850: Chapter 845 Broken Slag?

Old Xing Tou finally stopped his work. A flash of anger crossed his cloudy eyes, but he was just a craftsman and couldn't contend with these local thugs.

The bullet chat in the livestream was flying by, all of them cursing the old man for being ungrateful.

Shen Yan bent down and picked up the black lump.

It felt very heavy in his hand.

It was at least twice as heavy as pure silver of the same volume.

The surface was extremely rough, even showing a few air bubbles; to anyone, it looked like a piece of industrial waste from a failed smelt.

"Boss, is this for sale?"

Shen Yan's voice cut in abruptly, interrupting President Zhao's tirade.

Everyone in the shop was stunned for a moment.

President Zhao turned his head and sized Shen Yan up.

Looking at Shen Yan's casual clothes, which lacked any conspicuous logos, he let out a disdainful sneer.

"Where did this greenhorn come from? That's a piece of waste slag! Are you trying to buy it to protect your house from evil spirits?"

The influencer girl also pointed her camera at Shen Yan, covering her mouth as she laughed exaggeratedly.

"Look, family, a sucker has arrived. He actually took a fancy to a piece of broken stone."

Old Xing Tou lifted his eyelids, glanced at the object in Shen Yan's hand, and then lowered his head to continue hammering.

"That's ruined waste material. I was planning to throw it away. If you want it, just take it and stop blocking me from my work."

He just wanted to drive these flies away now.

Shen Yan weighed the black lump in his hand, pulled a Bank card from his pocket, and placed it gently on the old man's scratch-covered workbench.

"I don't take advantage of people."

"For this, I'll pay one hundred thousand."

Clang!

The hammer in Old Xing Tou's hand hit his finger, but as if he couldn't feel the pain, he snapped his head up to look at Shen Yan.

President Zhao jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"One hundred thousand?!"

"Are you out of your mind? For this piece of broken furnace slag?"

The livestream instantly exploded.

The bullet chat was filled with words like "shill," "scripted," and "more money than brains."

Chen Guangke tugged on Shen Yan's sleeve from behind and whispered.

"Brother Yan, this thing really doesn't look like a valuable item. You aren't just doing this to help the old man out of a jam, are you?"

Shen Yan ignored the reactions of those around him.

He looked at Old Xing Tou, his gaze as calm as a lake.

"This thing is waste in your hands because your furnace temperature isn't high enough to melt the 'skin' on its exterior."

"But in my hands, it's useful."

Old Xing Tou stared at Shen Yan for a long while. He was a man who had been a silversmith his entire life; although he couldn't see the depth of this young man, he could tell the person wasn't joking.

"Take the card back. The item is a gift to you."

The old man had a stubborn temper.

"I, Old Xing, may be poor, but I don't cheat people. If it's waste material, it's waste material."

Shen Yan smiled. He didn't take back the card, but instead turned to look at President Zhao, who was still sneering.

"Since President Zhao thinks this is trash, why don't we make a bet?"

President Zhao narrowed his eyes. He was also an old hand in the world and instinctively felt something was wrong, but looking at that pitch-black thing, he really couldn't imagine what kind of treasure it could be.

"Bet on what?"

"On whether there is pure silver inside."

Shen Yan pointed to the silver smelting furnace nearby.

"I'll borrow the boss's furnace. If it turns out to be waste slag after firing, I'll lose a million to you."

"If it's something good, you leave that watch on your hand behind and get lost."

Looking at Shen Yan's certain manner, President Zhao felt a bit apprehensive.

But the temptation of a million was too great, and no matter how he looked at it, it was just a piece of over-oxidized waste silver. Even if it were refined, it would be worth a few hundred bucks at most.

"Fine! Everyone heard that, right? This kid wants to give away money, so I won't be polite!"

President Zhao rolled up his sleeves, looking like he was waiting to see a joke.

The influencer was even more excited, thrusting her camera right up to the furnace. She even changed the title to 'Mysterious Tycoon Bets a Million on Waste Stone.'

Shen Yan didn't waste words.

He took off his coat and threw it to Chen Guangke, then rolled up his shirt sleeves, revealing lean, strong forearms.

He didn't throw the black lump directly into the furnace.

Instead, he first picked up the borax nearby and sprinkled a thick layer over the black lump.

Then, he turned up the heat on the acetylene torch.

Blue flames roared out, instantly swallowing the black object.

Old Xing Tou frowned.

"Young man, the fire is too high. The silver will become brittle."

The torch in Shen Yan's hand didn't waver in the slightest.

"Ordinary silver would, but it won't."

Under the high temperature, the impurities on the surface of the black lump began to peel off, emitting bursts of an unpleasant burnt smell.

President Zhao covered his nose, the mockery on his face deepening.

"Oh, are you roasting sweet potatoes? With such a strong smell, it's definitely trash."

However, in the next second, his smile froze on his face.

As the black outer skin fell away, no silver-white liquid flowed out from within.

Instead, it was a pale purple, viscous luster like mercury.

That purple was very eerie; under the licking of the flames, it not only failed to melt but began to throb like it was breathing.

The originally hard solid state, under the extremely high temperature, presented a strange state between liquid and solid.

Old Xing Tou suddenly stood up, knocking over the low stool behind him.

With trembling hands, he took off his reading glasses and stared fixedly at the object in the furnace.

"This... this is..."

"Purple Polished Gold Body, Flowing Cloud Silver Bone."

Shen Yan turned off the torch.

The temperature dropped sharply.

That purple substance didn't solidify into an ordinary silver block; instead, it rapidly contracted, and layers of natural textures like clouds surfaced on its exterior.

It lay quietly on the refractory brick, emitting a cold and noble aura, completely devoid of its previous ugly, black appearance.

The entire shop was deathly silent.

Even Chen Guangke, who didn't know the trade, was stunned.

"Holy crap... this thing can change color?"

Shen Yan picked up the pliers and lifted the metal that had already cooled.

Under natural light, it showed an almost transparent silvery purple, as if nebulae were flowing inside it.

"This isn't ordinary silver."

Shen Yan looked at the dazed Old Xing Tou.

"This is 'cloud pattern flowing silver,' a material used in ancient times to make royal sacrificial vessels. Its conductivity is three times that of gold, and its toughness is twice that of titanium alloy."

"The reason you treated it as waste is because Meteoric Iron was mixed into the formula back then. You thought it was an impurity, but it was actually a catalyst."

In the modern industrial system, this material had a more resonant name—the prototype of a Room-Temperature Superconducting Silver-Based Alloy.

Although it hadn't reached full superconductivity yet, using it as the heat dissipation and conduction medium for the 'asking heaven' core processor could increase efficiency by at least 4%.

This wasn't just a matter of money.

This was strategic material that couldn't be bought even with money.

President Zhao's face turned deathly pale, as if he had swallowed a dead fly.

Although he didn't understand what cloud pattern flowing silver was, he was also in the jewelry business. For something with this kind of appearance, the look alone would command an astronomical price.

"This... this is impossible..."

He muttered to himself.

Shen Yan didn't look at him, but just threw the priceless metal to Chen Guangke.

"Keep it safe."