Night of the Apocalypse

“There are seats and tea over there. Please wait a moment while I take this for appraisal,” the young man said as he took the ring and walked toward the back.

Shen Qiu and Huang Lang sat down to wait. Huang Lang, feeling confident, casually hummed a tune as if he was sure of the outcome.

Shen Qiu remained silent, simply waiting patiently.

About twenty minutes later, the young man returned with the ring in hand, his expression somewhat peculiar.

“Well? Is it as good as I said?” Huang Lang asked directly.

“Sir, after our appraisal, we found that the material of this item is unidentified. We’ve never seen anything like it before,” the young man replied after clearing his throat.

“Don’t worry about the unidentified material. This is a rare, pure, natural gemstone—an absolute treasure. It’s got to be worth at least 1 million!” Huang Lang, with his thick skin, boldly suggested an exorbitant price.

The young man’s expression froze for a moment before he responded.

“Sir, you’re quite the joker. To put it bluntly, this is just a synthetic stone. No matter how rare it is, if no one recognizes its value, it’s worthless,” the young man said.

“Then how much do you think it’s worth?” Huang Lang asked.

“Honestly, I’d say it’s worth 200 bucks. But since the ring is pretty, I’ll make an exception and offer 2,000. Any more, and I can’t, especially given the chaotic times. It’s hard to sell anything,” the young man responded.

“Ridiculous. Forget it, not selling,” Huang Lang said as he took the ring back and walked out.

Shen Qiu followed suit.

The young man, watching them leave, didn’t try to stop them. He muttered under his breath, “Treating junk like it’s a treasure.”

Outside the shop, Huang Lang smiled at Shen Qiu and said, “Well, what do you think? Didn’t I tell you? Or do you want to try more places?”

“No need. You win,” Shen Qiu admitted readily.

Huang Lang, hearing Shen Qiu’s admission, walked to his car, opened the front trunk, and took out a briefcase. He swiftly unlocked it, grabbed 100,000 and tossed it to Shen Qiu, saying, “Here’s 100,000. Now you see I wasn’t ripping you off, right?”

“Since you’ve proven reliable, I’ll show you something good,” Shen Qiu replied.

Shen Qiu’s eyes flickered as he spoke to Huang Lang.

Huang Lang’s smile gradually faded, replaced by a hint of anger. He spoke with displeasure, “Are you testing me? After all the years of friendship we’ve had, you still don’t trust me? That’s too much!”

“Cut the nonsense. Are you going to look or not? If not, forget it,” Shen Qiu asked casually.

Huang Lang’s expression made a quick 180-degree turn, and he flashed a bright smile. Rubbing his hands together, he said, “Of course I’ll look!”

“Get in the car, we’re heading to my place,” Shen Qiu said, hands in his pockets, walking toward the passenger seat.

“No problem,” Huang Lang quickly got into the car.

The car soon started, heading towards Shen Qiu’s home. Inside, Huang Lang, unable to contain his curiosity, asked eagerly, “Brother, what are you going to show me?”

“You’ll find out when we get there,” Shen Qiu replied calmly, opening the window and letting the breeze in.

“Come on, you know I’m a reliable guy. Have I ever screwed you over? No need to test me next time, it hurts our relationship!”

“Stop it. You’ve tricked me plenty of times.”

“Hold on now, that wasn’t tricking. It’s called paying for information and knowledge, and that profit was well-deserved!”

Huang Lang was starting to get anxious.

“Alright, I got it,” Shen Qiu replied lazily.

A few hours later, Shen Qiu brought Huang Lang back to his house. Huang Lang, glancing around curiously, asked, “Where’s the stuff?”

“What’s the rush? It’s here,” Shen Qiu said as he took a gray triangular module out of his pocket and handed it to Huang Lang.

The moment Huang Lang saw the triangular module, he reacted as if he’d been shocked, immediately grabbing it and examining it closely. Shen Qiu, noticing Huang Lang’s reaction, narrowed his eyes. This guy clearly recognized what it was.

“500,000. I’ll take it,” Huang Lang said, eyes gleaming.

“Not for sale,” Shen Qiu flatly refused.

“1 million,” Huang Lang immediately increased the offer.

“Not for sale!”

“2 million! Come on, man! That’s an insane price. No one would offer more than this,” Huang Lang, now desperate, exclaimed.

“Not for sale!” Shen Qiu reached out and took the triangular module back from Huang Lang’s hand.

Huang Lang was on the verge of panic as he pleaded, “Oh come on, brother! Let’s talk this out. You know how well I’ve treated you, always looking out for you. Just sell it to me, will you?”

“I showed you this because, although you’re greedy, you’ve always been good to me and reliable. But right now, I’m not planning on selling it. I just want to know what this thing is and what it does,” Shen Qiu explained calmly.

“Honestly, I don’t really know what it is either. I just know there are buyers for it. Come on, sell it to me, we can negotiate the price,” Huang Lang replied slyly, unable to resist reaching for the module again.

Slap! Shen Qiu smacked his hand away and said evenly, “Huang Lang, stop beating around the bush. Tell me what you know, or you can forget about getting anything good from me in the future.”

“Alright, alright, let’s talk! I’ll tell you. The Blue Alliance has already researched this. It’s called an Ability Gene Module, extracted from special monsters. These modules come in different qualities. So far, the Blue Alliance has found circular and triangular ones, and tests show that the triangular ones seem to be better. Of course, there could be even better ones. Besides these Ability Gene Modules, there’s another more expensive type called Atomic Modules,” Huang Lang explained hurriedly.

“And how are these modules used? What do they do exactly?” Shen Qiu asked after thinking for a moment.

“Oh, brother, how would I know? That’s top-secret information! Knowing this much is already a big deal for me,” Huang Lang said with a bitter smile.

“Really?”

“I’m really not lying to you. Let me tell you, the guys from the Blue Alliance have gone crazy trying to get their hands on these. They’re offering insanely high prices. You should sell it now while the price is still good! Even though it’s rare, who knows, there might be a large supply of these in the future, and then they won’t be worth much. After all, everything is most valuable when it first comes out.”

“Alright, got it. I’ll think about it,” Shen Qiu replied, not immediately agreeing with Huang Lang, though he had to admit the man wasn’t entirely wrong.

“Don’t think too long, brother. I’m really looking out for you here,” Huang Lang urged, trying to convince him.

After a moment of consideration, Shen Qiu said, “Selling it to you isn’t out of the question, but only if I confirm it’s not useful to me. How about this, give me a few more days to study it.”

“Fine, but don’t take too long. The price changes every day,” Huang Lang, though eager, knew that rushing things wouldn’t help.

“One more thing: if I do decide to sell, you have to take me to meet the buyer. I want to know the actual transaction price. As for your cut, I’ll give you a 10% commission.”

“What? Come on, man, that’s way too little! With our relationship, you’ve got to give me at least 30%,” Huang Lang complained.

“Alright, fine. Since you’ve been pretty good to me, I’ll give you 20%,” Shen Qiu conceded.

“Deal, 20% it is,” Huang Lang agreed quickly, knowing Shen Qiu’s personality. This was as good as it was going to get.