For the sake of secrecy, there were no lights on their ship, but fortunately the moonlight was still bright. By the light of the moon, Tom could see what had hit the raft......

"What, haha, you two cowards, just a wine barrel floating from the sea!" Tom's tense body suddenly loosened, and he sneered in a mocking tone.

Cruise was also relieved, he raised his hand and patted Thor's head hard, and said angrily: "You fool, why are you so timid, I shouldn't have taken you out if I knew it." ”

Thor was also a little embarrassed, he scratched his hair, and whispered, "It's not because Tom made up a story to scare me, and I didn't mean to." ”

Tom bent down and held the barrel in his hand, and said impatiently, "All right, come and see this barrel, if it is not wine but gold, we will be rich." ”

Hearing this, the two of them hurriedly rushed forward, and the three of them grabbed the barrel together. It's a pity that the raft has limited buoyancy, and they can't get this barrel onto the raft.

"Come, Cruise, we'll hold it for you, and you can pry this barrel open with your knife and see what's inside." Tom said as he took a dagger from his waist and placed it in Cruise's hand.

Cruise had the greatest strength, so he naturally took the dagger and pressed it against the edge of the barrel lid and said, "I'll open it now, are you ready?" ”

Tom and Thor had gripped the barrel to keep it level, then nodded to Cruise.

Cruise had already inserted the blade of the dagger into the inside of the barrel lid, and when he saw the two nodding, he held his breath and forced, and with a muffled pop, the lid of the barrel opened and fell to the surface of the water with a thud.

In the moonlight, two bits of golden light rolled out as the lid of the barrel opened, and fell into the water with a tinkling sound, and finally gradually disappeared.

"Damn, what does it smell so stinky, Cruise, are you farting?" As soon as the lid opened, Tom and Saul covered their noses first, frowning and looking at Cruise. They could feel that the smell was coming from Cruise.

Cruise was squatting there motionless, his eyes flashing with a wolf-like greedy gaze, as if he hadn't smelled it at all, and muttered, "Gold, gold, there really are gold." ”

Tom and Saul heard Cruise's words and hurriedly leaned over to take a look, and when they saw the situation in the barrel, Tom immediately laughed excitedly, but Thor gasped violently.

At the edge of the barrel, there was a small pile of golden discs, which glowed seductively golden in the moonlight, and this was the gold coin that Tom saw.

Thor gasped because he saw something curled up behind the gold coin.

"A dead man...... "Thor muttered with a slight movement of his lips, his tone cold to him.

By the light of the moon, it could be seen that inside the barrel was a corpse that had been dead for an unknown number of days, with some bulging lumps and black spots faintly on the corpse.

Tom patted Thor on the shoulder, laughed nonchalantly and said, "Hahaha, what is there to be afraid of the dead, it's not that I haven't seen it." On the contrary, it is the first time I have seen so many gold coins, hahaha, this time I made a fortune. ”

Before Tom could speak, Cruise got into the barrel and took out all the gold coins and put them in his pocket, while Tom helped him hold the barrel, he was not worried about Cruise taking it alone, and they had already agreed to divide everything equally before they came out this time, and made the most vicious oath.

In a few moments, Cruise's body came out of the barrel, and he immediately washed his hands and mind with seawater, and at the same time said: "Whew, I can't do it, it stinks too much, and there are some gold coins in the innermost part, and my body is too wide to get into." ”

As he spoke, he was spitting and it seemed that something dirty had accidentally fallen into his mouth.

Thor was a little disgusted when he saw this scene, but Tom stared at him fiercely and said, "Go, Thor, you are the smallest, you go in and take out all the gold coins." ”

Hearing this, Thor said with a sad face: "Can't you take out the corpse and throw it into the sea first, and then take the gold coins?" ”

"No way!" Before Tom could speak, Cruise hurriedly spoke: "The corpse will bring the gold coins to the sea, and if the gold coins fall into the sea, we won't try to get them again, don't talk nonsense, go in and get the gold coins." ”

As he spoke, Cruise raised his hand and made a gesture of wanting to hit someone. Thor cowered timidly, gritted his teeth, and slipped into the barrel.

After a while, the barrel was empty, and the children took turns rummaging through the clothes on the corpse, and when they were sure that they had scavenged everything of value, they threw the shapeless rotten flesh into the sea.

Their clothes, hair, and faces were stained with foul-smelling, cloudy liquid, but their eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Hahaha, we are rich, there are fifty-seven gold coins in total, and two gold rings, and a gold necklace inlaid with precious stones, and we are rich!" Tom said as he jumped up and down on the raft, excited like a madman.

Cruise and Saul also had smiles on their faces, and their parents would have been amazed by the fact that the harvest was a bit amazing. In addition to being happy, they didn't even bother to wash off what was on their bodies, and when they laughed, they didn't notice that some of them accidentally rubbed into their mouths.

With such a great harvest, the three of them had long forgotten about fishing, and after roughly dividing the belongings, they rowed the raft in the direction they came.

With the position of the North Star in the sky, they didn't have to worry about getting lost, and it didn't take long for a craggy deep black land to appear in their sight.

It was already early in the morning when they got close to the shore, and the gold coins were like a source of power, keeping them energized all the time.

It's just that when he went ashore, Cruise suddenly felt dizzy and almost fainted directly on the beach. After slowing down for a while before standing firm, he shook his head to himself, only thinking that it was the sequelae of his overexcitement, and he didn't care too much.

Three days later, the two children died in the village, with the same symptoms as the Black Death.

A child died in the city of Messina with a gold necklace on his body, ready to go into the city and sell it.

This kid is none other than Tom.

In early August, the outbreak was centred in the small village of Cape Mirazzo, spreading rapidly to the nearby seaport of Messina and advancing towards the southern tip of Sicily.