Treasure

"Ugh, gross." Tom spat out a mouthful of dirt and brushed the dust off himself as he stood up. "You okay, Evelyn?"

"I'm fine... Ah!" Evelyn waved her hand dismissively, trying to get up from the ground, but suddenly, she let out a sharp scream.

"What's wrong, Evelyn?" Tom quickly turned back to check on her.

"There's a skeleton over there!" Evelyn pointed ahead, her face filled with terror.

Following her gaze, Tom soon spotted a skeleton leaning against the wall.

"Don't be scared, it's just old bones, they can't hurt you." Tom patted Evelyn on the shoulder to comfort her, then walked straight towards the skeleton.

Who knows how long this person had been dead,their clothes were decayed, and a dagger was still stuck in their ribs, clearly the cause of death.

"Tom, there are so many skeletons over there!" Evelyn suddenly grabbed Tom's arm, her beautiful face turning deathly pale.

Tom turned around and looked to the left. The ground was littered with bones, and the eerie surroundings made even Tom feel a chill.

"Don't be scared, Evelyn, I'm here." Although Tom felt a bit uneasy himself, he kept a calm exterior.

After a moment's hesitation, Tom walked towards the bones.

"Tom, what are you doing?" Evelyn clutched his arm, her voice filled with nervousness.

"I'm just going to see if there's anything useful over there," Tom replied.

"Maybe we shouldn't go, it's too scary," Evelyn said, her voice trembling.

"It's okay, I'm just going to take a quick look." Tom continued walking forward.

Evelyn didn't want to get anywhere near those bones, but she was too scared to stay put by herself. Clinging to Tom's arm, she cautiously followed behind him.

They quickly reached the pile of bones.

"Crash!" Suddenly, one of the skeletons moved abruptly.

"Ah!" Evelyn screamed and clung to Tom, too terrified to even lift her head again.

Tom was equally startled, his hair standing on end.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak." Just then, a series of squeaks echoed, and a small mouse scurried out from the skeleton's ribcage.

"Little critter, you really scared me."

Seeing that it was just a mouse that had moved the skeleton, Tom finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's okay, Evelyn, it was just a little mouse." Tom gently patted Evelyn's arm.

"Are you sure it was a mouse?" Evelyn lifted her head from Tom's chest, her voice trembling.

"Of course, it's real. What, did you think the skeleton came back to life?" Tom chuckled.

"You're laughing, but I was nearly scared to death." Evelyn wiped the sweat from her forehead.

For a moment, she had truly thought the skeleton had come back to life, nearly scaring her soul out of her body.

Though Tom was generally braver than Evelyn, he had been quite frightened himself, his back drenched in cold sweat.

But in front of Evelyn, of course, he had to play the fearless hero.

"Don't worry, Evelyn, I'm here to protect you." Tom reassured her again, then turned his attention back to the scattered remains.

These people must have fought fiercely here, their bones strewn everywhere, truly a place where the dead found no peace.

Ahead of the skeletons was pitch darkness,without any light, Tom couldn't see what was inside.

After a moment's thought, Tom gathered up the tattered clothes on the ground, pulled out some matches, and lit the scraps of fabric.

As the fabric burned, the light finally illuminated their surroundings.

Tom only then realized that they were in a passageway, leading to a man-made cave at the forefront of the skeletons!

Inside the cave, there were several more skeletons, and wooden crates were stacked against the walls.

Tom quickly approached one of the crates.

The crate was wooden, covered in dust and cobwebs, clearly old.

After a moment's hesitation, Tom carefully opened the crate closest to him.

"This is..." When he saw what was inside, his eyes widened, and his breathing quickened.

He hadn't expected to find it filled with gleaming gold coins!

"My God, all this gold!"

Even Evelyn, who was herself a billionaire, was stunned speechless at the sight of the crate full of gold coins.

Tom didn't speak,he grabbed a gold coin and examined it closely. Soon, he confirmed it was made of pure gold.

"Hahaha, we're rich!" Tom was ecstatic, laughing out loud.

Each coin weighed about seven grams, but the crate was filled with them, totaling about 100 pounds. With the current price of gold, they were looking at over three million dollars!

"Look at you, getting all excited over a box of gold coins. Open the other crates and let's see what's inside," Evelyn urged, having regained her composure.

The crate of gold coins had indeed shocked her, but she was even more curious about what the other crates contained.

"Okay, okay." Tom replied, taking a deep breath to calm his excited heart.

He quickly moved to the second crate and opened it.

"What's this?" Tom paused for a moment when he saw the contents.

This crate contained blocks the size of bricks, but they were black.

"This must be silver ingots, right?" Evelyn guessed.

Hearing this, Tom took out a knife and scratched one of the brick-like objects, revealing a shiny silver color underneath.

"You're right, they're silver ingots!" Tom confirmed.

The silver ingots were blackened on the surface due to oxidation, which was why Tom hadn't recognized them at first glance.

However, silver was much cheaper than gold, worth less than a dollar per gram. This whole crate might only fetch a few tens of thousands of dollars.

After that, Tom opened all the remaining crates one by one.

There were eleven crates in total: two filled with gold coins, seven filled with silver ingots, one filled with a collection of jewelry, and another with various finely crafted artifacts.

"Two crates of gold, one crate of jewelry, one crate of artifacts, and all these silver ingots—how much money is this!"

Looking at all these treasures, Tom's heart couldn't help but flutter uncontrollably.