Chapter 717: Chapter 320: Got Dunked On
Leaving the shallow beach area of Silver Island, Allen arrived at the photo area previously researched online by the General Sect Leader, a rock formation that looked like a massive ship.
In fact, it was a ship, but it had become so integrated with the land over time that it was encased in a layer of solid stone, algae, barnacles, and the like.
It’s likely that the interior of the ship-rock is filled with seabed sediment, not necessarily hollow, but the silver coins inside would have been displaced long ago. Those silver coins and gold coins are scattered across the island and even other shallow areas or deep-water regions hundreds of meters below, making the search exceedingly difficult.
After searching some more about Silver Island, Allen learned that there were periods of tide coming in and going out on the island, and now was considered the golden hours of the day, the time of low tide when tourists can also explore these areas.
Allen took out his phone and snapped a photo, where you could see some puddles still filled with seawater and seafood like crabs, fish, and shrimp next to the green algae-infested rocks.
Many people were there taking selfies focused on their cameras, even asking the members of the Gewu Guerrilla next to them to join their photos. The simple fellows from Gewu were quite welcoming, wearing AKs around their necks, flashing two fingers, showing off their big white teeth, and grinning foolishly into the camera.
Judging by their skin color and racial features, they were also of mixed Indo-European descent, after all, places like Colombia and Mexico were early dwellings of the Indians, the pioneers of South America; traces of Indians can be found on the islands and continents of both North and South America.
Later, influenced by the great voyages and European colonization, Europeans intermarried with locals, resulting in a predominantly mixed-race population.
They have European features, generally lack body odor, but most of them are neither quite white nor yellow – the Latino race is in fact a mix of the convicts exiled during the Columbus era and their mixed descendants, with lineages comprised of black people, Asians, white people, a real hodgepodge and therefore not considered a separate race.
The cheerful fellas from the Gewu Guerrilla were actually quite shrewd. No sooner had they taken a photo with tourists than they began asking for a $20 appearance fee.
The tourists weren’t surprised by this; those who could afford to come here and pay the admission fee for a tour were generally well-off, whether on private trips or in travel groups.
After some haggling, they ended up giving the cheerful dude $15.
He took the money, gave a thumbs up, and with a mix of awkward English and Spanish, turned satisfied and left. He continued to stand at his post, smiling at other tourists, seeking the next paying original guest.
During this time, the General Sect Leader also saw several passenger planes landing on the airport runway, the guides disembarked from the planes, holding little flags and banners, communicating with the staff, and after presenting their tickets and passing through the check, they rented some metal-detecting equipment, evidently having paid in advance online.
"No wonder the guerrillas don’t deal with drugs anymore. Seems like just collecting admission fees can make them a decent amount of money each day, without spending much to maintain the island and free of risk. After all, their main selling point is the natural ecology. At most, they just dispatch a few men to maintain order, making money while lying back."
Allen sighed, feeling the island’s popularity exceeded his expectations, realizing that taking over the island would probably require pulling a lot of strings.
"Boss, quit talking about making money. This crappy equipment is so old and tricky to use."
Bailey approached, complaining, "I searched over there for a long time and didn’t find any silver or gold. The one time I got a signal, it was just a can tab."
He pulled out a handful of metal fragments and the edges of a can from his pocket.
The saying goes that foreigners have quality, but what quality? They’re littering all over, and this is a tourist spot!
Old Jack lackadaisically said, "Their detection equipment is outdated. They basically don’t allow tourists to use their own professional equipment unless it’s declared in advance. Since we didn’t bring any detection tools this time, finding anything valuable is virtually impossible."
"The key is they lack quality."
Frustrated, Bailey took off his shoes, showing the General Sect Leader his pierced heel, "Look, I just walked barefoot and nearly caught tetanus! Their staff just stands there doing nothing, not even picking up litter. I feel like I’m not here to treasure hunt, but to help them clean up metal waste and trash!"
"There are silver coins right here, aren’t there?"
Allen noticed the fragmented Spanish coins in his hand, took a look, and realized they were the Pillar Dollars minted by Spain during the colonial period in South America, distributed widely in the early days and almost all over the world.
Until around 1823, after Mexico shook off Spanish colonial rule, it stopped mass-producing the Pillar Dollars, replaced by the Mexican Eagle Silver Coins. Consequently, Spanish silver coins began their decline in the early nineteenth century and gradually exited the market.
"It’s not a complete silver coin, and it’s not valuable in itself. Even if it contains 90% silver, it’s not of much significance since the price of silver itself is low."