1: Chapter 1 Losing Both Money and People

The photo on the phone screen was like a knife.

On a beach in the Maldives, Lin Wanqing held a man's arm, smiling brilliantly. The caption read: "Thank you, hubby, for taking me on vacation. Love you! ♦"

Li Xin stared straight at the photo, his teeth clenched so hard they made a grinding sound, his fingers squeezing the phone case until it creaked.

The man in the photo was someone he knew all too well—Wang Ming. He drove a Porsche, lived in One Shenzhen Bay, and his father was a powerful real estate developer in Shenzhen.

And what about him, Li Xin? He was just an orphan, a construction worker who moved bricks. He had scrimped and saved for six years to accumulate a 680,000-yuan down payment, and borrowed another 280,000 yuan for the bride price, giving it all to this woman.

The house was registered in her name. The money was transferred to her mother.

And then, she ran off on vacation with another man.

The phone vibrated, and a message from Lin Wanqing popped up: "Li Xin, I'm sorry. Let's break up. Wang Ming can give me things you can't. If I stay with you, I'll just turn into a haggard housewife, which is terrifying to even think about. I'll leave the house to you, but forget about the bride price. After all, I stayed with you for two years, so consider that compensation for wasting my youth. Don't look for me."

Li Xin stared at the message, feeling as if he had been struck by a bolt from the blue. His throat felt like it was choked up.

He didn't reply for a long time. He didn't even know how to reply. No wonder she had been so impatient with him lately, constantly finding fault and losing her temper over the slightest things. He had thought he just wasn't doing well enough. Now he knew the reason. It turned out she had someone else in her heart.

To give her a better future and life, he had worked himself to the bone. Even when working over ten hours a day, he had been happy to do so and never felt tired. She was the source of his motivation. But now, his hope was gone, and so was his motivation. She had left, taking his bride price with her, and thrown herself into another man's arms.

Thinking of all the little moments of their past, Li Xin's tears fell uncontrollably. Did he hate her? To be honest, he couldn't bring himself to hate her. After all, they had loved each other. He only hated his own lack of ability. It was just... his heart ached terribly.

He searched the entire rented apartment and found a bottle of baijiu tucked away in the deepest corner of a kitchen cabinet, though he had no idea how long it had been there. The label was worn and faded, and he didn't even bother to check the brand.

He unscrewed the cap, tilted his head back, and took a huge gulp.

The burning liquid scorched his throat, and his stomach churned. He took another gulp, then another, and another...

Gradually, the ceiling began to spin, the floor began to spin, everything was spinning. He collapsed to the ground, and his vision slowly blurred.

In his final moments of consciousness, he seemed to hear a voice. It sounded as if it came from far away, yet also seemed to explode directly inside his mind—

"Weak vital signs detected in host... Initiating emergency binding procedure..."

Then, everything went black.

---

The alarm clock beeped... and beeped... and beeped. Drowsily, Li Xin reached out, wanting to turn off the annoying alarm. He fumbled a few times but couldn't find the clock, instead touching a phone. He picked it up, looked at it, and froze completely.

A wave of familiarity washed over him. Why did this look a bit like the Mi 4 he used ten years ago?

Huh? He sat up abruptly.

He looked around. Where was he? Why wasn't this his familiar rented apartment?

Posters of gorgeous female celebrities were plastered on the walls, with smelly socks and instant noodle cups piled up together. Six bunk beds... Was this a college dorm?

No, wait... Suddenly—

Memories flooded into his brain like a bursting dam. There was the version of him who carried bricks on construction sites, got abandoned, and collapsed from drinking; and there was also the version of him who grew up in an orphanage and barely managed to get into this third-rate junior college through subsidies and student loans.

He looked down at his hands. His knuckles were defined, his skin was smooth, and there was no longer any trace of roughness.

He picked up the phone and checked it.

November 3, 2016.

"Holy shit..." he muttered in a raspy voice.

He felt the top bunk sway as a round face peered down: "Li Xin, what are you dazing out for? Hurry up and wash up, Old Wang is taking attendance in class!"

This guy was Luo Maifa, Li Xin's best friend. The current him looked much more youthful than in his memories, and the few pimples on his chin were particularly eye-catching.

Li Xin ignored him. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Suddenly, a translucent screen appeared out of thin air before Li Xin's eyes.

[Gold Search and Refining System]

[Host: Li Xin]

[Current Level: Level 1]

[Detection Range: 50 meters]

[Cumulative Refined Gold: 0 kg]

[Portable Space: 10,000 cubic meters]

[First-time Use Rewards Distributed: Immunity to All Poisons / Martial Arts / Languages / Medical Skills / Mastery of Disguise]

Staring at the screen, Li Xin's pupils contracted sharply.

"Hahaha!" Li Xin laughed out loud, but immediately remembering there was someone else around, he forced himself to hold it back.

Li Xin trembled with excitement, thinking to himself: "I actually have a system that can refine gold. Heaven has finally smiled upon me. Now I have a golden finger too. Calm down, calm down, hahaha... Why can't I seem to hold it in!"

In his past life, he had been ground deep into the mud by life. In this life, God had finally taken pity on him and opened up a golden window of opportunity.

He stood up and walked to the cracked mirror in the corner of the dorm. The person in the mirror was somewhat thin and slightly tanned, but his eyes were clear and bright, burning with a fire.

Luo Maifa leaned over, looking at him suspiciously: "Are you okay? You're smiling like a total idiot."

"I'm fine." Li Xin slung his backpack over his shoulder, his voice carrying a calm confidence that Luo Maifa had never heard before. "Let's go, time for class."

---

Li Xin didn't absorb a single word of the morning classes.

He studied the system over and over, wanting to engrave every single function into his mind.

[Gold Search and Refining System]

Its primary function was searching for gold, currently capable of scanning for gold within a 50-meter radius.

It came with a 10,000-cubic-meter space where time stood still. Items placed inside would not spoil, and no security checks, customs, or instruments could detect them.

It could also directly extract gold ore from gold veins and refine it into pure gold without requiring any equipment.

It had directly granted Li Xin mastery in four skills: Martial Arts, Languages, Medical Skills, and disguise. They were poured straight into his brain, as if engraved into his muscle memory.

He tried moving his body and noticed that his muscle definition had visibly changed. Though he was still thin, every muscle felt as if it had been reforged—firm, strong, and packed with explosive power.

Time ticked away, and by the time the class bell rang, he had formed his first plan.

In his past life on the construction site, a coworker had once bragged that there was an abandoned gold mine in the mountainous region north of Shenzhen. It had been mined in the seventies and eighties but was eventually shut down when no more gold could be dug up. However, there were bound to be unmined gold ores left behind, which were now completely neglected.

At the time, he had forgotten about it right after hearing it. What could a bricklayer do even if he knew where a gold mine was?

Things were different now.

He pulled out his phone and looked up a number: Uncle Wang. He had met him on a construction site during a work-study program. Uncle Wang drove a minivan for transport, was an honest man, and had treated Li Xin very well.

He dialed the number.

"Uncle Wang, could I rent your car for a day tomorrow?"

"Where are you going?"

"To the northern mountainous region."

"The northern mountainous region? What are you going there for?"

"To pick up some rocks."

There was a brief silence on the other end: "Alright, see you at the school gate at eight tomorrow morning."

Hanging up the phone, Li Xin leaned back in his chair, his lips slowly curling into a smile.

With the system in hand and the abandoned gold mine in sight.

In his past life, he had been ground into the mud. In this life, he was going to dig a path out from deep underground.

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