The Fisherman Who Never Catches Fish

As they drew closer, everyone could see more clearly.

To their astonishment, the sunken ship appeared heavily rusted but not corroded through.

It seemed the quality was far superior to that of ordinary vessels.

The steel used to build this ship was probably better than that of regular ships.

This was the initial thought that flashed through everyone’s minds upon seeing the shipwreck.

But to ascertain the exact situation, they needed to take a closer look.

The two deep-divers underwater were essentially presenting the appearance of the shipwreck to everyone.

Captain Zhou would occasionally issue instructions to the pair below through the communicator.

"Huh?"

Captain Zhou suddenly noticed something resembling writing on the side of the ship.

It seemed to be the name of the ship.

"Go take a look and clear away some of the marine growth on the outside, I want to see what the ship’s name is."

Captain Zhou was eager to learn the true identity of the sunken vessel.

In fact, not just him, but everyone on the ship and the audience in the live-streaming room were curious as well.

They all wanted to know exactly what kind of ship it was.

Upon receiving Captain Zhou’s instructions, the two headed towards the ship’s hull, where something that looked like writing could indeed be seen. However, because of the long time spent underwater, it was covered in rust and entwined with various marine creatures clinging onto it.

Such as barnacles, seaweed, and other organisms tenaciously clinging to it.

The pair took out a tool they had brought along and began to remove some of the sea creatures attached to the bottom.

This phase took a considerable amount of time.

About ten minutes were spent cleaning.

Everyone watched intently.

Those ten minutes felt unbearable.

Once the marine growth was cleared, the crowd could vaguely make out the writing.

"A... po..."

Although it was not very clear, everyone managed to discern these two characters.

"Apo?"

"Apo number?"

"Or Apollo number?"

After recognizing these two characters, everyone was momentarily stunned because many did not know what they meant and found them somewhat unfamiliar.

However, some felt these characters were slightly familiar, as if they had heard them somewhere.

"There’s another character."

But at that moment, someone noticed another character following Apo.

"This is the character ’maru.’"

After a long look, everyone finally recognized what the character was.

Putting these three characters together would then be...

"Apo... maru?"

"Apowan number?"

"It sounds familiar."

Some people began to ponder.

Upon hearing this name, many couldn’t help but wonder.

What was the story behind the Apowan number?

It wasn’t until much later.

"I know the history of the Apowan number!"

"It was a Japanese ocean liner."

"It was accidentally sunk during a voyage."

"But..."

"This ship, we had already salvaged it decades ago, so why is there another Apowan number here?"

The person researching the history of the Apowan number was bewildered after seeing the information.

Because their research revealed that the Apowan number had already been salvaged decades ago.

So where did this one come from?

"What’s going on here?"

Many were confused.

Many people also started frantically searching for information about the Apowan number.

Upon realizing that the sunken ship was the Apowan number, Captain Zhou was completely stunned.

He was all too familiar with this ship!

Because his father had once been part of the team that salvaged the Apowan number, he knew better than anyone the situation with this ship.

He still remembered his father’s sentiment of regret when they talked about the Apowan number because when they salvaged it, they found that some items had disappeared and were not recovered.

Many things seem to vanish without a trace.

For example, the forty tons of gold, as well as a large number of precious cultural relics, were not found in the salvaged ship at that time.

So there could be only one explanation: the Japanese had pulled a bait-and-switch.

They used another ship to replace the Apowan, which led to everything that followed.

Perhaps, the sunken ship resting under the sea now is the real Apowan!

It’s just that the Japanese never expected that their Apowan would also encounter an accident during its journey and sink.

This would explain why there are two sunken Apowan ships.

Thinking of this,

Captain Zhou was so excited that his whole body was trembling; he was too thrilled!

At that time, salvaging the Apowan took a full three years!

And afterward, they continued to partner with other countries to salvage for several more decades.

However, it was precisely because of that salvage operation that our shipwreck salvage technology developed rapidly, resulting in the advanced salvage technology we have today.

The equipment used on the scene then included more than 120 divers, over 20 military medical officers, and more than 10 engineering technicians... Such a massive force was there for a long time.

That took an enormous amount of effort and resources.

Although many things, such as 5418 tons of tin ingots and rubber, were salvaged from that ship, the most valuable items were not recovered.

It was as if they mysteriously disappeared into thin air.

The gold and cultural relics were gone!

From this, one could deduce that these items were not on that ship at the time.

Those Japanese were really cunning.

Many people speculated at the time that the Japanese had installed a self-destruct system on the ship, and when the situation turned dire, they triggered an explosion that scattered the gold and the boxes of cultural relics throughout the surrounding sea.

Now it seems that all those inferences are incorrect.

All previous assumptions have now been overturned.

The real reason is that there was another Apowan, and that ship is the real Apowan!

No wonder the sole survivor from that ship never divulged anything about the incident.

This is the actual truth!

"The Apowan’s refusal to be rescued might very well have been Japan sacrificing these people to protect an earth-shattering secret, a secret concerning the whereabouts of critical items on the Apowan."

Now everything makes sense.

"I can’t believe it, this is the real Apowan!"

Captain Zhou let out a long sigh, his eyes brimming with tears.

At last, while his father was still alive, he had fulfilled his old man’s long-held wish.

He had found the real Apowan!

He really wanted to call his father right away to tell him that he had found the Apowan.

But he couldn’t right now; he restrained his emotions.

At the same time, finding this Apowan is also a help to ourselves!

"What’s the Apowan again?" Xiao Pang wasn’t very clear about it.

At this moment, Captain Zhou explained the situation of the Apowan to everyone.

After hearing Captain Zhou’s story, Xiao Pang’s mouth gaped open.

"So you’re saying there’s forty tons of gold on this ship!"

Forty tons!

That’s not forty jin.

Calculating with the current gold price of 380 yuan per gram, that’s over 15 billion yuan...

And that’s just the gold, not including the other cultural relics.

Xiao Pang was completely stunned upon hearing this.

"My God…"

The viewers in the live streaming room had the same shocked expression as Xiao Pang, all taken aback by the revelation.

That’s a tremendous amount of gold.

Even more than the gold and silver found on the four sunken Henry Niu ships.

However, those four shipwrecks mainly contained cultural relics, whose value is incomparable to gold and silver.

Those were tens of thousands of cultural relics.

But this Apowan is different; the most important thing on this Apowan is the forty tons of gold.

You have to realize, our gold reserves are only about a thousand tons...

Forty tons of gold is a lot.

Internationally, only about forty countries have gold reserves exceeding forty tons, the rest of the hundred-plus countries don’t even come close.

Truly wealthy enough to rival nations!

Now the only worry is whether the gold is really inside this ship.

...