34: Chapter 34 Leaving the Mountains

It was past three in the afternoon when he finally saw the small town in the distance.

The town was the same as ever: quiet, dilapidated, with hardly anyone on the streets.

Wisps of cooking smoke rose from the low rooftops, appearing exceptionally serene under the setting sun.

In the fields in the distance, someone was herding cattle home; the clanging of the cowbells carried for a long distance.

He crossed the wooden bridge and walked into the town along the dirt road.

Chen Hu was already waiting at the entrance of the town in a black off-road vehicle.

The car was parked on the side of the road, and a few leaves had fallen onto the hood; it seemed he had been waiting for a while.

"Boss." Chen Hu got out of the car and opened the front passenger door for him.

"Thanks for the hard work." Li Xin tossed his bamboo basket into the back seat, got into the car, and said, "Head straight back to Kunming."

"Understood."

The car started, drove out of the town, and got onto the mountain road.

The scenery outside the window changed from villages to farmland, from farmland to hillsides, and from hillsides to winding mountain roads.

Li Xin leaned back against the seat and took off his straw hat, placing it on his knees.

The air conditioning was on in the car, feeling cool and creating a sharp contrast with the sweltering heat outside.

He took out his mobile phone.

There was a signal.

WeChat messages popped up one after another, and the phone vibrated for quite a while before stopping.

Luo Maifa had sent over a dozen messages:

"Have you arrived?"

"Are you okay?"

"What on earth are you doing?"

"Reply to a message, big brother."

"I'm about to call the police."

The tone of each message became increasingly urgent, and the last few were already tinged with a crying tone.

The most recent one was sent this morning: "If you're alive, just reply to a message, I beg you."

Yang Hong had sent two: "Product development is going smoothly, expecting to release the demo next week." and "When are you coming back?"

Qiang Zi had sent one: "Tie Zhu's breakfast shop was smashed by someone, and it needs to be renovated. We'll talk when you get back."

Li Xin frowned upon seeing this message from Qiang Zi.

The breakfast shop was smashed?

He first called Qiang Zi.

"Hello." Qiang Zi's voice was very low, with the sound of an electric drill in the background.

"What happened?"

"The night before last, while nobody was there, someone rushed into the shop and smashed all the tables, chairs, benches, and glass." Qiang Zi's voice was pressed very low, as if he were suppressing his anger.

"Did you call the police?"

"Yes. The police came to take a statement, but there hasn't been any news yet."

"What about the surveillance footage?"

"The surveillance inside the shop was smashed, and the camera at the entrance captured a few people, but they were all wearing hats and masks, so their faces couldn't be seen clearly."

Li Xin was silent for a few seconds: "Who do you think did it?"

Qiang Zi was also silent for a moment; there was only the buzzing of the electric drill on the other end of the line. Then he said: "I checked. Those people were driving a van with fake license plates. But I found out that the van came from Wang Ming's father's building materials company."

Wang Ming. It was Wang Ming again.

Li Xin tapped his fingers gently on his thigh without speaking.

In his past life, he stole his woman, and in this life, he was messing with his business again. First, he poached Yang Hong's programmer, and now he smashed Tie Zhu's breakfast shop.

Damn it, he hadn't even settled the score with him yet, and he kept jumping around here. Since you don't know what's good for you, I'll let you know why the flowers are so red.

It seems he would have to get Chen Hu to find someone to cripple his third leg first.

"Alright, I got it." Li Xin's voice was very calm. "Keep an eye on things for Tie Zhu. I'll pay for the renovations; tell him not to worry."

"Okay."

After hanging up, he called Luo Maifa again.

"You finally called back!" Luo Maifa's voice was so loud it sounded like it was coming through a loudspeaker, carrying obvious anxiety and a bit of a nasal tone. "If you didn't come back, I would have called the police! I was already preparing to buy a ticket to Yunnan to find you!"

"I'm fine, I'll be back in Shenzhen tomorrow."

"What on earth were you doing in Yunnan? I couldn't reach you for days, and I was worried to death. I sent you over a dozen messages, and you didn't reply to a single one."

"There was no signal in the mountains." Li Xin smiled. "Just taking care of some business, I'll tell you when I get back."

"Alright then. By the way, Yang Hong's product is almost ready; he said he'd show you the demo when you get back."

"Okay."

After hanging up, he sent a message to Yang Hong: "Coming back tomorrow, let's get together in the evening."

Yang Hong replied instantly: "Okay."

Li Xin put down his phone, leaned back against the seat, and watched the scenery rapidly receding outside the window.

He was thinking about one thing in his mind.

After returning to Shenzhen, there was an important thing that had to be done—adjusting the shareholding of the brothers' companies.

Previously, he had invested one million in Uncle Luo's logistics company, holding a forty percent stake. He had invested over two million in Yang Hong's technology company, holding a sixty percent stake. He had invested two hundred thousand in Tie Zhu's breakfast shop, holding a thirty percent stake.

Looking back now, these stakes were too high.

He provided the money, and his brothers put in the effort. He couldn't take advantage of his brothers just because he was rich.

Upon returning to Shenzhen, he had to adjust these stakes down.

He had decided that for all the brothers' companies, he would hold at most twenty percent. He would return the excess shares to his brothers.

These were his brothers, not his employees.

The car drove on the winding mountain road for over three hours before finally getting onto the highway. Chen Hu drove very steadily, at a moderate speed, and the sky outside the window gradually darkened.

The streetlights on both sides of the highway turned on, receding one after another like a band of light. The city in the distance was brightly lit, a completely different world from the pitch-black mountains.

It was past eight in the evening when the car arrived in Kunming.

Chen Hu found a hotel, and Li Xin checked in, took a shower, and changed into clean clothes.

The hot water poured over him, washing away three days of exhaustion. He stood under the shower, eyes closed, letting the water flow from the top of his head all the way to the soles of his feet.

After showering, he lay on the bed, opened the system panel, and took a look at his data.

[Gold Search and Refining System 2.0]

[Host: Li Xin]

[Current Level: 9]

[Detection Range: 1990 meters]

[Accumulated Refined Gold: 49.8757 tons]

[Gold Required for Next Upgrade: 20 tons]

49.8 tons of gold. Based on the current gold price of 270 yuan per gram, one ton was worth 270 million, and the total value exceeded 13.4 billion RMB.

Added with the 2 million USD in the Dubai account and the approximately 15 million in the domestic account, his total assets already exceeded 13.5 billion.

From rebirth until now, it had been less than two months.

He closed the panel and turned over. The hotel bed was ten thousand times softer than the ground in the mountains; the quilt was fluffy and dry, and the height of the pillow was just right.

But his mind was still turning.

Tomorrow he would return to Shenzhen, and in the evening, he would eat with his brothers. He had to find a suitable way to talk about the share adjustment; he couldn't let his brothers feel like he was engaging in charity, nor could he let them feel like he was treating them as outsiders.

And Wang Ming. He couldn't ignore this person, but he couldn't deal with him now either. He would first launch the product, occupy the market, and once he had a firm foothold, he would slowly settle the score with him.

He also had to go to Dubai to liquidate some gold. He would sell 10 tons of gold, worth 2.7 billion. Once this money arrived, the promotional expenses for the technology company would be covered.

And Indonesia. The Grasberg Gold Mine, one of the largest gold mines in the world, with reserves exceeding two thousand tons. Once the system leveled up a few more times and the detection range expanded to several kilometers or tens of kilometers, he would find an opportunity to get in.

With countless thoughts spinning in his mind, his eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

He turned over and quickly fell asleep.

Early the next morning, Chen Hu drove him to Kunming South Railway Station. Li Xin bought the earliest high-speed rail ticket back to Shenzhen and boarded the train after checking his ticket.

On the high-speed train, he leaned back against the seat, watching the scenery outside the window change from mountains to hills, from hills to plains, and from plains to cities.

Rice fields, villages, and small towns flashed by outside the window. In every place, there were people busy working, living, and rushing about.

In the past, he was also one of these people. Moving bricks at construction sites, eating instant noodles in rented rooms, and drinking alone in the dead of night.

Now, it was different.

It was past three in the afternoon when the high-speed train arrived at Shenzhen North Station.

He walked out of the station with his old backpack, and a familiar humid heat rushed toward him. Shenzhen was the same as ever: sweltering, humid, and crowded. People were coming and going in the station square—some dragging suitcases, some holding signs, some making phone calls—everyone in a hurry.

He hailed a taxi and gave the address of the Innovation Heaven Building in the Science Park.

The taxi arrived at the Innovation Heaven Building, and he took the elevator to the fifteenth floor.

Pushing open the door of 1508, the inside was a scene of busyness.

Yang Hong was sitting in the open office area with two monitors in front of him, his fingers typing rapidly on the keyboard. Su Manling was drawing nearby, and Zhou Mingpeng and Li Xiaona were discussing code.

"Li Xin!" Yang Hong was the first to see him and stood up. "You're back?"

"Yeah." Li Xin walked over and looked at the code on his screen. "How is the progress?"

"The demo is done." Yang Hong pushed up his glasses. "The functions are all complete. Do you want to take a look?"

"We'll look at it in the evening. Let's eat first; call Maifa and Qiang Zi."

"Okay."