I Have A Dual World Seal-Chapter 439: The Treasure of St. Miguel

"Hello?"

"Hello, I’ve sorted through Allen Company’s business relations—where are you now?"

"I’m standing outside the insurance vault of the Allen Art Company."

Lin Wan, "..."

Lu Zheng chuckled, "Have you discovered any issues?"

Lin Wan said, "On the surface, no issues were found, but they are closely linked with several collectors suspected of acquiring illegal artefacts. There are also a few foreign trade orders that seem suspicious; the Lighthouse Country’s police intend to focus on these aspects."

She paused, then continued, "They also plan to pose as smugglers to test them, but I believe it won’t be effective."

Lu Zheng nodded, "The effort is too crude, of course it won’t work."

"How’s your side? Can you find evidence like hidden accounts? These accounts should be in the computer now, right? Can you locate them?" Lin Wan asked worriedly.

"Haha! Have you forgotten what my major was in college?"

"Computer science, I know." Lin Wan giggled, "But there’s still a gap between being a computer science graduate and a professional hacker, isn’t there?"

"You’re using reverse psychology with me?"

"No, no, no, I just wanted to ask if hacking skills are like martial arts mental realm and fine muscle control?" Lin Wan teased.

With Lu Zheng joining the case, it was basically a sure win, so Lin Wan was relaxed enough to joke.

"Exactly!" Lu Zheng nodded seriously, "You’re right; finding a mental flaw in the opposition and rapidly typing on the keyboard are indeed related to the martial arts mental realm and muscle control."

Lin Wan: ←_←

Lu Zheng said, "I’ll wait here until everyone leaves tonight, and then I’ll search their computers for hidden accounts and possible follow-up plans.

If there are recent offline transactions, you can get the Los Angeles Police Department to show up on-site, and I can slip you the USB drive with the hidden accounts amidst the chaos."

...

Once everyone from the Allen Art Company had left, Lu Zheng materialized in the president’s office.

He opened the computer, typed on the keyboard, and even wrote a search plugin on the spot.

Then, he decisively found a hidden account, an information database of smuggled artefacts, and customer information from illegal artefact auctions.

However, there was no follow-up plan or information related to other illegal groups.

But this information was already enough for Lin Wan to recover the artefacts that flowed out of Hua Country.

The question now was how to deliver this smoothly to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Eh? Right! Weren’t they planning to pretend as smugglers to test the waters?

When they leave, just hand the stuff over to them.

In that case, the evidence will be collected by them, and Lu Zheng doesn’t believe that these people wouldn’t take credit. When there’s no undercover agent or informant to claim it, the credit naturally becomes theirs.

With the evidence, they could apply for a warrant to search the company, and thus, those illegal artefacts hidden in the vault would be exposed.

As for the aftermath, the artefact transfer would no longer be Lin Wan’s concern; the embassy of Hua Country and the cultural relic department would handle it with counterparts here.

Lu Zheng could then start his tourism vacation in the Lighthouse Country with Lin Wan.

Perfect!

Lu Zheng rapidly typed, transferring all the criminal data into a USB drive he casually acquired from an electronics store earlier that day.

"Huh?"

Just as he was about to unplug the USB drive, Lu Zheng suddenly spotted an encrypted file.

"What’s this?"

Lu Zheng decisively decrypted it and opened it, immediately seeing a photo of a parchment scroll.

"San Miguel shipwreck treasure?"

"What the heck is this?"

Lu Zheng scrolled down, finally understanding the origins of the treasure.

Back then, after Spain controlled the entire American Continent, they looted more than fifty percent of the world’s gold and silver over several hundred years, making it the wealthiest country globally.

In 1712, Spain’s glory had faded, losing its strength. In order to prevent the New Continent’s powers from being swallowed by the United Kingdom, and due to domestic war-induced financial shortage, Spain organized history’s largest Treasure Transport Ship fleet to return all their previously retained New Continent treasures home.

It’s a fleet of twenty ships, each with a displacement of over 500 tons, filled with gold, silver, jewels, and other precious items.

To avoid pirate attacks, they intended to sail back to Spain during a brief weather window before hurricane season.

But fate was harsh. Seven days into their voyage, a hurricane hit, leading to complete devastation, and all treasures on the ships sank to the ocean floor.

For hundreds of years, sporadic gold and silver items occasionally washed ashore on Cuba or the Lighthouse Country’s East Coast, bringing unforeseen wealth to lucky ones.

For hundreds of years, seekers including the Spanish Royal Family attempted treasure recovery in the affected waters, retrieving treasure from seven transport ships, about a third of the lost treasure.

Yet vast amounts of the treasure remain asleep in the ocean depths, including the San Miguel ship.

San Miguel was among the largest treasure ships in the fleet, but separated during the hurricane, not sinking in the affected waters. Surviving crew couldn’t clarify its sinking location.

Based on recovered treasures so far, nothing from San Miguel was found.

Thus, San Miguel should have sunk wholly, with its treasure still intact.

The parchment map before him was drawn by San Miguel’s first mate.

The captain of San Miguel had died, and the first mate was the most cultured and knowledgeable among the rescued crew. Unaware of the sinking site’s details, he conceived a secret plan, creating a map and writing sailing records from memory, hiding them for future treasure retrieval via a company he planned to establish.

But fate is unpredictable; before resigning from the military and starting his company, he died in Spain’s succession war, leaving the map and records with descendants over generations.

Until three hundred years later, it ended up with Allen Art Company’s boss, Allen Carter.

Using the map and sailing records, Allen Carter pinned down a general location, planning to contact salvage ships, form a new treasure hunting company, and start treasure recovery.

"Treasure worth over three billion US Dollars? Indian and Spanish style gold and silver wares and gems?"

"This treasure is destined for me!"