Super Invincible Battleship

Chapter 320: Chapter 171: Extreme Weather_2

Wu Daode, though he hadn’t been able to invite Yan Fei to the cocktail party, had received Yan Fei’s special permission to attend the dealer’s agency rights meeting, achieving his small goal and allowing himself to breathe a sigh of relief for now. The reason Yan Fei turned down Wu Daode’s invitation was that he had important matters to attend to today. He was going to the Louvre himself, to see with his own eyes where the rusty disk was located and prepare to snatch it.

Accompanied by Lu Pingping, Yan Fei set out again, ready to visit the Louvre. Today was Wednesday, and they were lucky enough to encounter the Louvre’s open day when more galleries would be opened, allowing for better public access. However, Yan Fei had underestimated the number of visitors to the Louvre. When they arrived at the entrance of the Glass Pyramid in the center of the Louvre, they found that the queue for tickets stretched out for several hundred meters.

Seeing Yan Fei dumbfounded, Lu Pingping smiled, taking Yan Fei aside to buy a Louvre pass. With this pass in hand, they had privileged access and were immediately directed by Louvre workers, bypassing the long lines of regular ticket holders to enter the museum. Having visited the Louvre several times before, Lu Pingping knew the rules. She had intentionally kept quiet just to see Yan Fei’s confused reaction, and then help him out, satisfying her girlish vanity.

Inside the Louvre, Yan Fei began his official tour. Although there were dedicated Mandarin guides available, Lu Pingping sent them away and took on the role of guide herself. Lu Pingping’s knowledge of history was solid, and her eloquence was impressive. Her explanations were no less professional than those of the staff. With Lu Pingping’s guidance, Yan Fei developed a great interest and understanding of the Louvre’s history, architecture, and artworks.

Through Lu Pingping’s explanations, Yan Fei learned that the Louvre housed a collection of four hundred thousand items. Most of these were cultural relics and artworks from other countries in the world, primarily acquired through the strong-arm tactics of France’s imperial past. Yan Fei saw many Chinese artifacts among these items and learned from Lu Pingping that most of them had been looted by French soldiers during the second Opium War.

Seeing these historical relics, which rightly belonged to China, on display in a foreign museum and used to showcase someone else’s achievements in culture and warfare, Yan Fei felt indignation. This resentment helped alleviate the guilt in his heart, easing his psychological burden about the upcoming heist at the Louvre.

Yan Fei appeared to be just an ordinary tourist, curious and wandering through the Louvre without any unusual behavior. However, in secret, the Auxiliary Brain was using Yan Fei’s real-time visuals to model the Louvre in 3D in its database, refining the previously reconstructed terrain map of the museum. Moreover, with Yan Fei personally investigating the terrain and environment, the Auxiliary Brain even marked the types of exhibits Yan Fei saw on the topographic map.

While Yan Fei was visiting the Louvre, the artworks donated by the collector from Britain, who was originally from France, were finally delivered to the museum. The Louvre conducted a brief reception ceremony before moving these artworks into the galleries to await necessary maintenance before they would be opened to the public.

As the Louvre conducted the art reception ceremony, Yan Fei pretended to pass by casually and saw the rusty disk among the artifacts being received. However, once the reception ceremony concluded, the area was cleared and the tourists were asked to leave, so no one knew which gallery the artifacts would be stored in.

The Louvre, one of the world’s four major museums and a point of pride for France, was heavily secured by the French Government, who even stationed soldiers there to ensure the protection of the artifacts inside. At the reception site, there were also soldiers with live ammunition maintaining order.

Yan Fei did not consider these soldiers’ combat power significant, yet he forcefully curbed the impulse to steal the rusty disk right then and there. He cleverly concealed his interest in the rusty disk while observing the crowd around him, detecting no abnormal presence. Then, pretending to be oblivious, Yan Fei moved on to continue his visit to other exhibition areas of the Louvre. He did not leave with the still-enchanted Lu Pingping until six o’clock in the evening.

As Yan Fei and Lu Pingping were leaving the Louvre, a strong wind suddenly arose in the Parisian skies, with dark clouds gathering, portending a heavy downpour. Yan Fei’s brow furrowed; it was October, and Paris had already entered autumn. Normally, there would be no chance of a torrential rainstorm at this time of year, yet the sudden appearance of dark clouds and strong wind indicated an unavoidable deluge.

Yan Fei had planned to break into the Louvre tonight to steal the rusty disk, but it seemed he might face bad weather. In a strict sense, such stormy weather was actually advantageous for his operation. The adverse conditions would likely distract the Louvre’s guards, and under the cover of a heavy rainstorm, Yan Fei would be able to enter the Louvre more easily to complete his task. Even if he left any traces during the mission, they would be washed away cleanly by the downpour.