Treasure Hunting System： The Ocean Conquerer-Chapter 540 - 263 Confirming the Target_2

Chapter 540: Chapter 263 Confirming the Target_2
He could also easily distinguish those maps that looked like doodles. After listening to some of Chadite’s explanations, he set this map aside and looked at the last one.
"This is the island closest to Southern Cross Island," Chadite explained. "It has a population of around 20,000 and is also a small town. The timber resources here are quite abundant. This island is completely controlled by the island’s royal family and specializes in providing materials for shipbuilding."
In this world composed solely of oceans, the importance of ships was self-evident. Although trees grew exceptionally well due to the magical nature of the world, there were still differences in the types of wood used for shipbuilding. The timber from this particular island was of superior quality, very suitable for constructing warships.
Alka looked at the blue dot and several white dots on the map. Although the island was large, it wasn’t the one they were looking for. He shook his head regretfully. "These shouldn’t be it."
Hearing this, Chadite produced the rough sea chart previously used by Balazs and drew several crosses on it. It could be seen that it already had some annotations; Chadite had already screened them once. Looking at it this way, more than half of the maps were marked, and a couple even had checkmarks.
"So, apart from the islands represented by these maps, the others are farther away from Southern Cross Island," Chadite continued. "The voyage to most of them would take between ten to forty days and nights."
"Moreover, two of these are deserted islands, completely uninhabited. These three are wasteland islands; they are barren and very small."
A deserted island was one that had no particular resources. The land wasn’t necessarily fertile, but some vegetation, trees, and animals still existed there. If one truly wanted to settle there, it would mean starting from scratch, but survival wasn’t impossible. A wasteland island, simply put, was a collection of rocks. Almost no one went to these islands, and they were pitifully small. There was basically no means of survival if one landed there.
"There is one island that might be where he hid his treasure," Jason suddenly said.
Alka looked up at him. Since Jason spoke with such certainty, he must be confident. After all, this was no time for jokes.
Jason elaborated, "From today’s intelligence gathering, I found an old man who was very likely once a companion of this pirate. Through my questioning, it’s highly probable he was an informant on the island, responsible for passing intelligence to Klian.
"Using some special methods, I got him to reveal some information he had hidden. It was very effective.
"He said that when that scumbag pirate was first active, he would rotate his operations around three islands, seeming very familiar with that area. He could even accurately judge roughly how long it would take for an island to reach a certain position. It was precisely because of this familiarity that, relying on just a small boat, they managed to plunder, grow their enterprise, and successfully earn their first fortune.
"One of those islands seems to be his hometown. He never told anyone this, and no Navy forces have ever searched it.
"Of these three islands, one is a wasteland island, one is a deserted island, and the only one remaining is inhabited."
It was then quite obvious which one was most likely the pirate’s hometown.
Hearing this intelligence, Juanlu frowned and said, "His treasure should be well-known in this region, right? It’s impossible that no one has searched for it. Besides, the Navy ships that surrounded him definitely wouldn’t have overlooked that. They would have turned that island upside down. After all, this pirate plundered for a long time."
Jason replied, "Because no one knew except for those who first followed him robbing. Their earliest operational policy was to kill everyone they robbed. This resulted in news of their early activities never getting out. After all, this is the Endless Sea. For a ship to venture out, lose contact, and never return is not an unusual occurrence."
Everyone nodded in agreement; it was indeed so.
Jason continued, "Although later, because some people survived and spread their reputation, by that time, they were long gone from that area, having already moved through several different regions. And of the pirates who were initially active with him, he’s the only one still alive. Moreover, I suspect he very likely betrayed that pirate captain in the end."
"Why do you say that?" Simon asked from the side, his curiosity piqued. "Knowing the pirate’s information is one thing, but why investigate the informant as well? And you even managed to find something out?"
Jason chuckled. "Because, although this man is over sixty, he actually only retired recently. He used to be the tax collector in this town.
"Interesting, right? Afterwards, I found Balazs, did a quick check, and confirmed my information was accurate.
"It’s said the reason he became a tax collector was because his former superior played a major role in that punitive expedition, using precise intelligence to corner the pirate’s ship."
At this point, everyone understood.
"Didn’t he go searching then?" someone asked. "He couldn’t possibly not have been tempted."
"He definitely searched," Jason affirmed, "but obviously didn’t find it. Otherwise, he would have resigned long ago and become a rich man."
Hearing Jason’s words, Alka nodded. However, he then looked at Jason with a curious expression, "You’ve disrupted his peaceful life, and now you know his secret. He can’t possibly remain indifferent, right?"