Chapter 297

Reverie showed surprise and took out her cell phone to take a picture, then showed a puzzled look, “Why is your map smaller than mine?”

Walker replied, “If all the maps were the same, it would never be possible to spell out the complete map.”

“You’re right, Your Honor.” Raffney shrugged and began to study the ‘new treasure map’.

If the previous treasure map was just a corner, then this corner was able to find multiple similar locations in Big Bear Lake, and after the maps were merged, the treasure map had an increasingly complete topography and vegetation features, enabling them to accurately locate the exact extent of the treasure.

Three people while comparing the treasure map, while checking the map of Big Bear Lake, only the use of different tools, Walker used a paper map, Raffney cell phone, Luke tablet.

The paper map couldn’t be zoomed in on, the cell phone screen was small, and eventually both men gathered around Luke’s tablet.

Walker muttered under his breath, “Looks like a love of enjoyment isn’t such a bad thing.”

Twenty minutes later, after some careful comparison, the trio finally determined the range of the treasure map, which was about three miles away.

However, although the scope of the treasure hunt had been determined, the complete treasure map still didn’t clearly mark the location of the treasure cache, and the range was still a bit large.

Walker picked up the pieced together map, “Could it be that there are still clues hidden on the map that we just haven’t found?”

Raffney also came over to check it out, pointing to the left and right sides of the map, “There’s a sun on your map, and there’s a sun vignette on my map, why are there two suns?”

Luke also came over to take a closer look, “Although they both look like suns, there exists a certain color difference, why do the two suns have different colors, does it represent a different time?”

“Time?” Walker muttered, stroking his chin in thought, “What time would two suns appear in the sky?”

Raffney revealed a dawning look and snapped her fingers, “I know, not two suns, but a moon and a sun, so the sun on your map is dark in color, and the moon on my map is light in color.

And the position height is also different.”

“The sun and moon are the same!” The three spoke in unison.

The three looked at each other and smiled unanimously, this was the fun of adventure treasure hunting.

Through the limited clues to disentangle the fog, find the burial site of the treasure and obtain a huge amount of wealth.

And in the process, everyone brainstormed and cooperated as a team, which was also a valuable treasure and precious memories.

Luke felt that when he was old, this expedition would also become a good memory.

Walker looked down at his watch, “Usually this happens in the evening.

Guys, we have to be at the treasure hunt site within the hour.”

Raffney pointed to her SUV, “What are you waiting for? Get in.”

The three of them drove to the treasure location.

The scope of the treasure location was still not small, about nearly a mile wide, and the search was still not small.

The terrain was also complicated with lakes, woods, and hills, making it difficult to search through in a short period of time.

Raffney parked the car and Walker stepped out of the car, taking the treasure map and comparing it to the surrounding terrain, no obvious anomalies were found.

Luke said, “It’s now after four in the afternoon, and there are less than three hours before it gets dark, I suggest splitting up and using the lake as a starting point to search in three different directions, this will be more efficient.”

Raffney shook her head, “NoNoNo, I don’t think that’s a good idea, the treasure isn’t that easy to find, and there’s no chance that there’ll be traps at the hiding spots.

I think we should all act together, it’s safer.”

Walker nodded, “I agree with Raffney’s proposal. Since the treasure hunting location has been identified and it can’t run away, it would be better to act together.”

“OK,” Luke shrugged, two to one, he could only compromise.

Subsequently, he also figured out the reason for this.

Walker trusted himself more and should logically support himself, so why would he agree with Rivne’s proposal?

There was also the fact that Raphne had previously said that she preferred to hunt for treasure alone, a proper woman, why was she suddenly looking ahead?

Since it was not normal, there must be a reason.

Luke guessed that the probability might be because of the treasure.

If the three of them split up, if one of them finds the treasure, it is inevitable that they won’t have crooked thoughts, and in the end, it may lead to conflicts, which may be what the two of them are worried about.

Luke, as a rookie treasure hunter, was a bit slower in this regard.

However, he had the advantage of being good at analyzing, and it wasn’t hard to figure this out.

This also illustrated the importance of teamwork, knowing that the three of them were more efficient when they split up and were not far apart, so they could take care of each other.

But because there wasn’t enough trust, they could only choose the less efficient way.

Although everyone understood this, sometimes human nature was insurmountable, and compromise was the lubricant for peaceful coexistence.

Subsequently, the three people were a dozen meters apart and searched forward as far as they could see each other ……

The three searched for more than an hour before the sun set in the west and the sky grew dark.

“I’m going to take a break.” Walker sat on his butt, panting.

Luke took out a beer from his backpack and handed it to him.

“Thanks.”

Luke pulled out two more beers, one to hand to Ravenna and one for himself.

“Gulp gulp ……” Luke drank most of the beer, quenching his thirst and replenishing his energy.

Walker, after all, older, rested for a while, only to slow down, took out the map to study it again, “I think this is not working, it will be dark soon, we simply can not search the entire treasure range on the map.”

Raffney asked, “Do you have a better idea?”

Walker pointed at the map, “I always feel that this sun and moon phenomenon should be hiding other clues. Our previous guess was the time ……

Could the real clue be the location.”

Walker’s words gave Luke a reminder.

Luke took the map and took out another pencil, connecting the sun and the moon with a straight line, the middle point of this line just fell on a hill.

This could be the treasure location.

Walker smiled, “Not bad for the best detective in L.A. I should have known I should have left you in the car to study the map.”

Raffney also put on an easy smile, “It’s not too late.” Raffney took out the map of Big Bear Lake and compared it to the map, pointing to the right front, “The hill should be at that location, we’d better get there before it gets dark.

I feel like the treasure is beckoning us.”

Afterwards, the three of them headed in the direction of the hill.

The location marked by Luke was also only an approximate location, there was after all an error between the map and the real thing, and this error was most likely not small.

After finding a hill that was similar to the one on the map, they searched all around with the hill as the center towards a diameter of one hundred meters.

The three searched very carefully, fearing to accidentally miss the treasure, however, they searched the hill carefully once, still did not find the brown wooden box suspected of hiding the treasure.

At this point, Luke also couldn’t help but wonder if he had misunderstood.

Rivne was also a bit disappointed and sat down on the lawn to rest.

Walker thought for a moment, “Hey, I just saw some sunflowers.”

Raffney asked rhetorically, “I saw them too, it’s not surprising that there are these wild sunflowers in many places.”

“You’re right, but sunflowers are the state flower of Kansas, and Forrest Fenn, who buried the treasure, was from Kansas.

Would that be too much of a coincidence?” Walker spoke with a look of excitement.

“Could this sunflower be the mark left by Forrest Fenn, and the treasure could be hidden under the flower.”

Luke waved his folding shovel, “Then what’s the point of hesitating, just dig and see.”

The three of them did as they said, and with Walker’s guidance they found the location of the sunflower flower, the three of them took turns digging, and dug a one-meter-deep pit underneath the sunflower flower.

But no brown wooden box was found, much less a treasure.

Walker sighed and said to Ravni who was beside him, “You’re right, there are a lot of these flowers, it’s not surprising.”

Raffney looked around, “It’s getting dark, there’s no way we can continue searching for the whereabouts of the treasure today.

And I didn’t even eat lunch, I’m starving.”

Luke said, “Let’s drive back to the campground, I have food in my RV.

But I’m exhausted today and don’t feel like cooking, so I’ll have to eat something ready-made.”

Raffney gulped, “I’m already satisfied as long as I can fill my stomach.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Set off.” Luke waved his hand, although he didn’t find the treasure, he had a fulfilling day.

Overall, it wasn’t bad.

After returning to the campground.

Dinner was simple, with a staple of daliba, canned beef, pork sausage, pickles, apples, oranges, and milk.

“Wow wow, that’s scrumptious!

I haven’t had such a hearty dinner in a long time.” Raffney couldn’t help but swallow her saliva as she looked at the food on the table.

“Then hurry up and eat.

Don’t be polite, it’s all ready-made food.” Luke said without thinking.

Rivne ate a large piece of leba, with pork sausage, and glanced at Luke’s caravan, “This is the first time I’ve seen a treasure hunter who enjoys himself as much as you do.”

Luke laughed, “You’re right, I’m still a rookie in the treasure hunting business. I prefer to enjoy exploring in nature.”

Raffney said, “That only means you’re a rich man.”

All three were hungry and soon winded up eating all the food on the table.

Ravni volunteered to do the heavy lifting of scrubbing the dishes, Luke cleared the table, and Walker was already a little too tired to move.

He was sixty and not getting any younger.

After cleaning up, Luke opened a bottle of whiskey, prepared some snacks, and the three of them drank while discussing the treasure.

Raffney sighed, ”We have already searched the other side’s range on the map, but we still haven’t found the whereabouts of the treasure.

Is there something wrong with the way we searched for the treasure?”

Walker took a sip, “Luke, what do you think?”

Luke stared at the treasure map on the table, the content on it was already familiar to him, it was indeed Great Bear Lake without a doubt, the only doubt on the whole map was the sun and moon.

It was also based on this phenomenon that they thought of two possible ways to find the treasure.

The first way, the sun and the moon represent the time, around evening, Luke originally guessed that this special time to find the treasure, and they also searched in this time, but did not find.

The second way, the sun and moon together represents the location, Luke will be the sun and moon with a line connected, the midpoint of the line just crossed with the hill, Luke guessed that the treasure may be on the hill, but the results are also wrong.

What does that sun and moon really mean?

Or maybe it’s not the sun and moon at all?

Luke suddenly thought of his own experience swimming in Big Bear Lake this morning… reflections?

One is the real sun, the other is the reflection in the water, what the map is really trying to imply is that ‘the treasure is hidden in the lake’.

Luke voiced his suspicions.

Raffney took the photo and looked at it, “Two suns, one shallow, one deep, one high, is it suggesting that the treasure is hidden at the bottom of the lake?

I feel like that’s an interesting idea.”

Walker chimed in, “I also find it interesting. I’m sure the person who buried the treasure would find it interesting too.

It fits the treasure hider Forrest Fenn to a tee.

Many people interpret a treasure map differently, and many treasure hunters look at the ‘plausibility’ of a treasure map.

I think this is true, but this plausibility is not what you think is plausible, but what the treasure hider thinks is plausible.

The treasure map has to be understood in the context of the treasure hider’s personality, characteristics, and circumstances.

Knowing what I know about Forrest Fenn, the use of two suns, representing reflections in the water, alluding to the treasure at the bottom of the lake is very much in keeping with his style.

Guys, we are one step closer to the treasure.”

Hearing these words, Rivne seemed to be encouraged as well, her mood gradually improved and she became more talkative, she looked at Luke first, “You’re really a detective?”

“Yes, I’m from the Robbery and Murder Division.”

“Sounds impressive.” Raffney looked across at Walker again, “You’re really a judge?”

Walker’s look became serious and his demeanor was different, his voice booming, “Not like that?”

“Wowow, kind of that.” Raffney laughed, “But it’s even more incredible to me.

Why a respected, dignified, wealthy judge would become a treasure hunter.”

“It’s a long story, and it’s kind of a little secret of mine ……

How about this, I’ll tell you guys after we find the treasure.” Walker made a perfunctory comment and asked back, “What do you do? A full-time treasure hunter?”

Raffney sighed softly, “I’ve had a lot of jobs before, but I’m not a very qualitative person, and I didn’t do each job for long.

In the words of my ex-husband, my life was a mess.

Then he divorced me.

I want custody of my daughter and am in the process of getting it, and a prerequisite for getting custody is that I have some material foundation.

That’s why I’m treasure hunting; I need money.”

Walker said, “Generally, when parents get divorced, the mother has a better chance of getting custody.”

“Uh …… I’ve done some wrong things in the past …… in the eyes of a lot of people, I’m not a good qualified mother.

I have recognized my mistakes and have been working hard to get my daughter.

She’s important to me and I’m willing to change for her.”

Walker said, “Come on, if you go in the right direction, everything will be fine.”

“Thanks, you’re one of the friendliest judges I’ve ever met.”

Luke laughed, “That’s an illusion, you should meet Judge Walker in the courtroom.”

“Come on, there’s not much of a judge or cop here, we’re all the same now – treasure hunters.

Let’s have a toast together, I’m going to bed after this one, I’m dying of exhaustion.

The search for the treasure will continue tomorrow.”

“Cheers.”

Early the following morning.

The sun was rising in the east, the weather was clear and the air was fresh.

Luke’s trio woke up and had a simple breakfast before driving to Big Bear Lake to search for the treasure.

The focus of their search today was the bottom of Big Bear Lake.

Considering the difficulty of searching at the bottom of the lake, the three of them also put on more equipment.

Since it was an impromptu trip, there wasn’t a lot of gear related to diving.

Luke provided a snorkel, Walker had a waterproof strong flashlight, and Rivne had a kayak.

The improvised equipment was barely enough to accomplish this mission, perhaps, this is the so-called strength in numbers.

The three first around the big bear lake observation, confirm the lake roughly treasure range.

And then the three began to take turns to dive to search the bottom of the sea, three people can swim, but Walker and Rivne are not proficient in snorkeling, the ability to close the breath is much worse.

Luke can close his breath for three minutes in the lake, and the two of them can only stay for more than a minute at their best, and as the number of times they go into the water becomes more and more, the dive time is getting shorter and shorter.

This also led to the three people in the bottom of the lake search efficiency is not high.

Near noon, the three still did not find the whereabouts of the treasure.

Because they had consumed too much energy, the three of them were tired and hungry, so they decided to memorize the approximate location and mark it at the bottom of the lake, and then went ashore to eat and rest.

Lunch was very simple, a large leba, canned beef, pickles, and coffee.

After eating, the three of them exchanged a few more tips on finding the treasure at the bottom of the lake.

Walker said, “I’m too tired, I have to reduce the number of times I go into the water in the afternoon, otherwise I may go to God first before the treasure is found.”

Raffney said, “I’m tired too, but I must get over it, the treasure can’t possibly float up on its own if none of us go in the water.”

Walker suggested, “We underestimated how difficult it would be to search the bottom of the lake, we should get some specialized snorkeling equipment, wetsuits and oxygen tanks, with those two things, our search for the bottom of the lake would be very easy.”

Raffney shook her head, “We’ve already searched most of it, we’ll be done by this afternoon, there’s no need to spend that wasted money.

I can’t get the money for new gear right now either.

By the time you buy new equipment to run a round trip, it’s unlikely that we’ve already found the treasure.”

If Walker had offered to buy snorkeling equipment in the beginning, Luke would have supported it.

But just like what Raffney said, now that half of the search at the bottom of the lake was done, and the remaining half just needed to be done step by step, he didn’t see the need for it.

Moreover, through going into the water over and over again, he had figured out some experience in snorkeling, and he had used up a snorkeling card during that time.

Luke said, “I think, your ideas can be compromised, continue to search the bottom of the lake this afternoon, if you can’t find it, then purchase professional snorkeling equipment tomorrow.”

Both of them didn’t object, and it was considered a tacit agreement.

Luke then talked about some of his own snorkeling tips and some ways to save energy.

After two o’clock in the afternoon, the three of them continued to snorkel.

It was just that the way of snorkeling was a bit different from the morning.

This time, when they entered the water, they no longer swam downstream, but carried a large stone on their backs and sank directly to the bottom of the lake, and they also carried the stone on their backs when they searched underwater, and they adjusted their body posture by the weight of the stone, and walked directly on the bottom of the lake with their feet.

When the snorkeling oxygen is running out, put the pebbles on your back into a net with a rope tied to the side, and with your feet on the bottom of the lake, you can easily float to the surface.

After that, the companion will fish the big stone up.

The less physical exertion and the longer one held one’s breath, the more efficient the search for treasure would be.

After four in the afternoon, Walker and Rivne were already tired and had no strength, and Luke was the only one who still had the ability to snorkel.

The sky is also starting to get dark, will gradually increase the difficulty of the search, the scope of the lake may hide the treasure is also gradually reduced, treasure hunting time has entered the countdown.

At this time, the three people are a little discouraged, is this time again guessed wrong.

The treasure is not at the bottom of the lake?

The three of them were tired and hungry, all of them had lost the excitement of searching for the treasure, and were just mechanically searching for the treasure.

Luke once again carrying the stone sink to the bottom of the sea, his right hand holding a strong flashlight to search the bottom of the lake, this kind of work has been done many times today, the original freshness at the bottom of the lake has also long passed.

Just when Luke thought that this snorkeling search is also going to return to no avail, he suddenly saw a brown wooden box at the bottom of the lake in front of him, at once, the whole person is excited.

Luke approached to check, the box has no signs of breakage, locked, about sixty centimeters wide and fifty centimeters long.

Luke lifted the crate and put it in a fishing net aside.

He dropped the pebbles and floated his whole body up to the surface of the water, waving his hand, “You can pull the rocks up now.”

Raffney habitually pulled up the fishing net, however, this time she didn’t pull it, “Why does it feel heavy?”

“The pebble just now was a bit light, I changed it to another one, this one is bigger, the pressure is stronger, and the going is more stable.”

“OK, you’re the one in the water anyway, you like it.

Walker, give a hand.” Raffney greeted, pulling up the fishing net with Walker.

Walker complained, “Luke, what the hell did you pick up, it’s sinking.”

However, the moment the fishing net was pulled up, both of them were shocked, revealing looks of ecstasy.

“Even buy Karma, you found the treasure, haha ……”

“God bless, I can’t believe it, I actually found it.

Am I dreaming? Tell me!”

The three of them worked together to get the chest to shore, and Walker and Raffney stared at the brown wooden chest over and over, the elation on their faces hard to contain.

Luke was in no hurry, ready to wait for them both to calm down before opening the chest.

Walker ran his hand over the brown chest, “The traces of decay are not serious, it should have been made waterproof, what about this lock? Got to think about getting it off.”

Raffney couldn’t wait, “I’ll get a hammer and just smash it open.”

Walker objected, “No, you might damage the wooden chest that way, and the chest makes sense.”

Raffney countered, “What do you want to do then?”

Walker said, “Do you two know how to pick locks?”

“No, I’m not a thief.” Raffney shook her head.

Luke said, “The lock is a little rusted and hard to open.

However, I have large iron pliers in my toolbox that can clip off the lock without damaging the case.”

Luke’s proposal was recognized by the other two.

And then, he took out the iron pliers from his toolbox, forcefully cut the lock, and opened the chest under the two men’s expectant gazes.

The chest was stacked with a large amount of yellow-orange gold coins ……