Qiu Hao and Liang Chen were both Chinese Executive Department agents. Qiu Hao was the unlucky fellow who had once mistakenly lent Finn five hundred dollars; Liang Chen, on the other hand, was a man of few words, seeming more reserved and taciturn.
The jeep jolted along the unfinished airport road as Qiu Hao began giving Amon and Finn a brief rundown of the mission.
"About a year ago, an Academy student's uncle bought a piece of porcelain at an auction. Preliminary appraisal placed it... around eight thousand years old. The student realized it might be related to Dragon Kind, so he turned it over to The Academy."
"Eight thousand years?" Finn slapped his thigh, his attention instantly veering off in a completely different direction. "Weren't humans still wearing animal hides and banging rocks together back then? Where would porcelain have come from? If this thing is real, how much would it be worth? Did The Academy compensate him? They can't let the guy take a loss!"
Qiu Hao was briefly stunned by the barrage of questions, then laughed. "I don't know exactly how much he was compensated, but there should have been something."
At that moment, Liang Chen, who had been silently driving all along, suddenly spoke. His voice was steady, yet carried a cool, piercing clarity.
"Precisely because its assessed age was so absurd, the ordinary market deemed it a crude forgery, making it practically worthless. An antique's value is a complex whole—condition, artistry, historical significance, market recognition... none can be absent. If something isn't recognized, then no matter how ancient it is, it remains only a strange craftwork."
Qiu Hao took over, his expression turning serious. "The Academy followed the porcelain's transaction trail and found the original source... an explorer. According to him, it came from a