Chapter 46: Finding the Holy Grail
(Ask for collection, ask for recommendation, and rush to the list!) οΌ
Located on the banks of the Scheldt River in northwestern Belgium, Antwerp is Belgium's largest port and an important industrial city, and its inhabitants mostly speak the local dialect of the Netherlands. Antwerp is a famous cultural center in Europe, the birthplace of the famous artists Robbins and von Dick, and a world-famous tourist city. There are well-preserved old buildings in the old downtown area full of medieval atmosphere; At the same time, it is also the world's diamond processing and trading, on average, eight out of ten diamonds are processed from Antwerp; It is also home to world-renowned paintings and numerous museums, including the Robbins House Museum, the Royal Museum of Art, the National Maritime Museum and the Diamond Museum.
Today, this tourist city welcomed five unusual "travelers", one of whom was obviously blonde-haired Xiao Zhengtai, but his speech and demeanor were not suitable for his age, and the other three were all strong men with a tiger's back and a bear's waist, staring at the crowd around him with an unkind expression. This strange combination attracts the attention of the surrounding tourists.
Ever since he was assassinated by the KGB, Albert has been left with a psychological shadow over going out alone. Perhaps the Soviet sniper knew he wasn't dead and hid in a corner, and although Skyeye told him he could spot dangerous people with weapons within a 700-meter radius, Albert was haunted by the fact that his ribs were nearly broken.
"Antwerp. It is the second largest economic centre in Belgium. There are many commercial institutions, import and export trading companies, banks, insurance companies and transportation companies. Important industrial sectors include shipbuilding, machinery, automobiles, electronics, photographic equipment, non-ferrous metallurgy, oil refining, petrochemicals, textiles, food processing, etc. It is also the world's largest diamond processing and trading centre, with the vast majority of diamonds processed for export, accounting for 6.5 per cent of Belgium's total exports, mainly from South Africa. β
Albert still knows something about Antwerp, because the painter he liked in his previous life, the author of the famous painting "On the Cross", and the representative of Baroque art, Peter Paul Rubens, was a member of the Antwerp Painters' Guild, and Antwerp still has his former home, if it weren't for the time constraints, Albert really wanted to visit there.
"Okay, you have to tell me, where the hell is the Holy Grail hidden?" Along the way, Albert expressed his displeasure at Skyeye's refusal to tell the whereabouts of the Holy Grail, and although he repeatedly stressed that he would not divulge the secret, Skyeye said that he would wait until he reached his destination to tell Albert the final whereabouts of the Holy Grail.
"On top of the bell tower of the Antwerp Cathedral." Maybe he was annoyed by being forced to ask, but Tianyan finally gave an answer.
"It's as simple as that?" Albert is about to squirt rice, according to the development of the plot, such a valuable treasure should not be hidden in some inconspicuous underground fortress, and guarded by a large group of inexplicable dark creatures, right? Originally, Albert planned to buy a cardinal archbishop's consecrated cross or holy water or something to defend himself, but as a well-established socialist youth, he still gave up this practice of feudalism, superstition, and faith.
"It's that simple, how complicated do you think it is. Do you know why the construction of the Antwerp Cathedral began at the end of 1352 and was not completed until 1521, everything was done for the sake of the Holy Grail, especially the most attractive part of the church, the high bell tower of the Antwerp Church, which took a century to complete, and the reason was to find a perfect fit to hide the Holy Grail. β
"I can't believe that this bell tower has such an awesome story." Albert exclaimed.
However, the hardest part of the journey was the four security personnel, in addition to Victor and Allen, two of Albert's henchmen, and the other were the first batch of paramilitary operatives who were selected to enter, Ander and James. However, the four of them have been tortured miserably in the past few days, although they have come out to travel, they have maintained the highest vigilance for 24 hours, and they can't relax their nerves whenever and wherever they are, and they always feel that there may be a guy in the surrounding crowd who will attack their boss.
"Boss, what the hell are we looking for here, it's been a few days, and I haven't seen you say what you're looking for, or if you just want to travel or something. It's a waste of company resources, but it's equipped with the highest level of security. As the youngest of the four, James is a lot of talkers, and he can't stop nagging at all, but this guy is only 27 years old this year, and he is preparing to get married next month, young is young, this guy has five years of war experience, and he is still a French veteran who has experienced the Dunkirk retreat, and he can definitely be called a veteran oilman.
"Antwerp Cathedral, we're going there." Albert finally revealed their destination.
"It's good that the mission is finally over." James finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The top of the bell tower of Antwerp Cathedral is not an area open to tourists, so Albert and his party had a lot of trouble trying to go up, and after paying off the janitor, they finally went up the stairs, and when they stood on the bell tower, which is said to be the tallest in Antwerp, they overlooked the whole city.
Albert doesn't have time to enjoy the city's sights right now, and the priority is to find the Holy Grail. The eye of heaven suggests that the Holy Grail is hidden in the statue of the Virgin at the top of the bell tower,
The top of the bell tower is not too pompously ornamented, except for a statue of the Virgin with a baby in her arms, so Albert quickly identified the location of the Holy Grail.
"This chalice is in the statue of the Virgin?" Albert asked, incredulous.
"It's in the image of the Virgin." Tianyan said, "The more precious things are, the more inconspicuous the hidden places are. β
When Albert proposed to destroy the statue of the Virgin, Ander, a Catholic, was quite disturbed, this kind of blasphemy is very unrebellious, because of the Belgian royal family, Albert is also a Catholic who was baptized by birth, but he is a staunch atheist at heart, so he asked the atheist Victor to destroy the head of the statue with a pistol equipped with a silencer.
The pistol was loaded and aimed, and Ander couldn't bear to look at it and turned around.
"Bang, bang, bang."
The gun in Victor's hand made a dull sound, and when he fired the sixth bullet, a golden cup was finally displayed in front of everyone, with a simple shape, a cup inlaid with various gems, and a rare treasure at a glance, which made Victor a little afraid, if he accidentally shot through this thing, the boss didn't hate himself.
"Oh my God, is this the legendary Holy Grail? It turns out that the boss is looking for something like this? Seeing this golden cup that exuded a quaint atmosphere, James was the first to shout, the others were calm on the surface, but their hearts were overturned, even if this thing did not have the legendary function, it was an artifact that shocked the Vatican Sect.
"Shut up James, if you dare to reveal this, I'll be the first to cut your tongue out." Albert expressed his displeasure at James' inopportune loud shouting and made a threatening gesture.
"I'll be the second one." Alan was also dissatisfied, but he directly put his hand in his pocket and made a gesture of preparing to pull out his gun.
"Then I'll be the third one." Victor said with a wicked grin.
ββ¦β¦β
"Alright, gentlemen, stop making trouble." Alan carefully helped Albert take out the Holy Grail, put it in a black bag, and then stuffed it into the school bag and sealed it, he confirmed it with Tianyan in his mind, this is indeed the real Holy Grail, although Albert couldn't see what kind of special function it has, but he is still looking forward to it.
Albert, who had already got the Holy Grail, was in a good mood, although he had an urge to open the door for it, but because there were three outsiders here, Albert still suppressed this plan and waited until he returned to Brussels.
"I said boss, do we have to rush back when we get the things, after all, this is not your territory Brussels, if something really happens, a few of us can't afford it." James, who had never learned his lesson, shouted again. This time, everyone also agreed, this kind of task of not sleeping well for a few days and nights is really difficult.
"Actually, you just want to rush back to see your fiancΓ©e." Albert asked with a smile.
This time it was James' turn to scratch his head embarrassedly, but Albert, who was in a good mood, did not embarrass this group of big men, and said very locally for the first time, "Since most of you have family members, but it doesn't matter if you don't have a family." Well, before we leave this afternoon, we'll head to the diamond market in Antwerp and pick out a diamond accessory that you like, and I'll pay for it. But! The price must not exceed $3000! β
"Boss wise!" Everyone cheered loudly, and James was the only one who asked with a sad face, "Boss, why didn't you say it earlier, I just bought the ring, can I just ask for dollars without diamonds this time?" β
"Get out."