127: Chapter 127 The Three-Thousand-Year-Old Royal City

Li Xin arrived at the dry river valley and checked the surroundings; it was even more secluded than it looked on the satellite map. To his surprise, he discovered a stone house by the edge of the dry river valley.

The stone house was surrounded by mountains on three sides; the mountains were not high but exceptionally steep. The grayish-yellow rock walls, weathered by thousands of years of wind and sand, were covered in dense cracks. The river valley wound in from the north, made a turn in front of the stone house's door, and then extended further south. Looking inward from the valley entrance, the view was blocked by the bend, making it impossible to see the stone house inside.

Li Xin parked his car behind the stone house. There was a small flat area there, shielded by the rock wall and invisible from the outside. He got out of the car and walked around the stone house.

The stone house was only about a dozen square meters in size. The roof was gone for some unknown reason, but the walls were still relatively intact, with the highest point reaching over two meters. There were traces of a fire on the ground, and some withered thorn branches were piled in the corner, likely left behind by shepherds in the past. There were a few flat stones at the base of the wall that could serve as stools.

He stood at the door of the stone house and looked south. The bend in the river valley blocked his view, so he couldn't see the road or farmland outside. Looking north, the river valley led straight into the mountains, getting narrower and narrower until it turned into a rock crevice. Even if someone came in from the north, they could be seen from far away.

This location was about eleven kilometers in a straight line from the core area of the Underground Royal City. The system's Scan radius was twenty-eight kilometers, which was more than enough for coverage.

"AI System, can the system handle an Extraction from such a long distance?"

[Of course, there is no problem. The current location is about eleven kilometers from the target, and the Underground Royal City is within the Scan radius, so Extraction can be performed normally. Plus, there is good news: the system repair effect is currently quite good, and the Extraction speed has increased significantly. However, the corresponding Extraction time limit has been reduced to 12 hours.]

Li Xin nodded.

"That's actually pretty good! This way, I can let it cool down during the day and Extract at night, or Extract during the day and let it cool at night; it's easier to arrange the time."

"Start Extraction now. Target: Jamshid Underground Royal City. I'll Extract for twelve hours this time."

[Extraction in progress. Target depth: 80 to 120 meters underground. Three-layer structure, total area approximately 22,500 square meters. This continuous Extraction limit: 12 hours. Current Extraction rate: approximately 20 tons/hour.]

Pale blue light poured out from the system and extended underground toward the southeast. The progress bar began to jump, very slowly; it took about a minute for every one percent.

He leaned against the wall of the stone house and took a folding chair out of his space to sit down. He also took water and dry rations from his backpack and placed them on a stone beside him.

The sun rose in the east, shining into the river valley, and the shadows shrank little by little. There was no wind; it was dry and hot.

Progress: three percent, seven percent, eleven percent.

In the afternoon, the sound of an engine came from a distance. Li Xin stood up, walked to the bend in the river valley, and poked his head out to look. A white pickup truck drove over from the south, heading north along the dirt road outside the river valley. The truck was carrying several oil drums, looking like it was delivering supplies to herdsmen.

The pickup truck did not turn into the river valley and drove straight past.

Li Xin returned to the stone house and continued staring at the panel.

Progress: nineteen percent, twenty-four percent, thirty-one percent.

The sun slowly slid from overhead to the west. The light turned from blinding to soft, and the stones in the river valley were dyed orange-red.

He stood up to stretch and took a box of self-heating rice out of his space. He ate it and continued staring at the panel.

Progress: thirty-nine percent, forty-four percent, fifty percent. The sky began to darken. He took a jacket out of his space to put on and also took out a flashlight and placed it beside him.

At eight o'clock in the evening, progress was fifty-eight percent. There were no headlights in the distance, no human voices. The river valley was so quiet that only his own breathing remained.

He did not stop. He set an alarm; when he felt sleepy, he would nap for a while, with the alarm ringing every fifteen minutes, and when he woke up, he would continue staring.

The next morning, progress was sixty-seven percent.

When the first batch of twelve hours ended, the system popped up a notification.

[Ding—The first batch of Extraction from the Jamshid Underground Royal City is complete. This Extraction: 240 tons of gold. Load is stable, current system load is 65%. A forced cooling period of 12 hours is required.]

Cumulative gold: 3155.1057 tons.

He put the folding chair into his space and got into the car. He started the engine, turned out of the river valley, and got onto the dirt road. Looking in the rearview mirror, the stone house was behind the bend in the river valley, with no shadow to be seen. This place was indeed secluded.

It was already morning when he returned to Shiraz. He parked the car in front of the hotel and went upstairs to take a shower. After washing, he lay on the bed, calculating in his mind—a total duration of ninety hours, with 240 tons extracted in the first batch; the speed was much faster than expected. At this rate, it would take ninety-plus hours to finish everything, and with cooling, it would only take a little over a week to get it done.

This time, the system finally came through; otherwise, with the complex structure of the Underground Royal City—three layers of space, with rock layers separating each level—the system would slow down when penetrating different media during Extraction. He couldn't rush it either; if he rushed, the load would increase, causing more trouble. Now that the speed had increased, it was truly timely good news.

At noon, he went downstairs wanting to buy something. The old man at the front desk was reading a newspaper behind the counter; when he saw him come down, he looked up.

"You didn't come back yesterday?"

"I stayed in the mountains for a day. Working."

The old man nodded and turned the newspaper over. Li Xin glanced at it—a missing person notice was tucked into the gutter of the newspaper, with a photo and a description in Persian.

The photo was of an old white man, in his sixties, with gray hair and glasses, looking like a scholar. He stared at that face for a few seconds, feeling it was somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it. He could understand the Persian— "French archaeologist, Durand, missing in Shiraz three months ago..."

He didn't see the rest of the content. The old man flipped the newspaper over.

Li Xin didn't think much of it, walked out of the hotel, and went sightseeing.

In the evening, Wang Lei sent him a message: "There's a gathering tonight, are you coming?"

"No. I ran around in the mountains all day, too tired, I want to get some good rest."

"Alright. Then you rest."

Li Xin lay on the bed and pulled up his phone's map. That location of the stone house was fifteen kilometers from the Persepolis ruins and twelve kilometers from the Valley of the Kings, with the nearest household being a village six kilometers to the south. Logically speaking, no one should go there.

But the pickup truck during the day was a reminder. It wasn't that there was no one in this place; it was just that there were few people.

Early the next morning, before dawn, he set off again.

When he arrived at the stone house, it was just getting light. He got out of the car, checked it over, confirmed that no one had been there, and after ensuring everything was safe, he entered the stone house and sat down.

"System, continue Extraction."

[Extraction in progress... The second batch of Extraction has started. Current load is 63%. It is estimated that about 240 tons can be extracted in this batch.]

The progress bar started jumping again. Three percent, seven percent, eleven percent.

The morning flew by; the sun in the east crawled slowly up from below the horizon, and the warm sun covered the entire river valley. The scenery looked exceptionally pleasing, only missing a gentle breeze. He stared at the panel, occasionally taking a sip of water, and occasionally standing up to walk a few steps.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, progress reached thirty-one percent.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of an engine in the distance. It didn't feel like a pickup; it was the sound of a small car. Li Xin stood up, walked to the bend in the river valley, and poked his head out to look. A white Peugeot off-road vehicle drove over from the south and stopped at the entrance of the river valley.

Li Xin quickly pulled back and hid. He held his breath, listening carefully to the movement outside.

The car never turned off its engine, which continued to emit a low hum.

After more than ten minutes, the pitch of the engine sound changed abruptly. Li Xin clearly heard the vehicle change direction, the sound moving from near to far and gradually dissipating into the valley.

He poked his head out to take a look. The white off-road vehicle was driving back.

"AI System, how long did that car just stop at the river valley entrance?"

[About 26 minutes. Someone in the car was using binoculars to observe the river valley, but they didn't get out of the car.]

Li Xin frowned. "They have binoculars! It seems I need to hide even better."

Before long, he found another more secluded spot behind the stone house—a rock crevice behind a large boulder, just enough for one person to squeeze in sideways. From the crevice, he could see the entrance of the river valley, but from the entrance, one absolutely could not see this spot.

He moved the folding chair over and continued staring at the panel.

The sun slowly slid to the west. The light in the river valley became soft.

Progress: fifty-six percent. sixty-one percent. sixty-seven percent.

The sky began to darken. He took a flashlight out of his space and placed it beside him.

At eight o'clock in the evening, progress was seventy-two percent.

Headlights appeared at the river valley entrance again.

This time, it wasn't just passing by. The headlights drove over from the south and stopped at the river valley entrance. Then, the engine cut off.

Li Xin curled up in the crevice, not daring to move.

Someone was talking. He couldn't hear the content clearly; it was the voices of two men, Persian, with a Tehran accent. Car doors opened and closed, and someone was walking around at the river valley entrance.

After about twenty minutes, the headlights turned on again. They drove away.

He waited until it was completely quiet before coming out of the crevice.

Progress: seventy-six percent. Two more hours to go.

In the early morning, the second batch of Extraction ended. 240 tons of gold, cumulative gold: 3395.1057 tons.

The system popped up a cooling notification. Twelve hours.

Li Xin didn't stay long in the stone house. He put the folding chair into his space, cleared away the footprints, water bottles, cigarette butts, and other traces he had left on the ground, then got into the car and left the river valley.

It was already four o'clock in the morning when he returned to Shiraz. He took a shower and lay on the bed, constantly pondering that white off-road vehicle. That car had appeared twice, both times stopping nearby, and the people in the car were using binoculars to look around. This was definitely not a coincidental passing; it was clearly a special trip to search for something.

What were they looking for? After thinking for a long time, Li Xin had no clue. The only thing that could be confirmed was that the people in the car were definitely aiming for the river valley, so it seemed he would have to be more careful when extracting treasures in the future.

The next morning, when Li Xin went downstairs, he saw the old man at the front desk reading the newspaper again. "Old man, what are you reading? You're so focused."

The old man pointed directly to the missing person notice in the gutter. "I'm looking at a missing person notice, see… it's this Frenchman, missing for three months. The last time someone saw him was in the mountains to the north."

Li Xin leaned over to take a look.

The face in the photo felt familiar again. This time, he stared at it for several seconds, and after a moment, he seemed to remember something.

Before, at Band-e Amir Lake, the person leading that group of Russian mercenaries looked just like this. Although it wasn't the same person, the age and temperament looked very similar.

"Oh! The mountains to the north? Does it say specifically where?" Li Xin asked, a bit puzzled.

The old man shook his head. "The newspaper didn't say; I don't know where it is."

Li Xin stood in front of the counter, staring at the photo. That French archaeologist had gone missing three months ago in the mountains north of Shiraz. That direction was exactly near the stone house at Persepolis.

He had just disappeared like that. That Frenchman had also been aiming for the Underground Royal City. He must have found it, but then there was no news of him.

The newspaper didn't mention half a word about where he went or why he went missing, only leaving a light sentence about the search yielding no results.

Li Xin went upstairs and packed his things. He walked out of the room.

The old man at the front desk looked at him. "Going out again?"

"Yes, the work isn't finished yet."

"Be safe. It hasn't been peaceful in the northern mountains recently; you'd better not go there."

"Okay, thanks, I will be careful, but why hasn't it been peaceful over there?"

The old man pondered for a while and said: "It's that case of the French scholar who went missing earlier; some people said they saw his car, but the person just couldn't be found. The Revolutionary Guard went there to investigate, but they didn't find any clues."

"Alright, then I'm off!" Li Xin nodded and got into the car; his expression was grave, and he fell into deep thought.

"The disappearance of this French archaeologist seems unusual. Sigh~ forget it, the system is still cooling down, today I'll go out and live wildly, and be a bit of a vagabond…"