33: Lost Ancient Town

Wang Dalong felt as if his soul was still lingering on the bed of that short-term rental in Chengdu, while his body, like a bag of potatoes discarded at random, rolled around inside the jolting off-road vehicle.

Beside him, Lin Feng was holding a tablet, his fingers sliding rapidly across the screen. It was filled with dense satellite maps and contour lines; his focused expression made it seem as if he wasn't going treasure hunting, but rather commanding the Normandy landings.

“I say, Brother Feng, why are we putting ourselves through this?” Wang Dalong slumped listlessly in the passenger seat, watching the rural scenery of western Sichuan recede rapidly outside the window while grumbling, “Isn't the hotpot in Chengdu delicious? Aren't the pandas at the base adorable? Why do we have to run to this middle-of-nowhere mountain gully just for some drunkard's tall tale?”

“He wasn't bragging.” Lin Feng didn't even look up, his voice calm, his gaze constantly locked onto a river curve on the screen. “Chuan Army General Liu Xiang's engineering regiment, Republic-era newspapers, and that fat man's mnemonic—three independent clues all point to the same place: the Dadu River, Anshunchang.”

The off-road vehicle they had rented in Chengdu was powerful. After several hours of high-speed driving, a majestic and magnificent scene finally unfolded before their eyes.

A turbid and turbulent great river, like an enraged yellow dragon, tore through the towering mountains, galloping and roaring through the deep canyon. The current crashed against the boulders on the banks, kicking up thousands of snow-white waves; the booming roar made one's eardrums buzz.

This was the Dadu River.

In the livestream, the magnificent scene captured by the drone made all the viewers hold their breath.

[Holy crap! This Dadu River is way too fierce! Just looking at it makes my legs weak!]

[With this current, if a person falls in, they're just gone! Taiping Rebellion Leader Shi Dakai was trapped and died because of this river back then, right?]

[Feng God is awesome! He said he’d be here in three days and he is. This execution is incredible!]

[It's here, it's here! My electronic snacks have been updated! Sunflower seeds and cola are ready, waiting for Feng God to perform a treasure-hunting masterpiece!]

The car stopped at a small town next to the Anshunchang ferry crossing. The town wasn't large; on both sides of the street were brick-and-concrete buildings of varying ages, housing restaurants, inns, and local specialty shops. The air held a damp moisture, mixed with the scent of soil and plants.

“This is it?” Wang Dalong got out of the car, stretched, and looked around. The town sat by the Dadu River with rolling green mountains behind it, perfectly fitting the layout of "facing water and backed by mountains." A few tourists with backpacks were taking photos in front of a monument at the ferry crossing, which was inscribed with the words: "Tragic Land of the Wing King, Victory Field of the Red Army." A sense of historical weight washed over him.

Lin Feng ignored the tourists. Like a rigorous surveyor, he walked unhurriedly through the small town. His enhanced eyes, like the most precise radar, scanned every detail.

Sometimes he would squat down to pinch the soil by the roadside; other times he would look up to observe the architectural structure of the houses and the traces of weathering.

Wang Dalong followed behind him, bored out of his mind. He felt that aside from the slightly better scenery, this town was no different from the countless small towns he had seen in his hometown; he really couldn't see where any mountains of gold or silver were hidden.

“Brother Feng, found anything? Is there some old man with gold ingots buried under his bed?” Wang Dalong cracked a joke, trying to break the heavy atmosphere.

Lin Feng stopped at the entrance of a small alley, his brow slightly furrowed. He pointed at a blue stone slab under his feet, then at the foundation of a nearby three-story building.

“Something's not right,” he whispered.

“What's not right?” Wang Dalong leaned over and stared for a long time, but aside from seeing a few ants moving house on the stone slab, he didn't see anything.

“It's too new.” Lin Feng's voice carried an indisputable judgment. “Look at the foundations of these buildings. Although they've been deliberately aged, they all use modern cement and machine-made bricks. The edges of the street's stone slabs are cut neatly, and the wear is too uniform. Everything in this town is too 'orderly'; it doesn't look like it was formed naturally through over a hundred years of wind and rain.”

The comments in the livestream instantly exploded.

[??? What does that mean? This town is a fake?]

[Holy cow, a detail freak! Feng God's observation skills are simply inhuman! I've been watching on fast-forward, and he's actually studying floor tiles?]

[The person above has a narrow perspective! What does treasure hunting rely on? Details! This move by Feng God, I'm willing to call it textbook level!]

[True, an ancient town that has survived a hundred years of wind and rain couldn't be this 'clean.' There should be traces of repairs and patching everywhere.]

Lin Feng turned and walked into a roadside convenience store, bought two bottles of water, and chatted with the elderly man running the shop. The old man was very talkative and spoke with a thick local accent.

“Oh, you're asking about this town? This is the new town!” The old man unscrewed his teacup lid and took a sip of strong tea. “Our Anshunchang didn't used to be in this spot. It was about two or three li downstream—that was the Old Market Town.”

“And the old town?” Lin Feng pressed.

“Washed away!” The old man slapped his thigh, a lingering fear appearing on his face. “That was back in the 1900s. I heard from my grandfather that there was a flood, a huge flood! In a single night, half the town was swept into the river! Later, the survivors moved here and rebuilt the town. As for that Old Market Town, there's only some ruined foundations left now. The grass grows taller than a person; nobody goes there anymore.”

Wang Dalong stood by, listening in dumbfounded silence.

He looked at Lin Feng and saw no surprise on his face; instead, there was a faint expression of "as I thought."

Holy crap!

A massive wave of shock surged in Wang Dalong's heart. He finally understood why Lin Feng was so confident! This guy wasn't "searching" at all; he was "verifying"! Before he even arrived, he had probably already deduced all the possibilities!

[Case closed! Family, I declare the case closed!]

[Darn! So the current Anshunchang isn't the Anshunchang from over a hundred years ago! This is too much information!]

[Feng God is awesome! Deducing the destruction of the ancient town from a single detail—is that brain a supercomputer?]

[Oh my god, I feel like I'm not watching a treasure-hunting livestream, I'm watching 'Approaching Science'!]

[Where are the haters? Come out and take a few steps! Does the face of the one who just said Feng God was going to fail hurt?]

“Let's go to the Old Market Town.” Lin Feng tossed aside the mineral water bottle and turned to walk in the direction the old man had pointed.

Wang Dalong gave a wail and followed resignedly.

He understood now. Lin Feng's brain was like a supercomputer; any seemingly insignificant piece of information could be captured by him and become a variable to correct his model parameters. In Lin Feng's world, there were no true "dead ends"; every apparent failure was merely to eliminate a wrong option.

The two walked downstream along the riverbank. The path by the river became increasingly difficult to traverse, soon turning into a dirt road covered in wild grass. The moisture in the air grew heavier, and the ground beneath their feet became muddy and slippery.

Wang Dalong complained as he walked: “My god, these ancestors really knew how to pick a spot. Forget about hiding treasure here, even walking is a struggle. Do you think Shi Dakai had a brain cramp back then and just threw the gold and silver treasures into the river, thinking of doing a 'Dadu River Sunken Silver' as a tribute to Zhang Xianzhong?”

Lin Feng didn't speak. His gaze pierced through the dense bushes ahead, and he could already see some broken walls and ruined foundations faintly visible amidst the wild grass.

An aura of decay and desolation, having crossed nearly a hundred years of time, rushed toward them.

The netizens in the livestream also saw this wasteland forgotten by the world through the drone's perspective.

[This is the vibe! This is what treasure hunting looks like!]

[Wait... they found it just like that? You've got to be kidding! How long has it been since they arrived?]

[The person before, this is only finding the ruins of the old town; they're still far from the treasure! But it has to be said, Feng God's efficiency is terrifying!]

[Waiting for the God of Wealth to arrive! I can already imagine the glittering gold ingots!]

The two stepped into the ruins, their feet sinking unevenly.

This place was simply a kingdom of plants. Waist-high wild grass grew crazily, vines entwined around collapsed walls, and several large, nameless trees sprouted from the foundations of the houses, their roots prying the blue stone slabs apart.

Wang Dalong pushed aside a clump of bushes and gasped at the sight before him.