Alaska Gold Rush Diary

Chapter 200 The Intricate Cave System

Bell stood excitedly in front of a cave entrance that looked much like the one before, holding the yellowed map in his hand, and looking up at the cliff face.

Following his gaze, everyone saw a large protrusion about two meters above the cave entrance.

Bell then looked at the cliff face opposite the valley, where there was a depression in the same spot.

It's like two interlocking Lego bricks being pried apart.

Everyone immediately realized that the canyon was formed by geological activity.

As they marveled at the wonders of nature, they watched as Bell peered into the cave behind him.

"The treasure is inside?" Wyatt's voice trembled with excitement.

Bell nodded. "If what's marked on the map is true, then the treasure is inside this cave!"

"That's awesome!" Windsor cheered, then immediately covered her mouth.

Everyone, like her, had excited smiles on their faces.

After a long and arduous journey, they finally arrived at the location where the treasure was buried.

Only Zhou Xin calmly walked to the edge of the cave and peered inside.

The cave was very dark, but no bears were seen.

However, at the deepest part of the cave, there seemed to be a bend in the path.

In other words, the cave is very deep and has curves inside.

When bears hibernate in their dens, they tend to burrow as deep as possible because it is warmer there.

The marks at the cave entrance indicate that there must have been a bear inside.

What puzzled Zhou Xin the most was that he didn't smell any gold.

With his current abilities, even with obstructions, he can smell gold within a range of several meters.

Without obstructions, this distance could be increased to about half a kilometer.

Since he can't smell the gold, there are only two possibilities.

One possibility is that the information Bell received about the treasure was a complete scam, or that the gold had already been taken by someone else.

Secondly, the cave was very deep, exceeding ten meters, and its winding path, with layers of obstruction, prevented him from smelling the gold.

Of course, he couldn't tell the person in front of him his secret; he could only keep it to himself.

After seeing the situation inside the cave, the others also calmed down.

"The good news is that the treasure is within reach, the bad news is that a bear is guarding it," Bell said softly.

"Even if it's guarded by hellhounds, I'll still get it!" Wyatt's eyes gleamed with a fiery light.

His hunting career was slightly shorter than Bell's, but his marksmanship and other overall abilities were much stronger than Bell's.

In his mind, he should be more successful than Bell.

Kobel amassed considerable wealth through several successful treasure hunts, whereas his previous treasure hunts had all ended in failure, leaving him in dire poverty.

This left him with a deep-seated sense of resentment, feeling that it was due to his bad luck.

When Bell took the initiative to invite him to go treasure hunting, he immediately agreed.

He felt that this might be his chance to turn his life around.

Therefore, now that the treasure is within his grasp, he desires it more urgently than anyone else.

"That's right, we're already at the door, there's no reason to give up!" Walsh also expressed his determination.

"In that case," Bell put away the map and picked up the gun, "let's go in, but we must be careful and try to bring the treasure out without disturbing the bear."

The others also took their weapons, checked their ammunition levels, and then crawled into the hole one after another.

They entered the cave in the same order as when they were traveling, with Zhou Xin still at the very end of the group.

The two hounds and Logan stood guard at the door on their owner's orders.

If something unusual happens outside, they can sound an alarm.

The group carefully made their way into the cave and soon rounded the first bend.

It was pitch black ahead, so Bell put on his powerful headlamp.

Under the light, everyone was stunned.

At the end of the cave ahead, three dark entrances appeared.

In other words, the cave branches into three paths here.

In a shallow cave beside the fork in the road, a small black bear was curled up.

The footprints on the ground show that bears entered all three intersections.

There was more than one bear sleeping in this cave!

Moreover, there were three forks in the road ahead, and the treasure map did not mark the inside of the cave, so they had to try each one one by one.

Everyone held their breath and walked quietly past the den where the black bear was sleeping.

Fortunately, the black bear had indeed entered a deep sleep and did not move at all.

Zhou Xin pretended to inspect the three forks in the road and sniffed into each of the three cave entrances, but unfortunately, he still couldn't smell the gold.

Could it be that the information about the treasure was indeed false, or that it has already been taken by someone else?

Since he still couldn't smell anything, Zhou Xin began to feel pessimistic.

If all his efforts this time have been in vain, he'll probably be devastated.

But now that things have come to this, all we can do is keep moving forward and see what happens.

He silently followed the group and entered through the leftmost fork in the road.

The cave began to meander, giving everyone the feeling of walking through an anthill.

As they walked, they carefully observed their surroundings, looking for anything unusual.

Since the treasure map indicates that the treasure is hidden in this cave, it could be hidden anywhere in the cave.

After walking for a while, they found a second bear that was sleeping.

This is a Kodiak brown bear, much larger than the black bear from before, almost filling a recessed cave completely.

When they reached the end of the fork in the road, everyone was completely stunned.

Because two more paths appeared before them.

"This is practically an underground labyrinth," Windsor couldn't help but exclaim under her breath. "I have no idea how that guy found a place like this to hide his treasure!"

"More than that, I'm curious about how he got in and out of here safely." Wyatt gripped his pistol, glanced at the sleeping brown bear, and then at Zhou Xin.

Zhou Xin caught his gaze and understood the message it conveyed:

I find it hard to believe that you could tame such a giant beast as a mount.

Bell didn't say anything and continued walking towards the left fork in the road.

The only person who wasn't discouraged at seeing the fork in the road was Zhou Xin; on the contrary, he was quite happy.

This is a complex cave system, truly like an underground labyrinth.

Perhaps the treasure was indeed hidden here, but the scent was blocked by the layers of cave walls, which is why he couldn't smell it.

This rekindled his hope.

Fortunately, the fork in the road soon came to an end, and no new forks appeared.

They immediately turned back and headed down another fork in the road.