Chapter 562 - 64: Just Want to Be a Butterfly
After a night of interrogation and learning the scale of the Inca Empire’s treasure, Chen Zhou, who had originally appeared very calm, found himself restless.
If he wasn’t unable to leave the island’s coast, he would love to personally set sail to dig up the treasure. Those chests of gold, those strings of jewels, sounded more enticing than anything else.
In this world, they could elevate a group of crude sailors to nobility, making them lords among men.
And in the real world, which belonged to his 21st century, these treasures could have an even greater impact.
With money, one could buy luxury mansions and cars, feast on rare delicacies, enjoy the admiring gaze of others, explore cutting-edge technology, and rub elbows with the most influential people...
Chen Zhou rarely fantasized about living the life of the rich, but when faced with the prospect of owning a fortune worth millions, if not billions, he couldn’t help but fantasize, even though that dream-like life was still more than twenty years away.
...
Immersed in the images of being embraced by gold and silver for a moment, Chen Zhou eventually returned to clarity and further questioned Juan about how much of the massive Inca treasure remained on the island.
The answer Juan provided chilled Chen Zhou’s heart halfway—
Kilian was a cunning and cautious man; he understood the sailor’s nature well. Therefore, when loading, burying, and transporting the treasure, he would not first bring all the treasure to the small island before transporting it to Spain.
Every time at the South America port, Kilian would first transport about 3/5 of the treasure to the small island, with the remaining treasure directly sent back to Spain.
It’s said that upon reaching the shore, half of the remaining 2/5 of the treasure disappeared without a trace, and it was speculated that Kilian privately amassed this portion of the treasure.
Rumor has it Kilian had a noble mistress who managed several businesses for him, including a plantation faraway in Brazil, a ranch, a tavern, and some high-interest loan deals.
Most of Kilian’s treasure was delivered to this noble mistress, as he needed her to climb to a higher position.
Upon arriving in Spain, after unloading the treasure, Kilian would purchase a large batch of supplies. When returning to South America, he would unload some of the supplies on the small island, then proceed to relocate the treasure at a temporary hiding place they selected.
Juan said that the hiding place was a cave located by the seaside, with a narrow entrance but a very spacious interior where most of the plundered treasure was stored.
However, the waters beside the cave were full of reefs, and only small boats familiar with the terrain could navigate through them. A large Spanish sailing ship like theirs couldn’t dock beside it.
Therefore, every time they transported the treasure, the sailors had to walk with empty boxes to the cave at night, fill the boxes with treasure, and carry them back to the port.
There were many Spaniards active at the port, among whom a few were considered Kilian’s rivals.
Especially Monidez, who was a greedy and ruthless old robber closely connected with the Spanish Royal Family, commanding a fleet of seventeen large sailing ships. Any treasure he set his sights on would ultimately fall into his hands.
Kilian was very afraid of Monidez. Before transporting treasure at night, if he found Monidez’s fleet also docked at the port, he would lead the sailors inland under the pretense of buying spices or other local specialties, then return with empty boxes and fill them at night to load onto the ship.
Due to such cautious behavior, the quantity of treasure available on the small island was never substantial.
Moreover, whenever the treasure buried on the island reached a certain number of boxes, Kilian would directly transport them away to prevent the island’s sailors from hiding any treasure.
Juan said Kilian even left a spy on the island, but that spy had already been sent away by them.
That person went out to sea with the natives to find someone and never returned.
Upon receiving the news, Kilian was furious, but he was always a selfish man who was only upset because he lost a reliable spy; he did not care about the person’s death.
...
Hearing this, Chen Zhou finally understood that the brown-haired fellow he had executed back then turned out to be Kilian’s spy left on the island.
The Spanish sailors were all thieves by nature. How could they resist not hiding the treasure? They probably longed to kill the brown-haired fellow.
Coincidentally, the native tribe provided an opportunity, and they took advantage of it to send the brown-haired fellow away on a canoe.
Looking back now, no wonder the brown-haired fellow was the only one to land on the island; it turns out that guy was already a thorn in the side of the island’s sailors. Even if he hadn’t been sent off, he might have died from an "accident" someday.
As for Spanish revenge, it was indeed as he expected, a low-probability event.
A huge merchant ship would not attack a target for an ordinary sailor unless that sailor held excessively important secrets; clearly, the brown-haired fellow was not that valuable.
Of course, past precautions were unfounded, but future preparations may not be—
Chen Zhou knew he would soon take away all the buried treasure from the island, which was "Captain Kilian’s" lifeblood. Once he figured out the situation, he would surely attack the Big Island.
But this time, with strong boats and cannons, having manpower and weapons, he would not spare "Captain Kilian" any honor.
...
The morning after the night interrogation, having rested only four hours, Sunday led the sailors bathed in the morning light, pulling up the long whistle and heading straight for the small island.