Chapter 50: Gems and Numbers

Up until now, Liang En hadn't drawn a card that could assist him in his tasks. Therefore, faced with this pile of rubbish, he had no choice but to take matters into his own hands.

Fortunately, as he continued to clear the pile of rubbish, Liang En discovered that the group of people from years past had likely dismantled damaged furniture to use as firewood. Thus, what remained were individual wooden planks, making the cleanup considerably more manageable.

Once the last heap in the corner, which contained decaying rags beyond recognition, had been removed, a colossal wooden board, resembling a merchant's counter, came into view before Liang En's eyes.

After strenuously moving this board from its original position with the help of a rope, Liang En unveiled an iron door set into the ground.

Though a fist-sized lock still hung on the door, the entire structure had rusted severely. Several rust-eaten holes could even be seen on its surface.

Hence, Liang En merely employed the pry bar he carried with him to gently dislodge the lock along with the iron ring to which it was affixed.

Evidently, this place was the storeroom of the monastery from years ago. Yet, due to the heap of refuse within the room, subsequent visitors had overlooked it.

Upon reflection, it made sense. After all, the people of Finland had voluntarily evacuated the area back then, and there had been ample time for tidying before their departure. Thus, it was unlikely for any treasures to have been left behind.

Carefully opening these twin iron doors, Liang En was met with a stench of decay that wafted up directly into his nose.

Consequently, for the next 15 minutes, he found himself idly pacing around the abandoned monastery, completing the ventilation process for the cellar beneath the iron door.

In the midst of making his rounds, he stumbled upon another reason why this cellar had remained undiscovered: there was a larger cellar on the opposite side of the main monastery building, hidden beneath the monks' dormitory.

Clearly, those who came later had discovered the primary cellar, unconsciously assuming there was only one such space. Thus, the small cellar concealed within the pile of trash in the monks' dormitory had been preserved to this day.

With the ventilation complete, Liang En donned a gas mask and a head-mounted camera. Carrying a flashlight and a box on his back, he descended the stone steps leading into the cellar. Upon reaching the bottom, he involuntarily furrowed his brow.

At the base of the staircase, a mound of objects had sealed off the entire cellar floor, and the unpleasant odor had emanated from this heap.

Sweeping his flashlight gently across the scene, he discerned that the pile consisted primarily of torn clothing and bandages.

"Could this be where the field hospital discarded its medical waste?" Liang En pondered as he used a pry bar from his possession to extract a blood-stained bandage that bore shades of brown and black. Today seemed like a day of bad luck.

Though a field hospital was intended for treating injuries rather than contagious diseases, there was still a concern of accidentally encountering a concealed needle or blade within the garments.

Luckily, guided by the previous radiant glow, Liang En didn't have to rummage through this trash heap like searching for a needle in a haystack. Soon enough, he found a shabby military uniform buried beneath the jumble of clothes and bloodied bandages.

"What could this be?" After confirming the absence of needles or blades within the uniform, Liang En, wearing gloves, lifted it for a close inspection.

This is a pre-World War II Finnish M36 winter military uniform, considered quite advanced for its time. However, judging from the significant signs of wear and tear, it's evident that the person who wore this uniform back then must have experienced a rather arduous journey.

"Since I found this item using the [Detect (R)] card on the pen cap, it might just be the attire of that young master Du Lisi."

As Liang En gazed at the clothing, he suddenly recalled a few things. And just as he was thinking about this, both a [Appraisal (N)] card and a [Detect (N)] card appeared in his mind simultaneously.

"It looks like my guess was correct." Spotting these two newly appearing cards, Liang En felt a surge of excitement. During his subsequent search, he quickly retrieved a bullet casing-turned-lighter from a pocket of the tattered clothing.

This was the type of trinket soldiers commonly crafted out of boredom on the battlefield. It didn't appear particularly special. However, when Liang En opened the lighter, he swiftly discovered a clump of dirty metal inside.

Using a pair of tweezers he had with him, Liang En extracted the grimy metal clump, revealing a reddish-transparent stone about the size of a soybean.

"Wait a moment, I recall the steward giving me a list before. It mentioned a red gemstone ring, a family heirloom of the Count's family." At the sight of the red gemstone, Liang En immediately connected it to that list.

With this thought in mind, he quickly retrieved a high-powered flashlight he had on him and began scrutinizing the gemstone. Indeed, the inclusions within the gemstone matched the description on that list precisely.

"It seems this is the clothing that the war correspondent once wore." Letting out a sigh, Liang En then opened the professional storage box he had just used and began categorizing these findings.

After completing the organization, Liang En used a metal detector and pry bar he carried with him to search the entire cellar. He then returned to the surface with the several coins, a small knife, and three lighters he had found.

His reason for doing so wasn't driven by greed, but rather a desire to avoid others noticing that he had already located his intended targets prior to the search.

From every perspective, he was well-prepared to report back. After all, the significance of the items he found now far exceeded the cumulative results of the various search teams over the past decades.

However, driven by curiosity, the first thing Liang En did after returning to his vehicle was to carefully unfold the clump of grimy metal he had extracted from the lighter.

It was a piece of lead foil, and the remnants of paint on it indicated that it was once a part of a toothpaste tube. Carved into this piece of lead foil, which was no larger than a fingertip, was a four-digit number.

"1082, what does this mean?" Staring at this number, Liang En furrowed his brow in puzzlement. "Is it a bank vault code, a train station locker number, or something else entirely?"

After pondering for over ten minutes, Liang En ultimately gave up on this guessing game. After all, a mere four digits could have countless interpretations, and without new information, it was impossible to decipher its meaning.

"Well then, that's that." Letting out a sigh as he stared at the number, Liang En tossed the piece of lead foil into a test tube filled with vegetable oil. He then started the vehicle and headed towards the direction of St. Petersburg.