Of course, Li Xiang wasnât foolish enough to dig for jadeite himself. That would be far too much trouble. Besides, what you dug up were basically rough stones, with no guarantee of finding good material. This market, on the other hand, had it all: finished and semi-finished products, windowed stones, raw stones, slabs, and roughsâeverything one could possibly want.
It was around one in the morning when Li Xiang arrived. The streetlights were dim, and many stretches had no lights at all. The area was filthy, chaotic, and run-down, utterly cold and deserted.
Although Mandalay had a night market, it usually closed up by nine p.m. As Myanmarâs second-largest city, almost no one dared to venture out late at night.
âThe Eighteen Dukes were in a chaotic war. Even with a temporary ceasefire now, how good could public safety possibly be?â
If this were Chinaâs second-largest city, the streets would still be bustling with endless streams of traffic, a time of lively and peaceful nightlife.
A semi-truck RUMBLED past, its trailer piled high with Jadeite Rough Stones. In a blur, Li Xiang boarded the truck and hid himself in the pile of stones.
About twenty minutes later, the truck arrived at the gate of a jadeite processing estate. The sign at the entrance featured an icon of a Leopard with a piece of jadeite in its mouth.
âLeopard Jadeite? Is this leopard punching a clock?â
Several armed guards came over to inspect. Li Xiang hid behind a large Stone. The guards didnât look too closely; they just asked the driver a few questions before opening the gate and letting the truck in.
When they reached a corner, Li Xiang jumped off the truck.
Although he was here to plunder the Alien Race, he had no intention of harming ordinary civilians. In any country, common people were a vulnerable group just struggling to survive. As an Extraordinary Being of the Huaxia Civilization, such an act was beneath him.
This estate had armed guards, so its background was likely not simple. But he didnât act rashly, deciding to investigate further.
In his past life, as the commander of a "Sharp Knife" company, he had often led his team on special missions like assaults, reconnaissance, and infiltration. A small estate like this was nothing in his eyes.
Inside the estate was a three-story office building that seemed quite luxuriously decorated. Li Xiang leaped onto its roof.
âIs that crying?â
Li Xiangâs ears twitched. He followed the sound and quickly pinpointed one of the rooms. It was a woman, crying pitifully, her sobs laced with terror.
He went to the edge of the rooftop and peered down. Below was a window. He flipped his body over and landed lightly on the windowsill, as silent as a cat.
A man was sprawled imperiously on a sofa. A young woman, naked and covered in whip marks, knelt before him. On the coffee table beside them lay a whip, a syringe, a small packet of fine white powder, a few red pills, a handgun, and some other miscellaneous items.
The man was speaking in Burmese, which Li Xiang didnât understand.
As the man spoke, he grabbed the womanâs hair and forced her head down toward his crotch...
That settled it. Li Xiang had seen enough. He immediately sentenced the man to death. With a flick of his finger, a streak of Cold Ice Sword Qi shot out. It pierced through the windowpane without losing any momentum and sank into the manâs throat.
Blood gushed out. The woman jumped back, startled, and began to scream in terror.
The womanâs screams drew many guards to the area. Li Xiang, not bothering to reveal himself, remained hidden in the shadows and fired off one stream of Cold Ice Sword Qi after another, killing the approaching guards one by one.
This Cold Ice Sword Qi was one of his Lifebound Superpowers. It killed silently and without a trace, and it consumed very little Spiritual Power. It was far more effective than any firearm.
The woman glanced toward the window but saw no one. Thinking she had seen a ghost, she scrambled away in terror.
Li Xiang couldnât be bothered with her. He simply crashed through the glass and entered the room.
He tossed the handgun into his system warehouse. He saw a drawer in the coffee table, pulled it open, and sucked in a sharp breath.
Holy hell. Small bag after small bag of little pillsâsome red, some black, some greenâalong with several packets of fine white powder. Needless to say, the presence of these things proved that Li Xiang hadnât killed the wrong person.
The Golden Triangle truly lived up to its reputation.
Li Xiang threw all the dead guardsâ firearms into his system warehouse. Although he had no use for them, he could give them to the people at his base in the future. They wouldnât be effective against the powerful Demon Beasts in space, but they could still be used against some of the mutated Low Tier Demon Beasts on Earth, or the Low Tier Demon Beasts that invaded Earth through spatial nodes.
Then, he went into an inner room, opened a wardrobe, and found a safe hidden inside.
He didnât even use the White Fang Dagger. Instead, he grabbed the safeâs door and yanked hard. With a SNAP, the door was torn right off.
The whole thing was warped out of shape.
With a force of tens of thousands of pounds, even the most secure lock could be broken by brute force. Unless it was the vault door of a large bank, which might take a bit more effort.
But even the most advanced vault door couldnât possibly withstand the cutting power of the White Fang Dagger, could it?
Inside the safe were over sixty gold bars and more than thirty exquisite jadeite Accessories.
The jadeite Accessories included necklaces, bracelets, ring stones, and pendants. They were either of glassy or icy quality, some a solid green, others with floating patterns, streaked with red, or a beautiful lavender. All were translucent and seemed to glow from within, exceptionally beautiful.
In addition, there was a large bag of various pills and powders.
It was self-evident what those drugs were. Li Xiang naturally wouldnât touch them; he only took the gold bars and jadeite, storing them in his system warehouse.
He counted them. There were sixty-eight gold bars in total. Each one was marked as 116.64 grams, equivalent to 3.746 ounces, and was four-nines fineâa common specification for international standard gold bars.