The found satellite car engine was placed in a box with the emblem of the Ernest Tillman Pioneer Organization, with some wooden boards fixing it in place.
Obviously, this was not very normal, because such engines usually have a standardized box for transportation.
After discovering that the box was not originally designed for the engine but was compatible, the three people present immediately associated it with the possibility of the flags they had just found.
"Open all the boxes with the same markings around here." Leonard was the first to react and said, "Maybe the Vanguard tanks are hidden in this room."
In the next few minutes, the three of them pried open almost all the wooden boxes behind the shelves with crowbars. They indeed found some components made of steel and plastic in some boxes.
"Barrels, turrets, tracks—" as those boxes were opened one by one, the contents inside made everyone's eyes shine brighter and brighter.
It took a whole hour for them to sort through all the things related to the tanks in those boxes, and in the end, they found that a total of 15 wooden boxes were filled with parts that seemed to belong to miniature tanks.
"The components inside are very well preserved; they have been treated almost before storage. Overall, aside from a small amount of paint peeling and wear, they look almost new," said Leonard, who had carefully inspected those boxes and their components.
Like the flags and boards they found earlier, these tank components had also been carefully processed to withstand twenty years of time and be preserved intact until now.
"I found a total of five engines and five chassis," Old Pierce said. "As mentioned in the previous information, although these tanks have different shapes, all their chassis and engines are of the same model."
"But I only saw three turrets," Pierce added at this time, "This may be because the chassis and engines are part of the walking components, which wear out faster, so they prepared some spare parts."
"No, those extra chassis aren't spare parts. Or rather, they're not extra at all." Leonard pointed to an opened box and said.
"Look, this front armor is different from the others; it's obviously larger, and there's also a hole in it. If I'm not mistaken, the other two chassis should belong to turretless assault guns."
"At that time, they equipped miniature tanks in five types: T-34-76, T-34-85, T-54, SU-100, and SU-122." Old Pierce looked at the information on the mobile phone screen, then raised his head and pointed at those boxes and said.
"If I'm not mistaken, these five tanks should be all the models of tanks that the pioneer tank brigade equipped with at that time."
"But how did these things escape the planned destruction of these things when the two countries merged at that time?" Pierce's face was full of puzzlement.
"You said that things like flags are small enough that they can be taken away if you're determined. But you can't stuff a tank this big under your clothes."
"If it's in chaos, it's not impossible to save these things, although it's difficult." Leonard pointed at the components in the boxes and said.
"For example, they could have assembled a shell tank with spare parts and sent it to be destroyed while secretly smuggling out the original tank parts."
"But why would they do that—"
"After all, such a big country, there will always be people who will miss it." Old Pierce sighed softly.
"Although I don't know why those who put these things here never came back to take them away, they must have had some hope when they hid them at that time."
After listening to what Old Pierce had to say, Leonard Ethan nodded in agreement. It seemed that everything here had been carefully preserved, as if the owner would return at any moment.
Obviously, if these items were stored as garbage, they wouldn't have received such meticulous treatment.
"Let's look around a bit more—" Leonard suggested, feeling somewhat disheartened at what Old Pierce had said. The joy of discovering a treasure somehow dissipated.
Especially after realizing that these seemingly new items were actually from a country that had disappeared more than twenty years ago, an inexplicable feeling crept over him.
Fortunately, Leonard wasn't a sentimental person, so this feeling came and went quickly.
Soon, Leonard, along with Murphy and his son, used a small trolley and long wooden boards found in the warehouse, combined with the ropes and pulleys they had brought, to move the boxes onto the truck.
Although the items were called tanks, they were mainly made of tinplate and plastic, so their overall weight wasn't too heavy, making it easy to move them, except for the engines.
Having moved the boxes, the warehouse seemed much emptier. It seemed like all their luck was spent on these tanks, and the items they found next were nothing special.
For example, they found a whole box of film and negatives, but they had all been deliberately exposed, rendering them nothing more than flammable trash.
They also found several boxes of the most popular Redberg beer from that time, but after so many years had passed, only empty bottles and rusty caps remained.
"Whiskey or brandy might have survived until today, but beer just becomes a pile of junk." Old Pierce shook his head helplessly at the completely dried beer.
In the deepest part of the warehouse, they found some green tinplate weapon and ammunition boxes. But, like the neighboring warehouse, they were all empty.
Having obtained those miniature tanks and flags, and considering their haul to be quite considerable, these empty boxes didn't leave them utterly disappointed.
Finally, as night fell, they cleared everything from the warehouse. It was then that the four cards – three black and one blue – appeared in Leonard's mind.
However, he didn't have time to examine the cards, as Old Pierce instructed him and his son to watch the warehouse and the truck while he bought food at a nearby restaurant.
In fact, both Leonard and Pierce had volunteered to buy food, especially since Leonard spoke the best German. However, they were both turned down.
As this warehouse and the surrounding houses were all adorned with symbols representing the far-right, Old Pierce believed that an experienced driver like himself was better suited for this task than his inexperienced son or Leonard with his Asian features.
Since this warehouse was abandoned, apart from their own light sources, every nearby area was shrouded in darkness.
"My father has many good qualities, but he can be quite stubborn sometimes." Twenty minutes later, clutching a steel pipe and staring into the dark, Pierce looked worried.
"Don't worry, although this place is remote, those far-right scumbags won't venture here," Leonard reassured his friend. "There's no one for them to cause trouble with."
Just as he finished speaking, hurried footsteps approached. It turned out that Old Pierce had returned with dinner.
"Eat quickly and get going," Old Pierce said, lowering his voice and quickly placing two plastic bags in front of Leonard and Pierce. "We may have some trouble."