Looking at the remaining first-grade rough stones, although some could be bought and cut open without losing money, there seemed to be no profit to be made. Moreover, there were no good materials among them that could tempt Zhou Ziwei, which made him quite disappointed.
Xu Zhengguang was overjoyed to see that Zhou Ziwei had bought three piles of first-grade raw stones without even blinking.
In the past, it was rare for three piles of these first-grade rough stones to be sold at once... You know, although buyers know that this grade of rough stone is good and has a high chance of containing jadeite, the problem is that the price is also ridiculously high, making it very difficult for these middlemen to profit from it. So they would rather invest more in second-grade and third-grade rough stones. Anyway, they don't gamble on stones themselves, so they don't care whether there is really jadeite inside. As long as it looks like there is, and they can resell it to others and swindle a lot of money from them, that's enough.
However, when Xu Zhengguang saw that Zhou Ziwei had picked through the three piles of first-grade rough stones but showed no interest in selecting second-grade or third-grade rough stones, he couldn't help but become curious. What rough stone middleman doesn't keep a variety of grades of rough stones on hand? Otherwise, if you're a middleman and only bring back a few stones, who will you sell them to? The three piles of first-grade rough stones Zhou Ziwei selected only amounted to a dozen or so stones, barely enough to fill two off-road vehicles. Surely the remaining eight vehicles wouldn't have to return empty-handed?
Xu Zhengguang glanced at Zhou Ziwei again, and seeing Zhou Ziwei's seemingly disappointed expression, a thought struck him. He said, "Mr. Zhou, is it possible that even these first-grade raw stones are not good enough for you? Then...would you like to take a look at our rare mineral treasure?"
Volume 2, The Assassin's Nightmare, Chapter 313: Golden Emerald
"A treasure from the mine?"
Zhou Ziwei was taken aback upon hearing this and quickly asked, "What is this 'treasure of the mine'? If it's convenient, we might as well take a look!"
Xu Zhengguang chuckled, pointed to the last warehouse in the warehouse, and said, "This one...hehe...this one is in our semi-finished product warehouse. You may wish to take a look."
After saying this, Xu Zhengguang shook his head as if mocking himself, then turned and walked towards the warehouse.
Surprisingly, there were four armed guards in front of this last small storeroom. Even Xu Zhengguang himself had to show some kind of badge before the door could be opened and he could enter.
Seeing their solemn demeanor, Zhou Ziwei couldn't help but feel a surge of anticipation. Before the door even opened, he couldn't resist releasing his first-floor soul power, wanting to enter the storeroom first to take a look. However, just as this wisp of soul power penetrated the thick wall and entered the space inside, before he could even scan the surroundings, he suddenly felt a strange energy surging over him as if it were overwhelming. In an instant, it shattered his wisp of soul power into pieces, leaving it in complete disarray.
Zhou Ziwei was taken aback. He couldn't understand what was in the warehouse that could have such a terrifying dissipating effect on his soul power. Could it be... a living thing inside?
Although he was still uncertain, Zhou Ziwei, who had just suffered a minor loss, did not recklessly probe his soul power again. Instead, he became extremely cautious and followed Xu Zhengguang carefully into the dark warehouse.
The entire warehouse was completely dark, as if it were hell. Xu Zhengguang didn't seem to have any intention of turning on the lights after they entered, which made Zhou Ziwei and the others wonder.
"Xiao Guang... what are you doing?!"
Seeing Xu Zhengguang's mysterious demeanor, others hesitated to ask, but Gu Dongfeng naturally wouldn't be polite to his once-unworthy disciple.
Xu Zhengguang chuckled and said, "Because the things here are rather strange, they can't be exposed to the light easily, so... hehe... we have to be extra careful... um... once everyone is inside, I will naturally let everyone see our treasure of the mine."
It was quite a hassle for the group of over a dozen people to squeeze into this pitch-black warehouse. The little princess and the other children were so frightened by the darkness that they dared not go in and stood at the door, refusing to move.
Left with no other choice, Zhou Ziwei had to tell A-Da to lead the four children to wait outside and not go inside.
Seeing that no one else was going in, Xu Zhengguang naturally didn't say anything more. He then personally went over and slowly closed the door of Housheng tightly. After searching the wall for a while, he found an old copper oil lamp, lit it gently with a lighter, and held it in his hand.
Although this place is relatively remote, there is still electricity. Otherwise, they would not be able to mine ore at all. So the power supply here is relatively stable. They did not see any power outages when they were in the other warehouses. They don't know what Xu Zhengguang is up to. He came here and suddenly used this kind of old copper oil lamp to light the way.
"Ahem..." Xu Zhengguang coughed lightly when he saw everyone staring at him with confusion. Then he said, "Everyone must be wondering why I'm lighting this copper oil lamp here, right? Hehe... To be honest, I'm a little worried that something might happen to our treasure from the mine... You don't know, you're about to see a sight you've never seen before... Teacher Gu, do you see that black stone box up ahead? Could you please find two strong people to help lift the lid of that stone box? Our treasure from the mine is placed inside."
"What kind of treasure is this? We actually have to light an oil lamp to see it!"
Gu Dongfeng looked puzzled and looked up at Zhou Ziwei, only to see that Zhou Ziwei already had a serious expression on his face, tilting his head and squinting his eyes, as if he was thinking about something. So Gu Dongfeng had no choice but to beckon to the Ye brothers, asking them to help open the stone box.
The Yelü brothers naturally did not refuse. Upon hearing this, they immediately stepped forward and curiously examined the stone box, which looked crudely carved and extremely heavy. Each of them found a protruding handle on the side, grabbed one side, looked at each other, and exerted force at the same time, slowly lifting the lid of the box.
The weight of the stone box far exceeded the Yelü brothers' expectations. Originally, the stone box didn't seem very big, and considering that it would need to be filled with things, after being carved out, the box would probably weigh several tens of kilograms.
But when they tried to lift it, they realized something was wrong. The lid wasn't actually locked, but the lid alone weighed over a hundred pounds.
What kind of stone is this box carved from? How could it be so heavy?
The Yelü brothers were puzzled, but they couldn't help but put in more effort and finally managed to slowly lift the lid of the box.
As soon as the lid was opened, the Yelü brothers were startled. They realized that this so-called stone box should not be called a box at all, because... inside was almost a solid object that had been split in two, with only a fist-sized hole carved in the center of the stone.
As the lid of the stone box was lifted, everyone immediately saw an irregularly shaped golden jade placed in a small hole, no bigger than a fist, between the two stones.
That's right, it's golden jadeite, not the common yellow jadeite. Generally speaking, green and red jadeite are the best, and purple and colorless jadeite are also quite expensive, while black jadeite and yellow jadeite are much less desirable.
However... this piece of jade, which is not even as big as a fist, looks like real gold, radiating a clear aura of wealth. Although it does not have the luster of real metal, its translucent quality makes people want to like it even more.
Upon seeing the object, Liu Xiaofei couldn't help but feel a surge of affection. After exclaiming in surprise, she couldn't resist walking over to reach out and grab it, but Xu Zhengguang urgently stopped her, saying, "Don't touch it... you can't touch that thing!"
Liu Xiaofei was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and asked in confusion, "Why can't I touch it... Are you afraid I'll damage your precious ore? Humph... How petty!"
Xu Zhengguang smiled wryly and said, "Miss Liu, you flatter me. I, Old Xu, am not such a stingy person. It's just that... this golden jade is a bit strange. It absorbs the energy of light sources and heats up rapidly, then it will spontaneously combust... Uh... If you don't believe me, you can stand a little distance away and feel the temperature of the jade with your hand. Because after the lid is opened, it will naturally absorb the light emitted from my oil lamp. At this time, the temperature of the jade will definitely be quite high. If you touch it directly with your hand, you will definitely get burned. The reason we dare not turn on the electric light in here is simply because the light from the electric light is much stronger than that of the oil lamp. If the electric light is lit here, the jade inside may spontaneously combust as soon as the box is opened."
"Ah... there are such strange things in this world?" Liu Xiaofei was really not convinced when she heard this, so she carefully moved her fair little hand to the side of the golden jade. Unexpectedly, when her hand was still more than ten centimeters away from the jade, she could feel waves of heat emanating from the golden jade, and she could also clearly feel that the temperature of the jade was rising.
"Huh...it really is like that!" Liu Xiaofei exclaimed in surprise, and couldn't help but ask, "How...can this jade really burn on its own? Then...then this thing...is too strange!"
Upon seeing this, Zhou Ziwei suddenly took a step forward, his expression seemingly filled with an uncontrollable excitement and agitation. He also stretched out one hand and, without any hesitation, grabbed the dazzling golden jadeite, actually pulling it out of the stone box.
"Ah... Mr. Zhou, please let go! This jade is about to catch fire! You might get burned!" Xu Zhengguang was startled and quickly tried to stop him.
Zhou Ziwei, however, did not take it to heart. He simply shook his head slightly, examined the golden jade with both hands, and then asked, "This jade is indeed extraordinary... Hmm... Mr. Xu, please name a price! I want this jade."
Xu Zhengguang did not expect Zhou Ziwei to be so decisive, immediately deciding to buy the golden jadeite as soon as he saw it.
If this were anyone else, Xu Zhengguang would probably be overjoyed, but with Zhou Ziwei… out of respect for Gu Dongfeng, he felt somewhat embarrassed to let the other party spend a large sum of money on something with little practical value. Reluctantly, he had to bite the bullet and tell the truth: “This… due to the unique nature of this golden jade, we had originally decided to sell it to a world-renowned collector of all sorts of rare objects, Michael Bach. And… a few days ago, we contacted Mr. Bach, and after reviewing the jade's information, he said he would personally visit Myanmar next month when he has some free time. If the jade's characteristics match our description, he is willing to offer fifty million US dollars to purchase it. Although we haven't signed any verbal agreement, it's considered that we've both agreed.”
As you know, although I'm nominally the owner of this jade mine, in reality... the government owns about half the shares. I can't make all the decisions on my own. If you want to buy this golden jade, that's fine, but the price... it'll probably have to be significantly higher than Mr. McBahar's. Otherwise, if I sell it to you at the same price, I won't be able to explain it to the government official here, let alone Mr. McBahar, will I? Sigh... actually, I brought you here today just to see the wonders of this jade, but I didn't intend to actually sell it to you... this... this... sigh... Mr. Zhou, please come here for a moment, let's talk in private..."
Seeing so many people watching him, Xu Zhengguang hesitated to speak, so he handed the oil lamp to A'er and beckoned to Zhou Ziwei to follow him to a corner to talk.
Seeing this, Zhou Ziwei shook his head slightly and said, "Mr. Xu, please feel free to speak your mind. Everyone here is my good brother, good friend, and good elder. Moreover, they are not gossipy people. As long as Mr. Xu doesn't want others to know what he said... I can guarantee that Mr. Xu's words will never reach the ears of anyone other than those in the room."
Zhou Ziwei's words were straightforward and showed his complete trust in everyone present, making everyone feel quite comfortable.
Especially the Yelü brothers, who originally only wanted to learn some skills from Zhou Ziwei, and had no intention of starting a business and conquering the world with him, felt a sense of being recognized and appreciated when they heard Zhou Ziwei's words of trust in them.
Xu Zhengguang was initially somewhat hesitant, but seeing Zhou Ziwei's words, he could no longer hide anything and had to frankly say, "Alright! Since Mr. Zhou says so, then I will tell you the truth! This thing is indeed a rather magical object, but... to be honest, when this thing was first mined, its size was at least half again as large as it is now, and now, in just over two months, this golden jade has already melted down to its current size."
Every time it is exposed to light, the jade will quickly spontaneously combust, and each time it spontaneously combusts, a significant amount of it will immediately melt away. Even though we hide it deep inside this stone box, preventing it from seeing any light source, we have found that over time, it will still gradually melt away, although the rate of melting is relatively slow.
In my estimation, if this jadeite is kept hidden in the stone box like this, it will probably naturally dissolve and disappear in twenty or thirty years. And if it is frequently opened to look at during this time... then it will probably turn to ash in no time... Hehe... I don't know what you want to do with this thing, Mr. Zhou, but if you just like its strangeness and intend to collect it and play with it from time to time, then I advise you to give up this idea!
Otherwise, if I let you spend an exorbitant price to buy it back, only to have it remain hidden deep inside the stone box, afraid to even take it out and look at it, wouldn't it be the same as not buying it at all? And if you were willing to take it out and play with it, I'm afraid that after playing with it a few times, this priceless treasure would be worn out... This... I really think it's not worth it... Hehe... I, Xu Zhengguang, also want to make more money, but... you are a friend of my teacher Gu, and I don't want you to waste your money like this.”
Hearing Xu Zhengguang speak so frankly, Zhou Ziwei was quite surprised. As the saying goes, merchants pursue profit, but he did not expect that Xu Zhengguang would have some sense of morality and would refuse his bid to buy this rare treasure because of Gu Dongfeng's face.
However, Zhou Ziwei then realized that Xu Zhengguang was probably saying this because the golden jade had already been reserved for that collector named Michael Bach, and it was not easy to resell it to someone else now. If no one had made an offer to buy it first, he probably would not have been so honest.
However, on the other hand, since Xu Zhengguang was not honest with that collector, but told him the truth, there must be some affection involved, and Zhou Ziwei naturally wouldn't be ungrateful.
Thinking of this, Zhou Ziwei nodded slightly, examined the golden jade in his hand again, and then said resolutely, "I understand what Mr. Xu means, but... I really like this jade. Hmm... Since that Mike Bach offered fifty million US dollars, I'll offer sixty million! I wonder... if Mr. Xu would be willing to part with it?"
Xu Zhengguang was stunned when he heard this... He didn't know if this young man had something wrong with his head... He had already clearly told him that this piece of jade could not withstand being handled. Every time it was taken out and exposed to a little light, it would quickly self-destruct. It was so delicate that it could not even be touched or looked at... What use would it be to collect such a thing?
However, Xu Zhengguang was suddenly stunned... It seemed that the golden jade had been under the light of the oil lamp for quite some time. According to the usual practice, the jade should have absorbed enough light and started to burn on its own by now... Even if it hadn't burned, the jade would definitely be as hot as a burning coal. How... how could this Mr. Zhou be able to hold the golden jade as if nothing had happened?
Strange... This is really too strange.
Xu Zhengguang was filled with doubt and couldn't help but slowly walk towards Zhou Ziwei. However, before he could reach him, Zhou Ziwei had already gently placed the jade back into the open stone box.
Xu Zhengguang couldn't help but glance at Zhou Ziwei's hands. Seeing that Zhou Ziwei's hands were still clean and white, without any trace of burning, he was greatly surprised, thinking to himself: Could it be that the properties of this jade have changed, and it can no longer generate heat and spontaneously combust? If that's the case… I wonder if the value of this thing will be severely reduced…
Volume 2, The Killer's Nightmare, Chapter 314: The Strange Stone
The thought that the golden jade might lose its original characteristics made Xu Zhengguang feel a sense of panic. He knew that the reason why McBahar was willing to pay fifty million US dollars for this piece of golden jade was not because it was a rare piece of golden jade, but simply because it would absorb heat and spontaneously combust when exposed to light. If it did not have this characteristic... then McBahar might not even be willing to pay five million US dollars.
Although Zhou Ziwei had promised to buy the golden jade for 60 million US dollars, Xu Zhengguang instinctively didn't want the people brought by Gu Dongfeng to be taken advantage of. In his opinion, no matter how rare the thing was, it would disappear if left for a few months. Even if it was sold to him for 500 US dollars, he wouldn't want it.
But now... if this piece of golden jade really loses its magical light-absorbing and self-igniting properties, then... let's just sell it to this sucker!
Anxious to confirm whether the golden jade still possessed its original properties, Xu Zhengguang immediately reached into the stone box and grabbed the glittering, jade-like object...
"Ah..." A cry of surprise rang out as Xu Zhengguang screamed and released his grip on the golden jade. A burnt smell immediately filled the air...
In the end, Xu Zhengguang sold the unusual golden jadeite he had dug out of the mine to Zhou Ziwei for a staggering $60 million. Xu Zhengguang had originally intended to give Zhou Ziwei the stone box that had been specially made to preserve the jadeite as well, but Zhou Ziwei didn't want it at all. Although he could tell that the stone box wasn't made of ordinary stone and that it was made of a rare mineral, Zhou Ziwei thought it was too bulky. It would be too much trouble for him to carry such a heavy thing all the way back to China. No matter how valuable the box was, it wasn't as valuable as the jadeite itself. Zhou Ziwei decided to leave more space in his car to store the jadeite rough.
The golden jade that Xu Zhengguang thought should never be exposed to sunlight was brazenly held in Zhou Ziwei's hand and played with constantly. To Xu Zhengguang's astonishment, the golden jade that had almost burned his hand to a crisp seemed to have lost all its special characteristics in Zhou Ziwei's hands. It looked no different from an ordinary piece of jade, and no matter how much Zhou Ziwei exposed it to the sun, it showed no signs of heating up or spontaneous combustion.
This puzzled Xu Zhengguang greatly. After asking a few questions, Zhou Ziwei always looked blank, as if he had no idea what was going on.
Xu Zhengguang knew, of course, that Zhou Ziwei was just pretending, but since Zhou Ziwei was unwilling to talk about it, he didn't press him further.
Anyway, the 60 million US dollars had already been transferred to his account via phone, so even if the golden jade turned into an ordinary stone again, it would have nothing to do with him anymore, and he couldn't be bothered to worry about it anymore.
This single piece of golden jade cost Zhou Ziwei 60 million US dollars, which meant that his plan to invest 1 billion US dollars on this trip had been cut short by almost half of his budget. Moreover, Zhou Ziwei couldn't find many jadeite rough stones that Xu Zhengguang could appreciate, and after taking those three piles of first-grade rough stones, he didn't spend any more money to buy any other rough stones.
However... Zhou Ziwei was extremely interested in the mountain of stones piled up not far from the mine pit.
Gu Dongfeng originally meant that if Zhou Ziwei couldn't find the jadeite rough he wanted here, he could go and take a look at the other six mines nearby. Although none of the mines nearby were as large as Xu Zhengguang's, they were still possible to find good jadeite.
However, Zhou Ziwei wasn't too concerned about this. In his opinion, obtaining the golden jadeite had already made the trip worthwhile.
Zhou Ziwei never imagined that his impulsive trip to Myanmar would lead him to such a treasure.
For Zhou Ziwei, this thing was practically a charger that could provide him with a constant stream of fresh energy...
Golden jade does indeed have a magical function of absorbing light and converting energy. When Zhou Ziwei saw this thing in the warehouse, he couldn't help but feel a sense of mystery.
When he reached out and touched the golden jade, he was also burned by the scorching heat emanating from it. However, just as Zhou Ziwei was about to withdraw his hand, he unexpectedly felt a stirring within his soul power. Then, with a thought, he released a surge of soul power that completely enveloped the golden jade. Instantly... just like drawing the soul power of two souls from a bullet, he was able to draw an inexhaustible supply of energy from the golden jade.
However, in his perception, what he absorbed from this golden jade was not soul power, but a kind of pure energy that seemed to have no attributes. This pure energy seemed to have the characteristic of being able to merge into all energies. As long as it was carried into his soul power by his soul power, it would be easily transformed and assimilated into orange soul power. Basically, it was no different from the misty soul power that originally floated in his sea of souls. It was not as troublesome as absorbing the two souls in the bullet and having to constantly use the Six-Syllable Mantra to refine them.
Zhou Ziwei didn't quite understand what the energy in the golden jade was all about, but as long as it was useful to him and could provide him with benefits, that was fine with him.
With this piece of golden jade, Zhou Ziwei believed that his soul power would soon become increasingly dense. The speed at which such extremely pure soul power could be refined into liquid would also increase exponentially. Zhou Ziwei believed that with this piece of golden jade, it would not be difficult for his soul power to break through the 100,000 mark in about ten days.
Zhou Ziwei was initially a little uneasy about how to capture the chip in his brain, but now that he had this trump card, his confidence had increased considerably.
In his view, the chip's precision was such that even with ten thousand units of soul power, the chances of success in capturing it were not high. Since the Black Market Assassin Network wasn't threatening him at the moment, he had every opportunity to quickly accumulate his strength during this period. When he was absolutely certain of his success, he could defuse this ticking time bomb in his brain in one fell swoop, and then he would have no worries about the future.
Of course... although Zhou Ziwei was very satisfied with obtaining the golden jade this time, he would not let the eleven off-road vehicles he brought go back empty.
Besides the three piles of jadeite rough stones he had his eye on in the first-grade rough stone warehouse that filled two trucks, Zhou Ziwei planned to fill the remaining eight trucks with stones he had dug out of the stone mountain. After all, those stones were free, so why not take them?
For others, even if you hauled away a hundred truckloads of stones from that rocky mountain, it would be difficult to find even one stone with jade. But Zhou Ziwei, with his supernatural abilities, only managed to load eight truckloads. Under his soul power scan, it would be difficult to find even one stone without jade.
However, since these stones didn't cost any money, Zhou Ziwei didn't care about their quality. With a sweep of his soul power, if he could see even a hint of green inside, he would dig them out and throw them aside, and the miners would come up and help load them onto the truck.
This mountain of stones is simply enormous. Since mining began sixteen or seventeen years ago, the accumulation has been considerable. Although it's no exaggeration to say that only one in ten thousand stones contains jade, the sheer number of stones is overwhelming. So, even after filling all eight remaining trucks, Zhou Ziwei had only managed to pick out a small portion of the jadeite rough stones. As for the inside of the mountain... Zhou Ziwei even spotted a top-quality piece of glass-type jadeite using his soul power. However... that rough stone was buried far too deep. Unearthing it would be a tremendous undertaking.
Although Xu Zhengguang had said that he could choose whatever he wanted, even if he had to turn the whole Stone Mountain upside down, Zhou Ziwei couldn't make it too obvious.
Of course... that's also because the piece of glass-type jade was a bit small, only about the size of two fists. Although it was worth a lot of money, it wasn't enough to make the wealthy and powerful Boss Zhou envious.
Yelü brothers, A'da and A'er, and others had nothing to say about Zhou Ziwei's actions. They didn't understand the jade gambling business at all, and they didn't even understand why Zhou Ziwei had spent tens of millions to buy so many piles of broken stones.
After all, while buying golden jadeite costs more, it's still a very appealing piece of jadeite, clearly a valuable treasure. As for raw jadeite... in their eyes, unless they can see the jadeite inside, it's no different from a roadside stone.
Spending so much money gambling on whether there is jade inside the stones... isn't that insane? So, when they saw that Zhou Ziwei had spent tens of millions on two truckloads of stones, but the next eight truckloads didn't cost a penny, they were naturally very supportive. They even wanted to persuade Zhou Ziwei to simply return the two truckloads of first-grade raw stones. After all, there are plenty of stones that don't cost money, so why worry about not filling the truck?