Chapter 824 - 369: Sea Turtle Treasure (2)

Chapter 824: Chapter 369: Sea Turtle Treasure (2)

As the sand was cleared away, a round object with irregular gear-shaped edges, yet reflecting a pure and solid light in the murky seawater, appeared before their eyes!

It wasn’t flat like modern coins, but instead had a kind of ancient hand-crafted texture.

Riven’s eyes widened behind her mask!

Lin Yu’an gestured to Riven, motioning for her to pick up the coin, intending to give her the right to discover the treasure.

Riven carefully picked up the coin, and under the glow of the flashlight, its details were clear and the craftsmanship was extremely exquisite.

In the center was the Spanish Habsburg Dynasty’s crest with clear Latin inscriptions around it and the year "1714"!

Most importantly, its shape was nearly a perfect circle!

The moment Riven saw this coin, she was so excited she almost spat out her breathing regulator!

She frantically waved her arms in the water, grabbing Lin Yu’an’s arm, pointing at the coin, and then at the direction the turtle had just left.

"Gift! Gift!" she was trying to say that this was a gift from the turtle to repay them!

When the two completed their safety stop and returned to the boat, before even taking off their heavy gear.

Riven was already impatiently showing the coin to the equally stunned Mike, like a child presenting a treasure.

"Dad! Look! Look at this!" Her voice trembled with excitement, "It’s a Royal Gold Coin! It’s definitely from the 1715 Fleet!"

Mike took the heavy coin, weighed it in his hand, and then took out a high-powered magnifying glass from the cabin.

He carefully examined the crest, the year, and the Lima Mint mark on the coin, finally gasping.

"My God... it truly is an 8 Escudo Royal Gold Coin in such pristine condition."

He looked up at Lin Yu’an with eyes as if seeing an alien, "Lin... your luck is like being kissed on the forehead by the Sea God Poseidon."

"No, Dad!" Riven shook her head, wiping the coin with a soft cloth, her face showing a nearly sacred expression, "This isn’t luck."

She looked up at Lin Yu’an and Mike, saying seriously, "This is the turtle’s reward."

"The turtle’s reward?" Mike was taken aback.

"Yes!" Riven’s eyes sparkled, "We found this coin directly below where it was trapped after rescuing it!"

"It must have known where the treasure was, guiding us to discover it in this way! It has to be that!"

Though it was a beautiful fairy-tale-like imagination, Mike couldn’t help but smile seeing the pure joy on his daughter’s face.

"All right, all right, let’s say it’s the turtle’s reward. It looks like we need to do more good deeds when we go out to sea in the future."

"A coin like this, at an official sunken treasure auction... would at least fetch six figures, US Dollars."

[Six-figure US Dollars?! For a single coin?! Did I hear that right!]

[1715 Fleet! I know about this! It’s Spain’s treasure fleet! The streamer has struck real treasure!]

[You see, good deeds pay off. This story tells us to do more good deeds!]

"My God... we really found a treasure!" Riven was still in excitement, "But... Dad, can we take it? Wouldn’t this violate Bahamas laws?"

"Good question, sweetheart," the knowledgeable old Wolf Mike began to educate both of them and the live stream viewers, "This is the difference between ’marine salvage law’ and ’salvage rights law.’"

He explained, "For modern shipwrecks like the ’Mahoney,’ if we salvage goods from the ship, that’s ’salvage rights.’"

"You have to report and share the proceeds with potential owners, like insurance companies, but..."

He held up the coin, "What we found was in the sand near the wreck, a solitary item we happened upon."

"And this item belongs to another shipwreck over three hundred years ago, the 1715 Fleet. Legally, it’s an abandoned, ownerless item."

"So, according to Bahamas law, we just need to declare to customs that we accidentally found this ancient coin before leaving."

"They might collect a certain percentage in taxes, but the rest legally belongs to you. If we don’t declare it and take it privately, that would be smuggling, a serious crime."

This hardcore explanation opened the eyes of the live stream audience once again.

Mike, looking at the coin, excitedly said, "Alright, you don’t need to go to Cuba anymore; you can just sail to Miami and buy an ocean-view apartment!"

Though his statement was a joke, it reminded Riven of the coin’s astonishing value.

She ran to the cabin, took a soft piece of chamois cloth, and wiped the last grain of sand and water stain off the coin.

Then, holding this "piece of history" shimmering softly under the sunset, she walked up to Lin Yu’an.

"Lin," her voice no longer excited as before but filled with sincerity, "According to the finder’s principle, this is your prize now!"

Lin Yu’an just smiled and didn’t take the coin, just looking into her eyes, calmly saying, "Riven, have you forgotten? I didn’t find it."

"What?" Riven was stunned.

"Didn’t we all agree?" Lin Yu’an’s mouth curled into a gentle smile, "It’s the turtle’s gift to you, to repay your kindness, and I just happened to point the way."