Though I grew up by the river, this was my first time on a boat out at sea.

I always heard adults say that all rivers flow east into the sea, meaning every major river eventually merges into the ocean. Now that I'd finally arrived at the sea, I felt a peculiar sensation.

I thought the boat would be especially rocky, and I might get seasick. But after following Brother Bo and Brother Long into the cabin, I found it surprisingly steady. I couldn't even feel the boat moving.

Perhaps it was because the weather was good, and the sea was calm. Or maybe the boat was large enough that any rocking was hardly noticeable.

The four of us sat together, surrounded by local divers.

They spoke Thai among themselves, and we spoke Chinese. We didn't interfere with each other, and no one understood anyone else.

Brother Bo told us the Ayutthaya treasure ship was about a two-hour voyage from the dock. We would reach the shipwreck site before dawn. He suggested we take a nap to conserve our strength.

Uncle Mei asked, "Are we going down before dawn? How can we find the treasure ship in the pitch black?"

Brother Bo chuckled. "It's always dark at the bottom of the sea, day or night. We have headlamps, so we don't rely on natural light. Besides, it's safer to go into the sea at night. Our boat is nominally a fishing boat, and fishing usually starts before dawn."

"Understood." Uncle Mei and I nodded repeatedly. When I turned around, Ma Hailong had already fallen asleep on the side. In the blink of an eye, he was snoring.

"Brother Long has nerves of steel. He can just fall asleep like that," I couldn't help but admire.

Brother Bo nodded. "That's why he's a big shot. What kind of storms hasn't he seen? Sleep, sleep. Time is precious. We should rest up. Diving is hard work. We can't do it without rest."

After saying that, Brother Bo lay down next to Ma Hailong, closed his eyes, and started sleeping.

Uncle Mei and I were newcomers, so we were a little uneasy, especially since we were surrounded by foreigners speaking different languages and with different cultures. We both felt uncertain.

I'm not afraid to admit it, I was worried that I would fall asleep, and some ill-intentioned Thai people would suddenly appear and harvest me.

But since Long-ge and Bo-ge, these two old-timers, didn't remind us to be careful, it meant there was no danger in the cabin.

Uncle Mei sat down, smoked a cigarette, and said to me, "Sleep. Conserve your energy. We don't know what we'll encounter when we get underwater."

I responded, lay down next to Long-ge and Bo-ge, closed my eyes, and tried to sleep.

Uncle Mei quickly lay down as well, but I saw his eyes were half-open, as if he wasn't really planning to sleep.

The air in the cabin was terrible. Besides the smell of Uncle Mei's cigarette, there was a strong odor of stinky feet, armpits, and a fishy smell mixed in.

Plus, the voyage was only two hours long, so I never really got a good night's sleep.

I seemed to drift off for a while, and I had many dreams. Sometimes I dreamed of running away from tombs with Jiang Yongguang and Xiao Liang. Sometimes I dreamed of marrying Little Mei-jie and having a grand wedding.

In another dream, I dreamed that Uncle Mei and I went into the sea and encountered a giant octopus covered in eyes. Uncle Mei was entangled by the octopus, and I couldn't save him no matter how hard I tried.

Then I suddenly heard many people around me shouting in a language I didn't understand. I woke up with a start, turned over, and saw all the Thai people standing up and walking out of the cabin, shouting as they went.

I couldn't understand what they were saying, so I had to look back at Yu Xiaobo and Ma Hailong.

But these two were carefree. Yu Xiaobo was still lying on the boat, rubbing his eyes, and Ma Hailong hadn't even woken up, covering his ears and sleeping like a log.

I couldn't help but ask Yu Xiaobo, "Brother Bo, Brother Bo, what are they shouting about?"

Yu Xiaobo yawned and said, "We're here. They're eager to go diving."

"We're here already? I feel like I just fell asleep," I said, feeling a bit sleep-deprived.

Looking back at Uncle Mei, I saw that he had woken up at some point and was sitting next to me, smoking.

I asked Uncle Mei, "Uncle, were you not asleep?"

Uncle Mei smiled and said, "I slept. I woke up after a while. People my age don't need much sleep."

Seeing that the group of Thai divers was almost gone, Yu Xiaobo nudged Ma Hailong's butt and said, "Brother Long, Brother Long, stop sleeping. It's time to work."

Ma Hailong reluctantly turned over and muttered, "What's the rush? Let me sleep a little longer."

Yu Xiaobo said helplessly, "Get up quickly! If we're late, others will snatch all the good treasures! Is making money more important or sleeping?"

Hearing this, Ma Hailong rubbed his eyes, turned over, stretched, and said, "Of course, making money is more important."

By the time he finished speaking, only the four of us were left in the cabin. The Thais had all gone out long ago, and we were the last ones.

Yu Xiaobo quickly got up and said, "Let's go. They're handing out equipment outside. The quality of this equipment varies. If we go late, we'll only get the inferior stuff, which could be deadly!"

"Oh no!"

Hearing this, I immediately became nervous.

The quality of the equipment was a matter of life and death, and we couldn't be careless about it.

So I quickly stepped outside onto the deck, and sure enough, I saw several crew members handing out equipment to the divers one by one. Most of the people who had gone out earlier had already received their equipment, and only the four of us were empty-handed.

I immediately thought that we were doomed, and all the good equipment must have been taken.

Yu Xiaobo also looked serious. He went over and muttered a few words to the person distributing the equipment. But when he came back, he looked happy and said to us with a smile, "We're in luck! This batch of equipment is brand new, and the quality is fully guaranteed. You can all rest assured!"

Hearing this, Uncle Mei couldn't help but smile and said, "Are we that lucky? How did we get new equipment right away?"

Ma Hailong had an expression as if he had expected this all along and said, "That's because the location and depth of this Ayutthaya treasure ship make it difficult to salvage. The equipment used before doesn't meet the standards for salvaging this ship, so we have to use new equipment this time."

Yu Xiaobo squinted at Ma Hailong and asked, "Brother Long, did you guess that we would be getting new equipment, so you slept so soundly?"