Hong Kong variety show: The mastermind behind the scenes is emerging.

Underground base, vault.

The air was filled with the smell of stale engine oil and the metallic scent of gold.

"Everyone, hurry up!"

As Tian Yangsheng and his men moved the gold, they unloaded heavy wooden crates from the pickup truck. Prying them open, they revealed gleaming "gold bricks." If you didn't hold them in your hands and carefully weigh them, these bricks looked almost identical to the gold from the Third Reich in the vault.

This was a piece of gold-plated brass that Lu Chen had the Sofia family's precision foundry rush-produced overnight before he set off. Lu Chen directed everyone to unload the real gold and load it onto the truck, and then stack these brass pieces on top to fill the interior.

Although everyone was puzzled by the boss's perverse sense of humor in "leaving counterfeit goods for future generations," they still carried out the order out of absolute obedience.

During the lull in the moving, Lu Chen didn't rest. He took Tian Yangyi to the core area of ​​the base—the archives, which contained all the data from the secret experiments Rommel's army conducted in North Africa.

The huge metal cabinet was crammed with yellowed blueprints and film reels.

"Boss, these are..." Tian Yangyong casually flipped open a roll of blueprints, the complex German text and mechanical structures making him a little dizzy.

"An improved aerodynamic layout diagram of the V2 missile, as well as the original parameters of the axial-flow jet engine."

Lu Chen's fingers gently brushed over the blueprints, a burning light flashing in his eyes. "There's also experimental data on heavy water reactors... Although it's technology from the 1940s, it was a cutting-edge technology that the Third Reich of Germany was leading the world in back then."

For Lu Chen, who comes from the future, these might all be outdated relics. But for mainland China in the early 80s, which had just begun its reform and opening up, was rebuilding from scratch, and was suffering from Western technological blockade, these imperial blueprints and experimental data might provide domestic military experts with some different ideas, and even help them avoid some detours.

"Pack all these documents into boxes, waterproof them, and load them onto the truck first," Lu Chen patted the metal cabinet, his tone serious. "This is more important than gold; consider it... a gift I'm preparing for my hometown."

……

Two hours later.

The moving work is nearing completion.

Just as Tian Yangsheng had calculated, limited by the vehicle's load capacity and the desert terrain, their six modified off-road vehicles and pickup trucks could only carry about nine tons of gold and documents, no matter how hard they tried.

Looking at the more than two hundred tons of gold still piled up in the vault, seemingly not much less, everyone could only sigh in despair and wait for the next time to move it.

What they didn't know was that Lu Chen had no intention of returning after this trip. After all, secrets don't stay hidden forever, and if they were to travel back and forth multiple times, the risks would increase exponentially. If they were discovered even once, they would become targets for the entire world.

Moreover, he had an even more perfect plan.

After entering the vault, Adolf was not bound, but was simply watched by a bodyguard. During the chaos of the earlier moving, the bodyguard was also called to help carry boxes, leaving Adolf temporarily unattended.

Ever since the old man entered the base, his eyes had been darting around, glancing frequently toward the control room at the end of the corridor. His cloudy old eyes held a deep resentment.

That look in his eyes was like that of a venomous snake driven into a corner, ready to devour its prey.

"If I can't have it, no one else can!"

While everyone was busy securing the cable to the last vehicle, they seized the moment when the defense was at its weakest.

Adolf moved.

The old man, who usually seemed frail and unsteady, suddenly unleashed astonishing speed. He violently pushed over a row of metal racks holding spare parts, the loud noise instantly drawing everyone's attention.

"boom!"

Taking advantage of the moment when everyone was stunned, Adolf, dragging his lame leg, rushed towards the control room at the end of the corridor like a crazed rat.

"Oh no! He's trying to escape!"

"Grab him!"

The guards were terrified and wanted to fire, but hesitated because of the sophisticated instruments and explosives all around them.

Adolf stormed into the control room and locked the heavy blast door. Through the bulletproof glass, his distorted old face was filled with madness and resentment.

"You robbers! None of you will get my gold!"

Adolf roared hysterically, "The self-destruct mechanism here is connected to five tons of TNT underground! Let's all die together! Hahahaha!"

As he spoke, he suddenly pulled down the red lever.

"Drip—drip—drip—"

The piercing alarm instantly resounded throughout the entire base, and the red warning lights flashed wildly.

On the countdown screen in the control room, bright red numbers began to jump: 20:00.

"Bang!"

A muffled gunshot rang out.

Tian Yangsheng had somehow climbed above the ventilation duct and, through a gap, accurately shot Adolf between the eyebrows.

The old man's laughter stopped abruptly, and the corpse slumped heavily onto the control panel.

But the countdown didn't stop.

19:47…

"Boss! The self-destruct program has started! It won't stop!" Tian Yangsheng shouted over the radio.

"What's the panic!"

Lu Chen's loud shout silenced the crowd. He glanced at his watch; twenty minutes was more than enough time for his performance.

"That's just luck," Lu Chen said, a perfectly timed mix of frustration and decisiveness on his face. "Everyone's here! Aside from the gold and documents already loaded onto the trucks, forget about the rest. Retreat!"

Upon hearing the boss's order, although everyone was heartbroken at the sight of the remaining large portion of gold, they knew their lives were more important. So, they quickly evacuated the vault and prepared to return to the surface to start their cars.

"You guys go first! Drive the car to the high ground outside the village!" Lu Chen ordered. "I'm going to check the archives for any top-secret documents I might have missed; those are more important than gold! I'll be right back, leave me a car!"

"Boss! This is too dangerous!" Tian Yangsheng wanted to stay.

"This is an order! I know what I'm doing," Lu Chen roared. "You're just getting in the way!"

"...Received! Boss, we'll wait for you outside for three minutes. If you don't come out in three minutes, we'll go in and tie you up!" Seeing the boss getting angry, Tian Yangsheng could only grit his teeth and lead everyone out of the vault's secret room.

Once everyone had left the vault, only Lu Chen remained in the vast underground space, accompanied by the piercing alarm.

Looking at the remaining two hundred tons of gold in front of him, Lu Chen's lips curled into a triumphant smile.

"Adolf, thank you for your assist."

Lu Chen's lips curled into a cold smile. If Adolf hadn't activated the self-destruct mechanism, he would have had to press the button himself, which would inevitably arouse suspicion. Now, it's all that crazy old man's doing.

Lu Chen took a deep breath and made a thought.

"System, open private space."

The void black hole, which had already expanded to 8 cubic meters, silently opened up before him.

Aside from the nerve gas, food, and some weapons that occupied about 1 cubic meter of space, the remaining 7 cubic meters were filled with gilded brass.

Lu Chen's hand rested on the pile of gold.

Whoosh!

It was like magic.

The mountain of gold before my eyes vanished at a visible speed, replaced by piles of fake gold.

Gold has an extremely high density, weighing 19.3 tons per cubic meter. Even including the gaps, the remaining 7 cubic meters of space could hold nearly 130 tons of gold!

"Done."

Lu Chen clapped his hands, looking at the stacks of golden bricks in the space, feeling great.

This is the real "great transport".

He glanced at the countdown: 10:00.

"It's time to go."

Lu Chen turned around and strode out of the base as if nothing had happened.

……

The convoy drove about three kilometers out of the village and stopped behind a sand dune.

"boom--!!!"

The earth trembled violently.

Immediately afterwards, a deafening roar came from the direction of the base. It was as if a sand worm had opened its gaping maw, sucking countless grains of sand and debris into the ground, comparable to a small earthquake.

Thus, the imperial base, hidden for half a century, completely collapsed into a huge sand pit. However, the village was still some distance below the base, so the indigenous people were not seriously harmed. They were simply awakened by the loud noise, and seeing the huge pit, they thought it was the wrath of the gods, and knelt on the ground, trembling.

"What a pity..."

The captain of the assassins sent by Sofia looked at the smoke and dust in the distance with a pained expression. "So much gold, and we've only moved less than ten tons... If only we had a little more time..."

The other team members were also dejected. It was clearly a mountain of gold, but they only got a fraction of it; the sense of disappointment was too great.

That's life.

Lu Chen sat on the hood of the car, lit a cigarette, and pretended to look regretful. "It's good enough that I survived. And to get these ten tons, and those priceless research materials, is already a blessing from God. One should learn to be content."

He turned to Tian Yangsheng and said, "Asheng, take a few men and leave first. Go to the black market on the edge of the desert and spread the word."

Lu Chen exhaled a smoke ring, his voice low, "They say a suspected gold mine of the Germanic Empire has been discovered, containing over two hundred tons of gold. However, due to an explosion, most of it was buried in the sand. A small expedition team, due to infighting and the explosion, only managed to salvage a small amount; most of the gold remains underground."

"Stir up the water?" Tian Yangsheng instantly understood the boss's intention.

"Yes. The muddier the better."

Lu Chen sneered, "If we don't muddy the waters, it'll be difficult to sell these ten tons of gold even if we bring them back. But if mercenaries and warlords from all over the world are fighting tooth and nail here, who will even notice... our small team of 'failed' explorers?"

……

Just as Lu Chen had predicted.

Just one day later, the news of "two hundred tons of imperial gold discovered in the Sahara" spread like wildfire throughout North Africa and even alarmed the European underworld.

Countless mercenaries, warlords, and even agents of certain major powers swarmed in like sharks smelling blood.

That huge crater became the new battlefield.

The various factions fought tooth and nail for the mining rights, their brutality rivaling that of a small-scale local war. Ultimately, before the United Nations and European nations could intervene, fearing being exploited by the powers, the two local warlords, who had been fighting tooth and nail, quickly reached a ceasefire agreement with a top European mercenary group, and immediately began joint mining operations.

However, as the excavation deepened, things became increasingly confusing.

Some people did indeed find real gold bars and were overjoyed; but most people found only the gold-plated bronze left behind by Lu Chen.

"Damn it! It's fake!"

"No! Mine is real!"

"They must have switched them with the ones who arrived first! Kill them and take back the gold!"

Truth and falsehood, reality and illusion.

Because someone had unearthed real gold, everyone became convinced that the treasure was real, but had been hidden or blown up. Thus, an even more brutal battle ensued.

The entire Sahara interior was in complete chaos.

The mastermind behind all this, Lu Chen, had already met up with Sofia, who had come to meet him, and with the real treasure in hand, they used the Lubers family's smuggling network that spanned the Mediterranean to secretly transport this astonishing fortune back to Italy.

On the way back, Lu Chen made a special trip to the market in Nile City.

"Miss Peach, do you remember me?"

Lu Chen looked at the peaches that were being packed up and asked with a smile.

"Ah! It's you! The folklorist!" Peach looked at him with surprise.

"Here's the thing, I'm currently employed by a large museum in Italy, and we're preparing an exhibition about African primitive culture. I think your wood carvings have a very spiritual quality. I wonder if you would be willing to come to Rome with me and serve as our contracted craftsman?"

"This... to Rome?" Peach was stunned; happiness had come too suddenly.

"Yes, meals and accommodation are provided, and the salary is generous."

Lu Chen took out a letter of appointment with the Lubers family letterhead. "Besides, this area might be a bit turbulent lately. Wouldn't it be better to have a safe place to create?"

He knew that with the leak of information about the gold, guides like Peach, who frequently ventured into the desert and knew the locations of many indigenous villages, would definitely be captured by those bloodthirsty warlords to lead the way. Rather than letting her meet with misfortune here, he might as well take her away, which would also be a way of repaying the favor of her providing the coordinates.

"I do! I do!"

Naïve Peach had no idea of ​​the danger behind it all; she only felt that she had met a benefactor and readily agreed.

Thus, on the eve of the complete outbreak of the North African storm, Lu Chen not only took away the gold, but also the only "living map" that might reveal the secrets of heaven.