Chapter 577: The Treasure Map Comes from Ancient Times

The age of this map exceeds ten thousand years.

In the safe, Shu Jingya took out a beast‑skin‑made picture from a plastic tube and handed it to Lin Feng.

Lin Feng unfolded the treasure map, took a glance, and furrowed his brow.

Strictly speaking, this should be a painting depicting a certain scene.

In the picture there are giants, obviously Witch Tribe people.

One, two, three, four… a total of seven giants, that is, Witch Tribe people, directing countless tiny humans as they smelt metal.

Obviously it is gold.

Because the metal objects refined in the picture are drawn with lines radiating light.

Afterward, this gold was blended into another metal and cast into huge bronze statues.

Gold is the most stable metal, while the copper at that time contained a small amount of Tung Metal.

After Tung Metal is mixed with a large amount of gold, it loses its ability to restrain the Witch Tribe.

Just like the statues in the underground cavern where the young witch resides, they came about in this way.

People of that era could not separate copper from gold.

Thus, the Tung Metal that restrains the Witch Tribe becomes ever scarcer.

Lin Feng knew the origin of these bronze statues, so upon seeing this so‑called treasure map he understood immediately.

Meanwhile, scholars unaware of the truth look at the painting and think it depicts ancient humans engaged in some kind of casting activity.

And those giants, that is, the Witch Tribe, would be thought to be the artist's exaggeration, making the rulers appear taller.

This emphasizes the rulers' strength.

But actually it is not; the Witch Tribe's true form is like that, with heights exceeding three meters.

The scene on the map is set in a certain valley, with several tall mountains drawn, and above them a large, crescent moon.

"Do you see anything?"

Shu Jingya asked curiously.

Lin Feng shook his head: "The geography from ten thousand years ago differs from today, and who knows whether the drawer of this map merely sketched the valley casually."

Look at this moon—it's huge, as if drawn with exaggeration.

Lin Feng currently does not want Shu Jingya to know about the Witch Tribe.

First, Shu Jingya's identity—she is not an individual but a team.

Second, knowing this is not good for her either.

This woman will be forty in a few years; she ought to settle down.

Shu Jingya shook her head and said: "I don't think so; our ancient texts record that the moon once disappeared and then returned."

Therefore the depiction of the moon in the picture is not exaggerated.

Moreover, the lines depicting the mountain peaks are not random sketches but very detailed.

The moon above differs from today's, so its angle cannot be used to locate this valley on Earth, and those several mountains…

…may also no longer exist due to geological changes.

If we could find that valley, we might discover many gold‑infused statues and extract a large amount of gold.

"How much gold do you think this valley holds?"

Lin Feng asked offhand.

Shu Jingya pointed to a corner of the picture that Lin Feng had already noticed, saying: "Back then people had not invented numerals; they counted by making notches."

"Look at this stone wall—how many horizontal notches are there?"

Lin Feng looked at the spot Shu Jingya pointed to with her finger.

On the map there is a stone wall covered with dense scratches.

If these scratches record the number of statues, there must be thousands of them.

If each statue yields five tons of gold, that's on the order of ten thousand tons of gold!

Lin Feng laughed: "If we really found it, putting tens of thousands of tons of gold on the market would make gold as cheap as cabbage."

Of course, Lin Feng was just joking.

Don't say tens of thousands of tons; even hundreds of thousands of tons would seem little in the industrial age!

Just my Guo Jia produces a few hundred tons per year, yet consumption reaches over a thousand tons.

Gold is not only hard currency; it is also a financial tool for a Guo Jia to resist inflation, and moreover a luxury and industrial good.

If there were tens of thousands of tons of diamonds…

Forget it!

Putting that many diamonds on the market would truly make them as cheap as cabbage.

Diamonds are valuable because they are monopolized, and also because they are tied to love and marriage—eternal.

Nowadays, getting married without a diamond ring is unthinkable.

On television, ads for them blanket the screen.

From time to time, news comes out of an auction selling how many carats of diamonds.

It's all marketing.

A tycoon like Lin Feng would hardly hoard large quantities of diamonds unless it was to pick up women.

Because its output far exceeds that of gold, and it can be synthesized.

Try synthesizing gold?

That can only come from neutron‑star fusion or explosion; placed in the whole universe, gold is a rare metal.

One day a group of aliens suddenly came and blew up the Earth.

Maybe it's just to obtain the gold inside Earth that humans currently cannot mine.

Lin Feng returned the treasure map to Shu Jingya, "This treasure is too ancient; I estimate we can't find its location. You might as well take it and let the supercomputer compute it."

Shu Jingya shook her head, saying, "It can't be computed, because there is no ancient topographic map."

The supercomputer won't work, but Lin Feng believes that the answer, the Young Witch, should know.

There are still two years; wait until the Young Witch comes out, then we'll talk.

The map, Lin Feng has already memorized it; when he has time, he will draw it out.

The map in Shu Jingya's hands is obviously not hers alone.

Indeed, Shu Jingya looked regretful and said, "You can't do anything, so I'll just return it, then?"

Lin Feng nodded.

"Little troublemaker, look, I even have crow's-feet at the corners of my eyes..."

After Shu Jingya put away the map, she pulled Lin Feng and said.

"Please spare me!"

Other times are fine, but these few days won't work.

He basically has no time or energy to prepare a face mask for Shu Jingya.

Shu Jingya said, "Little troublemaker, what are you thinking? I just feel that I'm getting older and older; in a few years I'll really be old, and if I don't think about the future, I might really end up alone for the rest of my life."

Lin Feng helplessly said, "As for time, if we squeeze it, there's still some..."

As soon as his words fell, Shu Jingya clenched her teeth and hissed.

"What's wrong?"

Lin Feng frowned and asked.

Shu Jingya said, "My stomach hurts..."

Lin Feng breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

However, Shu Jingya took out her phone and glanced at the time.

She also breathed a sigh of relief, "It turns out the time hasn't come yet... Huh, it doesn't hurt anymore."

Even normal people who aren't sick occasionally get a stomachache.

Now, Boss Lin can't escape.