This reaction was expected.
Wu You turned around and scanned the patrons in the bar; most of them avoided his gaze.
As if to cover up the embarrassment, the bar quickly returned to its noisy state.
"Uh... sir, did I hear that right...?"
The bartender asked uncertainly.
"You heard right, that's the one. I heard that it appeared here more than a month ago."
The bartender refilled Wu You's drink and visibly breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.
"Oh, this? You're looking for something to collect, right? I went to see it last time. Although it's probably not the real thing that's rumored, it certainly looks impressive."
Wu You didn't point it out, but continued to press for answers.
"Who has that now?"
The bartender smiled.
"Hehe, it's not in anyone's hands. Those Frenchmen held a few days of exhibitions after they got their hands on it. Although it was a fake, they didn't dare to take it with them in the end."
"They considered selling it, but there were quite a few people willing to spend a little money to take a look, but no one wanted to buy it. So before they left, they buried it in a grove of trees at the foot of a mountain."
The bartender's smile grew even brighter.
"You've come to the right person. I even know where they're buried."
“I know you too, sir. I’m very familiar with that area.”
"And me! I can take you there right now!"
A few voices suddenly rang out, proving that many people were paying attention to the bar area, and these sounds immediately made the bartender's face turn ugly.
"Hehehe, okay, after you finish this drink, if it's convenient for you, we'll set off now. Here's the deposit."
Wu You said this to the bartender, and at the same time placed a hundred-dollar bill on the bar.
Compared to the others, the bartender was clearly more credible. The others might have been motivated by money or had malicious intentions, and only the bartender's mental fluctuations indicated that he was telling the truth. The others were either in a dazed and excited state due to alcohol or were just making things up.
Of course, Wu You wasn't afraid; he simply didn't want to add a robbery and counter-attack element to today's treasure hunt role-playing game.
The bartender had no objections. After whispering something to his colleague, he immediately beckoned Wu You to follow him and led him into the bar's backstage area, then into an employee entrance.
On the way, the bartender called over two colleagues who seemed to have a good relationship with him and explained a few words to Wu You, who seemed indifferent.
The four of them quickly made their way out of the bartender's back door. In the late autumn, a cool breeze blew in, causing the three of them, except for Wu You, to hunch their shoulders.
The alley was dark and unlit, and the four of them hurried toward the outskirts of the city.
“Sir, my name is Hu Anmin, his name is Li Shun, and he is Brother Ruan Hongbin. We are all locals with some Chinese ancestry.”
"I still don't know your name, and... um..."
Wu You was quite tall and strong at this time, and it took the other three four or five steps to keep up with him after he took two steps.
I glanced at them as I walked.
“My name is Van Helsing. If you really find the Golden Upside-Down Bell, I will pay you another five hundred dollars.”
Wu You just made up a cool name on the spot.
Upon hearing this, the other two excitedly shook their hands vigorously.
Hu Anmin said that he would give half of the deposit as payment to the two people who looked after the location for him and the two people who went with him. That would be two hundred and fifty US dollars, which would be almost two years' salary after splitting.
The group arrived at the edge of the city and, since their destination was a forest, hired a horse-drawn carriage.
They soon left the city. The desolation outside was more like an undeveloped area than a suburb, with lush vegetation and barren landscape.
The coachman drove the carriage while occasionally taking a sip of wine to bolster his courage, and also clutched his hunting rifle to his chest.
"Guests, if you hadn't offered me $5, I wouldn't have driven out at night. This forest is connected to the mountains; there are man-eating tigers, and maybe even some monsters left over from last time..."
"Don't talk nonsense... It's late at night!"
Hearing the coachman rambling incoherently due to alcohol, Hu Anmin immediately retorted, and then the carriage fell silent.
The bumpy wheels kept spinning, and the inside of the car shook even more than in a bumper car. Except for Wu You, who remained as steady as a mountain, the other three people couldn't sit still in one place for more than a few seconds.
"Metaphor~~~"
With the neighing and snorting of the horses, the carriage finally came to a stop. They had now reached the edge of the dense forest, where the trees were too close together for the carriage to pass through.
The driver took down one of the two oil lamps hanging at the front of the cart and handed it to Hu Anmin.
"I'll wait for you here. If you don't come out in two hours, I'm leaving, and the deposit will not be refunded."
The driver then sat in the carriage, looking around into the depths of the night as he watched the four men enter the dense forest.
Hu Zhian and his two companions walked ahead carrying oil lamps, their steps noticeably slower and more cautious. The other two carried long sticks and shovels, their actions more for psychological comfort than practical use.
Wu You followed at a leisurely pace, showing no impatience whatsoever. On the contrary, he was quite looking forward to some unexpected turn of events, but unfortunately, nothing special happened until they reached their destination.
“We’re here, Mr. Xin. This is the place. My uncle and his friend helped carry it over for those French people. There’s no mistake.”
Hu Anmin stood at a spot marked by several rough pieces of wood and stones, pointing to a patch of ground that had clearly been compacted.
The tall Van Helsing nodded to him, who then spoke to his two colleagues.
"dig!"
The two men were already eager to get to work, and as they began to dig with their shovels, their fear was temporarily suppressed.
The wind picked up, and Hu Anmin tightened his collar, raising the oil lamp to one side so that his two colleagues could see it clearly.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
The sound of a shovel striking wood could be heard.
"We found it! It's this wooden box!"
The two changed their digging direction and began to widen the pit, clearing away the soil around the wooden box.
After doing all this, they threw the shovel aside and worked together to lift the box.
"Give me a hand! Give me a hand!"
Hu Anmin and Wu You, who were above, immediately took over their positions and, together with the two people pushing below, worked together to move the box out of the pit.
"Tick-tock~ Tick-tock~ Tick-tock~..."
What was that sound?
Hu Anmin suddenly shouted, and his two colleagues also looked frightened.
Wu You ignored them and directly tore off the thick steel lock on the wooden box, opening the box which was one meter long, one meter wide, and nearly one and a half meters high.
The "tick-tock~ tick-tock~ tick-tock..." sound grew louder.
Inside was a large, dull golden clock with a frame made of an unknown golden metal. The front was inlaid with a transparent gemstone, and inside there were not only scales and a pendulum, but also a golden bell hanging there.
The pendulum was swinging continuously, ticking away. Each time the pendulum moved, it left a golden, hazy afterimage in its path, like a computer-generated special effect.
"No...impossible! It's moving!"
"Oh my God! It's moving! It's moving!!!"
Ah~~~
The three people seemed to have suffered a great shock, their tone sharp and harsh, and their words incoherent.
"Shut up."
A calm voice came from behind, and the three of them instinctively stopped making a sound.
Wu You squinted, looking into the inside of the box, then at the three panicked people.
But he saw nothing!
His gaze was like a deep black hole and a dazzling star, and the intense pressure locked the surrounding space.
"snort!"
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