "Then watch the second video on the tablet."
Ling Hao picked up the tablet again in surprise. Sure enough, there was a video on the desktop. It was still shot by a deep-diving robot. The video slowly approached the entrance of the cave, and then he went in without stopping. The camera scanned up, down, left, and right. This cave should be It was originally formed naturally, but was later artificially repaired. The passage was winding and still retained many traces of manual excavation. Gradually, the cave began to tilt upward, and the passage became narrower and narrower. The robot traveled about 500 meters. In such a way, the lens actually surfaced. Under the strong searchlight, you can see that this is a very large space, which is slightly smaller than the waiting hall of a train station. The top of the cave is more than ten meters high from the ground, and the place where the robot floats is only a five or six meter diameter. Small pool.
What is more eye-catching is that a white double-open stone door is inlaid on the stone wall at the end of the space. Countless warrior statues holding spears and shields with cross marks stand on both sides of the stone door. There are many murals on the rock walls around the stone door. Although it was soaked by water vapor and peeled off or faded in many places, you can still see the image of the Virgin holding the Son and the image of the priest wearing a bucket hat. Judging from these statues and murals, they are typical Orthodox style.
But what shocked Ling Hao the most was that the ground was covered with human bones. At a glance, there were hundreds of them, covering the ground. This scene seems to seamlessly connect heaven and hell, which is both weird and terrifying.
Ling Hao smiled bitterly and said, "Isn't this an ancient tomb? We are all divers, not gold captains. This is beyond our capabilities."
"No, this is not an ancient tomb. I wonder if you have heard of the legend of Rasputin's treasure?" Basharov introduced the story of Rasputin to Ling Hao and Shi Si with foaming at the mouth. They are very similar, but Ling Hao has never heard of the treasure part. "During the ten years that Rasputin controlled the government, he collected billions of rubles' worth of wealth, but after his death, this wealth disappeared. Some unofficial histories and the letters and memoirs of people around him have mentioned that Rasputin These treasures were hidden somewhere at the bottom of Lake Baikal, so no one has been able to find them. I didn’t really believe this kind of thing at first. After all, it was the early twentieth century. Who had the ability to do so in Lake Baikal? There is treasure hidden under the deep water, unless he doesn’t want it anymore. But a few years ago, because of mine matters, I asked someone to check the recorded hydrological conditions of Lake Baikal in the past two hundred years. Unexpectedly, I found that in 1915, The year before Rasputin was killed, there happened to be a severe drought in Eastern Siberia. The red land was thousands of miles away, and the water level of Lake Baikal dropped by hundreds of meters. It was not restored until 1917. This is a very coincidence. Rasputin is a 'generation of demon monks' , his prophecy ability has been recorded in history books. Could it be that he had predicted his impending disaster, and also knew that the water level of Lake Baikal would drop significantly in 1915, and then used his power to get a group of people to sort out that In the cave, he hid all the money he collected throughout his life. After the water level rose, even the gods were unable to get this wealth. Of course, if he wanted to get it back, he would have to wait until 1922, when Eastern Siberia was once again flooded. There was a drought and the water level dropped even lower than in 1915. If Rasputin had successfully survived the disaster at that time, he would have been able to get the treasure and live comfortably for the rest of his life."
Ling Hao took a long breath and said calmly: "I understand what you mean. You want us to explore this cave to see if it is Rasputin's treasure. If so, take these treasures." I’ll bring it out to you, right?”
Basharov nodded desperately, his eyes full of expectation. Ling Hao continued: "I have to discuss with my team members whether or not to do this. After all, the risks of this matter cannot be estimated, and there may be big problems. You and I are both businessmen, and human relationships are human relationships. , Business is business, I rely on my diving skills to make a living, so whether you make a fortune or not at all on this so-called treasure this time, our labor fees are still indispensable. In this way, if my brother We agreed to do it. When the palladium is fished out, we can settle the previous account. The treasure thing is another business. The deposit is 2 million US dollars. If the treasure is fished out, you will pay me another 5 million. If nothing is found, I don’t care if you ask for more money, the deposit won’t be refunded, how about that?”
"Seven million US dollars? Too much?" Basharov planned to bargain.
"Mr. Basharov, you are risking your life by exploring this kind of ruins. If you find a treasure, in order to prevent others from taking it away easily, you will probably lay some traps, right? Besides, although I am not a Russian, I am here. I have done enough research on the historical situation of Russia before. The ruble during the Tsarist Russia was a gold standard currency, a 'golden ruble'. Each ruble contained nearly 0.8 grams of gold, which was definitely hard currency. Moreover, these rubles more than 100 years ago The gold coins are definitely worth more now than they were then. It was a wealth worth billions of rubles at that time. In addition to currency, antiques and artworks are also indispensable. If you get them all, your net worth will be doubled immediately, right?" Ling Hao had an indifferent attitude of "you agree or disagree."
"Okay, deal!" Basharov gritted his teeth and agreed. After all, compared to that wealth, $7 million is really nothing.
Half an hour later, in Ling Hao's room, everyone in the team, including Li Liang and Zhu Xin, all sat together. After listening to Ling Hao's explanation of what had just happened, and then watching the video, everyone in the team was excited. Come to think of it, this is a group of people with a passion for adventure in their blood. Otherwise, how could they choose such a dangerous job to plunge into the abyss of the sea?
However, Zhu Xin frowned, took Ling Hao's arm and said, "I think it's too dangerous. You are not short of money, why take this risk?"
Ling Hao shook her hand and said: "This line of work we do is inherently dangerous, and we have to retire at the age of 45. Our working hours are limited. I want everyone to earn enough pension as soon as possible. Wouldn't it be better to retire? Don't worry, we will retreat if it's too dangerous. We won't force you to come." Everyone agreed. Although Zhu Xin wanted to object, he couldn't open his mouth and ruin everyone's fun, so he had no choice but to do so aggrievedly. remained silent.
Early the next morning, Basharov led everyone to the dock. A deep-diving operation ship converted from a 2,000-ton icebreaker was parked there. The "Stone Crab" and "Pippi Shrimp" had both been hoisted. Dozens of people boarded the boat. The icebreaker broke through the ice on the lake and began to sail towards the depths of Lake Baikal.
