In the Security Room, the world whirled around him.
And before he knew it, Alex was back standing where it had all begun.
"Huh? I blinked, and now I am here again?" he grunted, still reeling from the abrupt change.
But then he gazed at his hands.
In his left hand, his fingers were tightly curled around a handful of small gold and silver pieces, the edges chilling and the surfaces glinting faintly in the flickering fluorescent light above.
In his right hand, heavy in the palm of his hand, rested a jade bracelet so smooth and cool that it almost seemed to beat with life.
His jaw fell open in disbelief. "No way... it actually worked."
Ancient Things Can Really Be Brought Back!
A slow smile spread across his face. "I am going to be rich. Really rich!"
The morning shift had ended, but Alex did not have a moment to catch his breath. He had two missions of utmost importance on his plate.
First, money.
He had to find out how to convert those ingots and the bracelet to cold, hard cash. He was penniless, but now? These trinkets were like golden tickets.
Second, supplies.
Water. Lots of it.
He wanted to return with boxes of bottled mineral water. If half a bottle had earned him silver and gold, what could ten crates bring in?
A fortune? Land? A small army?
He was not going to wait around to see.
A path to riches lay before him, and he was not going to let it get away.
But it was not only water that he required.
The last time, he had fled the streets from desperate refugees, and while he had made his getaway, it had been a wake-up call. Those hollow eyes and skeletal hands reaching toward him had left an impression he could not shake.
So this time, he would be prepared.
Axes. Machetes. Anything he was legally allowed to carry.
Yes, ancient cities did have their governments, but they were not exactly practicing modern law and order. The streets belonged to whoever was strongest, hungriest, or most desperate.
And as for guns and explosives?
Too dangerous. Too complicated.
For the time being, a few good blades would suffice.
After some consideration, Alex returned to the room he had rented after work. He changed into casual clothes, bought some buns from a street vendor, and approached a jewellery store.
All jewellery stores typically have two primary businesses.
One, selling gold.
Two, purchasing old gold.
While the global economy was in a downturn, foreign wars were ongoing, and world powers were at odds with each other, the cost of gold had risen to record-breaking levels over the last two years.
Now, the price of 24-carat gold had gone up to $85 per gram.
Buyback price stood at $80 per gram.
A difference of $5 per gram.
Money could be earned through selling.
You could still earn money by purchasing back at the appropriate time.
But for jewelers, long-term stability was always priority.
"What is the current gold buyback price? I want to sell," Alex asked bluntly as he entered the shop.
"The rate is $80 per gram. How many grams do you have?" the shopkeeper answered, putting on his reading glasses. "Let me verify the goods first."
The owner of the shop was a plump middle-aged man with piercing, calculating eyes. He sized up Alex as he talked.
Alex pulled out a thumb-sized piece of gold. The man's eyes widened nearly immediately.
"This has an antique finish... looks like an old-type gold ingot. Very heavy too. I would guess something like 20 to 30 grams."
He roughly estimated it in the palm of his hand, weighing it deftly.
After he made sure Alex really was interested in selling it, the shopkeeper put the gold ingot into a stone crucible and scorched it with a miniature flamethrower.
In due time...
The gold eased and trickled as a molten pool. "This is good quality," the man stated, obviously pleased. "Burned it for a while and still shows no sign of impurities. Must be at least 99.99% pure."
Then molten gold was poured onto the scales.
"28.57 grams exactly. At the market price of $80 per gram, that would be $2,285."
He smiled as he gave the final quote.
A few minutes later, Alex's phone buzzed.
He looked at the message and his eyes widened.
Two thousand two hundred and eighty-five dollars. He had never in his life had so much money till now.
Not a little, and particularly not for a newly graduated college alumni with a security guard job. It was a sum that felt almost unreal, sitting there in his account like a small miracle.
It was the equivalent of nearly two dozen months' worth of his earnings, or even more.
Once he had received the money, Alex walked out of the jewellery shop, hailed a taxi, and proceeded to a nearby hardware store. There, he purchased two machetes, two mountain axes, and three crates of bottled water.
By the time he had bought and brought all these back to his rented apartment, it was already two o'clock in the afternoon.
"Travelling by taxi for this stuff is such a pain," he muttered, wiping the sweat off his brow. "I really need to get myself a car soon."
He glanced at his phone.
"I wonder if Rishi replied to my message."
Alex opened his contacts and tapped on Rishi's name.
Rishi, a college buddy, came from a wealthy family deeply involved in the gemstones and jewellery trade. A classic rich kid, easygoing, flashy, and surprisingly well-connected.
They used to play basketball together back in college, and Rishi often mentioned how tricky the jade and precious stone business could be.
Alex figured it would be safest to let Rishi's family handle the jade bracelet he had found.
Soon, the call connected.
"Yo, Alex! What is up? Got time for a drink?" Rishi's cheerful voice rang out from the other side.
"Not this time. I have got a jade bracelet I am looking to sell," Alex replied, skipping the pleasantries. "Thought I would let you take a look first, maybe get an estimate."
"Oh, nice! Send me your location. I will drive over now," Rishi said without hesitation.
After he hung up, Alex found a local café and took a seat, drinking cold coffee as he waited.
Rishi was in the city too, so he showed up reasonably soon.
Around 40 minutes later, Alex saw a Porsche Cayenne pull up outside through the glass wall of the café.
"Rishi! Over here!" he shouted, motioning him over.
Rishi arrived, round-faced, broad-shouldered, with bushy eyebrows and a foolish grin.
He appeared to be the kind of fellow who would lend you a pen during class. Only those who actually knew him were privy to the fact that his family owned a jewellery business worth millions of dollars and had several properties in the city.
"Bro! As dashing as ever," Rishi smiled, pulling up a chair.
"I have been dashing since day one," Alex replied with a smirk. "Now come on, let us see how much this bracelet of mine is actually worth."
He pulled out the jade bracelet from his pocket and handed it over.
The moment Rishi held it, his expression shifted.
"Whoa... this is really good quality," he murmured, the playful tone gone.
"It is smooth, warm to the touch..."
He looked at it more seriously now, posture upright, no longer treating it as a mundane task. His fingers traced the delicate carvings along the surface, and his eyes narrowed with professional scrutiny.