After finding the item, Liang En and the others quickly circled the entire temple's perimeter and then returned to the Valma family's mansion.
As soon as they entered, they hurried to the temporary rest room inside and began opening the wooden box with a series of specialized tools.
The previous owner of this wooden box clearly intended to store it for a long time, so there were indeed some preservation measures on the box.
For example, upon careful inspection, Liang En found that the outside of the box was covered with a thick layer of beeswax, obviously to prevent air and water from entering the wooden box.
Carefully removing the beeswax, Liang En opened the wooden box under everyone's watchful eyes, revealing layer upon layer of textiles inside.
"This is a turban used by us Indians, and it belongs to someone of low status," Mr. Verma immediately recognized what it was when the white textile was unfolded.
"It seems that the person who hid this item was in a very dire situation, having to use whatever was at hand to preserve it."
Hearing Mr. Verma's words, Liang En nodded thoughtfully. As the turbans were removed, the contents inside were finally revealed. However, to everyone's surprise, there was no treasure inside, only a small brown notebook.
Seeing the notebook, Mr. Verma appeared somewhat disappointed. For someone like him, valuable items were dazzling gold and silver jewelry or ancient artifacts, and this notebook did not fit either category.
But for Liang En, this item was extremely valuable. Upon opening the notebook, he discovered it contained the diary of George Carter, filled with many precious records.
Since the English in the diary wasn't very different from contemporary English, they all stayed in the room and read through it page by page. By the time dinner arrived, they had more or less pieced together the entire story.
George Carter was a middle-class man living in the Victorian era, educated at a university and becoming a bank clerk, which was considered quite respectable at the time.
However, the desire for wealth is endless. As a result, Mr. Carter lost all his wealth in a speculative venture and ended up owing the bank a significant debt.
That era was entirely different from today. For instance, bank debt collection often involved violent methods, and even deaths were not unheard of.
So, after losing his wealth, Carter immediately fled, joining a criminal gang and using his previous experience to forge various fake documents.
At first, everything went smoothly. In just six months, they managed to swindle over ten thousand pounds, a substantial sum for that era.
This money allowed them to live a truly luxurious life and determined them to stay in London, the richest city in Britain at the time, to continue their fraud.
Thanks to professionals like Carter, their scams were repeatedly successful, amassing a significant fortune.
However, as they continued to scam around London, Scotland Yard soon targeted them, launching a series of manhunts. Some members were captured and exiled to Australia.
Although early British police were indeed slow to react, because they targeted wealthy individuals, they were heavily pursued, eventually forcing them to seek refuge in India.
This phenomenon is quite common throughout history—talent and resources flow from underdeveloped to developed countries, while the reverse applies to waste.
Upon arriving in India, these criminals certainly did not earn an honest living. Instead, they quickly resumed their fraudulent activities.
This time, they were even more successful. As Britons, they naturally belonged to the upper class in India, and the locals were unprepared for their new scams, making their operations very smooth.
However, after more than a year, the gang split into factions. Some believed they had made enough money and could start a new life in places like Australia, Canada, or the United States.
Others felt that the locals were gullible and money was easy to come by, so they had grown accustomed to the fast money and could no longer adapt to ordinary life.
Initially, the disputes were only verbal. But as they accumulated more wealth, fewer people were willing to return to normal life, leaving only Mr. George Carter inclined to do so.
By this time, Mr. Carter had become an unreliable element in the gang, making his situation increasingly dangerous.
Of course, as an absolute genius of that era, Mr. Carter was aware of this and made preparations accordingly. In the final part of his diary, he expressed his intention to escape soon with his greatest find.
Although the diary's last entry did not detail his escape plan, the outcome showed it failed.
At least, he did not leave the gang to start a new life in Australia or Canada as he wrote in his diary. Instead, he ended up as a pile of bones in a secret room of this abandoned temple.
Fortunately, there was still some sentiment left between them, so after killing Mr. Carter, the gang did not search his body, allowing these precious items to remain until today.
"Sometimes, taking a wrong step is the beginning of disaster. It's impossible to turn back halfway, so we should carefully consider every action to avoid fatal problems."
After reading the diary, Jeanne d'Arc was the first to break the silence. The others nodded in agreement.
Through this diary, they learned how Mr. Carter squandered his opportunities, and the lessons were valuable to everyone present.
For Liang En, the notebook also served as a clue, indicating that Mr. Carter had likely hidden something of great value.
"This notebook is yours, Mr. Liang," Mr. Verma said, pointing to the notebook after Liang En expressed his intention to use it for treasure hunting.
"Just show me what you find. Honestly, I envy adventurers like you, but I have family matters to attend to and can't indulge in such freedom."
"Thank you very much for your generosity, Mr. Verma," Liang En said with a smile as he took the notebook from the box. "If I find anything, you'll be the first to know."
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