QT- I’m Almost Died
Chapter 253. Major Catastrophe, Chaotic Future
Song Rui’s concerns were also Chief Yan’s concerns. If the mastermind could replace even the treasures in the Central Museum, then taking action against the precious items in other museums would be as easy as taking candy from a baby.
Without delay, the group took a private jet that very night and traveled to various museums to check on the situation. In order to save as much time as possible, Fan Jialuo ignored all the other exhibits and went straight to the museum’s prized possessions upon arrival. He sensed each of them several times, including the gold-embroidered robe, the jade coffin, and even the thousand-year-old mummy.
After seven or eight days of this arduous journey, the group finally returned to Beijing, bringing extremely bad news to the special task force established by Meng Zhong.
“Almost all the museum’s prized possessions have been replaced. Those that weren’t replaced are artifacts that cannot be replicated using modern technology.” Chief Yan said with a heavy heart at the case analysis meeting.
Teacher Fan had long predicted that the swapped artifacts would suffer the fate of being weathered into sand. Therefore, everyone in the conference room bowed their heads in silent mourning for those treasures, whether already lost or not. This was not the most shameful moment in Chinese history, but without a doubt, it was one of the most catastrophic moments in the history of Chinese civilization. To be capable of personally severing one’s own roots, forsaking one’s native soil, and cutting off one’s own lineage, just how utterly deranged must the mastermind behind this be?
“For those in the Taoist sects, this isn’t called being heartless or insane, it’s called severing all emotions and love, cutting off worldly ties, and it’s the only way to become a god.” Fan Jialuo said, shaking his head.
These words completely enraged Chief Yan, causing him to slam his fist on the table, “He can’t even be a decent human being, and he thinks he can be a god? If Heaven lets a person like him become a god, then it must be blind!”
“Chief, please watch your words.” Meng Zhong was no longer an atheist, so he nervously patted his old superior on the shoulder and glanced at the top of his head, as if God was really watching.
Chief Yan was seething with anger and wanted to lash out, but he held back. Undoubtedly, this incident had instilled in him a deep-seated hatred for the Taoist sects.
“We’ve confirmed that all the treasures nationwide have been swapped. What about the privately owned collections?” Song Rui asked calmly.
Meng Zhong immediately opened his notebook and reported in detail, “We investigated well-known collectors in the country and discovered a very interesting phenomenon. Four families——the Cheng family, the Yu family, the Xia family, and the Zong family——have been aggressively acquiring antiques for the past nine years. During these nine years, whenever a rare artifact appeared on the art market, it would inevitably fall into the hands of these four families. What’s even more interesting is that the artifacts they bought would then disappear from the art market altogether. Even when national museums contacted them to borrow them for exhibition, they would be refused. However, this situation has undergone a shift within the last five years, as the technology for crafting replicas has matured to such a degree that it can now successfully deceive both the trained eyes of experts and the scrutiny of high-tech detection equipment.”
Meng Zhong took out a stack of photos and continued, “So in the past five years, these four families have begun to lend their rare collections to museums in China for exhibitions, and they have very close relationships with major museums. Teacher Fan, these are all from their collections. Can you see anything wrong with them?”
Fan Jialuo examined the photos one by one, shaking his head and saying, “I can’t see the light of spiritual qi, nor can I sense the ancient aura. They might be fake. But my senses are weakened by the photos, so I can’t be 100% sure.”
“I’ll find a way to let you see the real thing for yourself.” Chief Yan said immediately.
Song Rui followed up with his analysis, “These four families might be helping the mastermind behind the scenes collect antiques.”
Meng Zhong nodded and said, “I have already sent people to keep an eye on them. In addition, Elder Liang and Elder Lu also reported a situation to me.”
He spread out photos of the counterfeit national treasures on the table, pointing at them with his finger, “Look at these fakes——they are crafted to be absolutely identical to the originals. Were it not for destructive testing, we would never in our wildest dreams have suspected that they had been swapped out. This demonstrates just how extraordinary the forger’s skills truly are. He managed to replicate the mold lines on those two tripods without missing a single one, and he executed the intricate, elaborate carvings with such precision that they are utterly indistinguishable from the real thing. What level of mastery is that?”
Song Rui nodded, “The forger is a genius.”
Meng Zhong slammed a photo on the table and continued, “This photo was provided by Elder Liang. Look at this man, his name is Yi Jiangnan, he is 27 years old this year, a high-functioning autistic patient, and he is Elder Liang’s student. He has the highest level of expertise in the fields of cultural relic appraisal, sculpture, painting and calligraphy. Elder Liang described him as a genius and said that if anyone could create a national treasure that is indistinguishable from the real thing, it would only be him.”
Chief Yan immediately pressed, “Where is he? Has he been arrested?”
Meng Zhong shook his head, “No, this person disappeared nine years ago.”
“Another nine years.” Song Rui mused.
Fan Jialuo’s eyes flickered slightly, as if he had made a connection to something.
Meng Zhong continued to slam photos onto the table, “Look, these are X-ray photos taken by the Central Museum’s appraisal center in recent years of those national treasures. Doesn’t it look as though every single one of these photos is different? In reality, they are not. If we simply adjust the borders, we discover that they are all old photographs dating back nine years, merely by tweaking the angle slightly, they were repurposed and reused as if they were new. In other words, the Central Museum’s routine inspections of these artifacts ceased nine years ago, that is why such a glaring flaw in the bronze turtle’s hollow interior went undetected and remained concealed right up until now.”
“There’s a mole inside the Central Museum.” Chief Yan wasn’t surprised by the news, but suppressed his anger and asked, “Has the person been caught?”
“Already arrested him.” Meng Zhong had barely finished speaking when he received a text message from Zhuang Zhen with a photo attached. After reading it, his face tightened slightly, and he finally pushed the phone to Chief Yan’s hand, saying weakly, “The head of the Cultural Relics Appraisal Center of the Central Museum committed suicide, and two other technicians also jumped off a building at the same time. Neither of them could be saved.”
While Meng Zhong was speaking, Zhuang Zhen sent a series of text messages, all of them bad news. Similar to the situation at the Central Museum, the suspects at the local museums were also disappearing or committing suicide, and no one with any information was found by the police.
Seeing the blood-soaked scene in the photo, Chief Yan felt a tingling in his teeth, “Besides those four families, have all the other leads gone cold? Eliminating so many informants at once, the person behind this really has a big hand!”
“Those four families aren’t really any leads. If they just claim to be victims who didn’t know when their collections were switched, and we can’t produce any evidence to accuse them, the case can’t be investigated further. The person behind this is like a ghost, appearing and disappearing without a trace, and would never openly maintain contact with these four families.” Song Rui poured cold water on the situation.
“Damn it, who is this person behind all this? So vicious and so powerful! If we hadn’t discovered their actions, would our country have been turned upside down in a few years? The metaphysic society’s people always say they want to live in seclusion, but when we need their help, we often have to be subservient to them. We’ve given them all the benefits and support they deserve, and what’s the result? Is this how they live in seclusion? Stealing the nation’s fortune from the shadows? Damn it, a bunch of beasts!”
Chief Yan slammed his fist on the table in exasperation, then sighed helplessly, “The people of metaphysic society are too mysterious. To this day, we haven’t even figured out their basic situation. How are we supposed to investigate this case? The suspects are involved in the entire Taoist Sects, and almost all of them are hiding in the shadows. We simply can’t find them.”
Fan Jialuo arranged the photos with his fingertips, his tone calm, but his words invigorated everyone, “I’ll point you to two suspects.”
Chief Yan and Meng Zhong’s eyes immediately burned with intense desire.
Song Rui understood after a moment’s thought.
“Investigate this person.” Fan Jialuo pushed his phone to the middle of the table.
Chief Yan looked at the image on the screen and exclaimed in surprise, “It’s her again!”
Meng Zhong craned his neck to take a look and was immediately stunned. This person was actually the junior sister from the Tianshui Sect, who acted impulsively, causing Ma You to flee and resulting in the deaths of many innocent citizens. She was so brainless, she didn’t seem like the mastermind behind everything.
Song Rui also showed the two photos he had secretly taken, “She is indeed very suspicious. Look, this is what she looked like after being affected by the backlash of the formation, and this is what she looks like recently. Isn’t the difference huge?”
Chief Yan and Meng Zhong nodded repeatedly, their faces filled with shock. The difference wasn’t just big, it was downright unbelievable! One was balding, toothless, and on the verge of death, the other had shoulder-length black hair, straight teeth, and was radiant with youth——it was as if she had been reborn.
Fan Jialuo slowly explained, “Hair loss and loose teeth, the loss of life force——such backlash is irreversible. To recover, one must find a highly skilled person to bestow upon them an initiation. An initiation means that this person must transfer their lifespan, spiritual power, cultivation level, and luck entirely to the person suffering from the backlash. The more they transfer, the faster the recovery. To recover to this extent——”
Fan Jialuo tapped Lin Nianci’s incomparably beautiful face with his slender fingertips, and said with certainty, “Even if I used half my cultivation, I probably couldn’t do it. Moreover, as far as I know, no master within the Taoist sects bestowed any initiation upon her. She was reborn overnight, and when I saw her again, her aura of luck was practically sky-high, perhaps even surpassing that of an emperor. Furthermore, nine years ago, to cure her ailment, the Tianshui Sect sent her abroad for recuperation, and since then, no one has received any news of her.”
Fan Jialuo clasped his hands together and looked around at everyone, “Nine years, does that number seem familiar?”
Chief Yan stared intently at Lin Nianci’s photo and guessed, “Teacher Fan, are you saying that she started plotting in the shadows nine years ago? But she looks only in her early twenties, and she was only thirteen or fourteen years old nine years ago. Could she have done something so big?”
“Her current physical body is over seventy years old.” Fan Jialuo said with a half-smile, “And her mental age may be over two hundred.”
Chief Yan was shocked. His eyes darted around slightly before he ordered, “Investigate her thoroughly! Monitor her 24/7! How come there are Tianshui Temples everywhere? Oh, right, they are the number one sect in metaphysical society. That Taoist Zhi Fei also has a nickname, ‘Old Immortal.’ They dream of becoming gods and immortals and don’t treat ordinary people like human beings at all. It’s not surprising that they would do something like switching national treasures.”
He took out his phone and made a call, his tone extremely harsh, “How’s the demolition of Tianshui Temples going? Demolish it now, demolish all, even if there are legal permits. I’ll take responsibility if anything goes wrong!”
After making that call, he called the Religious Affairs Bureau and said sternly, “Add Tianshui Temple to the list of cults. They are not allowed to recruit any more followers, and they are not allowed to hold any public events.”
The person on the other end meekly agreed, and Chief Yan’s expression softened slightly. After hanging up the phone, he gritted his teeth and muttered, “Damn it, I’ll turn your fake reclusion into real reclusion. If you look down on ordinary people, you can stay in the deep mountains and forests for the rest of your lives!”
After Chief Yan let out a sigh of relief, Fan Jialuo continued, “Another suspect is the Zhang family. Su Fengxi was trained by them. They seem to be exploring the path to godhood as well.”
Chief Yan was in a dilemma this time. After hesitating for a long time, he said in a low voice, “Teacher Fan, I consider you one of my own, so I’ll give you a heads-up. The Zhang family is currently cooperating with the country. They have developed a drug that can stimulate the potential of ordinary people, enabling them to mass-produce humanoid weapons and even cultivate Esper. Su Fengxi was actually their test subject. It has been certified by the higher-ups, so the Zhang family’s crimes have been cleared.”
“Oh, so taking that kind of potion can make you an Esper?” A ripple appeared in Fan Jialuo’s calm eyes.
“Yes, the agents of the Special Security Department have all volunteered to join this experimental program and have made great progress. If, after long-term observation, it is confirmed that this drug has no side effects, our army may promote it on a large scale. Therefore, the Zhang family cannot be investigated.” Chief Yan waved his hand helplessly.
Fan Jialuo closed his eyes, his heart churning with emotion.
After a long, long silence, he slowly said, “Chief Yan, the great upheaval I spoke of has indeed begun. People are constantly walking the path to godhood, and you ordinary people have long since become their stepping stones, yet you are unaware of it and instead add fuel to the fire. That potion is definitely not a good thing, those who take it will inevitably suffer a backlash someday. I don’t know what that backlash will be yet, but if you have the ability to stop this, please do not let it go unchecked.”
Chief Yan’s heart skipped a beat, and he said urgently, “But this experiment has entered its later stages, and the number of participants has expanded to two thousand. The level of participation is far beyond my management authority. I can’t manage this matter, I can only mention it verbally, but whether the higher-ups will listen to me is still unknown.”
Two thousand——this number may seem insignificant, but if they were to calculate it in terms of lives, it would be a colossal disaster.
Fan Jialuo opened his unfocused, pitch-black eyes, releasing all his thoughts as he desperately tried to grasp that elusive glimmer of light. Then, he slowly uttered a prophecy, “I see multitudes of people making their way toward a place utterly devoid of light——their bodies dissolving into the void, turning to dust and mist. I also see the mad grow madder, the vile grow viler, and the dark grow darker…… Everything is spiraling toward the worst possible outcome……”
His voice was like a cold wind blowing across a glacier, or a scorching wind sweeping across a wasteland, making people feel both hot and cold, and filled with fear.
A few seconds later, he blinked, letting the divine light return to his blurred pupils, and then said, word by word, “If you don’t stop it, this world will descend into chaos.”
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