7: Chapter 7 Finding Bargains on Golden Street (Part 2)

For the next hour, good news came one after another.

[Ding, discovered an ownerless ancient-style gold ring, weighing 150g, located 1 meter underground about 50 meters to the front right. Can be collected.]

Fifty meters away was exactly at the edge of the detection range. Li Xin walked over quickly; the location of the gold ring happened to be at the entrance of a spice shop.

Several sacks filled with spices were placed on the ground at the entrance. The shop owner was an Arab old man wearing a headscarf, and he was currently weighing spices with an electronic scale.

Li Xin crouched down at the shop entrance, pretending to look at the spice samples on the ground, and placed one hand on the ground.

"Collect."

"Collection successful. Accumulated: 9.85 kg."

The old man looked up and greeted him enthusiastically: "Sir, are you buying spices? Our shop's saffron and cardamom are the best."

"Boss, how much is the saffron?" Li Xin asked in Arabic.

The old man was stunned for a moment, clearly not expecting a Chinese person to speak Arabic: "Saffron is ten dirhams per gram."

"Alright, give me 5 grams." Li Xin took out some money and handed it to the old man.

He wasn't doing it to buy spices, but to make his crouching action appear more natural. He took the saffron, put it in his backpack, and continued walking forward.

[Ding, discovered ownerless gold foil fragments, weighing about 80g. Located in the soil of a flower bed about 20 meters to the rear left. Can be collected.]

In the flower bed. Li Xin felt a surge of joy, quickly turned around and walked back, crouched down next to the flower bed on the street, pretended to tie his shoelaces, and placed his hand on the soil.

"Collect."

"Collection successful. Accumulated: 9.93 kg."

[Ding, discovered an ownerless Mobius strip gold chain, weighing 220g. Located in the sewer about 30 meters ahead. Can be collected.]

The sewer. It was the sewer again.

Li Xin walked to that location, which was a drainage grate cover. The gaps were very narrow; he could see the dark pipes below, and a pungent odor drifted out from the gaps in waves. He held his breath, crouched down, and placed his hand on the cover.

"Collect."

"Collection successful. Accumulated: 10.15 kg."

[Ding, discovered an ownerless Palm Jumeirah gold coin, weighing 400g. Located in a crack in the corner of a wall about 15 meters to the right. Can be collected.]

Li Xin was ecstatic and jogged over. An old building appeared before his eyes; the plaster on the corner of the wall had fallen off, revealing the bricks inside. There was a very small crack in the corner, only about a finger's width, and the gold coin was likely inside.

He crouched down and reached his finger into the crack to take the gold coin out, but he didn't touch it. Feeling a bit disappointed, he decided to just use the system to collect it.

"Collect."

"Collection successful. Accumulated: 10.55 kg."

[Ding, discovered an ownerless gold tooth, weighing 60g. Located 0.5 meters underground about 25 meters to the front left. Can be collected.]

A gold tooth?

Li Xin was stunned for a moment. A gold tooth, he didn't know who dropped it, buried half a meter deep underground. Regardless of what it was, gold was gold.

He walked to the location of the gold tooth, which happened to be at the entrance of a tailor shop. The tailor was busy in front of the sewing machine without even lifting his head. Li Xin crouched down and placed his hand on the ground.

"Collection successful. Accumulated: 10.61 kg."

[Ding, discovered an ownerless gaudy gold chain, weighing 590g, located in a brick crack in the corner of a wall about 10 meters behind. Can be collected.]

He turned back and walked a few steps, arriving next to a loose brick in the corner of the wall. He slowly crouched down and placed his hand on the brick.

"Collect."

"Collection successful. Accumulated: 11.2 kg."

[Accumulated refined gold: 15.9 kg] ... [Accumulated refined gold: 18.6 kg] ... [Accumulated refined gold: 19.2 kg]

Just like that, Li Xin kept chanting in his heart: "Collect," "Collect," "Collect," and in the end, he managed to pick up a considerable amount of gold.

Li Xin slowly stood up, brushed the dust off his hands, chose a nearby shopping mall, and walked in. He found a chair in the cool interior and sat down; it was simply too hot outside.

He glanced at the system panel.

[Accumulated refined gold: 19.2 kg.]

[System upgrade conditions met!]

"Upgrade." He chanted in his heart.

[System upgrading... Upgrade complete!]

--- [Gold Search and Refining System] [Host: Li Xin] [Level: 2] [Detection range: 50 meters → 55 meters] [Accumulated refined gold: 9.2 kg] [Gold required for next upgrade: 20kg] ---

"Only added 5 meters?" The corners of Li Xin's mouth couldn't help but twitch.

[System: Every 10kg of refined gold increases the detection range by 5 meters. The host has consumed a total of 10kg of gold, the system has upgraded to Level 2, and the detection range has increased by 5 meters.]

"It takes 20 kg for the next upgrade?"

[System: Yes. The next upgrade requires 20kg of gold, and after the upgrade, the detection range will increase by 10 meters.]

Li Xin took a deep breath and shook his head. 20 kilograms, at current gold prices, is worth over five million. Just thinking about it made his heart ache. The road ahead is long and arduous.

He closed the panel and took out his phone to check the time—4:30 PM. There was still one thing left to do.

After resting for a while, he walked out of the mall and found an outdoor supply store on the street, pushing the door open to enter. The shop was very cool, with tents, sleeping bags, and hiking boots hanging on the walls, and a pile of outdoor supplies like gas tanks and stove heads stacked in the corner.

A white shop assistant approached him, in his twenties, with short blonde hair and a professional smile: "Sir, what do you need?"

"A tent, sleeping bag, water bladder, and first aid kit." Li Xin said in English, "And a water filter."

"Camping? Going to the desert?"

"Yes."

"Are you alone?" The clerk looked him up and down, "The desert is very dangerous, especially this season. Over fifty degrees during the day, and very cold at night."

"I know. I have experience."

The clerk didn't try to persuade him further; he moved quickly, and in less than ten minutes, he had gathered everything. The tent was a lightweight single-person model, the sleeping bag was a four-season general-purpose type, the water bladder was three liters, the dry rations were compressed biscuits and energy bars, and the first aid kit contained gauze, iodophor, and a tourniquet.

"Nine hundred and sixty dollars in total."

Li Xin took out his credit card to pay, then carried the bags out. He turned into an alley, confirmed no one was around, and stored everything into the system space. Time stood still in the space; food and water wouldn't spoil, and the tent and sleeping bag wouldn't be crushed.

He returned to the hotel, took a shower, and lay on the bed.

His phone vibrated a few times. Luo Maifa sent a message: "Have you arrived? Have you eaten?"

"Arrived. Ate."

"Are you used to the food there?"

"It's okay, there are Chinese restaurants."

"That's good. Yang Hong said he misses you, haha."

Li Xin smiled and typed: "Tell him I'll be back in two days. By the way, help me tell Qiang Zi as well."

"Alright. Take care."

"Got it."

He put his phone on the nightstand and turned over. His mind was calculating tomorrow's plans—selling the gold to Mr. Hassan, then heading to the desert.

He originally had 8.7 kilograms, picked up 10.5 kilograms, consumed 10 kilograms for the upgrade, and had 9.2 kilograms left.

9.2 kilograms of gold, worth over two million RMB. Enough to buy a return ticket and cover expenses for a few days.

But this amount of money wasn't enough to do anything major. He needed more gold and needed to upgrade the system to a higher level.

A 50-meter detection range was too small. If he could expand it to 500 meters, 5 kilometers, or 50 kilometers, he would be able to search for gold mines over a much larger area.

He closed his eyes and chanted in his heart: "System, can the Armed Squad function be used now?"

[System: Yes. The host can summon a 5-person Armed Squad at any time; members are absolutely loyal, and the system has implanted reasonable background identities.]

"What can they do?"

[System: Combat, security, exploration, mining, logistics. Members possess professional skills.]

Li Xin thought for a moment and didn't rush to summon them. He would wait until he found a mineral vein.

He turned off the lights and turned over.

Outside the window, the Dubai night was dazzling; he could faintly hear the call to prayer from a distant mosque, long and desolate. This city in the desert was the starting point of his path to wealth.

Tomorrow, sell the gold, enter the desert.