Dean was increasingly aware that endurance had become his shortcoming.
At present, 13 Spirit points were just about enough.
So without any hesitation, he added the extra Attribute Point to Endurance.
Enhancement complete.
11 points of Endurance made Dean feel much lighter, like his sports car finally had a matching engine it desperately needed.
All in all, not too bad.
「Nine o’clock in the evening.」
A well-fed Dean sprawled lazily on the sofa, enjoying the leisure time of watching a show with his family.
The door was pushed open.
As the three turned to look, they saw Thompson walk in with a backpack, covering his face.
"Haha, Thompson, are you playing at performance art?" Sinclair mocked.
Sheila also covered her mouth and laughed. "Honey, there’s no need for that. I’ve already forgiven you for arguing with me over a woman."
After a quick glance, Dean knew what had happened to Thompson and said with a laugh, "Little bro, got into a fight today?"
"Dean, how did you figure it out?" Thompson asked in surprise as he put down his backpack, revealing his bruised and swollen face.
"Buddy, standing before you is Los Angeles’s finest, Detective Dean!" Dean shamelessly boasted, then tempted, "I don’t know what you’ve been through, but if you can do me a favor, I’ll teach you how to get your revenge!"
"As effectively as your dating advice from before?"
The brothers, arm in arm, headed upstairs.
Watching their backs, Sheila said with relief, "Sinclair, Thompson is learning to fight too. He’s really grown up."
"Psh, he lost. Dean and Beck never lost a fight back in their day. There are still various versions of their legendary stories circulating at the school..."
The mother and daughter began to gossip about Dean and his older brother Beck’s past school days.
As for Thompson getting beaten up? That was just a part of adolescence. As long as no guns were involved, it was nothing too alarming.
Thompson winced as he finished applying the medicine, then picked up the parchment and started to ponder.
Dean thought this wasn’t something that could be solved quickly and was about to leave.
But just as he turned around...
He heard Thompson confidently say, "Alright, Dean, I’ve figured out what this is."
"That quick?" Dean was surprised. The parchment only had a string of incomprehensible numbers!
Thompson had a smug look. "Dean, this is just an encryption method using an alphabet code. The numbers are the key; you’re just missing a ’door.’"
"Yes, like a corresponding book or some passages of text. Apply these numbers to those texts, and you’ll uncover the secrets the treasure owner wanted to convey."
Thompson said disdainfully, "This thing might have been advanced a hundred years ago, but I stopped playing with it when I was nine. It’s too easy to decrypt."
He thought the object in Dean’s hands was just an antique replica, a decryption toy for treasure hunts.
Dean shrugged. "Okay, but this is an actual treasure map. If you can help me decrypt it, I can share some of the treasure with you after we find it."
Thompson agreed, somewhat skeptically. "Alright. You need to tell me the background story related to this treasure map. Treasure owners usually choose relevant, widely circulated books as the ’door’ to make decryption easier for later generations. Of course, for some family treasure maps, only they know the ’door’."
"This treasure involves..." Dean concealed the origin of the parchment and simply recounted the legend of the bandits from the Hagar Mountains.
"Wow, a treasure from the cowboy-era bandits?" Thompson immersed himself in the role and eagerly sat down at the computer desk. "I think I remember hearing a story about that in an online chat room dedicated to the old history of Los Angeles."
A moment later, Thompson cried out in excitement, "Dean, come here, look at this!"
Dean leaned in close.
On it, to his surprise, was a parchment almost identical in style to the one he held, but with a different map and numbers!
How many of these are there?
Above the map image, a line of large, bold text had been deliberately photoshopped: *The Tulip Duke Legend*.
"Dean, this must be the ’door’! I have this book!"
Thompson rushed to his bookshelf, excited.
Dean stroked his chin thoughtfully.
The situation seemed to be getting interesting.
After some searching, Thompson finally found the dusty copy of *The Tulip Duke Legend* at the very bottom of the shelf.
The two brothers gathered under the desk lamp and began decoding.