Wilbur turned around, leaning down to say, "I'll give you one more chance then, Captain Mitch. I hope you won't try to trick me this time, or I'm never lending you the money." "Of course." Mitch's chest heaved up and down. "Actually, out of the seven of them, I only knew why Vernon, Veda, Bill, and Kean persisted. As for Green, Eli, and Aite, I have no idea why they held on. I really don't." "That's fine. Now, you just need to tell me why Vernon, Veda, Bill, and Green persisted, and I'll send you a million dollars right after. But our agreement doesn't change in the slightest. Once we find the gold, we're splitting it equally." "Alright!" Mitch nodded fervently and told Wilbur the reason why Vernon, Veda, Bill, and Kean persisted in adventuring. It turned out that Vernon used to be a librarian and had five years of his bonus withheld from him by his superior. Vernon had worked hard and never made any mistakes on his job at the library, and the bonus was supposed to go into
A few minutes later, Mitch's phone received a notification for the transfer to his bank account. "Thank you." Tears welled up in Mitch's eyes, and he seemed overwhelmed with emotion. Wilbur said, "No worries. Get some rest. I've now invested in Mitch's exploration team. We'll get in touch after you get some rest. We'll talk about the next step of our plan after that." After getting back to the hotel, Wilbur began thinking about the eight explorers. Mitch's wish had come true, and Vernon's was next. For that to happen, the head of the library Vernon had worked at would need to release Vernon's bonus, then apologize and rehire Vernon. That was hardly a challenge. As for Veda, the trauma of having the woman he loved marry another man was quite tough. However, it was considered pretty common in daily life. All was fair in love, and everyone was entitled to make their own decisions. Wilbur felt like Veda's problems might be related to the resentment nestled within him. As long as
Vernon finished his boxing match. His face was swollen from getting beaten up, but he still shook Wilbur's hand and thanked him. Wilbur met up with Bill in the afternoon. The two of them talked for a while, and Bill's girlfriend was brought up. Bill smiled. "Heather likes the wealthy life. That's just how she is, and it's hardly going to change." Wilbur said, "I really don't know what you see in her." Bill chuckled. "Her looks, and her personality. That's what I like." "You know that Heather only cares about money. Even if you did give her a big sum of money, she might leave you again eventually." "I don't care. I just want to be with her for a year, and I'll be satisfied. Of course, it'd be great if she stayed longer." Throughout the conversation, Wilbur continuously reminded Bill of the kind of person Heather was, but Bill seemed to have made his mind up. Despite not knowing what on earth Bill saw in her, Wilbur still arranged for someone to reach out to Heather in sec
Eli and Aite looked at each other, and their expressions darkened. "That's hardly possible, Mister Penn. We've done the math, and that chest of gold is really worth around two hundred million. The difference can't be that big." Aite nodded. "We want forty million, and not a penny less. Otherwise, we won't give up our share." Wilbur frowned at the two men with growing suspicion. After all, the chest was buried deep in the Vicente Primeval Forest, where no one had reached to this day. No one was supposed to know how much that treasure cost at all. Not only did these two men know that the treasure was a chest full of gold, but they even knew how much it was worth. How was that possible? Wilbur was the CEO of Cape International and worth billions of dollars, so forty million dollars was hardly anything to him. Even so, he had his boundaries. Wilbur would have been fine helping them out if it was just a few million dollars. However, the two brothers had asked for forty million out
Eli said, "You're not wrong, Mister Penn. Green isn't our friend." However, Aite spoke up as well, "You've got it wrong, Mister Penn. Green is our friend. We're all on the same exploration team, after all. Green is just a regular friend to us. Regular friends don't have the right to listen in on what we're about to discuss. We're going to tell you why we asked for forty million dollars." "Is that so?" Wilbur smiled as he looked at Aite. Aite was the younger of the two brothers, but he seemed to be the more intelligent one. He was hesitating to speak then, which piqued Wilbur's interest. What could possibly be the reason behind the brothers' request for forty million dollars? Aite nodded. "We can't just tell anyone about a secret like that, though. So, we'd need to determine if you can afford to hear about it." "Do you mind showing us your bank account balance?" "Of course not." Wilbur knew that these brothers did not trust him too much and sent them a screenshot of the fi
Wilbur looked up at the two brothers. "Are you sure that Vicente Deep Waters really exists, and there's treasure in there?" Eli seemed a little emotional as he said, "We have all the information, Mister Penn. We can send you a digital copy of it tomorrow morning if you don't believe us, and you can see for yourself then if this treasure really exists." Wilbur nodded. "That's probably for the best. After all, we've never seen Vicente Deep Waters before. Nonetheless, I am curious about how Mitch and the others know about the treasure in the forest too." Aite shrugged. "It was purely coincidental. Vernon found a book containing notes left behind from a previous civilization, and it was mentioned that there was indeed treasure hidden within Vicente Primeval Forest. It was all in text, though. The five of us just found each other randomly and chose to team up to search for the treasure because none of us wanted to be ordinary people." Wilbur's mind raced. "So, you knew where the tre
Mitch led the way and the others followed behind him. They followed the directions on the map and began heading into the Vicente Primeval Forest. They did not run into the bloodsucking bugs, and the whole journey went rather smoothly. Vernon looked at the map excitedly. "Unbelievable! We've made a new record! We're sixty kilometers deep in the forest now!" "That's it, right up ahead!" Vernon pointed at a grassy plain in front of him. Everyone hurried over and began clearing the plain of all the grass with the tools they had prepared. After that, they began to dig up the soil with shovels. Soon enough, they uncovered the round cover of a well. The cover of the well was different from those found in the city. It looked ancient and was extremely heavy. No one could lift it with their own strength. Wilbur wove the rope he had brought through the hole on top of the cover, tying a firm knot. Everyone picked up the rope and pulled it together and were finally able to lift the stone
Kean said, "If it's worth a lot, I'm bringing a crystal or two back with me. Who knows, I could make some good money with it." He walked over to grab one of the glowing crystals, but a huge spark of electricity struck him the moment his hands came into contact with them. "Argh!" Kean's hands flew backward as his eyes widened in shock. "What was that?" Vernon said, "Be careful of what you touch, Vernon. There might be powers none of us know of." Wilbur said, "Alright, I'll lead the way now. Everyone, stay behind me." Wilbur took the lead, and everyone followed behind him. They made their way down the path, which widened as they kept going. Before long, the entirety of Vicente Deep Waters stood before them. Wilbur looked at the map on his phone as he walked and was shocked to discover that the castle looked exactly like it did on the map. Moreover, the walls and ground were both very clean with no signs of wear or decay. It was important to note that the last civilization