18: Star map at the summit of Serpent's Bone

Snake Bone Island was filled with jagged rocks and almost no vegetation, save for some resilient shrubs and moss clinging to the crevices. The air was thick with a heavy briny scent and the scorching heat of rocks baked by the fierce sun.

"My god, this place is too desolate; it's practically a godforsaken wasteland," Wang Dalong grumbled as he walked, holding his livestreaming equipment to pan the surroundings. "How desperate must a pirate be to hide treasure in a hellhole like this?"

The viewers in the livestream chat also voiced their agreement.

[In this environment, I feel like a venomous snake could slither out of a rock crevice at any moment.]

[It's too barren. Without a map, finding something here would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.]

[Is Brother Feng sure it's here? Don't tell me that 45-dollar map actually scammed us?]

Lin Feng ignored the chatter. He took out the compass he had bought in Boston and flipped open the lid. Under the blazing sun of the Caribbean Sea, he didn't need a lamp; sunlight was the best light source.

He adjusted the compass to a specific angle, letting the sunlight pass through the small holes in the lid. A clear light-and-shadow nautical chart emerged once again on that 45-dollar "doodle" treasure map.

"Fatty, look here." Lin Feng pointed to a specifically marked spot on the light-and-shadow chart. "Our target is at the island's highest point."

He put away the map and compass, looking up at the peak in the center of the island that rose high like a snake's head.

The two didn't delay any longer and began their ascent toward the summit.

The climb was much harder than imagined. Loose gravel constantly slid from beneath their feet, and the exposed rock faces were scorching hot. Wang Dalong was soon panting and drenched in sweat.

"Brother Feng... let's... let's take a break. I can't go on..." Fatty plopped down on a boulder, gasping for air.

Lin Feng stopped and glanced back. His stamina was far better than Fatty's, and his breathing remained steady. He knew the drone high in the sky had been following them. Captain Jack—or rather, the person behind Captain Jack—was watching their "performance" with great interest.

He couldn't act too relaxed; that wouldn't fit the persona of an "ordinary" adventure uploader.

So, he also showed fatigue at the right moment, leaning against a rock and taking a few sips of water to make the whole process look more realistic.

While they rested, the livestream camera turned toward the magnificent yet desolate scenery around them. Wang Dalong started joking around with the viewers and sharing legends about Snake Bone Island, keeping the atmosphere light.

About an hour later, they finally reached the highest peak of Snake Bone Island.

The summit was a relatively flat open area, pitted and scarred by sea wind erosion. Standing there, they could take in the entire Snake Bone Island and the endless blue sea surrounding it.

"Brother Feng, we're up here. Now what? Where's the treasure?" Wang Dalong looked around. Aside from rocks, there were only more rocks; he couldn't see anything that looked like a treasure cave.

Lin Feng didn't answer. He crouched down and began to carefully inspect the ground.

Soon, he discovered some extremely unnatural etchings on a massive basalt platform. These marks were very shallow, and after hundreds of years of exposure to wind and sun, they had almost merged with the natural texture of the rock. Without careful observation, they would be impossible to find.

He brushed away the surface sand and dust, and the outlines of the etchings gradually became clear.

It was a massive, simplified star chart!

"Holy crap!" Wang Dalong noticed it too, bringing the camera closer. "This... isn't this the star chart on the back of your compass? Why is it carved here?"

The viewers in the livestream also went wild.

[Incredible! Truly incredible! Brother Feng's compass really is the key!]

[One on the compass, one on the mountain peak. These pirates really knew how to play!]

[I finally understand how Brother Feng found it. This attention to detail, this power of observation—I'm bowing down!]

Lin Feng didn't get caught up in the crowd's amazement. He took out his compass and carefully compared the star chart on it with the etchings on the ground.

He found that the star chart on the ground was incomplete, missing several key stars.

"Fatty, split up. Look around nearby. There must be other etchings representing the missing stars," Lin Feng ordered.

The two immediately sprang into action. Although Wang Dalong lacked stamina, the excitement of treasure hunting kicked in. Ignoring his fatigue, he scoured the summit like a foraging marmot.

Sure enough, over the next ten minutes or so, they found individual etchings representing the missing stars on several scattered rocks nearby.

William Kidd had used a clever method to split the complete star chart and hide it across this mountain peak.

When Lin Feng pieced together all the "stars" he had found in his mind, a complete star chart of the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice appeared.

However, just as he was preparing to follow the star chart for the next clue, his gaze was firmly caught by a detail.

At the edge of the main star chart etchings, near the side of the cliff, there was a solitary star mark. The position of this mark completely failed to align with the precise star chart from the compass in his mind.

This was an extra star!

Lin Feng's heart stirred, and he immediately walked over.

That "star" was actually a small circular indentation, about the size of a fist, filled with black silt and sand.

Without hesitation, he dug out the silt bit by bit with his bare hands.

Once the indentation was cleared, he placed his compass inside.

A miracle occurred.

The compass fit perfectly into the indentation, as if the hole had been tailor-made to hold it.

The moment the compass settled fully into the indentation, a sudden change occurred!

The needle inside the compass, which originally pointed north, suddenly began to shake violently. Like a staggering drunkard, it spun wildly a few times before snapping to a stop, pointing in a completely unexpected direction—

Not toward any cardinal direction, but straight toward the cliff beneath their feet!

"This is..." Wang Dalong was dumbfounded.

Lin Feng understood instantly. He felt around the edges of the indentation with his fingers.

"Magnets have been cleverly placed around this hole," Lin Feng explained to the livestream camera. "When my compass is placed inside, its own magnetic field is interfered with. It no longer points to Earth's magnetic north but is forced by these magnets to change direction, pointing to where Captain Kidd truly wanted us to go."

He stood up, walked to the edge of the cliff following the needle's direction, and looked down.

Below was a vertical cliff nearly a hundred meters high. Jagged black reefs interlaced like canine teeth as the azure seawater crashed violently against the cliff face, kicking up towering white sprays of foam.

It was bottomless and extremely perilous.

The location the needle pointed to was this bottomless abyss.

The viewers in the livestream all gasped in unison.

[Holy crap! What does this mean? Treasure hunting by jumping off a cliff?!]

[This pirate was too ruthless! Setting the entrance in a place like this?]

[GG, we're stuck now. They can't actually jump down, right?]

Wang Dalong's face turned pale. "Brother Feng, this... this is asking us to go to our deaths."

Lin Feng didn't speak. He started up his small drone and steered it from the top of the cliff, hugging the rock face as he searched downward inch by inch.

The footage sent back by the high-definition camera was displayed in real-time on his phone screen and simultaneously broadcast to the global audience.

Steep cliff walls, churning waves—aside from seabird nests and slippery moss, there was nothing.

He searched back and forth from top to bottom three times, yet still found nothing.

There was no cave entrance, nor any signs of man-made excavation.

The direction the needle pointed seemed to be a hopeless dead end.