Force Field Space – At this moment, Zhou Ziwei directly transformed all the space within a radius of sixty meters into his force field space.
If Zhou Ziwei is like an omniscient and omnipotent god within the scope of his soul, then within the force field space, as long as he has enough energy to consume, he will be like a creator god who creates the world.
Under these circumstances, the power of Zhou Ziwei's soul consciousness was amplified infinitely. At that moment, with a shout in his heart, all eighty-two missiles that had begun to fall to the ground at high speed suddenly stopped abruptly in mid-air.
Hundreds of people witnessed this horrifying moment. They watched as a dense array of missiles flew to within fifty meters of the ground and then abruptly stopped.
It's like watching a DVD and someone suddenly presses the pause button on the remote, freezing the scene that's unfolding in an instant.
This bizarre scene left everyone below speechless, forgetting to think and breathe. Thousands of people, all looking up at the god-like man standing in the air, their eyes filled with nothing but shock and boundless worship.
Seemingly sensing the gazes of the crowd below, Zhou Ziwei glanced down slightly, then a faint smile appeared on his lips. Suddenly, he raised his hand and waved it lightly, a powerful syllable bursting from his throat—"out."
As Zhou Ziwei shouted "Go!", all eighty-two missiles instantly spun 180 degrees like a school of startled fish, then turned back towards the direction they had come from, flying away at an even faster and stronger speed. In the blink of an eye, they completely disappeared from everyone's sight...
"Boom—" A few seconds later, a deafening roar echoed through the mountains and forests. The people, still in a daze, felt the ground beneath their feet shake violently. As far as they could see, a huge mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke suddenly rose into the sky.
"Hoo—" Zhou Ziwei endured the excruciating pain that seemed to rage through every nerve in his body, and tried his best to retract the liquid soul power that had been released outside his body back into his sea of souls. Then, stepping on the small force field space he had been in before, he floated back to the ground.
As for the enormous force field space with a radius of sixty meters, it collapsed the moment Zhou Ziwei deflected the eighty-two missiles back with all his might. The moment the force field space collapsed, it dealt a severe blow to Zhou Ziwei's body, making him feel as if he had been evenly smashed all over with a huge hammer.
Fortunately, Zhou Ziwei had been in the intense pain caused by the liquid soul power controlling his body for so long that he had become somewhat numb. Therefore, although the pain suddenly increased this time, Zhou Ziwei managed to endure it.
Otherwise, if it were before, the sudden experience of such terrifying pain would have likely caused him to lose consciousness immediately and fall from the sky. Before his feet even touched the ground, Zhou Ziwei quickly drew all the liquid soul power in his body back into his sea of souls, allowing the few remaining misty soul powers floating in the sea of souls to take over his body again.
Otherwise, the recoil from the fall from that height would cause his legs to ache terribly once again.
Damn... that's really perverted...
With the crisis averted and Zhou Ziwei back on the ground, he quickly focused his consciousness on his sea of souls, taking stock of his energy expenditure. He couldn't help but gasp in shock.
The liquid soul power that had accumulated into a pool of water was reduced by twenty-two drops in just a short moment.
Twenty-two drops of liquid soul power is equivalent to twenty-two thousand remnant soul energy... Before coming to Myanmar, twenty thousand soul power was an astronomical number that was simply unattainable for Zhou Ziwei. But now, a casual consumption of such a large amount of power truly made Zhou Ziwei feel like crying.
Fortunately, Zhou Ziwei soon sensed an increasingly intense, unique energy, formed from joy and worship, flowing into his body like a tidal wave through the Heart of Flame in his hand, and rapidly transforming into a vibrant soul force.
Like a wisp of mist, it gently enveloped the sea of his soul.
Zhou Ziwei took a deep breath, looking at the pairs of eyes filled with excitement and awe before him. He smiled faintly, then pulled Liu Xiaofei, who also showed him awe, into his arms. He then gave a wry smile and said to the Yelü brothers and others, whose eyes were particularly fervent, "Please don't look at me like that, okay? I can tell you very clearly... I only like my Xiaofei, and I have absolutely no interest in you. So... please don't have any improper thoughts about me."
Zhou Ziwei's not-so-cold joke instantly brought him a little closer to the group. Yelü Huage was the first to suppress the fear rising from his heart, and suddenly jumped out, bowing deeply to Zhou Ziwei: "Master... I also want to be an immortal, please... accept me as your disciple! I also want to learn to fly... Master..."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziwei immediately broke out in a cold sweat. Looking helplessly at the pairs of equally eager eyes beside him, he sighed, not immediately responding to Yelü Huage's plea. Instead, he gently shook his head, then turned and walked towards the jeep he had been driving for the past two days, his arm around Liu Xiaofei. At the same time, a faint voice rang out: "It's not that I'm unwilling to accept you, it's just that none of you possess spiritual roots… Alas… it's just too difficult to accept a successor with even a little spiritual root…"
After what just happened, Zhou Ziwei knew that no matter how he explained that he was not a god and did not know magic, no one would believe him.
So Zhou Ziwei was too lazy to explain these things to these people. Moreover... strictly speaking, since Zhou Ziwei could keep his soul intact after death, could be reborn in other people's bodies, and could also master the strange yet incredibly wonderful power of the soul, then... it could be said that he was not much different from the legendary immortals. So even if he called himself an immortal, it wouldn't be much of a lie.
However, although Zhou Ziwei's own abilities are quite strong now, the problem is that he cannot pass on these abilities to others. Helpless, he had no choice but to come up with this excuse to cut off the hopes of everyone present.
With fantasy novels dominating the internet, Zhou Ziwei had seen them before, so the excuse of not having spiritual roots came out naturally to him. His tone was filled with a deep sense of loss, as if he desperately wanted to find a successor, but after searching for a long time, all he had encountered were mortals, which greatly disappointed him.
What followed was truly troublesome. The first leader of the group to surrender, Aji, displayed an even more fanatical devotion than Yelü Huage. He insisted on becoming Zhou Ziwei's disciple, even when Zhou Ziwei used the golden excuse that he lacked spiritual roots to refuse. Aji remained undeterred, determined to follow Zhou Ziwei, even if it meant becoming a servant or slave. He was determined to stay by Zhou Ziwei's side at all times. If Zhou Ziwei refused, he even considered castrating himself to become a eunuch so that he could serve Zhou Ziwei in the future.
The remaining hundreds of surviving militants reacted similarly to Aki, but they lacked Aki's resolute will and thick skin.
But now that they have publicly surrendered to Zhou Ziwei, they can no longer return to General Bamo's side. Moreover, they are all criminals that the government army is after, so if Zhou Ziwei refuses to take them in, they will have nowhere to go.
Zhou Ziwei was troubled for a moment, then remembered that he also held the title of Vice President of the Asia-Pacific region of a black market assassin network, and was a lone, top-tier assassin named Reincarnation. Since these people wanted to follow him, he might as well let them form an international mercenary group. When they were free, they could quietly do some small business abroad. If any problems arose that couldn't be solved by normal means... Zhou Ziwei could use these people to solve some problems abroad.
However, Myanmar is a bit isolated, so Zhou Ziwei plans to buy an undeveloped island in the Philippines after some time and establish an overseas base there that is entirely his own. This would make things easier.
Zhou Ziwei immediately called over Aji and another surrendered regimental commander, and shared his thoughts with them.
Of course... Zhou Ziwei had no intention of forcing them. If they were willing, Zhou Ziwei would be responsible for providing the funds and resources for the establishment of the mercenary group, and could also provide them with some professional training so that the team's combat strength could be rapidly enhanced in a short period of time.
If they are unwilling, they can disband on the spot. Whether they want to join another local armed force or go back to their hometowns to be law-abiding citizens is up to each individual's choice.
However, Zhou Ziwei required them to do one thing: whether they stayed or left, they must not reveal what they had seen that day to anyone else.
If someone were to leak Zhou Ziwei's secret... Zhou Ziwei didn't say what he would do to the person who leaked the secret, but everyone couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts. Thinking of Zhou Ziwei's powerful and terrifying divine might, where a single shout could kill hundreds of people, and a single roar could casually launch nearly a hundred missiles back, who would dare to disobey Zhou Ziwei's will?
Although some people actually had the idea of returning to their hometowns and living as ordinary people again, they were worried that they would become the first suspects if Zhou Ziwei's secret was exposed. So after Aji and the regimental commander questioned them one by one, not a single person objected to Zhou Ziwei's arrangement.
Subsequently, Zhou Ziwei will lead this team of several hundred people across Myanmar back to Tengchong. Then, Aji and his group will hide their weapons near the border before crossing the border in batches and meeting up in the Philippines. At that time, someone will naturally make further arrangements for them.
In the days that followed, due to the rapid expansion of their ranks, no bandit gang dared to provoke them anymore. General Bamo was either blown to bits in the missile explosion or had retreated into hiding after suffering heavy losses, but in any case, he never dared to continue harassing Zhou Ziwei.
However, a sense of unease grew stronger and stronger in Zhou Ziwei's keen senses...
Volume 2 The Assassin's Nightmare Chapter 324 Stone Cutting
Finally back in Tengchong, the group of eleven off-road vehicles and more than a dozen people had all returned safely. No vehicle had been hijacked and no one had been injured or killed. Zhou Ziwei finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He felt he had been a bit too confident, thinking that as long as he was there, everything would be fine. But he never expected that this time he would actually provoke a powerful local armed force, and he was almost blown to smithereens by a barrage of missiles.
If he had known this trip would be so dangerous, he would never have dared to bring Liu Xiaofei and the little princess along. This time, he only gained power because he obtained a magical Heart of Flame, which caused his strength to suddenly increase in a short period of time. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have been able to handle hundreds of missiles with his previous abilities.
However, on the other hand, if it weren't for the Heart of Flame attracting General Bamo's covetousness, Zhou Ziwei would never have suffered such terrible treatment. You know, those hundreds of missiles alone are probably worth tens of millions of US dollars. General Bamo had no grudge against him. If it weren't for the Heart of Flame, why would he be so bored as to pay such a huge price to kill him?
Only the initial dozen or so people returned to Tengchong. As for the more than 600 people, including Aji, who had surrendered from General Bamo, they had already left Myanmar in batches.
Zhou Ziwei had already called Mita Masao. Following the pre-arranged code, Mita Masao naturally understood that it was his newly recognized master's order to immediately send someone to the Philippines to buy a relatively remote island and carry out some basic construction so that Aki and the others could have a place to stay.
To buy a small island and manage a large amount of resources, and to build some buildings on the deserted island, these expenses are naturally considerable. Moreover, unless you have a certain amount of power, even if you are rich, you may not be able to do it.
Fortunately, the Mita family is not only wealthy but also very powerful. At least in Southeast Asia, the word of the Mita family patriarch carries considerable weight.
Many people may not have heard of the Mita family, but the name Mita Group is enough to instill fear in many.
Therefore, with Masao Mita handling this matter, Zhou Ziwei didn't need to worry about anything anymore. After all, Masao Mita was already Zhou Ziwei's servant. Zhou Ziwei had already shown mercy by not killing Masao Mita back then. Such servants were meant to be used. Could he really let him continue to live peacefully at home as Master Mita?
Ten truckloads of jadeite rough stones were transported into the newly built jadeite rough stone exchange. Naturally, security became a priority. Although with Zhou Ziwei in charge in Tengchong, it was estimated that no petty thief would be able to steal a single stone from here.
Zhou Ziwei didn't even need to guard it himself. He could just send out a dozen or so insects to hide in the warehouse, and that would basically take down any petty thief who came, or kill two of them.
However, Zhou Ziwei couldn't stay here watching over these stones forever, so the security issue still needed to be addressed.
Zhou Ziwei originally wanted one of the Yelü brothers to stay here and oversee things, but he figured the two brothers would be reluctant, so he simply didn't say it and put them in a difficult position.
In addition, A-Da is also a good candidate. He was originally quite strong and had also consumed several drops of the Reincarnation Water. In terms of physical strength alone, he is probably no less than Yelü Xiaosu. Moreover, after being brainwashed by Zhou Ziwei, A-Da's mind is relatively simple. He basically only recognizes Zhou. As long as Zhou Ziwei says something, he will do his best to complete it without ever showing any dissatisfaction.
As for the remaining ordinary security guards... Zhou Ziwei had no choice but to have Li Yifeng recruit on the spot while Wu Di helped to transfer some people from his side. Once Li Yifeng had recruited enough people, he would naturally return them. Of course... it would be necessary to send the newly recruited people to Wu Di for training.
In Zhou Ziwei's view, the difference between Wu Di and Mita Masao was enormous. After all, one was a servant and the other was a friend, so their treatment was naturally different.
As the once empty warehouse gradually filled up, Zhou Ziwei suddenly felt a headache coming on.
Since he deals in trading raw jadeite stones, what he sells should naturally be stones with their skin still intact.
In other words, they earn the price difference between buying and selling rough stones, and they generally don't actually participate in gambling on stones themselves.
And only by restraining oneself from participating in jade gambling can one ultimately guarantee a profit without loss.
However, the problem now is that... all the ten truckloads of jadeite rough stones that Zhou Ziwei brought back this time, regardless of whether the jadeite inside was good or bad, basically every single stone contained jadeite inside.
Zhou Ziwei knew perfectly well which stones contained jadeite and what kind of jadeite it was. Therefore, if these rough stones were simply displayed as ordinary rough stones for others to gamble on, it would be easy to suffer losses.
In particular, eight out of Zhou Ziwei's ten truckloads of raw stones were found in the "garbage dump" of Xu Zhengguang's mine.
Since these stones are discarded, it's because, judging from their appearance, these rough stones have virtually no chance of yielding jade. Even jade appraisers would come to this conclusion, so why would anyone else have any doubts?
Therefore, if these jadeite rough stones were auctioned through normal channels, Zhou Ziwei might not even be able to earn enough to cover the cost of gas for the round trip.
Zhou Ziwei clearly knew that each of these rough stones contained jadeite, but he had to pretend he didn't know and gave up on directly extracting the valuable jadeite inside. Yet he insisted on selling the precious jadeite at the price of a rough stone. Isn't that crazy?
So, just as the jadeite rough stone trade fair was about to officially open, Zhou Ziwei resolutely decided to no longer hide his special ability to see through things.
Anyway, before this, the group of more than a dozen people had already witnessed Zhou Ziwei flying through the air and resisting missiles, so there was no point in hiding this little thing from them now.
Since that's the case, what are we waiting for? Let's cut the stone!
After making up his mind, Zhou Ziwei immediately gathered all the people who had gone to Myanmar with him.
The raw stone exchange had already purchased a stone-cutting machine, but... now that they needed to cut thousands of raw stones in a short time, such a machine was obviously not enough. So Zhou Ziwei had people immediately go to the street to buy five stone-cutting machines, and they were all installed in the lobby on the first floor.
Gu Dongfeng finally made it home after a bumpy journey. Before he could rest for long, Zhou Ziwei summoned him again. If it were anyone else, Old Master Gu's beard would probably have stood on end.
However, faced with Zhou Ziwei, a young man as terrifying as a god, Gu Dongfeng simply couldn't muster any anger.
Zhou Ziwei knew that Gu Dongfeng was getting old and probably couldn't handle this kind of work. However, none of these people were very good at stone cutting, and only Old Master Gu knew how to do it. It would be really necessary to call him over.
Upon seeing Gu Dongfeng arrive, although a smile graced his face, a hint of fear and impatience lingered in his eyes. He hurriedly stepped forward, repeatedly apologizing, and then, without further ado, pressed the old man down onto the sofa. He massaged the old man's body, taking the opportunity to infuse strands of his soul power into the old man's various organs. Instantly, the old man's vitality greatly increased, and his fatigue naturally vanished.
Seeing that Gu Dongfeng's expression and energy had improved considerably, Zhou Ziwei explained his intentions to Gu Dongfeng, asking him to act as an advisor and guide the group of people present in simultaneously cutting stones on several machines. The goal was to cut all the rough stones they had bought in Myanmar in three days. Since they were attending the jadeite rough stone trading conference, they decided not to put up their own rough stones and instead sell the cut jadeite directly.
Upon hearing this, Gu Dongfeng was shocked and tried his best to dissuade Zhou Ziwei, repeatedly warning him that gambling on stones was all about luck. Since Zhou Ziwei had already spent such a large sum of money to buy so many raw stones, there was no need for him to bear the risks of gambling on stones himself.
Although... Gu Dongfeng believed that Zhou Ziwei only bought three sets of first-grade rough stones during his trip to Myanmar, so there probably wouldn't be much profit. The broken stones he later picked up in the rocky mountains probably wouldn't sell at all. But even so, with just those three sets of first-grade jadeite rough stones, recovering the cost shouldn't be a problem. If he was lucky, he might even make a small profit... Of course, this small profit excludes the Heart of Flame that Zhou Ziwei bought for 60 million US dollars.
In short, Gu Dongfeng did not approve of Zhou Ziwei cutting the stone himself, because if he did it, it would no longer be a business, but a pure gamble, and if things went wrong, he would probably lose everything.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziwei couldn't help but smile wryly, and then he could only solemnly say to Gu Dongfeng, "Grandpa Gu, I do have some skills, you should know that, right?"
Gu Dongfeng could only nod slightly upon hearing this, and said, "What you're talking about is hardly a small skill! If what you're talking about is a small skill, then... there's no one else in the world who's truly skilled. However... everyone has their own area of expertise. Although you're very good at other things, gambling on stones is all about luck. Even if you have the ability to fly to the heavens and dive into the earth, when it comes to luck... it's hard to say!"
Zhou Ziwei said somewhat speechlessly, "When did I say I was gambling with my luck?... Um... If I said... every single one of the ten truckloads of rough stones we brought back from the jade mine this time contains jade... would you believe me, Grandpa Gu?"
"Ah... all the rough stones contain emerald, how... how is this possible?"
Gu Dongfeng said somewhat blankly, "Even if all the rough stones you selected this time are first-grade, you can't guarantee that every single one contains jade... Moreover, eight out of these ten truckloads of rough stones were picked up from that rocky mountain. Even if you manage to find a few rough stones with jade among those rotten stones, how could every single one possibly contain jade?"
Zhou Ziwei smiled faintly and said, "It seems that Grandpa Gu still doesn't have much confidence in me... In that case, let's just cut a few pieces open and take a look!"
After saying that, Zhou Ziwei stopped talking nonsense with Gu Dongfeng. Facts are the only standard for testing truth. No matter how well you speak, if there are no facts to support your words, they are just empty words and boasts.
So Zhou Ziwei immediately ordered Ah Da and Ah Er to each bring out a piece of raw stone from the warehouse. He specifically asked them to choose the rotten stones that had been dug out of the rocky mountains. As for the first-grade raw stones that had been bought at a high price, Zhou Ziwei told them not to touch them for the time being.
Zhou Ziwei fixed the two rough stones onto two stone-cutting machines, then gently patted the two pitifully-looking stones. He turned to Gu Dongfeng and said, "Master Gu... although you're not an expert in stone appraisal, you've seen quite a few jadeite rough stones, so you must have some experience. What do you think... is there any jadeite inside these two rough stones?"
"These two pieces..." Upon seeing this, Gu Dongfeng quickly took out a magnifying glass, walked closer, and carefully examined both rough stones. Then he gently shook his head and said, "These two stones don't even have a trace of green veins or moss. If it weren't for the slight patterns that can be seen on the outer skin, they would probably be no different from ordinary stones. Hehe... No matter which expert looks at these rough stones, they probably wouldn't believe that jadeite can actually be extracted from them."
Zhou Ziwei squinted and glanced at the two rough stones, then chuckled and said, "Then I have to say... Mr. Gu, you've probably misjudged this time. In my opinion... the one on the left could yield a palm-sized piece of red jade, while the one on the right... the jade inside is quite large, but it's just ordinary bean-green jade, probably not worth much money."
When Gu Dongfeng heard Zhou Ziwei say that both rough stones contained jadeite, and even describe the color and size of the jadeite in detail, he couldn't help but shake his head slightly, genuinely not believing it.
Zhou Ziwei didn't waste any more words. He immediately started the stone-cutting machine on the left, turned on the electric grinding wheel, slightly adjusted the position of the rough stone, and then made a sharp cut, cutting it almost directly from the center of the stone.
Although Gu Dongfeng firmly believed that there could be no jade in this rough stone, he was still surprised to see Zhou Ziwei make such a rash cut, which made his old eyebrows twitch.
Where in the world is there a stone that's cut straight down the middle? If there really isn't any jade inside, that's fine, but if there is, cutting it like that would just ruin it...
With a "click," the electric grinding wheel slid down from top to bottom without hesitation, splitting the rough stone, which was about the size of a pot lid in diameter, into two halves, which were then laid out on either side of the stone-cutting machine.