Under Aldo's guidance, the three of them quickly walked through the corridors and arrived outside a room on the first floor of the castle wing.
Here, there is a cellar where the research institute is located.
According to Aldo, this castle has several cellars, but most of them, like the rooms upstairs in the castle, have not been completed.
Only two of them had been cleaned and renovated. One of the smaller ones was used as a normal cellar, while the other larger one, the one they were going to, was converted into a research institute.
"Lieutenant!" There were two soldiers guarding the door of the room. When they saw Qiao Xi and others approaching, they immediately saluted.
Aldo returned the greeting, then took out a bunch of keys and opened the door.
With a creak, the door opened. The first thing that appeared in front of Qiao Xi and the others was a wooden structure hall that looked like a warehouse. The light inside was very dim and filled with various works of art.
"These things were all obtained from the French by Mustache's army. There is a catalog of everything on that bookshelf. It is yours now, but if you want to keep everything, I'm afraid you have to give some to my brothers.
It’s all about the benefits. Although I took this place by myself, they also worked hard to guard this place." Aldo said, pointing to the numerous works of art covered with white cloth in the hall.
"Of course!" Qiao Xi took a quick glance. There might be thousands of pieces of art here. "But I have to wait until I find someone to verify the value of these things!"
It's not that Josie is stingy.
Don't think that things that were looted and left here by Mustache's army are necessarily good things.
Not to mention those that were secretly hidden by the soldiers and officers at the time when they were searching for art.
All the collected items will be screened by mustaches, generals at all levels, officials at all levels, and the German Museum.
Basically, after the really good stuff is picked out, the rest will be sent to "warehouses" across Germany like Neuschwanstein Castle.
So despite the large number of works of art in front of him, Qiao Xi was basically certain that there wouldn't be any unique treasures here, at most they would be some middle-to-lower-level items of relatively average value.
Not to mention antiques in prosperous times and gold in troubled times.
In the years just after the war, it was not easy to sell these works of art reliably, let alone a good price.
But Qiao Xi didn't mind it either. Since the Germans were interested in snatching it back, it meant that it was of some value. When the castle was built in the future, these items could be used as decorations to enhance the character.
, which also saves him from having to go shopping for goods at that time.
"The research institute is inside, follow me!" Aldo nodded, and then led Josie and Ophelia around the piles of artworks to the innermost part of the hall.
Here, there is a relatively secret staircase going down.
After walking down the stairs and turning the corner, what appeared in front of them was a heavy metal door.
"Because there are people guarding outside, I didn't arrange anyone here, and the things inside are not suitable for those soldiers to see." Aldo explained as he opened the door.
"Those soldiers don't know what's in this?" Josie asked.
"Of course, I entered the castle alone that night, and I cleared everyone out. The soldiers of Company E only knew that there was a research institute here, but I only had the key, and none of them had ever come in!"
Aldo said.
As his words fell, the heavy metal door opened with a loud bang.
A new hall appeared in front of everyone, and although it was underground, it was brightly lit inside.
It's just that unlike upstairs, this hall is full of various instruments and equipment. In addition, there are many laboratories in the fringe area.
However, it was obvious that a battle had taken place here, and there were traces of bullet holes and residual blood stains everywhere.
Fortunately, the damage was not serious.
"Is there power supply here?" Qiao Xi asked, looking at the bright hall.
"Yes, there is a power supply room inside, which uses an energy battery similar to the Hydra weapon. It is very durable. We have occupied this place for almost a week, and there is no sign of any failure." Aldo nodded.
"Can you see what is being studied here?" Josie asked Ophelia.
"You have to look for the experiment log to be sure!" Ophelia looked at the slightly messy furnishings of the research institute, shook her head and said, then looked at Aldo, "There should be a data room here, right?"
"Yes, that should be, the door is unlocked!" Aldo nodded and pointed to the corner.
"Go!" Josie waved her hand.
Ophelia didn't hesitate and went to the reference room to look for information.
"Are there any other special discoveries?" Joe asked again.
"Yes, at the very bottom!" Aldo pointed to the depths of the institute.
"Go and have a look!" Josie said.
Aldo immediately took Josie over and arrived at a laboratory.
When he opened the laboratory, what greeted Qiao Xi's eyes were two huge freezers.
There is a person frozen in each freezer.
Qiao Xi frowned and walked over.
In the first freezer, there was a young Asian woman frozen.
It's quite strange, why is there an Asian woman in Hydra's base?
But when he walked to the second freezer and saw the people inside, Josie's eyes widened.
Because the person inside is surprisingly Captain America’s good friend, Bucky Barnes.
Qiao Xi met the American team several times in London, and also met this good friend of the American team several times, so he naturally recognized each other.
But why did he appear here?
In the original time and space, when Zola was captured, Bucky fell off the cliff still happened?
Apart from a few occasional encounters, although Josie would also be concerned about the whereabouts of Captain America, he really didn't pay much attention to his good friend, and naturally he wouldn't deliberately care about what happened to him.
to understand.
But since the other party now appears in this research institute, it can already explain the problem.
"Do you know him?" Seeing Josie's expression, Aldo couldn't help but curiously came over and asked.
Although they are all in the military, neither Aldo's old unit nor the current 101st Airborne Division can compete with the Scientific and Strategic Corps and the Howling Commandos.
Although the military has always publicized the achievements of the Howling Commandos, the focus is still on the US team. The names of other Howling Commando members are not known to the public. After all, the current media is mainly newspapers, which have such a large page.
It's impossible to introduce all of the Howling Commandos.
In addition, the aura of Captain America is too shining. Everyone only cares about Captain America, and few people care about these little transparent ones.
So Aldo doesn't know Bucky.
"That's right, Bucky Barnes. This seems to be a nickname. His real name should be James Barnes, a member of the Howling Commandos and a good friend of Captain America. I didn't expect him to appear here." Josie nodded.
replied.
"Captain America's good friend? So what should we do with him?" Aldo was stunned after hearing Josie's answer.
"What else can be done? First find out how he fell into the hands of Hydra. After my people take over here, we will look at his specific situation. If there are no problems, find a reasonable way to send him back.
.If the problem is more troublesome, just pretend that you have never seen him." Qiao Xi thought for a while and said.
The reason why he said this was because he didn't know whether Bucky had been brainwashed or not, and whether he had carried out the next stage of human experiments on the Winter Soldier.
If not, it doesn't matter. For the sake of Captain America, just move him back and find a reasonable way to send him back after he wakes up - if there is no Vito, an experimental subject who also conducted the first phase of the experiment,
, Josie will definitely not let Bucky go so generously, but now that Vito is here, Bucky doesn't mean much to him, so it's better to be a convenient favor.
But if you have been brainwashed or conducted the second phase of the Winter Soldier experiment.
Then Josie could only say sorry.
But now it seems that the second possibility is unlikely, because the opponent's right hand is still fine.
Aldo nodded after hearing this and said nothing more. This was indeed the most appropriate way to handle it.
Now he is completely in the same boat as Josie, although he also respects Captain America, and when he had conflicts with Kennedy, he even received some favors from him.
But he would not quarrel with Qiao Xi just because of this little favor.
Otherwise, not to mention anything else, the warehouse of Hydra weapons he hid and handed over to Josie in Paris would be enough for him to go to court martial ten times.