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Just like that, after a lot of trouble, this group of people had no other options, so they decided to ask a detective to help. And as luck would have it, I was the detective they asked for help. It was really a headache..."
As she spoke, Black Rose sighed in a pretentious manner.
Bai Heqing listened to her words and lowered his head in thought.
A treasure named "British Empire", three seemingly unrelated heirs, and a mysteriously disappeared inheritance...
The intuition that Baihe Qing had honed from working on various cases over the years told him that the task Black Rose wanted to ask of him might not be as simple as it seemed.
I guess something is going to happen.
"What exactly do you want us to do in the deal you mentioned? Is it to investigate the whereabouts of these inheritances?"
At this moment, Mary also finished reading the contents of the invitation letter, nodded to Bai Heqing, and turned to look at Black Rose.
"No, investigating the whereabouts of the heritage is just a side job." Shaking her head slightly, Black Rose explained, "What I really want is for you two to find a way to preserve the cultural relics inside after you find the heritage."
When she said this, her tone was serious.
“No matter which country the cultural relics are from, they are the precious historical and cultural heritage of that country and its people, and are the most practical manifestation of the charm of that civilization in the real world.
They should belong to their own countries, instead of being plundered by robbers and then displayed in the museums of other countries like trophies.
To help these looted artifacts return to their own countries as much as possible is my original intention for stealing as a Phantom Thief.
Ladies and Gentlemen, based on the scattered intelligence I have investigated before, the process by which Eijiro Tone obtained the treasure in Singapore was very mysterious. I personally suspect that he might have obtained the treasure by some chance, which the British had plundered from other parts of the world during the Age of Discovery, but for various reasons, was eventually lost in Singapore.
I think this may be the reason why he named this treasure "Heritage of the British Empire". If this is true, then this heritage must contain a large number of precious cultural relics from other countries in the world.
From my personal perspective, I don’t want these cultural relics to fall into the hands of capitalists and nobles. They should return to their own country’s museums.”
"Okay, I promise you."
As soon as Black Rose finished speaking, Bai Heqing immediately agreed. He looked at her and said, "I will help you investigate the whereabouts of this batch of heritage, and I will also help you preserve the precious cultural relics in this batch of heritage as you wish.
Of course, I can’t help you preserve and take these cultural relics away, so how to take them away and send them back to their own countries is something you have to figure out on your own.”
Although his intuition told him that investigating this batch of inheritance might be dangerous, Bai Heqing was moved by Black Rose's extremely righteous motives and decided to wade into this muddy water.
"me too!"
Mary at the side also said: "Baihe, I'll go with you."
Seeing Mary's lack of hesitation, Baihe Qing frowned slightly.
Considering the possible dangerous situations, he actually didn't want Mary to follow him anymore. Just as Mary was worried that Bai Heqing would get hurt again because of her, Bai Heqing also didn't want to see her being implicated because of him.
To be honest, Mary had no obligation to accompany him to do these things...
"Don't try to push me away!"
But just as he was about to speak, he was interrupted by Mary. She looked directly at Bai Heqing and gave him a reason that he could not refuse.
"Baihe, you don't even understand English. If I'm not there to translate for you, how are you going to gather intelligence? How are you going to investigate? Hmm?"
Her question stumped Bai Heqing.
Indeed, he does not speak English.
He would definitely not be able to communicate normally with the British by himself, and at this time, it was indeed unlikely for old man Stewart to find a partner for him who was proficient in both English and Japanese and could cooperate with him highly.
He and Mary also developed a tacit understanding after experiencing life and death together...
Well, okay, I'll leave the rest to you, Mary."
Thinking of this, Bai Heqing sighed softly, which was considered as his agreement.
Well, he just needs to be more careful then...
"Humph~"
When Mary saw this, she raised her chin happily.
Perhaps even she herself did not clearly realize what really made her happy...
"Oh! You two have such a good relationship!"
Seeing that the two had reached a consensus, Black Rose, who had been watching quietly, suddenly smiled and clapped her hands.
"It seems like you two are indeed in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship! Then I'll leave the rest to you..."
"No!" ×2
"Eh? Isn't it?"
"Of course not!" ×2
Chapter 421: The Villa Immersed in Water
According to the information provided by Black Rose, Eijiro Tone's villa is on an isolated island overseas of Britain.
Slightly different from ordinary islands, the main body of this isolated island is divided into two parts, north and south, with a strait more than 20 meters wide between the two islands.
The overall terrain of the South Island is high in the north and low in the south. The island's pier is built on the flat area in the southern part of the South Island. The overall terrain of the North Island is high in the south and low in the north. Tone Eijiro's annex is built on the flat area in the middle of the North Island.
However, there was no pier leading to the outside world on the North Island. Therefore, if they wanted to go to this villa, Shirakawa Kiyoshi and Mary had to take a boat to the pier on the South Island first, then walk across the only steel bridge leading to the North Island on the north side of the South Island, and enter the tunnel on the North Island. Only after they walked out of this cave tunnel of about 100 meters, could they finally see their destination...
A luxurious villa submerged in water.
That's right, soak in water.
The terrain of the North Island is high in the south and low in the north, so after Shirakawa Kiyoshi and Mary left the cave tunnel, they were halfway up the mountain where they could overlook most of the scenery of the North Island.
The most eye-catching one is the annex located in the flat area in the central part of the North Island.
The annex is a British Gothic-style building. From the outside, it seems to have three floors. The overall architectural layout is a bit like the Chinese character "山" (mountain) turned upside down.
The villa is surrounded by a high wall, and the gate of the wall is a thick metal door instead of the iron gate commonly seen outside, which makes this luxurious villa completely impenetrable.
It's literally packed with people.
From Baihe Qing's angle at this time, he could clearly see that the accumulated water, several meters high, had submerged the entire first floor of the annex. Under the blue water, the fountain pools or gardening beds that were originally built in the annex's courtyard could be vaguely seen.
The water level of the accumulated water should have been specially controlled. It only flooded the first floor of the annex and had no impact on the second floor.
As if to accommodate the accumulated water, many places on the second floor of the annex have doors that can be opened, and in front of some of the doors there are even speedboats that can travel on the water.
On a small hill farther north of the villa, there is a winding stone road, and on one of the gentle slopes there are several wind turbines.
"This is the first time I've seen such a...special mansion." Mary said after taking a quick look at the villa in the water in the distance in front of her.
She had seen many luxury houses, but this was the first time she had seen one submerged in water.
"This place is a bit strange." Bai Heqing said.
"What did you find?" Mary asked as the two of them walked down along the cobblestone road.
"I just noticed something that seemed illogical to me." Baihe Qing explained, "From the perspective of the terrain, this North Island is fully capable of building an external pier.
There was no need for the designers to build the pier on the South Island and then go to the trouble of constructing a viaduct and a cave tunnel between the North and South Islands for traffic.
From a cost perspective, the design of this island is completely unqualified. Unless it is for the purpose of creating a tourist attraction, no normal person would choose such an extremely costly design.
But it is obvious that Eijiro Tone has no intention of turning this isolated island into a tourist attraction. On the contrary, I feel that he is even deliberately isolating the North Island where the annex is located from the outside world.
Perhaps this is the reason why the external terminal was deliberately located in the South Island.”
Bai Heqing had already had some doubts about this on the way here.
According to the captain of the small ship that sent him and Mary to this isolated island, the Ligon family living on this isolated island rarely leaves the island, and the food and other necessities needed for daily life also pass through the island. Wireless phones are regularly purchased from related external companies, and finally they are hired to ship to the dock on the South Island, and the Ligen family on the island takes them back to their annex on the North Island.
In other words, even those responsible for transporting daily necessities to the island have never actually been to the North Island on the other side of the viaduct.
As for the pier on the South Island, to put it nicely it is called a pier, but to put it bluntly it is just a simple boat landing spot, just big enough to accommodate one or two small ships. Usually, apart from transporting daily necessities needed on the island, no other ships will approach here, and there is not even a maintenance staff on the pier.
All these things prove that the late Eijiro Tone wanted to isolate the Kitajima Island where the annex was located from the outside world.
"Could it be that they are trying to hide the 'legacy of the British Empire' that Tone Eijiro mentioned?"
Mary raised her hand and touched her chin when she heard this, and speculated curiously:
"If that's the case, doesn't this prove that the heritage is indeed hidden somewhere on this North Island?"
"Based on the current situation, I agree with this speculation. Of course, we have to wait for further investigation to find out what the real situation is."
As the two were talking, they were already approaching the gate of the villa. They walked up the steps outside, then raised their hands and pushed open the small door reserved on the gate.
Behind the door is a luxurious villa located in the water. The water level is just high enough to reach the threshold of this small door. Not far away in front of the main entrance of the villa, a small wooden boat is slowly approaching the direction where the two are.
On the small wooden boat was an old man in a brown suit. He was thin, had gray hair and wore glasses. He was using a wooden pole to propel the small wooden boat towards the two of them, creating ripples on the calm water.
"Good afternoon, both of you. My name is Kurahashi Motoaki, and I am the housekeeper of this villa. May I ask if you are friends of Ms. Elizabeth?"
The old man who called himself Kurahashi Motoaki skillfully paddled the small wooden boat to the door, bowed to Shirakawa Kiyoshi and Mary, and asked.
Elizabeth, the name used by Black Rose's detective identity, met with the two this morning and discussed the specific details of their operation. Black Rose immediately called Tone Eijiro's two sons.
The general content of the call was that although she had been cordially invited, she was unable to come due to some special reasons. To express her apology, she would ask two of her friends whose reasoning abilities were no less than hers to come and help find the whereabouts of the inheritance, and no commission would be charged.
Although Tone Eijiro's two sons were somewhat dissatisfied with this, they finally agreed after Black Rose's eloquent persuasion.
After all, if we were to find someone again now, it would take several days, and for those people on the island, the last thing they wanted to do was to keep waiting...
Chapter 422: Kill a small one as a sign of respect.
"I would like to ask, is the accumulation of water in this annex a result of some special design?"
Sitting on the small wooden boat with Mary, Shirakawa Qing looked at Kurahashi Motoaki who was standing in front rowing the boat and asked.
"Ah, don't worry about that. These were the hobbies of the late family head, Mr. Eijiro."
On the slightly swaying wooden boat, Kurahashi Motoaki explained:
“As you two have seen, when renovating this annex, Mr. Eijiro also installed many doors outside the second floor for entry and exit.
Therefore, although the first floor of the annex cannot be accessed, the floors above the second floor can be used normally. "
While they were talking, the small wooden boat had already approached the boat stop at the main entrance of the annex. Kurahashi Motoaki held the boat steady and turned to the two of them and said:
"Please follow me, you two young masters have been waiting for a long time."
Following Kurahashi Motoaki, Shirakawa Kiyoshi and Mary entered the annex through the main entrance.
Of course, due to the special design of this villa, the two of them were on the second floor as soon as they entered.