Road to becoming the wealthiest: Starting From Treasure Hunting in the Cabinets
Chapter 688 - 438: Complicated Treasure Information_3

Chapter 688: Chapter 438: Complicated Treasure Information_3

"Let’s rest during the daytime and continue in the evening. Otherwise, I’m afraid the tires would melt in this heat."

Sean Knight checked the map and made a decision.

"Boss, how long do we still have to go?" Douglas Cooper took a sip of water, savoring it in his mouth.

Since they entered the desert, all supplies were in the car, and nobody dared to waste water.

"Based on our present route, it’ll take another three days in the car," Sean estimated, "Mainly because we can’t drive fast through the river channel, and the extreme heat could easily cause some mechanical problems with the car."

With their travel itinerary set, the team was able to relax a little.

"I’m going to scout out the riverbed," said Sean, having had a small snack, he stood up to stretch his legs.

He grabbed a military shovel and leisurely walked ahead.

"Wait up, boss," Douglas quickly followed, "I’m curious too. I had no idea there are ancient river channels in this desert. Makes me wonder if it was something like our Loulan Country."

Sean thought to himself, yes, not too far off there.

After a short walk, Sean stopped a bit past a bend in the river channel.

"Boss, did you find something?" Douglas, sharp as he was, sensed the possibility.

"Look at this bend, it’s the ideal spot for backwash. If anything were to come downstream, it would likely end up here."

"Let me do the digging!"

Douglas promptly grabbed the shovel from Sean and immediately started digging into the sand and soil.

"This ground is solid!" He grunted after his first attempt only yielded half a shovel of soil, "Almost as hard as rock!"

With Douglas’s strength, a typical soil scoop would usually produce a full shovel-load.

Now, every dig was met with a clanging noise, truly akin to striking a rock.

"The riverbed has been dry for who knows how long, plus hundreds of years of exposure to the sunlight. Isn’t it expected for the soil to be as hard as a rock? Given enough time, it could certainly turn into stone."

Luckily, only the top twenty or so centimeters were this hard. After prying open this crust, the sand and soil beneath were much looser.

After what felt like half an hour, Douglas had dug a hole about two meters wide and one meter deep.

"Boss, I don’t think there’s anything down there...", Douglas was drenched in sweat. The calorie intake from his earlier meal had been converted into sweat, draining most of his energy.

"Try a few more shovel loads," Sean offered a reassuring smile, "Or would you want me to take over?"

"Okay." Douglas wasn’t shy about taking a breather, he was genuinely exhausted.

"My turn." Sean took over from Douglas, and started digging at the bottom of the hole.

"Clang!" The shovel hit a hard object!

Just as he was about to stand up, Douglas was momentarily stunned by the unexpected development.

He turned back to Sean and asked him:

"Boss...is it a rock?"

"Does it sound like a rock to you?" Sean retorted.

"Then it’s..."

"It’s metal, presumably. We’ll know for sure once we’ve dug it up."

After saying this, Sean began gently removing the soil around the object.

Douglas was kicking himself!

He was so close!

Once Sean had cleared away the soil on top of the object, part of it was exposed.

"It’s a copper candelabrum," Sean declared, "There’s a handle at the bottom, so it was probably meant to be inserted into something."

"Oh, it’s copper, not too bad." Douglas let out a sigh of relief.

"But it’s gilded with gold on the surface, it was likely used in the room of a senior clergy member or a noble."

Sean added.

"So boss, is it worth anything?" Douglas immediately asked upon hearing this.

"It’s quite large, not severely rusted, and impressively crafted. Look, it even has reliefs on all four sides. I wouldn’t be surprised if it fetched several hundred thousand US dollars at a European or American auction."

"That much!?" Douglas was genuinely taken aback.

"It’s yours, take it out yourself!" Sean dropped the shovel and hopped out of the hole.

Douglas quickly jumped in, carefully extracting the candelabrum.

As expected, the rust was minimal, likely due to the nature of the desert.

A quick wipe was sufficient to reveal the gilded edges of the reliefs and the finely crafted contours.

It was truly exquisite.

Douglas cleaned off the candelabrum and handed it to Sean.

"I told you it’s yours." Sean pointed to the massive hole and chuckled, "I don’t want it. It’s too heavy!"

"Alright, keeping it then!" Douglas grinned and tucked the candelabrum under his arm.

"You’re not worried about scratching off the gilding on the reliefs?"

"No worries!" Douglas was quite carefree.

Sean walked on, leaving a few trinkets that were buried deep. He wasn’t interested in digging any further.

After walking another hundred meters or so, the river channel turned southwards towards the unrelenting sun, Sean opted to head back.

Something caught his eye on the river bank and he borrowed the military shovel from Douglas, beginning to dig at the cliffside.

"Boss, is there something...on this side?"

Douglas carefully adjusted the candelabrum under his arm and asked curiously.

"Let’s see...I think it’s a gemstone."

Sean pulled out a transparent stone, about the size of a baby’s fist, faintly glowing blue from the soil.

"A sapphire?" Douglas had seen one before, "Must be an aquamarine, no?"

"More or less," Sean held up the stone, examining it under the sunlight, and nodded, "Yes, it should be."

"Such a large piece...amazing!"

Despite all the extraordinary treasure hunting experiences he had with Sean, Douglas couldn’t help but display a hint of envy on seeing such a large aquamarine found so easily.

He was genuinely envious!

Of course, while he might envy Sean, Douglas knew he couldn’t do it himself. But following Sean ensured he got a piece of the action, which was certain.

Digging a pit in the sand had netted him a candelabrum worth hundreds of thousands of dollars—a streak of luck that was bound to make others green with envy, right?

The two of them walked back to the car. Lincoln Harrington was resting, while Elijah Hastings was standing guard on the riverbank.

Just then, Elijah suddenly shouted from the bank:

"There’s a plane passing by, everyone be careful!"

Following this, they heard the rumble of an airplane engine.

They looked up to see a plane flying high above, its silhouette shimmering in the sunlight!