To others, cracking this code was indeed incredibly difficult. After all, with over ten million numerical combinations, who knew how long they would have to keep guessing to get lucky and open it.

However, for Wang Guan, such a formidable challenge was nothing more than a minor issue. Since he had already revealed his extraordinary abilities, there was no reason to hold back now. After briefly examining the cipher cylinder, he immediately deployed his special power.

In an instant, his psychic energy permeated the interior of the metal cylinder, allowing Wang Guan a perfectly clear and thorough view. At the same time, his brow furrowed. There was indeed something inside the cylinder, and judging by the faint purple-yellow glow, the object possessed a rather long history. But upon closer inspection, Wang Guan couldn't help but shake his head...

"What is it? Is there a problem with the item?"

Seeing this, Fang Mingsheng was naturally anxious and quickly asked, "Is it hard to crack?"

"No, my neck is stiff, just stretching it a bit." Wang Guan's explanation left Fang Mingsheng momentarily speechless. Then he watched as Wang Guan’s fingers casually spun the dials of the cipher cylinder.

For a time, Fang Mingsheng forgot everything else, staring intently at the dials, his mood rising and falling with every click, completely unable to settle.

Time ticked by, second by second, giving Fang Mingsheng a strange sensation of time dragging unbearably. It was indeed an illusion, for only four or five minutes had passed when Wang Guan suddenly closed his eyes, and upon reopening them, he handed the cipher cylinder back to Fang Mingsheng.

"Uh, didn't open?" Fang Mingsheng was naturally stunned.

Wang Guan raised his cup, took a sip of tea, and said casually, "It's already open."

"Ah..."

Fang Mingsheng was both surprised and delighted. He quickly twisted the lid, found that the inner tube slid out smoothly, and pulled out a glass vial held by a filigreed metal clasp. The vial contained some substance—it was impossible to tell if it was vinegar or sulfuric acid.

However, at that moment, Fang Mingsheng paid no mind to this crude, primitive self-destruct mechanism and began rummaging inside the cylinder. A moment later, he extracted a thin sheet of animal hide paper, possibly vellum common in the ancient West.

"What is this thing?"

Upon opening the parchment, Fang Mingsheng was dumbfounded. The paper displayed a string of letters—it should be a line of text. As for what the text meant, he hadn't the faintest idea.

"Oh?"

Wang Guan looked curious. "Boss Fang, don't you understand English? Could it be that you can speak it but not write it..."

This was also normal. Just as some people can write but not speak, others might speak but not write. After all, compared to "speaking," "writing" is undoubtedly more difficult. It's like how children first learn to speak and only gradually learn to read and write as they grow older.

"That's right."

Fang Mingsheng nodded in admission. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly broke into a smile. "But it doesn't matter. We have a translator."

Hearing this, Wang Guan assumed he meant Yu Wei, but unexpectedly, the man was more advanced, immediately searching online. Besides, there was a computer right in the room; if not Baidu, there was Google.

He typed in the string of letters, hit enter, and immediately a row of search results appeared. The problem was that the entire list was in English. The two studied it for a long time, looking at each other, realizing they had miscalculated.

"Ahem, actually, it doesn't need to be this complicated."

At that moment, Wang Guan realized, "Don't we have translation software on our phones? If we translate word by word and then combine it all, we should be able to roughly figure out the meaning."

"Good idea." Fang Mingsheng praised the suggestion and immediately set to work, but the result was once again beyond both their expectations.

"Why aren't the translation results showing up?"

A moment later, Fang Mingsheng frowned in confusion. "Is the translation software broken?"

"It shouldn't be that bad."

Wang Guan was surprised. "Then let me try mine..."

However, the result was exactly the same, leaving both of them astonished, instantly realizing something was amiss. It was plausible that one phone app could malfunction, but it was highly unlikely for two phones to have problems simultaneously.

With this thought, Wang Guan directly cleared the words on the parchment and typed in a simpler string of letters instead. Instantly, a detailed string of text appeared, proving that the translation software was functioning normally. From this, they could deduce that the key issue lay with the words on the parchment—whether they were misspelled or inherently flawed was the question.

At the same time, Wang Guan considered another possibility: "Could these words not be English?"

It wasn't impossible. In Wang Guan's impression, most Western languages were arranged using the Roman alphabet, so something that looked like English letters might not necessarily be English.

"Wait, I'll ask someone." Fang Mingsheng frowned and immediately sent a text message. Not long after, someone called him directly, seemingly to inform him about the background of these words.

"What, Old English?"

In an instant, Fang Mingsheng was stunned. "Ancient English?"

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Wang Guan was also momentarily taken aback, but then a realization dawned on him. It seemed perfectly normal, just as ancient Chinese characters differ from modern ones, ancient English must also differ from modern English.

Society develops, and things naturally change; this was quite normal. Conversely, Fang Mingsheng should have been happy, as this indirectly confirmed the antiquity of the object, proving it wasn't a modern forgery.

Thinking this, Fang Mingsheng was indeed somewhat pleased, but immediately his brow furrowed again.

After ending the call, Fang Mingsheng frowned. "Wang Guan, this is problematic. The person who just called was my English teacher. He recognized it as Old English, but he couldn't decipher the exact meaning. We'll need to find an expert to examine it separately."

"That complicated?" Wang Guan was slightly surprised. "Even if there are differences, it should be like the difference between Traditional and Simplified characters—the gap shouldn't be that large."

"It's not that simple," Fang Mingsheng said with a wry smile. "He just said that Old English and Modern English differ significantly in pronunciation, spelling, vocabulary, and grammar. Old English grammar is closer to German, and its inflections are very complex."

"Furthermore, Old English isn't just a blanket term for 'ancient' versus 'modern.' There's actually a division into Old English, Middle English, and Modern English. Each period saw different changes, resulting in vast disparities between them."

Fang Mingsheng shook his head. "In short, it's very complicated; it requires a specialized scholar to read it."

"In that case, you should find an expert to take a look," Wang Guan suggested.

"But..."

Fang Mingsheng hesitated. The item was hidden within such a tightly sealed cipher cylinder, which proved its value. He was naturally reluctant to leak its contents casually.

"Break it down. Have different people identify one word at a time," Wang Guan said casually; this was the most common method of confidentiality.

"It won't work."

However, Fang Mingsheng continued to sigh. "Old English has its vowels, consonants, and loanwords. Sometimes you need the context to grasp its precise meaning..."

Wang Guan understood and nodded. It was similar to Classical Chinese; individual characters might be recognizable, and one might know how to pronounce them. But when several characters formed a sentence, without annotations, one might misunderstand or misinterpret the original intent.

This presented a difficult situation, explaining Fang Mingsheng's hesitation.

"So, what do you plan to do?" Wang Guan scratched his head. "Study it yourself? Master Old English through hard study?"

"As if..."

Fang Mingsheng was speechless; he would have to be crazy to attempt that.

Of course, Wang Guan was only joking. He then reminded him, "Boss Fang, I think you're overthinking this. This piece of parchment is likely just one sentence. I suspect it's a will, some crucial intelligence, or something similar. Times have changed; it probably holds no value now. Why worry about others knowing?"

"Uh..."

Fang Mingsheng frowned, contemplating. He had to admit Wang Guan had a point, and he sighed lightly. "It seems I gambled wrong; I wasted money buying this thing."

"You can't say that entirely; at least this Da Vinci cipher cylinder is worth something," Wang Guan comforted him, though his tone lacked much sincerity. Considering Fang Mingsheng's wealth, the purchase price was negligible, like a single drop in the ocean, leaving no need for pity.

"Let me think about it some more..." Fang Mingsheng muttered thoughtfully. "Worst case, I stuff it back in, pretend I couldn't crack the code, and sell the whole thing off to someone else, maybe I can recoup my money."

"You schemer!"

Now it was Wang Guan's turn to be speechless.

"I won't keep you from resting."

Just then, Fang Mingsheng put the matter aside, smiled, and said, "Let's get up early tomorrow, move quickly, and we might still make it for Mr. Hill's luncheon."

After a brief chat, Fang Mingsheng left, but his retreating figure seemed a bit dejected. This was human nature; anyone, no matter how carefree, would feel a touch of frustration when encountering such a setback.

Wang Guan shook his head at this. He hadn't held high hopes from the beginning, so there was no disappointment now. After seeing Fang Mingsheng off, he retrieved an antique appraisal book from his luggage bag and read for a long time. Feeling sleepy, he simply turned off the light and went to bed.

The night passed without incident. The next morning, the two bade farewell to Yu Wei and boarded a train heading southeast.

Fang Mingsheng had mentioned the destination, but it was in English, which Wang Guan couldn't remember. He only knew it was near the sea, had a mild climate, a superior geographical location, and was a place that made one feel cheerful.

Wang Guan remained noncommittal; whether the place was good or not, he would know once they arrived. For now, the train offered breakfast, and he wasn't going to deprive himself, ordering a set and enjoying it at a leisurely pace.

Of course, Wang Guan understood basic courtesy and didn't forget to ask the attendant to bring a breakfast for Fang Mingsheng too, but his companion seemed to have no appetite, constantly fiddling with his phone.

"What, still not giving up?"

Wang Guan glanced over and saw that Fang Mingsheng was logged into what looked like a very professional website, its page dense with tightly packed English text. Recalling last night's events, he had a good idea of what Fang Mingsheng was up to.