Fake Accident

Chen Mo had more or less completed the basic experiments with the Universe Bead. After checking his funds again, he had roughly 20,000 yuan—savings from several years of working as a migrant worker. Perhaps this money would be the capital he needed to start making money.

Going home—going home was now Chen Mo's only goal. After reaching the First layer of Qi Refining, his desire to return home had inevitably grown stronger. He truly did not want to keep breathing in the city's haze every day. There was no vegetation here, or rather, very little vegetation. To him, it was an utterly terrible environment.

He put all his belongings Inside Universe Bead, then carried a small backpack to keep up appearances when necessary before setting off for home. If not for cultivation, he would have returned long ago. He had held on until now, until he had crossed into Qi Refining Layer One. Now, his longing for home could no longer be contained. No one could stop him.

He had already spoken to the landlord about the room yesterday. Although there were still more than ten days left on the rent, that bit of money no longer mattered. His desire to go home had become urgent, and no amount of remaining rent could keep him here. Fortunately, there had been no deposit for the rental room, and since he had lived here for nearly two years, the landlord had treated him fairly well.

Chen Mo's hometown was Chen Family Village, Penghua Town, Qin Gaoguan County, a small Mountain Village surrounded by towering mountains. But because it was in a mountain area, transportation was extremely inconvenient. In the past, the village had only one narrow dirt road, just wide enough for a car, leading to the town. It took more than two hours to cross the mountains, and people had to endure the jolting road all the way. Even then, whenever it rained, it became completely impassable.

Because he had needed to work as a migrant worker while studying, Chen Mo had not returned home for two years. His parents had told him that, thanks to the government's village road project, the village road had been rebuilt into a rural highway leading directly to town. It was much better than before.

After calling Oldest Brother and the others to say goodbye, he took the train to West City, then made a trip to West City's Antique Market.

He was not there to buy antiques. He wanted to buy Wolf Hair brushes, cinnabar, Yellow Paper, and other supplies for Drawing Talismans. He also wanted to buy some jade to make Formation Base implements. Some time ago, in his rental room, he had used wood and a Carving Knife to practice carving formations, but he had never experimented on jade. This time, he wanted to buy some jade and give it a try. The Transmission Jade Talisman contained introductions to Formation Base implements. Generally, formation bases were made from jade, and the more translucent the jade, the better it was for making a formation base.

Of course, the best materials for formation bases did not exist on Blue Sea Star. Things like Origin Stone and Ice Crystal were mentioned in the Transmission Jade Talisman, but Chen Mo had never seen them. Perhaps he could take a look someday when he truly had the chance to visit a Cultivation Planet.

Chen Mo was very familiar with West City and had visited the Antique Market many times, all back in high school. At that time, it was not called an Antique Market but a Cultural Market. Back in middle and high school, he had gone there to save money by buying used review books, exercise books, extracurricular reading materials, and the like. He had been there so many times that he knew the place well.

The antique street now looked completely different from a few years ago. In the past, it had been filled with old single-story street-side shops and the like. Now, it had changed tremendously. Not only were there many high-rise buildings, but the Streetfront Shops were also much neater, and the streets were considerably wider. As soon as Chen Mo entered, he became a little disoriented. He had not expected such enormous changes after only two years. The city had developed far too quickly.

Although it was not a weekend, there were still many people on the pedestrian street. He followed the crowd while looking around, occasionally turning his head to examine the shops on either side. Even when he had come here before, he had never bought Wolf Hair brushes or cinnabar, so he could only keep an eye out as he walked. Unexpectedly, his actions drew the attention of several people.

Yu Lao San made his living staging fake accidents on the antique street and had been hanging around here for years. However, he only targeted outsiders and amateurs, so the people on the antique street generally did not bother with such filthy business. If someone was foolish enough to fall for a fake accident, they could only blame their own bad luck.

Watching Chen Mo's movements, he knew this youngster was a newbie, perhaps even an outsider. So he set his sights on him.

Modern Fake accidents, especially those on antique streets, required a certain level of professional skill. People these days were not so easy to fool, so to make things believable, those who staged Fake accidents on antique streets made preparations. They generally used fragile items such as porcelain or jade. In the past, a simple wrapping had been enough, but that would no longer do—it lacked class. Now they used high-quality hard paper boxes or Wooden Boxes, lined with soft padding and yellow silk cloth.

Wooden boxes were more common. They would find an old-looking wooden box, put in fake or artificially aged porcelain, jade, and other items, then look for a chance to bump into someone. That was when their performance began.

This was why, after Fake accidents happened on antique streets, both the police and market managers found them such a headache. Evidence was difficult to collect, their movements were covert, and some porcelain pieces were extremely hard to appraise. Although cameras covered the market, there were always blind spots. Even where there were none, accomplices could block the view while committing the crime.

Some local market managers even got involved. Those were the truly frightening ones. With market managers backing them, the people staging Fake accidents were not only arrogant, but could turn one into two and two into three. If you refused to accept it, then you could wait for trouble. The market managers would provide all kinds of perfect assistance and absolutely make you suffer.

There was another kind that need not even be mentioned—the ultimate setup. Not only were market managers involved, but local police and appraisers would cooperate as well. Pulling off one job like that would be enough to live on for half a year.

At that moment, Yu Lao San was holding a wooden box he had bought from an old stall for fifty yuan. Inside was an artificially aged porcelain piece. He hurried along the street and, just as Chen Mo turned his head to look at a shop by the roadside, suddenly rushed forward and slammed into him. He released his grip at the same time, and the wooden box fell to the ground with the sound of porcelain shattered.

"Oh no! My treasure!" Yu Lao San immediately put on an expression of shock, heartbreak, and utter surprise. If there were acting awards, he would absolutely win Best Actor.

Chen Mo was helpless. How had he bumped into someone? He had clearly been very careful, yet this had still happened. Could this be a fake accident? He had his suspicions, but he did not say anything. He would figure out what was going on soon enough.

"Pay for my treasure!" Yu Lao San grabbed Chen Mo and shouted. At that moment, the onlookers began gathering around them. Two tall, sturdy Men pushed through the crowd and came to Yu Lao San's side.

"What happened? Oh, isn't this your family treasure? Last time, you said it was from the Ming Dynasty or something, right?" one of the Men asked.

"Yes!" Yu Lao San said with a face full of grief and indignation.

"Kid, you're in deep trouble. Hurry up and pay!" the other man said.

The moment Chen Mo saw Yu Lao San, he felt uncomfortable. When the two men appeared, he immediately understood that these fellows were definitely staging a fake accident. When he swept them with his Spiritual Sense, however, he was somewhat surprised.

He swept over them again with his Spiritual Sense, scanning the wooden box before carefully examining the shattered porcelain on the ground. He could not help sighing. Although he did not collect antiques, this porcelain had no maker's mark on the bottom, and its colors and patterns felt somewhat crude. Perhaps there was no obvious problem when viewed with the naked eye, and only professionals could distinguish such things. But with Spiritual Sense, he could immediately spot problems in the porcelain's details.

He put the phone in his pocket into the Universe Bead, then used his Spiritual Sense to activate its video recording function before taking it back out and slipping it into his pocket. For now, he would just record the audio.