BPIFC -Volume 1 – Chapter 68 The Golden Platform

The moment the giant stone door opened, Che Qianzi was startled by what lay inside.

There was only a huge circular stone platform. More than a dozen coffins rested upon it, all connected and bound together with thick iron chains. In front of each coffin stood a spirit tablet, indicating which successive leader of the Hehuan Dao was buried inside.

Apart from the coffins, there was nothing else.

After making a round of the chamber, the foreigners who had entered with Huang Ran all wore displeased expressions. Several of them walked over to him and began gesturing and speaking angrily.

Sun Desheng leaned toward Che Qianzi and whispered with a grin, “Foreigners are practical. They don’t see the gold, and they’re already losing their patience. They’re forcing Old Huang to explain whether there’s any—holy crap! This platform is made of gold!”

As he spoke, Huang Ran led several of the foreigners to the platform. He took out a dagger and scraped the surface a few times. Beneath the outer layer, an area the size of a palm revealed a golden color. Under the beam of a flashlight, it glittered brilliantly.

The other foreigners cried out in excitement.

They immediately followed Huang Ran’s example, scraping the platform with knives and tools. In the end, they discovered that the entire platform was made of solid gold.

“Hey, scratching it a few times and getting excited is enough. More than half of this golden platform belongs to us. It’s surnamed Che now. Fatty, help me translate.”

Seeing the foreigners shouting excitedly and some even kissing the platform, Che Qianzi grew uneasy and quickly pulled Sun Desheng over, intending to assert ownership over sixty percent of it.

Most of the foreigners understood Chinese.

The moment they heard him, they all turned toward him. Murderous intent flickered in their eyes.

Before any of them could act, Sun Desheng raised his shotgun and fired at the ceiling.

Boom!

The sudden gunshot made almost all of them jump.

Grinning, Fatty Sun said:

“Calm down, everybody. Think about where we are. Even if all this gold belonged to you, a hundred thousand taels is five tons—and there’s more than that here.”

“Do you really have the ability to move it out?”

“You can forget about taking it out of the country. I guarantee that no shipping company would dare accept a job involving more than five hundred kilograms of gold. The moment you discuss it, they’ll report you.”

“And let me remind you again—everything underground belongs to the state.”

“And we still have the death penalty.”

“That leaves selling it domestically. You could cut it into pieces and smuggle it out.”

“Sure, that’s possible. But two things are likely to happen.”

“First, if you’re constantly selling huge quantities of gold, people will notice. And then this gold will become your death warrant. Outside, fifty thousand yuan is enough to buy a man’s life. This is five tons of gold—it could finance the destruction of a small country.”

“Second, once our authorities notice five tons of gold suddenly appearing on the market, prices will crash. Regulators will investigate whether they want to or not. They’ll trace where the gold came from, who sold it, and how much money changed hands.”

“And one hundred and ten percent, they’ll trace it back to you.”

“Then your crimes become serious.”

“Let’s not even mention the smaller offenses. Grave robbery, illegal extraction of gold resources, market manipulation, illegal trade in precious metals—and we haven’t even gotten to tax evasion.”

“And once again, we still have the death penalty.”

“With amounts this huge, you’re automatically at the maximum sentence.”

“Even if your presidents came to beg for mercy, at best your death sentence would be commuted to life imprisonment. You’d still spend decades eating prison millet.”

The foreigners had already been intimidated by the shotgun. After listening to Sun Desheng’s reasoning, they found that it actually made sense.

None of them truly had the means to transport and sell so much gold.

Finally, the most rational among them, the bearded Aiden, spoke up.

“Sun, how do you suggest we solve this? We can honor the agreement between Mr. Huang and yourself. We only want our forty percent. But how do we take it out?”

Sun Desheng grinned.

“I’ll suffer a little and help you transport it.”

Before anyone could cheer, he continued:

“But there are costs involved. You can’t expect me to lose money, right? I’ll charge only a cost fee—thirty percent commission. We’re all friends. I wouldn’t profit from you.”

Thirty percent commission!

If the foreigners received fifty thousand taels of gold, Fatty Sun would take fifteen thousand taels—a huge chunk.

Immediately, everyone protested.

The fee was outrageous.

Just as Sun Desheng was preparing to haggle further, Aiden unexpectedly spoke in his support. He said something lengthy in English to his companions.

Though still dissatisfied, they reluctantly agreed.

Che Qianzi couldn’t understand English, but judging from their expressions, he could guess.

He leaned close to Sun Desheng.

“That big-bearded guy’s wearing the same pants as you now? Was he speaking for you? Nice job, Fatty. When did you bribe him? How much did you spend? If it’s over five hundred taels, it’s not worth it.”

Sun Desheng smiled.

“I didn’t spend a gram of gold.”

Looking at Aiden, he continued:

“He sees the big picture. He knows that without me, they wouldn’t even be able to carry out a grain of gold.”

“Something is better than nothing.”

“Even after paying thirty percent, they’ll still get over a hundred million dollars.”

“Sigh, I should’ve asked for fifty-fifty. Even sixty-forty wouldn’t have been excessive.”

“I’m just too soft-hearted.”

While Sun Desheng was bargaining with the foreigners, Huang Ran simply stood by and watched with a smile.

Only after the matter was settled did he speak.

“Since you’ve finished dividing the profits, we can handle the real business.”

“We need to find the Hehuan Dao’s sacred object.”

“Until we find it, none of us are leaving.”

As he spoke, he took out a drawing.

Depicted on it was a monster covered in tentacles.

Illuminating the picture with a flashlight, Huang Ran said:

“This is what the sacred object looks like.”

“It should be hiding inside one of these coffins.”

“At this moment, it ought to be dormant.”

“Keep your movements as quiet as possible.”

“If we wake it up, it’ll bring us enormous trouble.”

The foreigners gathered around to memorize its appearance.

Then they split into groups of four.

Using gas torches, they cut through the chains binding the coffins together and pried open the lids one by one, searching for the sacred object.

Che Qianzi originally intended to go over and watch the excitement.

But before he could move, Sun Desheng grabbed him and pulled him toward the center of the circular golden platform.

By then, Huang Ran and Meng Qiqi had already retreated there.

Judging from the expression on Miss Meng’s face, she seemed deeply wary of whatever was inside the coffins.

The four of them gathered together.

Sun Desheng grinned at Huang Ran.

“Old Huang, I’ve got another question.”

“Was Ma Xiaolin’s purchase of that ten percent stake your idea? If he hadn’t gotten involved, how could you have dragged me into this?”

Huang Ran replied seriously:

“I can swear that I absolutely did not encourage Ma Xiaolin to buy those shares.”

Then he glanced at Sun Desheng and added:

“I bought the shares through someone else, then sold them to Chairman Ma at a loss.”

“Dasheng, this matter is too big for me to swallow alone.”

“That’s why I invited all of you in.”

As he spoke, one of the coffins had already been opened.

One of the foreigners bent down to peer inside.

He had barely taken a single glance when a black shadow suddenly sprang out of the coffin and latched tightly onto his face.

Amid a horrifying scream, the entire front half of his face—and even the bones behind it—were torn away…