2: Chapter 2 From Adversity to Prosperity

Zheng Jing's heart pounded violently!

Could it be that the God of Wealth really manifested, heard his prayer, and specially sent him an exclusive cheat?

Sure enough, just as the thought arose in Zheng Jing's mind, the next second, a crisp [Ding] notification sound suddenly rang out in his brain!

A cold, mechanical female system voice exploded in his mind:

"Congratulations to the host, Metal Detection System successfully bound!"

"Holy crap!!!"

Zheng Jing froze in place, staring fixedly at the plain ring that had appeared out of thin air on the ring finger of his left hand.

The cold touch on his fingertip was incredibly real, and the crisp system notification sound in his mind was distinct and clear—it was definitely not a hallucination.

"Metal Detection System successfully bound!"

"Newbie exclusive perk: within 30 days, the host can activate fixed-range detection without limits."

"Detection target: all ownerless metal objects made of gold, silver, copper, or iron."

"Current effective range: centered on the host, one-meter radius, upgradable."

"Friendly reminder: This ring is visible only to the host."

A simple, pale blue system panel floated before his eyes, with a radar circle in the center pulsing slowly; the interface was clean and efficient, without any redundant or complex information.

"It really... is a system!"

Zheng Jing swallowed with difficulty and clamped his hand over his mouth, suppressing the exclamation that nearly slipped out. His heart hammered wildly, almost bursting through his chest.

Although he didn't yet know the exact usage of the system, he had finally obtained a heaven-sent opportunity!

Life was about to get better!

The days of downfall, grievance, and unwillingness surged up at this moment, transforming into a rushing, burning ecstasy.

Heaven has eyes; fortune turns when things reach an extreme.

From today on, he, Zheng Jing, was destined to defy the heavens and change his fate!

After a brief moment of excitement, reason quickly suppressed his agitation.

Zheng Jing calmed down and secretly warned himself: The system was a heaven-defying opportunity that must absolutely not be exposed in the slightest.

Once leaked, he would only be captured and used as a subject for scientific research, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

Zheng Jing subconsciously scanned his surroundings. Fortunately, this Temple of the God of Wealth was located in a remote area with little incense traffic, and he was the only pilgrim in the courtyard at the moment.

"Whew..."

Confirming that no one had noticed anything unusual, Zheng Jing breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing that there was no one around and it was silent, Zheng Jing suppressed the restlessness in his heart and walked quickly to the back door of the Temple of the God of Wealth.

The area was overgrown with weeds that reached half a person's height; it was rarely visited, hidden, and safe.

It was the perfect place to test the system!

"Activate detection."

Zheng Jing muttered in his heart.

Hum—the pale blue radar in his mind lit up instantly. A faint, light-colored ripple slowly expanded, covering a one-meter radius around Zheng Jing, and scattered, tiny, weak points of light flickered continuously!

These points of light were likely the ownerless metal marked by the system.

Zheng Jing was stunned: In this remote mountain gully, there were actually so many ownerless metal objects hidden?

On second thought, since even the system had appeared, what was this little oddity?

Zheng Jing casually picked up a sharp wooden stick, bent down, and began digging intently toward a glowing point. The quiet courtyard behind the Temple of the God of Wealth was suddenly filled with flying mud and stones!

"That's it?"

A moment later, a rusty piece of wire was dug up by Zheng Jing from half a meter underground.

Zheng Jing pinched the rusty wire, feeling amused and helpless.

No wonder the light points were so dense; it seemed the system didn't distinguish between valuable and worthless—as long as it was ownerless metal buried underground, it would mark everything!

Although this object wasn't worth a penny, it was the first thing the system had detected!

For a man, the significance of any "first time" was very special; it had to be kept as a souvenir!

After putting the wire away, Zheng Jing compared the positions given by the system and continued to dig.

After some exploration and testing, he soon roughly figured out the system rules: any ownerless objects containing metal underground or nearby would appear as light points on the radar; the higher the grade of the metal, the more valuable the object, and the larger the item, the more dazzling and eye-catching the light would be.

Conversely, cheap waste like iron nails and scrap iron only had a faint white light the size of a grain of rice!

Just like the light points he saw earlier, they were almost all abandoned metal like ordinary iron nails and scrap iron buried in the soil! It wasn't worth wasting time digging them up!

"It's fine, it's fine. Although these things aren't worth money, I have the system now, right? There will always be a time to get rich in the future!"

Zheng Jing steadied his mind, comforting himself while slowly moving his body, his gaze closely following the radar panel in his mind as he continued to search patiently.

Time ticked by, and Zheng Jing had searched almost the entire mountain behind the Temple of the God of Wealth.

Hmph! No harvest!

Just when Zheng Jing was about to give up the search and walked to the dense pile of weeds near the corner of the wall of the Temple of the God of Wealth, the radar in his mind suddenly changed drastically!

A fist-sized golden ball of light suddenly exploded, its radiance intense and dazzling, with extremely strong penetrating power!

The brightness far crushed all the tiny, fragmented white dots that had appeared before.