Using the card, Liang En saw what really happened back then. As previously speculated, it was a ragtag team, including armed security, national defense forces, and even ground crew from the air force.
The reason they could gather together was simple: they were ordered to transport and hide part of the wealth stored in Berlin.
As the capital of Germany, Berlin held a vast amount of wealth. Although the Germans tried to transport various materials out of Berlin before the end of World War II, the wealth that remained in Berlin was still astronomical.
Considering the sequence of transporting these materials, it must have started with the most important items. Therefore, the importance of the items taken away is self-evident.
According to the notebook's contents, this group of people continued south with this pile of items until they reached a secret military base in the mountains south of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.
"Do you think the treasure they moved could be in this place?" Jeanne asked, looking at the map Liang En had temporarily drawn after emerging from the cave and entering the tent.
"Hard to say." Liang En pondered for a few seconds before responding, "Because if we consider the timing, they arrived near Prague just as the Soviets launched the last battle of World War II, the Prague Offensive."
"That's troublesome." Jeanne sighed deeply, resting his chin on his hand, understanding the brutality of war and knowing that anything could happen in such chaotic times.
Therefore, whether the goods mentioned in the notebook reached the vicinity of Prague, whether they were placed in that secret room, and whether they have been preserved until today, are all unknowns for Liang En and his team.
However, if they didn't check it out, they would always feel some regret. Thus, after completing the handover of the relics and dealing with the journalists who came with the ambassador the next morning, Liang En and his team headed to Prague.
Considering the need for secrecy in the upcoming work, after arriving in Prague, Liang En had Fan Meng temporarily check the security work at the museum on his behalf, while he and Jeanne continued south.
For Fan Meng, this was a very normal task because he knew he needed to give Liang En and Jeanne some personal space and not act as a third wheel at such a time.
"Our target is a manor 37 kilometers south of Prague." Liang En said to Jeanne, who was sitting in the passenger seat, while holding the steering wheel as Fan Meng headed to the city center museum.
"According to my information, this manor originally belonged to a Jewish banker, then became a German field hospital and was abandoned during the Prague Offensive."
"During the Soviet occupation, the Czechoslovak era, and even today when the Czech Republic and Slovakia are separate countries, few people have shown interest in this place."
The Czech Republic is not a land-scarce country, so it's normal for manors far from cities and located in inconvenient mountainous areas to be abandoned after the war.
Especially since many people died there for abnormal reasons, ordinary people naturally avoided such places.
"It seems that not many people come here." Jeanne remarked instinctively upon seeing the manor after Liang En parked the car at the entrance.
Because the overgrown plants had completely blocked the entire entrance, the originally drivable road could now only be traversed on foot.
"This is a good sign, meaning the place is virtually untouched." Liang En said as he opened the trunk, took out two machetes, and handed one to Jeanne. "So if those people really delivered the goods here as planned, the possibility of them still being here is quite high."
They brought the machetes because they often needed to clear a path. As they had guessed from outside, some areas inside were so densely overgrown that they had to cut through branches to get in.
Fortunately, it wasn't a tropical rainforest, so after a difficult 15-minute trek, they reached an abandoned fountain in front of the building.
It was a three-story building with beige walls, off-white window frames, and a red roof, a standard Bohemian-style architecture.
However, because the building had been abandoned after the war, it was in ruins: all doors and windows were destroyed, the roof collapsed, the turret crumbled, and even several large holes were blasted by artillery on the side of the house.
"I personally don't recommend entering this house." After circling the house, Jeanne said seriously to Liang En, "This house could collapse at any moment; it's too dangerous to enter."
"Don't worry, I won't go into the main building." Liang En said, "Don't forget this main building was a field hospital; too many people came and went. It's not safe to hide things here."
Honestly, if it were small items, the building might not leak the news. But hiding several truckloads of stuff here wouldn't be easy.
So according to Liang En's guess, even if the items were brought to the manor, they wouldn't be stored in the main building but rather in a safer nearby location.
"Where do you think is suitable for hiding treasures around here?" Jeanne asked, slightly relieved after Liang En assured he wouldn't enter the dangerous building.
After all, they came here to search for treasure, so after completing the initial inspection, the next step was to determine where the items might be hidden.
"I guess it's over there." Liang En pointed to an outbuilding on the side of the main building after recalling the surroundings he had just seen. "We can check it out."
Based on Liang En's guess, the items wouldn't be buried in a pit but stored somewhere secure and retrievable. Otherwise, they could have dumped them in any lake they passed by.
Therefore, the hiding place should be a sturdy man-made structure. Given this premise, after a simple screening, only the nearby outbuilding seemed like a possible target.
"This should be a warehouse." As they approached the building, Liang En immediately recognized it as such. Unfortunately, the building was in terrible condition.
Judging by the walls and roof full of holes, this place had been a major battleground between the Germans and Soviets and had caught fire later.
Looking through the cracks in the walls and the door frame without a door, they saw the room was filled with charred wood and twisted metal parts.
"It seems this building was used to store wood in the late war." After a brief inspection, Liang En concluded, "It's also a good place to hide things."
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