The "Pipi Shrimp" and the "Trilobite" were parked next to the wreckage of a more than 70-meter-long submarine. Due to the uneven seabed on which it sank, the submarine had been under the gravity and pressure for more than 60 years. It had been bent into an arc, and there was no obvious damage on the hull. The cause of the sinking could not be determined. The "Siren" was cutting the hull with a welding gun while Ling Hao and Pete were chatting on the video about why the submarine sank, although both of them acted very relaxedly. , In fact, they were both very nervous. If their judgment was correct, then the amount of gold loaded in this submarine would be an amount that is unimaginable for ordinary people.
"Ten tons of gold bricks, how many are there? Can we fit them in the warehouse?" Yuan Bing asked Shi Sidao in a low voice on the "Stone Crab".
Shi Si looked at him with a caring look and said: "You have exposed your uneducated nature just by opening your mouth, right? Those are solid gold bricks. A big brick weighs 50 kilograms, and 10 tons are piled on it." It's less than half a cubic meter. The volume is not a problem at all. The key is the weight. Not to mention that it is far beyond the range we can carry. I guess even if we add the 'Trilobite', we can't carry such a heavy one. Stack things. The currents above are so chaotic that you don’t have to think about placing the hanging basket. I’m afraid I have to carry it up again and again.”
With a "click", a round hole with a diameter of more than one meter has been cut out of the outer hull of the submarine. The "Siren" continued to cut the inner shell without stopping, and Ling Hao and others also began to wear them. "Armor Diving Suit". The inner shell was much thinner than the outer shell, and a large hole was soon cut out. A stream of black water as black as ink emerged from the hole, immediately smearing the surrounding seawater, as if it had cut the blood vessels of a giant whale. It makes people feel horrified.
"Father, what is going on?" Susan was obviously frightened.
Peter stroked her golden hair lovingly: "Don't be afraid, dear, this is normal. Because the sealing of submarines is much better than that of surface ships, although they will still be filled with leaking seawater for such a long time. It is full, but there is no way to effectively circulate with the outside world. The fuel and mechanical lubricating oil in the submarine, including everything soaked by seawater, and even the corpses of the crew, will gradually decompose in the seawater inside the submarine. Do you want the color to be dark?"
"Uh..." Susan shuddered, and a burst of nausea made her almost retching. However, this is just a common phenomenon for professionals like Peter and Ling Hao who specialize in salvage and rescue work. , not to mention it has been brewed for decades, even if it has been brewed for a year, the water in the closed vessel will be as thick as coffee.
The mechanical eel "Scylla" poked its head into the hole, straightened its body, and opened a hole as big as a plate at its tail end, transforming directly into a water pump. However, it did not pump water out of the submarine, but pumped water out of the submarine. Clean seawater from the outside is sprayed into the submarine, just like a spray gun used for car washing. This method speeds up the cleaning of the interior of the submarine and ensures operational visibility.
Ling Hao looked warily at the dark seabed around him outside the porthole. For some reason, he felt a little uneasy at the moment, as if something terrible was approaching them.
"It's clean. Shall I let the robot go in and take a look first?" Peter asked Ling Hao for his opinion during the video call.
"Okay, I'll bother you then. Brother Pete, we have to move faster. I can't explain what's wrong. Anyway, I don't feel good. You know what I mean."
"Brother, don't be nervous. Just treat it like an ordinary sunken ship. Even if there is no gold in it, we only lost a few hours. It's not a big deal." Peter obviously didn't understand what Ling Hao meant. , I thought he was worried about gain and loss in front of the treasure.
The "Skolla" relied on its smooth and slender appearance to crawl around inside the cramped submarine, and finally found some suspicious metal boxes in the ammunition depot. Looking at the words printed on these boxes, it was clear that they contained At first, Peter didn't notice anything wrong with the cannonballs. However, Ling Hao said in confusion: "That's not right. There is only one cannon on the top of the submarine. Why do you need to reserve so many cannonballs?"
Peter was startled for a moment, patted his forehead and said: "Yes, Italy and Germany have different submarine tactics. Only the Germans like to float submarines to the surface and bombard merchant ships, while the Italians think this tactic is too dangerous, because they will have to re-launch after completing the mission." It takes a long time to submerge, and it is easy to be attacked by enemy escort warships, so Italian submarines are required to launch attacks underwater. Their main weapon is torpedoes, and the caliber of the guns on the top turret is not large. Here is a rough look, There are already more than fifty boxes containing artillery shells, and this is definitely a problem."
Without waiting for an order, the clever Susan manipulated the "Scylla" to open a shell box with the mechanical arm in its mouth. The shavings used as shock-absorbing filler in the box had long since rotted away. After the black water dispersed, everyone looked at the four brick-shaped silver-white metal neatly arranged at the bottom of the box, with the words "Italian National Labor" written on them. Bank" stamp.
Everyone was silent. After a full minute, Pete cleared his dry throat and said: "'National Labor Bank' is a state-owned bank controlled by the Italian Ministry of Finance. Obviously, these were stolen from the national treasury by Mussolini. Comes out platinum.”
Ling Hao said in a calm voice: "Platinum should only be in the minority. After all, its currency capacity is still not as good as gold. Counting the weight of platinum, if Mussolini really carried 10 tons of precious metals on the submarine as the legend says, then I feel that the number here seems to be a little less, and I will have to trouble Miss Susan to check other places carefully later."
The ammunition depot was too far away from where the hole was initially made, so the Siren had to cut a closer hole. Of course, no one would be stupid enough to use a welding gun on the wall of the ammunition depot, so it could only be drilled in In an adjoining cabin, the workload increased again. The key is that the space inside the submarine is too small. Only the "Skolla" can enter and exit freely. However, using its slender mechanical arm to move gold seems a bit unreliable to everyone. Forceful demolition? This is a submarine, and the steel plate on the outer shell is thicker than that of a tank. If manpower is used, Ling Hao feels pain in his back just thinking about it, and for a moment he is helpless. In the end, Shi Si thought of a way to tie several boxes together, and then tie an inflatable life vest. The buoyancy of the inflated life vest can greatly reduce the weight of the box. By then, whether it is the "Siren" or Ling Hao, , can carry out transportation work efficiently.
Next, everyone divided the work. Ling Hao, Tian Yong, and Xueting were responsible for carrying a stack of inflatable vests to the entrance of the cave. The transportation outside the submarine was handed over to the other two deep-diving robots, and "Si "Kula" continues to search inside the submarine for possible remaining treasures.
The nervous work began. Peter stood in the "Trilobite" and kept rubbing his hands. He had never been so nervous in his life, but it was no wonder. A ton of gold cost about 35 million U.S. dollars, and a ton of platinum cost about 5,000 U.S. dollars. Ten thousand US dollars, which means that the wealth is about 350 to 500 million US dollars. This reminded him of the feeling when he caught the Spanish gold coins. He would never forget that feeling in his life. Everyone thought that it was too easy for shipwreck hunters like them to make a lot of money. When they saw the news, who had salvaged treasures worth tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars from some sunken ship? It could be said that they became rich overnight. But in fact, people "only see thieves eating meat, but never seeing thieves beaten." Not to mention that even 20 salvage operations may not lead to a sunken ship with treasures. There is too much luck involved. Secondly, the vast sea is boundless. Who knows where to "lay the shovel"? Looking for a sunken ship is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It takes several years to consult and study the information, and then slowly plow the sea like a plow. It took a year and a half to plow the suspicious location all over, which is considered fast. It was not easy to find it. It is normal for the sunken ship to be empty or sunk to a position that cannot be retrieved. During this period, the artificial Fees, gas money, supplies, equipment, which one is free? Even if you are lucky enough to find a treasure, even if your country is incomplete and you want to leave, 10% is an international practice and you must give it, otherwise they will sue you. Next is the personal income tax in your own country. The highest tax rate in the United States is 39.6%. In this way, half of it is gone. After taking into account the costs, how much profit is left? People with some common sense in accounting can do the math for themselves. In fact, "Odyssey" is just a salvage team. Why set up a company? First, the corporate income tax rate is lower than the personal income tax rate, and the cost can be amortized; second, today's salvage companies would rather repair submarine cables and pipelines. As for shipwrecks, it is best to have customers provide the location of the shipwreck. Hire them to make money, which has a much higher success rate, is less time-consuming, and has low risks, otherwise Julian would not be so shameless as to only give a 15% commission. There is no legal and easy business in this world. Peter and Ling Hao, two people who have experienced this, know this very well. It’s just that Ling Hao now has the Rothschild family and the protagonist’s aura behind him, and poor Peter Then there is nothing. Otherwise, with a company like "Odyssey" that is the number one in the industry, Ling Hao would dare to bet shares with him casually? Because Ling Hao knew that the other party's shell was very empty.
The conversation has gone too far. At the moment, Ling Hao and the others are moving bricks, Susan is controlling the "Scula" to hunt for treasures door to door, and Peter is excitedly thinking about the future. None of them noticed that a huge crisis is approaching them. , maybe someone else is aware of it, and that is Shi Si, who has always been responsible for "watching and sentry".
"Something feels wrong. Why is my heart always pounding? Don't you think this job went too smoothly?" Shi Si kicked Yuan Bing, who was dozing in the chair next to him.
The latter woke up with a start, quickly wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth and said, "Can you please stop being so suspicious? Is there anything wrong with the mission going well?"
"Do you know what intuition is?"
"I think this should be called Crow's Mouth."
"Is your skin itchy again?"
These two people probably have incompatible zodiac signs, and they fight each other whenever they are together.
"Good news, guess what I found?!" Susan's excited voice came from the communicator. "I found dozens more shell boxes in the warehouse where the food was stored, as well as the captain's cabin. There was a large safe under the bed. I opened it and saw a silver box the size of a shoe box, which was filled with large items. Diamonds of all sizes, I have never seen so many diamonds in my life! There are also a lot of soaked paper residues in the safe, which may be cash or stocks."
"Oh? We have enough wealth now. Regarding diamonds, I am afraid that only brother Ling Hao here has the most authoritative valuation." Peter's face turned into a chrysanthemum with laughter.
"This is difficult for me. There are too many standards for diamond valuation, including size, purity, color, and shape. I can't rely on how much to estimate the value. But when it comes to our commission, I think we still need to do a good job. Identify it to avoid being tricked by that Greek young master. Brother Pete, don’t worry, with Anne here, there will be absolutely no problem with the diamond valuation."
"You're right, you are experts in this area, I absolutely believe it." Pete's head was nodding like a chicken eating rice.
Ling Hao's head was full of black lines, and he was regarded as a jewelry expert even though he was half a bottle of water. If Annie above knew this, he would laugh his head off. He quickly shut his mouth and concentrated on lifting bricks. If he continued talking, he would be embarrassed. Ling Hao tied the three boxes together, used an inflatable vest to lift them to the entrance of the cave, and handed them to the robot crab outside. When the latter turned to leave, the light on it swept across the seabed. Ling Hao immediately became excited and said, He shouted over the communicator: "Pete, set off flares, there's something on the seabed!"
