ALL NOVEL Chapter 1 - One Ton of Gold
Chapter 1: One Ton of Gold
“Fang Jian, here you go. This is the complete collection of 2019 stamps you wanted. I just brought them back from China,” Xin You handed over a thick stamp album curiously, asking, “When did you become interested in stamp collecting?”
Fang Jian smiled and replied, “I don’t have much to do here, so I thought of finding some hobbies and interests.”
Xin You nodded and said, “Makes sense. By the way, how’s your target for this year going?”
Fang Jian chuckled and said, “It’s almost completed.”
Xin You envied him and said, “You’re so lucky. I returned to China for a while, delaying my progress. I still need to work hard.”
This place is Mali, a small country in West Africa. The country is famous for its abundant gold reserves and can be considered a major gold-producing nation. However, the people in this country are extremely impoverished, and the situation is chaotic.
Fang Jian and Xin You worked for a state-owned enterprise in their home country and were stationed in Mali to procure gold. Although the country’s laws allowed individuals to mine gold, Fang Jian and his colleagues only dealt with big factories. Each person’s annual purchase quota was at least 100 kilograms.
Don’t assume that all foreigners are honest and upright in Mali… It’s a complex situation.
Fang Jian glanced at the time and left with the stamp album. Back in the dormitory, he locked the door. Their company provided decent benefits, with each employee having a personal room in the dormitory. However, the bathroom and kitchen were shared by three people.
After closing the door, Fang Jian opened the stamp album and took out two stamps. After a moment of thought, he took out two more and carefully put them in his pocket.
He silently recited in his mind.
“Enter.”
Suddenly, Fang Jian’s surroundings changed, and he entered a peculiar space with dimensions of about ten meters in length, width, and height. Since graduating from university, he joined the company and, in a daze, found himself in Mali. He followed his mentor for two years, building connections, and after becoming familiar with everything, he started working independently.
Although his mentor had already returned to their home country, Fang Jian inherited his mentor’s connections and methods, doing quite well here. However, Fang Jian suddenly gained access to a special space a month and a half ago. He could enter this magical space at any time, and after some research, Fang Jian discovered that he could communicate with other people through this space.
At this moment, he arrived at a corner of the space. The front wall instantly cracked open with a gentle push, revealing a large door.
Outside the door was a beautiful starry sky. Although it wasn’t the first time he saw this starry sky, Fang Jian was still captivated by its beauty. Looking at the starry sky could make one forget all their troubles.
Suddenly, Fang Jian saw a star flying towards his space house. Fang Jian immediately focused his mind and became alert. Soon, the space house hovered in front of him, and one side of the wall opened, revealing a familiar face.
That was a middle-aged man, and he greeted me enthusiastically, “Hey, my friend, did you bring what I asked for?”
Fang Jian silently picked up two stamps.
The middle-aged man’s eyes lit up as he narrowed them and murmured, “Marathon, two tickets, issue date: March 31, 2019, on Earth, face value: 1.2 each.”
He looked deeply at Fang Jian and said, “Friend, you’re really something.”
Fang Jian smiled faintly and asked, “And what about what I asked for?”
The middle-aged man stepped aside and pointed behind him. Behind him was a gleaming golden object.
Fang Jian’s heart suddenly beat twice as fast. He was naturally familiar with gold as someone doing a gold procurement business. Although he couldn’t determine just by looking at them, at least from the surface, they appeared to be gold.
“Friend, I want to confirm that you need a metal called gold, with the chemical symbol Au and atomic number 79, right?”
“Yes.”
The middle-aged man frowned slightly and asked, “But why do you need these useless stones? You can print as many of these stones as you want with a black box.”
Fang Jian smiled faintly and replied, “Sorry, that’s a private secret.”
The middle-aged man blinked twice and suddenly laughed, saying, “I understand you don’t have a black box on your side.”
Fang Jian pursed his lips and shook the stamps in his hand.
The middle-aged man quickly apologized, “Sorry, sorry, I apologize. I shouldn’t have asked.”
Fang Jian said coldly, “Good, let’s start the transaction.”
Both parties placed their respective items on the ground. Then, the floor automatically extended and connected to the starry sky.
Subsequently, the goods on the floor were exchanged automatically. After everything was completed, the floor returned to its respective space house. When the floor returned to their respective space houses, they picked up the other person’s goods and began inspecting them.
Fang Jian carefully inspected the gold bars using the knowledge he had gained over the past two years and nodded in satisfaction.
These were gold bars, and unlike regular ones, each weighed one kilogram, equivalent to two market carries. With one thousand bars, it added up to a whopping one ton of gold.
“Hey, my friend,” the man across from him suddenly called out.
Fang Jian looked up, already having decided that if the transaction was completed, he would not agree to any returns.
“Friend, your stamps are genuine, and I’m very pleased,” the middle-aged man paused and said, “Do you have more historical artifacts? Can we continue trading?”
Fang Jian momentarily pondered and said, “I want personal protective equipment. It should be compact in size and strong in defense. Can you provide that?”
“Personal protective equipment?” The middle-aged man frowned slightly and asked, “Which level are you looking for?”
Fang Jian contemplated for a moment and replied, “Give me an introduction.”
“The highest civilian-grade personal, small-scale protective equipment is the Patriot 88 Biochemical Armor…”
Fang Jian raised an eyebrow and asked, “What are its capabilities?”
The middle-aged man smiled bitterly and said, “I don’t have that information. How about I prepare it for you next time?”
“Okay,” Fang Jian said.
“Oh, by the way.”
The middle-aged man slapped his forehead, removed a ring from his finger, and said, “Friend, this is my protective shield. You can use it for now.”