The Deceitful One

Thursday, 26th August 1580.

Bryan opened his groggy eyes as he massaged his temple with his right hand. He sat up on the bed as an exhausted sigh escaped his lips.

He had great difficulty sleeping the entire night. After the events of last night, it would be surprising if he could sleep peacefully. After all, Bryan had killed no less than 40 people by himself.

So every time he closed his eyes, scenes of blood and carnage would flash through his mind, causing him to not fall asleep.

Shaking his head, Bryan got up from the bed and headed to the bathroom to freshen up. Splashing some cold water on his face would make him more alert.

A few minutes later, Bryan came out of the bathroom and then went back to his bedroom again. He sat on his bed in a lotus position and closed his eyes to meditate.

Meditating would help clear his mind and remove all the mental fatigue that had accumulated. This was one of the advantages of meditation.

About an hour later, Bryan opened his eyes feeling refreshed. Although his body still felt slightly exhausted, his mind was calm and reinvigorated.

He then headed into the living room and pushed the single-seater couch, the sofa, and the dining table to the side, clearing up enough space in the center of the room.

Extending his spiritual force into the pocket watch, Bryan then wrapped one of the safes inside with his spiritual force and got it out into the living room.

Looking at the silver-colored safe in front of him, Bryan chuckled as he rubbed his hands together, "Hehe, time to crack this shit open!"

He crouched down in front of the circular dial on the surface of the safe's door and began his attempt at cracking it. Since he already had experience in cracking safes, it took him only less than 10 minutes to unlock it.

Bryan eagerly stood back up with a bright smile on his face. He then pulled the door handle and opened the safe. Inside, he saw rows of gold bars piled on top of each other, and two wooden chest trunks full of gems and pieces of jewelry of all colors.

Other than that, there were also stacks of notes that filled the entirety of the safe. Bryan involuntarily gulped at the sight of so much cash. He estimated that just the cash alone amounted to at least 20,000 pounds.

The cash that he had found in Jeffrey Gill's safe was only about half of the cash he was seeing right now. It would take Bryan some time to estimate the total value of all the gems and jewelry inside as well.

Currently, Bryan had more than 30,000 pounds in cash alone. And he hadn't even opened the other safe yet.

He calmly transferred the contents of the safe to his pocket watch. This way it would be more convenient for him to take out the money when he needed it.

Then he put the empty safe back inside the pocket watch, as he thought, 'Perhaps in the future, I can lock someone inside the safe and play with their minds, hehe.'

Bryan then brought the other safe out of the pocket watch and expertly cracked it. But this time he did it within 7 minutes. He was getting better and better at it!

He smiled smugly and proceeded to open the door of the safe. The contents of this safe were much fewer than the previous ones. About 10,000 pounds in cash, a few gold bars, and one single chest trunk that contained gems and other valuables within.

He now had 40,000 pounds in cash plus all the other gold bars, pieces of jewelry, and gems which amounted to at least 100,000 pounds. Making his total net worth a whopping 140,000 pounds!

After doing all the math and estimating the total value of everything he had stolen from Jack Brown and Jeffrey Gill, Bryan was so elated that he almost cried tears of joy.

'Hmm, Jeffrey's safe contained more gold and jewelry while Jack's safe contained more cash. The value of items in both their safes should be about the same. Jack's might be slightly higher…' Bryan thought in his heart as he rubbed his chin.

Then he swiftly transferred the contents of the second safe back into his silver pocket watch. The space inside his pocket watch was now looking more and more like a treasure trove.

Suddenly, Bryan's gaze landed on an inconspicuous brown-colored leather briefcase inside the safe. He slowly approached it and picked it up. It felt quite light. He then exited the safe and put it back inside the pocket watch.

After rearranging the couch, sofa, and table in the living room, Bryan went to his bedroom and sat by the study table. He then put the briefcase on it and used both his hands to unlock and open it.

He was somewhat disappointed to only find a couple of slightly yellow-colored parchment papers that appeared to be a design for some kind of small machine.

Not expecting much from it, Bryan took the parchment papers out to give it a read. A few minutes later, his hands began to tremble as his eyes widened in utter shock.

Bryan abruptly got up from his chair and screamed, "What the fuck is this!? U-Unbelievable!"

With the parchment papers still clutched tightly in his hands, he frantically paced around the room, unable to hide the shock and excitement in his eyes.

After a few moments, he took two deep breaths and sat back down on the chair by the study table. After spreading the parchment papers neatly on the table, he began to read it again. This time thoroughly and with much more enthusiasm.

A few minutes later, Bryan exhaled a deep sigh and exclaimed, "Simply amazing! This invention will change people's lives forever. This is revolutionary!"

At the bottom of the fourth and last parchment paper, the name, Jim Brown was engraved. Bryan believed that this invention was most likely experimented on by Jack's father or he could have stolen it from someone and just written his name on it afterward.

The heading on the first page read, "Sound Telegraph/ Telephone."

Bryan couldn't help but marvel, "This is the true treasure! The rest of the stuff inside both the safes is worthless in front of it!"