A Marine Admiral in the Marvel Universe

"rest assured."

Cao Gui lightly touched the ground with his feet and jumped across. With a thud, dust billowed up, and the wooden suspension bridge began to creak and sway, making Gwen and the other two's hearts leap into their throats.

Fortunately, although the suspension bridge was swaying, it was not damaged. Cao Gui squatted down to check and found that the wood on this thing was different from that on the stairs next to it.

"Cao, are you alright?" Beth asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, it's alright." Cao Gui jumped up and down; there was nothing there except for the smoke and dust.

As he spoke, Cao Gui turned a lever on the side, and the suspension bridge slowly descended.

Gwen and the other two looked worried. The pit was pitch black, with only the faint light from the flashlight they had dropped at the bottom and Cao Gui's gradually shrinking figure.

Cao Gui stood on the suspension bridge and slowly descended, but when he was halfway down, he found that the rope was not long enough. He was now about fifty meters away from the bottom of the pit.

But in front of him, a small wooden bridge appeared on the pit wall, and on the other side of the wooden bridge was a room carved out of the pit wall.

"Damn, how's it going now?" Harry asked into the headset.

"Uh... I found an empty room, there's nothing inside... Never mind, I'll go up and get you, we'll come down together."

As he spoke, Cao Gui turned the handle upwards, returned to the top, and led the three people one by one into the empty room on the pit wall.

After securing the suspension bridge, the last person entered the pit-walled room.

Looking at the dust that was at least a centimeter thick on the ground, the group was momentarily bewildered.

"Damn it! Could someone have taken it beforehand?" Harry said, somewhat exasperated.

Cao Gui frowned. Judging from their journey so far, Nicholas Zhao Si hadn't started searching for the treasure yet, which meant the treasure was definitely still there, but this place was empty...

“Keep looking, don’t rush, Harry,” Cao Gui said.

Upon hearing this, the three stopped talking and began to silently search for clues, but the atmosphere among the four of them began to become somewhat dull.

Cao Gui looked around and noticed three or four arched recesses on the wall, resembling windows.

Apart from an oil lamp, these are the most eye-catching things in the room.

“Nothing at all.” Beth kicked a stone on the ground and said dejectedly, having worked hard for two or three days and gotten nothing in return.

"Cao, Beth, come here quickly!" Gwen suddenly called out.

The three of them were taken aback, then quickly ran over: "Gwen, did you find anything?"

“One eye, the all-knowing eye,” Gwen said, noticing an eye-shaped mural on the wall.

"What...is this for?" Beth asked, puzzled.

“You’ve forgotten?” Gwen said, “Our very first clue, that pipe, had an all-seeing eye on it.”

“Gwen is right.” Cao Gui nodded in agreement: “Perhaps there are clues here.”

"Quickly, let's look for it!" Harry urged.

Cao Gui looked around and then found a metallic protrusion on the rock wall.

"Aha!" Cao Gui's eyes lit up immediately: "I think I've found it!"

Cao Gui brushed away the dust, and the three of them looked closely and saw that it was a rather large cylindrical button.

"Quick, open it and take a look!" The group was full of excitement; thankfully, they hadn't given up.

Cao Gui pressed the button hard, and with a click, the rock wall painted with the All-Knowing Eye trembled, then slowly moved, opening a crack.

"Looks like we've got the treasure, guys." Cao Gui chuckled and suddenly pushed open the stone door.

"Haha, we did it!"

Gwen and Beth hugged each other, jumping and skipping, celebrating their victory ahead of time.

Harry was extremely excited. Finally, his father could breathe a sigh of relief and no longer had to rush him with dangerous research projects.

However, when Cao Gui turned the flashlight inside, he froze, his joyful expression instantly turning to ashes. (Gu Chan)

Just like the outside, the inside was covered in cobwebs, several candlesticks were scattered on the ground, and several chairs were gnawed and rotten by insects.

There was nothing at all, just dust; no treasure as expected, no gold as imagined.

There's nothing there!

"Damn it...damn it..." Harry's previously rosy face turned deathly pale. The feeling of falling from heaven to hell was too painful.

Not only Harry, but Gwen and Beth's faces also turned ashen.

The feeling of despair followed by hope, only to find that despair has returned in the end, is truly agonizing.

"Shit! All that work for nothing!"

A flash of anger crossed Gwen's face. She kicked the chair, sending wood chips flying everywhere, along with a cloud of powder from the insects' gnawed remains.

Faced with such a huge difference, even the ladylike Gwen couldn't help but lose her composure.

Cao Gui frowned deeply. This shouldn't be happening. I clearly remember that the treasure in the original story is real. Zhao Si hasn't arrived yet, so it's impossible for someone to get there first.

"Cao, let's go back," Beth said. "Let's not look for it anymore, it's already been taken."

"Guys, listen to me!" Cao Gui said in a deep voice, "The treasure really exists!"

"Think about it," Cao Gui said, looking around. "Has anyone found any clues or traces beforehand?"

"no!"

"The Declaration of Independence is gone, Cilens Dugood's letter is gone, and the glasses hidden in the bricks are still gone!"

"Therefore, the treasure is real!"

"We thought we had reached the end, but we found this secret room through our efforts. Since that's the case, let's keep trying, maybe we can find another secret room!"

Cao Gui's words were resounding and gave them some confidence.

The three exchanged glances and decided to search some more. After all, they had come all this way, and they couldn't leave empty-handed, could they?

"And... have you noticed? There are a lot of torches here," Cao Gui said in a deep voice.

“So?” Beth asked.

“So this requires a lot of oxygen to ensure combustion.” Gwen’s eyes lit up and she quickly said:

"We used flashlights the whole way, but we saw torches everywhere we went, which shows that the builders had prepared lighting equipment for future generations."

"And the oxygen needed for lighting!"

"So there really is a second secret room!" Beth exclaimed excitedly.

Cao Gui chuckled. Not bad, at least they've calmed down.

Seeing this, Cao Gui slowly searched the secret room. Most of the clues to this treasure were related to the Declaration of Independence and the All-Seeing Eye. The place wasn't big, so it should be easy to find.

“I can’t find it, there’s nothing there,” Harry said, shaking his head in frustration.

Thanks to his previous experience, he had the same idea as Cao Gui, but there was nothing here, no murals, no writing, only walls and dust.

Cao Gui didn't speak, but stood in front of the east wall, where several round metal objects were inlaid. One of them was recessed and its shape... looked a lot like a meerschaum pipe.

Cao Gui took off the pipe stem and carefully placed the meerschaum pipe inside, discovering that the meerschaum pipe fit perfectly.

"Cao...it can't be that simple, can it?" Harry leaned closer and said with some concern.

"Probably... not..." Cao Gui answered casually, inserting the pipe stem into a hole next to him and slowly turning it.

Click!

Suddenly, a sound came from one side of the wall, and a small stone door slowly opened. At the same time, a gust of wind blew up, caused by a violent airflow.

The four men's eyes lit up immediately, and they quickly stepped through the stone gate.

As soon as they stepped through the stone gate, a golden light flashed before their eyes. Upon closer inspection, they saw a space as large as a basketball court, scattered with a large number of gold coins, gold bars, and statues made of gold.

"See, I told you so!" Cao Gui grinned. "The treasure really exists!"

------------

Chapter 136 The Military's Super Soldier Program

Inside a testing room at the Osborne Group building, engines roared as a bald, burly man stood on a floating glider.

Dr. Storm, a middle-aged man with a Mediterranean complexion, excitedly said to a man in military uniform beside him, "General Ross, we have solved the problems of its balance and the micro-engine's range."

General Ross, however, was unimpressed and said expressionlessly, "Dr. Storm, I already know about this hang glider. I didn't come here today to see it."

The middle-aged Mediterranean doctor's lips moved, but he couldn't speak. He knew, of course, that General Ross's goal was a physical enhancement drug.

but……

"General Ross, Mr. Balkan." The old Green Goblin, dressed in a white lab coat, emerged from the laboratory, a broad smile on his face, and warmly greeted the group below.

"It's been a long time since we held a board meeting, so you're all very welcome."

“Norman, it’s been a long time.” A bald, middle-aged man in a wheelchair smiled. Although the appearance was the same, this guy was not named Charles, nor was he a doctor.

But General Ross, standing to the side, showed no sign of amusement, and simply said:

“Mr. Osborn, the purpose of my visit is to see how your super soldier program is progressing. Now, let’s get to it, I don’t have much time.”

"This..." the middle-aged Mediterranean doctor hesitated before saying, "We gave our lab mice a vaporized performance enhancer, and their physical abilities increased twelvefold..."

“Very good.” General Ross gave a curt compliment, but seeing Dr. Storm’s hesitant expression, he knew there was definitely something wrong.

"Tell me, what are the side effects?"

“Uh… violent tendencies, extremely aggressive, and extremely bloodthirsty…” Dr. Storm replied, the rigor of science not allowing him to conceal such a severe side effect.

"That was just an accidental experiment." The old Green Goblin strode over, standing between General Ross and Dr. Storm, and smiled.

"Besides Dr. Storm, more than ten PhDs in our lab, including myself, can confirm that the physical enhancement agent has been perfected and human trials can begin in the next few days. I believe our experiment will be very successful."

"Dr. Nastorm, do you have any suggestions?" General Ross completely ignored the old Green Goblin's words. He could tell that Norman Osborn's words were just nonsense.

"We've already gone down the wrong path. We must go back to the equation-solving phase and start over. We can't continue down this wrong path..."

"Revert to the previous equation!"

Norman's face instantly turned ugly, and he glared fiercely at Dr. Storm. Once the military's investment stopped, Osborne's cash flow would be completely cut off, and they would face the inability to pay salaries or distribute dividends.

If employees leave and shareholders withdraw their investment, the entire group will collapse completely!