Seaweed and kelp covered the sunken s.h.i.+p, and the incomplete s.h.i.+p"s hold had been turned into a home for fish. Xia Lei’s arrival startled these inhabitants, and they came swimming out in a panic. School after school zoomed past, and quite a few b.u.mped into Xia Lei. The onslaught of fish, however, did not impede Xia Lei’s movements. He climbed up the deck and found skeletal remains under the lonely mast.
There were some metal pieces next to these bones, and upon closer inspection, Xia Lei found that these pieces were part of armour. He then found a sword under the bones. He wiped off the mud and the seaweed from the blade, and saw a Chinese inscription which read, ‘Embroidered Uniform Guard’.
This was proof that the sunken s.h.i.+p was a Ming dynasty wars.h.i.+p. It could have even been the world’s first treasure s.h.i.+p.
The Ryukyu Islands used to be a va.s.sal state in the Ming dynasty, so a wars.h.i.+p in this area was fairly normal. It was just that the cause for this s.h.i.+p to be sunk was unknown.
Xia Lei left the bow and moved seaweed aside to go deeper into the wreck.
Xia Lei found several skeletal remains in the body of the s.h.i.+p, and some pieces of armour which had been better preserved than the first piece he found. These bones and items sat silently at the bottom of the sea, and had slept here for hundreds of years. Looking at them made Xia Lei feel like he had travelled through time and returned to the Ming dynasty.
Images came into Xia Lei"s head unbidden. A large wars.h.i.+p, cresting the waves, carrying the Ming emperor onwards to the Ryukyu Islands. Tall and mighty generals on the s.h.i.+p, as will as court officials, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard - female dancers too, showing off their skills. These people laughed, and chattered, going about their business, unaware of the danger coming towards them.
Suddenly, a great towering wave came rolling towards them…
These images were clear and vivid, and Xia Lei had a feeling that he had been on this great Ming dynasty s.h.i.+p at that time too, and seen these people himself. Every face was so lifelike, so close.
Xia Lei shook his head hard. ‘What’s wrong with me? Why is my brain showing me these images? It’s weird. Why do I feel like this is so familiar?’
For some reason, Xia Lei thought of the line which Princess Yongmei had kept repeating – I’ve waited for you for so long.
Xia Lei couldn’t help smiling wryly at the thought of Princess Yongmei. ‘What am I thinking about? I’m from a different era from this people. How could I be linked to them? There’s no time-skips in this worlds. That only happens in dumb novels.’
It was quite difficult to move about in the s.h.i.+p, and Xia Lei needed to move several pieces of wood for every metre he moved. He sometimes had to crawl between the planks like a dog too.
Twenty minutes later, he finally got to the spot he wanted to go to. A cabin which was almost perfectly preserved.
The door was locked, but it had soaked in seawater for hundreds of years, and the salt had eaten away at the lock. Xia Lei used barely any strength at all to open it up. He pushed the door aside, and entered.
This was not a cargo hold, but a cabin for a person to stay in. There was a wooden bed in the cabin which had not fallen apart. There were even covers and blankets on it, a complete set which looked brand new.
This was not what surprised Xia Lei the most. The most surprising thing was the woman lying on that bed.
She was dressed in luxury and extravagance. She was startlingly beautiful, and heart-poundingly s.e.xy.
She was none other than…
Her! Princess Yongmei, Zhu Xuanyue!
Xia Lei felt hit he had been hit over the head by a metal bat when he saw Princess Yongmei’s face. His mind was blank and his thoughts ground to a halt.
He knew better than anyone that Princess Yongmei had died in Afghanistan, in those ruins. He had personally opened up her tomb, opened up her jade coffin, and taken the ancient alloy from it. He had watched her body turn to dust with his very eyes, become a pile of ash. But now, it looked like she had crossed thousands of kilometres, and appeared in this sunken s.h.i.+pwreck!
What was going on?
Xia Lei felt like his mind was exploding.
Princess Yongmei lay quietly on the bed. Her face was as pale as jade, peaceful. There was no trace of death on her face, like the sinking of the s.h.i.+p had not affected her at all. The s.h.i.+p had sunk, but her sleep was not to be disturbed.
‘You… Why have you appeared here? What are you?’ Xia Lei came back to his senses, and spoke to himself.
This was a question even the G.o.ds themselves would find hard-pressed to answer.
After a few minutes’ hesitation, Xia Lei moved. He reached to pinch Princess Yongmei’s cheek. It was cold, but her skin still maintained its elasticity. Then, he opened up Princess Yongmei’s clothing. A chain of alloy pieces hung from her neck.
White skin, tender b.r.e.a.s.t.s, mysterious ancient alloy… Pale as snow, blue-green mysteriousness, pinky tenderness… these things combined shook one to the core somewhat, and was rather exciting.
‘One, two, three, four… 21 pieces!’ Xia Lei quickly counted the alloy pieces hanging from Princess Yongmei’s neck. The number of pieces shook him, and filled him with mad joy.
He had concluded that the pieces would form a box, and that five pieces were needed for each side. He had already collected seven pieces, making one complete side. Now, he had acquired 21 pieces. In other words, he was just missing two pieces to make a complete box!
‘Where are the remaining two? I hope they’re here!’ Xia Lei was getting tired of having to find the next treasure location. He looked forward to more good luck, and that the last two pieces would also be in this s.h.i.+p.
He would be able to unlock the last secrets of AE if he collected all 30 pieces!
Just the thought of it excited him.
Xia Lei thought quietly for a bit, then suddenly reached out and pulled Princess Yongmei’s chin down.
A bronze thing peeked out from between her teeth and her tongue. It was a piece of ancient alloy.
“Haha! Glub…” Xia Lei forget himself in his excitement, and swallowed some seawater when he opened his mouth to exclaim. He coughed painfully.
His luck had held up. There was one piece in Princess Yongmei’s mouth. He was just one piece short of completing the box!
Xia Lei dug the alloy piece out from Princess Yongmei’s mouth, and took the pieces from her neck. Before he could put the pieces in his bag, Princess Yongmei’s body began to melt away, and a pile of white ash was left in the blink of an eye.
There were no more alloy pieces, but a new compa.s.s needle poked out from the white ash.
‘d.a.m.n it…’ Xia Lei was gloomy.
He’d thought that Princess Yongmei had swallowed that last alloy piece, and that he only needed to open her up to solve his alloy pieces problem. However, her corpse had started to melt when he had removed the pieces from her, so this meant that she did not have any alloy pieces in her stomach. What he had not expected was that she had swallowed something, just that it was the compa.s.s needle, and not the alloy piece.
‘Are you playing with me, Zhu Xanyue? Huh? Why can’t you just end it all by giving me the last piece? Why one more piece? So that you can play with me again? You d.a.m.n b.i.t.c.h!’ Xia Lei couldn’t help letting out curses in his head.
The needle pointer and the alloy pieces had been retrieved, and Princess Yongmei had melted away, leaving a pile of mysteries to tug at Xia Lei’s brain.
Ten seconds after Princess Yongmei’s body dissolved, the covers and blankets on the bed dissolved too.
Xia Lei was used to this by now. The alloy pieces had some power of preservation over bodies and the surrounding items were subject to this preservation too. This was a mysterious power, and it seemed to have a zone. Anything in that zone would not decay or be damaged by time, but once it left this zone, the pa.s.sage of time would hit it, catch up with it again, and the hundreds of years would age it in a second. And what should have happened in these hundreds of years, happened.
However, there were things which had been perfectly preserved too, like some of the things Princess Yongmei had used. There was a bronze dressing mirror, the jewellery in her jewellery box, and two exquisite vases.
Xia Lei collected these items and out them in a bag he had brought with him. These things would be his payment for coming down here.
Last of all, Xia Lei placed the twenty-second piece of ancient alloy in the bag he had prepared. Just as he was about to pull it closed and leave, a thought came into his head.
‘I found Princess Yongmei’s body in the tomb in Afghanistan, and her body appeared here again. The two bodies were exactly the same. Were they twins? Hold on, there aren’t twins who are exactly alike… I have 22 pieces of alloy in my hands. If I let Princess Yongmei out here, she would be fully cognisant and more complete than ever before. Would she be able to tell me something important?’ At that thought, his left eye seemed to react to great stimulation, and it twitched, calling forth his power.
His X-ray vision hit an alloy piece, and the familiar yet terrifying feeling overcame him. When the feeling went away, a woman had appeared in the s.h.i.+p. She was clothes-less and naked as a babe. Her body looked flawless, perfect, and her face was as bewitchingly majestic as ever.
Princess Yongmei had appeared again. However, she was not nice and warm this time. As soon as she appeared, she rushed at Xia Lei, shouting, “Scoundrel! You promised! You promised not to shut me away, but you did!”
Xia Lei opened his mouth to speak, but seawater rushed into his mouth as soon as he opened it. He then realised that he had made a very basic mistake. This was not a place where he could talk to Princess Yongmei.
“I hate you! I hate you!” Princess Yongmei raised a hand and swung it at Xia Lei’s cheek.
Xia Lei’s gaze went abruptly to an alloy piece, and he used his X-ray vision on it.
Princess Yongmei disappeared from the s.h.i.+p. Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head, then left the s.h.i.+p.
A conversation between them was a must, but he had to find a place empty of others. This was also needed, because the Princess Yongmei who had appeared this time was rather combative!