"What is this?" Jeanne asked as she gently touched the solid object after putting on gloves. Despite examining it for a long time, she hadn't detected any unusual odor. "It feels soft, kind of like the texture of the dough you used before."
"You said it feels like dough?" Liang En looked puzzled. He was certain he hadn't packed anything like this in the box, so whatever it was, it must be something harmful.
"Let me think, let me think... What could have this kind of texture but also pose a serious threat? I believe whoever put this in our box has malicious intent—"
His reasoning was sound, especially considering the archaeological site would soon receive many visitors, meaning these items would be transported to the site.
Given that the placement of this object, although hidden, was in a spot that could easily be discovered during a formal inspection, Liang En leaned towards the idea that this item was meant to frame them rather than cause actual harm.
"Wait, I think I remember something like this from the last time I was at the White Knight training ground—" Jeanne suddenly spoke as Liang En pondered the implications of the object.
"You remember it? What is it?" Liang En immediately asked, because he, too, had a vague memory of such an object but couldn't quite recall what it was.
"Plastic explosives, yes, that's it! This must be plastic explosives!" After a moment of silence, Jeanne clenched her right fist and struck her open left palm, as if the memory had finally clicked.
"I remember now. I saw something like this during demolition training. I just didn't think someone would actually place such a thing here."
Jeanne's surprise was understandable. The explosives had been dyed, making them look completely different from the white explosives she had seen before, so she hadn't immediately recognized them.
"You’re saying this is plastic explosives?" Liang En moved closer to examine it again after hearing Jeanne's words, then nodded. "It certainly looks like it, but what’s the purpose of doing this?"
The amount of explosives was too small, and there were no nails or metal fragments attached to increase lethality, so its destructive power would be less than that of a grenade with the same amount of explosives.
In other words, although it was called an explosive, its actual use would be more like a large firecracker, with a very limited real effect.
More importantly, it was simply hidden in the gaps between the furniture, so it would be easily discovered once the box was opened to set up the furniture.
"I'm certain this wasn't intended for a real violent attack." After thoroughly checking the surrounding boxes and confirming there were no other explosives, Jeanne concluded.
"Because for a violent attack, the amount of explosives here is almost as good as nothing. So I can’t figure out why someone would place these explosives in our belongings."
"I think I have an idea." Liang En said, looking at the small piece of explosive in front of him. "For instance, these explosives might not be meant to hurt anyone, but rather to make others believe that we intend to."
"Don’t forget, we’re about to welcome some distinguished guests. And if they discover that we are transporting explosives to the site, what do you think will happen?"
"Then we’d definitely face serious trouble." Jeanne finally understood. She had always been less sensitive to such matters in history, so she hadn't realized the trick at first.
"I think it wouldn’t be too difficult for us to extricate ourselves, but there’s a good chance our permit would be revoked, allowing the Thule Society to intervene."
"Yes, even though the Thule Society suffered a major setback before, they still have some arrangements in Turkey that we weren’t aware of." Liang En nodded.
An organization that had survived for decades and once held some of the secrets of the Third Reich wouldn’t be easily uprooted. Liang En had no doubt that those people had some contingencies in place.
Moreover, the current situation was quite delicate. As this site gained more fame, the Turkish side had increasingly regretted not having a leading role in the expedition.
So, they had always wanted to regain control of the exploration, but considering their national credibility, they couldn’t act too aggressively. As a result, they were in a very conflicted state.
Therefore, if the Thule Society’s conspiracy succeeded, the Turkish side would likely cooperate to drive Liang En and his team out, driven by their interests. The Thule Society wouldn’t even need to expose too much of their power.
Of course, the Thule Society would certainly use the power they held to fan the flames, but in such a broad context, it would be impossible to identify who among the opposition’s contacts was involved.
"This is indeed a very cunning tactic." After explaining the situation to Jeanne, Liang En said seriously, "They don’t need to use much force, but they can achieve excellent results."
"And if we didn’t have some unconventional means and hadn’t received prior intelligence, I think this plan of theirs might have succeeded."
"After all, when transporting these items, our inspections wouldn’t have been particularly thorough. And for the Thule Society, they just needed to get these explosives to the checkpoint."
"So, what should we do next? We know their plot and have thwarted their actions, and they likely don’t know we’ve done all this." Jeanne asked, holding up the piece of explosive.
Plastic explosives are actually quite safe; even if you light them on fire or shoot them, they won’t explode, which is why Jeanne could handle them so casually.
"We have two choices: either we pretend nothing happened and quietly resolve this matter, or we take more aggressive retaliatory measures."
"I choose the second option." Liang En lightly patted Jeanne’s hand and said, "The ravens have already tracked them down. They’re hiding in Istanbul."
Through the ravens’ eyes, they saw the group quickly board a Mercedes SUV and head for Istanbul, proving they weren’t there to steal anything—after all, stealing wouldn’t even cover the gas money for such a car.
These people were indeed elite; even though they didn’t think there was any problem with their operation, they still took many precautions to shake off potential followers.
But they didn’t expect that their pursuers were two highly intelligent ravens, allowing Liang En to easily locate their current position.
To his surprise, as the group entered their room, Liang En saw a familiar face standing in the hallway through the raven’s eyes as it flew past the window.
"Speer, it’s one of our old friends." Liang En said to Jeanne after opening his eyes, "The one who escaped from us in Greece last time."
"No wonder... After all, it takes a certain skill to escape from us, so it’s not surprising that he could design such a trap."
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