For the next few days, Ye Tian fed the little creature daily and named it Maoqiu, because it would curl into a ball when it slept.
Under Ye Tian's care, Maoqiu quickly adapted to its new life. Being alone on the ghost ship was boring, but now with Ye Tian and a group of people accompanying it, plus readily available delicious food, its days were very comfortable.
Time flew by, and after a few more days, the ship finally neared its destination. Dozens of armed vessels were present. As Ye Tian's ship entered, someone immediately boarded to inspect it.
Xu Bingshan presented her prepared materials, which led Ye Tian and the other person to a massive ship. This ship was a retired aircraft carrier, now anchored at sea and serving as the enemy's base.
Upon boarding the aircraft carrier, Xu Bingshan paid the fee for this sea voyage, one hundred billion US dollars. Afterward, the other party dispatched a guide to instruct them on how to dive and salvage.
The guide was a young Caucasian woman in her early twenties, with a great figure, named Curtis.
After she and Ye Tian returned to the ship, she directed them into the salvage area.
After parking the ship, Curtis produced a map and said, "Based on the fees you've paid, you are considered high-end clients, thus qualifying for salvage in the core area."
She gestured around and said, "This area has not been salvaged yet."
Ye Tian looked into the distance and saw many ships further away, presumably also paying to salvage. There were also some cruise ships anchored nearby, providing supplies to these personnel, though at very high prices. For instance, a bottle of pure water cost over a hundred US dollars.
Xu Bingshan asked, "Curtis, how many ships are salvaging here daily?"
"At least thirty or so, and up to a hundred when it's busy."
Ye Tian said, "With millions of dollars earned daily, we can't waste time. Prepare the equipment, I'll go down first to scout."
Ye Tian's physique was robust, and the equipment he required was simple: a diving suit and a ten-kilogram oxygen tank. He was then ready to leap into the water.
Xu Bingshan said, "Tian Ge, we have diving robots. Let's have them test the waters first."
For this dive, Xu Bingshan had purchased five diving robots, each costing six million US dollars.
Ye Tian replied, "No need. I'll go down first to scout. When transporting things up, the robots can handle it." With that, he plunged into the sea.
As soon as he entered the water, Maoqiu also jumped in, following Ye Tian downwards.
The average depth of this sea area exceeded two thousand meters. At such depths, ordinary people could not dive. Even with diving equipment, they could at most withstand a depth of three to four hundred meters.
Ye Tian dove deeper and deeper, and the water pressure increased. After exceeding one thousand meters, he felt an energy circulating within his body, protecting him from the immense pressure.
At two thousand two hundred meters, he saw the underwater ruins, a city covered by thick sand and rocks. Its scale was immense, with some buildings reaching a kilometer high, though only a few hundred meters were exposed now.
He reached the top of a building and found that its surface was made of some kind of alloy, extremely strong. It had been submerged in seawater for thousands or even hundreds of millions of years, yet it remained intact, only covered by marine life.
Ye Tian punched the surface coating of the building, shattering it. In a few moves, he smashed a hole and crawled inside.
The pores on his skin rapidly captured oxygen from the water, so he simply removed his oxygen mask, turned on his headlamp, and swam downwards.
On the ship, the captain and others watched the depths with anticipation, while the guide Curtis's face was filled with disbelief.
"Can he withstand diving to a depth of two to three thousand meters?" she asked Xu Bingshan.
Xu Bingshan replied, "Others can't, but he definitely can."
She then asked Curtis, "Has your boss not salvaged the items down there?"
Curtis explained, "The cost is too high. There are sea monsters below, and even the robots are frequently attacked, let alone people. The boss has conducted over ten underwater expeditions, resulting in heavy losses. Of course, there were also many gains."
Upon hearing about the sea monsters, Xu Bingshan immediately became worried and asked, "What kind of sea monsters?"
Curtis shook her head, "I haven't seen them. But I've heard they are very large and extremely dangerous."