Chapter 72: Guns and Necklaces

After carefully placing the M1928 submachine gun, Liang En opened another box. To his surprise, he found two pistols inside along with the corresponding tools.

Unlike the expensive M1928 submachine gun, the pistols in this box were common M1911A1 models. Fortunately, both pistols were well-preserved, and the additional stag horn grips added significant value to them.

Seeing these two pistols, Liang En realized that the narrow corridor he had seen in the basement earlier wasn't just a passage but a shooting range used by this underground liquor dealer for firearm testing.

As Liang En confirmed that both the still and the three guns were relics from the Prohibition era, three new cards instantly appeared in his mind. Among them were two "Detection (N)" cards and a new bronze-tier "R" card.

"Let me see if this card is related to the Thompson submachine gun," Liang En thought excitedly as he saw the new card. After all, during that era, gangsters wielding Thompsons and firing in the streets had become a symbol of American society.

[Cocktail (R)]: There are seven possible origins of cocktails, but the most widely recognized one dates back to 1776. A New York bar was about to close when an officer requested a drink. The remaining drinks were mixed together and stirred with a chicken feather.

The officers enjoyed the taste and asked the waiter for the name of the drink. The waiter replied, "This is 'Cocktails' (plural form of chicken feathers), hence the name 'Cocktail'."

Enhancement Card (one-time use): By consuming this card, you can gain knowledge about cocktail mixing and tasting, limited to mixing only, not including flair bartending. Note that you'll only gain the skill, not physical enhancement.

Liang En was puzzled by this card. He couldn't quite understand the connection between this card and the items he had found.

Fortunately, after climbing onto the rooftop and regaining signal on his phone, he used keywords to search online and found the connections among these items.

During the Prohibition era, drinking alcohol was risky, so having any kind of alcohol was considered good. To avoid detection and mitigate the effects of low-quality alcohol, people started mixing various ingredients, giving rise to the popularity of cocktails.

After the end of Prohibition, cocktail recipes from Europe elevated these alcoholic beverages to a higher level, making cocktails a mainstream choice.

"After I go back, I need to form a team," Liang En thought as he slumped into a seat. He had made several trips to the basement within the basement, and he realized that while he had gained enhanced abilities from the cards, he still had limitations. Having companions would significantly improve his efficiency.

After clearing out the cellar in the tavern's courtyard and with noon approaching, Liang En took out the self-heating food he had brought and began to eat. At the same time, he contemplated his goals for the afternoon.

Narrowing down his options, he set his sights on the building where the former mayor's mistress had lived in this small town. It was to be his second target of the day and the last before calling it quits.

His reason for choosing this was simple. While items like antique jeans or vintage cola bottles could fetch a decent amount, he needed to find more valuable things, especially considering he was alone.

Places like the coal miner's residence or the town's residential area were naturally abandoned since he was aiming for more lucrative findings. As for the bank or the police station, while they seemed promising, given the state of the town's decay, the scavengers who had visited before him had likely picked those places clean already.

As for how Liang En learned about the room where the mayor's mistress resided, it was by sheer coincidence. While cleaning out the underground cellar, he stumbled upon an abandoned ledger. This ledger documented certain events from the final days of the town.

The target location was a two-story building made of red bricks. However, due to the passage of time, the entire roof had collapsed, reducing the building to a pile of ruins.

"Ah..." Looking at the debris before him, Liang En displayed a gesture of resignation. Yet, since he was already here, he thought it would be more suitable to take a stroll around the place before leaving.

However, just as he was using a metal detector to conduct a comprehensive search on the rubble with a somewhat resigned expression, he unexpectedly heard an alarm from a certain spot on a remaining wall.

"This might have been a storage room or study in the original layout of the room." After a quick examination of his surroundings, Liang En made a judgment, "Excluding the height of the debris pile, this spot should be at the chest level of a person around 1.7 meters in height."

This judgment also indirectly suggested that the metallic response within the wall was most likely caused by something hidden there intentionally, rather than being a part of the building materials or something else entirely.

With this in mind, Liang En immediately fetched a hammer and started to strike the wall. Fortunately, red brick walls were much easier to break than reinforced concrete, so with just a few strikes, a sizable hole appeared in the wall.

Without hesitation, Liang En quickly reached into the hole and retrieved a wax-paper bundle that had been placed inside. He then rapidly moved away from the now precariously unstable wall that he had heavily struck moments ago.

Once he was safely out of the danger zone, he finally had the chance to examine the wax-paper bundle, which was about the size of a glasses case. Judging from the traces on the wax-paper, it had been well-preserved inside the wall. At the very least, there were no signs of significant mold or decay.

"Did mistresses back then really live in such poverty?" Looking at the dusty wax-paper bundle, Liang En quipped before opening it, then revealing the box contained within.

However, in the instant the box was opened, he was utterly stunned by its contents.

"This is simply bizarre," Liang En whispered under his breath, for what appeared before him was a necklace that was decidedly abnormal: a necklace adorned with seven bird heads set onto gold plates.

This bird head necklace featured green and red hummingbird heads. Through online image searches, he discovered that these two types of hummingbirds hailed from Brazil in South America.

It was unclear what the designer of the necklace had been thinking, as the two red hummingbird heads flanking the central one were hung upside-down on the necklace. Consequently, as soon as the box was opened, gravity caused the bird heads to stand upright.

For Liang En, this piece of jewelry was among the most macabre he had ever seen. While hummingbirds were undoubtedly beautiful, these pretty little heads should have remained attached to their bodies rather than being fashioned into jewelry.

At least in his eyes, this jewelry was in the same vein as necklaces made from human bones—both exuded a distinct possessiveness, a certain cruel sentiment.

"England, London, 18 New Bond Street. 1868." As he read the inscription on the box, Liang En felt that this jewelry might not have belonged to the last mayor's mistress. After all, the house itself had quite a history.

However, whether it was the cruel craftsmanship or the unknown owner, none of that hindered Liang En from considering this box and its contents as his own discovery. After all, this was a part of history.