Treasure Hunt Tycoon

“Open the door and see.”

At the time, the prices of the stones were rising non-stop during the public auction. There had been a number of stones that were sold for billions, but because this was just a market trade and not a public auction, everyone was taking this very seriously. Whether it concerned the buyer, the seller, or the management team, the stones were the axis around which all revolved. There were even experienced professionals there to provide guidance.

Ultimately, it seemed that the jade was encased in the rock. There was no way anyone could gather as much, so this required for a part of the rock to be cut off for further inspection. The grinding machine shortly did that. Pushing that bit aside, the green color of the rock was immediately visible. Someone rinsed the dust off with a jet of water and a luminous green appeared.

The owner of the rock was a middle-aged man in gold-rimmed glasses. He stood by the side, observing the action silently, and moved when the first piece of rock was cut off. Pushing away the flashlight that was illuminating the stone, he frowned. The process was usually done from the top of the rock so that those below could not clearly see what was happening, but seeing the owner frown made them realize something was not right.

The expert they invited to host the proceedings was calm. He patted the owner’s shoulder and murmured reassurances to him before waving his hands about. “I’m going to cut it down the middle!”

“He’s doing it! The cut that draws the line between wealth and poverty!”

“Poverty is a bit of a stretch here. He’s not going to be poor. The rock is enormous, so why is he making such a big cut right from the get-go? Did they see something? It’s not looking too good, is it?”

“It’s definitely bad. If they saw even a hint of green jade they’d have started by sanding it. Why would they be making such a big cut?”

Slowly, the sharp edge of the grinding machine’s blade cut the rock into half right down the middle. The few who were on the stage hurriedly scrambled over to get a closer look. Almost immediately, their eyebrows were furrowed in concern and their faces paled. Li Du inched closer towards them to get a closer look.

There were spots of green in the parts of the rock that were exposed by the cut. On the inside of it, there were quite a few pieces of jade – rather big pieces, too. However, just like the ones he saw through the little bug, the jade was of a low quality. The green patches were not the least bit clear and there was some substance in them that was much like cotton candy or clouds.

Such jade was not worth much. The visible pieces, even though they were big, would not be able to fetch five million. The owner maintained his composure. He patted the rock and nodded, signaling for the polishing master to continue cutting.

Li Du’s heart jumped. This rock was potentially worth a lot!

The polishing master continued with the cutting, skirting around the exposed parts of the rock to slice down the middle. The rock was then split into half and this time there was nothing inside! Not just that – there were cracks in the rock, too, small but numerous. This was bad; it was possible that the jade pieces inside the rock might be cracked as well.

Zhong Dapao shook his head. “This is really bad. There are cracks in the jade. We really wasted a whole night. If it were just the cotton we could have had it dug out or embellished the rock, but there’s no way we could do anything about the cracks.”

The response from the crowd varied. Some gasped, some laughed, and some sighed. The owner heaved a great sigh before walking over with his flashlight. He turned back to shout something. Li Du did not catch a single word, but he figured the language was either Japanese or Korean. The interpreter relayed to the polishing master, “One more cut along this crack.”

With that cut, the left half of the rock split yet again into halves, and each half was split yet again, leaving a total of four slabs. After the water jet rinsed off the dust, the real façade of the rock was exposed. Of the four, two sections appeared to have jade too. The jade pieces looked better this time but they were cracked as well. The series of cracks on the surface of the jade, dense and numerous, was a sore sight.

There was nothing in the other two slabs; it was practically a bust.

The owner could no longer keep his calm at this sight. He stroked the rock forlornly, muttering something unintelligible under his breath as his countenance looked increasingly sad. The elderly expert turned his flashlight to the rock and took another look before he spoke to the owner in hushed tones.

The owner nodded solemnly. The expert then went to speak to the host, who also nodded before grabbing a loudspeaker and announcing something in the local tongue. The crowd became animated upon hearing his words.

“What’s going on?” asked Li Du.

Zhong Dapao sneered, gloating over the tragedy. “It’s likely that Abakar is doomed. They’re auctioning off the cut pieces of the rock according to their quality.”

The business of gambling on rocks like these was an unpredictable one. Unless the rock was already reduced to dust, one could not be sure if there was top-grade jade in it. This was different from other types of gambling common in the casinos.

Now that the rock was cut open, it was obvious that there was no jade with the icy, glassy sheen typical of top-grade material. However, the rock was only cut into a few pieces before the owner put a stop to it. Because the rock was big to begin with, the separate parts were still quite large. Theoretically, any kind of jade could be hidden in those slabs.

In addition, several pieces of the rock had risen in value after the cut. After all, the cut down the middle revealed some green, so although the jade that was exposed was not of the best quality, some people thought the definite presence of jade was enough for them to take the risk.

That said, this was still a risk. The owner relinquished his claim over the stone to put it up for auction, obviously not banking on it to rise in value. What happened next was up to the experience and judgment of the other people.

The equipment powered up and the platform lowered. The people dispersed noisily. According to the rules, everyone was free to look and interested parties could bid. The highest bidder would win. Li Du followed the crowd to peep at the rock before turning to Zhong Dapao. “How much would this big piece cost us?”

“Is it worth buying?” Dapao asked.

Li Du laughed. “No, I’m just asking.”

Zhong Dapao chatted up the owner for a while before angrily ranting, “The audacity of this man!

He’s selling this for 5 million dollars?!”

It appeared that the owner was determined to reimburse himself for the disappointment he had just suffered.

Li Du asked, “He’s not planning on cutting it himself? Is he giving up?”

Zhong Dapao smiled contemptuously. “I told you, the Japanese are unrepentant gambling addicts. If you think about it, they’re level-headed and shrewd when they do business, but they’re also unlikely to take risks.”

Based on the current results, it was likely that a continued cutting would be disastrous. The loss on a rock that was worth five million in its raw state was unimaginable. As such, the owner could not deal with it anymore and decided to cut his losses quick, pawning the risk off to someone else. If he worked the sale well he could actually stand to recoup some of his losses instead.

A rock estimated to be worth tens of thousands was hoisted out and placed in a booth beside the public market. There was an endless stream of people going up to observe it and ask for its price, but it remained unsold for a long period of time. Li Du mulled over it before walking to a rock that dipped in value after it was cut, studying it closely. This rock was comparatively smaller but weighed between ten and twenty kilograms nonetheless. It was a big rock.