Sitting Up in Startled Shock While Deathly Ill

"These… these… these are…"

Watching the elderly men and women on the other side of the Yuan Guang Shu begin to tremble, Adam could not help glancing at the fully armed nurses and doctors opposite him.

Well, they really had it tough too…

Just as Adam thought they were about to put the other side on life support, an old man wearing a respirator tore it off, flung aside his blanket, got out of bed, and began putting on his coat, putting on a live performance of sitting up in startled shock while deathly ill.

Adam:!!!

Doctors & nurses:!!!

Though everyone could understand his excitement and agitation, no one could possibly be happy at the sight. Instead, four words shone brightly in their minds.

A final flash of vitality!

"Professor Ma! Professor Ma, don’t do this, Professor Ma!"

"Professor Ma, let’s sit down first. No rush, no rush…"

Before the doctors and nurses could persuade the old man back into bed, he set off the others like a fuse. One after another, the elderly men and women excitedly tried to get out of bed:

"Let’s go! We’re leaving right now! I saw that pair of Yuan Blue-and-White Dragon-Patterned Elephant-Ear Vases clear as day!"

"Still no rush? Since Dingling Mausoleum was excavated, today has been the most urgent day! Look at those improperly preserved treasures—there are visible chips and knocks all over them!"

"Oh, those glazed bricks, cut into piece after piece…"

"The murals are fractured too. They’ve been patched into such a mess!"

It was hard to imagine that with only that brief sweep of the Yuan Guang Shu just now, these experts and professors, who normally needed reading glasses, could have caught so much information.

The doctors and nurses blocking the ward entrance were on the verge of tears. They did not dare pull anyone back and could only cling desperately to the doorframe, forming a barricade with their bodies as fragile as their own futures.

"Ahem, professors, please calm down and listen to me…"

Seeing this, The Office personnel controlling the Yuan Guang Shu could not help stepping forward to take charge, and the spell faded away at that moment.

"…"

Adam stared at the pinkish-white wall that had just held the Yuan Guang Shu’s projection. After a moment of silence, he turned to Old Li.

"This medicine seems… a little too potent."

Strong medicine might be effective, but it also harmed the body. Could those experts and professors on the other side handle it?

"It’s not a big problem. The main reason the experts hadn’t recovered despite prolonged treatment was their heart ailment. Now that it’s cured, headquarters has plenty of medicine that can treat them."

Old Li waved his hand carelessly, then sighed as he looked at the dazzling array of antiques before him.

He had only seen a scene on this scale at the Palace Museum, and even then, through glass. Yet according to Adam, this was merely the tip of the iceberg.

His sigh lasted only a moment before Old Li was overcome with excitement and exhilaration.

"Mr. Adam, once these cultural relics have been restored, will they definitely be gifted back to us?"

Old Li had asked this question before, but he still wanted to confirm it again, mainly because…

"Mr. Adam, can you make this decision on behalf of your country’s prime minister?"

Old Li’s gaze at Adam was filled with sincerity.

Given China’s current position, even if everything Adam had brought in had been smuggled, they could still curse out the British prime minister if he came knocking to demand them back—

After all, back when they had no atomic bombs, they had still dared to travel thousands of miles to fight the Americans. Now that they had atomic bombs, their backs were even straighter. If he had the nerve, he could try robbing them again!

But if that happened, Adam, who still had to return home, might face pressure from the British prime minister.

That was why Old Li’s real purpose in asking was…

"If you can’t, we’ll arrange the procedures for changing your nationality right away."

It had to be said that Adam was so stunned by that sentence that he took a moment to react.

"I can assure you of that completely."

After the Ministry of Magic restored order, it naturally had to reestablish contact with the prime minister. However, Eugene differed greatly from the previous Minister of Magic in this regard.

Before this, the Ministry of Magic had not attached the slightest importance to the Muggle world. Even magical creatures had a liaison office, while Muggles did not even have one for the prime minister. There was only an Auror who normally stayed by the prime minister’s side for protection and doubled as a liaison.

Likewise, the prime minister basically only knew that the Wizarding World existed, while knowing nothing at all about it.

This was basically the normal relationship between the hidden world and the ordinary world in every country. The only ones with deeper ties were probably the newly established China and The Office.

But now… Britain and the British Ministry of Magic had joined them.

After personally witnessing all kinds of magic such as Legilimency, Obliviate, and Out-of-Body Experience—and especially after seeing that Aurors carried guns—the newly inaugurated Muggle prime minister, Tony Blair, wiped away cold sweat. While cursing the previous prime minister in his heart for running away so fast without saying a word, he agreed to many of the Ministry of Magic’s demands, including its right to interfere in government policies.

After all, wizards were part of Britain’s citizenry, so naturally they had the right to participate in governing the country. As long as everyone put down their wands and guns, everything was negotiable.

Unaware of the details, Old Li could not help marveling that this foreign friend must have made an unimaginable contribution to the matter.

After all, he truly could not imagine how the British prime minister could have agreed to return these stolen cultural relics.

"However, I must remind you that these cultural relics can only be gifted back to your country after they have all been restored, or at least after their integrity can be guaranteed."

Adam was not deliberately making things difficult. There were simply a little too many relics in this batch—over a million pieces. If he dumped them all on China at once, he feared that after the excitement died down, ninety-nine percent of them would be tossed into storage and left to deteriorate.

Of course, it was also possible that Adam wanted to duplicate the restored versions and keep them for his own collection. As an ordinary man, he cared quite a bit about the appearance of his collectibles.

As for the condition of the originals… these British people could not even manage artificial aging, and anyone expected them to restore cultural relics?

But the facts proved that Adam had still underestimated the British.

"Fake… this one’s fake too… obviously fake at a glance."

Inside a temperature- and humidity-controlled warehouse built at enormous expense, a group of experts and professors took out their respective professional tools and picked one supposedly fake antique after another from the shelves.

Adam stared at the bottles and jars on the floor in shock.

These were all fake? This many?

He had taken them directly from the British Museum. Back then, the British had taken them directly from the palace. How could they possibly be fake?

"Mr. Adam, you really do not need to be surprised by this."

An elderly professor seemed a little tired. He pounded his lower back and walked to one side, where he happened to see Adam’s astonished expression. Considerately, he explained:

"Not everything in a museum is necessarily genuine. There are usually several possibilities. For example, the original may be too badly damaged, it may currently be on an overseas tour, or it may have been borrowed away by some shameless museum, and so on."

As he spoke, the old professor lifted his cup and took a sip of tea. He subconsciously turned his head and glanced at the spotless floor and the antiques ahead, then silently spat the tea leaves back into his cup before continuing:

"However, considering that these items came from the British Museum, the more likely possibility is that the originals were stolen or secretly sold."