In the instant the box was opened, four cards appeared in Liang En's mind.
Three of them were N-cards, consisting of two "Detection (N)" cards and one "Appraisal (N)" card. The other one was the first card he obtained this time: "Enhanced Logic (R)".
Enhanced Logic (R): Often, those who conceal their wealth choose a series of riddles as protective shells, hiding their treasures beneath layers of perplexing puzzles. At such times, additional assistance becomes essential.
Skill Card (Passive) (Permanent): While holding this card, its effects are activated. The user's logical thinking becomes more meticulous, making it easier to uncover clues from gathered information.
"Ah, finally, another skill card." Upon looking at the new card he had acquired today, Liang En's face broke into a smile. He favored these types of skill cards more than the one-time use cards.
After accumulating four "Appraisal (N)" cards, Liang En discovered that, similar to the "Detection (N)" cards, the "Appraisal (N)" cards also displayed the potential for synthesis into new cards. However, for various reasons, he chose not to combine those cards.
After reading the content on the new cards, he began examining the items inside the box. Most of the small box contained gold bars of the same size, only slightly larger than an adult male's thumb.
Taking out a few gold bars and inspecting them, Liang En realized that these bars were likely privately minted. They not only had a rough exterior but also bore a single stamp in a box, the letter "B" in uppercase.
Although these gold bars were not large, each one felt weighty in his hand. Using a portable electronic scale he carried with him, he confirmed that each gold bar weighed around 200 grams.
After a rough count, there were a total of more than 570 gold bars in the box. Considering that each bar was of a similar size, the total weight of these bars came to about 110 kg.
Nestled among these gold bars were two silver boxes the size of soap containers. Opening them revealed an array of jewelry.
The difference was that one box contained jewelry embedded with numerous gemstones, while the other box held jewelry adorned with techniques such as enamel mosaics, exquisite in its craftsmanship.
After expending effort to load the gold bars and jewelry into the car, Liang En sat in the dark of the driver's seat, took a deep breath, and calmed his emotions before starting the car and heading back to the city.
Early the next morning, having had little sleep throughout the night, Liang En rose at 6 a.m. and drove back to his home in Sword Town.
After greeting his mother, he headed straight to his room and began examining the gold and jewelry he had found earlier.
During a detailed inspection, he discovered that several of the gold pieces were intricately engraved with numerous characters.
Clearly, the treasure hoarder had considered the potential effects of time and corrosion on various objects, thus choosing to inscribe the information they wished to preserve onto the gold.
It must be acknowledged that the treasure hoarder's choice was prudent. Even the reinforced wooden box holding these riches had undergone multiple anti-corrosion treatments and still exhibited significant decay. However, the characters on the gold remained as fresh as if they had been carved just yesterday.
All these inscriptions were in French, the work of Jacques de Brienne. The contents narrated the life of an aristocrat who had fled overseas during the French Revolution.
The whole story begins with the escape of Louis XVI back in the day. When Louis was trapped in Saint-Mornaud, his failed escape didn't cut him off completely from the outside world; there were opportunities for external contacts.
However, what Louis XVI didn't anticipate was how swiftly the National Assembly could react. On the second day of his discovery, he was transported back to Paris, rendering his communication with the outside world nearly futile and unable to save himself.
During that time, Jacques de Brienne, also known as Liang En, served as a messenger and encountered Louis XVI. At that point, Louis instructed him to deliver the previously mentioned hare locket to a count.
Unfortunately, Saint-Mornaud was already under the watch of the National Guard by that time. Despite Jacques's best efforts to disguise himself, he was captured and imprisoned for several days.
Upon his release, the hare locket was nowhere to be found. Following this, significant changes unfolded in France's political landscape; Louis XVI and his queen faced the guillotine, and the aristocrats began their flight from the country.
It was during this upheaval that Jacques and the count he was seeking to meet joined forces on their journey into exile, eventually finding refuge in England.
The repercussions of the French Revolution reverberated across Europe, especially for Britain, which played a meddling role by supporting various organizations opposing the then French Republic. Naturally, Jacques, a loyalist to the Bourbon dynasty, and the count both joined one such organization.
Thanks to his noble title and capabilities, the count became the individual responsible for raising funds within this organization. This organization operated for many years, but during Napoleon's reign as emperor, a substantial number of its members returned to France. For these aristocrats, loyalty was merely a bargaining chip to gain benefits.
Since Napoleon was willing to acknowledge their titles and return a portion of their wealth, kneeling before him and swearing allegiance seemed only customary.
Among those who returned to France was the count. However, after Napoleon's exile to Saint Helena and the restoration of Charles X, the count, for various reasons, severed ties with England.
For Jacques de Brienne, this was a dire situation. A considerable portion of the organization's wealth remained in England, and during the long period of exile, many investments had been made there.
Thus, even though the majority of the organization's members had returned to France, Jacques de Brienne remained in England, diligently managing these assets.
After severing ties with the count, some individuals did approach Jacques in an attempt to claim this wealth. However, as per the organization's internal rules, only the count had the right to retrieve these assets from Jacques. Out of loyalty to the promises among nobles, Jacques did not relinquish the wealth to anyone else.
It wasn't until 1842, when a severe illness struck, that Jacques de Brienne realized his time on Earth might be limited. At that point, this septuagenarian began to manage the assets belonging to the organization that he had overseen.
He liquidated the organization's holdings in England, converting everything into gold bars and merging them with the wealth the organization had collected from the nobility. These assets were then concealed in a box, with a hidden record left within his frequently used copy of the Bible.
The motive behind this action was quite simple: he could not find a reliable person to help locate the count and return these items. Thus, he chose this method, allowing divine providence to select an heir for him.
What he never anticipated was that this wait would span over a hundred years. It wasn't until Liang En stumbled upon the hidden records left behind by Jacques de Brienne through a series of fortuitous events and followed the clues, ultimately unearthing this fortune.
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