Thankfully, China had a long and rich history. The thousand artifacts traded away today were only a drop in the bucket compared to the nation's cultural reserves.
Besides, they were given to Master Song Miaozhu, so at least they were staying in the hands of someone trustworthy.
Even if Master Song had never officially joined the SEIU, she was still a valuable partner. An elite with whom the Bureau maintained ongoing cooperation. In every way that mattered, she was one of their own.
And if Song Miaozhu could use her information advantage to get her hands on artifacts, so could they.
Zhao Huoyan comforted himself with that thought. "Master Song, this information is too important. I need to report it to headquarters immediately. I won't stay any longer."
"Alright. Take care." Having gotten what she came for, Song Miaozhu didn't mind his departure. The little paper servants had already emptied the museum in the U.S., and she was eager to go check the haul.
The moment Zhao Huoyan left Anshou Hall Paper Shop, she locked the door and summoned her flying mount even faster than him. Leaping onto its back, she headed straight back to Xiaozhu Mountain.
Back at her spirit residence, Song Miaozhu flopped onto a lounge chair in the courtyard, letting her soul slip into the ghost warehouse of her Underworld Paper Shop.
The artifact storage she had expanded in advance now had its once-empty shelves filled.
"Nüshi Zhen Tu," Tang dynasty tomb figurines, nine-patterned glazed tiles, murals of the Three Bodhisattvas, twin-ram bronze vessels—
Even someone like Song Miaozhu, who never paid much attention to historical relics, recognized many of the names.
Now, they appeared rapidly, one after another, on the shelves of Yin-wood.
At the same time, in the U.S. museum—still closed to the public—artifacts were vanishing from both the exhibits and the secured storage rooms.
The alarm was triggered. Security protocols kicked in across the entire building. But no traces of the thief were found.
Even when guards held an artifact in their hands, it would vanish into thin air.
All they could do was watch as the cultural treasures that had taken the U.S. over a hundred years to collect—through various means—disappeared within two hours.
The U.S. museum was completely emptied.
More than eight million artifacts had been taken, stuffing the underworld warehouse to the brim. Song Miaozhu had to urgently expand the space, purchase more Yin-wood shelves and boxes, and only then managed to properly store everything.
The little paper servants, having finished with the museum, immediately set off to the next location housing lost Chinese artifacts.
Meanwhile, Song Miaozhu stared at the filled storage with shining eyes. Each item was exquisitely crafted, and all of them had the potential to become masterless spirit items. The possibilities were endless.
The awe she felt now rivaled the time she first laid eyes on the supreme-grade spiritual stone mountain.
Compared to this, the thousand items she traded for from the SEIU earlier that day suddenly felt insignificant.
Originally, she had planned to slowly nurture the artifacts stored in Yin-wood containers, allowing them to evolve into spirit objects so she could harvest their spirit souls over time.
Now, she realized that no matter how many spirit stones she earned, it would never be enough to cultivate every one of these treasures.
As she sat there fretting over how to awaken them all, news of the U.S. museum theft exploded across the globe.
American netizens were furious. Chinese netizens were overjoyed.
"Before: No Chinese citizen ever left the U.S. museum with a smile. Now: Haha! That museum's cleaner than my dog's food bowl!"
"Hey, what did the dog do to deserve that insult?"
"Those who steal will be stolen from!"
"All I want to know now is, which brave soul finally did what we all dreamed of doing?"
===
Here's a new novel I'm currently translating! "My Daughter is the Empire's Lucky Charm"
What happens when a modern-day lottery winner gets yeeted into the body of an overlooked princess in a historical novel? For Yun Shu, the answer is simple: Keep calm and keep scrolling.
After her family's sudden windfall, Yun Shu was all set for a life of luxury—until she woke up in the body of the fifth princess of a dynasty she literally read about in a book. Good news? Her mega-mansion came with her as a cheat-like pocket dimension, complete with Wi-Fi (thank heavens for food delivery). Bad news? The original novel did not promise her a happy ending—just a quick exit as a cannon-fodder side character.
But there's a twist: Her new "dad" is the all-powerful Emperor Xuanwu, a man with a mysterious system that predicts the future… and keeps pointing to her as the key to saving the empire.
Yun Shu just wants to nap and binge fried chicken, but fate (and her suddenly very attentive imperial father) has other plans. Between dodging court politics and accidentally becoming the empire's secret lucky charm, can this transmigrated slacker survive—or will she end up crowned empress?
Feel free to give it a try, and if the blurb catches your interest, don't forget to add it to your library~ (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧