Looking at the Da Vinci code cylinder made of alloy on the table, this device consisted of eight groups of 26 English letters, forming a cipher ring. It could only be opened if the correct password was entered. If forcibly cracked, the corrosive liquid inside the cylinder would destroy the documents within.
William followed what his grandfather Henry had told him and entered the Chinese characters of his father in this world, Chen Jing. The cipher cylinder indeed opened. Henry was truly cunning; who would have thought he would use William's father's Chinese name as the password, as no one even knew his father's name.
Inside the cipher cylinder were two document bags, rolled into coils in vacuum-sealed plastic bags. Opening one of the document bags, William saw the legendary Oxford Ordinance. Flipping through the document, William saw a line of text written in pen: "The London Knight, buried by the Pope after death, his life's achievements angered the Holy See beyond measure. The Holy Sphere should have rested on the hero's tomb, and the pregnant princess shall live forever."
William pondered for a long time but couldn't understand the meaning of these few sentences. Flipping to the next page, William saw another line on the back of the ordinance: "Beneath ancient Rosslyn, the Holy Grail awaits, guarded by swords and the chalice of Immanuel. A masterpiece dedicated to the Master, accompanying dreams, she can rest in peace, gazing at the stars."
These sentences made William even more confused; he had no clue whatsoever. "Heavens, what is all this written here? I don't understand any of it."
William turned to the last page, which read: "We are the guardians of the God of Light, the defenders of truth. Holiness and faith are with us. The Knights Templar live forever."
This was the text on the third page, and this sentence should be the one William needed to photograph and give to the Duke of Devonshire. William thought about it; the meaning of this sentence was very clear: it meant that the Devonshire family was very likely descended from the Knights Templar, and for hundreds, even thousands of years, they had been guarding truth and the God of Light. But what truth were they guarding?
William searched through the document bag and finally found a small slip of paper. William picked it up and knew immediately that it was written by his grandfather Henry himself: "William, I am very happy that you are able to see this note. This means you have revitalized the Devonshire family. The Devonshire family has for generations been guarding a secret capable of destroying the Holy See.
Go to France and find Jacques Saunière at the Louvre. He will tell you everything. Remember, William, we are guardians, defenders. Sometimes, sacrifice and bloodshed are inevitable. This is the foundation of our family. Anyone who wishes to destroy it is our enemy. Yes, you read that right, enemy."
The word "enemy" at the end of the note was written in red ink. William knew Henry's meaning: if they were enemies, he couldn't be soft-hearted; he had to eliminate them directly.
After thinking for a long time and still not understanding, he decided not to think about it anymore. He would find this Jacques Saunière and get a clear explanation.
After William took a picture of the Knights Templar sentence on the third page with his phone, he put all the documents back into the vacuum bag, rolled them up, and returned them to the cipher cylinder. He picked up the second vacuum bag, and upon opening it, found only a diary inside.
After reading it, William was greatly surprised to learn that the ancestors of the Devonshire family had once been members of the Crusades. They had found an enormous treasure beneath King Solomon's Temple. This treasure had been contended for by over a dozen kings, pharaohs, and emperors over several centuries, and with each transfer, the scale of the treasure grew. Finally, the treasure mysteriously disappeared until William's ancestors, those knights, found it beneath King Solomon's Temple.
Perhaps out of genuine noble character, or perhaps for other unspeakable motives, these knights felt that this treasure was simply too vast. Giving it to any single country would upset the balance of Europe. So, they secretly transported the treasure back to Europe, hid it, and at the same time established the Knights Templar to guard this treasure.
Hundreds of years later, the Knights Templar grew continuously in Europe. Many Knights Templar had transformed into rulers. Their faith began to change; they no longer upheld the treasure but desired to possess it. They began to quarrel and wage wars.
Finally, a group of Knights Templar who still adhered to their ancestors' covenant secretly began transporting this treasure to America, which was still a wild land. They also established the Stone Brotherhood (P.S.: Freemasonry) in America to secretly guard the treasure.
However, hundreds of years later, the situation changed again. America began to declare independence, and the War of Independence began. Several of America's founding fathers, to prevent the English army from obtaining this treasure, secretly hid it. To ensure secrecy, they even created an extremely, extremely hidden map, so hidden that if one secret protector's password was lost, the treasure would never be found again.
Everything the Brotherhood did led William's great-great-great-grandfather to believe that the Americans had betrayed the Knights Templar and had monopolized the treasure. Thus began the Devonshire family's more than 200-year quest for the treasure, with over a dozen generations of the Henry Devonshire family tirelessly searching for King Solomon's treasure.
Looking at the notebook in his hand, he depressedly slapped his forehead. This was another task with no clues. William looked at the last page of the notebook, which had an old piece of paper glued to it, with the words: "The secret is with Charlotte, Thomas Gates, 1783."
It seems he would have to go to America to find the descendants of this Thomas Gates to see what they knew. William looked at the notebook in his hand, which recorded that this treasure alone contained over 140 tons of gold, plus an unknown amount of antiques, artworks, gold coins, gold artifacts, and jewelry.
The gold alone was worth over 4 billion US dollars at current prices. No wonder the Devonshire family had always been obsessed with this treasure, with over a dozen generations never ceasing to search for it.
Thinking of that immense wealth, William's heart was also stirred by such a large fortune. A voice kept appearing in his mind: "Find it, find it, it's yours."
William secretly decided in his heart, "God, with such a huge fortune, I'd be a fool not to look for it."
He put the notebook into his storage space, and carefully put everything else into the safe in the safe room. After locking the safe room door, William went upstairs, washed up, and went to bed.
The next day, he woke up at 7 AM. He had to see off the Expendables. After washing up, William came to the dining room and saw his mother, Lina, already directing the maids to set the table.
He walked to his mother's side, hugged Lina, and said, "Good morning, Mom."
"Good morning, William. Can you check if the guests are awake? We'll have breakfast promptly at 8 o'clock," Lina said.
William nodded and said, "Okay, Mom, I'll go now."
After breakfast, William first saw off the lawyer, then had the castle's male servants drive the six members of the Expendables to the private airport. William had already called yesterday to rent a plane that could fly directly to New York. Before boarding, William hugged and shook hands with the Expendables. William was still a bit reluctant to see these guys go.
Barney stepped forward and gave William an Expendables lucky ring: "Boss, as a parting gift, we hope you like it."
William looked at the skull ring on his hand; it was similar to Barney's, but his was gold, with two rubies embedded in the skull's eyes.
He put the ring on his left ring finger; it fit perfectly and looked really good. William made a fist with his ring-wearing hand and bumped it against Barney's fist, saying, "Thank you, Barney, that's thoughtful. I really like it."
Barney smiled happily and said, "I'm glad you like it, boss."
William bumped fists with the others using his left hand, then saw the Expendables onto the plane. After the plane took off, William got into the car and returned to the castle.
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