"Here is your deserved reward." Early the next morning, in a private room of a café, the steward of the Count's estate, Ludovic Lubson, met with Liang En and the others. As soon as they met, the steward pushed a large check across the table.
"200,000 euros? It seems this is a bit more than what you promised before," Liang En glanced at the number on the check and inquired of the steward sitting across from him.
"The extra 50,000 is a bonus from the Count himself," Ludovic Lubson said earnestly.
"Your recent actions have resolved a problem that has troubled our family for decades, and you've also located a missing family member. So, the Count believes you deserve a generous reward."
"Furthermore, the Count asked me to inform you that the individuals connected to the fortune you discovered exceed our initial expectations. Therefore, it might take until after Christmas to accurately calculate the value of those items—"
"No worries, whenever you have those things figured out and valued, that's when you can give me the money," Liang En waved his hand and replied with a smile.
According to the information he had seen on the ingots earlier, this money was tied to at least 20 to 30 hereditary noble families. So, untangling the relationships within this wealth was certainly not something that could be done quickly, even a century later.
As a simple example, some nobles had no direct heirs, but there were many potential inheritors of their wealth. So, determining who should receive the money posed a significant challenge.
"Thank you for your understanding." After Liang En's words, Ludovic Lubson nodded slightly, expressing his gratitude for Liang En's understanding. After a brief conversation, the steward took his leave.
"We're making a fortune this time." Once the steward left, excitement gleamed in Pierce's eyes. Although, according to the agreement, he would only receive a tenth of the money, making 20,000 euros in less than a week was still a substantial sum.
"Yes, indeed, striking it rich." After pocketing the check, Liang En responded to Pierce. "By the way, what's our next step? Do you have any new information?"
"There are some opportunities, but they're not all great." As Pierce spoke, he handed a list to Liang En.
"Jobs like these warehouse auctions or cleaning tasks—pure manual labor. I think it's not really worth our time to do these jobs. Of course, if there aren't any better alternatives, then these jobs are acceptable."
"How about this job exploring the territory guard training base?" After going through the entire list, Liang En pointed to one of the items and asked.
"I'm a bit hesitant about this because the place was abandoned after World War II and it's located in the East End of London," Pierce said, glancing at the information on his phone.
"During WWII, this base was on the outskirts of London, but after the war, it was completely abandoned and the growing city enveloped it within the urban area."
"Then, starting from the 70s, that area gradually turned into what they call a 'deprived community.' It wasn't until this year that someone bought up all the land and plans to develop new real estate."
"So, you're saying if there was anything valuable there, it might have been taken away already?" Liang En realized why Pierce was hesitant after his description.
A "deprived community" was similar to places like downtown Detroit, where financially struggling residents might have already scavenged anything valuable.
"Yes, but there are still benefits to searching there," Pierce continued. "To enter and search, it costs only £150, and we can take whatever we find without having to clean up the mess."
"Then that's what we'll do." Liang En tapped his phone screen with his fingertip. "At least, compared to other places, this base offers the best value for our money."
Later that afternoon, Liang En and Pierce returned to London by plane. After a night's rest, they drove to the outskirts of the city the next morning to the training base, now transformed into a construction site.
Though it was called a training base, most of the open spaces had been developed into buildings, leaving them with just a three-story main building and an adjacent two-story annex to explore.
After paying £150 in cash to the person at the gate, Liang En and Pierce entered the relatively small yard.
"This place doesn't look too promising," Liang En remarked spontaneously, observing the building with empty doorframes and windows, and the yard cluttered with debris.
"With what we paid, the condition here is about what I expected," Pierce's mood seemed better. With more experience in this field, he was mentally prepared for such environments.
After a brief discussion, they decided to start their search in the yard using metal detectors. The yard seemed more promising than the obviously searched interior of the buildings.
"I'm getting a signal here." According to their plan, each of them covered half of the yard. Pierce had the luck to pick up some underground metal reactions.
The buried object wasn't too deep; digging down about five or six centimeters with a small shovel, they felt it hit a hard object. They began clearing away the dirt from that spot, working outward from the center.
As the dirt gradually cleared, the previously buried metallic object emerged. It was a rust-covered metal canister about the size of an adult's fist, with remnants of black paint on its surface.
"I know what this is." As soon as he saw it, Pierce recognized its identity. "This should be a gas mask filter canister."
Indeed, upon flipping the canister over, Liang En noticed a multitude of small holes on the bottom, likely for air intake.
"Before World War II, the UK stockpiled 87 million gas masks on its home soil. In contrast, the Germans had only 9 million. The British military believed that in the event of war, the enemy would likely drop large quantities of gas bombs over Britain."
"So, when WWII broke out, the British Civil Defense Commission distributed gas masks to everyone and mandated that they be carried at all times. There's even an old gas mask up in my attic."
"You Brits were fortunate back then," Liang En sighed as he listened to Pierce's explanation.
At that moment, he thought about the past in China, where even frontline soldiers often didn't have such equipment. They had to dip towels in their own urine to counter the effects of Japanese gas attacks and fight the enemy at the risk of their lives.
"You should say 'you Brits.' I'm Irish," Pierce corrected with a shake of his head. "Compared to that upstart Germany that looted the world for hundreds of years, the depth of heritage in various aspects of the UK is far greater than we imagine."
"Of course, it's also good for us. It means we might find more valuable items here."
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