In the captain's room, in addition to the nine people who got on the ship, there were also three people: Sun Tao, captain Cao Zhiren and first mate Jiang Hongtao.

There was a nautical chart on the table in the captain's room, and Zhou Kesheng took out another nautical chart with a solemn expression, which looked very old and had broken edges.

Zhou Kesheng carefully unfolded this shabby navigation chart and said: "Everyone should know the destination of this trip, which is the ruins mentioned in the ancient books "Classic of Mountains and Seas" and "Liezi Tangwen". ”

The people around the table did not speak, but listened quietly.

Before the expedition team was summoned and set off, everyone already knew that this trip was for the legendary return to the ruins.

Zhou Kesheng continued: "This ruin is also a return to the void, the legend is the bottomless valley in the sea, the place where all the water converges, according to the records in the ancient books, we probably know that this ruins are really in the depths of the East China Sea." ”

Captain Cao Zhiren couldn't help but interject: "Old Zhou, but there is no record of returning to the ruins on the current navigation chart, this sea area is so big, where should we look for it?" ”

He can become the captain of the ship, and he can say that he knows this sea area well, but he has never heard of any ruins where there really are, for him, the so-called ruins are just ancient legends, not real.

It's just that this time his task is to follow Zhou Kesheng and his party to find Guiru, he doesn't dare to directly deny the existence of Guiru, but the meaning of his words has faintly represented his thoughts.

Zhou Kesheng looked at him and smiled, then stretched out his hand and pointed to the broken nautical chart that had just been unfolded, and said, "Captain Cao, look at this map, we have spent a lot of money to finally obtain, the ancient record of the location of the ruins. ”

Captain Cao Zhiren's expression was shocked, and he hurriedly stepped forward to look at the broken nautical chart placed on the table.

This is a map drawn by the ancients by hand, far from being comparable with the current navigation charts, but Cao Zhiren has one or two decades of experience in sea navigation, and he can still see at a glance that this map is drawn on this sea area.

"Incredible...... This is a world that doesn't exist at all...... Could it be that the sea has changed in ancient times in modern times? Captain Cao Zhiren looked surprised.

Xiao Ling also approached to take a look, but found that he couldn't understand the nautical chart drawn at all.

Zhou Kesheng waved his hand and said: "You take this map, in short, you sail according to the route drawn on this map." ”

Although Cao Zhiren was shocked and looked incredulous, after listening to Zhou Kesheng's words, he still nodded after a little hesitation and said, "I know Zhou Lao." ”

After that, he took the hand-drawn broken navigation chart and left with the first mate Jiang Hongtao.

With a specific direction and route, the "Discovery" quickly set sail, slowly left Ningshan Port, and then slowly accelerated under the night, riding the wind and waves, and sailing into the sea shrouded in darkness.

Xiao Ling, Zhou Kesheng and others were all arranged to live in the first-class rooms, and he lived next door to Zhou Kesheng, and the "Exploration" was not small, with nearly 100 rooms.

After listening to Zhou Kesheng's introduction to Xiao Ling, I knew that in addition to the "Exploration", there was also an elite team of 30 people headed by Sun Tao led by Sun Tao, which was well-equipped, plus the captain, first mate, second officer, sailor, chief engineer, chief engineer, chief engineer, electrician, mechanic, chief clerk, chef, ship doctor, etc., the total number of people on the "Exploration" exceeded 60 people. Invested a lot of money.

The following days were very boring for Xiao Ling, spending every day on the sea boat, and after the initial freshness, he began to experience the boredom of life on the sea ship.

He spent most of his time lying on the bed in his room, and he quickly lost interest in appreciating the almost unchanging sea view in the distance, and perhaps the happiest and happiest time of the day was the time for three meals a day.

The "Discovery" is staffed by professional chefs, and the menu of three meals a day is very rich, and Xiao Ling finds that the only thing that interests him now is to taste these rich kinds of food.

Fortunately, the big white hand did not appear again these days, there were no accidents, the sea was calm, and the "Discovery" traveled according to the route drawn by the hand-drawn nautical chart.

Captain Cao Zhiren would come to report to Zhou Kesheng on time every day, and Xiao Ling often listened to him, knowing that although Cao Zhiren was an experienced old captain who claimed to know this sea well, human beings were small for this seemingly endless ocean, and he often traveled only some well-known fixed routes, and he did not really know every place in this sea area.

Five days later, the Discovery had broken into an uncharted sea he had never been to before.

This kind of unknown sea area is very dangerous, no one knows whether there is a reef on the bottom of the sea, and the "Discovery" intrudes into it, which means that there is a danger of running into a reef at any time.

When Cao Zhiren reported the situation to Zhou Kesheng, his face was already embarrassed, but Zhou Kesheng ordered him to follow the direction of Guiru marked by this navigation chart.

Cao Zhiren was helpless, although he knew that there was a risk, he could only obey it and give orders.

Oceanographer Wang Haiyang and marine biologist Guo Zhenwei are very busy, often collecting some seawater samples for research and various data analysis.

Pang Yan is still doing her own job, that is, shooting, including the last trip to Kunlun Snow Mountain, she took a large number of precious photos, which were submitted by Zhou Kesheng as information.

Professor Li Zhibao, Hu Shengzhe, Wang Lei, and Yu Tingting occasionally gathered together to talk about the return to the ruins, and there were many speculations about the legendary return to the ruins.

It's just that there are not many records about returning to the ruins in ancient books, Xiao Ling listened to it a few times, and felt that there were not many valuable clues.

For the return to the ruins, everyone was a little curious, and they also had some conjectures, but the moment they didn't see the return to the ruins, no one knew the true situation, everything was just speculation without any basis.

Because he has been at sea for a long time, every day Sun Tao will lead the elite team of thirty people to conduct a simple drill on the deck to ensure that everyone is always in the most energetic state.

In this elite team of thirty people, Xiao Ling only knew Qin Yang, Liu Guangsheng and Du Changde, and the others were all unfamiliar faces.

After listening to Sun Tao's introduction, he learned that now Qin Yang has been promoted to the vice captain of this team, and if Sun Tao is not there, he will take over the command of this team.