139: Chapter 139 The Night Fire of Lorestan

From Khorasan to Lorestan, it was over 1,200 kilometers.

Li Xin drove for nearly two days. The first day, he traveled west along the highway, crossing more than half of Iran. The road was busy, with many cities and numerous checkpoints. At every checkpoint, he dutifully stopped, handed over his passport, and answered questions.

"Where are you going?"

"Lorestan."

"What for?"

"Tourism, to see the caves."

Most people at the checkpoints saw that he was a foreigner and let him pass after a few casual questions. At one station, a soldier took a few extra looks at him, flipped through his passport, and asked if he was alone. When he said yes, the soldier frowned and told him the mountain area over there wasn't safe, advising him to be careful.

He arrived in Lorestan on the afternoon of the second day.

The mountains here were different from other places. They weren't high, but they were very steep, with sparse shrubs growing on the grayish-white rocks. Between the mountains were deep valleys, with streams at the bottom and farmland and villages along the creeks.

Li Xin parked his car in a small town at the foot of the mountains. The town wasn't big, with a few dozen households, one main street, and small shops on both sides selling groceries, naan, and roasted meat. The street was crowded with people and cars, and dust flew everywhere.

He found an inn to stay in. The inn was a small two-story building with an old sign hanging at the entrance and several motorcycles parked in the courtyard. At the front desk was an old man with gray hair and reading glasses, who was reading a newspaper.

"Young man, are you looking for a room?" the old man asked in Persian.

"Yes, boss. How much for a day?"

"Twenty dollars."

Li Xin pulled forty dollars from his pocket and handed it over. "I'll stay for two days first. We'll see how it goes."

The old man took the money and handed him a key. "Second floor, the first room on the left of the hallway."

He went to the room. He looked around; the furnishings were very simple: just an old bed, a table, and a small stool, with a window facing the street. He put down his backpack, washed his face, lay on the bed, and opened the map on his phone.

The Lorestan cave clusters were in the deep mountains north of the town, over thirty kilometers away in a straight line. There were several caves; some had been developed into tourist attractions, while others remained undeveloped and were sealed off.

He had checked information online. Legend had it that the caves here contained hidden gold from the Elamite royalty, items from thousands of years ago. But no one had ever found it, nor had anyone ever verified it.

Li Xin turned off his phone, walked to the window, and glanced toward the north. The sky was darkening, and there were some lights over the mountains, looking like campfires.

Early the next morning, he went out.

As soon as he reached the street, he noticed there were many more people than yesterday. The street was packed with people wearing colorful clothes, herding flocks of sheep, cattle, and camels. Children ran along the roadside, women carried bundles on their heads, and men rode horses or motorcycles. The whole town was like a boiling pot, noisy and bustling.

Li Xin stood at the entrance of the inn, watching for a while. A young man walked past him, and he stopped him.

"Brother, what day is it today? Why are there so many people?"

The young man glanced at him. "Seasonal migration. It's spring, so we're moving from the lower pastures to the higher ones. It's like this every year at this time."

"How long will it take?"

"About a week. We'll stop once the grass has grown well in a while."

The young man left. Li Xin stood on the street, watching the herdsmen and livestock.

Seasonal migration or not, it had nothing to do with him. He didn't need to go into the mountains anyway.

He went back to the inn to get a bottle of water, then drove north. After leaving the town, the road became increasingly narrow, with farmland and orchards on both sides. After driving for seven or eight kilometers, he parked the car in an open area and got out.

This place was less than nine kilometers in a straight line from the cave clusters to the north. System Scan would have no trouble.

He leaned against the car door and opened the system panel.

"AI System, Scan that mountain area to the north. Depth of fifty to two hundred meters. Focus on finding metal signals inside the caves."

[Scanning. Current detection range: radius of approximately 27,990 meters. Covering the target area. It will take a few minutes.]

He took out his water and took a sip. In the distant valley, one could see all kinds of tents—white, gray, black, and more—scattered densely together. Wisps of cooking smoke rose from nearby, drifting everywhere. The air was full of the atmosphere of daily life, accompanied by the bleating of sheep, the barking of dogs, and the shouts of people; this kind of life was truly uniquely beautiful.

He waited for about three minutes.

[Scan complete. Metal reactions detected in three caves. Location 1: Approximately 7 kilometers due north, a relatively small cave containing about 2 tons of gold. Location 2: Approximately 8.5 kilometers to the northwest, a medium-sized cave, about 80 meters deep, containing approximately 18 tons of gold. Location 3: Approximately 8 kilometers north-northeast, a huge cave, about 120 meters deep, with a three-layer structure, containing a large amount of gold, estimated at about 150 tons. There are also signals for a large number of bronze artifacts and gold and silver wares.]

Li Xin's eyes lit up.

One hundred and fifty tons, plus the other two, made one hundred and seventy tons.

"AI System, how long will the Extraction take?"

[At the current rate of 20 tons/hour, for a total of approximately 170 tons of gold, it will take 9 hours. The 12-hour continuous Extraction limit is sufficient to cover it. After Extraction is complete, there will be a mandatory 12-hour cooling period.]

"Alright. Start the Extraction. Extract the big cave first, then the other two."

[Extraction in progress. Target: Treasures in the second and third layers of the cave. Depth: 60 meters, 120 meters. Current Extraction rate: 20 tons/hour. Estimated time: 8.5 hours.]

The progress bar began to jump. Five percent, ten percent, fifteen percent.

He leaned against the car door, staring at the panel. The sun had risen, shining on the hillside, feeling warm. In the distant valley, the herdsmen were busy, herding sheep and setting up tents, which had nothing to do with him.

At noon, the system popped up a notification.

[AI System: Zhuzi, someone is approaching from 800 meters away. Keep an eye out.]

Li Xin looked up and glanced in that direction. A few black dots were moving on the hillside; they were probably herdsmen herding sheep. They were still far from him, and they were heading north, not towards him.

He continued to stare at the panel.

Progress was at sixty percent.

After two in the afternoon, the progress reached one hundred percent.

[Ding—Extraction complete. Lorestan cave cluster treasures, all cleared.]

[Total amount extracted this time: approximately 170 tons of gold. Among them, about 160 tons of gold ingots and gold ornaments, and about 10 tons of gold coffins and gold masks.]

[Top-tier artifacts detected: 15 Lorestan bronze divine beasts (internationally recognized art treasures), 5 gold and silver masks (2 solid gold, 3 gilded), 9 silver cups, 27 bronze ritual vessels, a hoard of approximately 20,000 ancient coins, and about 80 pieces of funerary goldware (earrings, necklaces, armbands, rings).]

[Gold valuation: approximately 6.8 billion USD. Artifact and jewelry valuation: approximately 400 million USD.]

[Cumulative gold: 6,343.1057 tons.]

Li Xin stared at these lines, exhaling a long breath.

Over six thousand three hundred tons.

From scanning to finishing the Extraction, it took less than a day. It was much faster than expected.

He closed the panel, got into the car, and started the engine. He didn't drive toward the town but went straight south, preparing to leave Lorestan overnight.

After driving less than two kilometers, a motorcycle came towards him. A middle-aged man sat on it, wearing a gray robe with a headscarf wrapped around his head. The motorcycle stopped beside him, and the middle-aged man glanced at him.

"Are you that Chinese person?"

Li Xin felt a tightness in his chest. "Yes. What's the matter?"

"You were asking about the caves in town yesterday?"

"Yes. I'm doing geological research and wanted to see the cave structure here."

The middle-aged man stared at him for a few seconds, then said something in a low voice.

"Our tribespeople say that one shouldn't enter that big cave casually."

Li Xin was stunned for a moment. "Why?"

The middle-aged man shook his head without explaining. He started the motorcycle and drove away, chugging off into the distance.

Li Xin watched the motorcycle through the rearview mirror as it got further and further away, turned onto a side road, and disappeared behind the mountain.

He pressed the accelerator and continued driving south.

How did that middle-aged man know he was going to touch that cave? Was it a guess, or had someone seen something?

He didn't know. But regardless, the items were already in his space.

The car sped along the highway, and the farmland on both sides gradually turned into desert. The sun began to set in the west, and the light became soft.

He took out his phone and sent a message to Chen Hu: "Lorestan is done. Heading southwest."

Chen Hu replied instantly: "Next stop?"

"Ctesiphon."

"That's close to the Iraq border, and the situation is complex. Be careful."

"I know."

Li Xin threw his phone onto the passenger seat and pressed the accelerator.

The radio was on, playing Persian news.

"The Lorestan Province Cultural Heritage Department announced today that it will establish a new cultural relic protection zone in the northern mountainous area, focusing on protecting the local ancient cave sites and tomb complexes..."

Li Xin turned off the radio.

A cultural relic protection zone. It seemed someone had discovered something. Or perhaps that guide had reported it.

But so what?

The items were already in his space.

Next stop, Ctesiphon.

The royal palace of the Sassanid Empire.

The legendary national treasury with 8,500 tons of gold.