I Spy With My Secret Eyes

Chapter 31

After leaving Darren’s place, Fabian didn’t urge Oliver to go to the next one. Instead, Fabian said with a smile that he would take them to dinner.

The restaurants in Manchernius were not as good as the ones back in the country, but they were still quite unique.

The meal cost 200 thousand Manchernius dollars, which came down to 200 dollars after conversion. Fabian secretly paid the bill so that Oliver could hot take it from him.

That day, Fabian had already earned about 90,000 dollars from Oliver. Thus, it would seem wrong if Fabian were still reluctant to pay a few hundred dollars.

It was still early, just after noon, after they finished the meal.

Fabian smiled and said to Oliver, “Mr. Eastwood, we’re in no rush anyway. How about I take you to the mine site?”

Hailey rushed to say, “Sure. I’ve never seen how jadeite is produced.”

Oliver also nodded, but he asked Fabian carefully, “Can you buy it on the spot if we see a good stone?”

“Of course.” Fabian nodded and replied, “You can buy the stones from private mines whenever, as long as the mine owner thinks the price is appropriate. However, the old mine materials owned by the government cannot be sold privately. Generally, they are only auctioned in the official auctions. Then again, there is nothing that they wouldn’t sell as long as the price is right. They are not fools, after all. Why won’t they sell it to you if you offered 300 thousand dollars for something that could only sell for 200 thousand dollars in the official auctions?”

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In the past, Manchernius’s raw stones were not prohibited from private trading. The government only took a profit as tax. However, later, the government received fewer taxes even though the price of jadeite rose higher and higher. Thus, the government withdrew the right and changed to public auction.

That way, it maximized the profits of jadeite to its most.

The raw stone mined from Manchernius were mainly sold through stone gambling. On the other hand, semifinished and finished jadeite products after cutting were much fewer. That was because it would already be considered lucky if one managed to get ten usable stones from 100 raw stones. Moreover, it was even more difficult to get a high-quality jadeite. Generally, there might not even be a jadeite in 100 stones.

Therefore, losing at the stone gambling was known as the norm. If 100 raw stones were good-looking, one could be sold for over 200 thousand dollars. One hundred of them would come down to 20 million dollars.

However, it would rely on luck with semifinished jadeite products that were cut and could be seen clearly.

A winning bet would mean the piece could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. On the contrary, losing could cost one everything.

Still, it was rare to come across a good piece in 100 raw stones. Not to mention, a raw stone could sell for 20 million dollars, but it could barely sell for 200 thousand dollars if it were cut open and sold as jadeite.

Aware of that fact, the government of Manchernius only auctioned raw stones and let everyone bet on them. That way, the risk was passed on to the buyers while they sat at the side and enjoyed the profit.

At the same time, the government never envied one who made a fortune from betting on raw stone because the chances of making it were a thousand in one. Most were destined to lose.

Meanwhile, Fabian drove Oliver and Hailey straight to the mining area.

The environment of the Manchernius mining area was very bad. There were essentially no standard concrete public roads, let alone asphalt roads.

Moreover, the mining area was full of pits and caves. From a distance, the places where mines were dug among the green mountains looked like gaping wounds. It was shocking.

Mining is incredibly damaging to the environment. However, nothing could be done about it, especially in Manchernius, which was ranked among the top poorest countries in the world. With underdeveloped industrialization, selling minerals was a relatively stable income.

The group first went to a considerably well-located old mining area. The scale was also much larger than the private mining area. Tens of thousands of people dug in only a single mining area.

Fabian pointed at the mining area and said to Oliver and Hailey, “The official auction will be held five days later. Thus, you’ll have to wait five days if you want to auction the items. I’ll show you around these few days and have a look first. I’ll also introduce you to the owner of the private mine here.”

“Okay,” Oliver replied and looked back at Hailey.

Hailey had secretly “escaped” to get there. Naturally, she did not want to go back

However, Hailey’s expression always seemed to be clouded with sadness. Oliver knew the reason for her worries. She wanted

to find top-grade jadeite.

Then again, that kind of world-class treasure was rare. Even if Oliver had unparalleled identification skills, the item must still exist. Simply put, a world-class jadeite must be mined first.

Oliver was also worried on Hailey’s behalf. If possible, he would find her the best jadeite at any cost.

The stones from the old mining area were dug and transported out from time to time. Then, the site management would take photos for registration before transporting them back to the city.

There were a bunch of stones laid out at the scene. Fabian first took Oliver and Hailey to visit the place for a while. Meanwhile, Oliver noticed armed guards were watching the scene, which made him nervous.

At least hundreds of raw/stone pieces were excavated on the spot, and Oliver watched from a distance of more than 30 feet.

The odds of getting jade from those old mine materials were much higher than those Oliver had seen before. Almost 90% of the stones had jade cores worth around 90,000 dollars.

However, those raw stones looked good and were old mine materials. Thus, anyone would know that the auction price by the official auction would not be less than 200 thousand dollars. If purchased, it would still result in a loss, just not a devastating one.

Then again, the best jadeite aside, there was not even high-quality ice jade or opaque jade in those stones.

Oliver looked through all the raw stones at the site and was disappointed.

After leaving the mining area, Fabian took them to two other mining sites. Yet, the results were the same, and they didn’t find any good stone.

In the end, they returned to Moulmore city center around four o’clock, checked themselves in the best hotel in the city, and

went out to eat.

Since Fabian didn’t need to drive to the mining area or wholesalers to see raw stones anymore at night, he drank and went back to sleep drunk.

Meanwhile, Oliver asked Hailey, “Ms. Fox, do you want to go for a walk?”

“Sure!” Hailey stood up and left immediately. Moulmore’s night was hot, so Oliver went to buy two drinks, and they walked on the street while drinking.

Not long after, Hailey suddenly held Oliver’s arm.

Oliver’s heart skipped a beat, and his mind was fuzzy. “What is Hailey doing?” he thought.

Hailey whispered in a low voice, “Someone is following us. Don’t look back!” NôvelDrama.Org content.

Oliver was shocked. He pretended to look at the things in a stall that they passed and peeked to the side.

Five or six people were following them from around 33 feet away, and they were obviously watching the two.

Oliver’s eyes were sharp, and he saw a part of a knife shining when one of them lifted the lower hem of the latter’s clothes. Oliver instantly burst into a cold sweat and whispered to Hailey, “They have knives!”

Then, Oliver glanced at the things on the stall, turned around, and pulled Hailey forward. He didn’t dare to run for fear that those people would lash out and chase after them.

Oliver assumed those people were wary because of the crowd, and they probably planned on striking when they got to a quiet place.

“Are they robbers?” wondered Oliver.

Then, as Oliver thought about it, a person’s face suddenly appeared in his mind, Julian!

“Could it be that he’s the one behind those people?” thought Oliver.