Yesterday morning, Qi Yun called Li Yaohua, asking him to arrange for someone to pick them up at the port today.
After all, South Africa is quite chaotic, and since he carries such a batch of priceless treasures, who knows if some shady figures might catch wind and jump out.
Although Chen Wei is strong, even a skilled fighter can be overwhelmed by numbers, so for safety, he still requested Li Yaohua to send reliable people over.
As for the intents of Kaisen and Pete, he’s well aware. Their humble attitude is simply to prevent him from exposing the matters on the ship.
Qi Yun glanced at Kaisen and Pete’s frozen expressions, flicked the ash from his cigarette, and said calmly, "I appreciate your gesture. The fare is what it is; no need to waive it. After being out at sea for a few days, I’m a bit tired, so let’s leave it at that for today."
With that, he stepped toward the nearby convoy, with Chen Wei closely following behind, while others carried bags to the cars.
Kaisen and Pete watched Qi Yun’s departing back with some anxiety, wanting to explain further, but were stopped by the burly man from before, ultimately watching helplessly as Qi Yun got into the car.
At that moment, Captain Jeff and a few crew members escorted Ao Debiao and five others down from the ship.
Pete saw them, and his eyes were practically spitting fire, but due to his status, he didn’t resort to violence, merely spewing a barrage of harsh words, then furiously took out his phone to call a familiar police chief.
In the car, the burly man from before respectfully said to Qi Yun, "Mr. Qi, Mr. Li will be over tonight, let me take you to his manor first."
Qi Yun nodded slightly, "Alright."
The convoy left the port, speeding along the coastal road.
Cape Town truly deserves its reputation as a popular tourist city; the view by the sea is indeed beautiful, with bikini-clad beauties visible everywhere.
Forty minutes later, Qi Yun and his group arrived at a manor, which covers a large area, probably about the size of two standard football fields.
The manor was luxurious, with lawn gardens, fountain pools, and a three-story European-style building.
As the car stopped, a silver-haired old butler came forward, bowing respectfully to Qi Yun, "Mr. Qi, Mr. Li instructed that all your needs at this manor are under my responsibility."
Qi Yun thanked him and followed the old butler into the house.
Once everything was settled, he messaged Ye Hanwen, informing him of his safe return, and then requested the sheepskin parchment from Old Hei, taking a few photos of the patterns on it and sending them to Ignacio, hoping this Spanish history expert could decipher something.
Less than ten minutes later, Ignacio’s call came through.
"Qi Yun, where did you get the things in the photos!?" Ignacio’s tone was quite agitated.
Hearing his tone, Qi Yun guessed he must have noticed something, so he smiled and asked, "Mr. Ignacio, do you recognize these patterns?"
"You, answer my question first." Ignacio was rather impatient.
Seeing his urgency, Qi Yun didn’t beat around the bush and responded directly, "I salvaged this sheepskin parchment from a shipwreck, located at the coordinates you helped me decipher last time, and the shipwreck was called San Jose."
"San Jose!? Are you certain it’s the San Jose?" Ignacio exclaimed in shock.
"Yes, it’s written on the hull: San Jose."
Qi Yun could hear Ignacio’s rapid breathing through the phone and asked, "Is there a problem?"
"No... no problem." Ignacio took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, and continued, "If my guess is correct, the contents of this sheepskin parchment might be related to a very ancient legend."
"Ancient legend?" Qi Yun was intrigued, "Mr. Ignacio, can you tell me more?"
Ignacio gathered his thoughts, and slowly began, "This sheepskin parchment has the mark of the fleur-de-lis, which only became the emblem of the Spanish Royal Family in 1700."
"At that time, the Spanish king was Charles II. As he couldn’t produce an heir, he left no descendants, and after his death, the throne was seized by the Bourbon Dynasty in France, eventually with Louis XIV’s grandson, Philip V, ascending the throne."
"I once read in an ancient book unearthed in Egypt that the entire Louis Family, starting with Louis II, after each king ascended the throne, they would mobilize forces to search for a mysterious treasure."
Hearing this, Qi Yun was increasingly curious, "What treasure?"
"I don’t know; I’ve reviewed many ancient texts only finding sparse mentions." Ignacio sighed and continued, "Based on your discovery of the San Jose wreck location and my years of research, I have a bold hypothesis."
"Back then, the San Jose might not have been as rumored, returning to Spain laden with colonial plundered treasures, but rather sent on a mission by the king, and the mission might be related to that mysterious treasure."
Qi Yun instinctively nodded, regrettably, the ship had been submerged for too long without more valuable clues.
After thinking it over briefly, he asked, "I think the patterns on the sheepskin parchment resemble a map, what do you think?"
Ignacio agreed, "It is indeed a map, and it’s an exceptionally important map, as ordinary maps wouldn’t have the fleur-de-lis mark."