Richest Rag-picker

Fang Chenyi nodded. He quite agreed with Billson’s point.

"So what was your plan when you couldn’t find out who I was?"

Hearing this, Billson scratched his head in embarrassment.

"The higher-ups’ orders were to take over the mine directly. If you showed up, we were to negotiate an acquisition with you. To avoid antagonizing Huaxia, their stance was that anything that could be solved with money should be."

Fang Chenyi thought this was a clever approach. To the Poseidon Clan, money was just a number. There was no need to make an enemy of Huaxia, that sleeping lion, over something that could be resolved with cash.

That may have been the official plan, but what Fang Chenyi and his group were met with wasn’t a negotiation—it was a hail of bullets.

As if sensing Fang Chenyi’s thoughts, Billson dropped to his knees with a THUD. He spoke nervously,

"I’m sorry, Boss! I honestly didn’t know you were the Huaxia owner. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have dared, not even if you gave me ten times the nerve."

Fang Chenyi waved his hand dismissively. ’Whether he would have dared to or not is irrelevant now. After all, this whole scene is only possible because I used Celestial Gods to alter the man’s mind.’

"Alright, let’s drop it. Tell me this: if your superiors wanted a peaceful resolution, why did you resort to force on your own?"

Hearing that his boss had no intention of pursuing the matter, Billson wiped the cold sweat from his brow and finally spoke.

"I... I was planning to pocket the acquisition money myself. I figured I’d dispose of you, forge a contract, and then the acquisition funds would go right into my pocket."

’So that was his plan. This guy is no saint.’ But on second thought, it made sense. ’How could the number three of a mercenary organization be a paragon of virtue?’

’But I still need this guy right now,’ Fang Chenyi thought, ’so I have no intention of killing him. Besides, he’s never harmed any Huaxia People before. As for how many foreigners he’s "disposed of"... what does that have to do with me?’

With that in mind, Fang Chenyi stopped dwelling on it and moved on to the real issue.

"Okay, I understand all that. Now, have you found the ’treasure’ yet?"

Fang Chenyi didn’t really believe in things like a Sea God’s Relic, but seeing them go to such great lengths piqued his curiosity.

After all, something completely unscientific had already happened to him personally.

Namely, the existence of his weaving bag and garbage tongs, not to mention the system that had inexplicably appeared in his mind.

’Compared to some Sea God’s Relic, my own secrets seem far more difficult to explain.’

At the mention of the treasure, Billson’s expression immediately turned glum.

"Sigh... We’ve already blown up half the mountain. We’ve found plenty of diamonds, but there’s been no sign of the treasure at all. At first, this Compass was getting a reading, but as we kept digging, it’s gone completely dead for the past few days."

As he spoke, Billson reached into his pocket, pulled out a small compass, and handed it to a curious Fang Chenyi.

Fang Chenyi reached out and took it.

It was surprisingly heavy in his hand. Looking down, he saw it was a palm-sized stone compass, with strange, incomprehensible symbols carved around its edge.

These strange symbols encircled a creature depicted in the center—a menacing, fang-baring creature that looked like a Cobra. What made Fang Chenyi curious, however, was that the Cobra’s eyes were shut.

After examining it from every angle for a long while, Fang Chenyi still couldn’t get a sense of what this thing was.

He couldn’t figure out its secrets, either.

"What’s this thing for?"

He tossed it up and down in his hand, then turned his gaze to the cautiously kneeling Billson.

Billson heard him and replied cautiously,

"That’s the Compass developed by the Cobra Organization. Its purpose is to find the Sea God’s Relic."

This time, before Fang Chenyi could even ask, Billson started explaining how to use it.

"You see the Cobra emblem on it? If you take a bit of soil from a place near the Sea God’s Relic and place it in the Cobra’s mouth, its eyes will open."

’It’s that magical?’

After hearing Billson’s explanation, Fang Chenyi focused on the Cobra’s eyes. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the eyelids weren’t a solid part of the carving.

The moment he noticed this, his initial thought that it was some truly supernatural object vanished.

’This thing is probably just a sophisticated scanner. You put in a soil sample, it analyzes the contents, and determines whether what you’re looking for is present.’

At this thought, an idea suddenly sparked in Fang Chenyi’s mind. ’I still have three unused special rewards...’

’I wonder what kind of special reward I’d get if I threw this thing into my weaving bag?’

Once the idea took root, it was hard to shake. Fang Chenyi was now sorely tempted to just toss it into his weaving bag and see what would happen.

He looked at Billson and asked,

"How many more of these do you have?"

Billson froze for a second, then nearly choked. ’What do you mean, "how many more"?!’

’My good sir, this is the ultimate treasure of the Cobra Organization! The entire organization only has this one, alright?!’

’If they hadn’t suspected a Sea God’s Relic was here, they never would have entrusted this treasure to me!’

At that thought, Billson wiped the cold sweat from his head and said with a pained expression,

"Boss, the entire Cobra Organization only has this single one."

"Oh? Only one? Don’t tell me it wasn’t developed by the Cobra Organization?"

That was unexpected. Fang Chenyi had assumed the Cobra Organization distributed these to all their search teams. Judging by Billson’s words, that clearly wasn’t the case.

Billson nodded hastily.

"Of course not. The Cobra Organization has world-class science labs, but even they can’t create something like this. These are issued by the Poseidon Clan to the organizations under them that are conducting the search. Each organization only gets one."

"And from what I hear, even the Poseidon Clan can’t produce them anymore. The ones that exist now have all been passed down through generations."

Hearing this, Fang Chenyi had no choice but to take another good look at the little gadget in his hand. ’If that’s the case, then this thing is likely not as simple as I first imagined.’

At the same time, this only strengthened his resolve to toss it into his weaving bag.