Let you raise pigs?But kicked me out of the classmate group?

"Mr. Lin, wait another 12 hours."

Qin Hao walked to the window and watched as the radiation-proof concrete transport truck rushed towards the underground base.

"Hold onto your chips and don't panic. I'll have Charlie send out the cobalt purity test video we recorded earlier. It's the one from last week with a third-party inspector present. The camera captured the calibration records of the testing equipment; that'll give them a run for their money."

He hung up on Lin Zhendong and dialed Director Liu's number directly from the Gold Price Bureau, getting straight to the point: "Director Liu, should I send the recording of Commissioner Cohen accepting bribes from Douglas to smear me to the International Gold Council?"

After a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, Director Liu's helpless voice came through: "President Qin, you're forcing me. Fine, I'll have the Gold Price Bureau issue a statement within half an hour, certifying that Blue Crystal Technology is compliant."

I had just hung up the phone when a video conference request from the International Mining Union popped up.

The leading representative, dressed in a sharp suit with the Alliance's gold emblem behind him, spoke arrogantly: "Mr. Qin, we have received a report from Mr. Douglas questioning your falsification of Blue Crystal technology data. Please disclose it immediately."

"No need," Qin Hao interrupted him, instructing Charlie to project the testing video onto the conference screen.

In the video, Lao Wang, wearing sterile gloves, puts a cobalt ore sample into the testing instrument. The initial purity is 85%. After adding a trace amount of blue crystal powder, the value gradually jumps to 92%. The third-party tester next to him also shows the instrument calibration certificate to the camera.

"This is the solid evidence you wanted. As for Douglas's accusation..."

He then pulled up a recording of Cohen, whose obsequious voice blared through the speaker: "Mr. Douglas, rest assured, I will definitely find the data loopholes in Qin Hao's data."

The alliance representative's face turned pale instantly, and he hastily said, "We will verify," before hanging up the meeting.

Charlie looked at the rebounding gold price curve on the screen and breathed a sigh of relief: "Boss, it's starting to rise! It's back to $2420!"

"not enough."

Qin Hao stared at the holdings data of Douglas's affiliated institutions on the screen.

"Douglas hasn't closed his short positions yet. We'll wait until he panics and then add to his short positions."

The midday sun had just hit its zenith when Lao Wang rushed into the command tent with the test report in his hand.

"President Qin! The radiation-shielding concrete in the underground base has cracked! The radiation level has risen to 0.5 Sv/h. The light from the blue crystals is seeping out from the cracks and falling on the gold bricks, which are now covered with a layer of silver crystals!"

Qin Hao and Ailiya immediately rushed to the underground base.

The beeping of the detector in the passage intensified again. From the cracks in the concrete wall, a ghostly blue light flickered like a snake's tongue. When the blue crystal fragments that fell to the ground came into contact with the gold bricks, the gold bricks, which were originally yellowish-brown, slowly turned completely golden.

When Lao Wang used a portable detector, the purity increased directly from 90% to 93%.

"So this is what the Golden Purgatory is all about."

Arya crouched down, avoiding the debris with her fingertips, and murmured to herself as she looked at the crystallized gold brick.

"The lab technicians 20 years ago must have discovered that blue crystal could increase the purity of gold, which is why they were scrambling to get it, ultimately leading to them killing each other."

She had barely finished speaking when the team member in charge of the exploration suddenly shouted, "Miss Arya! There's an old control panel over here! It's buried under rocks!"

Qin Hao walked over and had his team members use hydraulic shears to pry open the rocks.

On the rusty metal tabletop, the same owl logo as in Marcus's photo was engraved, and the buttons next to it were oxidized to green.

Old Wang plugged in the backup power. The screen flickered a few times, and a fragmented log appeared: "July 1994, Night Owl led the experiment, funded by an anonymous consortium, with the goal of increasing gold purity and monopolizing global gold prices."

"In March 1995, radiation went out of control, and the experimental subjects mutated."

Aria flipped through the logbook quickly, her finger tracing the words "Night Owl took away core data, base abandoned".

"Qin Hao, this is the source of the monster! The experimenter from 20 years ago was mutated by blue crystal radiation!"

Qin Hao instructed Lao Wang to bring over lead plates to reinforce the concrete walls: "Seal the cracks with lead plates, then apply two layers of radiation-shielding paint to ensure that the radiation is reduced to below 0.3 Sv/h."

He then looked at Aria: "You and the tech team stay here and crack the encrypted partition of the console to see if you can find out the source of Nightow's funding and who that anonymous consortium is."

As Ailiya nodded, Qin Hao's private phone rang. It was Pang Wanshan, his voice filled with anger: "President Qin! Our copper ore transport convoy has been attacked! Three trucks were stolen, two drivers were injured, and the kidnappers left a Night Owl sign, saying that if they help you transport goods again, they'll burn down my logistics warehouse next time!"

"Mr. Pang, please don't panic."

Qin Hao asked Charlie to access the satellite surveillance footage, and soon the scene of Abdominal Muscles appeared on the screen.

A black SUV circled the truck, with the owl logo clearly visible on its door.

“My men are already at the Zambian border. We can stop by the abandoned mines to take a look. By the way, have your men send over samples from the attacked copper mine. I suspect they looted the mine to neutralize the blue crystal radiation.”

As evening fell, Aria approached Qin Hao with the test report: "That's right! The copper sulfide in the copper mine can neutralize the radiation from the blue crystal! The Night Owls raided the copper mine because they wanted to rebuild their experimental base in the abandoned mining area and expand their research on the blue crystal!"

She also retrieved the address she had cracked from the console.

"The coordinates of the abandoned mining area are here. There is a hidden laboratory inside, which has not been used since the night owls left in 1995."

Just as Qin Hao was about to send Ali to the mining area, his satellite phone suddenly received an anonymous email. The sender's address was encrypted, and the body of the email contained only one sentence: "Tomorrow at noon, in an abandoned town on the Zambian border, exchange a blue crystal fragment from the underground base for Marcus's nephew. Bring the fragment, but don't bring anyone else."

The attached photo shows Marcus's nephew tied to experimental equipment, with a night owl symbol in the background that is particularly eye-catching, and a larger blue crystal next to him that emits a dizzying glow.

"They want the blue crystal." Qin Hao forwarded the email to Charlie.

"Have Ali take 20 Hyena team members and ambush them on the outskirts of the abandoned town in advance, find good sniping positions, and don't expose yourselves."

He then turned to Arya, a sharp glint in his eyes.

“You and the tech team continue hacking into the console to find Nightow's funding chain. I suspect they're connected to Douglas. Douglas suddenly having so much money shorting might be Nightow supporting them.” Aria grabbed his wrist, her eyes filled with worry: “It's too dangerous for you to go alone! I want to come with you.”

"No need." Qin Hao patted the top of her head, his tone reassuring, just like before every mission.

“Night Owl wants the Blue Crystal, so he won’t touch me easily. After you crack the console, contact Elder Lin and have him prepare the funds. Once I confirm the relationship between Night Owl and Douglas, we’ll short Douglas and make sure he can’t recover.”

As night deepened, the mines on the Katanga Plateau were still lit up.

The reinforcement of the underground base with lead plates continues, the sounds of hacking at the control consoles rise and fall, and in the distance, transport convoys are heading towards the Zambian border.

Qin Hao stood by the window of the command tent, clutching a shard of blue crystal in his hand. The eerie blue light reflected in his eyes, like an unextinguished flame.

He knew that tomorrow's abandoned town would not only be about rescuing Marcus's nephew, but also about finding out the Night Owl's tail.

The secrets of the experiment 20 years ago, the hidden capital behind Douglas, and the true purpose of the blue crystal may all be answered tomorrow.

The next day, in an abandoned town on the Zambian border.

Qin Hao held a blue crystal shard in his right hand, the eerie blue light leaking through his fingers and casting shimmering patterns on the sand. His left hand was tucked into his waistband, his fingertips resting on the hilt of a tactical dagger. His gaze swept across the warehouse entrance where they had agreed to meet.

There stood two guards in black tactical uniforms, their guns pointed at the ground, but they kept glancing in his direction.

"Mr. Qin, have you brought the fragments?" The warehouse door was pushed open, and a masked man walked out. His voice was processed by a voice changer, sounding like rusty iron scraping together.

The accessory around his waist was particularly eye-catching, bearing the old logo of Blackstone Group, exactly the same as the logo on the documents from the Phoenix Holdings money laundering case.

Qin Hao deliberately slowed his pace. As he approached, he caught a glimpse of Marcus's nephew tied to a pillar behind a metal rack in the warehouse. His wrists were wrapped with a coil of black wire, with a makeshift bomb attached to the end.

He was very familiar with that model; the Hellfire had used this type to blast through mines before, and even the length of the fuse was exactly the same.

"Release the child first, then give me the fragment." He stopped, the blue crystal fragment spinning in his palm. "I need to make sure the child is safe."

The masked man sneered and gestured for the guards to bring out the hostage: "He's here. If you try anything funny, this kid will be blown to bits with us."

Marcus's nephew trembled with fear, but he still gave Qin Hao a wink and his lips moved as he silently said, "They just called and said the $5 million from Daglas will arrive tonight."

Qin Hao's heart sank; the capital connection between Night Owl and Douglas was finally confirmed.

He pretended to hand over the fragments, and just as he straightened his arm, he suddenly flipped his wrist, and the tactical dagger flew out, accurately severing the masked man's wrist that was holding the gun!

"what!"

The masked man screamed and retreated. Suddenly, the sound of tranquilizer gunshots came from the outside. Ali led his Hyena team out from behind the broken wall, and the guards were knocked to the ground before they could react.

Marcus's nephew seized the opportunity to untie the wires binding his wrists and scrambled up behind Qin Hao: "Mr. Qin, they said the money is for buying Blue Crystal equipment, and they also said they'll wait for Douglas to short gold prices before detonating the bombs in the warehouse to blow up Blue Crystal!"

Seeing that things were going badly, the masked man threw a piece of fragment that glowed with blue light out of his pocket.
Qin Hao reached out and caught it, finding it icy cold and devoid of any radiation, clearly a pure metal fake.

By the time he realized what was happening, the masked man had already disappeared into the alley.

"Stop chasing."

Qin Hao stopped the team members who were about to chase after him, bent down and picked up the encrypted USB drive dropped by the masked man. The casing was engraved with the progress of the conglomerate's experiment. He then found a stack of yellowed documents in the corner of the warehouse. They were old contracts from Blackstone Group, and the format was exactly the same as the documents used in the Phoenix Holdings money laundering case. Even the signatures had the same abbreviations.

At this moment, at the entrance to the underground base on the Katanga Plateau, the lead plates had just been reinforced, and Lao Wang was adjusting the testing equipment when he suddenly heard a clanging sound from outside the passage.

Five men dressed in miners’ clothes pushed a mine cart over. The cart was covered with a tarpaulin. As they approached, the wind blew a corner of the tarpaulin open, revealing explosive charges inside.

"Which team are you from? You're not on duty tonight!" Charlie's security guards stepped forward to ask. As soon as they finished speaking, one of the miners suddenly pulled out an electromagnetic interference device. The moment he pressed it, the screen of the detector crackled, and the radiation value jumped from 0.3 Sv/h to 1.8 Sv/h, with the red warning light flashing wildly.

"Oh no! The blue crystal has leaked!" Old Wang panicked and almost dropped the detector. He turned around and ran towards the command tent.

"and many more!"

Arya rushed over from the control panel, clutching the newly cracked experimental log in her hand.

"Records from 20 years ago say that blue crystals can be temporarily suppressed by copper ore powder, so quickly sprinkle copper ore powder!"

Charlie reacted the fastest, having his team carry over a bag of copper ore powder and sprinkle it into the gaps in the lead plate. As soon as the powder came into contact with the blue light seeping from the cracks, the detector screen returned to normal, and the electromagnetic interference device fell to the ground with a thud, becoming unresponsive.

"They're from Night Owl's group!"

Aria picked up the jammer and found a miniature communicator attached to it. She pressed play, and Douglas's voice came through: "Hold them off. Once I've driven the price of gold down to below $2300, you detonate the bomb in the warehouse and blow up the Blue Crystal!"

Just then, one of the Night Owl members who had not been subdued suddenly fired a shot. The bullet grazed the blue crystal storage tank, and a small amount of blue crystal liquid splashed onto the backup generator next to it.

The generator, which had been off, suddenly started running again, and the dashboard showed that the power supply was normal.

Hello everyone, this is the author. If you have any monthly tickets or recommendation tickets, please feel free to vote for the author. Thank you for the collaboration between both sides. Especially the recommendation tickets, which are available daily and refreshed. Please support the author; the author needs all the data you have, whether it's recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, or donations. Thank you all so much for your support.
When I think back to the beginning of writing this book, I was really tormented.

This book didn’t actually do very well in the beginning, and the author even thought about giving up on it because not many people read it.

But later, as the plot progressed towards the stage of being put on the shelves, everyone's enthusiasm increased, which made me continue writing it.

Thank you all for your support. Without you, this book would not have been so long. Without you, this book would have definitely been killed in the early stages.

Although this book may be a little worse in the later stage, the author tried his best to write and present the wonderful content to everyone. I hope you will continue to support me.

Furthermore, the pacing of this book will remain consistently fast and enjoyable. Don't worry about any heart-wrenching or unhappy parts; I won't write anything like that. It's all pure, unadulterated enjoyment. Finally, I hope you'll all continue to support me! Thank you everyone, I'm truly grateful. Your support is my motivation. Thank you so much! Please give all your daily recommendation votes and monthly tickets to the author! Your support is my motivation. Thank you so much! Please give all your daily recommendation votes and monthly tickets to the author! (End of Chapter)