Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 | Page 239

The New Ming Treasure Voyages
St Margaret's Co-Educational English Primary & Secondary School, Eng, Elysse - 13
The Ming Treasure Voyage happened during the Ming dynasty, where people went to find treasure through
traveling a long way. This search for treasure and exploring the unknown made me think of a similar story.
Winnie was a small little girl. She was reading her favourite book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets, in her bed. She really enjoyed this book as it has an interesting plot.
After reading a few chapters, she started to get a bit sleepy and decided to go to sleep.
The last thing Winnie remembered was the feeling of a deep sleep slowly drifting over her, but when
Winnie opened her eyes she was with her best friends: Ivy, Olivia, and Yannis. They were all at Ivy’s
birthday party in a party room in Tsing Yi. As they were playing, the discovered a secret door behind one of
the couches and were curious what was inside it. After mustering up their courage, they all went inside.
After passing through the door, they all got a weird feeling.
As they moved into the darkness of the doorway, they suddenly found themselves in a place with vines,
branches, dried leaves, and mud. It was a rainforest!
Brushing aside leaves, the girls found themselves stepping on a huge cross on the ground drawn blood.
There were also a few shovels leaning against a nearby tree.
Winnie tried using her phone to call for help but there was no signal in the rainforest.
After a few minutes of indecision, Ivy suggested that they use the shovels and find out what was under this
cross - after all, everyone knows ‘X’ marks the spot.
The girls had been digging for about ten minutes when Yannis found a dirty and muddy box covered in
vines. Olivia tried helping Yannis to get the box out while Ivy continued digging to further reveal the box.
Ivy soon gave up on digging and the three of them were attempting to haul the box out of the hole they
had created. While this was happening, Winnie was searching for clues as to why the door brought them
there.
After a great struggle, Ivy, Olivia, and Yannis managed to get the box out and removed the vines
surrounding it. Once the box was clear, they found an electronic device that looked similar to an iPad,
however they couldn't find out what the device was or how to work it.
Suddenly a booming voice erupted from the device on the box and startled the four girls.
’Aha! You have fallen into my trap. In order to get back out, you have to finish three challenges with the
clues given to you. Only then will you be released. Good luck. Hahaha…’ Olivia suspected it was Mr.
Devil that was behind this as it sounded like him and the voice was that of an evil being.
Winnie and Yannis were frantically trying to open the box while Ivy and Olivia looked on. Soon,
Winnie managed to open the box and found a paper which said ‘Look to your left now otherwise your
family’s lives will be in danger.’
All four girls looked to the left and saw some people with guns in boats, jets, and cars coming to attack.
Olivia, being the most alert and astute, immediately knew that this was the first challenge. She quickly
spread the message to the rest of the girls.
Fortunately, Ivy had been taking judo lessons every week. Although she wasn’t the best at it, at least she
knew some kicks and some punches to protect herself. The other girls performed some basic kicks after
mimicking Ivy. They were ready. Then Ivy took the attackers down to the floor, removing their ability
fight or harm the girls. The gang had succeeded in the first task.
After defeating the first wave of attackers, a man in a nicely-dressed outfit appeared and gave a message
and a clue for the next challenge. Inside the message was a compass. The girls looked at each other
cluelessly, then Olivia read the message.
‘Follow a path to find another clue. Beware as you venture down the path. Don't say I didn't warn you -
I just did. Good luck.’
The four of them were ready to face any challenges that this mysterious being could throw at them. As
they cautiously following the compass down a path, they started to hear the roar of a jet engine mixed with
other strange ‘whooshing’ sounds. In the distance the crack of gunshots rang out. As they rounded a bend in
the path, Yannis spotted some small guns beneath a tree.
They carefully took the guns and Olivia guessed this was the next challenge. The message was spread
quickly and they got ready. They hid behind the mighty trees, giving them a position to shoot out the jets’
engines so that they would tumble from the sky.
As the jets approached, the girls fired in unison. In a flash, they defeated the jets which plummeted to the
ear. Quickly after, the girls continued down the path where they found the clue for the last challenge. Olivia
scanned the clue and then announced that they had to go through a poisonous flower garden which
contained lots of harmful insects.