Chapter 296

At noon, Luke took out the grill and prepared to get a small barbecue for dinner.

Lamb chops, lamb loin, chicken wings, lobster, roasted eggplant, enoki mushrooms, bread slices ……

While drinking a cold beer and grilling the nourishing lamb chops, Luke hummed a little song in his mouth.

‘You don’t need to be explicit about my heart and my feelings.

As long as I am good to you.

Do you want such tenderness ……”

The barbecue of a person looks a bit bleak and lonely, but for Luke it is a rare enjoyment.

Out to play, is how to relax how to come.

“Rustle ……”

Luke heard a slight rattling, like the sound of trampling on the lawn, and turned his head to see a familiar figure.

“Judge Walker, are you smelling something?”

“That’s right, I’m here to rub it in.” Walker let out a sigh, “My tent is a mess and the food was destroyed by that damn bear, all my plans have been derailed.”

Luke handed him a beer, “This might make you feel better.”

“Thanks.” Walker took the beer and removed a bottle of rum from his backpack, “Here’s a present for you.”

Luke took it and looked at it, it was a bottle of high end rum that had been stored for about ten years, it was expensive, “Nice drink, I wish there were a few more dabblers like you.”

Walker laughed, “I’ve got a big mouth, and if the meal isn’t good, I definitely won’t come back next time.”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you then, I do have average grilling skills.” Luke had no problem cooking in his two lifetimes, but because of the limited conditions in his last life, he had almost no experience in barbecuing.

Walker walked over and looked at it, “The ingredients are good and fresh.” Walker rolled up his sleeves, “Let me grill it, don’t waste these ingredients.”

“Can you do it?”

“Don’t discriminate by treating judges like life idiots.”

“OK,” Luke handed the grill clamps to Walker, who was happy to take it easy.

Walker skillfully flipped the roast with the clip, the stance alone was much more standard than Luke’s, and it didn’t take long for a lamb chop to be done, and Walker chucked a piece onto Luke’s plate.

Luke cut the lamb chop and took a bite, the outside is charred, tender and juicy, it is indeed better than his grilled.

Is not every old man in Los Angeles has a hand of grilling skill.

Luke felt that he had to practice more in the future.

If you don’t know how to grill meat, you’ll be embarrassed to host a party in the future.

Walker asked, “How does it taste?”

Luke a thumbs up, “You should turn into a chef.”

“Haha ……” Walker laughed, “The most important thing about grilled meat is the quality of the ingredients and the fire, you don’t need too much seasoning, the flavor of the meat itself is the best.”

Walker is a man of quick movements, first grilling the ingredients that need to be turned, then putting the ingredients that don’t need to be turned often on the grill, just looking at them occasionally.

Luke picked up the bottle, “Judge Walker, in the face of the beauty and the food at this time, we must drink a toast.”

“Walker, just call me by my first name.”

“Me too.”

The two men clinked their bottles and took a sip.

Luke took a bite of the garlic grilled lobster, “It’s my kind of flavor.”

“This is the lobster you guys sea-caught two days ago?”

“That’s right, I also caught a nearly seven hundred pound bluefin tuna.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“You’re so out of the loop, those guys are posting pictures all over the world, you’ll know when you get back.”

“Sorry I didn’t make it to your welcome party.”

“I don’t really like …… that kind of occasion sometimes, I just don’t have the capital to say no compared to you.”

Walker smiled, “It won’t bother you when you’re my age.”

“Maybe.”

Luke went to the grill and looked at the grilled enoki mushrooms and grilled eggplant and brought those two dishes to the table as well, “Ready to eat.”

“It smells and tastes good.” Although Walker often grilled, he wasn’t good at grilled eggplant and grilled enoki mushrooms, and rarely ate them before.

“Taste it, these two dishes are better than meat when they’re done well.” Luke gave himself half an eggplant and some golden needle mushrooms, the tantalizing aroma made him swallow his saliva.

“Not bad.” Walker took a bite, showing a satisfied look, and took a sip of his beer, “Luke, what did you mean when you sent a message this morning saying that the black bear attack was not an accident?”

Luke explained, “I was swimming in Big Bear Lake this morning when I heard a bear roar and worried that you might be in danger, so I rushed over to help.

Saw a black bear destroying a tent, but the owner of the tent was not you, but a white woman in her forties.

I thought it was a bit too much of a coincidence, so I asked her if she was here on a treasure hunt.

She admitted it.”

Walker asked rhetorically, “If it was a man-made event, how did this person control the black bear? The bear couldn’t have been domesticated, could it?”

Luke recalled, “It didn’t look like it.”

“Was the black bear that attacked me last night the same one you saw today?”

Luke said, “I don’t think it was the same one.”

“Then why did the black bear attack my tent?”

“I don’t know.”

“Nothing suspicious at the scene? You’re a professional.”

“I didn’t check the scene.”

“That’s not like a good detective.”

“I’m here on vacation camping and don’t want to be reminded all the time that I’m a cop; full of scene scene scene, criminal criminal, evidence evidence ……

It’s too tiring.

I just …… want a relaxing vacation.”

Walker deflated, “You’re right, I can understand how you feel.”

He, a respected judge, ran off to the wilderness to explore and hunt for treasure, nine out of ten people wouldn’t believe him when he said it.

Something as unreliable as treasure hunting didn’t fit his status at all.

But he favored taking pleasure in it, not just to escape from the heavy cases.

Of course, it wasn’t that he didn’t like the work of a judge, it was just that the job was stressful and he needed a way to release his emotions.

It was like the positive and negative poles of a battery, you couldn’t have one without the other.

“Look, Luke, I need your help.”

“No problem, I can provide you with food, lodging, and you don’t have to worry about supplies, you can keep looking for the treasure.” Luke was generous.

“That’s not what I’m referring to, I don’t have much vacation time left, and as much as I love exploring, I have to take responsibility for my work.

I would like to find this treasure within my vacation, otherwise by the time I am on vacation again, this treasure will surely be found by someone else.

I hope you can join me in finding the treasure.”

“Oh, searching for treasure, that sounds interesting, and I fantasized about that sort of thing when I was a kid.

However, I have no similar experience, you’ve got the wrong person.”

“I don’t have the wrong person, I trust my judgment. You can help me.”

“Tell me about it.”

Walker found his backpack and fished a bag out of it, opening it and pulling out a piece of tan-colored leather and handing it to Luke, “Take a look.”

“What’s this?”

“A treasure map.”

“Can I look at it?” Luke was a little surprised, not expecting Walker to make such a move.

“Don’t worry about looking at it, if the treasure was that easy to find, I wouldn’t have asked you for help.”

Luke wiped his hands and took the tan-colored leather, the size of A4 paper, very thin: “What kind of material is this, it’s very soft to the touch.”

“Calfskin, I have a similar belt, it’s very comfortable.”

Luke rubbed the treasure map hard and smelled it again before he started to check the pattern on it, black lines traced the edges, the bottom left corner of the map looked like a lake, surrounded by a wooded area, the terrain was high and low, and there was also a round of sun in the top right corner.

There were also a few lines written in the bottom right corner.

”Hey man, do you want my treasure?

Then go find it.

The treasure is in a brown wooden box.

I’m sure you can find it if you put your mind to it.

Forrest Finn.’

“This is the treasure map, why isn’t the exact location of the treasure marked?”

“Is this the reason why I was late in finding the treasure?”

Luke scrutinized the topography of the treasure map, “This treasure map seems to be incomplete, although there is a lake on one side and a forest on the other, the range is too wide, it’s hard to determine the exact scope.”

“You are right, this is also the purpose of my search for you, I also suspect that this is only a part of the treasure map, which is what caused my delay in determining the exact location of the treasure.”

Luke vaguely guessed what the other party was thinking, “You want me to help find the complete map.”

“That’s right, haven’t you met another treasure hunter? It’s possible that the two of us could be a complete map when we put it together.”

“That’s easy, I can give you directions to where her camp is located.”

“NoNoNo, adventure treasure hunting isn’t as simple as you think, in fact, I’ve detected the existence of other treasure hunters before, but I’ve never come into contact with them head on, I don’t understand them and I don’t trust them, and even if I have the sincerity to cooperate with them, they may not be sincere in treating me.

I need a strong ally.”

“You want me to facilitate your cooperation and guarantee that it will be fair.”

“Yes. More precisely, I want you to be one of the owners of the treasure, and I’m willing to share a portion of it with you.

Only if you know how to share can you gain more.”

“Even if you are willing, can the other treasure hunter agree?”

“If the other person agrees, we’ll hunt for the treasure together, and it’s fun to meet some interesting friends in the process of treasure hunting.

If the other person is unwilling, we will just exchange treasure maps, he will find his, and we will find ours.”

“It’s her.” Luke reminded.

“The treasure hunter is a woman?”

“That’s right.”

“I’ve met a lot of treasure hunters, not many women.”

“This time you saw one.”

“So you agree?”

“No, I haven’t thought about it yet, I’m here to give myself a vacation, I don’t want to get too tired.”

“Come on, young people should be a little adventurous, what’s the difference between your vacation and a seventy year old?

Adventure itself is a great way to relax, once you try it once you’re sure to like it.

You can think of it as a game.

Like me, the treasure is not the most important thing, I enjoy the anticipation, novelty and excitement of the treasure hunt more.

There’s no better way to spend a vacation.

Treasure, treasure, treasure, repeat after me three times, aren’t you excited at all?”

It would be a lie to say that Luke wasn’t at all interested in treasure and asked, “Do you know what treasure is?”

“I don’t know, unknown treasure is more exciting isn’t it?”

“The owner of the treasure is Forrest Fenn?”

“Yes, have you heard of him?”

“No, I rarely follow this type of news.”

Walker said, “Forrest Finn’s father was a math teacher with a passion for the outdoors, and Finn grew up following his father on his adventures around the world, so he fell in love with the outdoor adventure sports as well.

Finn grew up and opened an art gallery, which in the 1980s did $10 million in annual sales.

In terms of the purchasing power of the dollar at the time, Finn was undoubtedly a tycoon, which was the ‘hard power’ he needed to start a treasure hunt.

At the age of 58, Finn got cancer and had to stop his favorite outdoor adventures to recuperate at home.

Knowing that his days were numbered, Finn wanted to start an adventure treasure hunt.

A lot of gold coins and treasures were put into a copper chest to be buried somewhere, however, his family stopped him.

The matter dragged on for more than twenty years, and Finn’s health actually miraculously improved, and he was eighty years old by this time.

He felt that his days were numbered, so he remembered the “treasure hunt” of the early years.

This time he did not consult the views of his family, secretly buried the treasure, and then his family knew about this, but also asked about the location of the treasure, but he refused to say, the family can do nothing about it, but also with him, anyway, is a few million dollars, for the Forresters have no impact on the family.

Luke had a general understanding of the treasure and pursued, “That means the Big Bear Lake treasure could be worth millions of dollars.”

“I don’t know, it is said that he divided the treasure into several batches and buried them in different places. This is just one of the treasure locations. It can’t be that valuable.”

“How did you get this treasure map?”

“He wrote an autobiography, and every once in a while he would release some autobiography books through various means, and these autobiography books have treasure maps sandwiched between them, not every one of them, and the percentage is extremely low, so it depends on luck.”

“Can you be sure that the treasure map is real?”

“Treasure hunting expeditions are full of uncertainty, which is also its greatest charm.”

“In case this old man lies, won’t we be tossing around for nothing.”

“It’s unlikely that Finn would lie.

He is a keen explorer and a super rich man.

To him a few million dollars is worth far less than the significance the adventure brings.

Would you openly lie to someone for a few hundred dollars?”

“That sounds kinda fun. If I join the expedition, how much can I share when I find the treasure?”

“Everyone shares equally.”

“Walker, you’re very generous.

But the other person who holds the map will not agree to this distribution plan even if she is willing to share the map and cooperate, in her opinion we are in the same gang and may not agree to an equal share.

It will only be a bad deal when the time comes, making it awkward for everyone.”

“You’re right, the treasure map is the most important thing in the eyes of treasure hunters, you can’t be a partner without a treasure map.” Walker took a dagger out of his backpack and forcefully sliced through the brown leather, tossing Luke a piece.

“Problem solved.”

Not far from the campground.

A white woman in her mid-forties loaded her belongings into her SUV, letting out an occasional sigh.

“Hi.”

A voice came from the distance, and the white woman revealed a wary look and looked over.

Not far away came two men, a dark haired man who she had seen this morning and an older white man.

“What can I do for you guys?” The white woman put down the items in her hands and stared at Luke and Walker.

“Hi, I’m Luke and this is Walker.”

“I’m Raffney.”

Walker asked, “You’re looking for Forrest Fenn’s treasure?”

“So are you guys.”

“That’s right, my camp was also attacked by a black bear last night, and I think it might be man-made, which means that there might be other treasure hunters out there, and an unruly and extremely dangerous one at that, and I think we should stick together.

Maybe we can find the treasure as soon as possible.”

Raffney plugged her waist and politely declined, “I’m not very good at communicating with people, and prefer to treasure hunt alone.”

Walker said, “Me too, I have also been treasure hunting alone during this period of time, but never found the treasure, as for the reason ……

The treasure map is not complete, and it is impossible to determine the exact location of the treasure.

According to my speculation, there should be more than one copy of the treasure map, there may exist several copies, or even a dozen copies, or there may be a similarity, and only by piecing together a complete treasure map can the location of the treasure be determined.

Therefore, cooperation is the best choice.”

Raffney asked back, “What if I refuse to cooperate?”

“I just said that more treasure maps may exist and there will be more treasure hunters, if you are unwilling to cooperate, we will find other treasure hunters to cooperate, as long as we can put together a complete treasure map, we will be able to find the treasure without any problems.

And by then …… your treasure map will become a piece of waste paper.”

“What if our treasure maps are the same?”

“Then no one loses anything, and we can still exchange some treasure hunting tips.”

Raffney frowned, “Let’s be honest, I can’t trust you guys.”

Walker suggested, “Then there’s another way, after everyone shares the treasure map, they can still split up and hunt for treasure, and there won’t be any repercussions.

Getting a complete treasure map will be beneficial to everyone, what do you say?”

“My camp was attacked by a black bear, my tent was destroyed and my food was damaged, even if I share the map with you guys, I still have to leave first to replenish new supplies.

With that time difference, you guys could potentially find the treasure first.

That’s not good news for me.”

Walker advised, “That’s why I said we should all hunt for the treasure together, my camp was also damaged, only if we unite can we deal with the potential crisis.

As for food, Luke can provide it, he still has plenty to eat.”

“If I work with you guys on a treasure hunt and find the treasure, how do we split it?”

“Three people, three copies of the map, and the treasure is split into three, fair enough.”

“I can only be awarded one third of the original.” Raffney was a bit unwilling, “This is not what I expected.”

“Raffney, you should have also realized that there are more than just the three of us in the vicinity, so we won’t be able to get the complete map without cooperation.

Once we let the other treasure hunters get the complete map, they might get there first.

At that time, not to mention a third, not even a single coin.”

Raffney hesitated for a while, “I still don’t trust you guys.”

Walker spread his hands, “OK, then we can only say goodbye.

I wish you a safe journey.

However, by the time you return to Big Bear Lake again, we may have already found the treasure.

I hope you don’t regret it.”

Raffney closed the trunk and got into the driver’s seat, a torn look on her face as her right hand reached out several times without pressing the start button.

“Click.”

The driver’s door opened, and Ravni took a deep breath, looking at Luke and Walker, “OK, I’ll work with you guys.

But as a sign of good faith, I need to know your identities and relationships.”

“Walker, I am a judge.

This is Captain Luke, he’s the best detective in Los Angeles.

Having him on board can greatly increase our chances of finding the treasure.”

“Whoa …… a judge and a cop?

It’s hard to imagine your kind going treasure hunting.”

“You’re not the first to think so.

My vacation is almost over, so I need to find the treasure as soon as possible.”

“OK, then bring out the treasure map.” Raffney was still wary and gestured for Luke and the two of them to take it first.

Neither Luke nor Walker hesitated and directly took out the map.

Raffney glanced at it, then also pulled out her own treasure map, and her map was different from Walker’s.

The three copies of the map were put together, the terrain, the lake, and the woods were perfectly connected and continued, putting together a complete map.