First, soone broke in and was killed, then the surveillance feed had a problem, followed by a power outage. This castle had its own private power plant with a robust power supply, and power cuts were extrely rare.
Even if one did occur, it would be announced in advance, and preparations would be made.
It was impossible for the power to go out so unexpectedly.
"What on earth is going on?"
In the first-floor surveillance room, one of the guards frowned. A comnt from a colleague sparked a thought in him. *Could soone still be in the castle and not have left?*
"Activate all internal and external castle chanisms, open the vents, check all floors with thermal sensors, and send a few n up to the sixth floor to check the situation," the Duke commanded shortly after receiving the news.
Wushuang and Ghost Face carefully walked along a glass walkway. After a period of darkness, they ca to a blue-glowing tunnel. Wushuang and Ghost Face put on their anti-blast glasses. These glasses not only provided protection during an explosion but also shielded their eyes from various laser radiations. The blue light in the area was very damaging to the eyes. With the glasses on, they could also see the infrared beams on the glass floor.
The two glanced at each other, carefully passing through the infrared beams. This level of difficulty was child’s play for them. After passing the infrared, Ghost Face asked, "Where is the master switch?"
After passing the infrared, they ca to a dead end: a solid wall, seemingly made of obsidian. It was pitch black, with nothing on it. The flickering blue and black light was very eerie.
So far, the two hadn’t encountered any chanisms, because all the castle’s traps were inside.
On the wall was a chessboard. It was a Chinese chessboard. Wushuang stood in front of it. On both sides of the board, the chariots, generals, horses, cannons, elephants, and pawns were all in place, as if waiting for soone to play.
According to Hǎilán, this was the chanism for the main gate.
Wushuang moved the pieces, setting up a checkmate situation. A square door, half a ter high, suddenly opened in the stone wall. Inside was the master switch. Wushuang pulled the lever down, deactivated the weight sensors, and then closed the door. She moved the pieces on the chessboard again.
Checkmate.
The stone door opened.
"This is the chanism?" Ghost Face said. Wushuang nodded. "Don’t underestimate this chessboard. It’s not simple to set up this formation. Do you know why the Duke used a Chinese chessboard and not an international one?"
Ghost Face shook his head. Wushuang smiled. "It’s simple. Westerners are used to playing chess. Few of them play this kind of Chinese chess. And most of the thieves in London are Westerners. Very few know how to play this. So using this chess formation is the most rigorous and clever way to set up the chanism. The Duke is not simple-minded."
"You know how to play?"
"I do, but I just placed the final part of a chess ga I had morized in my mind." This chess ga was a difficult one to solve. Hǎilán had used her special ability to transform the ga into its final image and had morized it, and Wushuang had done the sa.
Fortunately, it hadn’t changed all these years.
The two entered the vault. The stone door closed behind them. This was the vault.
The light was very bright. The floor was glass, the walls were glass, and the ceiling was glass. The lights were set into the glass ceiling. The white light was very strong, and the temperature in the vault was at least 40 degrees Celsius.
The vault was filled with all kinds of treasures: Persian statues, priceless paintings, crowns left by ancient Egyptian kings, and oil paintings by Europe’s most famous artists. There was an endless amount of jewelry.
When Wushuang and Ghost Face opened a few large chests, they were dazzled by the brilliant colors. Several large boxes were filled with jewelry. It seed they all belonged to one person, which was why they were stored here. The bottom of the boxes had a signature.
In a corner on a special platform were several copper zodiac animal sculptures. They looked old but hadn’t faded.
This was a treasure trove. Any single item could provide a person with a comfortable life for three lifetis.
Wushuang and Ghost Face were not greedy people. They each looked for what they wanted. Ghost Face’s ’Wushuang’ was easy to find. He found it in a mont. It was a necklace with yellow gemstones. The color was pure, and the design was perfect. It was truly beautiful.
Wushuang searched through all the jewelry boxes but couldn’t find the Heart of the Sea.
"What do you need?"
"The Heart of the Sea," Wushuang said. There was nothing to hide now. She had been looking for almost half an hour and still couldn’t find it. Wushuang was getting a little irritable and cursed impolitely. Ghost Face was surprised. He had thought this calm, detached young woman could control her emotions much better.
"What does it look like? I’ll help you find it," Ghost Face offered. He had never heard of the Heart of the Sea. Wushuang shook her head, pointing at him. "You just stand there and don’t move. The chanisms in this vault are tricky. Random movents will ruin things. I can find it myself."
Since they had shut down the master switch, they could recklessly look for what they wanted. If they hadn’t pulled the switch, there would have been dozens of chanisms. The placent of these treasures seed ordinary, but there were hidden traps. Wushuang didn’t dare to be too careless.
Because Hǎilán’s diagram of the chanisms stopped here, she was afraid of a double chanism. If she touched sothing inside, the master switch might lose its effect, and the chanisms would restart. So Wushuang was very careful.
"Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. Tell what it looks like. Two people working will be faster," Ghost Face said. Wushuang frowned. She briefly described the appearance of the Heart of the Sea. They split up to search, but after more than twenty minutes, they had searched almost the entire vault and still couldn’t find the Heart of the Sea.
Wushuang’s brows furrowed. She felt a bit anxious. "Damn it, where is it?"
Ghost Face said, "What if the Heart of the Sea you’re looking for isn’t here?"
Wushuang shook her head. "That’s impossible. I’m absolutely certain it’s here."
The Heart of the Sea was the Duke’s most valued treasure. It would be very dangerous to keep it near him. With his paranoid personality, the Heart of the Sea had to be in the vault. But the key question was, *where?*
Wushuang cald herself and looked around the vault. The glass walls, glass floor, and glass ceiling ant nothing could be hidden. The treasures were all in the vault. *The Heart of the Sea...*
She looked at her watch. Almost an hour had passed.
She had to hurry. The longer they stayed here, the more dangerous it would beco.
"Mo Wushuang, let’s go," Ghost Face said. "You’ve been looking for so long, and it’s not here. What you want might not be here."
"If you want to go, go alone. The Heart of the Sea is far more important to than ’Wushuang’ is to you. I have to have it," Wushuang said in a deep voice. She was too tense to maintain a smile. Her phoenix-like eyes scanned every corner of the vault. What had she overlooked?
Wushuang’s eyes suddenly darkened as she looked up at the ceiling.
The white light was dazzling. Wushuang looked at the lights on the ceiling and suddenly asked, "Do you feel hot?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)