"Shaw, what are you doing? Why aren't you back yet? We don't have much time!" Ian's shout snapped Shaw out of his thoughts.
Shaw quickly replied, "Okay, we're coming right away." After a moment of intense internal struggle, he said to William, "Alright, Mr. Devonshire, you win. I'll inform you of any findings before we discover the treasure, but once we find it, the deal is off."
William once again witnessed the power of money. A mere million pounds had bought him an opponent's man. He nodded in satisfaction, "Of course."
"Let's go, before Ian gets over here. We'll talk as we walk." William led Shaw towards the Charlotte.
"Shaw, apart from our agreement, you can tell Ian and the others what I told you. I don't want anyone targeting me, and it would be a waste of everyone's energy."
"Understood. I'll make it clear to Ian and the others. I don't think anyone wants to go down with you. We're all in this for a better life, aren't we? In fact, if you were to offer my three companions a million pounds each, they'd probably work for you too. Ian is decent, but he's not a billionaire. What do you think?"
"We'll see. Four million pounds is nothing to me, but it all depends on finding the treasure. If we do find it, I won't shortchange you. I pay in cash, via Swiss National Bank transfer, tax-free."
"Understood, boss."
William chuckled to himself. He was now a boss?
As they approached, William overheard Ian, sitting on the Charlotte's hull, chatting and laughing with Ben Gates. "Thank you, Ben. Without you, we wouldn't have found the Charlotte. The future is uncertain, but at least we have a lead. With a lead, we can keep looking."
Ben Gates patted Ian on the shoulder and laughed, "Without your funding, I wouldn't have found this place either. This is our shared achievement. When we find more clues, we should celebrate."
"Absolutely, we should celebrate. We'll pop champagne once we get back to town."
Ian and Ben Gates were happily chatting when they saw Shaw Fisher and William approaching.
Before Ian could ask anything, Shaw said, "Boss, I have something important to tell you."
Seeing Shaw's serious expression, Ian nodded and apologized to Ben Gates, "Sorry, I have to take care of something. You go ahead and prepare."
Gates nodded, "No problem, take your time."
Ian led Shaw and the other three men to the snowmobile, bowing their heads to talk. William didn't concern himself with their conversation and instead approached Riley. "Hey buddy, sorry I talked so much and didn't ask your name or what you do. From the looks of it, you don't seem like a professional treasure hunter."
Riley, a bit excited, replied, "Hello, Mr. Devonshire. My name is Riley Poole, and I'm a computer expert."
"A computer expert?" William was intrigued and started chatting with Riley about computers. As they talked, William realized Riley was indeed an expert, not just a self-proclaimed one. He thought Riley's skills might come in handy someday.
With that thought, William's attitude towards Riley improved, which made Riley feel more favorable towards him. Riley thought William, the legendary tycoon, was actually very approachable and kind, not at all arrogant.
They chatted and laughed on the side, which made Ben Gates a bit jealous. He cursed Riley in his heart, thinking, "We're the team here, aren't we? How can you chat so happily with someone who had a conflict with me?"
Gates wanted to interrupt, but he couldn't get a word in edgewise since William and Riley were talking about computers. Feeling a bit frustrated, Gates said, "Riley, we need to prepare the equipment. We'll be heading down into the ship soon."
Riley, in the middle of an important point, said, "Hold on, Ben. Just give me a minute."
Gates felt exasperated, thinking he might need to ditch Riley, who seemed to have zero emotional intelligence and couldn't take a hint.
Gates spent over ten minutes preparing the equipment. When Ian and his group returned, Riley finally stopped talking to William and waited for Ian's orders.
William smiled at Ian's group without saying a word. His gaze made the five of them uneasy. After hearing Shaw's information and understanding William's capabilities, their looks towards William were now filled with frustration, fear, and helplessness.
They had planned to kidnap William, but Shaw's words had extinguished that idea. Ian thought as long as William didn't interfere with their treasure hunt, he wouldn't provoke him. Killing him was impossible; no one wanted their whole family hunted down, especially not by Continental Hotel and Swiss National Bank, which were enormous entities in their eyes.
Fighting William wasn't an option either. Hitting him wouldn't benefit them; according to Shaw, if they did hit William, he'd surely retaliate fiercely.
Everyone silently cursed, thinking they'd steer clear of the rich in the future. If they couldn't provoke him, they'd avoid him. Once they found the treasure, they'd become rich too, setting up a revenge fund so others wouldn't dare to mess with them. Even if it wasn't a billion pounds, a million would suffice.
If William heard their thoughts, he would laugh. Did they really think the National Bank would help clients set up revenge funds? Such funds weren't legitimate; no big bank would help clients set up illegal funds, only non-public banks might do that.
Ian didn't waste words; he didn't want to deal with William. He acted as if William didn't exist and told his team, "Alright, let's start the operation and find that treasure."
Hearing they were going to search for treasure, everyone got excited. Ian, Shaw, and a guy named Victor were the first to go down into the ship.
Two other subordinates stayed on top, guarding the snowmobiles. William was the last to go down after Gates and Riley. Using his mental power, he had scanned the ship earlier while chatting with Riley, finding it clear. There was no sign of treasure, only rusted cannons and barrels of gunpowder.
Upon entering the ship, William heard Riley's shivering voice, "Oh my God, how can there be so many unrotten corpses here?"
Gates replied helplessly, "Stay calm, Riley. Remember where we are. And I warn you, this is a treasure hunt, not a Boy Scout trip. Don't freak out over everything."
"But this place is really creepy. We should get out of here," Riley stammered nervously.
Ian and the others laughed, carefully searching without finding anything. They moved to the second level of the ship and came across a door sealed with iron bars.
Gates, full of excitement, said, "This must be the cargo hold. There might be treasure inside. Let's open it."
Gates' words rekindled everyone's hope for treasure. William, meanwhile, just followed and watched. If it weren't for wanting to confirm the ship's contents, he would have left already.
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The group walked into the cargo hold with high hopes, only to face disappointment. Like the rest of the ship, it was filled with barrels of gunpowder and other miscellaneous items. Ian and the others broke open several barrels, but all they found was gunpowder.
"Damn it, it's all gunpowder," Ian muttered as he angrily dumped out the contents of another barrel, finding nothing inside.
William, knowing there was no treasure in the cargo hold, scanned it mentally and was relieved to see that everything was as he remembered. It seemed nothing had gone wrong.
Just as he was about to head back to the surface, he heard Ben Gates say, "Why would the captain hold onto this barrel so tightly before he died? There must be something special about it."
Gates took the small gunpowder barrel from the dead captain's hands and broke it open. After a bit of digging, he found a box wrapped in oilcloth.
"Guys, look what I found," Gates called out excitedly.
Ian and the others turned around, delighted at the sight of the box. William stood by, arms crossed, watching the scene unfold.
The box was wooden with some copper engravings. Gates opened it to reveal a milky-white pipe.
Riley, anxious, asked, "How much is this thing worth? Maybe a hundred thousand dollars?"
Ian, exasperated, looked at Riley, who was clearly clueless about antiques. He took the pipe from Gates, examined it closely, and said, "This is a meerschaum pipe. It's in excellent condition and has a beautiful design. It could fetch a good price with the right buyer."
Riley, hearing it could be sold for money, got excited and asked, "What's meerschaum? From the way you guys are reacting, is it worth a million dollars?"
Gates replied, "Oh, God. Ian, how does he not understand? If it were worth a hundred thousand dollars, Ian would have said so. It's not made of gems; at most, it's worth a few thousand dollars."
William, intrigued by the pipe, asked, "Can I take a look?"
Ian, having thoroughly checked the pipe and found no clues, handed it to William. "This pipe is estimated to be about 300 years old. Though it's not a gemstone, its craftsmanship is exceptional. It would make a great gift for an elder who smokes."
He smiled and handed the pipe to William, hoping that the wealthy man might be interested and offer a good price, which could help recoup some of Ian's losses.
William pretended to inspect the pipe carefully and then smiled at Ian. "How about five thousand dollars? I do have an elder who smokes."
Ian, sensing an opportunity, quickly countered, "Ten thousand. It's a 300-year-old antique in perfect condition. There aren't many like it."
William rolled his eyes and replied, "Then you can keep it. With ten thousand dollars, I can buy a gem-encrusted antique pipe."
Ian hesitated but then said, "Eight thousand dollars. I think that's reasonable."
Internally amused, William pretended to be reluctant and said, "Alright, but just to commemorate this moment."
Just as the deal was about to close, Gates exclaimed, "Wait a minute, Ian. I remember this pipe. It's the only well-preserved meerschaum pipe of its kind. It might fetch tens of thousands at an auction. Look at the markings on the wooden stem; it might have been used by someone famous."
Gates then quickly grabbed the pipe from William's hands and twisted the stem, opening it.
Riley shouted, "Oh no, Ben! You're going to owe tens of thousands now."
William realized Gates was distracting him to grab the pipe. He smirked and thought, "If you want to die, I'll oblige." He took a few steps back, forming ice spikes behind his back, ready to attack Gates. But then, the silent system in his mind suddenly issued a warning.
"Warning: Killing lawful good or lawful neutral individuals without a direct threat or harm will result in a 10% reduction in mental power for a month."
William was surprised by the system's sudden intervention and quickly dissolved the ice spikes. The warning highlighted "threat," "harm," and "kill" in red, making it clear that the system didn't want him to kill innocent or neutral people. However, it implied that he could kill those who threatened or intended to harm him.
Reflecting on his past actions, William realized he hadn't killed anyone innocent or ordinary before. Just as he considered killing Gates, the system intervened.
Accepting the restriction, William thought, "If I can't kill them, I can use them as scapegoats." He planned to let them steal the Declaration and destroy it to eliminate any future threats.
Unaware of their close brush with death, the group focused on the pipe. Gates confidently said, "Don't worry, Ian. This brings us one step closer to the treasure."
He rubbed gunpowder on the pipe stem and rolled it on a notebook, revealing the Templar symbol and a message.
The group stared in shock as Gates read the text aloud, "The legend is written, an extraordinary impact is made, the silent code is yet to be revealed, fifty-five iron pens wrote it, untouched by Mallory."
"It's a riddle. Let me think," Gates said, pacing and clapping his hands.
William, frustrated with their obliviousness, mocked, "God, are you all idiots? Can't you see the answer?"
The group turned to William, remembering the newspapers calling him a genius. It seemed reasonable he would figure it out quickly, so they waited for his explanation.
"Idiots," William muttered for his amusement. "The only thing written by fifty-five signatories is the American Declaration of Independence, originally known as the Declaration of Treason. This means the map is hidden on the back of the Declaration, written in invisible ink."
Realizing he was right, the group understood that only the Declaration would be carefully preserved without anyone daring to tamper with it.
However, this created a new problem: they couldn't just waltz into the National Archives and inspect the Declaration. No one would allow them to conduct experiments on it.
"Alright, we've found the clue, but none of us can mess with the Declaration. I guess this is where we part ways, guys. I'm not risking my life for a treasure that might not even exist. I'd rather spend my time making money in the stock market. But if you figure something out, give me a call. Good luck."
William now only needed to wait for them to steal the Declaration.
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