Road to becoming the wealthiest: Starting From Treasure Hunting in the Cabinets
Chapter 173 - 172: The Boat is Collapsing!

Chapter 173: Chapter 172: The Boat is Collapsing!

Evelyn had been paying close attention to Sean Knight and noticed his slightly mocking smile. She approached him and asked quietly,

"What, you don’t think our discovery is shocking enough?"

"Shocking enough!" Sean replied perfunctorily.

The boat wasn’t very big, a five-masted sailboat, much smaller than the one Penson Smith and his crew had arrived on.

Sean had once seen a similar restored five-masted sailboat on Lake Taihu. At that time, there were also seven-masted sailboats on the lake, used by lake pirates similar to those in the novel ’Twelve Linked Docks’.

Those were inland lake boats.

This pirate ship or merchant ship was only this big; it was far from enough to shock Sean.

Since leaving China, especially when dealing with historical artifacts, Sean couldn’t help but feel a natural sense of superiority.

Even though they were not the world’s number one power now, they had been so for many years in history. Being a little proud was inevitable.

Evelyn could tell that Sean didn’t really care for the discovery.

But before she could argue, Sean had already moved closer to get a better look at the boat.

As for what was inside, Sean wasn’t interested – because he had already seen it.

However, his actions led to misunderstandings from Evelyn’s teammates. A tall and strong male teammate stepped forward to stop Sean, saying coldly,

"Unrelated personnel, please stay away to avoid misunderstandings!"

Sean stopped, smiled, and backed away.

Penson Smith was looking at the boat, heard his teammate’s words, and turned to see that it was Sean. He called out,

"Mr. Knight, why don’t you come and take a look too?"

Sean declined,

"No, I’ll just watch from here."

Implicitly meaning that there wasn’t much need to take a closer look.

Penson wanted to extend another invitation, thinking that Sean being an expert in this area would be beneficial.

But the Treasure Hunter’s Team Leader urged Penson to look at their discovery, so he didn’t insist anymore.

Evelyn quietly explained to Sean,

"The items we found haven’t been properly categorized yet, which is why Gru was so excited. Don’t take it personally,"

"I don’t mind." Sean shook his head, already having seen everything clear.

The ship had at least 200 years of history. Due to long-term stranding, the interior wood had rotted, and many parasites grew. The ship couldn’t even be moved; it would fall apart upon lifting.

As for its contents, they’d probably make Penson and the Team Leader ’excited’ for a moment.

Gru seemed a little dissatisfied with the explanation from Evelyn and Sean, and said loudly,

"Evelyn, I just got injured on my arm. Could you help me bandage it?"

Evelyn walked over, and Gru smirked at Sean.

Childish!

Sean shook his head and began to survey the spatial realm of the cave.

Elijah Hastings came over and whispered,

"Just let it go?"

Sean gave him a puzzled look and asked,

"This doesn’t seem like your style! Shouldn’t you be advising me not to act on impulse?"

Looking at Evelyn, Elijah hinted,

"This is the moment to make our country proud. You can’t shrink away!"

"Get lost!" Sean said irritably, not expecting Elijah to stoke the fire at this moment. "If I start a fight now, I’ll be the target when they’re disappointed later. My tiny body can’t handle that!"

"What do you mean? Are you saying there’s nothing good in there?" Elijah asked curiously.

"I’m guessing there’s nothing good, maybe just this boat, and perhaps some valuable weapons!"

At this point, Penson, the Team Leader and others had begun boarding the ship with tools.

Gru’s wound was just a minor cut. After Evelyn had quickly handled it, she walked back.

Although Gru didn’t want Evelyn to come over, he wasn’t in charge, and the Team Leader called him onto the ship to search together.

Evelyn came over and asked,

"Why do you say we’ll be disappointed? With such a big boat, there have to be valuable items inside! Trust us, we’re professionals!"

Sean shook his head,

"Not necessarily."

At this moment, everyone’s attention was drawn by a crisp sound!

"Crack!"

All eyes fell on Gru’s feet!

He stepped on the deck from the ladder, and then the deck was crushed beneath his feet!

Penson’s face turned black at that moment!

He still planned to take this ship back intact!

Before Penson could speak, the captain scolded:

"Gru, can you please be more careful? These are all antiques!"

Gru looked wronged:

"I was clearly not using any force and was very careful."

As he spoke, he demonstrated for everyone, taking another careful step.

*Crack!*

Another piece of the deck cracked!

The captain’s face turned black this time!

"Get off!"

Gru was tall and weighed almost 100 kilograms. With his equipment, he was over 120 kilograms.

Penson and the captain, with their equipment, were under 100 kilograms, so they could walk without damaging the hull.

That was only on the surface, though.

While dealing with Evelyn’s curiosity, Sean suddenly noticed that the cracks in the hull were widening and immediately shouted a warning:

"Those on the ship, be careful! The ship is about to collapse!"

The ship was going to collapse?

What a strange use of words!

The captain thought Sean was being sarcastic and didn’t pay any attention to him.

However, Penson took it seriously and suggested to the captain:

"Shall we get off and wait for professional equipment before entering again?"

The captain disagreed, pointing to the cargo hold and saying:

"Once we open the cargo hold, we can see the gains of this trip. Mr. Penson, can you resist this temptation?"

He stomped his foot, saying:

"Moreover, I don’t think there will be any problem with the ship. Look, it’s still very stable here."

Before Penson arrived, the captain had already boarded the ship, and his tests showed it was basically stable.

Since the captain didn’t think there was a problem, Penson didn’t want to refuse his good intentions and opened the cabin door with the captain.

Gru resentfully got off the ship and saw Evelyn still talking to Sean. The anger welled up inside him!

It was all because of you!

Otherwise, why would the captain call me down?

He went forward to scold Sean, but Elijah blocked him.

"What? Do you want to fight?" Gru looked at Elijah, who was nearly a head shorter than him, with disdain.

"Fight? If you fight, you’ll die!"

On the other hand, Evelyn thought that Elijah and Gru were actually "communicating" and didn’t mind, continuing to ask Sean:

"Why did you say the ship would collapse?"

Sean felt that this curious child was too much and gave a perfunctory explanation:

"It’s because the ship has been left for too long, and the air here is damp, so it must be starting to rot! The first thing to do at this time is to protect it, not to destroy it!"

"But the treasure we’re looking for is on board!" Evelyn argued as though it was only natural.

Uh, cultural perspectives were different.

In China, professionals would first think of protection when discovering similar things.

Sean had to take another approach:

"If we can’t be sure about the integrity of the ship, even if we go into the cabin, if the ship collapses, wouldn’t it be even more troublesome?"

Evelyn tried to argue with Sean again,

but then heard an ominous sound:

*Snap!*

*Crack!*

The ship was really about to collapse!