48 Hours a Day

Chapter 903: Dive

After finishing up the special dinner, Zhang Heng found a pair of wild horses nearby. Han Lu stared on in shock as Zhang Heng briefly trained and tamed them. He then asked Han Lu to mount the smaller horse. As for him, he rode the bigger one.

Han Lu looked a little nervous. She had ridden horses before and practiced equestrianism for a period of time. However, she was riding a well-trained horse with complete equipment such as saddles and reins at that time. This was her very first time riding a wild horse with no proper equipment.

While sitting on the steed, she did not even know where to put her hands and feet.

“Just grab the horse’s mane. Once you do that, they won’t run on their own,” Zhang Heng explained while leading the way. The two horses that he found should have a mother-child relationship. With the mother leading the way, her child would follow obediently.

In the end, the two managed to return to their hotel before the sun completely descended below the horizon. And early the following day, Zhang Heng and Han Lu came to the pier after a simple breakfast. They then rented two sets of diving equipment and a boat.

Han Lu wanted to see humpback whales and hammerhead sharks, one of the signature sights on this island. With luck, one could see hundreds of hammerhead sharks swimming past above your head all at once.

These sharks had a strange T-shaped head with an eye and a nostril at each protrusion end. It made the hammerhead shark look unique. Known to be an extremely aggressive species, there have been cases of hammerhead sharks attacking humans. The sharks attacked only because they had been spooked. Under normal circumstances, as long as the diver did not attack first with a harpoon, the sharks mostly left the divers.

The humpback whales, on the other hand, had a gentler personality. They looked similar in appearance to the Kun in the game advertisements everywhere on the Internet, or maybe Kun was designed based on the appearance of humpback whales. Sometimes, these whales would jump out of the water, a spectacular sight to behold, especially when they did it in a group.

The humans had never figured out why the humpback whales behaved as such. As of now, the only explanation for this particularly unique behavior was that the humpback whales did that for social purposes. Besides, the male humpback whales would show off their masculinity by jumping out of the water to attract their potential mates or express certain emotions. Other than that, some said that the whales leaped out of the water to breathe.

Whether it was hammerhead sharks or humpback whales, their behaviors were often cyclical. Usually, the people on the island would encounter near Yonaguni Island from January to March each year. Unfortunately, Zhang Heng and Han Lu traveled here on a whim, and it was now June. Even though the uncle who drove the boat tried very hard to look for them, the search yielded no result. Han Lu seemed a little disappointed, and in the end, she could only look for a shallow spot near the coast to dive under. Although the corals and the undersea gave a breathtaking view, they weren’t too different from the spots she had dived in earlier.

Seeing that Zhang Heng and Han Lu were not too happy with the diving spot, the uncle who drove the boat took the initiative to talk to Zhang Heng since he received a generous service fee from Han Lu.

“Why don’t I bring you guys to see the undersea ruins?”

“What underwater relic?” Zhang Heng asked.

“About half a century ago, a diving guide found some ancient ruins near the sea on the west side of Yonaguni Island. It looked like a pyramid or a city. Some people said it was evidence of the existence of Mu, but others said it’s the magical work of nature. No matter what the legend is, the place is worth seeing.”

Zhang Heng translated what the uncle told him to Han Lu, who nodded after listening. “I believe I have heard of such a thing. Since we can’t find hammerhead sharks and humpback whales, it might be worthwhile to go and check out the ruins. However, we have been diving for quite a long time. Let’s go there tomorrow and prevent ourselves from getting fatigued.”

The ecology on Yonaguni Island was well preserved. Obviously, the island’s natives loved their island a lot. However, the economy here wasn’t very developed, with only two industries keeping the island alive, and they were fishing and tourism.

It was the tourist off-season right now. As soon as the fishing boats went out for their deep-sea fishing run, literally not a soul would be at the docks. If the two went to explore the undersea ruins, chances were they wouldn’t be meeting other divers. Han Lu’s diving wasn’t that awful, having just got her AOW certificate, and she had used up to sixty bottles of oxygen.

However, she was still an amateur. As for Zhang Heng, Han Lu did not how good he was at diving. Zhang Heng had mentioned that he would not hold her back. However, before they went diving in the morning, Zhang Heng still read the diving manual, and at the same time, asked her lots of questions about diving equipment.

Considering how dangerous undersea ruins could be, Han Lu decided to hire a diving guide for safety reasons. Zhang Heng made no objections. Although he was confident with his diving, he would feel safer if someone more experienced looking after them.

So in the afternoon, the two of them came to the diving club on the island. And she learned her lesson this time. Han Lu hired a female diving guide, whose English name was Nellie. She seemed to be younger than Zhang Heng. Due to the long-term exposure to the sun, her skin was tanned. She looked to be in the best of shape, though. It was said that she had started diving with her father before she was even twelve. Having eight years of diving experience under her belt now, she was a responsible diving guide.

The two parties quickly agreed on the fee, and the next day, the three met again at the pier. After that, they sat in the same boat and went to where the ruins were located.

Nellie possessed a cheerful personality. While talking about diving precautions, she could not help but get Zhang Heng to ask Han Lu what skincare products she used. She seemed to be envious of Han Lu’s skin. Although Nellie was younger than Han Lu, the harsh environment caused her to have worse skin than her.

Han Lu was elated when she heard Nellie asking her about the skincare products she was using. And she even mentioned that she would give Nellie a set of skincare products when she returned to the island. The three chatted throughout the entire journey, and they finally arrived at their destination after a while.

The uncle parked his boat at a safe spot. Today came with great weather, where the wind and waves were calm, and the sun shone brightly on them. Looking down from the boat, they vaguely saw a huge black shadow under the sea. It seemed the ruins were located right beneath them.

The three of them rechecked their diving equipment. After confirming everything was fine, they put on fins and masks and plopped into the water one after the other. When everyone was in the water, Nellie made a gesture, signaling them to prepare to dive. After Heng and Han Lu responded with an okay sign, the three began their dive toward the ruins.