The sudden appearance of this shark almost cost us our lives. Divers are very vulnerable underwater, and if their oxygen tubes are cut, they likely won't survive.

So, even though we didn't have any shark bites, we immediately checked our diving gear after the incident.

Me and Uncle Mei checked each other, and Yu Xiaobo and Ma Hailong checked each other.

Uncle Mei's equipment was safe and complete, and my diving gear was also normal. Uncle Mei gave me a thumbs up to show that everything was okay.

However, after we finished checking each other and turned to look at Yu Xiaobo and Ma Hailong, we saw that something was wrong with them.

Yu Xiaobo and Ma Hailong both had complex expressions, and neither of them looked at us. Ma Hailong was stunned in place, while Yu Xiaobo kept patting him on the shoulder, as if to comfort him.

I quickly swam over to take a look, and my heart sank!

Yu Xiaobo's equipment was fine from top to bottom, but Ma Hailong's oxygen tube was constantly bubbling. Clearly, Ma Hailong's oxygen tube was broken!

This "umbilical cord" that was connected to the diver’s life had been severed!

I found it strange. With Ma Hailong's experience and steady personality, how could he have broken his "umbilical cord"?

Then I realized that maybe Ma Hailong had accidentally bumped into something during the fight with the shark, which caused the oxygen tube to break.

Once the "umbilical cord" is broken, the oxygen in the tank will quickly leak out. At our ascent speed, we might suffocate to death before we could swim back to the surface.

In this situation, Ma Hailong was practically sentenced to death!

His expression was awful. Even through the glass of his diving mask, I could see that his face was ashen.

At this time, Yu Xiaobo was the more composed one. He pointed to the surface, meaning that Ma Hailong shouldn't waste time and should go up quickly.

In this situation, every second was precious. If he was quick enough, he might survive.

Ma Hailong was an experienced diver after all, and he quickly calmed down. He nodded and prepared to leave the cave and return to the surface.

Then Yu Xiaobo grabbed him and pointed to his backpack, signaling him to leave the weights behind.

Although Ma Hailong's backpack was full of priceless treasures, especially the luminous pearl, which was arguably the best one we had found, they were meaningless compared to his life.

What good is making money if you're dead?

So Ma Hailong took off his backpack without saying a word and handed it to Yu Xiaobo. Yu Xiaobo immediately took the backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and gave Ma Hailong a thumbs up.

Ma Hailong quickly swam upwards without looking back, starting this race against time.

If he won, he could save his life in this sea. If he lost, he might be stuck here forever.

Looking at Ma Hailong's back, I finally understood how dangerous this job was. Every treasure we salvaged was brought up with our lives.

Especially since we have no guarantees before going into the sea. If we die, we die, and there's no compensation. It's no exaggeration to say that this is a business where you're risking your life.

After Ma Hailong went far away, I couldn't help but check my own oxygen tube again. Maybe it was psychological, but I felt like my oxygen tube was also leaking and losing air.

Uncle Mei and Yu Xiaobo thought so too. The three of us checked each other again, and it turned out that we were just overthinking it. Our oxygen tubes were safe.

Looking back, Ma Hailong was indeed hit head-on by that shark. His "umbilical cord" might have been cracked at that time, but when I saw the crack on his "umbilical cord" just now, it was very clean, not like a sudden break, but more like it had been cut with a knife.

In any case, I couldn't know the truth of the matter. The only thing to do now was to safely bring these treasures up.

After all, this backpack might contain tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, worth of property.

After that, we didn't explore any further, because we were already very satisfied with getting these luminous pearls.

We returned the way we came and arrived at the Ayutthaya shipwreck.

When we got outside, I suddenly remembered the porcelain jar I had found earlier. Although we had found the luminous pearls, the porcelain jar might not be as important anymore, but it was still a valuable treasure, and I couldn't just leave it.

But when I returned to the place where I had left the porcelain jar and looked down, I saw that the jar had suddenly disappeared!

It had just vanished into thin air. When I buried it just now, the traces of the mud and sand were still there, and you could still see the shape of a porcelain jar, but the porcelain jar was gone.

I was very puzzled. Could it be that someone had been here just now and taken my porcelain jar?

That must be the only possibility. My jar couldn't have grown legs and run away, right?

But now that we had the luminous pearls, I didn't particularly care about the porcelain jar. The thing was a burden anyway. I had to hold it in my arms like it was my ancestor, and when I held it, I could hear the crying of a child, which was quite creepy.

Losing the porcelain jar was actually a good thing for me.

After that, the three of us crawled out of the cabin. At this time, I saw that the other divers had returned one after another. Their backpacks were full, which showed that there were indeed many treasures on this Ayutthaya shipwreck, enough for them to make a fortune.

Yu Xiaobo pointed to the cabin, as if asking us if we wanted to search the other cabins again. Maybe we could get lucky and find something.

But after what happened to Ma Hailong, me and Uncle Mei were very anxious. We didn't want to cause any more trouble, and we kept pointing to the sea, indicating that we should go back now.

Yu Xiaobo respected our wishes this time and nodded, leading us upwards.

At this time, the sun was also out, and the sunlight shone on the sea, making the seabed a little brighter than before.

On the way up, I kept looking for Ma Hailong's shadow. I was very worried about him and afraid that he had lost his life.

Although we had only met once, we had developed a strong revolutionary friendship. He was my comrade-in-arms and my friend.

But when we returned to the fishing boat and searched the deck and cabin, we couldn't find Ma Hailong anywhere. It seemed that reality wasn't as idealistic as the movies, and Ma Hailong didn't have the protagonist's halo.

He ultimately did not survive.