Demons Beside You

Robio kept half of the lifeguards on duty. The rest boarded the speedboat and headed for the deep water zone.

The speedboat traveled a few kilometers to their destination.

Fali pulled Chen Zhao. “Chen, free diving is rather dangerous. If you feel uncomfortable, you have to surface. Don’t risk going down further. Many people have died in this sport. The high water pressure will pierce your eardrums and even make your lungs burst.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t bet my own life.”

Robio threw Chen Zhao a pair of goggles. “Chen, has Fali told you about the precautions for free diving?”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Be careful. Competition second, safety first.”

Two lifeguards with full diving equipment went underwater first. Their job was to ensure the safety of Chen Zhao and Robio.

Chen Zhao and Robio jumped into the water at the same time and started diving.

When Chen Zhao was about ten meters underwater, the lifeguard in diving equipment made a hand signal.

Ten meters. Up? Down?

Chen Zhao gave a thumbs up, after which he pointed below him. He was going to continue.

Ten meters was usually the limit for a normal person, that is, a person without diving training.

Those who had training could reach roughly fifteen or twenty meters.

Below twenty meters, the water pressure would increase drastically. Diving further would be dangerous.

When Chen Zhao reached twenty meters underwater, he did not feel any pressure.

In fact, he found it quite easy. Robio had also reached twenty meters deep.

They continued diving. The two lifeguards in diving equipment had been observing the two carefully. Once they showed any abnormal signs, they would save them immediately.

Chen Zhao was still pretty relaxed. He could feel the water pressure becoming larger, but it was acceptable.

Forty meters. The lifeguards asked again. Up? Down?

Fifty meters. Up? Down?

Robio chose to surface without hesitation.

On the other hand, Chen Zhao continued to dive. When he reached sixty meters underwater, he finally chose to surface.

Actually, sixty meters was not his limit. He felt that he could go deeper.

Under the help of his friend, Robio returned to the speedboat with much difficulty.

Half a minute later, Chen Zhao also surfaced.

“Chen, have you tried free diving before?”

“No, it’s my first time. It’s also my first time diving so deep at all.”

“After some training, you can get to at least eighty meters.”

At that time, Robio had managed to reach 72 meters only after a long period of special training.

Because he had not dived in a long time, he could not go further than fifty meters this time.

It was a huge challenge to the body. Robio had comprehensive self-knowledge and a very strong safety consciousness.

Once he discovered a bit of danger, he would give up immediately.

Among free diving enthusiasts, there was once a person who died three hours after breaking the world record.

The record was not acknowledged because of his death.

World records could only be made when a person faced a challenge without getting injured or dying.

If the person died, the whole sport would become pointless, no matter how deep he had managed to reach.

“Chen, do you want me to train you? You might just break the world record!”

“No way!” Fali was the first to object. “Why would you want to make such a meaningless and dangerous record? Chen, I don’t allow you to play such a risky sport.”

“Alright. I also agree with Fali. It’s really too dangerous.”

Even boxing was not that dangerous.

Boxing was a battle against another human, but deep diving was a battle against nature.

Claude who was also on the speedboat felt rather stifled. He was counting on Robio to defeat Chen Zhao and destroy his arrogance.

In the end, Chen Zhao beat Robio too.

Defeating Robio was equivalent to defeating all the people in the Coastal Rescue Team.

At this point, nobody would feel that Chen Zhao was just a vase.

…

After the group returned to the shore, Chen Zhao and Fali sat somewhere in the HQ where nobody would disturb them.

Just then, Black-Ma and White-Ma approached them. Each of them had a jar around their necks to contain money.

They would earn money by taking photos with others and, at the same time, picking up coins.

When they managed to find a coin, they would pick it up with their mouths and drop it into the other wolf’s jar.

In just over an hour, their jars were already full.

They wanted Chen Zhao and Fali to clear their jars so that they could continue to earn money.

“Come, let me count how much you’ve earned.” Fali waved her hand. Black-Ma walked up to Fali.

Fali poured the coins out from the jar. However, she noticed that one of them did not seem to be an American coin.

Fali picked the coin up. “Chen, take a look. Is it a gold coin?”

Chen Zhao was also stunned. He took the coin, which felt quite heavy. It had the texture of gold too.

Moreover, traces on its surface indicated that it had once been attached to soft-bodied organisms. It was probably brought to the beach by the waves.

“It is a gold coin indeed.” Chen Zhao cleaned the surface of the coin.

The coin had a Jesus cross on the front and a head portrait on the back.

From the craftwork of the coin, it probably had a long history.

“Could there be a shipwreck nearby?” Fali asked.

“Let me ask someone professional,” Chen Zhao said. Then, he took his phone and called Mr. Doman, “Mr. Doman, are you free?”

“Yes, I usually don’t work in the morning. What is it?”

“Can you appraise something for me? I want to know its origin.”

“Do you want to send me a photo or bring the thing over?”

“I’ll take a photo.”

“Sure.”

Chen Zhao sent a photo of the coin to Mr. Doman, who immediately said, “It’s a 14th century Clement commemorative coin made in Vatican in the 17th century. Where did you get it?”

“Mr. Doman, how much does this coin cost?”

“Each piece costs about thirty to fifty thousand dollars. Not many 14th century Clement coins have been discovered, so they’re quite expensive.”

An item’s worth was based on its rarity. If it could be found on every street, it would certainly be valueless.

However, if it was unique, its value would multiply by hundreds or thousands of times.

The same was true for antiques and artworks. If the coin they had found was the only piece in the world, it might even cost a million, or ten million dollars.

“Thank you, Mr. Doman.”

“If you have twenty pieces of that coin or fewer, I can buy them at fifty thousand per piece. If you have more than twenty, it’ll be forty thousand per piece. However, if you have more than forty pieces, I can only give you thirty thousand per piece. How many do you have?”