Bolton also realized this was true.
He turned his gaze toward the six individuals behind him.
"You lead the way in front, don’t worry, I won’t kill anyone, and the treasure can be shared with you too. I’m not short of money, I just enjoy the joy of finding treasure," Bolton said to the six people.
"You’d better keep your word," said the leader of the group, who was nad Jackie, the ’brain’ of the squad. He was just a scholar who had no opportunity to reason before being captured.
"I, Bolton, never break my promise," he wasn’t planning to kill anyone in the first place.
Jackie took a deep look at him.
Nodded his head.
And walked towards the cave interior.
The sun was about to set, and one could still see clearly a bit inside the cave, but only up to a few dozen ters. Beyond that was pitch darkness. Looking at the cave height of several tens of ters, Jackie felt sowhat disheartened.
He kept muttering to himself in his heart.
Such a big cave was naturally ford.
Could there be monsters inside?
Or an alien spaceship.
The cave ceiling was so high.
If a rock fell.
It would undoubtedly kill soone.
Even if bird droppings fell.
It would hurt as well.
"Ptooey..." Jackie spat out softly.
Because of his expansive divergent thinking, he beca the squad’s ’brain’. He had cracked the secret of the painting, but sotis these random thoughts would trouble him deeply.
He always felt like he was going insane.
Thankfully, it was intermittent and didn’t affect his life.
After walking a few dozen ters.
The only illumination inside the cave now ca from flashlights, and the cave interior was getting narrower.
"Drip... Drip..."
Water kept dripping from above like rain, creating plenty of puddles on the floor. The cave sloped downwards, so no pond had ford here, with all the excess water flowing deeper.
The temperature plunged.
Soon it was near zero.
"Make sure you all look carefully, don’t miss any corners," Bolton’s voice echoed in the cave.
But after hundreds of ters.
They still hadn’t found any treasures.
Suddenly.
They heard a sound from afar.
"What’s that noise?" asked Bolton.
Jackie said faintly, "Underground river."
"An underground river? But we still haven’t found the treasure," Bolton was getting impatient. The place was so remote, did they really need to hide the treasure further inside? It would have been better to leave it sowhere along the way in.
Jackie stroked his chin, pondered for a mont, then suddenly said, "Bolton, do you rember the river in the painting? We didn’t see any river on our way here, right?"
Bolton perked up, excitedly saying, "That’s true, could it be related to the underground river?"
"Possibly, let’s go."
After Jackie spoke.
He quickly walked forward.
"Move, keep up, don’t worry about the surroundings for now," Bolton commanded his n and he too quickened his pace.
The deeper they went.
The louder the sound beca.
"This sound, could there be a waterfall inside?" Bolton remarked.
After many twists and turns.
They passed through a narrow passage where only two people could walk side by side.
And ca to a dead end.
Stunned by what they saw in front of them, there was indeed a waterfall.
This was a massive underground space, over thirty ters high with an area of tens of thousands of square ters. The place where one could stand amounted to only a few hundred square ters; the rest was water. It was shallow in places near them so one could see the bottom,
But not further away.
"Roar..." A massive flow of water like from the heavens gushed out from a crag in the rocks ahead to the right. The echo collided back and forth in this space, creating a thunderous, dense sound.
"Young master, there’s no way out here; it must be the end," Bolton’s personal bodyguard reported after scouting the terrain.
"Where could the treasure be?" Bolton murmured, scanning the surroundings, all water, with no trace of man-made objects. At that mont, he noticed Jackie staring intently at the riverbed.
"Pop." Bolton smacked his forehead.
Nothing above the water, so what about below it?
"I think the treasure must be underwater. Let’s take a look. And actually, this place is really nice. If modified a bit, it could serve as a huge swimming pool. Hey, the river sand here..." Bolton stood by the water’s edge, crouched down to look, and spotted sothing unusual.
The river sand was reflecting light.
Wearing gloves, he reached his hand into the water and grabbed a handful from less than ten centiters deep. Once he saw what was in his hand, Bolton was completely excited and jumped up.
"Hahaha... gemstones... gemstones... haha... Such beautiful red gems..."
"What, gemstones?"
Jackie’s squad also got excited.
They rushed forward several steps.
And grabbed the river sand.
It really was, such bright red color, still there, definitely not glass. Jackie took a piece and inspected it carefully with a bright flashlight for a while. He too confird it was a red gem.
Not crystal.
Bolton’s bodyguards weren’t that excited though.
The distribution of these things was up to Bolton; as insiders, they would definitely get a share. There was no need to rush for a look, given Bolton’s high spirits, the bonuses they would receive surely wouldn’t be small.
Bolton was delighted like a child.
He joyously searched by the water, quickly finding a red gem that he couldn’t even grasp in one hand. He noticed that only red gems were here, no other colors, which didn’t surprise him.
Perhaps.
The duke only liked red gems.
At that mont.
Applause ca from behind them.
"Master Bolton, congratulations, and thank you for helping find this place," along with a robust male voice, tinged with mockery and a hint of excitent.
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