"The Holy Grail," Sophie exclaimed. For Westerners, the Holy Grail is indeed known to everyone, and there are countless legends about it in various films and books.
Sophie continued, "Then what is the treasure?"
Langdon, in the passenger seat, looked at William and said, "Perhaps William knows what it is."
Sophie looked at William in surprise, "William, you know what the treasure is, don't you?"
Looking at the curious Langdon and Sophie, William pondered for a moment. He had no clue about the treasure his family was searching for, and he thought that Langdon might know something. "King Solomon's Treasure."
"What treasure?" Langdon exclaimed in surprise. He was a Harvard expert in runes and history, and he had never seen any definitive records of King Solomon's Treasure. Langdon had always believed that King Solomon's Treasure was a fabrication. "That's impossible. King Solomon's Treasure is just a legend; there's no historical record of it whatsoever."
William shook his head with a strange expression. "It's real. It was in the Holy City and was obtained by the Knights Templar. The Knights Templar found it during the First Crusade over a thousand years ago: 140 tons of gold, countless antiques, parchment manuscripts, gold coins, gold and silver artifacts, and jewels."
"It was there, it always existed. The Devonshire family had been guarding it for a thousand years, until the massacre 600 years ago. The remaining Knights Templar members hid it. Over 300 years later, traitors appeared among the Knights Templar and split off. These traitors hid it."
"The funniest thing is that these people hid King Solomon's Throne for decades, and in the end, they themselves didn't know where it was. For these three hundred years, the Devonshire family has been searching for it, the legendary King Solomon's Treasure. God, over a dozen generations have been tirelessly searching for it. Haha, now this task has fallen to me. I don't know if it's been divided up or if it's still buried in some corner of the world."
"Incredible, this is truly incredible. King Solomon's Treasure actually exists, and it's so secret that there are no written records of it. William, who were those renegade Knights Templar members?" Langdon, true to his reputation as a Harvard professor with a photographic memory, immediately got to the crux of the matter.
Sophie, in the back, also looked tense when she heard the crucial part. William smiled at Langdon and Sophie. "Do you think I would tell you? This is a secret the Devonshire family has protected for over a thousand years."
"Oh, no, William, I shouldn't have listened to this. I'm definitely going to have insomnia from now on, God," Langdon complained, holding his head.
Sophie, in the back seat, punched William in annoyance. "Go to hell, William."
William shrugged. "Not telling you is for your own good. Do you know how many people in this world want to know this secret? Knowing it wouldn't do you any good. You might be captured and interrogated, and if you're lucky, you'll be thrown into some dark, sunless prison for the rest of your life. If you're unlucky, you'll be buried in some desert or sunk into some river."
"Okay, okay, don't tell me. I don't want to know. For something that organizations like yours, spanning hundreds or thousands of years, are searching for, an ordinary person like me shouldn't even dream about it. William, you've scared me. I can guess who those Templar traitors you mentioned are. I'm an American, and I don't want those guys coming after me," Professor Langdon said with lingering fear.
William said in surprise, "You can guess that? Professor, are all you Harvard professors this amazing?"
"God, I'm Harvard's best history and symbology professor! I'm the best, understand?" Langdon said in annoyance.
"Shut up, Langdon, quickly tell me what you know," Sophie cursed from the back seat.
Langdon looked at Sophie in surprise, and seeing her glaring at him, he raised his hands and said, "Alright, madam, William has actually made it quite clear. Over 600 years ago, the Knights Templar were massacred, and all of Europe became unsafe. To safely guard such a large treasure, these people could only transport it to other continents. Asia and Africa were impossible, so it could only be transported to America. At that time, America was still a wilderness."
"And William said that these traitors, over 300 years later, couldn't even find it themselves. That could only mean the situation at the time was extremely critical, and the hiders had to make the treasure map very obscure and difficult to understand. The only time America faced an extremely critical situation was during the American Revolutionary War, because the American government feared that the British army would obtain that treasure. Am I right, William?" Langdon asked William.
William smiled and said, "Yes, absolutely right."
Langdon waved his hand. "Then the matter is very clear. That treasure is the National Treasure that has been legendary in America for over 200 years, the treasure supposedly hidden by the three Founding Fathers of America. This is the treasure the Freemasons have been searching for."
"The traitors William mentioned are the Freemasons, formed by the Knights Templar members who fled from Europe to America. God, I don't want to know anything more about this treasure now. Trying to steal treasure from the Sion Society and the Freemasons would truly be seeking death. Let's talk about something else."
"I'm already a wanted criminal just by getting involved with the Sion Society, which has been suppressed in Europe for over 600 years. If I were to go against the Freemasons, whose power in America is strong enough to influence various industries, I truly can't imagine what my fate would be."
"Alright, Langdon, you're right. Let's talk about something else." Sophie was also scared by Langdon's words.
"National Treasure? It wouldn't be the National Treasure movie starring Nicolas Cage, would it? Damn it, the movie didn't say where that ship was," William patted his head, trying hard to remember. Damn, his soul had been dormant for eighteen years, so he couldn't possibly remember every detail of a movie he had only watched once and then stopped paying attention to in his previous life. He remembered that the code was on the back of a declaration, and the treasure seemed to be under some church, but what was that church called?
William, who couldn't remember after thinking for a long time, looked at the great expert Langdon beside him, thinking that perhaps this guy might know something. "Actually, it's not as dangerous as you think. I have a clue here, but I have no idea about it. Professor Langdon, perhaps you can help me solve that mystery."
Langdon quickly shook his head and said, "No, William, I don't want to know at all. It's too dangerous. Even if we find it, we won't live to spend it. The value of this treasure is simply too great, at least tens of billions of dollars. My current life is very good, and I don't want to take risks. After this is over, I'll go back to Harvard and quietly be a professor."
"Alright, let's get through this first. Professor, I'll come to America to discuss academic issues with you. You won't turn me away, will you?" William said.
"We'll see then," Langdon ignored William and looked at the key in his hand. After careful inspection, he found that the key head was a centuries-old antique, but the key handle was modern and had some laser codes on it. "HAWKES 24, what kind of riddle is this?"
Sophie immediately understood after hearing it. "HAWKES 24 is not a riddle, but an address. I know where it is, William, drive fast."
Following Sophie's directions, they found a Swiss bank in the bustling center of Paris. After opening the bank door with the key, the three entered the bank. Guided by the bank's night manager, Sophie used the key and the series of numbers Saunière had left to open the safe deposit box Saunière had in the bank vault.
When Sophie opened the safe deposit box, she saw only a small wooden box inside. The box was carved with an iris. Langdon looked at the iris on the wooden box and said in surprise, "God, it's hard to believe. A rose, a rose is the symbol of the Holy Grail."
William took the wooden box from Sophie's hand and examined it. The wooden box was clearly an antique. Before the three could open the wooden box, the bank's night manager pushed open the door and walked in.
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