16: Chapter 16 Dubai Second Treasure Hunt

Two off-road vehicles drove out of Dubai city, heading southeast along the highway.

Li Xin sat in the passenger seat of the first vehicle, with Chen Hu driving. The car behind carried Zhang Long, Li Bao, Wang Jun, and Zhao Shan.

The scenery outside the window changed from tall buildings to low houses, then from houses to the barren desert. The highway ended and turned into a gravel road; they drove on the gravel road for another half hour until there was no road left.

"Boss, the cars can't go any further," Chen Hu stopped the car and looked at the terrain ahead. "We'll have to walk the rest of the way."

"Then let's get out," Li Xin pushed the car door open, and a wave of heat rushed toward him.

In the June Dubai desert, the surface temperature was at least fifty degrees. The air was dry, like a sauna, but without a hint of moisture. The sun hung in the sky, white and glaring, making it impossible for people to keep their eyes open.

Fortunately, the constant temperature function provided by the System kept his perceived temperature at a comfortable twenty-six or twenty-seven degrees. However, the others were not so lucky.

As soon as Wang Jun got out of the car, he cursed, "Damn (a type of plant), it's way too hot. My sunscreen was a waste."

Zhao Shan didn't speak, but beads of sweat kept rolling down his forehead; Zhang Long adjusted his glasses, his brows furrowed tightly; Li Bao still had that cold expression, but his T-shirt was already soaked through at the back.

Chen Hu looked around and took a handheld GPS out of his backpack to pinpoint their coordinates.

"Boss, which direction is the location you mentioned?"

Li Xin closed his eyes and silently recited, "System, Scan the surrounding terrain and locate the mineral vein discovered earlier."

[System: Scanning... Location complete. The mineral vein is located to the southeast of the current position, with a straight-line distance of about 2.8 km.]

He opened his eyes and pointed to the southeast: "That way, about three kilometers."

Chen Hu didn't ask how he knew; he just nodded: "Alright, let's set off."

The six of them carried their equipment and began trekking across the desert.

After walking for about an hour, Li Xin suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Chen Hu became alert immediately, his hand subconsciously moving toward his waist.

"It's nothing!" Li Xin's face was filled with joy.

Just now, the System had notified him that there was gold nearby.

Not the gold from that mineral vein, but something else—small gold nuggets scattered on the surface.

[System: Detected scattered gold nuggets on the surface, 3 locations in total. The nearest one is located to the northeast of the current position, with a straight-line distance of about 12 meters. Estimated gold content: 285g.]

285 grams—although not much, it was still delightful. The key was that these were scattered on the surface; there was no need to dig, just pick them up.

"You guys wait here for me," Li Xin said, walking toward the northeast.

After walking a dozen steps, he squatted down and brushed the ground a few times. Beneath the sand, a golden stone the size of a thumb was revealed.

He picked up the stone and weighed it in his hand. It was very heavy, then he put it in his backpack. This piece contained 285 grams; although it wasn't much, even a mosquito's leg is meat. He walked to the other two locations marked by the System and found the gold nuggets there too. One was about 85 grams, the other about 130 grams; the three pieces added up to nearly 500 grams.

"Boss, what are you doing over there?" Wang Jun shouted from behind.

"Picked up a few stones," Li Xin walked back, opening his palm to reveal the three pieces of gold ore. "They look pretty nice."

Wang Jun leaned in to take a look: "These stones are quite heavy. Could they be gold ore?"

"It's possible," Li Xin smiled and put the stones into his pocket—in fact, the moment he put them in his pocket, he stored them into the System space. Regardless, the System had finished refining them, and the ore itself was useless.

Chen Hu glanced at the stones, his eyes flickering slightly, but he said nothing.

Li Xin silently recited: "System, extract the gold from these few pieces of gold ore."

"Received, refining in progress..."

"Ding, refining successful. Obtained gold: 500g."

[Cumulative refined gold: 0.8 kg]

There was still 19.2 kg left until the next upgrade.

---

The others didn't notice anything unusual about Li Xin and continued walking. After walking for about another forty minutes, Li Xin stopped again.

"We're here," he said.

Chen Hu looked around. This was a barren hillside covered in severely weathered rocks and gravel. It looked no different from anywhere else.

"The mineral vein is right beneath this," Li Xin stomped his feet. "About fifteen meters deep."

"Fifteen meters..." Zhang Long adjusted his glasses and took a small geological detector out of his backpack. "Boss, let me Scan it."

Li Xin nodded. Zhang Long was an "engineer" provided by the System, and geological exploration was his professional skill. He walked around the hillside with the detector, staring at the data on the screen for a while.

"Boss, you were right," Zhang Long looked up, a hint of surprise in his eyes. "There is indeed a mineral vein below, about thirty centimeters wide and extending about fifty meters. The grade... is not low."

"Can you estimate the total reserves?"

Zhang Long looked at the data again: "Roughly estimated, it should be between fifty and sixty kilograms."

Fifty to sixty kilograms. Li Xin calculated in his heart; at current gold prices, it was worth about two or three million US dollars. More importantly, this gold could help him upgrade the System several times.

"Can it be mined?" he asked.

"Yes, but we need equipment," Zhang Long said. "Fifteen meters deep, it's too slow to dig manually. We need at least a small drilling rig and a hoist."

"Can we get the equipment?"

"There should be rentals here in Dubai," Zhang Long looked at Chen Hu. "Brother Chen, will you come with me to the city?"

Chen Hu didn't answer immediately, but looked at Li Xin: "Boss, what do you think?"

Li Xin looked normal, but at this moment he asked silently in his heart: "System, if we need manual labor, will the digging be reported? How can we keep the secret?"

"Host, don't worry. Everyone hired will be taken over by the System. They won't remember what happened, and memories related to the gold mine and the treasure will be erased. A reasonable excuse will be implanted." The System's voice appeared in Li Xin's mind.

"You go ahead, I'll keep watch here," Li Xin said with a smile. "How much money is needed to rent the equipment?"

"About twenty thousand US dollars, including shipping," Zhang Long said.

Li Xin took a bank card out of his pocket—this was the account he opened in Dubai, which had three hundred thousand US dollars in it—and handed it to Zhang Long: "The password is six zeros. Go handle it, stay safe."

"Understood," Chen Hu took the card, pointed at Li Bao and Wang Jun, "You two come with us. Zhao Shan, you stay here and accompany the Boss."

"Yes," Li Bao and Wang Jun replied.

The three turned around and walked into the desert, soon disappearing into the heat waves.

Li Xin found a shaded rock and sat down. Zhao Shan sat beside him, saying nothing, like a silent rock.

"Zhao Shan," Li Xin suddenly spoke, "Where are you from?"

Zhao Shan was stunned, probably not expecting the Boss to chat with him.

"The Northeast," he said.

"What did you do before joining the army?"

"Farming," Zhao Shan's answer was short as always.

"Who else is in your family?"

"None left," when Zhao Shan said these two words, his tone was as flat as if he were talking about someone else's affairs.

Li Xin didn't ask again. He took a bottle of water from his backpack and handed it to Zhao Shan. Zhao Shan took it, unscrewed the cap, and took a big gulp.

The sun slowly tilted west, and the temperature in the desert began to drop. Li Xin stood up to stretch his body, suddenly remembering something—the "Medical Proficiency" the System gave him contained a lot of knowledge about wilderness survival and first aid. He took this time to review it in his mind.

After waiting for about three hours, Chen Hu and the others drove back.

"Boss, the equipment has been rented," Chen Hu jumped out of the car. "It will be delivered early tomorrow morning. Also, I found a few temporary workers in the city to help with moving and operating."

"How much did it cost?"

"Equipment rental is fifteen thousand dollars, worker wages are five thousand dollars, totaling twenty thousand."

Li Xin nodded; this price was within his expectations.

"Then let's go back today and come back early tomorrow morning."

The six of them got into the car and drove to Dubai city. By the time they returned to the hotel, it was already past eight in the evening. Li Xin treated everyone to an Arabian barbecue, and then they returned to their rooms to rest.

Lying on the bed, Li Xin opened the system panel to take a look.

---

[Gold Search and Refining System]

[Host: Li Xin]

[Level: 2]

[Current Detection Range: 55 meters]

[Cumulative refined gold: 0.8 kg]

[Gold required for next upgrade: 20kg]

[Armed Squad: 5 people]

---

Only 9.55 kg left. If they could mine that vein tomorrow, not only would he complete the second upgrade, but he would also have quite a bit left over.

Early the next morning, just as the sky was getting bright, Li Xin set off with the five people. This time, they drove a truck loaded with drilling rigs and hoisting equipment.

Arriving at the location, the workers began setting up the equipment. Li Xin stood by and watched, silently calculating the next plan in his heart.

"Boss," Chen Hu walked over, "According to this progress, we can drill to fifteen meters by this afternoon. At that time, how do you plan to handle it?"

Li Xin thought about it; he had already thought through this question.

"You just handle the drilling. Once you hit the ore vein, I'll take care of the rest."

Chen Hu glanced at him without asking further questions: "Understood."

The drilling rig began to roar, and the drill bit slowly bored deeper into the ground.

Li Xin sat on a rock not far away, eyes fixed on the progress of the rig, but his mind was elsewhere.

Once this ore vein was mined out, he would need to find a more stable source of gold.

The ore veins here in Dubai were limited after all, and they were all located in the desert, which meant high mining costs and significant risks.

He needed to go to those truly large-scale gold mines.

Indonesia's Grasberg, Uzbekistan's Muruntau, Russia's Sukhoy Log... these were the real major mines.

But he couldn't go there yet.

A 55-meter detection range was too short; even if he went, he wouldn't be able to locate the core ore vein.

He had to upgrade the Gold Search and Refining System to a high enough level first, needing at least a few kilometers of detection range to accurately pinpoint locations globally.

That would require a massive amount of gold for upgrades.

It was a classic chicken-or-the-egg dilemma.

However, he had a way to solve this problem—the legendary treasures.

Treasures weren't like gold mines; they didn't require mining, and once found, they could be taken directly.

Moreover, the gold content of many treasures was considerable, often amounting to hundreds of kilograms or even several tons.

For example, the Zhang Xianzhong Jiangkou sunken silver was rumored to contain over a thousand tons of gold and silver artifacts.

Although most of it had already been excavated by archaeologists, legend had it that a portion remained undiscovered.

Or consider the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's holy treasury, which was said to contain hundreds of tons of gold.

If he could find these treasures, upgrading the Gold Search and Refining System wouldn't be a problem.

Thinking of this, Li Xin's lips curled slightly.

By three in the afternoon, the drilling rig stopped.

"Boss, we've drilled to fifteen meters," Zhang Long walked over and said. "The drill bit has reached the ore vein."

Li Xin stood up and walked over to the borehole.

The opening was small, about twenty centimeters in diameter, pitch-black and bottomless.

"System," he murmured in his mind, "Scan the ore vein beneath the borehole."

[System: Scanning... Scan complete. Ore vein located at a depth of 15.2 meters, approximately 32 centimeters wide. Estimated gold content: 53.95 kg.]

53.95 kilograms. A little more than what was estimated yesterday.

"You guys, step back a bit," Li Xin said to Chen Hu and the others.

Chen Hu nodded and led the others to step back more than twenty meters.

Li Xin squatted down and reached his hand into the borehole.

His fingers couldn't touch the ore vein—it was still over ten meters away.

But he didn't need to touch it.

"System, collect all the gold ore from the vein beneath the borehole."

[Command confirmed. Collecting... Collection complete. Collected approximately 2.1 tons of gold ore. Estimated gold content: 53.95 kg.]

[Refine?]

"Refine."

[Refining... Refining complete. Obtained gold: 53.95 kg.]

[Cumulative refined gold: 54.75 kg]

[System upgrade requirements met!]

[Consume 20kg of gold to upgrade the system?]

Li Xin was stunned for a moment.

20kg? Wasn't the last upgrade 10kg?

He carefully looked at the system prompt and then realized—the gold required for upgrades was increasing.

10kg the first time, 20kg the second time; the third time would likely be 50kg.

"Upgrade."

[System upgrading... Upgrade complete!]

[Gold Search and Refining System]

[Host: Li Xin]

[Current Level: 3]

[Detection Range: 55 meters → 65 meters]

(Note: Every 10kg of gold increases range by 5 meters, 20kg of gold increases by 10 meters)

[Current cumulative refined gold: 34.75 kg]

[Gold required for next upgrade: 50kg]

[Armed Squad: 5 people]

"Chen Hu," he walked over and said, "Pack up, we're heading back."

"Boss, are we done mining the vein?" Chen Hu asked, somewhat puzzled.

It had only been a few minutes, he hadn't seen anything, and now he was saying it was finished?

"Yes, it's finished," Li Xin said. "Don't worry about the rest."

Chen Hu didn't ask further and turned to direct the workers to pack up the equipment.

It was already evening by the time they returned to downtown Dubai.

Li Xin told Chen Hu and the others to return to the hotel to rest, while he went to the Gold Souk by himself.

He found Mr. Hassan, the Indian shop owner from before.

"Mr. Hassan, I'm back again."

Mr. Hassan was drinking tea in the shop. When he saw him enter, his eyes lit up: "My friend! Did you bring more gold?"

"Yes, the quantity is quite large this time."

"How much?"

"Thirty-four kilograms."

Mr. Hassan's eyes widened: "Thirty-four kilograms? Where did you get so much gold?"

"Don't worry about that," Li Xin said, sitting on a chair and crossing his legs. "Just tell me if you're buying or not."

"Buying! Of course I'm buying!" Mr. Hassan quickly stood up and closed the shop door. "Did you bring it with you?"

Li Xin patted the backpack on his back—in reality, the gold was in the system space, he was just putting on an act—and took out gold bars one by one, placing them on the counter.

Each bar was one kilogram, totaling thirty-four bars.

Mr. Hassan inspected them one by one; each was 99.99% pure gold with no markings.

"The quality is excellent," Mr. Hassan nodded. "Today's international gold price is $57 per gram. Thirty-four kilograms comes to $1,938,000. After deducting the service fee, I'll give you $1,900,000. Is that okay?"

"That's fine."

"Transfer or cash?"

"Transfer."

Mr. Hassan made a call, and a few minutes later, Li Xin's phone received a bank text message.

[Your account has received: $1,900,000.]

Adding the remainder from before, he now had over two million US dollars in his Dubai account.

Combined with the over 1.6 million RMB in his domestic account, his total assets were around 15 million RMB.

From his rebirth until now, it had been less than a month.

Li Xin walked out of the Gold Souk, stood on the side of the street, and took a deep breath.

One point nine million US dollars. This was just the beginning.

He took out his phone and sent a message to Luo Maifa: "Maifa, I'm returning to the country in a couple of days. Let's grab a meal then."

Luo Maifa replied instantly: "Damn, you're in Dubai again? You keep running to Dubai every day, don't tell me you're doing some kind of purchasing agent business over there?"

"Something like that," Li Xin smiled.

"Then can you bring me something?"

"Bring what?"

"Whatever, just buy something you see fit."

"Alright."

After hanging up, he saw a message from Li Jiayi: "What are you doing?"

Li Xin replied: "In Dubai, heading back in a couple of days."

Li Jiayi replied instantly: "Huh? You went to Dubai again? Didn't you just get back?"

"Had some business."

"You really are a mysterious person. Well, travel safe when you come back."

"Okay."

Li Xin put his phone in his pocket and walked toward the hotel.

Halfway there, he suddenly stopped.

The system notification sound rang.

[System: Detected gold reaction nearby. Location: Approximately 40 meters ahead, about 2 meters underground. Estimated gold content: 47.2 kg.]

Li Xin froze, then was overcome with wild joy.

This was the old district of Dubai; the streets were lined with ancient buildings, and the ground was paved with stone slabs.

Gold two meters underground? This was what you called a pleasant surprise—a real surprise.

Within a few seconds, Li Xin completely calmed down: "System, what is the situation here?"

"According to the analysis, this was likely hidden by a gang of thieves. Feel free to take it."

Li Xin steadied himself, but then felt troubled: "System, I can't touch the gold, and we're on a busy street. How am I supposed to collect it?"

"Gold mines require physical contact with the ore vein. However, for finished gold, as long as it is ownerless, you can directly ingest it by walking nearby and touching the ground. Of course, in the future, if you encounter similar situations, the system will flexibly adapt requirements based on the scene," the System replied playfully.

Li Xin felt relieved.

He looked around; there weren't many pedestrians on the street, and no one noticed him.

He pretended to squat down to tie his shoelaces and pressed his hand against the ground.

"System, collect the gold underground."

[Collecting... Collection complete. Obtained gold: 47.2 kg]

[Cumulative refined gold: 47.95 kg]

Li Xin stood up and continued walking.

He shook his head, not overthinking it.

Dubai really was a place of constant surprises.

Back at the hotel, Li Xin lay on the bed and opened the system panel.

[Gold Search and Refining System]

[Host: Li Xin]

[Current Level: 3]

[Detection Range: 65 meters]

[Current cumulative refined gold: 47.95 kg]

[Gold required for next upgrade: 50kg]

[Armed Squad: 5 people]

He was only 2.05 kilograms short of reaching 50 kilograms for the third upgrade.

He thought about it and decided to take another stroll around downtown Dubai tomorrow, using the system to Scan and see if there was any more scattered gold.

After all, even a mosquito's legs are meat.