The old professor glanced at Nie Yun's shabby fishing boat and sighed.
When he'd first heard that a major corporation like Chu Group was offering a high price for him to identify a batch of goods suspected to be nuclear fuel, he'd been somewhat skeptical. Now, it looked like the whole thing had been a joke.
His face dark, he shook the thermos. A series of metallic clinks came from inside, like small, evenly sized metal pellets.
His expression darkened further. With his years of research experience, he knew that was definitely not the sound of uranium ore! He'd been had after all.
"Professor Fang, is there a problem?" Ye Min asked, noticing the old professor's unfriendly expression.
"Hmph! Judging by that sound, the uranium's very pure. It's even in metallic form. I never expected your people to have gotten their hands on enriched uranium that's already been refined. Well, this old man's certainly seen something new today! Heh!" Professor Fang sneered.
Nie Yun looked at Professor Fang in amazement. He hadn't expected the man to identify the contents as enriched uranium just by giving the thermos a casual shake and listening. No wonder he was a professor!
"Professor Fang, your judgment is razor-sharp! I'm impressed!" Nie Yun said sincerely.
Professor Fang wasn't impressed. He shot Nie Yun a fierce glare, snorted, then carried the thermos behind his back and swayed his way into the cabin to test the sample.
Watching Professor Fang leave, Ye Min couldn't help asking Nie Yun, "Is this really nuclear fuel?"
"Of course it is! Didn't you just hear the professor? He's an expert you can trust!" Nie Yun replied with absolute certainty.
Ye Min pressed a hand to her forehead. She didn't want to deal with him anymore. Hadn't she noticed the professor leaving with a sneer?
Deep down, she didn't believe something so ridiculous either. She began wondering how she should calm the old professor down when he came storming out in a rage. She just hoped he wouldn't get so worked up that he harmed himself.
Ten minutes passed.
Twenty minutes passed.
Half an hour passed.
"Tell me, why's this old professor taking so long? Could he be a fake?" Nie Yun suddenly turned around and began questioning Professor Fang's expertise.
Wasn't he just the one who'd said the man was an expert you could trust? Ye Min rolled her eyes.
To "safely" develop nuclear power, Nie Yun had made a point of studying nuclear energy. After reading vast amounts of technical literature and browsing related forums, his knowledge was every bit as good as a professor's. He was quite familiar with the testing process, too. It should have taken less than ten minutes.
Before Ye Min could get in a couple of jabs, Professor Fang finally came out.
But unlike before, when he'd held his head high and strutted around, this time he was carefully cradling the "thermos" in both hands. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost and inched forward one step at a time, as if afraid that the vibrations from walking might trigger some kind of disaster.
"Y-young man, please take this!" Well, he was even using honorifics now.
Nie Yun took the thermos without a care and stuffed it into the empty plastic bag he'd brought along. The bag had "Blue Sky Supermarket" printed on it.
Incidentally, he'd brought it all the way here just like that.
Professor Fang stared at the Blue Sky Supermarket bag, looking as if he'd eaten something disagreeable.
"Professor, how did the tests go?" Ye Min asked, noticing the old professor's strange expression.
Professor Fang took several deep breaths to steady himself, then spoke in an odd tone.
"This young man really does have one kilogram of high-purity enriched uranium!"
"Gasp!" Ye Min drew in a sharp breath.
"Could the test be wrong?" she asked uncertainly. This was just too incredible.
"That was my first thought, too, so I tested it three times. The result was the same every time! And what's even more shocking is that its concentration is an unbelievable 90%!" Professor Fang dropped one bombshell after another.
Of course, Ye Min, who wasn't an expert, just looked confused. Was 90% that high?
Noticing her confusion, Professor Fang explained with a strange expression, "In theory, uranium enriched to 93% can be used to make nuclear weapons. Which means that if this stuff were enriched just a little more..."
Ye Min: "..."
She turned and stared at Nie Yun in shock. She'd previously believed, at least a little, that his friend who could call in a warship might be able to get hold of uranium ore. But she'd never imagined he could get his hands on something of this caliber.
Just thinking about it was enough to tell her how precious it was. If some small country or terrorists found out about it, they'd stop at nothing to get it, even if they had to start a war!
"How much is this stuff worth?" Ye Min asked. She knew Nie Yun had brought it to sell.
"How much is it worth?" Professor Fang gave Ye Min a disapproving look. Could money really measure the value of this stuff? To some countries, it was the means to rise to power!
"If you sold it to North Korea, they'd probably pay over ten billion at the very least. I mean U.S. dollars," the old professor added in a low voice.
"Gasp!" This time, Ye Min kept sucking in one breath after another.
Her first thought was, Damn! This kid's loaded! Should I get on his good side?
"Young man, may I ask where this came from?" Professor Fang asked cautiously.
"Well..." Nie Yun racked his brains, trying to come up with a decent excuse.
Found it? That excuse was getting old!
"My friend found it!" he declared.
Professor Fang: "..."
Ye Min: "..."
Last time, you found gold coins, and this time your friend found nuclear fuel. Could you try to be a little more creative? At least come up with a halfway decent excuse!
"I understand! I understand! How could you just reveal something like that? Young man, you really are capable. Well, this old man has a favor to ask. I wonder if you'd be willing to help?" Professor Fang rubbed his hands together with a fawning smile.
Professor Fang was known for being stern and inflexible. If his students saw him making that face, their eyes would practically fall out of their heads!
"Don't mention it, Professor. If it's something I can do, I'll definitely agree!"
"Could you sell some of this highly enriched uranium to our institute? Not much—just five grams!" Professor Fang looked at Nie Yun hopefully.
The Atomic Energy Research Institute could get some uranium ore allocated by the state as experimental material, but China already had a shortage of uranium. With more and more nuclear power plants being built, the shortage was becoming even more severe.
And even when they did receive supplies, they were low-grade uranium ore. They could never get their hands on highly enriched uranium like this! The research value of the material was immeasurable, too!
"Oh, that? Since you've asked, of course I can! I've already entrusted Chu Group with handling the whole batch. You can work out the price with them. I've already agreed on the terms with Chu Group, so as long as they're fine with it, I have no objections!"
Nie Yun believed in letting the experts handle their own work, so he left everything to them.
"Young man, are you saying you've entrusted all one kilogram of it to Chu Group?" Professor Fang seized on an important detail.
"Yeah! Here, now that the tests are done, Sister Ye, could you give this to Xiaoxiao for me?" Nie Yun handed the Blue Sky Supermarket bag to Ye Min.
Ye Min took it, still a little dazed. Only then did she react and ask in astonishment, "Y-you're just handing it to me like this? Don't you need any kind of guarantee?"
This was worth over ten billion U.S. dollars, and he was just handing it over so casually? He'd passed it to her as naturally as a market vendor handing someone a couple of cucumbers.
"Come on, what would I need a guarantee for? Xiaoxiao is my dad's daughter—my little sister! I trust her completely! What she says goes for me. I wouldn't mind even if she gave the whole thing away!" Nie Yun finished, clapped his hands, and turned to jump aboard his Sea Wolf.
He waved and called out, "Say hello to Xiaoxiao and your aunt for me!"
Professor Fang and Ye Min stared blankly at the smoke-belching Sea Wolf as it chugged away. Neither said a word for a long while.
Before you continue