138: Chapter 138 The Secret of the Forbidden Zone

Li Xin stayed outside the restricted zone for two days.

On the first day, he changed locations four times. All were outside the wire fence, eight or nine kilometers from the boundary. He stayed at each spot for half a day, using binoculars to observe the activity inside.

At 6:00 AM, the shift change happened at the watchtower. Two people went up, two came down. The ones who came down stretched, smoked, and walked around the wire fence.

At 9:00 AM, a green pickup truck drove out, slowly circling the dirt road outside the fence. A spotlight was mounted on the roof, shining bright white even in broad daylight.

At 12:00 PM, another shift change. The same routine.

At 3:00 PM, the pickup came out again. This time it drove slowly, and the person in the passenger seat was holding binoculars, looking around.

Li Xin huddled behind a hill, waiting until the vehicle was far away before poking his head out.

The night was more troublesome. The searchlight on the watchtower never turned off, its beam sweeping back and forth around the fence. Every few hundred meters, there was a small black box on the fence, likely an infrared camera. Through his binoculars, he could see the lenses of those boxes rotating.

The patrol pattern was clear—a shift every three hours. 6:00 AM, 9:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 3:00 PM, 6:00 PM, 9:00 PM, 12:00 AM, 3:00 AM. Each shift had four people: two on the watchtower, two driving the patrol.

Li Xin drew a diagram in his notebook, marking the patrol routes, camera locations, and the watchtower's field of vision.

Regarding the grey-white buildings inside the restricted zone, he observed for a day and a half before realizing something was off. A barracks wouldn't be that large, and there was a slope behind the buildings leading underground. Vehicles drove in and out of the slope.

An underground facility.

He had an idea. It was an abandoned underground facility, possibly left over from the Iran-Iraq War. Later, it had been taken over by the military and converted into a warehouse or something else.

The next afternoon, he moved to the southeast side of the restricted zone. The terrain here was different; outside the wire fence was a dry riverbed, with low hills on both sides. The hills weren't high, but they blocked the line of sight. Looking from the restricted zone, one could only see the back of the hills.

He parked his car behind the hills, got out, climbed to the top, lay on the ground, and looked toward the restricted zone with his binoculars.

The wire fence was about eight or nine kilometers away. Through the binoculars, he could see the situation inside—a few grey-white buildings, two watchtowers, and a concrete road leading to the entrance of the underground facility. Two military vehicles were parked at the entrance, and people were moving things, though it was unclear what.

He retreated behind the hill and opened the system panel.

"AI System, perform a precise Scan of the southeast side of the restricted zone, within a depth of 50 meters. Focus on the underground structure."

[Scanning. This will take a few minutes.]

He leaned against a rock and waited. Wind blew up from the dry riverbed, making his clothes flap loudly.

[Scan complete. Approximately 8,900 meters due north of the current location, an abandoned underground facility has been detected. The facility has two levels with a total area of about 1,200 square meters. The first level consists of passages and rooms, partially collapsed. The second level is about 15 meters deep, with an intact structure, and a large amount of gold signals detected. The signal strength is consistent with previous Scans, estimated at about 320 tons.]

"Is that facility inside the restricted zone?"

[The main body of the facility is about 800 meters inside the wire fence. However, the gold signals are concentrated on the second level, and the signal range extends outward. Some signal sources may be located underground outside the wire fence.]

"What does that mean?"

[The second level of the facility has a lateral passage extending toward the southeast. This passage is about 600 meters long, and its end may be underground outside the wire fence. The metal signal is strongest in this area.]

Li Xin thought about it. In other words, a portion of the treasure might not be inside the restricted zone but outside the wire fence.

He climbed up the hill and looked again. Outside the wire fence was a dry riverbed; it was impossible to see what was underneath. But the system said there was a passage below, and there was gold in the passage.

"AI System, where is the exit of that passage?"

[The passage exit has been sealed by a cave-in. The original exit location is about 8 meters below the surface, 200 meters from the wire fence, within the buffer zone. There are no military facilities in this area, but periodic patrols pass through.]

Li Xin calculated in his mind. The buffer zone was not inside the restricted zone, but it was very close. If he performed an Extraction there, would the Patrol Team passing by the fence notice?

He needed to find a safer location.

After spending the afternoon on the hill, he found a suitable spot—a bend in the dry riverbed, less than a kilometer from the passage exit, shielded by hills on three sides, completely invisible from the restricted zone. There were no roads, no people, nothing there.

And it was far enough from the wire fence, nearly nine kilometers. The system's Extraction wouldn't be affected.

At night, he drove to that location.

The dry riverbed curved here, forming a flat area. On both sides were hills, not high but steep, with some withered grass growing on them. He got out, put the car into his space, and set up a tent on a patch of gravel near the riverbed.

The tent wasn't large; it was a camouflage tent he bought back home, big enough for one person to lie down. He took a sleeping bag, water, and dry rations out of his space and set them up inside the tent.

Then he sat at the tent opening and opened the system panel.

"AI System, begin Extraction. Target: Treasure in the second level of the underground facility."

[Extraction in progress. Target depth: 15 meters. Structure: Underground passage + secret chamber. Current Extraction rate: 20 tons/hour. This time, about 240 tons can be extracted. Continuous Extraction limit: 12 hours. A 12-hour cooling period is required before continuing.]

The progress bar began to jump. Three percent, seven percent, eleven percent.

He leaned against the tent entrance, staring at the panel. The desert night was cold, and the wind blew in from the dry riverbed, howling and making the tent fabric flap loudly. He pulled up his jacket and huddled in his sleeping bag, with only half his face exposed.

The first night went smoothly. No Patrol Team came by, no vehicles passed, not even a shadow of a person. The desert was so quiet only the wind could be heard.

When the progress reached forty-two percent, the system popped up a notification—the 12-hour continuous Extraction limit had been reached, forcing a 12-hour cooling period.

He turned off the panel, crawled into his sleeping bag, and slept.

The next morning, he was woken up by the sound of a helicopter.

He poked his head out of the tent and looked up. A grey helicopter flew in from the south, very low, the sound of its rotors shaking the ground. The helicopter flew toward the restricted zone, circled over the wire fence, and then flew off to the north.

Li Xin retreated into the tent, his heart racing. He looked at the cooling countdown on the system panel—still more than three hours left.

By the time the cooling ended, it was already noon. The sun hung overhead, and the desert was as hot as an oven. He crawled out of the tent, stretched, took a box of self-heating rice from his space, tore it open, poured in water, and waited for it to heat up.

After eating, he continued the Extraction.

[Second batch Extraction started. Current Extraction rate: 20 tons/hour. Remaining gold: about 80 tons. Estimated time: 4 hours.]

The progress bar started jumping again. Fifty-one percent, fifty-five percent, fifty-nine percent.

In the afternoon, the sound of a vehicle came from afar.

Li Xin jerked his head up and looked out from the tent entrance. A green pickup truck was driving over from the direction of the restricted zone, moving slowly along the dirt road outside the wire fence. A spotlight was mounted on the roof, not turned on during the day.

The Patrol Team.

His heart leaped into his throat. The pickup was less than two hundred meters from him; he could see the two people in the car—one driving, the other in the passenger seat holding something, looking like binoculars.

He zipped up the tent, huddled inside, not daring to move. Fortunately, he was outside the restricted zone; he felt guilty but not afraid. The system panel was still jumping before his eyes, progress at sixty-three percent.

The pickup drove very slowly. He could hear the engine, low and humming. The tires crushed the gravel with a crunching sound.

It was getting closer. One hundred and fifty meters. One hundred and twenty meters. One hundred meters.

He held his breath, his hands pressed tightly against his sleeping bag.

The pickup stopped less than one hundred meters from him.

Li Xin's heart was in his throat. He looked out through the gap in the tent—the pickup had stopped at the edge of the dry riverbed, and the person in the passenger seat got out, stood at the edge of the riverbed, and looked toward the hills with binoculars.

He watched for about a minute.

Then he got back into the car, and the pickup turned around and drove back the way it came.

The engine sound faded until it could no longer be heard.

Li Xin waited until it was completely silent before exhaling a long breath. His back was drenched in sweat, and his T-shirt was soaked.

Progress: seventy-one percent.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued staring at the panel.

In the evening, the second patrol vehicle drove over from another direction. This time it was heading south, less than two hundred meters from him. The spotlight on the car was on, its beam sweeping back and forth in the dry riverbed.

He huddled in the tent, holding his breath as quietly as possible. The beam swept over his head, circled, and swept back. He counted silently in his heart—one, two, three, four, five.

The beam moved away.

The pickup drove off.

Progress: eighty-six percent.

It was dark. He didn't dare turn on the light. He took a flashlight from his space, covered it with his clothes, leaving only a tiny bit of light. He stared at the panel; the progress was jumping: ninety percent, ninety-three percent, ninety-six percent.

At 10:00 PM, the progress reached ninety-nine percent.

He stared at the progress bar, counting every second.

Ninety-nine point five percent. Ninety-nine point eight percent.

[Ding—Second batch Extraction complete. Nader Shah's Eastern Expedition treasure, completely cleared.]

[Total extracted: approximately 320 tons of gold. This includes about 180 tons of gold bricks, 80 tons of gold ingots, and 60 tons of gold coins. Additionally, there are about 20,000 silver coins and several fragments of a gem-encrusted throne.]

[Top-tier artifacts detected: 1 Sea of Light pink diamond (22.5 carats), about 300 diamonds from the Peacock Throne, 14 gilded palace components from the Mughal Dynasty, 18 ivory carvings, about 200 rubies, about 120 emeralds, and about 800 pearls.]

[Estimated value of gold: approximately 12.8 billion USD. Estimated value of artifacts and jewelry: approximately 500 million USD.]

[Cumulative gold: 6,173.1057 tons.]

Li Xin stared at these lines, motionless.

Three hundred and twenty tons of gold, plus that pink diamond, those gems, and those palace components.

Thirteen point three billion USD.

He closed the panel, dismantled the tent, put away the sleeping bag, and cleaned up all traces on the ground. He got into the car, started the engine, and without turning on the headlights, drove slowly forward by the moonlight.

After driving a few hundred meters, he turned on the headlights.

Once on the road, he accelerated and drove west. In the rearview mirror, the lights of the restricted zone grew more distant until they disappeared on the horizon.

He took out his phone and sent a message to Chen Hu: "Done. Heading west."

Chen Hu replied instantly: "Boss is awesome. Next stop?"

"Lorestan. Deep in the mountains."

He threw the phone onto the passenger seat and stepped on the gas.

The car sped through the desert, the road ahead stretching into the distance. There was a light on the horizon, grey-white, not knowing if it was moonlight or artificial light.

The radio was on, playing Persian news.

"Today, the military broke up a smuggling case in the eastern border region, seizing several artifacts from the Nader Shah era, including gold coins, silver coins, and bronze ware. The suspects have been arrested, and the case is under further investigation..."

Li Xin tapped his finger on the steering wheel.

Did someone else get caught in his place? Or was it another group?

He didn't know. But regardless, he was safe now.

Those three hundred and twenty tons of gold were already in his space.

And he was driving west.

To Lorestan.

To the cave in the deep mountains.

To find the last batch of treasure.