Chapter 40: No Son, Only Footbal
William didn't hesitate for long. He reached out, opened the door, and walked into the room. His mind was clear. This was a world of science and technology movies; there was nothing that could restrain his magic. In the worst-case scenario, he could simply open a portal and escape.
And if he escaped, he would definitely kill everyone in the bunker and destroy the place completely.
He had the ability. Modern buildings were most vulnerable to fire and earthquakes. At worst, he would just spend more time burning everything in the bunker to the ground, then use an earth spell to collapse the entire structure.
When it came to life and death, William wouldn't care about exposing his magic. Who worries about such things when their life is on the line?
He entered the room and casually closed the door. It was a small space, no more than twenty square meters. Looking around, he found it contained a toilet and a bed. He was surprised to see so many amenities. Wasn't that a security flaw? In the movies, sewers were always an easy point of entry. *Forget it,* William thought. *The people running this bunker must have considered it more thoroughly than I have.*
After scanning the entire room with his mental power and finding no cameras or listening devices, William opened the cabinet with peace of mind.
Inside the cabinet was a half-meter-long cryptex. After William opened it using the password Henry had told him, he found only a single piece of letter paper inside. This stunned him. It seemed his grandfather didn't even trust the people in the bunker.
He unfolded the letter, which was written in Henry's hand. It read: *William, by the time you open this letter, it will likely have been ten years. My dear grandson, I love you and your mother, but I can no longer be with you. I only hope your grandmother hasn't followed me to see God, though I know that's unlikely. I sincerely hope she can stay and accompany you in my stead.*
*William, help me take care of your mother. Look after her and love her on behalf of your grandmother and me. I wish God could have given me more time, but unfortunately, God never listens to my prayers. That's right, our Devinshire family has not believed in God since the second-generation ancestor.*
*William, remember what I told you: find the Oxford Ordinance. It is the amulet that has existed in our family for a thousand years. Remember, anyone who tries to open or destroy this secret must be eliminated. This secret can only be known and protected by us. You cannot even tell your wife or your mother.*
*Go to the family castle when you have a chance; there is a greater secret waiting for you there. Remember, from now on, you can trust no one. Anyone who approaches you may be after our secrets. These secrets are tied to the future of the Devinshire family—they are the hope for our revival.*
*William, how I wish I could watch you solve that mystery. It is the secret that your ancestors and I have spent more than ten lifetimes searching for. Find it, and then tell me and your ancestors about it in front of my tomb.*
That was all. William didn't know what other secrets awaited him in the castle. He only knew that his family had two secrets: one was an amulet containing a great secret, and the other was a secret that the Devinshire family had sought for more than ten generations without success, a secret that was also related to the family's future. What could be so important?
After thinking about it, he concluded that things related to a family's future usually boiled down to a few points: offspring, land and wealth, and power.
Offspring could be ruled out, as could power. The power of the nobility in England had waned.
That left wealth. It seemed the treasure they had searched for over ten generations could only be a literal treasure. Wow, finding treasure was a difficult job. They had searched for hundreds of years without success. William didn't hold out much hope.
If more than ten generations had failed, William didn't have much confidence he could succeed. Besides, he could earn wealth himself. Even if he did nothing now, he could wait for a stock market crash, buy shares in companies that would become giants in the future at a low price, and in ten years, a hundred million could become tens or hundreds of billions.
*Forget it,* he thought. *I'll wait until I see the secrets Henry hid in the castle.* After finding nothing else in the room, William set a new password on the cryptex.
He did not put the information on Christmas and Barney into the cryptex, as he felt it was very likely Henry no longer trusted the confidentiality of the castle.
There was no place in the world safer than his own storage space. He had no intention of following the old procedures and leaving the data in the bunker. After all, times had changed. Who knew what might have happened in the past ten years?
After finishing his work, William pressed the call bell and sat in the room, waiting for someone to open the door.
Finally, after a short wait, the middle-aged man who had brought him in gave a signal from outside the door, prompting him to enter the password from inside the room.
Once the door opened, William made his way out of the basement, entered the elevator, and came back to ground level. After saying hello to Old Victor, he got in his car and left. He had no desire to return to this damned bunker. He believed Henry wouldn't do anything without reason. If Henry no longer trusted the bunker, then he wouldn't care about any old agreements either.
And so, the news that William had entered the bunker and accessed the exclusive room of the Devinshire family spread among the nobles and other interested parties.
Grand Duke Devon and the Earl of Oxford also knew it almost immediately. Everyone was now certain that William was Henry's true heir, the inheritor of all his secrets.
As William drove, he thought about everything Henry had said to him, only feeling relieved after going over it all in his mind.
There was something William had wanted to know these past few days: the list of members from Henry's group. He hadn't found it in the Dark Castle today. Either Henry really dissolved his Group W, or he hid the list in the family castle.
He hoped to find the list, as these people had served the Devinshire family for decades. At the same time, he was afraid of getting it, because he didn't know if these people had changed their minds in the past decade or if they even wanted to continue this life.
He was afraid of disturbing the lives of those who no longer wanted to be involved, creating resentment. The youngest of them would be over thirty now, maybe even closer to forty. They were certain to be married with children. *Forget it.* William decided there was no need to disturb them. Let them live in peace.
William drove home. His mother, Lina, was watching TV. Lina was a Chelsea fan, and there was a match on today.
William stepped forward and hugged his mother. Lina kissed William on the cheek and pushed him away. "Okay, don't bother your mother while she's watching the game. Go take a bath first."
William pursed his lips, thinking that football was more important to her than her son. The English were truly passionate about the sport.
After taking a shower, William put on his pajamas and went downstairs to watch the game with Lina.
"Mom, what about our tenants? I haven't seen them around."
Lina, her eyes glued to the TV, answered, "They moved out. There are paparazzi outside all day long now. They couldn't stand it. If it weren't for the fact that this is my house, I'd want to move too. It's so annoying. They pester me whenever I go out, asking all sorts of questions. By the way, William, are you and that reporter serious?"
"These last two days, the paparazzi have been asking me what I think about that Diana, and if I would oppose your relationship. God, they're so annoying."
"And I'm warning you, don't even think about getting married and having children so early. I'm not ready to be a grandmother. I get a headache just thinking about a little baby running around. Do you hear me? What are you laughing at? Are you looking for trouble?"
Seeing that Lina was getting worked up, William quickly went behind her and started rubbing her shoulders and legs.
"Mom, don't worry. I'm not going to get married so early. I'm just dating. Isn't that normal? Weren't you always worried I was gay? Now you believe me, right?"
"That's more like it. Okay, don't bother me. Let's watch the game. If you have nothing better to do, wait until the game is over."
"Well, Mom, we should go to the stadium to watch a game someday. Now you can get VIP seats," William said, trying to please her.
"Yes! That's right! I didn't expect us to be rich now. I don't have to think about saving money anymore. Quick, William, call and book tickets! I want to book tickets for the entire season!"
At her urging, William picked up his phone and made a call. As luck would have it, he really managed to book front-row tickets. William bought two sets of season tickets.
"Mom, I got them! Third-row, midfield season tickets. I paid a premium, but I got them. You're lucky, Mom," William said, pleased with himself.
"Well done, baby is awesome! Give your mother a kiss." After kissing William, Lina pushed him away again.
Wow, the English are crazy about football. You can't afford to get in their way. William had no choice but to sit silently and watch the game with Lina.
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