Chapter 422: Gunshots Under the Cover of Night

“By the way, have you guys seen the news? There’s been quite a buzz online about an artifact recently unearthed from a pyramid.”

Zhang Wei suddenly spoke up. He enjoyed keeping tabs on a variety of topics, from luxury cars and mansions to celebrity gossip.

Well, in short, he knew a little about everything but couldn’t afford any of it.

Mei Liangxin sneered at the news: “Nonsense, when it comes to antiques, you’ve got to look at the ones from our Longguo. Antiques from Longguo routinely fetch billions.”

“Heh, but according to the latest online news, this foreign artifact already has a staggering offer of fifty billion.” Zhang Wei mercilessly slapped Mei Liangxin in the face with the reality.

Mei Liangxin was dumbfounded: “Are people crazy? In these times, are there too many idiots and not enough scammers?”

“It’s all just online gossip. No one really knows what that artifact even looks like yet.” Ye Yang clearly had also kept up with the story.

Zhao Qing half-joked: “Heh, maybe it’s something from aliens. Isn’t there a bunch of nutcases who claim pyramids were built by extraterrestrials?”

Everyone burst out laughing. As young people of the 21st century, anyone who believed such stories was clearly brain-dead.

These days, even low-level scams like ‘I am Qin Shi Huang, send money’ can con people, proving that life is getting better, but fools are on the rise.

From Xu Shaochen’s perspective, this might just be a premeditated hype scheme. Even the person who offered fifty billion could be in on the scam.

First, they drive up the price. The world is big, and there are plenty of rich people. Eventually, some fool will fall for it.

Of course, there’s also the possibility that this really is a priceless artifact. After all, nothing in this world is 100% certain—where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

To be honest, if given a chance, he’d really like to get his hands on that item and see what it actually is.

This might just be the most expensive artifact he had ever heard of. With such absurd pricing, aren’t they afraid they’ll scare off all the sheep? At the same time, Ye Tao was personally escorting Gu Jun to board a flight to Yunnan at the airport.

Gu Jun was heading to Yunnan Province first. From there, he would cross the border into Vietnam to meet with the hired desperados and plan the heist for the artifact.

The guns, people, intel, and the escape route were all prepared.

Ye Tao initially didn’t want him to go, but Gu Jun insisted that if he didn’t lead the team himself, there’d be others who might get greedy and demand a higher price after securing the goods.

Ye Tao had no choice but to let him go. Indeed, that group couldn’t be trusted.

Over the next two days, Xu Shaochen was active at various receptions, banquets, and even the New Town Construction Project Group.

The purchase contract for Xingxing Hotel was already signed by representatives from Chen Yu, and it had been officially renamed Chen Yu Grand Hotel.

Oh, by the way, Mei Liangying had recently gone on a business trip without mentioning the destination. This left Xu Shaochen rather frustrated, so he’d already booked his return to Jiangzhou.

He asked Ye Yang to investigate the truth behind Yunbei Group, but the information Ye Yang uncovered was too superficial and didn’t go deep enough.

The chairman of Yunbei Group, Zhang Mingrong, had studied abroad and returned. Her background was clean, and she was indeed very beautiful.

However, it was precisely because they couldn’t find any flaws that Xu Shaochen grew more suspicious of the hidden secrets behind this.

The life of the wealthy is just that boring, filled with paranoia and suspicion.

………………

Night had fallen, dark as ink.

This was a pier in the wilderness of Vietnam.

A ferry was anchored in the river, with no lights on, as if no one was aboard.

“Vroom vroom vroom…”

The deafening roar of engines broke the silence. Accompanied by a blinding flash of light, several vehicles pulled up to the pier.

At the same time, three dark-skinned middle-aged men jumped off the ferry, each holding a gun.

The doors of two vehicles opened, and seven people got out in total. The bald-headed man leading them was dressed in a worn-out military uniform, clearly belonging to some private armed group.

“The item is here. It must be delivered tonight. You don’t need to worry about the rest. The buyer in Mg Country has already been arranged.”

The bald-headed man handed over a pure Metal Box to the man leading the ferry crew.

“Rest assured, we will complete the mission and deliver the item safely.”

“Bang!”

A gunshot rang out, deafening in the otherwise quiet surroundings. The man holding the Metal Box now had a gaping hole in his chest and collapsed to the ground.

“We’ve got company! Prepare for combat!”

The bald-headed man instantly dropped to the ground, shoving the Metal Box into his arms.

“Shuuu shuuu shuuu…”

Suddenly, glaring headlights from a distant forest shone on the shore, temporarily blinding the men in military uniforms.

In those few seconds, countless shadows flitted through the trees, and in just seconds, hundreds of bullets rained down ferociously.

“Fight back! Return fire! Don’t panic! Don’t lose it!”

These men were just an ill-trained private militia caught completely off guard, instantly thrown into chaos as the bald-headed man screamed hysterically, trying to restore order.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

“Ratatatata…”

Gunfire erupted as bullets sprayed out like fiery serpents, tearing through flesh and leaving gaping wounds.

Neither side had any sharpshooters, and the situation was chaos, so both sides were wildly spraying bullets, often needing dozens to hit and kill one person.

“Who are you? Do you know who we represent?”

“I know, f**k your mother! Guys, send them to hell! Let’s add ten more tombs by the river tonight!”

Gu Jun roared, charging forward with a submachine gun in hand, returning to his former glory days.

“Ah! I’m hit! I’m hit! We surrender! We surrender!”

“Bang! Bang!”

The cries of surrender were quickly drowned out by more gunshots. Who in this line of work would accept a surrender? Leaving them alive would lead to endless trouble.

About ten minutes later, the gunfire ceased.

The dozen or so men led by the bald-headed man were all dead or severely injured. On Gu Jun’s side, four were killed, six wounded.

“Throw the bodies into the river. Ten minutes have passed—local police likely heard the gunfire and are on their way. You all know the drill. Let’s split up.”

Gu Jun retrieved the box from the bald-headed man’s arms and left with two of his brothers, paying no attention to the others.

Their relationship was simple: you pay, we work, job done, and then we part ways.

Gu Jun was clean in the domestic records, but his two brothers weren’t. They had fled to this side from the mainland.

So, Gu Jun had to return alone.

At no point did he ever consider opening the box to see what was inside.

Because he feared that once he looked, the contents might trigger uncontrollable greed.

Resisting curiosity is the only way to resist greed.