The next day, Lara and Frank met the leader of the expedition: a young woman named Sylvie Wal.
She was in her twenties and wore a windbreaker matched with jeans and stilettos. Her figure was hidden behind her baggy clothes, though it made her look sharp.
"Hello!"
She offered Frank a cheerful handshake and smiled as Frank was silent. "What, do I look too young to be here?"
"No, of course not," Frank replied as he quickly shook her hand.
"Don't underestimate me now! I may be young, but I'm experienced in archaeology and have led multiple expeditions into various tombs."
"I'm impressed. You're accomplished despite your youth," Frank said in agreement.
Sylvie laughed heartily. "It's an honor to receive praise from a handsome man like you! I heard that you're a student from Shagan Agricultural University—shouldn't you be on a farm?"
Seeing that she was quick to be friendly, Frank chuckled. "No money in it."
"True." Sylvie nodded. "A man like you should be out in the big world. Want to exchange numbers? You can come look for me when you're going to the city!"
Since Sylvie was generously offering it, Frank had no reason to say no and gave her his number.
The expedition team members saw it and started teasing Sylvie.
"That's not like you, chief. When did you start giving men your number?"
"Exactly. There's so many hotties whom you weren't interested in, but you're so invested in this one!"
"Oh, come on. It's not her fault—the man's just that handsome!"
"And judging from the flow of the subterranean streams, it's an ideal spot for a burial, what with the foot of a mountain stretching all the way here. In layman terms, one could call this spot a spiritron vein!"
"A spiritron vein?"
Frank tended to get jittery with that term.
The Lionhearts and Stanley Durban were looking for it, were they not? Though Frank knew enough to see that it was not the spiritron vein they were looking for—if someone like Sylvie could, why could they not?
"How did Verde Limited find this place?" he asked.
"It's a real coincidence, now that you mentioned it!" Sylvie shrugged. "There was a tremor when one of their survey teams came by, and they stumbled on some antiques which were launched out of a subterranean geyser. That's how they deduced that there's a tomb around here."
Frank nodded.
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