During their leisurely chat, Alka and Chadite arrived outside the Treasure Vault their team had previously opened.
Throngs of people, mostly dressed in workers' clothes, bustled around the pit of the Treasure Vault, busy with their tasks.
Various construction materials, machinery, and tools needed for building were piled up nearby.
Seeing this, Alka turned to look at Chadite.
Chadite understood Alka's unspoken question and replied, "This is Sad's Treasure Vault, after all. So, naturally, the Meister Island government is establishing a tourist attraction here. It'll bring them a lot of tourists."
Upon hearing this, Alka couldn't help but scoff. "You didn't deliberately leak the existence of this Treasure Vault, did you? Or maybe you even sold those Treasures to the island government at a price higher than market value?"
Observing the current scene and recalling Chadite's words, Alka immediately thought of such a possibility. After all, the information they'd previously obtained mentioned that the Treasures in small vaults were typically worth around 50 Golden Sail.
"You're clever. I didn't expect you to figure it out so quickly," Chadite said, somewhat surprised, then broke into a brilliant smile.
"After all, isn't maximizing the value of Treasures what a Treasure Hunting Team should do?" As she spoke, she winked at Alka.
"Indeed." Alka, however, changed the subject. "What's so special about this place? What made your team zero in on it?"
"This place," Chadite began, "is known in some of the strange local rumors as the Land of Dismemberment. Legend says that many years ago, dismembered bodies would often appear here."
Chadite then leaned in and whispered in Alka's ear, "Actually, one of Sad's sons had a penchant for killing and dismembering people. This was where he committed his gruesome acts."
As she spoke, she tilted her chin, indicating the construction site below.
"If you're interested later, you can go take a look. Among the Treasures inside are Sad's original manuscripts and the murder weapons. It's just unclear why he chose to hide his son's scandal in a Treasure Vault."
A rather rational action.
At that moment, a group of distinctively dressed individuals suddenly entered the construction site, apparently conversing with the site manager. Afterward, they headed straight into the Treasure Vault.
Alka turned his head and saw Chadite frowning slightly, intently watching the group entering the Treasure Vault.
"Do you know them?"
Chadite nodded. "They're from the Biting Shark. I don't know where they got their information, but they've also come to this Island recently to search for Treasure Vaults."
"Competitors?"
"Yes, and they're very troublesome. They have a bad reputation. If you encounter them alone, be extremely careful. It's best to run."
Hearing Chadite's slightly serious tone, Alka nodded.
It seems this Treasure Hunting Team is no weaker than ours, Alka thought. And they might harm or even kill people.
Alka used his Heart Eye to carefully memorize the appearance of the group he had just seen.
"Well? Any discoveries?" Chadite suddenly asked.
Alka shook his head and didn't say much. Instead, he took out the map he had been carrying all along and spread it open.
He looked at the map, which was marked with the locations of the Treasure Vault ruins. Then he compared the white dot and the blue dot. The three points—the ruins, the white dot, and the blue dot—were all randomly distributed, with no discernible pattern.
"I'm too unfamiliar with this Island," Alka said. "I need to explore a bit to get a feel for things. Perhaps that will help me spot any discrepancies." He then looked at Chadite and added, "But you did an excellent job drawing this map."
"Oh, really? Thank you for the compliment," Chadite replied.
"Anyway, since we're not busy right now, how about I show you around the Island? There aren't that many places where a Treasure Vault could be hidden."
Hearing this, Alka nodded. "Sure, if it's not too much trouble."
"Then let's go," Chadite said with a smile, leading Alka to wander around some of the locations she had marked on the map.
The actual blue dot wasn't at any of the marked locations, but it was in their vicinity, close enough for them to pass by it.
Alka followed, looking around as if he were genuinely searching.
After they passed several places that Chadite had marked as possible Treasure Vault locations, and listening to her explanations, Alka began to roughly understand. They considered these places potential locations because their calculations, based on the Treasure Vault they had already found, indicated that certain geographical conditions were necessary for construction. These particular spots fit those geographical criteria for building a Treasure Vault.
Following the path, Alka finally arrived at the blue dot—the actual location of the Treasure Vault.
He looked at the location of the blue dot. It was a small hill, overgrown with lush trees, and a deserted tower stood upon it.
"Miss Chadite, may I ask what that abandoned tower is?"
Hearing Alka's question, Chadite turned her head to look. "That was a lookout tower built long ago. It was abandoned after this Island joined the Blood Gold Alliance. There are many such lookout towers scattered around the Island."
"I see," Alka nodded in understanding.
So, it's quite obvious.
That tower must be Sad's hint.
Now, Alka just needed to investigate what made this tower different from the others nearby and then work backward from there to find the reasoning.
Get the answer first, then reverse-engineer the process. That's definitely much easier.
After all, Sad had intentionally constructed the Treasure Vault. When he spread the secret of the Treasures, he also correspondingly spread hints about the Treasure Vault's location. The hints didn't even need to be perfectly accurate. As long as they were plausible, they could be explained away by possibilities or intuition. After all, experimentation and trial-and-error are undoubtedly common in the treasure-hunting process.
Thinking this, Alka smiled.
Having achieved his goal, Alka suggested they return after they finished wandering around with Chadite.
As dusk began to fall, the two returned to the small cabin.
"You're back! How did it go? Find any clues?" Jason, who was drawing something on the wooden desk with a quill, looked up and asked as the two entered.
Alka shook his head.
Chadite said directly, "I just familiarized him with the surrounding parts of the Island and the places where we think a Treasure Vault might be hidden. No discoveries."
"Is that so? That's a shame," Jason replied.
Listening to their conversation, Alka sat back down at the wooden desk. He began to casually flip through the documents spread across the wooden desk. These were all materials collected by the Treasure Hunting Team on the Island—everything possibly related to any Treasure Vault. There were also details about Sad's life experiences and preferences.
Perhaps I can find some clues here, Alka thought.
After some thought, he directly asked, "Do you have any information on those lookout towers?"
"Still thinking about the one you saw earlier?" Chadite remarked. She rummaged through the materials on the desk and then handed a few documents to him.