70: Chapter 70 Lin Hao

Meanwhile, at Jiang Chen's house, it was an entirely different scene.

He settled the cardboard box into an incubator in the corner of the living room.

The box was custom-made with temperature control on all four sides. A layer of soft Timothy hay covered the bottom, and a small ceramic food bowl was placed in the corner.

The little guy spun around twice inside and nudged the hay with its nose, as if confirming the safety of its new home.

Jiang Chen added water and Alfalfa hay, then checked the temperature display again.

Twenty-three degrees Celsius with moderate humidity—the most comfortable range for a Mutant Chinchilla.

Once the little guy confirmed it was safe, it began nibbling on the alfalfa at the edge of the food bowl.

It held the leaves with its two front paws, taking tiny bites. Its cheeks puffed in and out, and its ruby-like eyes were half-squinted with a look of pure contentment.

Jiang Chen squatted nearby and watched for a while. After confirming it was eating peacefully, he stood up, washed his hands in the bathroom, and returned to sit on the sofa.

He took out his phone and scrolled through his WeChat contacts.

After scrolling down for a bit, he tapped on a chat box labeled "Lin Hao - Exotic Pets."

The last time they had chatted was a month ago.

Jiang Chen had never initiated a conversation, but he occasionally saw the other man's posts on his Moments.

The screen was filled with photos of various rare exotic pets, from Mutant Ball Pythons to Blue-Tongued Skinks, and from Melanistic Servals to Albino Raccoons.

Lin Hao's status in this industry went without saying.

When Jiang Chen sold that Snow Shadow Blue-Eyed Bengal Cat back then, Lin Hao hadn't said a word; he simply rushed to the scene and transferred 2.8 million over.

Jiang Chen picked a few photos of the chinchilla he had just taken from his album and sent them over.

He had always been meticulous about taking photos.

The first photo was a close-up of the little guy's face; its deep red ruby eyes shimmered with a translucent luster under the warm light.

The pupils were crystal clear without a hint of cloudiness—one of the most critical criteria for judging the quality of a Mutant Chinchilla.

The second photo was a top-down shot, fully displaying the white patches on its back.

Extending from the shoulder blades to the base of the tail, they were evenly distributed and symmetrical, like a meticulously designed pattern that didn't disrupt the overall harmony of the blue-grey undercoat.

The third photo was a profile shot. The little guy happened to have its head slightly turned and ears perked up, revealing the lines of its fluffy belly.

The blue-grey back fur shimmered with a silvery luster under the living room lights; every tip of hair looked as if it had been lightly brushed with silver powder.

Three photos, three angles, showcasing the quality of this chinchilla to the fullest extent.

"President Lin, I have something good for you to look at again."

Less than a minute after the message was sent, the other party placed a video call directly.

Jiang Chen answered. On the screen, Lin Hao was wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a deep blue shirt with sleeves rolled up to his forearms, revealing lean wrists.

The background was an entire wall of reptile enclosures, stacked from the floor to the ceiling, each housing a different species of reptile.

Warm yellow fill lights hit the enclosures, reflecting off Lin Hao's cheekbones, which were slightly flushed with excitement.

He was still holding a pair of feeding tweezers with a freshly thawed pinky mouse clamped at the tip. Clearly, he had called immediately upon seeing the message while he was busy.

"Brother, what kind of good stuff have you gotten your hands on this time?"

Lin Hao's voice carried a sense of urgency; he hadn't even had time to put down the tweezers.

Jiang Chen didn't rush to speak. Instead, he pointed the phone camera at the incubator.

On the screen, the little guy happened to roll over onto its back, revealing its fluffy belly with its four little paws curled in front of its chest, sleeping soundly and oblivious to the world.

It was likely dreaming; its ears twitched occasionally, its whiskers trembled, and its nose sniffed gently as if it had smelled something delicious in its dream.

Lin Hao's eyes lit up instantly, and the tweezers nearly slipped from his hand.

He hurriedly stuck the tweezers back into the rack on his workbench and used both hands to hold his phone, leaning in close to the screen until his gold-rimmed glasses almost touched the camera.

"Holy crap."

He lowered his voice as if afraid of waking the slumbering little thing on the screen, but the excitement in his tone was impossible to suppress.

"Brother, is this... a Blue-and-white Mutant Chinchilla? This quality, this coat color... Wait, move the camera closer. Let me see the distribution of the white patches on its back clearly."

Jiang Chen did as requested.

He steadied the phone and slowly approached the incubator, panning the camera from the side until it stopped twenty centimeters away from the little guy.

The constant-temperature light of the incubator shone on the little guy, and its blue-grey back fur cast a silvery halo under the light.

Every strand of hair looked meticulously dyed, showing a uniform gradient from root to tip. This was the top-tier coat performance among Mutant Chinchillas, known in the industry as 'Silver Frost'.

The white patches started from the shoulder blades and were symmetrically distributed along both sides of the spine, extending all the way to the base of the tail.

The edges of the patches transitioned naturally without any abrupt breaks or intrusive stray colors.

The coat colors of the back and belly were as distinct as night and day—the back was a pure blue-grey while the belly was a snowy pure white, with no transitional colors in between.

This clear dividing line was an extremely rare bonus point in judging the quality of a Mutant Chinchilla.

Lin Hao fell silent for several seconds.

On the screen, he took off his glasses to wipe them, put them back on, leaned in for another look, and then leaned back against his chair, taking a deep breath.

"Brother, tell me the truth."

Lin Hao's voice became serious, dropping the playful attitude from before.

"Have you found some stable source of goods? I wouldn't believe it even if you killed me if you said you found something like this at a bird and flower market."

"A Blue-and-white Mutant Chinchilla of this quality—forget Jiang City, I haven't seen one in all of Southeast Asia for half a year. Last time someone auctioned one with similar quality in Bangkok, the final price was 3.2 million, and its quality wasn't even as good as yours."

Jiang Chen smiled and didn't take the bait.

He turned the camera back to himself and leaned on the sofa, his tone as casual as if he were chatting about the weather: "President Lin, care to give an estimate?"

Lin Hao stared at the screen for a good while, seemingly trying to judge if Jiang Chen truly didn't know the market or if he was testing him.

He pushed the tweezers completely aside, straightened his glasses, leaned forward slightly, and adopted a solemn tone.

"Brother, I won't beat around the bush with you. We've worked together once, and we both know where the other stands."

Lin Hao's voice dropped, as if he were discussing a business deal that couldn't see the light of day.

"This chinchilla's quality is a whole level higher than your last Snow Shadow Blue-Eyed Bengal Cat. Look closely at its coat color; the blue-grey base is so uniform there isn't a single stray hair. Among Mutant Chinchillas, this is the best of the best, known in the industry as a 'Pure Base'."

"The distribution of the white patches is also very refined—symmetrical and with natural edges. It doesn't break the overall harmony but instead increases its recognizability."

"Do you know what recognizability means in an auction house?"