With three superpowers at his fingertips, he could dominate the 1970s.

Commander Yan immediately stood up.

Does he know—

This person is from the Second Administration Bureau.

The girl who could get her former boss to personally call him, the commander, to assign her tasks—

It's the only one of its kind in the entire Gansu province.

"Oh, young comrade!"

"So young, yet so accomplished!"

Commander Yan strode over, reached out and shook hands with Jiang Zhiyu. His palm was rough and thick, the result of years of holding a gun.

"Come on—let me introduce you."

He stepped aside to make way for the sofa.

"This is Wang Xiangdong, he's from the provincial department."

"This is Zhang Haisheng, a comrade transferred from the Cultural Relics Bureau."

"They were the ones investigating Li Laitou this time."

Jiang Zhiyu nodded to each of them in greeting.

Wang Xiangdong wore a faded old military uniform with sharp eyes, while Zhang Haisheng wore a Lenin suit with a pen pinned to his chest; both looked like very serious people.

"Comrade Xiao Jiang."

Wang Xiangdong spoke first, placing a kraft paper file on the table and pushing it over.

"As instructed by my superiors—I'll first give you a rundown of the investigation I've conducted over the past two weeks."

Jiang Zhiyu sat down opposite him:

"Comrade, please."

---

Wang Xiangdong turned to the first page of the file.

"You should have seen Li Laitou's file."

"A local tycoon in Gansu Province; his family has been in this business for three generations."

He doesn't do the work himself—he's the one who handles it.

"He only asks about the price, not the origin of the goods."

"He knows exactly where the goods go and who he sells them to, but he doesn't utter a single word about it."

He glanced at Jiang Zhiyu.

"We intercepted him at the train station on the 27th of last month."

"He was preparing to ship the goods at the time."

"Some things weren't captured—the people were detained first."

Jiang Zhiyu nodded.

Wang Xiangdong pursed his lips:

"For the first three days, I didn't utter a single word."

"On the fourth day, the documents you transferred from the capital arrived—photos of the small bronze tripod and descriptions of its excavation features."

"We showed him the photos and used some tactics before he finally talked."

Wang Xiangdong flicked the cigarette ash off the case file:

"Li Laitou himself said that that batch of goods was a bit strange, so he sold them all after a short time in his possession."

Jiang Zhiyu's lips twitched, but she didn't reply.

---

Wang Xiangdong continued turning the page.

"This is the list that Li Laitou provided."

"Handled by me in total—eleven items."

He tapped the file with his finger:

"We traced his line back to its source last year and this year, and confirmed the flow of funds."

He spread out a hand-drawn map of the destination on the table.

"Two items, we intercepted them."

"That refers to the two items locked upstairs."

"There are three more items scattered among the people. Two have been recovered and are currently in the provincial evidence archive. The remaining one is still being pursued."

"Six items remaining..."

Wang Xiangdong paused for a moment, his gaze falling on the arc on the far right of the map.

"It went out via the Fujian province route."

Jiang Zhiyu frowned slightly:

"Smuggling?"

"Um."

Wang Xiangdong nodded:

"The coastal areas of Fujian Province haven't been as strictly regulated in the last two years."

"The journey started from Gansu Province, passed through several cities, and then headed south to Fujian Province—"

From fishing boats to cargo ships, then to Hong Kong for transshipment, and finally—

"Arrived in Europe."

He drew a circle on the map for the "Europe" area with his fingertip.

"We don't have any leads yet on which collectors it ended up with."

"The only thing we can confirm is that they've left."

Jiang Zhiyu remained silent for a few seconds.

"Are the two largest items among the six included?"

Wang Xiangdong took a deep breath:

"Yes."

"The two biggest items Li Lai Tou sold this time—a bronze square pot about a foot tall and a bronze snake-patterned mask—have already been taken out."

"We can't catch them any further once we reach Hong Kong."

The office fell silent for a moment.

---

Jiang Zhiyu tapped her fingertips lightly on the edge of the table.

She had a premonition.

Good things don't come easily.

It's good that those two large items are still there.

They're on the other side of the sea, waiting for her to retrieve them.

She looked up:

"Those two pieces that were cut off—"

"What did the test results say?"

This time, it was Zhang Haisheng who answered.

He opened a thin appraisal book in front of him, his expression becoming more serious:

"Comrade Xiao Jiang, state your conclusion first."

"These two items we intercepted—and the information you provided about the small bronze tripod—belong to the same batch, but not from the same location."

Jiang Zhiyu's breath hitched slightly.

Zhang Haisheng continued: "That is to say, there are only three pieces in the same location, which were unearthed from the same place as the small bronze ding you gave me, and the rest were in the surrounding area."

"Li Laitou confessed that the two items that ended up in Europe, as well as one of the items in the Bureau of Evidence, were from the same pit as the bronze tripod you gave us. The rest were unearthed from other pits."

Jiang Zhiyu stared at him:

"Are they all burial goods?"

He turned to another page:

"Several senior scholars in our cultural relics department have repeatedly studied these artifacts."

Preliminary inference—

Zhang Haisheng lowered his voice:

"It's not a burial pit."

Jiang Zhiyu looked up.

"no?"

"Um."

Zhang Haisheng's expression was solemn:

"The items unearthed from tombs follow certain patterns in burial—the placement, combination, and ritual of the objects are all carefully considered."

"But these twelve items—each with a different style and purpose—show no trace of any funerary custom."

"More like..."

He paused for a moment:

"...It's more like a ritual implement used in sacrifices."

"It was something that had been offered on an altar."

Another silence fell over the office.

Jiang Zhiyu slowly exhaled:

"What era is this altar from?"

"It cannot be verified."

Zhang Haisheng shook his head:

"The old gentlemen said, 'The era is probably far beyond what we know in history.'"

"The exact time—there's no clue."

---

Jiang Zhiyu remained silent for a long time.

Finally, she stood up solemnly towards the two of them:

"Thank you both for your hard work during this time."

"This investigation report is extremely important for my future work."

Wang Xiangdong waved his hand:

"You're too kind, Comrade Jiang."

"We're all doing the same thing."

Zhang Haisheng pushed the appraisal book and the copy of the case file in front of her:

"This is a copy for you."

"There's a detailed comparison table of the artifacts above; please take your time to look through it."

Jiang Zhiyu took it:

"Thanks."

---

Wang Xiangdong and Zhang Haisheng didn't stay long.

The two bid farewell to Commander Yan, shook hands with Jiang Zhiyu, and then got up and left.

The office door closed gently.

Commander Yan, being quite perceptive, picked up his enamel mug:

"Comrade Xiao Jiang, please look at the materials first."

"I'm going outside for a walk and to get a drink of water."

Jiang Zhiyu nodded to him in greeting.

Commander Yan left with a smile.

Jiang Zhiyu was the only one left in the office.

She sat on the sofa and opened the file.

Seventeen floated quietly in my mind, unusually silent.

It is waiting.

---

After a while—

There was a knock on the door.

The young soldier who had brought Jiang Zhiyu in earlier carried in a rectangular mahogany box.

The box wasn't large; it was wrapped in thick red velvet, and then another layer of fine hemp rope was wrapped around the velvet, sealing it tightly.

"Comrade Xiao Jiang."

"Commander Yan asked me to deliver the items."

Jiang Zhiyu stood up:

"Put it on the table."

The young soldier carefully placed the box on the large desk, saluted, and left, closing the door behind him.

She was left alone in the office again.

She walked to the desk and gently pressed her hand on the red velvet wrapping.

Seventeen's little ball of light could no longer contain itself—

It jumped out with a "whoosh".

"Host--!"

"Open, open, open!"

"I can feel it!"

Jiang Zhiyu chuckled softly.

She reached out her hand—

The knot in the thin hemp rope was untied.