Edward Smith flew into a rage and said, “Third brother…”

In fact, James Bolton could completely understand the feelings of his two sworn brothers.

Things had already gotten this bad—the house was all packed up, just waiting to leave the capital at any moment.

And then some idiot suggested, why don’t we go take out William Carter?

No one could accept that.

If William Carter could be taken out that easily, it wouldn’t be up to you, James Bolton, this useless guy, to say so.

The fact that these two didn’t beat James Bolton to a pulp on the spot already showed how deep their brotherhood ran.

But James Bolton understood very well that he only had one chance—success or failure would be decided in a single moment.

I, James Bolton, am a young man with ambition! I want wealth and glory, not a life of wandering and hardship!

Damn it, this is ancient times. The son of a criminal in ancient times doesn’t live a life fit for a human being.

So James Bolton said seriously, “It’s really just a trip. You two brothers can treat it as a little outing… no, a spring excursion. Just follow me, and who knows, maybe we’ll actually run into William Carter? If we don’t, I’ll obediently follow you two and won’t dare make any more trouble.”

James Bolton had already noticed that, between his two sworn brothers, Edward Smith had a fiery temper, while Henry Cooper was more easygoing. So he desperately shot glances at Henry Cooper.

Henry Cooper sighed and said, “Big brother, James has already said this much—what else can we do? We might as well go along with him. It’s better than letting him go make a scene at the Marquis of Nanhe’s residence again.”

As Mr. Lu Xun once said, if you want to open a window in a room full of people, everyone will disagree. But if you say you want to tear off the roof, then they’ll agree to just opening a window.

Edward Smith looked utterly grief-stricken, but James Bolton remained resolute. At this moment, he even shouted, “Someone, someone, bring me my clothes! I want to pay my respects to Uncle Fang at the Marquis of Nanhe’s residence. Although Uncle Fang has misunderstood me in the past, I believe that as long as—”

“Go, go, go!” Edward Smith was getting anxious, glaring at James Bolton through gritted teeth. “If it weren’t for our foster father’s misfortune, and if I didn’t care that even if he died, he’d never want the Zhang family’s reputation ruined, I… I’d beat you to death, you…”

He wanted to curse more, but James Bolton had already bowed deeply to Edward Smith without hesitation. “Thank you.”

James Bolton wanted to take a gamble—he was betting everything on the treasure of William Carter, the very William Carter who now ran rampant in Northern Zhili and had caused his father, Charles Bolton, to be thrown into prison.

As for the location of the treasure, James Bolton would remember it even if he turned to dust.

After all, he had personally worked on that project. Although by the time of the later generations, the buildings on the ground had changed beyond recognition, the terrain would never change.

As long as he found the treasure site, things would be much easier.

Because if William Carter really did hide treasure there, it would definitely be a secret to him. After all, the more people who knew, the greater the risk of it being stolen.

This also meant that when William Carter came to secretly stash his treasure, he definitely wouldn’t bring many people. Even though he had thousands of followers, those he truly trusted would not exceed ten.

Second, the enemy was out in the open while he, James Bolton, was in the dark. All he had to do was wait in ambush and strike at the right moment.

As long as he captured William Carter, he could rescue that father he’d never even met!

Although James Bolton didn’t have much feeling for his father in this era, at the end of the day, it was the original owner’s real father. Since he had taken over someone else’s identity, he ought to save him.

Of course, the only trouble now was that no one knew when William Carter would return to the treasure site to stash his loot—it could be a day, or it could be a year.

But James Bolton decided to wait it out!

For now, the first step was to trick his two sworn brothers into going with him.

So, James Bolton felt there was no time to lose and immediately had his two brothers find a few trustworthy men.

These two brothers were Jinyiwei captains, and usually had attendants following them. To put it bluntly, the brothers were official employees, while these guys were temps.

Temporary workers…

James Bolton propped his chin, looking at these odd-looking fellows in front of him…

Hmm…

Well, they’re temps…

I get it.

He immediately set out with his men. When he stepped out of the Zhang family’s gate, James Bolton still felt a bit out of place.

Because, to his dismay, he found that everything here had changed.

Those familiar skyscrapers and bustling ring roads were nowhere to be seen.

All that remained were streets paved with bluestone, and dirt roads that would turn to mud at the slightest rain. Once outside the city, passing through the city gate’s archway, all he saw was devastation.

A huge number of refugees were camped outside the city, filth everywhere, the stench unbearable.

“What a place… If only I had a piece of land here…”

James Bolton couldn’t help but fantasize. Even though this was the outskirts of the capital, in later generations, it would be within the third ring road.

For three whole days, James Bolton led his men wandering around the outskirts of the capital, inquiring about every village, until he finally found the address of that old project.

At this point, he didn’t even have time to feel relieved. When he finally arrived at the site, he found it was nothing but a stretch of wild forest—there wasn’t a trace of civilization to be seen.

Sigh…