Hidden Jade

After the Qinmeng Empire fell, plenty of teams braved great risks to loot the dead in Qinmeng.

Cartload after cartload of gold, silver, and other precious metals was hauled away, and plenty of people even used airliners.

Some made fortunes, giving rise to a number of major Lineages, while others not only lost their wealth in the venture but also their lives.

Some died as teams fought over the spoils, some were attacked by packs of beasts, and many more perished in beast tides.

Later teams searched and divided up many of the remains, while some were buried and rarely saw the light of day.

As they dug on in the mud, the cargo bed of a rusty old truck appeared before them.

Changkong Weiguang's judgment had been right. The odds of finding natural gold nuggets in the same place were slim, but it was another matter if someone had collected them and left them behind here.

After digging up two large gold nuggets in succession, they dug again and found agate, jadeite, pearls, and other valuables.

Although they had been buried for a long time, the gemstones had not faded.

A quick rinse brought the luster back to some of the gemstones.

"Digging mud is no fun, but I'd gladly dig for this stuff," Zuo Teng muttered.

"Even if it isn't ours, it feels good just to look and touch," Zhou Tianhao agreed.

"How did we get this kind of dogshit luck?"

"Maybe it's a coincidence!"

"Should we turn over this whole stretch of mud?"

Times had changed, and so had the value of goods.

Agate, pearls, and jadeite, for example, had once been valuable, but ever since technology for synthesizing all kinds of gemstones had emerged, even natural gems had plunged in value.

A piece of high-quality natural