41: Chapter 41 National Treasures in the Vault

Lin Ye pressed down on the door handle and pushed the door open.

"Creak!"

He raised his torch, and the orange-red flames crossed the doorframe, illuminating the entire room.

As far as the eye could see... it was all gold.

It was neatly stacked into several small hills, and the shelves on the side were piled with various precious jewelry.

A rough scan suggested that the inventory here was worth at least billions.

Great Xia Live Stream.

After a brief silence, the barrage exploded.

[Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! Gold! It's all gold!]

[Am I seeing things? Is this a dragon palace or an underground vault?]

[It's over, it's over. Poverty has limited my appetite... I'm drooling.]

[The islanders are still hiding this stuff even during the apocalypse? They really are a bunch of rats!]

Lin Ye walked forward and picked up a gold bar.

It was finely crafted, with the purity mark engraved on the bottom.

He weighed it in his hand and sneered.

"Clinging to these even when death is at the doorstep."

No matter the era, the greed of the wealthy is always carved into their bones.

The shelter was built quite decently, yet the final secret room contained no food or water, just a pile of useless junk for the apocalypse.

He tossed it aside.

"Clang!"

The gold bar hit the pile of gold bricks, bounced twice, and rolled onto the floor.

Lin Ye walked straight to the innermost part of the vault.

There stood several dust-covered glass display cases.

On the shelves, dozens of antique artifacts of various shapes were displayed.

There were bronzeware, ceramics, lacquerware, and even a scroll of silk sealed in a nitrogen cover.

Lin Ye stood still in front of the display case.

His left eye blinked.

Eye of Destiny, activate.

The vast majority of the antiques were shrouded in gray spots.

Only in the far left corner, the surface of one piece of bronzeware was clean.

It didn't even have a single tiny gray spot.

A pale golden halo overflowed from its surface, gentle and solemn.

It matched the golden light spot he had seen before perfectly.

This was it.

Lin Ye fixed the torch into a gap in the partition.

He didn't touch the bronzeware; instead, he turned and smashed the nitrogen cover on the other side.

He took out the silk scroll covered in worm-like characters and repeatedly wiped his palms and the spaces between his fingers.

After cleaning the black blood from his hands, he extended his hands and carefully lifted the artifact from the shelf.

It felt heavy in his hands.

At least twenty pounds.

This was a bronze wine vessel about 45 centimeters high.

The body of the vessel was supported by two rams standing back-to-back carrying the tube, with four ram legs firmly supporting the base.

The ram horns were curled, and the patterns were intricate.

Animal face patterns, cloud and thunder patterns, and cicada patterns were layered over one another.

The casting craftsmanship was exquisite; even after the erosion of time, every line on the surface remained clearly discernible.

Lin Ye's fingers trembled slightly.

Relying on his professional knowledge from the Archaeology Department, he recognized the artifact.

The double ram zun.

A Great Xia national treasure!

A significant bronze vessel from the late Shang Dynasty.

On Blue Star, only two pieces remain.

One is in the collection of John Bull.

The other is right here in the island nation.

Within the glorious territory of Great Xia, there wasn't a single one.

He lowered his head, staring at the double ram zun in his hands, and remained silent for a long time.

In the Great Xia Live Stream, a barrage message broke the silence first.

[Wait! The shape of that bronzeware... the double ram zun?]

[So this Endgame Simulation even replicated the things in museums?]

[It's not a museum! Look at those gold bars and jewelry; this must be something the islanders hoarded after the apocalypse!]

[But... this thing can't be eaten or drunk!]

[Brother Eye almost lost his life just for a piece of bronzeware?]

[I can understand national sentiment, but this is a survival challenge, not an antique appraisal show!]

The island nation IDs went crazy on the spot.

[Island Nation: Baka! That is our stuff! Great Xia person, put it down!]

[Island Nation: We strongly demand the supreme will sanction the Great Xia Challenger for theft!]

The tone of those runaways was particularly glaring.

[Hilarious, not looking for survival supplies but picking up scrap metal; Great Xia is dragged down by people like this.]

[Ignoring a room full of gold bars to pick up a vase, is his brain waterlogged?]

[Good thing I'm already on the plane, I don't have to be dragged down by this cripple!]

The livestream was filled with smoke and fire.

Supporters, trolls, spectators, and sarcastic commenters... all mixed together.

Disaster Prevention Administration, Command Center.

Zhou Jianping handed the documents to Director Wei Tiejun.

"Director Wei, the antique appraisal experts confirmed that it is the double ram zun from the Shang Dynasty, a national treasure-level artifact that was lost overseas in modern times."

Director Wei Tiejun flipped through two pages and frowned deeply.

"Do you think a piece of bronzeware that can't be eaten or used as a knife can help Great Xia block the natural disaster?"

Zhou Jianping opened his mouth, but couldn't squeeze out a single word.

Third Research Group.

Lu Chen stared at the screen, his index finger tapping the desk unconsciously.

The young analyst beside him spoke weakly: "Team Leader Lu, this antique has cultural value, but for survival..."

"Shut up."

Lu Chen interrupted him and pushed up his glasses.

"In that situation, it is absolutely impossible for Lin Ye to make decisions based on emotion."

He whispered in a voice only he could hear.

"He gave up a floor full of gold and locked onto this item immediately."

"This shows that in his 'Eye of Destiny', the value of the double ram zun crushes all the wealth in that entire room."

The expression on Lin Ye's face became strange.

A realistic yet absurd question lay before him.

Should he transmit this double ram zun or not?

If he transmits it back... assuming it triggers a ten-thousand-fold return.

Would Great Xia suddenly have ten thousand double ram zuns out of thin air?

Ten thousand identical Shang Dynasty bronzeware pieces?

Such an absurd operation would be like slapping the country in the face.

He could even imagine the scene of the livestream howling: "You f*cking transmitted ten thousand pieces of bronzeware that can't be eaten or drunk back here?"

"Are you setting up a street stall here? Can this thing block the natural disaster?!"

Just thinking about that scene made Lin Ye's scalp tingle; it was a guaranteed massive social death event.

"Leave it for now, talk about it tonight."

Placing the double ram zun gently back in its original position, he exited the treasure room.

He then started searching other areas of the shelter.

The generator room.

The generator set had been smashed to pieces by the sharp claws of the Pale Species, and the copper wires had been ripped out.

He dug out a few flashlights, but the battery fluid had all leaked out.

As soon as the door to the storage room was pushed open, a foul odor rushed toward him.

Lin Ye subconsciously held his breath.

The shelves were piled with various canned goods and vacuum-packed food.

However, all the cans were bloated and deformed, the vacuum bags were bulging high, and the meat inside had long since turned black and rotted.

Glancing at that pile of apocalyptic emergency rations, he turned and left.

He continued searching.

At the other end of the corridor on this level, Lin Ye pushed open a door.

A large water storage tank occupied half the room.

The water in the tank was green and sticky, with a layer of rotting algae floating on the surface, and the stench was overwhelming.

He moved his gaze away from the pool and landed in the corner.

Dozens of cases of unopened bottled mineral water were neatly stacked there.

Lin Ye walked up quickly and unscrewed a bottle.

He leaned in and smelled it.

The plastic bottle had aged, and the water had spoiled, carrying an indescribable plastic taste.

It couldn't be drunk.

But he looked at the black bloodstains on his hunting outfit and smiled.

"More than enough for a bath."

Lin Ye unscrewed a dozen bottles of mineral water and poured them over himself one by one.

He washed the black blood off the outer layer of his hunting outfit and then washed his face and hands clean.

He checked the time on his wrist terminal; night was approaching.

He re-checked the iron door at the upper entrance of the shelter.

He confirmed the bolt was intact.

The ventilation was also fine, so he would spend the night here today.

He found a few pieces of wood from furniture and started a campfire directly under the ventilation vent.

He took out the smoked meat and ate his dinner for the day in silence.

Checking the time, the upload node was almost here.

Lin Ye returned to the lowest treasure room and picked up the double ram zun again.

He carried it out and placed it gently on the floor of the corridor.

He knew that once uploaded, the entire Blue Star would see it.

An antique that couldn't be eaten, drunk, or used as a weapon.

He could almost foresee that everyone would call him crazy.

"Whatever."

Lin Ye let out a long sigh and smiled self-deprecatingly.

"The Eye of Destiny has never been wrong!"

"Whether this wave is a dimension-reduction strike depends on you."