I made up myths in America

Chapter 57: Make up your own mind
New York and Los Angeles are two cities, one on the east coast of the United States and the other on the west coast. The distance between the two is about 5 kilometers. Even by the fastest plane, it takes 54 hours and minutes.

By the time George Gently and his men arrived at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, it was already 4:37 a.m. New York time.

After nearly three hours of heavy rain, the sky finally subsided.

Los Angeles police officers wearing yellow raincoats stepped into the water and set up a long cordon near the museum.

"Shit, you Los Angeles police have no authority to do this. This is a public cultural asset belonging to Los Angeles County. I will file a complaint with the Office of Inspector General and the Police Commission."

Although it was already late at night, a wealthy white old man was stopped outside the cordon. His face flushed and he started to curse at the police.

Click, click!!
Many reporters who heard the news rushed to the scene and frantically pressed the shutter button to capture the conflict, which obviously attracted a lot of traffic.

George Gently got out of the car and saw this scene. He frowned slightly and asked the strong white man who was in charge of receiving them:

"Sheriff Hank, is he the museum's director, Alexander?"

"Yes."

Sheriff Hank nodded. "He got here two hours ago and kept asking to come in, but was stopped by my men."

"It seems some people are anxious."

George Gent was thoughtful after hearing this, and ordered his subordinates who came with him,
"Nathan, send someone to keep an eye on him and monitor all his phone calls and messages from now on."

"Understood, boss."

Nathan, who was wearing a brown windbreaker, crossed his arms, smiled and nodded, indicating that it was no problem to leave this little matter to him.

After giving the order, George Gently, along with other members of the investigation team and a dozen experts and scholars who had been eager to join the investigation, crossed the cordon and entered the museum.

The most complete scene is preserved here.

So that everyone who came in could feel the tense and weird atmosphere that Sheriff Hank felt when he brought his men in a few hours ago.

Several biological experts were overjoyed and surrounded the skeletons that still retained a certain amount of vitality. They kept exclaiming that this was impossible, and excitedly began to study them with some simple instruments they brought with them.

"This"

Even Sheriff Hank, who was known as the Gun King of West Los Angeles and whose longest administrative leave had been twenty-seven weeks, couldn't help but twitch his mouth when he saw this scene. He found that these scientists fit the stereotype he had of them.

I'm really not afraid at all.

On the other hand, several historians and folklorists analyzed the surveillance videos in the museum frame by frame.

Although they had seen part of it on the plane before coming, it was still not as complete as here.

One of them, Professor Toshiro Takeuchi, a Japanese-American historian who has now become a naturalized American, became increasingly excited after carefully watching the video in Hall 3 showing the five gangsters being controlled like puppets, as well as the eerie skeleton illusion. He clenched his fist excitedly and said,

"Suoga, I already know the identity of the mysterious man. He is Yanshi, a mysterious craftsman from ancient China who was mentioned in the ancient book "Liezi. Tangwen"."

"Master Yan?!!"

This difficult-to-pronounce word is too unfamiliar to Americans, not to mention that Toshio Takeuchi said these two words in Chinese.

"Yes."

Professor Takeuchi, who also likes to read some mystery works, enjoys the pleasure of solving puzzles.

He met everyone's gazes and explained in detail, "During the Western Zhou Dynasty in China, which was in 964 BC, almost three thousand years ago, the Western Zhou Emperor, King Mu of Zhou, won two consecutive great victories and decided to continue his westward expedition. He led his army westward, passing through the Quanrong, Chiwu, Caonu, Jilu, Juan, and other countries before arriving at the legendary place where the sun sets—Kunlun!"

"Wait a minute, Professor Takeuchi," one member of the investigation team asked, somewhat puzzled. "Isn't the sun in outer space? How could it set on Earth?"

"."

Although he was a little dissatisfied with his reasoning being interrupted, Professor Takeuchi still patiently explained:
"This was an imagination of the Chinese ancestors, just like before Copernicus proposed the heliocentric theory, many people believed that the earth was the center of the universe."

"In fact, many Americans now believe that the Earth is the center of the universe."

Sheriff Hank shrugged and told a joke, but unfortunately no one laughed because it was too cold.

Everyone's attention was focused on Professor Takeuchi, motioning him to continue.

"It doesn't matter if you can't understand Kunlun. The story related to Yanshi happened when King Mu of Zhou was returning from his trip to Kunlun."

"On the way, he met a craftsman with miraculous skills. His name was Yanshi."

"He could use common materials like leather, wood, resin, lacquer, and chalk to create a puppet that looked exactly like a real person. In today's terms, it was a robot that could move, speak, and even think exactly like a human."

"Oh my god, how is this possible? This doesn't conform to scientific principles at all!!"

Professor Takeuchi was startled by a few sudden exclamations from behind him.

He looked back and saw that it was the biology professors who were studying the moving skeleton. They were all attracted by the story he was telling.

However, despite their interest, the mythological story told by Professor Takeuchi was completely unacceptable to several biology professors.

Nobel Prize winner in Medicine Harvey Alter shook his head like a rattle and said:
"Dear Zhu, your stories are very interesting, but I think they are just the imagination of the Chinese ancestors. They can't be true. They don't conform to modern scientific principles at all."

"Then do you think the moving skeleton you just studied is scientifically sound?"

Professor Takeuchi did not defend himself, but asked a question in return.

"Uh"

This sentence immediately stumped several biology professors.

"Master Yan?"

While the experts and scholars were divided into two groups and arguing with each other, George Gently had already arrived at Exhibition Hall 3 where the Skeleton Fantasy Picture was previously stored.

Even after so much time has passed, people who enter here still feel an extremely cold and gloomy aura.

Two female members of the investigation team couldn't help but rub their arms and sneeze.

"He's an internal employee of the museum, Jamie?"

George Gently waved his hand, signaling those who couldn't bear it to leave. He himself half-knelt down and looked at the corpse of the young man in front of him who still hadn't moved.

"Yes."

Sheriff Hank nodded behind him, "As you said on the phone, we'll keep everything as it is."

"Besides him, according to our investigation, another museum employee, Elliot, was also involved in the robbery. However, we haven't found his body yet. The second half of the video from the surveillance camera in Hall 3 seems to have been affected by something and can't be played. The screen is full of snow."

"It seems that if we want to understand the truth about the museum incident, he is the most crucial person, along with the two security guards who were sent to the hospital for emergency treatment."

George Gently squatted there with a thoughtful look on his face.

(End of this chapter)