The Natives of This World Are So Fierce - Chapter 37: The Strange Crystal Mine
Huang Jiutian did not possess Qin Xiaoxia's formidable ability to hypnotize himself.
So, unsurprisingly, he could not sleep.
He could not stop thinking about his future, about Dawn, or about what would happen if he gained magic power.
He did not know whether he could exercise the same self-restraint as Qin Xiaoxia. Having been an ordinary person for over twenty years, he was also afraid he might turn into one of those people in the movies who became evil after gaining power.
Naturally, Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou had no idea how much drama was playing out in Huang Jiutian's head.
If Qin Xiaoxia had known, he would definitely have roared, "Jiu Tian! You're absolutely perfect for Dawn! I'll give you the brand right now!"
Su Su felt very frustrated. She had barely slept deeply at all the night before, forcing herself to stay in a state where she could get up and reply the moment a WeChat notification sounded on her phone.
But dreams were rosy, and reality was harsh. She had waited all night, yet Qin Xiaoxia's message still had not come.
That left her feeling a little hurt, though she knew this sense of disappointment came only from expecting too much. He had never promised her anything.
Feeling sleepy and reluctant to get out of bed, Su Su decided to catch up on her sleep. After all, she did not start work until one in the afternoon.
"Drrring, drrring!"
The phone on her bedside table suddenly rang.
Su Su sprang up reflexively and snatched her phone, only then remembering that Qin Xiaoxia had merely added her on WeChat. He did not have her phone number.
A glance at the caller ID showed an international call from her friend Jenny, far away in Los Angeles. The image of a lively redheaded girl sprang into her mind before anything else.
She swiped to answer, and a rapid stream of English came pouring out.
"Hi, Fia, it's me, Jenny! It should be morning over there, right? I didn't wake you, did I? Hahaha, miss me? How's work going?"
Uh...
"Oh, Jenny, which of all those questions am I supposed to answer first? Anyway, everything's fine here."
On the other end of the line, a redheaded girl was pushing a shopping cart through a large supermarket open late into the evening.
Holding her phone in one hand, she pushed the cart and browsed the shelves, happily chatting with her friend in another country.
"Listen, Fia, something really interesting and strange happened around here recently. Did you hear? They discovered a crystal gemstone deposit under Old Ode's scrapyard out in the suburbs! God, how did Old Ode get so lucky? Why can't something like that happen to me?"
Girls were like dragons, fascinated by jewels and glittering things.
The topic immediately caught Su Su's interest.
She rolled over and lay back down on the bed with her phone, then rolled again to lie face down on her pillow, her full breasts pressing against it in a graceful curve.
"Really? Really? That junkyard? Didn't anyone survey the land when he bought it? If there was a Crystal Mine, how could he have gotten his hands on it?"
The redheaded girl slapped her shopping cart hard.
"Exactly! How did he get it? You know, he brought in an appraisal expert, and the guy couldn't stop praising the quality of the crystals in that mine. He even said they might be a previously undiscovered variety!"
"No way! Seriously?"
Su Su was pounding her bed just as hard.
"Wait, hasn't it only been a little while? He's already started mining it? Are there any pictures? Could we get a discount if we went to buy some raw crystal? Are there any big pieces?"
As a crystal-ball diviner, she found large natural crystals even more enticing than other gemstones. Besides sharing an amusing piece of news, Jenny had called specifically because she knew this.
"That's what I thought was strange, too. It's like the mine was already there, and Old Ode just dug an opening into it. Oh, and Jack said the crystals inside really are pretty big. Apparently, some of them even glow!"
At this point, Jenny quietly cupped a hand over her phone and lowered her voice.
"Jack, Joseph, and the others are planning to find a chance to sneak inside at night soon."
On her end, Su Su instinctively covered her mouth as well. Those bold American youngsters.
Incidentally, Su Su had taken her father's nationality. She was a citizen of Huaguo.
Heaven knew why so many people from Huaguo wanted to change their nationality. She knew perfectly well how hard it was for a foreigner to get a Huaguo green card without a father from Huaguo.
"Okay, Fia, I've got to go shopping. If Jack and the others don't get caught, I'll call you and tell you about it."
After hanging up, Jenny smiled, but then could not help frowning.
Up ahead, another group of people was shopping together with several carts.
Their carts were mostly filled with bottled water and ready-to-eat food.
Why have there been so many food-hoarding nuts lately?
Yes, some people were always visiting dubious websites and reading all sorts of dubious news. Who knew whether someone had started spreading another ridiculous doomsday prophecy?
Although the vast majority did not believe it, there were fanatics everywhere.
So lately, shoppers stocking up on supplies could be seen from time to time, either alone or in groups.
Never assume that panic buying was exclusive to people from Huaguo. Foreigners could be terrifying when they went crazy, too.
This situation also gave supermarket owners quite a headache.
It was not that they did not want to make money. But when certain products kept selling out and other customers could not buy what they wanted, the supermarket suffered as well, losing customer traffic.
Far away, in a suburban neighborhood in Los Angeles, the sky had gone completely dark.
Three white youths and one black youth, four in all, quietly approached a scrapyard.
They leaned against the rusty chain-link fence, gazing at the lights in the distance.
"Old Ode actually hired security guards?"
Several floodlights brightly illuminated the area around the mine entrance. All the trash and scrap nearby had been cleared away.
A simple portable guard booth had also been set up beside it, with several fully armed, uniformed men patrolling nearby.
"What do we do now? There's no way we can get past them! Damn it!"
The young black man stamped his foot in frustration.
Blond-haired Jack tugged at his collar, then used both hands and feet to climb to the top of the chain-link fence for a better look.
"Looks like giving Fia a crystal ball isn't going to happen..."
Jack was just about to climb down when Joseph called softly from below.
"Look!"
The other three, including Jack up on the fence, all turned toward the mine.
The security guards on watch suddenly began taking off their clothes right where they stood.
The sight was indescribably bizarre.
"What are they doing?"
None of the four had anything against gay people, but they did not believe those middle-aged security guards were about to have group sex...
They exchanged glances and decided to keep watching.
"Too bad it's a little far away. My phone can't get a clear shot, or this would definitely go viral!"
Joseph cracked a joke.
Half a minute later, none of the four were speaking anymore.
There were five middle-aged guards in total. All their clothes were in the booth or on the ground, and their weapons had been set down farther away.
The men themselves had all entered the mine stark naked.
Perhaps out of instinct, the four gradually crouched lower in the darkness. Although they wanted to leave, some powerful curiosity made them want to see what the guards were doing inside and when they would come out.
Half an hour passed.
Waves of goosebumps rose over all four of them.
No one came out! No sound! No sign of anything else!
"Let's... get out of here..."
"Agreed!"
"Yeah!"