manynovel Chapter 48, 80?
Chapter 48, 80?
"Comrade Li Fulan!"
Lin Ann's energetic voice echoed in the corridor.
"It's Lin An! You're in such a hurry. I thought there was something wrong with the stove again. Is there any good news?"
"That must be great news, fantastic news!" Lin An chuckled, a few fine lines appearing at the corners of his eyes when he smiled, making his face, which was in its early thirties, look exceptionally lively.
He moved a little closer, looking around mysteriously to make sure no one else was in the corridor, before lowering his voice to ask, "Are you going to that auction hosted by Zhang Wei's family this weekend? The one from that minor noble family in Notting City?"
"That's a plan," Li Fulan raised an eyebrow.
"Well..." Lin An rubbed his hands together, his palms calloused from years of handling metal equipment, making a soft, rustling sound. His eyes gleamed even brighter, like a cat spotting a mouse. "How many circulating Gold Soul Coins do you have on hand right now? The usable kind?"
Li Fulan considered for a moment, his eyes rolling upwards as if he were silently calculating in his mind. He held up two fingers, then hesitated for a moment before adding another: "Around eight thousand, maybe even less. After all, Notting City isn't the capital, and students who aren't nobles have limited purchasing power..."
"Eight thousand? Just eight thousand?" Lin An's voice suddenly rose eight octaves, startling the motion-sensor light at the end of the corridor, which flickered. "That's hardly enough, Comrade Li! In that kind of setting, everyone's an aristocrat. How can you maintain order without some hard currency? If you only have eight thousand dollars in your hand, won't they just take advantage of you like a sucker?"
With an expression that said, "I knew it would happen," he exaggeratedly patted his thigh, then gestured for him to enter, pointing to the inconspicuous iron door at the end of the corridor. The door was rusty and looked like the entrance to an abandoned storage room, with a faded "No Trespassing" sign on it.
"Come, come, Comrade Li, let's talk in private." Lin An winked mysteriously, lowering his voice even further, "I'll show you a real treasure, guaranteed to make your eyes pop out."
Li Fulan followed behind him with some curiosity, his pace neither hurried nor slow. He noticed that Lin An walked with his back exceptionally straight, and his shoulders shrugged, a sign of barely suppressed excitement.
As the iron gate was pushed open with a dull creak, the scene inside surprised Li Fulan. Contrary to her expectations, there was no dust or musty smell; instead, it was a dry and tidy small warehouse.
Various sizes of wooden crates were neatly stacked on the ground, some with numbered labels, indicating that they had been carefully arranged.
Lin An walked straight to the largest mahogany chest in the middle. The chest was more than half a person tall, the mahogany material had an oily sheen, and the corners were covered with copper plates, so it was obviously not a cheap product.
He took a deep breath, as if performing some important ceremony, placed his hands on either side of the box lid, and winked at Li Fulan.
"Are you ready, Comrade Li?"
"Stop being so mysterious, hurry up."
Alright!
Lin An suddenly flung open the box lid with both hands.
"Splash—"
It was a mixture of sounds—wood clattering and metal sliding—nothing earth-shattering. But for a fleeting moment, the golden light reflecting from the box almost blinded Li Fulan.
The light was so dazzling, it was as if someone had stuffed a small sun into a box. The golden, warm glow, with a certain primal allure, instantly filled Li Fulan's entire field of vision.
A whole box full of gold coins.
They were arranged neatly, one next to another, layer upon layer, stacked so precisely that it seemed like the work of a perfectionist. Each gold coin was brand new and gleaming, without a single scratch, and the serrated edges were clearly visible. Under the guiding lights overhead, they radiated a captivating luster, a luster that ordinary brass or gold plating could not imitate, but the true, genuine color of gold, representing wealth and power.
"This..." Li Fulan's brow twitched slightly, a rare display of his composure. He reached into the box and casually picked up a gold coin. The weighty feel under his fingers was unmistakable; it was not something that could be faked with alloys or adulteration. The cool touch of metal was incredibly real and substantial.
He held the gold coin up to his eyes and examined it closely. The obverse of the coin bore the national emblem of the Heavenly Dou Empire, while the reverse featured the two large, ancient-style characters for "One Hundred." The knurled patterns along the edges were exquisitely detailed. He flicked it lightly with his fingernail, producing a crisp "ding—" sound, a lingering echo—the unique sound of genuine gold.
"Here's eight hundred thousand!" Lin An gave a thumbs-up and waved it vigorously in front of Li Fulan, his smile even brighter than the box of gold coins, his eyes almost squinting into slits. "A full eight hundred thousand gold soul coins! Count them, not a single one will be short!"
"Eight hundred thousand?" Li Fulan was genuinely surprised. He was still holding the gold coin in his hand, and his brows furrowed. "Where did you get so much money? Even if you sold your Lin An, you couldn't raise that much."
Although our base's Longevity Pill project has a promising future, it's only just completed its first batch and hasn't been monetized yet. You didn't go rob a bank, did you?
"Hey, you underestimate me. Robbing a bank is a death sentence, I, Lin An, don't have the guts." Lin An chuckled, picked up a gold coin from the box, and gently tossed it into the air. The gold coin tumbled twice in mid-air, flashing a few golden lights, before he caught it steadily, making a crisp "clink" sound.
"That's all thanks to your technology licensing, Comrade Li." He twirled the gold coin between his fingers a few times, as if performing some kind of magic trick. "We used your pill-refining formula as the core patent, plus the Seventh Base's prestigious reputation as backing, and did a little bit of... how should I put it, financial innovation."
"Financial innovation?" Li Fulan repeated the term with amusement.
"Yes, financial innovation." Lin An took a few steps closer, lowering his voice, a sly glint in his eyes. "Take a close look at these gold coins. Aren't they exactly the same as those circulating in the market? I even dare say, their purity is better than those produced by the Imperial Mint?"
Li Fulan examined the gold coin in her hand again. Indeed, it was flawless in terms of color, feel, and weight. If this were taken to a money exchange for authentication, it would definitely pass the most stringent testing.
"I really can't see the problem." He nodded. "So?"
Lin An paused, deliberately building up his curiosity. Seeing Li Fulan's "If you don't tell me, I'm leaving" expression, he couldn't hold back any longer and leaned close to his ear, speaking in a smug tone as if revealing a mystery:
"But this thing is actually a work of art."
"Crafts?"
"That's right, handicrafts." Lin An nodded, his voice full of undisguised pride. "We used a special casting technique that I found in an ancient book, and it has been improved several times by the engineers at our base."
This gold coin, the outer layer is genuine 24K gold, about two millimeters thick. Look at the color, the luster—it's definitely top-quality gold. But the inside…
He tapped the surface of the gold coin with his finger, making a "clanging" sound.
"It's filled with platinum."
Li Fulan's fingers, which were holding the gold coin, paused slightly as she instantly understood the trick to it.
In this world, gold is the universally recognized hard currency. Whether in the Heaven Dou Empire or the Star Luo Empire, gold coins circulate freely. Platinum, while extremely stable and hard, is far less recognized by soul masters than gold. The reason is simple: platinum cannot be activated by certain special soul guidance arrays like gold, making it less useful in crafting high-level soul tools. Therefore, its price remains relatively low, generally only about one-third of the price of gold of the same weight.
Using "cheaper" platinum as the core, and then covering it with a layer of genuine 24K gold, the weight and feel are exactly the same as a pure gold coin, but the cost can be reduced to less than half of the original. This is simply...
"A genius idea."
Li Fulan couldn't help but laugh out loud, a genuine expression of admiration in his smile. He tossed the gold coin back into the box, where it landed among its companions with a crisp sound, clattering and ringing together like a melodious symphony.
"Weight, feel, and even a simple soul power probe would probably be insufficient to distinguish it." He tapped the edge of the box lightly with his finger, a glint of shrewdness in his eyes. "As long as it's not melted down or cut open, it's pure gold and silver. And which nobleman would bother melting down their newly acquired gold coins to test their purity?"
"Of course! Impressive, right!" Lin An patted the box triumphantly, the sound muffled and carrying the heavy feel unique to solid wood.
"Let me tell you, Comrade Li, we've been preparing for this batch of goods for three months. From the casting molds to the material ratios, everything was figured out bit by bit by our engineers at the base. Just to ensure that the outer skin and the inner core fit perfectly and wouldn't fall off, we tried no less than twenty different bonding techniques. Now, even if you hit this batch with a hammer, that gold skin won't peel off."
"In this way, even if we're not in a hurry to sell those longevity pills, this 800,000 'starting capital' is enough for you to dominate the auction! Whether you fancy a soul bone, an immortal herb, or any... cough cough, any rare item, just raise your paddle! We have plenty of money, no, we have plenty of 'works of art'!"
As Lin An finished speaking, he couldn't help but laugh, laughing so hard he almost fell over.
Looking at the box of "counterfeit money," Li Fulan's smile deepened.
That's what you call a dimensional reduction attack.
Using modern financial leverage and materials science knowledge to exploit the natives of the Douluo Continent who are still stuck in the era of cold weapons may seem a bit unethical, but... who told them not to know what "gilding" or "passing off inferior goods as superior" means?
In their eyes, gold is gold. If the weight, purity, and sound are right, then it's real gold and silver. They would never dream that someone could play tricks right under their noses.
"Well done, Lin An."
"Let those nobles see what it means to be rich and powerful."