Chapter 129: Smashing Doors and Dismantling Buildings for Transport
Just as the group had expected, once the hollow stone bricks were pried open, a pitch-black corridor was revealed inside.
"Those with slimmer builds, go down and check the situation," Barty Crouch instructed.
Following his command, two smaller-built agents quickly gathered their equipment and descended with two burning torches.
At this point, all the temple's guards had been neutralized. Since this building was rarely visited, there was no need to worry about the torchlight being spotted. Moreover, the burning torches helped gauge the air quality in the corridor—if the oxygen was too scarce, the flames would go out, serving as an early warning.
After a while, the two agents climbed back up, wiping sweat from their brows.
"Director, it's a complete corridor down there. One end leads behind this statue, and the other extends deeper to some chambers. The doors are made of solid stone—at least several dozen centimeters thick."
Barty Crouch nodded calmly. Even hearing about the reinforced stone doors didn't faze him.
"Prepare for demolition. If we can't open them with civility, we'll use brute force," he said with a smile.
One of the mandatory skills for intelligence agents was the crafting of explosives. For this mission, Barty Crouch had brought plenty of explosives in anticipation of such scenarios.
The hole was widened further to allow more people and equipment to enter.
After walking down the long corridor for a while, the group finally reached the stone doors of the chamber.
Feeling the material of the door, Barty Crouch took out a hand drill. Several men quickly bored holes of varying depth into the stone, into which they placed small explosives.
To ensure safety, all the charges were set with a three-minute delay, enough time for everyone to evacuate the corridor and avoid being buried by the blast's shockwave.
Boom! Boom!
With several muffled explosions, the ground trembled slightly before settling into silence.
After waiting a bit to ensure there were no aftershocks, Barty Crouch led the team back down the corridor.
At the entrance to the chamber, the stone door had shattered into pieces—much easier to manage than if it had been intact.
Once the rubble was cleared away, a pitch-black chamber appeared before them.
"Director, what are we waiting for? There must be a trove of treasure inside. If we present this to His Highness, we should all earn medals, right?" one eager subordinate said.
They didn't care how much treasure there actually was—they knew it wasn't theirs to take. But if they delivered it successfully to Arthur, surely that would merit a medal.
"What's the rush? Forgotten your training already?" Barty Crouch scolded. He then took the torch from the man's hand and threw it into the chamber.
The torch, which had been burning brightly, went out instantly—like a bucket of cold water poured over the group's excitement.
"The chamber is completely sealed. There's no oxygen inside. Keep your eyes on it—we'll wait before going in," Crouch instructed.
The temple was hundreds of years old—who knew what might be stored inside?
Barty Crouch couldn't even imagine the wealth of ancient Indian princely states. After all, much of the British Empire's prosperity came from India.
After waiting for about half an hour, they tossed another torch inside and this time it stayed lit. The group cautiously entered the chamber.
Lifting their torches, everyone was stunned by the magnificent sight within. Even the well-traveled Barty Crouch was momentarily speechless.
Piles of gold coins, ornaments, and tableware cast in gold lay like mountains. Beside them, heaps of dazzling gemstones sparkled in vibrant colors.
In the center of it all stood a life-sized golden elephant. Someone even tried to lift it, but it wouldn't budge.
Around the chamber, numerous wooden crates were stacked high. Though covered in dust, the glint of treasure leaked through the cracks.
"Oh my God, how many medals is this worth?" the men were already fantasizing about earning three medals each, imagining how they would boast about it back home.
"Get everyone in here and start moving everything out. And stop fantasizing—any medals or honors you earn are not for show. You're intelligence agents. You'd best keep your achievements to yourselves. And besides, you haven't earned anything yet," Barty Crouch snapped them back to reality.
Everyone sprang into action, transporting the treasure to the surface and then onto carts.
To facilitate the movement of all this wealth, they had no choice but to apologize to the temple residents.
Under Barty Crouch's command, the agents turned their weapons on all the monks within the temple, sending them to meet their beloved deity.
To make transportation easier, they even dismantled the temple's gates and several other structures in search of usable materials.
The corridor connected to a total of six chambers. Although the amount of treasure in each varied, the combined hoard was enormous.
Even with more than a hundred physically fit agents, the operation lasted all night until dawn.
In fact, not all the temple's treasure was taken. Some silver utensils and ornaments, being bulky and of relatively low value, were discarded.
But even the act of discarding had its own strategy. The silver items were thrown around the temple grounds to spark chaos and looting among the locals.
At the very least, it would create enough disorder to distract the British Empire.
By the time the local princely state and British authorities took notice of the temple, Barty Crouch had already sailed away from India on a transport ship.
No one dared to count the treasure while en route. Their only goal was to speed up the journey to Australia and store it safely.
Several fleets, disguised as Australian transport vessels, retrieved the agents and carts in batches. Just like during arrival, they first looped through other nearby countries and regions before redirecting toward Australia.
The entire operation and transportation effort took a significant amount of time. Starting on September 3, the fleet didn't arrive at Sydney Harbor until September 20.
(End of Chapter)
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