Chapter 836 - 372: Cracking the Treasure Site Cipher! (8K Combined - )

Chapter 836: Chapter 372: Cracking the Treasure Site Cipher! (8K Combined Chapter)

The team’s attention refocused on the mysterious coin.

Mike brought his attention back to the nautical chart, "There’s still one problem, the map on the coin is too simplistic."

"Los Haitises National Park covers such a vast coastline, with hundreds of islands and caves, we can’t search one by one, can we?"

"Of course not." Lin Yu’an smiled, once again picking up the coin and a magnifying glass.

"Our pirate friend is far smarter than we imagined. The clues he left behind are not just a map."

He focused the magnifying glass on the edge of the miniature map, pointing at several nearly indistinguishable symbols, letting the two look closely.

"This doesn’t look like a latitude and longitude," Riven said, "more like some kind of... encryption?"

"Exactly." Lin Yu’an nodded, "These are not geographical coordinates but a series of cipher symbols integrating alchemy, astrology, and ancient navigation skill."

"A language that only a 16th-century sailor and enthusiast within the circle of mysteries could understand."

He first focused the magnifying glass on the clearest symbol, a circle with a horizontal beam in the middle.

"?"

"This is the ’philosophical salt’ from Paracelsus’ ’Three Sacred Elements’ theory in the 16th century."

"It doesn’t stand for the salt we consume but a philosophical concept—symbolizing the ’foundation of the material world’."

Mike and Riven were at a loss, not understanding what this had to do with a treasure map.

Lin Yu’an didn’t explain directly, instead moving the magnifying glass to the second symbol. It was a very simple symbol, a solid circle ●.

He continued, "This symbol, both in ancient astronomy and astrology, has a very uniform meaning."

"It is the symbol for the ’new moon’ or ’no moon’, representing the day when the moon is entirely shrouded by the earth’s shadow."

"New moon... lowest point..." Riven chewed over these two words, seemingly catching a hint of connection but still unclear.

Finally, Lin Yu’an pointed to the third symbol, the one that linked all the clues together.

It was a symbol composed of a semicircle (⌒) and a crescent pattern (?). The crescent’s sharp points pointed directly inside the semicircular opening.

Lin Yu’an said, "As for this one, it’s more direct: the semicircle represents a cave, and this crescent... combined with the previous two symbols, the answer to the entire mystery becomes apparent."

"Salt... new moon... crescent entering the cave..." Mike rapidly combined these words in his mind.

His decades of sailing experience made him incredibly knowledgeable about the relationship between the moon and the tides! An extremely bold yet genius idea struck him like lightning!

"I understand!" he shouted, "My God! The person who left the treasure map was an absolute genius!"

"What do you mean?" Riven asked eagerly.

"He didn’t think in conventional ways!" Mike’s voice trembled with excitement as he pointed to the ? symbol.

"Lin just said that this is the philosophical salt, symbolizing the foundation of the material world, right? But it’s still ’salt’!"

"Think about it, at sea, what relates to ’salt’ and also to the foundation?"

Riven hadn’t yet reacted, but Lin Yu’an’s eyes suddenly flashed with understanding.

Before they could answer, Mike announced the answer: "It’s the lowest tide level! When the tide recedes to its lowest point, it’s indicative of the foundation of the material world, and that foundation must be the lowest!"

"Also, the salt concentration in the seawater of the intertidal zone is the highest! He played a pun with the ’salt’ symbol!"

"Here, it doesn’t denote any philosophy but points to the ’lowest tide level’!"

He pointed to those symbols, making the final deciphering.

"So, the entire mystery comes together as—during the ’new moon’ (●), when the tide recedes to the ’lowest point’ (?)."

"The entrance to that hidden cave (⌒) will be exposed as if guided by moonlight (?)!"

"Using this precise symbol, he eliminated the interference of full moon high tides, placing an ’astronomical lock’ on his treasure, which only opens once a month, and each time only for a few hours!"

"The underwater cave entrance to the treasure only briefly exposes itself when the tide is at its lowest every month!"

"At any other time, it’s hidden beneath dangerous currents and higher water levels, impossible to find!"

This perfect puzzle, combining true alchemical symbols and puns, made everyone feel a chill of amazement!

"Then... where is it?!" Riven asked eagerly, feeling as if she was one step away from that three-hundred-year-old secret.

"Knowing the time and method isn’t enough; we still don’t know the exact ’observation point’ or reference," she said.

"No, we know." Lin Yu’an continued, refocusing the magnifying glass on the center of the miniature map.

There, two closely connected, critical patterns were engraved.

"Our treasure hider was very cunning." Lin Yu’an explained, "He didn’t hide the treasure in an obvious spot but used dual landmarks for positioning."

First, he pointed to a distinctive rock outline marked with an "X".

"Doesn’t it look like a giant whale opening its mouth? This is our macro landmark, telling us the general area of the treasure."

Mike immediately crowded the magnifying glass, staring intently at the pattern. His memories began to race. Suddenly, his eyes widened!

"Mouth of the Whale!" He exclaimed in Spanish, referring to the name known only among old sailors.

"Yes! It’s definitely the Mouth of the Whale! The most unique eroded mountain on the coastline of Los Haitises National Park! Three hundred years ago, it was already a landmark sailors spoke of!"

Riven quickly brought it up on her iPad, showing the satellite map of Los Haitises National Park, and found a photo of that mountain through keyword search.

In the photo, the large limestone mountain, eroded by the ocean and time and full of holes, at a certain angle, indeed looked eerily similar to a menacing, open-mouthed skull!

Riven excitedly said, "Since the ’X’ is marked on the mountain, does that mean the treasure is somewhere on it?"

"No, quite the opposite," Lin Yu’an shook his head, pointing to the relative positions of the two symbols.

"The ’Mouth of the Whale’ marked with ’X’ is the reference point, and the cave symbol is where the treasure truly lies."

"First, find the Mouth of the Whale, then during the new moon’s lowest tide, search near its mouth for the underwater cave entrance that will briefly reveal itself, that’s where the real treasure is hidden!"

This progressive decryption process instantly made the entire treasure-hunting route extremely clear!

All the clues perfectly linked together at this moment!

"The next new moon..." Riven instinctively pulled out her phone, opening a professional tide and moon phase app.

"Oh my..." her voice had a trace of incredulous tremor, "It’s just... four days away!"

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(Writing this Chapter is exhausting... the person researching is feeling dizzy.)