"Alright, I need to head back to deal with the upcoming tasks." After inspecting the hidden keyhole, Liang En waved and bid farewell to Pierce.
Having just used X-ray to understand the appearance of the key, he was now in a hurry to return and make a copy of the key to unlock the lock. He wanted to see what secrets were concealed inside.
"Well then, best of luck to you!" Pierce stood by the counter, saying, "By the way, try to keep your phone on in these days. My father needs your opinion as he's selling those items he obtained from Germany."
"Uncle Murphy is quite efficient," Liang En commented upon hearing Pierce's words. He retracted his foot that had already stepped out of the shop's door and turned his head.
"I thought our batch of items was relatively niche, so finding buyers might require some effort."
"You're right, collecting items related to the Cold War is indeed a very niche field," Pierce nodded. "But my father happens to know a collector in this area. These days, we might be able to find buyers through him."
"Indeed, having an older person at home is like having a treasure," Liang En didn't think this was mere coincidence. After all, Old Pierce had been in this business for over thirty years, so he naturally had his own channels.
"By the way, do you have anything else?" At this point, Liang En suddenly realized that Pierce seemed to have something else to say, so he asked directly.
"I do have something here," Pierce said, reaching under the counter and handing a list to Liang En. "This is something a regular customer in the shop wanted. If you have the time, you could help look for it."
"Victorian-era furniture? Alright, I'll keep an eye out for it." Considering his available cash of over ten thousand pounds, he felt that collecting this type of furniture shouldn't be too difficult.
After leaving the Emerald Antique Shop, Liang En first went to a nearby specialized key-cutting place, where he spent ten pounds to have a key made according to the blueprint he had drawn earlier. Then he returned to his residence.
Upon returning, the first thing Liang En did was take out his phone and check his email.
Unfortunately, just like the past week, his mailbox contained nothing other than a few bills and advertisements—none of the anticipated correspondence from the "British Archaeological Association Journal."
Of course, this couldn't exactly be called bad news. Even though they hadn't sent an email accepting his paper, at least they hadn't sent a rejection letter either.
As for why a week had passed and there was still no response from the "British Archaeological Association Journal," this matter wasn't difficult to comprehend.
After all, they were the top archaeological journal in the UK, and naturally, they received a significant number of submissions every month, even every day. Among these were submissions from amateur archaeologists like Liang En.
Hence, being able to carefully review each submission was already a commendable practice. Therefore, papers from amateur experts like Liang En naturally ended up further down the queue.
In his view, receiving a response within half a month was already quite good; considering his luck, it could have easily been delayed until next month.
In the UK, many workers not only had low efficiency but also charged high fees. For example, getting a key made not only cost ten pounds but also took five to six hours.
This also meant that for the following morning, he could only stay here and wait for the locksmith to finish his work and send him a text to come retrieve the key.
Out of boredom, Liang En started studying the cards in his mind. Quickly, he realized that these cards could move within his mind according to his will.
"If that's the case, I can stack the identical cards together." This newfound discovery immediately gave Liang En a bold idea.
After all, although he didn't have many cards now, it was foreseeable that he would acquire more of them in the future. So, tidying up the stack of cards in his mind was a good idea.
But just as he stacked four [Detection (N)] cards together, a line of text suddenly appeared from this stack of cards.
"[After consuming one (N)-rank card, you can combine three identical (N)-rank cards into one (R)-rank card.]"
"It feels more and more like a card game." Seeing this text prompt, Liang En displayed a helpless smile. "Now card synthesis has even come into play."
Considering that cards like [Detection (N)] were easy to obtain, and understanding this cheat was very important, Liang En chose to combine cards.
Right after he chose to combine, the card at the very bottom of this stack immediately turned into a white light that enveloped all the cards above it.
A few seconds later, the light dissipated, and the originally stacked black cards disappeared, leaving only a bronze card in that position.
[Detection (R): When searching for items, merely finding something good in a small area is not enough to meet the current stage's requirements. Fortunately, we now have the ability to search for items farther away.
Skill card (single use): After obtaining an item carrying information, by consuming this card along with that item, you can find a related entity.
This entity could be a treasure, a treasure trove, or a certain ruin. Until that thing is found, no one can know what will ultimately be found.]
"A card with quite a bit of randomness." After reading the contents of this card, Liang En showed a helpless expression. The range of existence was just too vast.
For example, if he used this card on the bronze pot, the indicated location could be the New Army's treasure, their burial grounds, or even the camp in Constantinople.
If it was the former, then sacrificing such a valuable artifact might lead to a substantial profit or, at worst, break even. However, the latter two were clearly losing propositions.
Therefore, for Liang En, careful consideration was necessary when selecting the item to guide him, to avoid a situation where he ended up wasting time and resources.
After contemplating the artifacts he currently possessed, Liang En realized that the items he had lacked direct specificity, so using this card would probably result in losses.
"It seems like I'll have to keep this card for now." Looking somewhat resigned as he gazed at [Detection (R)], Liang En could only put away the card with a sense of helplessness, then proceeded to organize his other cards.
By the time it was 4 in the afternoon, Liang En finally received the customized key he had ordered earlier. As soon as he got hold of the key, he opened the lock shaped like a rabbit.
With a slight click, the lock split into two, revealing its inner structure.
Aside from the expected mechanical components within the lock, Liang En also found a brown object, resembling a cigarette filter, wedged between the gears and linkages.
"Now things are getting more interesting." As Liang En thought, he used a pair of tweezers to gently extract the object from between the gears and linkages.