Eva Herzog's words struck Song Jie like a bolt from the blue, leaving him utterly stunned.
Realizing that circumstances were beyond his control, and in order to resolve the issue, Song Jie decided to take the initiative and defuse the awkward and tense atmosphere. He moved from sitting side by side with the female officer to sitting directly across from her. Then, he leaned forward slightly and extended his hand sincerely for a handshake. "My apologies, Officer Eva Herzog. I retract my previous attitude. Let me reintroduce myself: my name is Song Jie, head of the European 'Perfect Relic Recovery' project and a party directly involved in tonight's theft of the Buddha head. To better facilitate our investigation, I will now give you a detailed account of everything I experienced tonight..." He then recounted the events in full detail to Officer Eva Herzog.
Song Jie's sincere attitude clearly softened Eva Herzog. She lightly shook hands with him before posing a critical question: "The intelligence I received right away indicated that this was obviously a meticulously planned and premeditated heist. The criminals acted swiftly and cleanly, leaving no trace behind, with a perfect escape route. According to the investigation report from the scene, there were almost no useful clues left at the Lindau auction site. But I have a question: if this group of criminals was so well-trained, why did they choose to commit the crime in such a public, high-profile setting? They had many other opportunities to act, such as intercepting the item during its transport to the auction, during the pre-auction exhibition, or even before or after the auction began—situations that would have made their job much easier. Since they had the capability to pull off such a clean operation in front of a large crowd, it would have been even easier for them to strike when no one was around. Typically, criminals try to avoid drawing attention, and I've never seen a crime committed in such a way that it seems like they wanted everyone to know. That's why I believe there's something deeper behind this. Did you notice anything unusual at the auction that night?"
Song Jie thought carefully and replied, "Now that you mention it, that does make sense. But that night's auction didn't seem any different from the other auctions I've attended. I can't think of anything particularly unusual."
"For example, there could have been an inside man working with them, coordinating from within. Or maybe they wanted someone specific to know about the heist. Perhaps they deliberately created a scene to attract media attention. There's a saying—when something unusual happens, there's always a reason behind it. The more illogical it seems, the more likely there's a strong rationale behind it. " As Eva Herzog spoke, she fell into deep thought.
"Criminals who deliberately want media exposure?" Song Jie asked, puzzled.
"If they get media coverage, it's like free publicity for the stolen artifact when they try to resell it. The news reports, in a way, authenticate its origin and value," Eva Herzog explained.
"But who would dare to buy something so high-profile? Aren't they afraid of drawing too much attention?" Song Jie asked, still confused.
"Thanks to you Chinese, the hottest commodities on Europe's black market right now are Chinese relics," Eva Herzog said with a mocking smile. "Typically, these illegal relics are funneled into the underground market, passing through special black-market channels where they vanish without a trace. The entire transaction process is anonymous, and it rarely takes more than 24 hours. If you want to recover it, you have to act within those 24 hours while there's still a trail to follow."
"What happens if more than 24 hours pass?" Song Jie asked, realizing the gravity of the situation and growing anxious.
"Unless a miracle happens, you can forget about getting it back. But if miracles happened every day, they wouldn't be called miracles," Eva Herzog sighed.
"In that case, why did you say it's 'thanks to us Chinese'? Since ancient times, due to the high value and scarcity of cultural relics, illegal trafficking of relics has existed alongside legitimate channels. Especially after the 'Second Great Contamination' incident, the global economy plunged into deep recession, and maritime nations were hit particularly hard. Many governments became unstable, and the devaluation of sovereign currencies followed, eroding trust in their value. As everyone knows, gold and rare artifacts have become the most sought-after 'hard currency' in today's world. That led to the expansion of underground markets beyond legal channels. But blaming this on us Chinese is extremely unfair!" Song Jie argued passionately.
For many years, Song Jie had been in charge of the "Wanbi Project" in Europe. He was well aware of the vast underground black market for cultural relics that operated outside legal channels—a hidden network where tens of thousands of artifacts were traded daily, functioning like an underground bank where relics were the currency. On this black market, gold was the only medium of exchange, which made these transactions both discreet and secure, virtually untraceable, yet highly efficient.
It was precisely because of this that China, in recent years, decisively launched the "Wanbi Project" initiative. As the nation grew stronger, China began working on two fronts: on one hand, cooperating with various governments to sign the "Wanbi Project White Paper", aiming to establish an international framework for dialogue and legally reclaim Chinese artifacts held in public museums around the world. On the other hand, Song Jie was tasked with assembling a team dedicated to recovering Chinese relics from the underground black market, striving to prevent more of China's cultural heritage from falling into those illicit channels.
Song Jie explained the details of the "Wanbi Project" to Eva Herzog, laying it all out without omission. He spoke with visible emotion, recounting the years of hard work and significant achievements made by the initiative. As he reached the more moving parts of his story, Song Jie's pride and sense of accomplishment were evident. He had hoped that this heartfelt explanation would earn some recognition—perhaps even a word or two of praise—from the officer sitting across from him, Eva Herzog.
However, Song Jie failed to notice that Eva Herzog, seated across from him, maintained an icy expression throughout, listening with detached indifference. Just as he finished speaking, she abruptly doused his enthusiasm with a cold remark:
"Do you realize that the saying 'No buying, no killing' applies here as well? Over the years, your aggressive efforts to purchase Chinese artifacts have driven up their prices, inadvertently fueling the black market for relics in Europe—especially Chinese relics. This surge in demand has, in turn, led to a growing number of criminal cases related to Chinese artifacts."
She paused briefly before continuing, her tone sharp and unyielding. "Moreover, because of your official collaborations and recovery efforts, Chinese artifacts held by public institutions have become unprofitable. As a result, many of these institutions have secretly sold their collections on the black market to private buyers. These buyers either keep the relics hidden or pretend they've been part of a private collection for years, only to resell them at auctions for exorbitant profits. This has created a new underground industry. Have you considered this unintended consequence of your actions?"
Song Jie was momentarily at a loss for words. The pride and satisfaction he had felt just moments ago vanished instantly. He had to admit that Eva Herzog's points were not without merit. Still, he felt it was deeply unfair for her to blame their legitimate and justified efforts to protect Chinese cultural relics for fostering criminal activity. Raising his voice by several octaves, he fired back:
"I think it's completely unfair to blame us for the rise in crime just because we want to protect our own cultural relics. Do you really believe that if we didn't buy them, no one else would? Even if we didn't buy them, these artifacts would still be lost abroad. We're only trying to save these priceless relics!"
"I'm merely stating my understanding of the case," Eva Herzog replied coldly. "As for those so-called relics from your country that you're so eager to save, I couldn't care less. To me, they're nothing more than stones—no different from the paving stones in my backyard by the pond." She delivered the dismissive remark with a scornful smirk, deliberately provoking Song Jie.
"The fact that you think a precious Buddha head is no different from an ordinary stone only shows how uncultured you are," Song Jie blurted out impulsively. The moment the words left his mouth, he regretted them.
"Who are you calling uncultured?" Eva Herzog's voice rose sharply, and she slammed her slender hand heavily on the armrest of her chair.
Song Jie was tempted to snap back, but he adhered to his personal principle of "never having the last word in an argument". Restraining himself, he turned his head to the side, silently expressing his defiance through quiet resistance.
Eva Herzog was also visibly irritated. Wanting to end this unpleasant conversation as soon as possible, she threw out one final question, her tone sharp and curt:
"Last question, Dr. Song. Our only lead right now is the England Museum. How much do you know about it? And can you explain why, despite your official government-level agreements, artifacts from the England Museum ended up in this auction? Could it be, as I unfortunately suspected, that there's an insider smuggling relics for profit?"
"No comment," Song Jie replied coolly, turning his head away to look out the window.
And with that, their first meeting ended in complete failure.
Eva Herzog shook her head in frustration, resting her forehead on one hand, her body language betraying her dissatisfaction and helplessness. From her perspective, being pulled off her long-anticipated vacation at Lake Constance for this sudden case was annoying enough. To make matters worse, her superiors had saddled her with what she saw as a burden—an additional complication to an already difficult task. Unfortunately, political decisions were beyond her control, and she had no choice but to follow orders.
Meanwhile, sitting across from her, Song Jie was equally filled with complaints about this German woman. He found her to be arrogant, disrespectful, and inflexible, with an inexplicable sense of superiority. Eva Herzog was difficult to communicate with, and he was tempted to outright refuse any further cooperation with her. In fact, in a moment of frustration, his mind even conjured the wild thought of grabbing a parachute and jumping out of the plane just to escape this maddening situation. But the reality of the situation weighed heavily on him. Remembering the precious Buddha head and the importance of their mission, he decided to put the bigger picture first. He swallowed his pride—and the many colorful insults in multiple languages he had learned over the years while traveling the world—and kept silent.
Pretending to watch the view outside, he stared at the blinking signal light at the tip of the wing. For a brief instant, when the light went out, the dark glass of the window reflected his own troubled face, etched with worry and frustration.