America: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 345 The Terrifying Adventure on Silver Island

The geologists still looked dizzy and shaken, disheveled and unkempt.

Upon arriving before the leader, looking at the young, wealthy man with Asian features, he said nervously, "Sir, you're not a member of the US military, are you? What are your orders for us?"

At this point, they couldn't be tough anymore, after all, the other side really dared to go all out, just now they directly blew up the people and the plane, which scared them to death.

According to the guerrillas, the person sitting up there was the guerrilla commander-in-chief, a big shot, but he just disappeared without a trace.

They still don't know exactly what happened, but it seems that this wealthy man in front of them bought the island and has now forcibly taken over both the people and the island.

But what kind of wealthy person could buy an island from a country and own a littoral combat ship and Warthog attack aircraft? Their identity must be extraordinary! The other party is a big shot they could never have contacted before!

Among the crowd, geologist Messiger looked at the leader and Bailey beside him, feeling as if he had seen them somewhere before. But he was now terrified, having witnessed the cruelty of reality and experienced a terrifying ordeal. He dared not utter a sound, only wanting to go home as soon as possible and never come back to this wretched place again.

Looking at their attire and honest appearance—wearing glasses and having medium-length hair—they seemed like well-educated intellectuals. Zhang Ailun asked, "What brings you to my island? I heard you're geologists. This isn't your first time on Silver Island. You're not planning to secretly mine the island's silver and gold to take away, are you?"

"No, no, we didn't mean that! We just came here out of curiosity to look for treasure. This tourist island was operating legally before you came." The group shook their heads repeatedly in denial.

He added, "However, after our survey, we can confirm that the island you purchased does indeed contain 18th-century Spanish silver and gold coins, worth a considerable sum! The total value is at least $8 million! Mr. Jin, you've truly struck it rich with this investment!"

"You were able to pinpoint the location of the treasure using specialized equipment? You were captured by the guerrillas, so you shouldn't have had the opportunity to use such equipment. How did you determine the treasure's existence?" Zhang Ailun asked with interest.

"We can roughly estimate its size and location with the naked eye," someone replied.

"Wow, that's amazing?" Zhang Ailun hesitated for a moment.

The other person then pointed to Messiger next to him and said, "This is a very knowledgeable geologist in our team. He came here once before. We studied related topics a long time ago and discovered traces of silver coins on the island. Later, based on the growth patterns of the soil and rainforest, as well as temperature, humidity, and the weathered rocks, we deduced the location of the silver coins and gold.

"I know, we've met before." Zhang Ailun nodded, frankly admitting that he remembered the geologist.

"Oh, it's you." Messigeri quickly added, "Yes, we've met before. I was in a bit of trouble back then, and you were the one who helped me out. Mr. Jin, could you please let us leave? We promise we'll never set foot here again, and we won't mention Silver Island to anyone!"

"It's not difficult for you to leave now. I can let you go later. After all, I'm not some kidnapper. I was authorized by Colombian government officials to crack down on the guerrillas. It was a good thing for the people. I'm also quite interested in your geological knowledge." Zhang Ailun immediately turned around and called Bailey over, asking him to get a detailed map of Silver Island from the guerrillas.

Bailey immediately accepted the order and soon returned with a detailed map to the Grand Master.

Zhang Ailun spread out a map, took out colored pens, and had them mark the locations of the treasure. "Come on, didn't you say you knew where the treasures were? I bought this island, so I naturally know where the silver coins are distributed. Let me see if you really have any real knowledge."

Several geologists exchanged glances and immediately began marking locations for the leader.

Zhang Ailun glanced at it a few times, becoming increasingly surprised, because it was almost identical to the geographical location surveyed in the intelligence. Apart from a few minor discrepancies, it was basically accurate.

These guys are really talented!

The leader immediately decided to invite them to join his team and offered them a high salary.

Faced with the sudden recruitment invitation from the sect leader, the geologists were somewhat surprised. They exchanged glances and cautiously asked, "Mr. Jin, since you already know the location of the treasure on Silver Island and can mine it yourself, why do you want us to join?"

"You understand the geography and ecology of Silver Island better than my men, which should be helpful for the later mining work and save me a lot of money," Zhang Ailun said frankly. "Don't worry, I am mining my own island legally and compliantly. I will pay you your salaries as usual for your work. If we really find treasure, I might as well give you a few valuable silver or gold coins."

"Mr. Jin, we agree!!" Upon hearing that their leader was so generous as to offer them gold coins, the group readily agreed without hesitation.

Money isn't important; what I really want is to stay here and make a contribution to the Grand Master.

Since we're already here...

They conducted extensive research and investigation beforehand for the treasure on Silver Island, even giving up several lucrative projects rather than giving up so easily. Some even had major arguments with their families over this, buying plane tickets overnight to fly over, only to have their equipment confiscated by the guerrillas as soon as they landed. Before they could even conduct any on-site investigations, they were locked up in a small dark room!

He was locked up for 20 hours without closing his eyes, eating, or drinking, and then someone dragged him out to shield him from gunfire.

It's too awful.

You could even hire a screenwriter to write a script and a director to shoot a movie about Silver Island, called "The Great Horror Adventure of Silver Island".

Now that a wealthy investor has recognized their abilities and is willing to spend a lot of money to recruit them, they are naturally happy to work for them.

"Alright, I admire people like you. Now come with me to the treasure location." Zhang Ailun nodded with satisfaction, and without further ado, he got up and led the group towards the rainforest.

The geologists immediately followed, and the discussion turned to academic topics. They finally relaxed and started talking all at once: "Boss, some of our equipment has been seized by those guerrillas."

"Those guys were incredibly rude. They weren't friendly to us international friends at all; we haven't even had food or water for over twenty hours."

"Here, have some water." Zhang Ailun casually tossed the bottled water to them.

"I also brought some snacks and bread." Bailey gave them his snacks, and the group practically wolfed them down.

"You guys aren't Americans, are you?" Zhang Ailun asked as they walked.

"I'm Italian, he's Finnish, he's Belgian, he's Dutch, and he's Mexican. We're currently staying at a hotel in Mexico City, where someone hired us to do geological research on a private gold mine. We took this opportunity to come to Silver Island to search for treasure," Messigeri explained.

Zhang Ailun nodded. So they lived in Mexico. No wonder they gathered together from all over the world and were all caught in one fell swoop.

He added, "Equipment is not a problem. Boketu, go find someone to guide you and bring over those specialized surveying equipment, along with some wooden signs."

"Okay." Boketu readily agreed and immediately turned to get to work.

The leader of the gang led a few men to a treasure location in the rainforest. After waiting for a while, Boketu arrived with several guerrilla members and handed over the retrieved equipment to the geologists' team. The group took the equipment and immediately began examining it.

"Thank goodness, the equipment wasn't damaged! It's still working perfectly!"

"This is state-of-the-art equipment I borrowed from the lab; it's very valuable. If it gets damaged, I'll have to pay a huge sum of money!"

The group breathed a sigh of relief and laughed like babies weighing 800 pounds.

The next group of people also began testing. Zhang Ailun watched as they inserted the metal rod into the soil and started adjusting the equipment. Soon, after skillful operation, some frequency fluctuations appeared on the LCD screen.

It's a signal related to soil moisture and underground magnetic field feedback. Even the head of the organization can't understand it, but the professional team members are handling it very carefully.

After discussing it amongst themselves for a while, they replied happily, "Boss, our previous judgment was correct. There are some metallic frequencies underground in this place, consisting of silver and a small amount of gold. They are distributed about 50-60 meters underground, and they can be found here and here."

They also put up wooden signs in the nearby area, covering a radius of seven or eight meters.

Bailey hesitated. "60 meters underground? Wouldn't that mean digging through the entire island? Are you sure it's 60 meters? Isn't this island made up of reefs and mud? There's a layer of mud on top, and then rocks underneath. And below that, there's probably the sea. We don't want to accidentally puncture it."

"The reefs of Silver Island are not so thin. Some reefs may be disc-shaped, with a thickness of only tens of meters at the top, supported by an irregular cylinder in the center. As the sea level rises and falls, the top will float on the sea surface and gradually form a natural reef island. However, the geological structure of this island is different. Moreover, this is the central area, with a connected geological structure underneath. Even if you drill hundreds of meters, it won't hurt you at all," the geologist immediately explained.

"So, do you have any good mining suggestions?" Zhang Ailun asked.

That's the good thing about the leader; when in doubt, he never questions the advice of professionals, emphasizing trust and listening to advice.

I've trusted you so much, and you're not going to give me a reasonable solution? Do you think that's reasonable?

Can't produce it? Then don't blame the Grand Master for firing you and docking your pay.

"Our suggestion is to use a large construction machine to drill holes and excavate the silt. We also need to pay attention to the specific construction process and calculate the dimensions in detail. Otherwise, we might accidentally damage the silver coins buried underneath. After all, the value of these Spanish silver coins is directly related to their condition. If they are damaged, they will be worthless and can only be sold as silver. As for gold coins, we don't need to worry too much because Spain mainly minted silver coins in the 18th century. Gold coins are in poorer condition and their collectible value is far less than that of gold coins minted by France and England during the same period," the geologist said.

"The islands here receive rain all year round, and have abundant underground freshwater resources. There is also a lot of mud and swamp, so a water pump is needed to facilitate construction," another person said.

"During the excavation, we will definitely encounter reefs and need a rock crusher. It also requires professional engineers to operate it. When silver coins are found, it is best to have them collected manually because the silver coins of that ship were originally piled up on the reef. Later, due to geological changes, seabed silt covered them, and as the sea level dropped, they floated to the surface. It took more than two hundred years to form a natural reef island. Therefore, most of the silver coins are basically integrated with the island, in the cracks of rocks or in the soil. They need to be mined with extra care."

Several people offered suggestions, which Zhang Ailun took to heart. As for those he couldn't remember, he turned to Bailey and asked, "Did you remember them all?"

"Huh? Remember what?"

Pele was completely bewildered; he couldn't possibly remember all those babbling words, which were so noisy they gave him a headache.

He scratched his head. "How would I remember that? Okay, you guys stop arguing. Let's just write it down on paper. Anyway, neither my boss nor I can remember it."

"You're talking nonsense!!"

The leader immediately retorted, "If you're not smart enough, don't drag me into this."

He's slandering me! This guy is slandering the Grand Master!

After being harshly reprimanded by the Grand Master, Bailey's eyes immediately cleared up. He patted his forehead and said, "I was confused. I was such a pig-brain. How could I be so stupid? I can't even remember this. Boss, don't be angry. Give me some time and I'll definitely be able to memorize it."

"What's the point of memorizing it? They've already written it down," Zhang Ailun said irritably.

Besides flying planes and shooting down planes, what else can you do? What else are you?

Boketu calmly said, "Boss, don't worry, I've noted it all down. I can make a PTT (Publication Talk Platform) and send it to you later."

The Grand Master nodded in satisfaction and praised, "Well done."

He started criticizing Pelé again, saying, "Look at him, and look at you. He's already made his proposal into a PTT (Publication Platform) video, and you're still just mumbling. You have no knowledge at all. No wonder you can't even become a junior officer in the army."

"..."

"Is it my fault?" Pele looked utterly dejected.

I'm so tired of this. Let's just destroy it, really.

Damn it, why doesn't that dead Air Force Captain Bocktu just die? This is insane infighting.

The Grand Master, Carrot, wielded his big stick with great skill and quickly resolved the small matter. The only difference was that Carrot let Boktu eat the food, while Bailey took all the blows with the big stick, and he didn't miss a single one.

They then followed the geologists to other treasure-hunting areas, including swamps and cliffs. The leader's original plan was to use a few kilograms of clay explosives to blast them apart – a brute-force, miraculous solution! But the consequences of doing so would undoubtedly be severe.

Based on the advice of geologists' field investigations, except for places where explosives were absolutely necessary, operations were generally carried out by squeezing into any available space in swamps, rainforests, and plains.

By using professional equipment to mine the treasure while minimizing damage to the landform and ecology, we can reduce the damage to silver coins, increase the profitability of collectibles, and reduce expenses by at least tens of millions of dollars.

Even the Grand Master couldn't help but sigh, "They're truly talented! I really want to demote them and send them to the Beggars' Sect to get some experience."

It's a real shame that such a person isn't found on the streets! It's just that he's not a member of the Plain White Banner.