"What on earth is this?" Liang En set down the item, his face showing a sudden realization, which prompted Jeanne d'Arc to shift her gaze from the metal to his face.
"I can't tell what it is at all." "Actually, it’s quite easy to deduce," Liang En replied, picking up a piece of metal from the table and handing it to Jeanne. "Just rub it with your hands and smell it, and you’ll probably guess what it is."
"Let me try—" Jeanne took the metal, rubbed it, and then sniffed it just below her nose. Soon, a look of understanding appeared on her face. "I smell a marine odor; was this fished out from the sea?"
"Exactly, and these items must have been retrieved not too long ago, or else the distinct smell of the ocean would have faded," Liang En pointed at the blackish metal and explained.
"Moreover, the white-gray spots on it are left by marine organisms that settled on it, which means this item likely spent a considerable time in the ocean."
"I see!" Jeanne’s face showed an enlightened expression, but soon, she had another question. "Can you tell where it was retrieved from?"
"That, I can't determine, but I think I can find someone to ask about this," Liang En said, somewhat embarrassed by her question, but he quickly thought of a solution.
"If nothing else, we can trace the logistics of this item through the identities of the sender and the receiver, and then figure out exactly where it came from."
Tracking this for ordinary people might seem complex, but for Liang En, with his wide network and resources, understanding this was feasible.
The Golden Dawn organization's internal website, built ten years ago to facilitate communication and mutual aid among members, was his go-to resource. Liang En habitually logged onto this site every morning to catch up on news and help answer queries he could address.
For the Golden Dawn, many members often needed help identifying ancient texts or documents, and Liang En, who mastered numerous ancient scripts, could translate them effortlessly.
According to him, helping out was merely a minor effort that allowed him to maintain good relationships with a large group of people—a very worthwhile daily ten-minute endeavor.
Indeed, these efforts paid off. After posting his query on the Golden Dawn’s website, by the next afternoon, he received detailed information from a fellow member.
"The information is very detailed; I think we should be able to act on it soon," Jeanne nodded satisfactorily, glancing over several sheets of printed paper, then as if remembering something, she asked, "Is the source reliable?"
"Absolutely, it comes from one of the top private detectives in the UK." Liang En tapped the printed documents and added, "I know him well because we’ve interacted quite a bit lately, so I’m sure of it."
This detective was also a passionate enthusiast of ancient Egypt, so knowing that Liang En could translate Egyptian, they quickly became acquainted, and Liang En had translated many items for him. Thus, when he learned that Liang En needed help, he provided all the assistance he could.
This help was invaluable as it enabled Liang En to understand the origins and consequences related to the items and roughly figure out what was happening.
As he had guessed, these items came from an illegal salvage group in the Middle East, ostensibly a regular fishing company but actually engaged in unlawful underwater artifact retrieval in the Eastern Mediterranean.
However, this group suffered a devastating blow: while returning to their base in Lebanon, they mistakenly entered Israeli territorial waters and were attacked and destroyed by the Israeli Navy.
The group panicked and fled despite multiple warnings, and the Israelis, mistaking them for terrorists, took violent measures to intercept.
The loss of key personnel and ships meant the organization was effectively defunct. According to intelligence gathered by the detective through his contacts, the organization’s overseas shipping channels had completely collapsed.
This was probably why these items ended up unclaimed at Edinburgh Airport—when the organization fell apart, the intended recipients failed to take delivery.
Regrettably, the Israelis’ so-called anti-terrorism measures were so severe that it was impossible to know what the group had previously excavated.
At least, after being subjected to a 20mm autocannon barrage followed by a pair of precision-guided Hydra rockets, the whole group, along with their ship, lay at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, leaving no one to interrogate about these matters.
As for those on land who were supposed to receive the shipments, their whereabouts were unknown since they had to avoid potential adversaries' attempts at robbery, thus necessitating utmost secrecy on every trip.
Thus, the investigation hit a dead end, but realizing that this channel was temporarily fruitless, Liang En quickly shifted his approach to examining these metal pieces for any valuable information.
Having gained ample experience from numerous archaeological endeavors, Liang En hoped to uncover the secrets behind these items through his own efforts
, and if all else failed, he could resort to using his skill cards.
Cleaning these metal pieces proved much simpler than dealing with other items, so Liang En soon cleaned all the small metal pieces, which were about the size of an adult male's index finger and each covered with a thick layer of black oxide while also bearing many signs of marine organism attachment.
But once the oxide layer was removed, they discovered the metal was actually golden, and the marks confirmed that these were simply ingots.
"These items must have come from the cargo of a ship," Liang En mused, looking at the cleaned ingots. "And such metal was probably very valuable in that era."
Based on his prior knowledge, these types of metal ingots, used as raw materials, had one distinguishing feature: the smaller the ingot, the higher its value. This wasn't an absolute rule, but generally held true.
"I remember that humans first began smelting brass on a large scale in ancient Rome, but the earliest brass artifacts were found in China," Jeanne, having learned to read and studied many books since arriving in this world, quickly identified the material of the metal and shared her knowledge.
"However, this also presents a huge problem—it’s very difficult to determine from which era these simple metal ingots originate."
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