Treasure Hunting System： The Ocean Conquerer

Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Another Key

”Moon White Sea Fish, caught especially for you last night by Sang Kaka, with Vanessa’s herbs added. It’s excellent for helping your body recover from fatigue.”

Uncle Matt smiled as he introduced it and then returned to his kitchen.

After the meal, Alka stretched lazily, the bones in his body CRACKLING like firecrackers.

”Refreshing!”

The fatigue vanished instantly, as if his whole body was rejuvenated, making Alka unable to resist shouting.

Chadite watched him nearby and smiled, ”Let’s go to the captain’s room. Dad and the others returned early this morning.”

Alka nodded.

The two of them went to the deck and entered the captain’s room in the sterncastle.

Inside the captain’s room, the wide desk was covered with all sorts of materials. Andre and Jason, both with furrowed brows, sat at opposite ends of the desk, rummaging through them. Sang Kaka was sitting on a bench in the corner, his tall frame curled up there, looking somewhat comical; judging by his stillness, he seemed to have fallen asleep.

Seeing Alka and Chadite push open the door and enter, Andre turned his head to Jason and said, ”Go call Bobby and Vanessa. We need to have a small meeting to sort out the current situation.”

Hearing Andre’s words, Jason stood up immediately, as if liberated, and then walked quickly out. As he left, he glanced at Alka and Chadite, offering a rather stiff wave and smile.

Chadite pulled out two chairs from the side, handed one to Alka, and they both sat down at the desk. The desk in the captain’s room occupied almost two-thirds of the room’s width, enough to seat all of them.

Andre also let out a breath, leaned back in his chair, and couldn’t help rubbing his temples.

”It seems progress isn’t smooth, Dad,” Chadite said, covering her mouth to stifle a giggle as she looked at him.

Listening to his daughter’s slightly gloating tone, Andre glared at her and then said, ”It’s indeed not smooth. Let’s wait until everyone is here to discuss.”

Alka also took this opportunity to browse through the numerous documents haphazardly spread across the desk.

It wasn’t long before Jason returned with Vanessa and Old Bobby. Everyone sat down around the desk. At this moment, Sang Kaka, who seemed to have been dozing, stirred awake. However, due to his great height and robust build, he merely sat to the side, listening.

”According to the location provided by Alka, we went searching last night and did find the Treasure Vault,” Andre began. ”Although the Round Disc Key opened the Treasure Vault’s door, there was no treasure inside.”

Upon hearing this, everyone except Jason and Vanessa frowned.

Andre took out the Round Disc Key and placed it on the table. It was a circular stone slate, rimmed with a band of metal, roughly the size of an open palm. Besides some intricate patterns, there was a handprint design on it.

”Inside the Treasure Vault, there’s another lock, and it requires another key,” Andre paused.

Jason picked up from there, taking out some notes written on yellowed paper. ”Based on our searches over the past while and again this morning,” he said, ”to open a large Treasure Vault, it’s necessary to find two other associated Treasure Vaults connected to it.” With that, he pulled out a map. It was a rough map of the Blood Gold Alliance. Two circles were drawn on it.

”Based on two previously opened large Treasure Vaults, they each had two associated smaller Treasure Vaults in their vicinity, arranged like 2-4-6, and 8-10-12. Vaults Number 4 and Number 10 are large Treasure Vaults, and Vault Number 11 has also been opened.”

Everyone looked at the map. Within the two circled areas on the map, a large Treasure Vault and two smaller Treasure Vaults were located very close to each other, typically on adjacent islands or even the same island. This meant that finding one large Treasure Vault allowed them to deduce that the two smaller, associated Treasure Vaults were nearby. Vault Number 11, however, was isolated far out at sea.

”So, does that mean there are a total of four large Treasure Vaults and eight small Treasure Vaults?” Bobby asked.

This was the most logical deduction, based on a 2+1 arrangement.

However, Alka already knew from the Treasure Information that there were only three large Treasure Vaults, with a corresponding total of only six smaller ones. The other three small Treasure Vaults were not part of these sets. But there was no point in revealing this information at the moment.

”That’s correct,” Jason continued. ”And the large Treasure Vault we’ve found now is Number 3. The small Treasure Vault we found previously is Number 1. So, it’s highly probable that the corresponding one is Treasure Vault Number 5. It might be on this very island. Meister Island is large enough, and the nearby surrounding islands are either very small or just useless, barren lands.”

After listening to Jason and Andre’s explanations, Chadite propped her chin on one hand and said with a hint of resignation, ”So, we still need to find another small Treasure Vault?”

Jason nodded, then flipped through the yellowed papers in his hand. ”The hint for Treasure Vault Number 5 might be ’My Favorite.’”

Sad, after all, had deliberately hidden his treasures. So, he left hints for every one of his Treasure Vaults, regardless of its size. He even thoughtfully numbered each Treasure Vault and provided a corresponding hint for it, intentionally reducing the Difficulty of the treasure hunt.

”That’s far too broad!” Old Bobby said gruffly, frowning. ”After all, ’My Favorite’ covers a wide range. It could be a beloved person, a cherished item, a favorite place... There are just too many possibilities.”

”Sigh, we’ll have to start from scratch again,” Chadite said, unable to hide her discouragement. It had taken them over a year to find Treasure Vault Number 1, even with a relatively clear hint. Finding the large Treasure Vault Number 3 had taken more than half a year, and that was only with Alka’s help. Now there was another one, Treasure Vault Number 5, and they had no further clues. And who knew how much more time they would spend searching for this one.

Sensing the gloomy atmosphere in the captain’s room, Andre suddenly turned to Alka. ”Alka, your contribution this time was significant. We’ll count this as one major contribution.”

Hearing Andre’s words, Alka looked up and then smiled, nodding.

”Alright, everyone, lift your spirits,” Andre said. ”Patience is the key.”

Upon hearing this, Alka turned his head to look around at everyone’s slightly frustrated expressions. He picked up a document from the pile before him, his eyes scanning the text.

”So, you’re saying Sad had an interest in insects?”

Hearing Alka speak suddenly, everyone turned their gaze towards him.

In response to Alka’s question, Jason nodded. ”Because that piece of information was something I found in one of Sad’s autobiographies. In Sad’s autobiography, ’Journey Through the Dark Night,’ he mentioned it several times.”

After hearing this, Alka nodded. After a moment’s thought, he said, ”In that case, I might have some information to offer.”

As his words fell, he was met with slightly surprised looks from everyone.