"The Moon White Sea Fish, Sankaka caught it especially for you last night, and I added so of Vanessa’s herbs. It works wonders for repairing fatigue," Uncle Matt said with a smile before heading back to the kitchen.
Hmm, the taste is quite good. It seems that musclehead realized I didn’t enjoy his ride and wanted to apologize this way. Well, I forgive him this ti, Ed thought happily as he began gulping down the food. However, because Elena, for so reason, was staring at him like a newlywed wife admiring her husband eating her cooking, he couldn’t enjoy it properly and could only finish in a hurry.
After the al, Ed stretched, and his bones crackled like firecrackers.
"Phew! Now I feel much better!"
The fatigue vanished in an instant. Ed couldn’t help but shout, feeling his entire body refreshed.
Elena looked at him and smiled cheerfully. "Let’s go to the captain’s room. Dad and the others returned early this morning and should be waiting for us."
Ed nodded and followed her. He was also quite curious about the outco of their exploration.
The two stepped onto the deck and made their way to the captain’s room at the stern.
Inside, the large desk was covered with various materials.
Andre and Jason sat at opposite ends of the desk, both frowning as they sifted through the information spread across it.
In the corner, Sankaka sat on a bench. Despite his tall, imposing figure, he was hunched over in a way that seed almost comical. His stillness suggested he might have fallen asleep.
When Ed and Elena pushed the door open, Andre glanced up, then turned to Jason.
"Go call Bobby and Vanessa. We need to have a quick eting to sort out the current situation."
Hearing this, Jason looked almost relieved, as if he had been waiting for those words for hours. He stood up imdiately and hurried out, offering a stiff wave and smile as he passed Ed and Elena.
Elena grabbed two chairs from the side, handing one to Ed before seating herself at the desk. The captain’s desk, which took up nearly two-thirds of the room’s width, was large enough to accommodate everyone.
Andre sighed, leaned back in his chair, and rubbed his temples wearily.
"It seems things aren’t going well, Dad," Elena spoke with a slight smile, her tone tinged with amusent.
Andre gave her a sharp glance. "Not going well at all. But we’ll discuss it when everyone gets here."
Ed took the opportunity to glance at the cluttered desk, scanning the densely packed, scattered docunts. Although most of the information was completely out of his league, he could barely understand so of it.
Before long, Jason returned with Vanessa and old Bobby in tow.
Everyone gathered around the desk, taking their seats.
Even Sankaka, who had appeared to be dozing, stirred. His large fra made it difficult for him to squeeze in at the table, so he sat nearby, listening intently, or at least that’s what his expression showed.
After glancing at everyone one by one, Andre broke the silence. "According to the location Edward provided, we searched last night and found the treasure house."
He paused, his tone heavy. "The disc key did open the door, but there was no treasure inside."
At this, everyone except Jason and Vanessa frowned.
Andre took out the disc key and set it on the table. It was about the size of an open palm, a circular stone slab encased in tal, etched with intricate patterns and a palm-shaped imprint at its center.
"There’s another lock inside the treasure house. We’ll need another key to open it."
Andre stopped there, and Jason took over, pulling out so notes scribbled on yellowed paper.
"Based on what we uncovered recently and what we found this morning," He began with an excited expression, "to open a large treasure house, you first need to discover two corresponding, connected smaller treasure houses and get keys from them."
Jason then unfolded a map, an old, rough sketch of the Blood Gold Alliance territories. Two circles had been drawn on it.
"Historically, the two large treasure houses that were opened had corresponding smaller treasure houses nearby. In 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12. Among them, No. 4 and No. 10 are the large treasure houses, and No. 11 has already been opened."
Everyone moved forward a bit to study the map. Within the two enclosed circles, one large treasury and two smaller ones were situated close together, almost all on adjacent islands or the sa island. In other words, finding the large treasure houses would pinpoint the nearby smaller ones. However, No. 11 was isolated offshore.
"So, there are a total of four large treasuries and eight smaller ones?" Bobby asked dumbfoundedly, scratching his head.
That seed like the most reasonable assumption if calculated using the 2 1 thod.
However, Ed knew from his treasure research, with the system’s help, that there were only three large treasuries and six corresponding small ones. The other three smaller treasure troves were unconnected. But sharing this detail didn’t seem necessary, and he had no way to explain the source of his information.
"That’s right. The large treasure house we’ve located is No. 3, and the smaller one we found earlier was No. 1. So, it’s likely that the next one is No. 5. It might be on this island," Jason said seriously. "ister Island is large enough, while the surrounding islands are either very small or deserted and useless."
After listening to Jason and Andre’s discussion, Elena propped her chin on one hand, sighing helplessly.
"So, we need to find another small treasure trove?"
Jason nodded and flipped through a yellowed piece of paper in his hand. "The clue for treasure house No. 5 might be ’My Favorites.’"
Thaad had deliberately buried these treasures and left hints for each, no matter their size. He had even thoughtfully numbered them and provided clues to make the hunt easier.
"That’s way too vague!" Old Bobby grumbled in his deep, gravelly voice. "’My favorites’ could an anything, a favorite person, thing, or place. It’s too broad!"
Elena sighed again, shaking her head. "Oh, great. We’re starting over."
Even with relatively clear clues, it had taken over a year to find Treasure House No. 1. With Ed’s help, they had managed to avoid a lot of trouble and locate the large treasure house No. 3. Now, with No. 5 added to the search and no further hints, it was anyone’s guess how long it might take.
The atmosphere in the captain’s room grew heavy with frustration.
Breaking the tense silence, Andre turned to Ed and said, "Ed, your contribution this ti is significant. You get credit for this one."
Ed looked up at Andre, smiling as he nodded, and gave a thumbs-up to the other party. Thankfully my cheap captain didn’t forget my contribution.
"Alright, everyone," Andre continued. "Cheer up, patience is key. Treasure hunting is not a ga you can play by being impatient."
Ed glanced around the room, taking in the annoyed expressions on everyone’s faces. He picked up a docunt lying in front of him and scanned the text.
"By the way, Captain, did this Thaad have a passion for insects?"
At Ed’s unexpected, or deliberately raised, question, all eyes turned toward him.
Jason nodded. "Yeah, he ntioned it several tis in his autobiography, ’A Journey Without Lights.’"
Ed mulled this over for a mont, taking his ti and pretending to be in deep thought while wondering what Raila was doing now. After a few minutes, when everyone was growing impatient, he broke the silence.
"I think I might have so information to share."
His words were t with surprised looks from the group.
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