"Mother..."
A gentle female figure appeared in Ed's mind. She had helped him dress and fed him. She had scolded him gently, worried over him when he was sick, and taught him in simple, easy-to-understand ways. She had been saddened whenever he carelessly injured himself.
Ed took a deep breath, trying to calm down as a tsunami of information suddenly surged through his mind, literally overwhelming it.
The two sets of memories held so many similarities. For some reason, the fear in his heart vanished, and the bones at his feet no longer seemed frightening.
Hesitating for a moment, Ed gritted his teeth, took a cloth bag from his inventory, sat down, and began to gently place the bones at his feet into the bag, one by one.
He carefully stacked them, occasionally brushing away the dust, tree roots, and rotten leaves covering them.
A little moisture appeared on the dry cloth bag. Ed didn't mind it; it was just his body reacting to the memories. After witnessing them, he had to admit this woman was simply a perfect mother, and she truly deserved this gesture of respect. Even if he wasn't her true son, he now occupied the body she had carried for nine months, and he felt a sense of responsibility.
While storing the bones, Ed grew more convinced the wound on her back was the deed of someone familiar to her—it was too clean and straight.
Some fragments of clothing wrapped around the corpse weren't completely rotten, and he could vaguely make out their colors and textures. This was consistent with his memory and confirmed that the original owner's mother hadn't died suddenly for no reason, as he had once believed.
Once the corpse was completely packed, the cloth bag was bulging. Ed carefully sealed it, placed it into his inventory, and decided to bury it properly later.
Picking up the torch beside him, Ed continued deeper into the cave. He hadn't forgotten his real purpose here just because of this poignant discovery.
It was only a few steps further, hardly deep at all. In the innermost part of the cave, a row of wooden treasure chests was placed, but unfortunately, almost all of them were opened.
They were empty inside, with a few stray silver coins scattered around, as if whoever looted them couldn't be bothered to pick them all up.
"Sure enough, someone has already cleaned everything out. Sigh, I climbed all the way up here just to find empty boxes."
Ed wasn't surprised by this scene, only disappointed. His mother had died here, most likely attacked from behind by a partner after discovering the treasure.
But clearly, the people who came here were in a hurry after killing his mother. They didn't search thoroughly, only taking what was most valuable and abundant. Thankfully, the silver coins left on the ground and the two innermost chests, still glinting with gold, had escaped that bastard's hands.
They all represented treasure; at least there was a little something left for poor Ed, which was enough for his current needs.
Rubbing his hands together happily, Ed immediately began collecting everything.
One Gold Sail, one Gold Leaf, and six Silver Snakes. Besides this immediate currency, there were also two red gems the size of a fingernail.
These were the remnants left by the first group, the ones who had sent his mother to heaven.
The Gold Sail was a coin about half the size of his palm, engraved with a sailing ship on one side and a cross on the other.
Ed had never touched real gold in his entire previous life, nor in the original owner's memory. He had only heard descriptions, as even silver coins were high-end currency for him, let alone gold.
It was said only major merchants used such gold currency for settlements.
One Gold Sail was worth about 25 Silver Snakes, an exchange rate with almost no fluctuation.
The Gold Leaf was a little smaller and much thinner than the Gold Sail, truly resembling a leaf—the creator had clearly spent considerable time crafting it.
Ed had seen this kind of Gold Leaf before; Aunt Marcy's family once owned one.
As an intermediate currency between a Gold Sail and a Silver Snake, the approximate conversion was:
1 Gold Sail = 5 Gold Leaves = 25 Silver Snakes = 5000 Copper Swallows
In other words, this trip had yielded assets worth 36 Silver Snakes. Overall, Ed could now proudly call himself a wealthy man.
This was truly a windfall. At this moment, Ed could honestly say he had struck it rich without much effort, just by following the system's clues and using his head.
An ordinary family could never amass so much wealth, even if they worked their fingers to the bone their entire lives...
Well... Aunt Marcy's family might afford it, as they were in the transport business, but a normal family relying on handicrafts or farming never could.
Ed, jumping with excitement, suddenly thought of something and froze. He quickly took the manual from his inventory and turned to the map page.
"No wonder I felt like I was forgetting something. So that's it. It seems I'll have to control my emotions better in the future," Ed thought, shaking his head. The blue dot marking his location on the map had neither disappeared nor dimmed, even though he had collected every valuable item in the cave.
"If I had obtained the treasure, the dot would have dimmed, and new information would appear when I clicked it. But there's nothing new, which means the treasure is still here, and I haven't found it at all."
Ed muttered while rubbing his chin. He didn't fully understand the difference between blue and white dots yet, only having a guess. But according to normal game and novel settings, blue must be a tier above white. Initially, he thought the 36 Silver Snakes plus the two small gems could be considered a blue treasure, given the substantial sum. Now it seemed that might not be the case.
Perhaps even the first group that looted this place hadn't found the real treasure, only taking the immediately obvious, unimaginable wealth.
"This is already the back of the cave. If there's anything else hidden besides these chests, it must be a secret compartment or something. That kind of thing seems very common; 99% of treasures are hidden like that."
Ed couldn't help but hold the torch closer and begin carefully inspecting the stone wall for any hidden mechanism that might open the way to the real treasure.
He turned the shovel in his hand upside down and gently slid and tapped the wall with the handle, starting at chest height.
He lightly stomped his feet while walking, checking for hollow spaces beneath. He continued until he reached the stone wall at the center rear of the cave. A crisp sound came from an area the size of his head where he tapped.
Looking carefully, he could find a faint, small rectangular mark on it. Perhaps due to time, it looked very blurry and inconspicuous. In a few more years, it might have disappeared completely. Even now, it was nearly invisible unless examined closely.
It was the emblem of Jack's treasure hunting team: a plum blossom mark.
"That's it! Finally found it. It seems I really have a talent for treasure hunting."
Ed's voice was a little excited. He picked up the shovel and knocked hard on the mark.
After two heavy knocks, several cracks appeared, and then two chunks of mud fell away.
A dark compartment inside the wall was exposed. He quickly knocked a few more times, completely revealing the secret space inside.
A square, box-shaped outline appeared before Ed's eyes. His expression was now beyond excited.
"The last time I dug up a bag of silver coins, there was a faint glow highlighting it, indicating it was the treasure. This thing has it too."
While muttering, Ed moved the torch in for a closer look. It was a rectangular iron box with very rough patterns. A card was engraved on the front, bearing a tall hat, symbolizing its owner.
After confirming it was safe, Ed reached in and pulled the box out.
"F*ck, it's heavy! What the hell did that bastard Jack put in here?"
The iron box had an astonishing weight. It felt less like a hollow container and more like a solid block of iron.
He pulled it out with great difficulty, and with a loud thud, it hit the ground, creating a small crater. It must have weighed at least 50 or 60 kilograms. This wasn't a box at all—it was definitely a solid piece of iron placed here to toy with people like him.
There were no visible seams; it was a specially forged iron block with patterns engraved on it, giving it a mysterious vibe.
But the system's outline had clearly indicated this was the treasure, leaving no room for doubt. It was more valuable than the 36 Silver Snakes and two rubies combined.
Yet, from the outside, it looked like nothing more than a block of iron.
Just as Ed was about to open the map to check the harvest details, hoping to find a way to open the damn box...
"Ed! Ed, where are you?"
"Ed~"
"..."