20: Warning from the Dead

The interior of the cave was cold and damp, the air thick with a strong smell of mold and the briny scent of seawater.

The beam of the searchlight cut through the darkness like a sharp sword, illuminating the tunnel ahead. The passage was a mix of natural caverns and traces of man-made excavation; the ground was slippery and covered in moss.

"Damn, this place is like a water ghost's lair." Wang Dalong followed closely behind Lin Feng, muttering under his breath as they walked. His voice echoed slightly in the empty cave, sounding exceptionally eerie.

The viewers in the livestream also held their breath, experiencing the tension and thrill of going deep underground through the swaying camera lens.

[High energy warning ahead! I feel like a zombie could jump out at any moment!]

[This atmosphere is even scarier than that grotto in Qinling last time!]

[Fatty, stop talking, I'm scared!]

They hadn't walked far when the searchlight's beam hit a human skeleton leaning against the rock wall.

The skeleton had long since decayed, wearing tattered pirate clothing and still tightly clutching a rust-stained cutlass in its hand. A few empty wine bottles were scattered by its feet.

"It's a pirate's corpse!" Wang Dalong exclaimed, instinctively taking half a step back.

Lin Feng crouched down and examined it carefully.

"It looks like he didn't die in a fight. It's more like... he fell asleep here after getting drunk and then never woke up again." Lin Feng pointed at the marks around the skeleton and analyzed, "This was likely a pirate sentry post, or rather, a resting point."

Continuing forward, they discovered several more skeletons in various states of death. Some seemed to have been killed in a struggle, while others looked like they had triggered some kind of trap and were crushed by collapsing rocks.

These cold skeletons silently told the story of the bloodshed and cruelty that had occurred here three hundred years ago.

"It seems William Kidd didn't hesitate to kill all the subordinates who knew about this place to keep the secret." Lin Feng's tone was somewhat heavy.

After passing through a long, narrow corridor, the space ahead suddenly opened up into a massive underground karst cave. In the center of the cave was a bottomless pool with some rotting wooden planks floating on the surface.

"Fatty, watch your step," Lin Feng warned.

Just as he finished speaking, the cold notification sound of the system rang in his mind.

[Crisis Warning! Thirty meters ahead, a gravity-triggered trapdoor mechanism is installed under the floor!]

Lin Feng's heart tightened, and he immediately stopped in his tracks.

He carefully shone the searchlight on the ground ahead. The ground there looked no different from anywhere else, just rugged and uneven rock. But relying on the system's prompt and his superior observation skills, he still found a clue—the color of the rocks in that area was slightly darker than the surroundings, and there were extremely fine cut lines along the edges.

"Brother Feng, what's wrong?" Wang Dalong asked, puzzled, seeing him stop.

"There's a trap," Lin Feng said succinctly.

He picked up a head-sized stone and threw it toward that area with all his might.

The stone drew a parabola in the air and slammed heavily onto the ground.

"Rumble—!"

With a loud crash, that section of the floor instantly flipped downward, revealing a pitch-black hole! The stone fell straight down, and after several seconds, the sound of a "splash" came as it hit the water.

Below the opening was that bottomless cold pool!

Wang Dalong's face turned white with fright, and cold sweat instantly broke out. If he had taken two more steps forward just now, he would have fallen in and become a "dead dragon"!

"Oh... Oh my god!" He patted his chest, overwhelmed by lingering fear.

The bullet chat in the livestream also exploded.

[Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap! That was way too close!]

[If you fell down there, even a god couldn't save you!]

[How did Brother Feng find it? Does he have X-ray vision?]

[Fatty, listen to Brother Feng if you want to stay alive!]

Lin Feng ignored the crowd's amazement and led Wang Dalong carefully around the fatal trap.

Passing through the cavern, a massive stone door appeared ahead.

The stone door was carved from a single massive boulder. It had no patterns or handles and blended seamlessly with the surrounding rock walls, as if it had grown out of the mountain itself.

"The final trial." Excitement flickered in Lin Feng's eyes.

The two of them worked together, using crowbars and their shoulders, exerting every ounce of strength to push the incredibly heavy stone door open just a crack.

"Creak—"

The harsh sound of friction echoed through the cave, as if a giant beast that had slept for three hundred years was slowly waking up.

The moment the stone door was pushed fully open, both of them were stunned by the sight before them.

Wherever the searchlight's beam reached, it was shimmering gold and glittering jewels, nearly blinding their eyes!

It was a massive treasure vault!

Countless gold coins, gold bars, and gold bricks were piled on the ground like small mountains, forming golden hills. Beside them, several large, open wooden chests were filled with gemstones of every color—red, blue, green, purple—emitting a mesmerizing glow under the light.

In the corners were also piled various silver vessels, scepters inlaid with jewels, ornate rapiers... This was the endless wealth accumulated by the legendary Pirate King William Kidd through a lifetime of plundering!

"We're... we're rich..." Wang Dalong's mouth hung open in an 'O' shape, and he almost couldn't hold the livestreaming equipment steady. He was trembling with excitement, stammering, "Brother Feng... we... we really found it!"

In the livestream, all the viewers went crazy as well.

The bullet chat could no longer be described as "flooding the screen"; it was a literal torrent of data. Every second, tens of thousands of comments poured out, making the server groan under the unbearable load.

[What am I seeing?! My God! Is this real?!]

[Gold! It's all gold! I've never seen so much money in my life!]

[Witnessing history! We are witnessing history!]

[Thanks to Starlink! Thanks to China's Skynet! I can actually see such a high-definition livestream in this backwater place!]

Lin Feng was also shocked by the sight for a moment, but his gaze was soon drawn to something placed separately on a stone platform in the center of the vault.

It was a large, square Golden Mural!

The mural was about two meters square, carved with extremely complex and eerie patterns. It looked like both an ancient star chart and some kind of mysterious ritual scene, filled with an indescribable sense of mystery.

This item seemed out of place among the crudely piled gold and silver jewelry around it; it was more like a work of art, a sacred object carrying a secret.

Just as Lin Feng and Wang Dalong were still immersed in the immense shock and joy, a calm yet slightly mocking voice rang out from the stone door behind them.

"Congratulations, Mr. Lin. You found it."

Lin Feng and Wang Dalong's hearts skipped a beat, and they whipped their heads around.

They saw Captain Jack standing at the entrance, leading seven or eight fully armed Mercenaries.

Captain Jack smiled and slowly clapped.

"A very brilliant puzzle-solving process; we all enjoyed watching it." He pointed at the Golden Mural in the center of the vault, his tone becoming indisputable. "Now, please hand that item over to us."

His goal from the beginning had not been these gold and silver jewels, but that mysterious Golden Mural.

Seeing this, Wang Dalong immediately tried to call the police, but a gun was pointed at his head.

"Don't waste your energy." Captain Jack seemed to see through his thoughts. "Now, your only choice is to cooperate."

The atmosphere instantly dropped to the freezing point.