72: Chapter 72 Departure to Indonesia

The next afternoon, Li Xin arrived in Jakarta by plane.

After exiting the airport, a wave of heat rushed toward him.

September in Jakarta was humid and stuffy, like stepping into a sauna.

He completed his visa-on-arrival, cleared customs, and hailed a taxi.

"Go to this address." He showed the youth hostel address on his phone to the driver.

The driver nodded and started the car.

Jakarta's traffic was notoriously congested.

The vehicle crawled through the city for nearly two hours before arriving at the youth hostel.

The hostel was located in a small alley in the city center, a three-story building with yellow-painted exterior walls.

Li Xin walked in with his backpack; the receptionist was an Indonesian girl in her twenties with a ponytail.

"Hello, check in?"

"Yes. I booked a bed."

The girl registered him and handed him a key: "Third floor, Room 8. The second bed on the right."

Li Xin went upstairs and found Room 8.

The room was not large, with six bunk beds, all occupied.

The walls were covered in sticky notes, with messages written in various languages.

His bed was by the window, on the bottom bunk.

He threw his backpack on the bed and went down to the common area.

The common area was a small living room furnished with a few sofas and a long table.

Several young people were sitting on the sofas chatting; there were both men and women of different skin tones, speaking English.

Li Xin found a seat, took out his phone, and pretended to look at a map.

A blonde young man nearby leaned over: "Are you from China?"

"Yes." Li Xin looked up. "And you?"

"Germany. My name is Mark."

"Li."

Mark smiled. "Traveling in Indonesia alone?"

"Yes. Just wandering around and taking some photos." Li Xin shook the camera hanging around his neck.

"Me too." Mark took a map out of his backpack and spread it on the table. "I'm planning to go to Yogyakarta to see Borobudur. What about you?"

"East Java. Trowulan."

Mark frowned. "Trowulan? Never heard of it. Is there anything fun there?"

"Ancient ruins. The capital of the Majapahit Empire. It's not crowded, perfect for hiking and photography."

Mark nodded and didn't ask further.

A dark-skinned young man nearby chimed in: "Trowulan? I've been there. There aren't many tourists, it's very quiet. But the roads are difficult; renting a motorcycle is more convenient."

"Thanks." Li Xin smiled.

The group chatted for a while longer; Mark talked about his experience climbing a volcano, and the dark-skinned young man talked about surfing in Bali.

Li Xin listened, occasionally interjecting.

In the evening, he ate a bowl of Indonesian fried rice at a small restaurant next to the hostel.

After dinner, he returned to the room and lay on the bed.

He opened his phone and checked the route from Surabaya to Trowulan.

It takes about three hours to drive from Surabaya.

After arriving, he planned to stay for one night and enter the ruins the next day.

He opened the system panel and glanced at his data.

[ Gold Search and Refining System 2.0 ]

[ Host: Li Xin ]

[ Level: 11 ]

[ Detection Range: 8,990 meters ]

[ Accumulated Gold Refined: 0.7057 tons ]

[ Gold Required for Next Upgrade: 100 tons ]

Still 99.3 tons short.

If he could find that legendary gold mine, upgrading would be a piece of cake.

He closed the panel and shut his eyes.

In his mind, he recalled the record in the Nagarakretagama.

"The land guarded by the sacred serpent, where gold is like sand and silver is like soil."

The land guarded by the sacred serpent.

The corners of Li Xin's mouth curled up slightly.

That was Trowulan.

Early the next morning, Li Xin had breakfast at the hostel, shouldered his backpack, and went out.

He didn't go directly to the airport but spent the morning wandering the streets of Jakarta.

With his camera in hand, he photographed the old town, the wet markets, and the pedicabs on the roadside.

Like a real backpacker.

In the afternoon, he hailed a taxi and went to the airport.

The flight to Surabaya was at 3:00 PM, a forty-five-minute journey.

The plane was small and packed full.

Li Xin's seat was by the window; next to him sat an Indonesian woman wearing a headscarf, holding a baby in her arms.

After the plane took off, he looked at the scenery outside the window.

The gray of Jakarta gradually faded away, replaced by green hills and the blue sea.

Forty-five minutes passed quickly.

When the plane landed in Surabaya, it was just past four o'clock.

Walking out of the airport, Li Xin went straight to the car rental counter and rented an off-road vehicle.

He set the navigation; it was 120 kilometers to Trowulan, estimated to take three hours to arrive.

He stepped on the gas and drove out of the parking lot.

The streets of Surabaya were quieter than Jakarta's, with fewer cars.

Once out of the city and on the highway, the scenery outside the window changed from city to farmland, and from farmland to hills.

After driving for three hours, a small village appeared before his eyes.

The village was not large, with dozens of households, all in stilt wooden houses.

Several children were playing by the roadside; seeing the car pass, they waved and smiled.

Li Xin parked the car in front of a hotel that looked reasonably clean.

The hotel was a two-story wooden structure with a few pots of flowers by the entrance.

He walked in, and the receptionist said with a smile: "Hi, handsome, do you need a room?"

"Yes. Do you have any rooms left? How much is it per night?" Li Xin smiled faintly.

"It's 200,000 Indonesian Rupiah per night."

"Okay, no problem." It was less than a hundred yuan. Li Xin paid, took the key, went upstairs, and found the room.

He put down his backpack, washed his face, and went back downstairs.

Standing at the hotel entrance, he looked at the distant mountains.

The setting sun dyed the mountains a golden red, beautiful as a painting.

He took out his phone and opened the map.

The Trowulan ruins were about 10 kilometers to the east of the village.

Tomorrow, he would enter the ruins.

The corners of Li Xin's mouth curled up slightly, and he turned back to his room.

Lying on the bed, he opened his phone and pulled up the record about Trowulan.

It mentioned that during the Majapahit Empire, there were records of gold mining in the East Java region.

But the specific locations had been lost, with only some vague clues remaining.

"The land guarded by the sacred serpent."

Li Xin pondered this sentence repeatedly.

Sacred serpent. Was it a myth, or a metaphor?

Could it refer to a mountain range with a shape like a snake?

Or perhaps a temple related to snakes?

He marked the area within 20 kilometers around Trowulan on the map.

According to the system's detection range of nearly nine kilometers, as long as he walked through this area, he could scan most of it.

If there was a gold mine, the system would find it.

He turned off his phone and closed his eyes.

The village outside the window was very quiet, with the occasional sound of dogs barking.

He turned over and soon fell asleep.

The next day, just as the sky was breaking, Li Xin woke up.

He washed up, shouldered his backpack, and went downstairs.

The woman at the front desk hadn't started her shift yet, so he left the key on the table and exited the hotel.

The village was still sleeping, and the streets were deserted.

He got into the car, started the engine, and drove east.

After driving for about ten minutes, he reached a fork in the road.

The left path led to the ruins, and the right path led into the mountains.

He glanced at the map and turned right.

The road became narrower and steeper.

The trees on both sides became denser, and sunlight could barely penetrate.

After driving for about twenty minutes, the road came to an end.

He parked the car by the roadside and got out.

Ahead was a dense forest with no path.

He shouldered his backpack, took out his hiking poles, and pushed into the woods.

The forest was dense and overgrown with shrubs.

He used his hiking poles to push aside the branches blocking his way, walking forward step by step.

After walking for about an hour, he suddenly stopped.

The system reacted.

It wasn't gold, but something else.

[ Ding... Abnormal geological structure detected. Location: approximately 3 kilometers ahead. Suspected traces of artificial excavation. ]

Li Xin's heart rate accelerated.

He quickened his pace and headed in that direction.

After walking for another hour, he climbed over a small hill, and the view suddenly opened up before him.

A valley.

The valley was not large, surrounded by mountains on three sides with one opening.

The valley floor was a dry riverbed, filled with stones covered in moss.

He stood on the hillside, looking at this valley.

A voice in his heart said: This is it.

He took a deep breath and walked toward the valley floor.