Road to becoming the wealthiest: Starting From Treasure Hunting in the Cabinets
Chapter 457 - 325: A win-win situation is actually possible; it’s just a matter of winning big or small! _2

Chapter 457: Chapter 325: A win-win situation is actually possible; it’s just a matter of winning big or small! _2

As the girl was the sole representative of the house, she naturally agreed.

Of course, she hoped that Sean Knight and his party could rent it for as long as possible.

When Sean Knight and Elijah Hastings entered the courtyard, they found that it was really big, nearly a thousand square meters.

If it weren’t located on the outskirts of Manila, such a large courtyard would likely have been expropriated or bought by the wealthy.

The interior of the courtyard had been refurbished, leaving not much trace of its original look.

According to the notebook that Sean Knight was using, this place used to be a Japanese military camp—or rather, the residence of a military police troop protecting Yamashita Fumio.

It originally not only had dormitories, stables, weapon warehouses, and training grounds, but also some military facilities.

However, after Japan’s surrender, the site was handed over, some facilities inside were dismantled, and it was finally auctioned off.

Because the courtyard was quite big, the sale was not successful until a billionaire purchased it and turned it into his home.

However, the family of that billionaire later fell into hard times and wanted to sell the courtyard. No one bought it, and in the end, the courtyard was all that remained of their property.

The girl, named Amara, was about to graduate from middle school. Her grades may not be enough to get into a university, but she wishes to be a movie star.

She looked at Sean Knight as she said this in hopes of getting a response from him.

Sean Knight naturally understood what Amara meant, however, he did not respond.

He and his friends were not really shooting a film, so how could they possibly respond to the girl’s suggestive request?

If they were truly shooting, they might offer her a minor role. But they were not!

So, Sean Knight pretended not to hear her and began to observe the surroundings as soon as he entered the courtyard.

At this point, the male owner of the courtyard came out and approached them.

"Is it you, who wants to rent my courtyard for twenty thousand pesos a day?" The man asked Sean Knight directly about the money, and his facial expression was somewhat gloomy.

"Yes." Sean Knight took out four hundred dollars from his pocket and handed it over: "This is today’s rent. We need to take a look at it today, and if it’s suitable, we’ll extend the rent to use it as a location for shooting a movie."

Having identified that the money was genuine after scrutinizing it, the man’s face lit up with a faint smile.

"Well, feel free to look around," he said.

As he tried to show some hospitality, he introduced Sean Knight and the others to the facilities in the courtyard while instructing Amara.

"Go, pour our guests some water!"

Sean Knight activated his Sky Eye and scanned the lawn. Then, he fixed his gaze onto the main buildings in the courtyard, a row of old-fashioned single-story houses.

The single-story houses had been modified. They were repainted and decorated. The originally plain and square dormitories had been converted into rooms with various functions.

Some were connected, some were separated, so the original row of dormitories had become three separate houses.

The main house in the middle had some additions made to it, which became the place where the owner lived. Bricks paved the entrance, small flower beds were dug on the sides, and the windows were also renovated, and so on.

This remodelling made the place more habitable and more homely.

Some unknown green plants were placed on the windowsill, looking very lively.

"This is where we live." The man led Sean Knight and his teammates to the front of the house. Sean just glanced at it and pointed to the other two rooms, asking:

"What about these two?"

"A storage room, and where Amara studies," said the man. "I originally planned to send my daughter to university, but she does not have talent in academics, alas..."

Sean Knight strolled towards the storage room. With his Sky Eye activated, he found something underneath, but it wasn’t what he had imagined.

"Can I walk around the back?" Sean Knight pointed behind these rooms, which had been transformed into a small garden. It had a stone-paved path and a small pond dug up, which resulted in quite a romantic ambience.

"Of course." The man didn’t refuse, "The view there is quite good. I, too, enjoy taking a stroll in the garden when free."

This place was originally a training ground. As his Sky Eye scanned over it, Sean Knight could even see bullet shells deep in the soil beneath the stone path of the garden.

Then, Sean Knight saw what he came to see.

In order not to raise any suspicions, Henry Rogers just skimmed over it. Then, he followed the man into the living room. Amara brought water and fruits, and Sean Knight chatted with the man about day-to-day topics.

Eventually, Sean Knight decided to rent the place for one week. He paid an upfront rental price of one thousand dollars, with an additional one thousand dollars as a deposit, and arrangements were made for the man’s family to move out the next day.

The two thousand dollars was rent for five days. The man was naturally pleased.

Once affluent and now on hard times, he didn’t want to go out and work, hence the two thousand dollars was like a much-needed help. He was naturally delighted.

As Sean Knight and his group left, the man happily took the money and went out, leaving Amara behind, biting her lips and staring outside, lost in thoughts.

That evening, back at the hotel, Douglas Cooper reported excitedly:

"I’ve found the model for the shoot and have rented the equipment. Apparently, we’re shooting some short videos. They’re happy about it, and it isn’t setting us back much. It’s just a thousand dollars."

"You’re saying they went into a courtyard and only emerged after half an hour?" Caprio Parker queried, readying to head back to Manila after receiving the report from his own contact.

After spending almost a week locating and digging, expecting a substantial find, all they discovered was a box of old, rusted Japanese weapons.

Caprio Parker found it hard to swallow this disappointment.

In the past, this kind of thing was normal; out of ten treasure hunts, eight would come up empty. As long as there was a treasure found in one of the attempts, it would be enough to compensate for all the failures.

But Sean Knight’s single success was worth several of his own, which made Parker feel like he shouldn’t make things easier for Sean and his crew.

There was a hint of competition in his intentions.

So he paid special attention to any information related to Sean Knight.

After hearing the news, Dubawnt Ramirez offered his analysis:

"Boss, could that courtyard be a potential treasure site?"

Having followed Parker for a long time, Ramirez was keen on treasure hunting.

Since he had been introduced to all kinds of environments while following Sean, the idea of a treasure hidden in an urban courtyard was something new to him.

That was his first guess.

"It’s possible!" Caprio Parker ordered Ramirez at once:

"You go back to Manila right now. Go to the owner of the courtyard tomorrow, tell him that we want to rent his... no, buy his courtyard! If they’ve already rented it to Sean’s group, ask them to return the money, I will pay double!"

As always, Ramirez followed Parker’s order right away.

After wrapping up his work on his end, Caprio Parker decided to return to Manila immediately.

Although he didn’t want to face Sean Knight, as long as there was a chance, he didn’t care about confronting him directly while treasure hunting!

The next day, Sean Knight and his crew, along with the model named Aya, a beautiful girl, arrived at the courtyard early.

Aya had a natural face, without plastic surgery, and was quite pleasant to look at. Douglas Cooper was quite proud of his own taste.

However, when Amara opened the courtyard gate and saw Sean Knight, then looked at Aya, and finally turned her gaze to Douglas Cooper holding the video camera.

After looking at all of them, she said to Sean Knight:

"Mr. Knight, I... Someone came by yesterday wanting to buy our courtyard. They offered a high price, and my father is considering it..."

Upon hearing this, Sean knew something was amiss!

His mind raced, and he immediately guessed that they must have revealed their intentions!

The only person who could buy the courtyard before him was that scumbag Caprio Parker!

"Has your father signed a contract with them?" Sean pressed.

"No, my father wants to raise the price. The man can’t make that decision, so they’re still negotiating. But he made clear that money was no issue, and he could pay more as long as his boss agreed..."

Sean felt slightly relieved and said:

"Can you talk to your father for us? We only need one day. The two thousand dollars is just rent for today! If he can stall that man, after we finish shooting, we’ll give him an extra thousand dollars!"

Amara looked confused. Why had their courtyard suddenly become so important?

Was there something they didn’t know about their own property?