“Ding dong!”
A crisp notification sound broke the silence of the room. Qin Hao jolted and quickly picked up his phone.
【Your loan application has been approved. An amount of 20,000 yuan has been successfully disbursed to your linked account. Please check it.】
It worked!
Qin Hao let out a long sigh of relief, a complex mix of excitement and unease welling up in his heart.
He immediately checked his bank card balance and, sure enough, there were an extra twenty thousand yuan.
For him, this money was undoubtedly a huge sum, but also a double-edged sword.
The night passed without incident.
The next morning, Qin Hao took a day off, then, clutching that “huge sum,” headed straight for the largest gold, silver, and jewelry trading market in Zhou City.
The reason he chose this place was because gold prices were a bit cheaper here, and there were more styles.
Walking into a resplendent jewelry store, the dazzling array of gold ornaments shimmered with captivating luster under the spotlights, making Qin Hao feel a bit dizzy.
He tried his best to appear calm and natural, not wanting anyone to notice his nervousness.
“Hello, sir, what would you like to see?” A delicately made-up sales assistant greeted him with a smile.
“I’d like to look at bracelets,” Qin Hao said calmly.
His gaze scanned the display counter, preparing to choose one at a suitable price.
Ultimately, he selected a simple, plain gold bangle, weighing about forty grams, priced at 450 yuan per gram.
The total price was over eighteen thousand.
This weight and price were perfectly within his budget.
“I’ll take this one!” Qin Hao pointed at the bangle and spoke.
Then came the payment, invoicing, and packaging.
The entire process was completed in less than two minutes.
As he walked out of the jewelry store with the beautifully packaged jewelry box, the sunlight felt a bit dazzling.
Suppressing the excitement in his heart, he hailed a taxi and left the area.
Upon returning to his familiar rented room, Qin Hao locked the door and drew the curtains, ensuring no one would disturb him.
Then, he cautiously opened the jewelry box. The gleaming gold bangle lay quietly on the red velvet, emitting an alluring glow.
Suppressing his excitement, Qin Hao first picked it up and scanned it.
System: 【Target: Gold Bangle. Replicating this target requires 380 energy points.】
“Hmm? It seems I don’t have enough energy!” Frowning, Qin Hao, with no other option, had to recharge first.
This time, he directly charged the energy to 400 points.
“Four hundred energy points, finally enough!” Qin Hao was excited.
He quickly picked up the gold bangle again; it felt slightly heavy in his hand, and the cool touch invigorated him.
He silently chanted, “System, replicate for me!”
The next moment, his left hand, which had been empty, now held an identical gold bangle!
The two bangles, whether in color, weight, size, or even the subtle marks on them, were completely identical. It was impossible to tell which was the original and which was the replica.
“Haha, it worked! This is great!” Qin Hao could no longer suppress the wild joy in his heart.
He picked up both bangles, turning them over and over, his face beaming with incredible excitement.
This feeling was completely different from when he replicated banknotes. Banknotes had serial numbers, making them waste.
But this gold bangle had no such thing as a serial number! This meant that the replica in his hand was real gold! It was real gold that could be taken to a gold shop and exchanged for money!
He immediately checked the system interface.
He had 20 energy points left, having used exactly 380 points.
Qin Hao secretly clicked his tongue.
It seemed that replicating different items indeed consumed vastly different amounts of energy.
However, none of that mattered anymore.
What mattered was that he had succeeded!
He possessed a heaven-defying ability to continuously replicate gold!
After the shock came immense ecstasy.
He seemed to see himself reaching the pinnacle of his life.
Those once unattainable dreams—luxury cars, mansions, financial freedom—suddenly seemed within reach.
“Calm down, calm down!”
Qin Hao forced himself to calm down.
Now that he held the key to changing his destiny, it was precisely at this moment that he needed to be most cautious.
He couldn't get carried away, nor could he let anyone know this secret.
He carefully put away both bangles, one back into its original jewelry box, and the other wrapped in a cloth and hidden away.
Next, he needed to consider how to convert this replicated gold into cash.
Directly taking it to the store where he just bought the bangle to sell? That was definitely not an option; it would too easily arouse suspicion.
“I need to find another store to sell it.”
After finalizing his plan, Qin Hao immediately went out again, found a jewelry store far from his place, and prepared to sell the replicated bangle.
Zhang Liufu Jewelry Store.
“Boss, do you buy this bangle?” Qin Hao asked directly as soon as he entered.
At the same time, he took out the replicated bangle and handed it over.
“We do! But I have to verify its authenticity first.”
The gold store owner was a shrewd middle-aged man. After taking the bangle, he took out professional tools to meticulously authenticate it, then weighed it.
“Hmm, it’s pure gold, a little over forty grams. Today’s recycling price is 415 yuan per gram, for a total of 16,600 yuan.”
The owner quoted a price.
Qin Hao calculated in his mind; although it was a slight loss compared to the purchase price, it was reasonable.
He nodded: “Alright, that price works.”
However, just then, the store owner asked Qin Hao: “By the way, young man, do you have the purchase invoice?”
Having anticipated such a situation, Qin Hao casually offered an explanation.
“The invoice, I don’t know where it got lost; I can’t find it anymore.”
The owner smiled slightly after hearing this.
“Oh! Well, if that’s the case, the price might be…” He didn’t finish the latter half of his sentence, but instead gave a knowing look.
Qin Hao understood. “I know the rules, boss. Just tell me a price, and I’ll consider it.”
“How about this, I’ll give you 400 per gram? After all, for gold without an invoice, I also have to take on some risk.”
After speaking, the owner continuously observed Qin Hao’s reaction.
Qin Hao, of course, knew that the other party was deliberately trying to drive down the price. For his few tens of grams of gold, the other party would have no trouble at all. After all, it wasn’t tens of kilograms.
“Alright then! That price it is, but I want cash.”
Qin Hao deliberately frowned and considered for a while before reluctantly agreeing. In reality, he was incredibly happy. A few hundred energy points were just a few hundred kilowatt-hours of electricity, a few hundred yuan in electricity bills.
What he got in return was over ten thousand yuan. This profit would make even capitalists shed tears.
After getting the money, Qin Hao returned home.
Then he began to seriously consider how to use this system to make money.
If he replicated gold every day, consuming hundreds or thousands of kilowatt-hours of electricity a day, the power company would probably think he had opened a mine at home and would show up to check the water meter—oh no, the electricity meter—in minutes.
There would be no way to fool them.
“And selling the gold is also a hassle,” Qin Hao sighed.
Selling one bangle this time went smoothly enough.
But if he frequently brought gold items to sell, and each time “conveniently” had no invoice, even a fool would become suspicious.
Gold store owners were all shrewd people. If they caught on and called the police, that would be a huge problem.
“I can’t just sell to one place, and for now, I still need to solve these two problems.” Qin Hao kept thinking.
The first thing to solve was the energy problem. He couldn’t do it in the rented room, so he had to find a place where high electricity consumption wouldn’t easily attract attention.
