Watching Chairman Zheng's animated gestures, Ye Fan's lips curved into a faint smile.
Now that the treasure's location had been found, the next step was to enter the treasure chamber and retrieve the treasure.
And the treasure was no small sum, enough to arouse greed in anyone. Therefore, Ye Fan had to be extra cautious.
"Mobilize all your men to guard this place, and find a few more people to help transport the equipment in. We'll need it for any unforeseen circumstances."
Ye Fan was no fool, nor was he blinded by joy.
Although he and Zheng Zhiyuan were in a cooperative relationship, no one could be certain of Zheng Zhiyuan's true intentions. If Zheng Zhiyuan were to act against him by surprise, Ye Fan might fall into a trap.
Therefore, to ensure everything went smoothly, Ye Fan was exceedingly careful.
Hearing Ye Fan's words, Shen Bao nodded heavily and immediately notified his subordinates.
Chen Fei also approached and whispered to Ye Fan.
"Brother Ye, this matter is of great importance. You must be cautious and avoid capsizing in a gutter. That Zheng Zhiyuan is no good fellow."
Lowering his voice, Chen Fei warned.
Ye Fan knew Zheng Zhiyuan's thoughts without him saying anything. He smiled faintly, "Brother Chen, rest assured, I have my own arrangements."
The group waited again. A little over an hour later, several large ships arrived, carrying heavy equipment.
Seeing the equipment arrive, Zheng Zhiyuan excitedly got up.
He beckoned his subordinates to transport the equipment to the turning point.
Then, Ye Fan and his entourage boarded speedboats and quickly headed towards the turning point.
"There's a crane here that can easily support a person's weight. As long as we stabilize the ship, we can activate the crane and send someone up to check."
Pointing to the large equipment on one of the ships, Zheng Zhiyuan's face was full of smiles.
Hearing Zheng Zhiyuan's words, Shen Bao couldn't help but frown.
"Chairman Zheng, you say it so easily. The current here is turbulent. If these weren't motorboats, we wouldn't be able to stay here at all. How can we possibly fix them?"
Questioned by Shen Bao, Chairman Zheng wore an embarrassed smile.
He was so focused on getting up quickly that he hadn't considered other factors. Now that a problem had arisen, he hadn't thought of a solution yet.
At this moment, Ye Fan looked around and then smiled, "Drill holes in the cliff and use ropes to secure the ships."
There was no other way to secure the ships.
Hearing Ye Fan's words, Zheng Zhiyuan and the others thought for a moment, then smiled, "Okay, let's do that."
Lu Sheng and the others were skilled in such matters. They directed Chairman Zheng's subordinates to begin the work.
Two hours later, the ships were finally completely secured and very stable.
Then, the crane was activated, and Ye Fan was quickly sent up.
At the protruding large stone, Ye Fan searched all around. Then, he pressed down hard on the bottom of the stone, and immediately, a stone door appeared on the cliff face.
As the stone door slowly opened, a terrifying cold air gushed out.
Ye Fan quickly dodged and barely evaded the blast of cold air.
This place had existed for hundreds of years, and no one had ever entered. Naturally, a large amount of cold, damp air had accumulated.
Now, upon contact with the outside air, all this cold air was released.
Turning on his flashlight and shining it inside, Ye Fan saw a wide, artificially constructed passage.
Ye Fan finally felt completely relieved. The entrance to the treasure had finally been found.
"I'll go in and check first. You all follow me up."
He shouted to those below and then directed the crane to send him into the cave entrance.
Although no one had entered here for hundreds of years, there was still plenty of oxygen, indicating that there were likely ventilation shafts. However, the location of the ventilation shafts was very well hidden, making them impossible to find.
The sides of this passage had been reinforced, so even if earthquakes or other natural disasters occurred, they would not cause too much damage.
Ye Fan sighed inwardly. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had indeed put a lot of thought into this treasure.
However, they never expected that in the end, this money would not be used, but instead leave endless speculation for future generations.
Walking forward dozens of meters, the passage still seemed endless. However, the further he went, the colder it became, and Ye Fan even felt a bone-chilling cold emanating from his surroundings, making him shiver involuntarily.
"Why is it so cold? It shouldn't be."
Ye Fan muttered to himself. The place was becoming increasingly damp, and even with Ye Fan's astonishing physical condition, he felt uncomfortable.
At this moment, Shen Bao and the others finally caught up.
"What the hell is this place? Why is it so damp?"
Shen Bao cursed angrily, clearly unable to bear it any longer.
"It should be a special geographical environment, similar to an ice cellar. Such unique environments are very common in desert areas, but I didn't expect to find one in the south."
Mr. Sun touched the surrounding walls and then explained in a deep voice.
"Let's keep moving forward. Everyone, don't rush. Follow me. No one has been here before, so we don't know if there are any mechanisms or traps inside. If we trigger one, we could lose our lives at any moment."
Ye Fan said to them in a serious tone.
Everyone nodded. Then, Ye Fan led the way, with more than a dozen flashlights illuminating the path ahead, making the place as bright as day.
With the light, the situation ahead was clearly visible.
"What is this?"
As they walked forward, Chairman Zheng suddenly spoke and reached out to touch the side wall.
A cavity had been dug into the stone wall, and a porcelain bowl was placed inside.
"Don't touch it."
Ye Fan immediately shouted a warning, but it was too late. Chairman Zheng had already grabbed the porcelain bowl.
Startled by Ye Fan's voice, Chairman Zheng froze, and everyone held their breath, only their eyes moving.
After waiting for a while with no movement, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Brother Ye, aren't you being too sensitive? This was probably just placed here casually. It'll be fine."
Chairman Zheng said with a smile.
Seeing this, Ye Fan frowned and then signaled everyone to continue forward.
But as they took a few steps, they heard a rumbling sound.
It turned out that Chairman Zheng, seeing that there was no danger, wanted to take the porcelain bowl. However, to his surprise, the porcelain bowl seemed to be fixed in place. When he pulled hard, he instantly triggered a mechanism.
Hearing the rumbling sound, Ye Fan's face changed drastically. "Run!"
He shouted, and ran forward without hesitation.
As they fled quickly, dozens of cavities appeared in the stone walls on both sides of the porcelain bowl's location, and then, palm-sized sharp arrows shot out.
"Clink, clink, clink."
The arrows instantly embedded themselves in the stone walls. Chairman Zheng's two subordinates, unable to dodge in time, were instantly shot and turned into hedgehogs.