"This...this is..."
When Zhuang Rui saw the two objects, his heart felt like it was being squeezed. At that moment, the oxygen seemed to lose its effect, and Zhuang Rui completely forgot that he was in the depths of the sea.
The two round objects that rolled out of the box had a jade-like luster and a slightly yellowish color. The two holes in the middle indicated that they were two human skulls.
Moreover, the petrified shape of the skull and its unique jade-like texture make it clear, even to someone who doesn't know much about it, that this is not an ordinary human skull.
Bearing a piece of Chinese historical memory, the arduous search of generations, and the greatest scientific discovery of mankind, it suddenly appeared before Zhuang Rui.
Chapter 1026 A Sensation (3)
At this moment, Zhuang Rui was filled with intense emotions. If it weren't for the deep sea, he would have wanted to roar to the sky. Only in this way could he express the heavy feeling of discovering history.
At some point, tears welled up in Zhuang Rui's eyes. Looking at these two skull fossils that many people had once protected with their lives, it was as if time had turned back, allowing Zhuang Rui's thoughts to travel through the river of time and witness the changes in history.
The discovery of the Peking Man skull fossil once played a very important role in the study of human evolution and civilization. Now that the skull fossil has been unearthed, it will surely cause a sensation throughout the world once again.
Although the two divers were not archaeologists, they had worked in underwater archaeology. Upon seeing the box break, they immediately stopped what they were doing.
So only two skulls rolled out of the box; the other objects remained intact inside. Both men were highly trained professional divers, and they did not move, waiting for Zhuang Rui's instructions.
Zhuang Rui took off his backpack and threw away all the clams he had picked up on the way there. Then he gestured to a diver, indicating that he should help him carry the backpack.
Although they didn't know as much about skull fossils as Zhuang Rui, these divers knew what Zhuang Rui and Professor Meng were looking for during the salvage operation a few days ago. Now that they saw this object that looked somewhat like jade and Zhuang Rui's excited expression, they understood a bit more.
As a diver helped Zhuang Rui carry his backpack, Zhuang Rui carefully picked up the two skulls that had fallen into the sea, gently rubbed them with his hands, and put them into his backpack. Then he reached into the box and took out a jawbone.
The lower jaw was completely petrified, giving it a blue sheen in the seawater. Zhuang Rui knew this was due to the color of the seabed and the refraction of light.
After carefully examining the chin in his hand, Zhuang Rui cautiously put it into his backpack.
These are humans from 10,000 years ago, definitely the ancestors of humankind. Zhuang Rui's movements were so gentle. Although he knew that the fossils would not be damaged in the water, he still dared not be careless at all.
Although Zhuang Rui had some suspicions beforehand, he wasn't sure if the contents were "Peking Man fossils," so he wasn't fully prepared.
These Peking Man fossils are too valuable. To be honest, he doesn't really trust the other two divers, so he doesn't dare leave and can only pack them into his backpack one by one.
The box contained not only a complete skull fossil, but also many mandibles, teeth, broken femurs, and other bones. Each item was priceless, so Zhuang Rui cleaned it up very slowly.
"Mr. Zhuang, Mr. Zhuang, it's been forty minutes. We can surface now, we can surface now..."
As Zhuang Rui was carefully cleaning the fossils from the box, Xiao Yao's voice came through his earpiece.
Because this is a rocky area, cruise ships cannot enter, and it is also quite far away, so Zhuang Rui and the others did not carry cameras, and the people on board could not detect their behavior on the seabed.
"Xiao Liu, go up there and tell them there's been a major discovery, an extremely important discovery! Tell Professor Meng to come over by speedboat immediately! Oh, and leave your oxygen tank with me."
Upon hearing Xiao Yao's words, Zhuang Rui remembered that there was a group of people above him. He quickly gestured with his hands to write down the above text. Zhuang Rui couldn't control others, but he had to notify Professor Meng as soon as possible.
Zhuang Rui had made up his mind that he would not leave until the cleaning of these Peking Man skull fossils was completed. He knew that even the loss of a single fragment would be an irreparable and significant loss.
"Playing the piano haphazardly, not only messing around on his own, but also notifying us?"
After receiving a communication from the speedboat, Director Wu, who was on the cruise ship, said to Professor Meng with great dissatisfaction, "What is this Xiao Zhuang doing? The salvage operation is over, what major discovery could there possibly be?"
Zhuang Rui's insistence put Director Wu in an awkward position in front of his superiors. In the end, the excuse he came up with was the same one Zhuang Rui had suggested: the ship had malfunctioned and could not return until the next day. Although the superiors did not say anything, Director Wu felt the pressure.
Therefore, although Director Wu dares not offend Zhuang Rui too much, his promotion has little to do with Zhuang Rui, so he doesn't give Zhuang Rui a friendly look.
"Reporting to Commander Wu, I've seen what General Zhuang found. It looks like... it looks like a stone. Right, it somewhat resembles the skull Professor Meng mentioned a few days ago..."
The diver's voice came through the walkie-talkie. Professor Meng, who had been sitting to the side not paying much attention, suddenly widened his eyes. Before Director Wu could react, Professor Meng had already snatched the walkie-talkie from his hand.
"What...what did you say? Say it again, describe the shape of that object to me..."
Professor Meng's voice trembled slightly. He had given up hope of finding the "Peking Man skull fossil," but the sudden news left him momentarily stunned.
After the diver recounted what he had seen, Professor Meng could no longer sit still. He threw the walkie-talkie back to Director Wu, looked decades younger, and rushed out of the room like the wind.
"Hey, Professor Meng, what... what's going on?"
Director Wu had never seen Professor Meng so out of control. He instinctively felt that something serious must have happened, and he couldn't care less about his inner complaints about Zhuang Rui. He quickly followed after him and ran out.
"Faster, faster! Why are you so slow?"
There are a total of six lifeboats on the cruise ship, as well as four speedboats. These small boats are placed on the cruise ship and it takes some time to put them into the sea.
Professor Meng stood at the bottom of the spiral staircase of the cruise ship, watching the speedboat slowly being lowered overhead, wishing he could jump into the water and swim across right then and there.
Accompanying the speedboat to the reef area were two paleoanthropologists. Upon hearing the news of the "Peking Man skull fossil," they were equally excited and followed without hesitation.
The three elderly men sat on the speedboat, looking at each other with trepidation in their hearts, their nervousness evident on their faces.
They were terrified that this discovery would end in disappointment once again, as they had already been disappointed many times in the days leading up to the discovery of the remains of Japanese victims.
Will the arduous pursuit of generations finally come to an end with them? Will it bring solace to the spirits of those pioneering scientists? Hope lies in Zhuang Rui, who lies at the bottom of the sea.
Upon arriving at the reef area, Professor Meng snatched the walkie-talkie and said in a trembling voice, "Xiao Zhuang, Zhuang Rui, can you hear me? Answer me, did you find a skull fossil?"
Xiao Yao, who was standing nearby, didn't know why Professor Meng was so agitated, and reminded him, "Professor Meng, President Zhuang isn't using a closed diving helmet; you can't talk underwater."
"Then...what do we do? Do we still have diving equipment? I...I need to go down..."
Professor Meng became anxious upon hearing this. Did he not consider that his nearly seventy-year-old body could withstand the water pressure at the bottom of the sea? However, the old man's anxious mood was already evident.
"Professor Meng, let me do it..."
Xiao Yao took the walkie-talkie from Professor Meng and said, "President Zhuang, President Zhuang, please press the microphone if you hear me..."
Zhuang Rui had already heard Professor Meng's voice, but he was unable to answer. Now, upon hearing Xiao Yao's words, he quickly tapped the microphone with his finger.
"Mr. Zhuang, Professor Meng asked if the fossils below are Peking Man fossils? If so, please tap the microphone three times..."
Xiao Yao's words made Professor Meng and the others' eyes light up. They then stared intently at the walkie-talkie, straining their ears, afraid of missing a single sound coming from the microphone.
"Tap tap tap!"
Three consecutive voices came from the walkie-talkie. To Professor Meng and the two paleoanthropologists, these voices were like heavenly music, bringing a look of ecstatic joy to their faces.
"Old...Old Meng, is this...is this true?"
An elderly man with a full head of white hair had tears of emotion welling up in his eyes. Before he could wipe them away, he saw that Professor Meng and his old friend also had smiles on their faces, tears streaming down their faces.
The mystery, which has been unsolved for nearly a century, will be revealed at this moment, leaving the three elderly people, whose combined age exceeds two hundred, extremely excited.
While Professor Meng and the others were arriving, another diver went back onto the boat, bringing with him a handheld underwater camera and two oxygen tanks, before descending back to the seabed.
The camera was something Zhuang Rui specifically instructed him to bring down, so that Zhuang Rui could record the moment the skull fossil was rediscovered, which would become important data in the future.
At this moment, on the seabed, a diver is filming with an underwater camera, while Zhuang Rui and another diver are working hard, feeling around inside the box with their fingers.
The contents of the box had been mostly cleaned out, and the backpacks of the three divers were filled to the brim, as the contents contained small fossilized teeth.
To avoid any oversights, Zhuang Rui checked the box repeatedly and used a powerful flashlight to shine it into every crevice of the rocks beneath it, fearing he might miss any piece of the "Peking Man fossil." The "accidental" salvage operation lasted for more than three hours, until all three bottles of oxygen were exhausted and Zhuang Rui could no longer sense any objects inside the box with his hands or spiritual energy.
"Whoosh!"
The calm sea surface rippled, and Zhuang Rui's head surfaced, immediately attracting the attention of the people on the small boat three or four meters away from where he surfaced.
Chapter 1027 A Sensation (4)
"Teacher, we've found it..."
Zhuang Rui pulled off his mask and softly uttered a few words, which struck the old experts as if they had been struck by lightning, causing their bodies to tremble involuntarily.
Compared to the three knocks coming from the walkie-talkie, Zhuang Rui's words finally put a huge weight off the hearts of these strong old people.
"Quick...hurry up and bring it here, no...no, slow down, slow down, be careful..."
Even though Professor Meng has handled countless precious cultural relics throughout his life, he was still deeply moved and overwhelmed when faced with the "Peking Man skull fossil," which has special significance for the history of human evolution.
The skulls from the three backpacks were carefully carried onto the speedboat, and Zhuang Rui and the others boarded the speedboat and headed back towards the cruise ship. Of course, with this discovery, Zhuang Rui naturally wouldn't pursue the pearl retrieval project any further.
Back on the cruise ship, Professor Meng had Zhuang Rui find a room. Security guards were stationed at the door, and only Zhuang Rui and Director Wu were allowed to enter, apart from the other two paleoanthropologists.
The authenticity of the skull was beyond question. Seeing the elderly people's ecstatic expressions, Zhuang Rui felt a pang of sadness and decided to leave the room to be with his wife and children. ...
"Still not out?"
Zhuang Rui walked to the room where Professor Meng and the others were staying and asked the security guard at the door. It was already past 1 a.m., and Professor Meng and the others had been in the room for more than 10 hours.
"No, the food was delivered exactly as you instructed..."
The security guard at the entrance shook his head. He also admired these veteran experts. Even though the security guards had changed shifts twice, the people inside were still doing their research.
After knocking on the door, Zhuang Rui went in. The three elderly people in the room, who were engrossed in the fossils, only glanced at Zhuang Rui, did not even greet him, and then focused their attention back on the fossils on the table.
Zhuang Rui noticed several dishes on a nearby table that had gone cold but showed no signs of being touched. He couldn't help but smile wryly and said, "I say, teachers, if we're going to sit down, we should at least eat, right?"
"Xiao Zhuang, don't rush to eat. Do you remember how many fossils we collected in total?"
Professor Meng waved his hand, gesturing for Zhuang Rui to come over. He had been engrossed in the fossils, and now that he saw Zhuang Rui, he had some questions that Zhuang Rui needed to answer.
"I remember there were five skulls and three mandibles in total. As for the teeth and bone fossils, there were probably more than a hundred, but I can't remember exactly..."
Zhuang Rui shook his head. Maintaining balance underwater and being careful not to damage the fossils, how could he possibly have the time to check them one by one? Besides, many of the fossilized teeth were only the size of a little fingernail, making them extremely troublesome to count.
"Xiao Zhuang, you've done a great job!"
Old Zhao, who was standing next to him, also raised his head from the pile of fossils and looked at Zhuang Rui with eyes full of satisfaction and admiration.
"Hehe, it was just luck. Who would have thought that something that exploded dozens of nautical miles away would be washed there by the sea? But if it hadn't been caught by the reef, these skull fossils would probably have been lost forever. By the way, Professor Meng, these fossils were also found by two other divers..."
Zhuang Rui offered a few modest words, though he knew this explanation wouldn't dispel anyone's doubts. However, Zhuang Rui had no better answer and could only attribute it to luck.
Furthermore, Zhuang Rui deliberately brought those two people along to share some of the credit. Since this all happened to him, people were bound to have wild ideas. If possible, Zhuang Rui would rather give all the credit to those two.
"luck……"
Professor Meng muttered something under his breath, a strange look on his face. His disciple was just too lucky.
From the Dingguang Sword to the Pirate Island treasure, from the Song Dynasty shipwreck to the Peking Man skull fossil, any one of these discoveries would be a major event that shakes the industry, but they all happened to Zhuang Rui.
However, upon closer examination, Professor Meng couldn't find any other possibility besides luck. After all, these things are highly accidental, and Professor Meng didn't have the imagination of contemporary online writers to conjure up Zhuang Rui's magical eyes.
After muttering a few words to himself, Professor Meng looked at Zhuang Rui and said, "Zhuang Rui, you found a total of five skulls, three mandible fossils, seven skull fragments, 98 teeth, and 138 femur and skeletal fossils... We roughly counted that these should be human fossils belonging to more than 30 individuals of different ages and genders. Although it's less than what's recorded in the data, most of them have been found. These fossils are enough to comfort the spirits of our teachers in heaven..."
Even though more than 10 hours had passed since the fossils were unearthed and were now right in front of them, the elderly professors still felt as if they were in a dream.
What was originally a complete disappointment turned into a completely unexpected turn of events after Zhuang Rui went for a swim underwater, which made it feel unreal.